Ok, I`m really nervous to post this one and I don`t know why. I don`t know how to fix it though and this is the second one and I don`t know. So please, tell me what you think especially if you know what would make it better because I don`t love it. Thank you fabulous readers and I hope you enjoy even though...AHHH, well anyways, read away.

It has happened so many times before; a child lost and a family broken. For a little I thought it would come to that for my wife, Molly, and me.

Fred, the most outgoing twin, was killed in the final battle. In the end, good came from our struggle but to lose your son, I didn't think Molly would recover.

When Voldemort had been defeated and the bodies of the deceased were being brought to the Great Hall every corpse that you did not recognize was a blessing. But it also tore at your heart to know that someone who had fought beside you had lost a loved one. You would watch and each one was a good person who had their lives end too soon.

I had my arm wrapped around my wife's back, supporting her against me. She sobbed quietly as Remus and Nyphodora's lifeless bodies were brought past. It was terrible to see the gaping wound in her chest. My thoughts went instantly to their new baby. They would have been such a happy family. I squeezed her tighter, assuring her I would always be there.

Percy walked in carrying a body in his arms. The shock from seeing him without his trademark angry bitter smirk was enough to distract me from the redheaded form in his arms.

I went through the Weasleys that have already been seen well and safe;

Ginny and Harry were standing off to the side, Ron and Hermione were with them, Bill and Fleur had helped with the bodies, Charlie and George were gathering the injured and Percy had just passed...with the only unaccounted for Weasley.

Fred.

Molly stepped away from me and I let her go reluctantly, we must have realized at the same time, she was first to react.

She ran through the crowd to the cot on which our son had been laid. Percy was sitting silently off to the side, holding his brother's hand, not even a twitch when we came up beside him.

This would be the hardest on him, if he came back that must mean he never stopped missing us and he had been absent for quite a few of his younger siblings achievements; especially the joke shop.

As the three of us stood motionless and in silence the rest of our family approached. A horrified gasp as the state of Fred was taken it.

He had clearly been hit from the explosion, most of us hadn't seen it but we heard it and felt it. There were rock shards sticking into his arms and legs, I had seen that with the others too. The one that killed him though was clear, sticking right out of his chest.

Molly was brushing the hair away from his forehead.

When someone says the worst thing that can happen to you is losing a child, you agree. But you never fully understand the hole it leaves in your chest until it happens. Each breath becomes a chore; it hurts like no physically inflicted pain could.

Harry was holding Ginny and smoothing her hair, she had turned to hide her face in his chest. I don't remember a time she has ever cried.

Ron was holding Hermione who was clearly calculating how to solve the problem but was coming up short; there simply was no solution to death.

Bill and Fleur were working together to help the others who had lost their family and I smiled to myself.

I was glad that everyone had someone else to help them. I rested my hand gently on Molly's shoulder, it was meant to be a gesture of love and reassurance, it was to thank her for being there. But she shook it off.

I put my hand back down and waited for her to come to me. I must just be too soon.

And so I waited through his funeral.

And I waited through the reconstruction of the wizarding world.

And I waited...just-waited.

Molly stopped welcoming me home with a smile and stopped kissing me when I left for work. She stopped the family dinners and conversation altogether.

I didn't know what to do, the days had turned to weeks and weeks to month but she never came to me so my choice? Try going to her.

"Molly, I'm home," and as usual my statement was met with icy silence but today it was my silence to break.

"Molly, I'd really like to talk to you..."

"Yes Arthur, I'm in the lounge."

I took a deep breath because this was my chance, our last chance. Nearly thirty years of marriage and seven children and this could be the end; I couldn't continue to live here where it is made quite clear I am unwanted.

"Molly, love, we need to talk. About this...about us."

"Goodness Arthur, we are talking but I am very busy."

Even though she wasn't she clearly wished she was. Her light brown eyes flickered around the room nervously looking for something to do.

I knelt down at her feet and took her small hands in mine, she tried to pull them away but that wouldn't do.

"Molly, I love you and I don't want to lose you but I can't live like this. I can't keep coming home every night knowing you can't look at me without hatred."

"Arthur, I don-"

"Molly, just wait. What is wrong? What is different for you? He was my son too, I loved him just as much as you did and do. I know it's hard to let him go but I don't understand why you blame me."

And then it hit me, maybe that was it. Maybe she did blame me for our son's death. Was it because I wasn't there to save him? Or was it that I didn't teach him right?

I started to pull away, was it really my fault? Could I have done something differently? But before her hands completely slipped from mine Molly broke down into tears.

"That's absurd Arthur, how could that be your fault? We all know it's because of me, was it really that bad living here that I pushed all of our sons away. Bill had to get married to someone I loathe. Charlie moved to Romania, ROMANIA Arthur, why did he go so far? Percy, well, Percy just left because he hated me, I don't know what I did. Fred and George had to leave school early to start their joke shop; obviously they couldn't stay here one more year to finish school. And then Ron, he takes off without telling me where he's going and I may never see him again. Is it really too hard to say goodbye?"

But with Fred, never will I have the chance to redeem myself as a mother to him. I will always be the woman who no longer washes his socks. Do you see now Arthur? I drove away all of our children, the only reason Ginny's still here is because she's too young to not be!"

I was completely and utterly shocked, how in the world do you respond to such an outrageous thing?

I started by maintaining my silence as I stood up and pulled my beautiful sobbing wife up to stand with me so I could hug her. That's all; I missed that so much, the closeness of my best friend.

"Molly, my wife, the most wonderful mother, my dear, you are looking at it in all the wrong way. You think they left you but they didn't. They left because you raised them and gave them the power to do as they wish. Ron couldn't say anything, the ministry couldn't know love, it wasn't you, it was to help us, we couldn't have too much information. Yes, the twins wanted you to wash their socks but you had shown them how and that's more important. Charlie, well, Charlie, he has made a life for himself all the way in Romania. He had to leave the country to do what we taught him, to follow his dream. And Molly, you don't hate Fleur anymore, remember? And Percy, he came back, that's what matters."

She stepped back and looked at me, I was hoping she wasn't going to slap me, I didn't think I deserved to be hit but if nothing else, thirty years have taught me that you never know.

"Arthur, I love you."

My face broke out in a wild grin, I brought my forehead down to hers, "I love you too, and don't ever leave me again."

And then I kissed her, just because I could and after so long that's all I wanted.