Always There For You
Chapter Two
"I'm telling you Molly, I don't like this."
"I know. But when have you ever gotten the chance to see your own children all grown up?"
"Yesterday in this shop, the day in their backyard, the Daily Prophet…"
"Oh hush." She snapped. "Don't ruin the moment."
Arthur looked through the window again. His sons sat at the front desk of this shop, talking to one another and looking through a book. They really did look like him. He was amazed and pleased. He wondered if they had his love of muggle artifacts.
"Arthur just look at them. Aren't they beautiful? They need their hair cut."
"I know dear. You told me that three times." he sighed.
"Well I wouldn't be saying it at all if it weren't true." she retorted. "What do you suppose they are reading?"
"How should I know?"
"They're your sons." She argued.
"Yours too." He countered.
"Oh duck, one just saw us." she said anxiously, pushing Arthur's head as low as she could beneath the windowsill.
To the passing observer, they probably looked as though they were both tying their shoes with their behinds raised in the air, Arthur mused.
The doors opened. "Hello. Do you remember me from yesterday? I'm George."
Arthur felt his nerves hinge. "Hello George. We just thought we might have forgotten something at your shop. But my wife just remembered where she put it. So, thank you. Bye." he said in a rush. "Come Molly." he ushered.
They started to walk away and Molly glanced over her shoulder in time to see her other son come out of the shop as well. "We really had hoped you could stay and help us with something." he announced stopping them in their tracks.
Arthur turned, "I really don't think we could boys. Not today. I'm sorry."
Fred started after them. "But sir, we really need to talk to you."
"Move Molly." Arthur pushed the small of her back to get her to walk faster.
Fred latched on to Molly's arm and swung her around to face him. Both stood staring into each other's eyes about an inch apart.
"Let go of my wife." Arthur hissed.
"No." Fred said. "We need you Dad, Mum."
"Yeah." George mumbled, coming to a stop next to them. "We need to talk."
Molly cried out. Balling her hands into fists, she broke free of both holds, and pulled her sons into a tight hug that had them both gasping for air. "See Arthur. I told you it was okay."
"Molly, let the boys go. They need air."
"Oh, I am so sorry." She said to them. "It's just, we didn't know if it would be okay to show ourselves to you. But we had to see you."
"I think we should go inside and sit down. Don't you Molly?"
"Oh yes" she rushed out. "Good idea. Now we need to be private so we could talk. Right boys?"
"Er, right, Mum." George mumbled.
Molly started to cry. "Mum? I'm going to be a Mum Arthur."
"I know. Now lets talk in private."
"Yes, we will just close up shop so that we can talk." Fred agreed.
The twins lead them to their apartment above the building and they made comfortable in a single armchair. Molly on Arthur's lap. This seemed to confuse the boys though so Molly just offered the lame excuse that there were no other seats and that they were newly married anyway. Arthur just rubbed her head, which lay on his shoulder. George looked a bit green in the face.
"So boys," Arthur said to break the ice, "How old are you?"
"Umm, twenty." Fred offered.
"Twenty? That is how old I am!" Arthur exclaimed.
"My children are older then I am." Molly said with a smile.
"I really think we should move this meeting to The Burrow." George hissed looking like he would be positively sick at any moment.
"What is The Burrow?" Molly asked.
"Where you and Dad, and all of our siblings are." Fred told her.
…
"I really cannot think straight with you carrying on like this Bill. You and Fleur are getting married now and there is nothing I can do about it. I don't much care if she can't cook. That is just something you will have to live with."
"But Mum, she really will kill me. You don't want me to die do you? If you could just give her a few tips here or there." Molly hrumfed. "I mean, not really obvious ones," Bill continued. "just you know, tell her how to cook eggs so that they aren't all gewy or burnt. That would be nice."
"What does it matter to you? You eat raw meat. Which by the way, we are not serving at your wedding. Oh, and I added to the guest list. I forgot to tell you that."
"Y-you what?" Bill sputtered. "But it's only a week away." he cried out in exasperation.
She sighed "Which is precisely why you should have realized that you wanted to marry a woman who can cook, before you proposed to one who can't."
A loud crash in the other room made them both jump.
"What is going on now." Molly mumbled as both she and Bill rushed out of the kitchen. "George, you look sick. Come you need to eat something. Fred, what on earth has gotten into you boys." she said, rushing over.
"Mum get away from the fireplace." Fred ordered. "We have company coming. Hello Bill. You might want to sit down."
"Why?" he asked perplexed.
George sat down.
The fire roared for the second time and two people stepped through. "Well, look at this. We are going to be cozy at least." Molly said stepping out of Arthur's arms. She froze.
