"Arthur?"
There was no reply.
"Arthur?"
Still nothing. Molly frowned.
"Where are you?"
She thought she heard something outside.
"Are you in the garden?" she yelled as she opened the door.
"I'm here!"
It was coming from the far end of the garden and Molly walked over there, little William on her hip.
She found Arthur near a pile of wooden planks.
"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.
"Building us a fence, so that this little fellow doesn't get out of the boundaries."
"Arthur, he's only six month old," she laughed. "He's not going anywhere."
"He isn't now, but in a few months, he'll start to crawl. And in half a year, he'll learn how to walk. I'd rather have the fence up and ready when he does."
William made small, content sounds, as if he knew his parents were talking about him.
"That's actually not a bad idea. But why aren't you using magic?" Molly nodded at the hammer in Arthur's hand.
"I found this book," Arthur replied enthusiastically. "You have to see it, Molly, it's about Muggle carpentry. There's a chapter here about building your own fence.
"Oh Arthur, you and your Muggle obsessions…"
"It's quite amazing actually, the things these Muggles come up with."
"I'm sure they do. But will it be safe for William?"
"Of course it will! Like you said, he's not even one year old yet, he doesn't have enough strength to push it over or anything."
"That's… not entirely what I meant…" she hesitated and Arthur immediately hit his own forehead when he sensed what was really bugging her.
"Godric, I'm so sorry, Molly. Yes, it will be magically warded as well."
"Good." She sighed. "Because I don't see any Death Eater being stopped by something as simple as a wooden fence."
He nodded solemnly. "I agree with that."
"Well, I'll leave you to your carpentry then," she smiled. "Try not to hammer too many nails in your thumb, dear, unless you want the fence to be red."
He knew she was just teasing him so he laughed. "I won't."
"How long will you be?"
"I don't know. They say here about an hour, but I'm not so sure I won't be needing extra time."
"Just let me know when you're finished, okay? I'll make sure to have tea ready."
"Great, you're the best." He kissed her on the head and ruffled William's hair. "See you in a bit then."
She walked back to the house. When she passed the blueberries, she figured it might be nice to make muffins for Arthur. She put William in his playpen. "Your daddy is hard at work," she cooed at William. "Soon, you'll be able to play in the garden."
Later that day, Arthur came back inside, a triumphant look in his eyes. "The fence is ready."
She could tell that he had hit his thumb more than once in the process, but he cared little about that.
"I'm so proud of you! I made blueberry muffins for you."
"Well, if that's the reward, I guess I'll built a fence more often," he grinned. "Thanks, Molly."
"It's nothing, really."
He took a bite. "Mmm, you call that nothing? It's delicious!"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Molly?"
"Yes?"
"Don't you think it time that… ehm, William slept in his own room?"
Molly looked at him, shocked. They were lying in bed, William between them and Molly quickly covered his ears. "Don't say such things in front of him."
"I doubt he'll understand. And it might be good for him."
"Have you been talking to my mother?"
"No, I haven't. But that's not an answer to my question."
"He's still so little!"
Look, I just think it would do him good. And…" Arthur hesitated. "I think we could do with a little more time to ourselves as well. I miss us."
"Let me get this straight. You want William to sleep in his own room so that we have more quality time as couple?"
"Well, if you put it like that it sounds rather selfish. But you know what I mean, right?"
"I'll think about it," she replied stiffly.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Molly?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are you so against him sleeping alone?" Arthur eventually asked hesitatingly.
"I just am, isn't that enough?"
"Molly…"
"Oh, alright, it's because of the Death Eaters. If I can't even protect a friend who's standing right next to me, how on earth am I going to protect our baby if he's in another room?"
Suddenly Arthur understood. "Oh, Molly, you should have said something!"
"You know about the nightmares, I figured that you'd deduce it."
"You know how terrible I am at deductions."
"Yes, that's probably right…"
"I'm so sorry, it was very inconsiderate of me. I understand why you want to keep him as close as possible."
He shifted a little so he could wrap his arm around her – at least partially.
There was another silence.
"Arthur?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Maybe you're right. Maybe it's better for him to be sleeping on his own, and I would to have more time together, but… I'm terrified. What if something were to happen to him? I would never forgive myself."
"I know that." He thought for a moment, trying to find a solution. "How about we move his cot to our room? That way he'll be sleeping on his own, but he'll still be close enough for us to hear him if something troubles him."
Molly thought about it. She weighed the pros against the cons. There was something to be said for Arthur's suggestion.
"What do you think?"
"I think that, given the circumstances, it might be a good solution. He'll have his own space, as will we, but we can still be with him in seconds if must be. Only… can he remain with us tonight? I don't think I'm ready to move him straight away…"
"Of course he can. We'll only wake him if we move him now. I'll move the cot tomorrow, if that's okay. Or next week is fine for me as well, if you need a little more time to get adjusted to the idea."
Molly sighed. "No, best do it tomorrow. Otherwise we'll continue to postpone it."
Arthur nodded. "Tomorrow it shall be then." He reached over William and kissed her. "I know how hard this must be for you. I'm proud of you."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next day, when they put William to bed, Molly lingered near his cot.
Arthur wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her hair. "He'll be fine."
"I know." She sighed. "I just... need a bit more time to get accustomed to the idea, I think."
"My Mum always said that the hardest part about parenting was letting go, and I see what she meant now."
Molly turned around and looked him in the eye. "So I'm not the only one," she said, a little amused.
"Of course not."
She laughed. "Yet here you are, telling me it's better to let him sleep on his own..."
"If I can't even convince you, how am I supposed to convince myself?"
She kissed him.
They stood for a while and watched William sleep.
"Is it silly to worry so much?" Molly asked.
Arthur shook his head. "It isn't. We're in the middle of a war, of course we're scared. I bet any parent is worried in times like these, including our own parents. "And if it's not bad enough that there's a war going on, we are both on a daily basis confronted with the terrors of it, because of our jobs. Plus we fight. So I'd say it's completely natural that we're scared."
"You're right of course." She made up her mind. "Come, we'll head downstairs."
"Are you sure? We can stay a little longer if you want..."
She shook her head. "No, it's fine. It has to happen at somepoint, zo... Your Mum is right: letting go is the hardest part. But if we don't do this now, we'll end up standing here for the rest of the evening."
"Alright then."
He took her hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss. "You first, my love."
She began descending the stairs. "Arthur? Are you coming?"
"Yes, I'll be right there," he replied.
She turned again and she could just make out Arthur's words.
"Now, your Mum and I are going downstairs, little man. Be safe, okay? We love you."
Molly smiled. Arthur might look tough on the outside, on the inside, he was as much a softie as she was.