"Boys, you better explain yourselves right quick." The mother who raised them yelled. Bill sat down.
"Mum, this is you, and Dad. They came to visit us from the past."
"I take it you hadn't time traveled before Molly?"
"Yes Arthur. What on earth. Oh, that Molly." His young wife said. The other Molly sat down.
After they made themselves comfortable, Arthur and Molly went on to explain what had happened. They told a stunned Molly and boys about how they time traveled. They told them about their nights spent researching the war, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and Harry Potter. They talked about how they had both argued over seeing themselves or their future children because of the law they had read about in the book. In the end, when they went silent, it was Molly's turn.
"Arthur and I hadn't time traveled in the past. This is the first time I've heard of this. Why did you do this?" she asked. Bill, Fred and George, still silent, glanced back and forth between them all.
Molly hesitated, then, "Gideon and Fabian sent us here." she looked as though she would cry at any moment. "They wrote me a note before they died and sent us to the future to save our children from dieing in this war."
"Bill, go get your father." The elder Molly said in a strained voice. "Now!" she demanded when he just sat there.
"I'll do it Mum." Fred offered, ever helpful. She just nodded.
"Bill? Your name's Bill?" Molly asked, cheering up considerably. "Arthur I did name a child Bill. My dear you need to cut your hair. And what is with that earring?"
The other Molly cleared her throat. "I have seven children." she said rather guardedly. "Bill is the oldest." she hesitated, but seeing the look of pure joy on the faces of the soon-to-be-parents, she continued, "Then there is Charlie, Percy, the twins Fred and George, then there is Ron, and Ginny."
"Wow. And where are you in your charms with all of the children?" Molly asked excitedly.
"I am a stay at home mum. I stopped charms after Charlie was born in 1972. With two children running around it was hard to continue with my studies. And then Percy came. And well, it just felt right. I didn't want to lose them. If I had continued with charms then anything could have happened to my babies."
Arthur, who was silent through this whole exchange, held Molly tightly around the waist. When she was told that she'd quit her dream, she had frozen up again. He didn't know how many blows Molly could take before she became a statue. He had known seeing themselves like this was not a good idea.
"And Arthur?" she asked, clinging to his arm. "What does he do?"
"He is head of the muggle department for the Ministry of Magic." she said rather lamely, as though she knew what her young self would have thought about this. Perhaps, Arthur thought, she still felt that way. Did she resent him every day for killing her dreams? Even though she had the children. Did she look at them as a burden? He knew she loved them. She had said that she didn't want to lose them. But if they hadn't had them in the first place, she would have no one to lose.
"I don't hate you Arthur."
"What?" His wife said. "Arthur you think I hate you?" Arthur blushed.
The elder Molly continued, "I miss charms. But I would give up everything for my babies. I found something that I loved more."
"You could have had both." he said. The turned to the woman sitting next to him. "You will have both."
"No. The past cannot change. Like you said before, you came to change the future. But to change yourselves would change everything we have right now." The elder Molly told him.
"I don't care. I don't want her to give up her dream because of me."
"I won't." his Molly said. "I will have new dreams. And love all of them."
"Right you will." The other Molly agreed.
"And they will not die like my brothers."
"Harry, stop chasing me. I already told you that I would play Quidditch with you and Ron. I don't know how we'll do it with three people but…" Ginny came to a complete stop in the middle of the living room, looked around at it's occupants, and fainted.
"Ginny dear!" the elder Molly rushed over and knelt by her daughter, cradling her head between her palms. "George, could you get my smelling salts out of the kitchen cupboard please? Harry could you carry her over to my chair and set her down. George!" she cried when he just sat there. Your sister has fainted. Get the salts. Bill," she turned to face him, "would you get the salts for your sister?"
"Salts?" Ginny asked in a faint voice.
"Ginny," Molly grinned. "You fainted dear. But not to worry. These are your father and myself as children. They came from the past to help against You-Know-Who." she instructed. Ginny fainted again. Molly looked to her two other children, then at a stunned Harry, Ron and Hermione, and went to get the salts herself, muttering all the way about how it wasn't that much of a shock.
"Are you really Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked.
"Yes. Are you really Harry Potter?"
"Yes Mr. Weasley." Harry mumbled.
"What is wrong Molly-dear?" Arthur Weasley marched out of the fireplace at that exact moment. "Never mind." he called out to her, looking around. "I can see." as he too fainted.
"It looks like you can't stand shock either darling." the eighteen-year-old Molly laughed into her husband's neck.
"Oh. Enough of this." The other Molly said, looking at her family. She turned to the still conscious Arthur, "They get this from you, you know. I never fainted."
The other Molly giggled. "She's right. I don't."
One hour later, with most of the shock warn off, all the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione, sat and stared at each other. "So, what your saying is," The young Arthur began, "that you never time traveled into the future and after Gideon and Fabian died, Molly moved into my house and we avoided the world until Bill was born?"
"That is pretty much it. We never got any notes or packages from them." The other Arthur said. "And then, when Molly found out she was pregnant, she didn't want to lose Bill like we'd lost her brothers. So we pretty much stayed there." He smiled at Bill reassuringly.
"Just when, exactly, did you find out about Bill? I wouldn't want him to not be here now. Sorry Bill." Molly smiled. Ginny chortled at her brother's embarrassment.
"Well," the elder Molly blushed. "that shouldn't be a problem."
"Well it is if he is never conceived. Since this hasn't happened before, we don't know what could happen to change the future.. Right Arthur?" The young Molly asked.
"Right." Both Arthur's chorused, then grinned to each other.
"Well what I was trying to say," the other Molly fidgeted, "is umm, you should already be pregnant."
Finally overwhelmed, Bill stood up and walked out of the room.
"P-pregnant? No. Not now. Not yet. How…" Molly looked around at the grim, nodding, faces of her children and then to Arthur's stunned face. "No." she denied.
"You are not fighting the war." He said quietly.
"How dare you." Molly yelled back, jumping to her feet in outrage. "I have as much right as you do Arthur. We were sent to save Ron and Ginny together. I will not sit at home and clean while you fight."
"Your pregnant." he said reasonably.
"It's not a disease Arthur."
"You didn't want Ginny to fight. If she doesn't fight you don't either."
"That's different. That has nothing to do with this. Gid and Fabe's last request was for us to save them." Molly could feel herself starting to beaks down. Tears clogged her throat so badly that she didn't think she could say anything more.
"That has everything to do with it." Arthur continued. "Do you want Bill to die?"
"No." she grumbled.
"What does this have to do with me?" Ginny asked.
"We will not let you fight because you could get hurt. The same with your brother."
"I want to help Harry." Ginny declared, "I need to help him. I will fight."
"No you wont." Young Arthur demanded in a stern voice that had everyone gaping, including his elder self. He turned back to his wife. "You will not fight. I will do it for you and you will stay with Ginny and Ron."
"But, I…"
"Not with our child." he commanded again. Then he turned to Ginny, "And not with yours either."
"M-my child?" Ginny asked in a way that let the entire room know that she had suspected but was not sure.
"Child!" Her mother cried. "Child? What do you mean child?"
Molly placed her head in her hands and muttered, "They didn't know Arthur. Oh this is bad."
"How would you know about this?" Ginny demanded of the young Arthur.
Arthur thought he'd seen upset. He had married a woman who had all the emotions she felt, escalated tenfold. He now knew he was wrong. The look on his future daughter's face was pure anger. "Your Uncles told us in the letter." he stammered. He tried to look chastising, but that was hard to do when his daughter was almost as old as his wife.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley, explain yourself." her mother ordered.
"I don't think I am. It was only twice. I swear I used protection. I said the spell myself."
The elder Molly looked ready to faint herself now. She had paled considerably and drew in a shaky breath as though it were her last.
"Who was it? The father. Who is he?" Her father whispered in a horse voice.
"I-I don't know. I am not pregnant. I said the spell. I can't be."
"We know you are dear. My brother's told us you are. They even almost told me I was too. I just didn't see it at the time." Molly latched onto her new husband's hand and squeezed gently as she sat back down. "I will still fight to save you though." she felt Arthur stiffen beside her. "I will not let you die. They sent me here to do it so pregnant or not, they knew I could." that last was said to Ginny but everyone knew it was said for Arthur's benefit.
"Did they tell you who the father is?" The elder Arthur asked her. He still looked stunned. Too stunned to understand the significance of the young Molly's statement.
"No. Not at all." The other Arthur growled. "They didn't tell us anything they should have told us. Like how meeting with our future selves would change the future."
"What do you mean?" A curious Hermione asked.
Arthur stood and started pacing the room, head bowed in thought, retracing his wife's steps. "If Molly gets hurt in this war then Bill might not ever exist. She could miscarry."
"Arthur you are being unreasonable here. If you get hurt we might only have Bill. So you are at risk too. I know you will fight for our family. So what is the risk I am taking that is greater then yours?"
Arthur glared at his pregnant wife. She looked so sincere. So…so…Merlin…She would be the death of him. "I will not lose you."
"And I will not let you end up like my brothers." Molly her silent tears brought her husband to a stop.
Arthur turned to look at her for a split moment before he turned to the other Molly. "You comfort her." he said. "You know how to make her feel better, better then I do." He walked over to the wall and perched himself in the corner next to Harry.
"Oh bother." The elder Molly sighed. She rolled her eyes in his direction and turned to her elder husband. Thank Merlin you grew out of that."
Arthur still sat frozen on the spot. His ears were a deep red and he looked like he would burst at any moment. The whole room then saw that moment. And with it, a side they had never seen from him before. "Ginny give me his name now! I will not sit here and listen to this anymore. Either you tell me the boy's name or I will send all of your brothers out to hunt him down."
Ginny gawked. Hermione gasped. The remaining Weasley brothers jumped up, ready for action.
"I told you Dad. I don't know."
"I am the father." Everyone turned to face the sound of the now condemned man. Harry Potter looked positively green. Still, he walked from the shadows of the room and stood next to Ginny. "If there is a baby then am the father."
"Harry…"
"No Gin. Let me do this." he turned her to face him and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I know about the guy. I know you slept with him before me. But he is gone. I'm not. Let me protect you. Please. It could be either of ours and I will always claim it as my own if questioned." Harry looked imploringly into her eyes.
Ginny stared into his face for a long while. She then looked at her family. Ginny's mother sat still in the chair, looking between Ginny, Harry, and Ginny's father. Then to herself as a child. She was in shock. Hermione looked as though she wanted to hug Ginny and yell at her at the same time. The young version of Ginny's father was still staring at the sobbing version of her young mother. Ginny's brother's, all of them, looked fit to kill. But it was her father that worried her the most. He was never good at hiding his emotions. And, although he could hide his version of the Weasley temper, it looked as though he were losing more control by the minute.
"Hermione, would you be a dear and fetch Bill for me?" Mr. Weasley asked in a voice that begged her to argue with him. Hermione left.
"Harry." Molly began in a frail voice nobody had ever heard her use. It worried them all. "I am very disappointed in you both. I can't even yell at you." she sank back into the chair and closed her eyes as the whole of what she had just learned were just finally sinking in. Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist and she buried her face into his chest.
"Get the bloody hell away from my sister Potter." Ron yelled, charging him. Harry only had enough time to push Ginny out of harm's way when Ron tackled him to the ground and punched him in the jaw. They rolled. Harry never retaliated. He only protected his face and tried to hold Ron off. None of the Weasleys interfered.
"Ronald stop it." Hermione ordered. She tried to pull Ron off of Harry but then gave up. Bill sat on the arm of his Mother's chair and watched, a glare towards Harry firmly set on his face.
"Stop it right now Ron or I will quit being your sister." Nothing got through to him. Ron seemed beyond self control. Ginny rushed over to the pair and yanked on his shoulder. Ron pulled it out of her grasp and pummeled Harry again. Ginny refused to give up. She grabbed his arm. Big mistake. Before anyone knew what was going to happen, Ron threw his arm backward and sent Ginny flying clear across the room where she fell to the floor and hit the Weasley grandfather clock. Hermione gasped and ran to help her friend.
Harry was furious. He punched Ron so hard in the face that he fell to the floor coughing up blood and a broken tooth. Harry rushed to Ginny.
"Gin?" he asked panting with exertion. "Ginny are you alright?"
"Yes." she whispered. "Get me out of here Harry. Please."
"Are you sure you are fine Gin?" asked her very worried father, the one she had grown up loving. Her mother had come out of her shock and pushed Harry aside so that she could inspect her daughter.
"I'm fine." she repeated. She pushed herself to her knees and then to her feet. Harry grasped her arm to steady her.
"Ginny I am so sorry." Ron stammered wiping blood from his face. "I didn't mean to….You have to believe me."
"You are no longer my brother." was all she said.
"But…"
"No Ron. You could have hurt me. I could have lost it." it was apparent to everyone in the room just what 'it' was. "You are no longer my brother. Not until I am ready to forgive you."
"Ginny please think about what you are saying." Harry begged. "He loves you."
"Maybe too much. Let's go."
"You are not going anywhere until you are married." The young and old Arthur chorused.
Ginny studied them. "I am not marrying Harry." she said in general, missing the hurt look on Harry's face.
"You will marry each other even if I have to force you." Her father announced.
"You can't do that. Mum? Can they do that?" she implored gazing at both her fathers.
"If you are pregnant, underage and all of the parents agree, then yes."
"Hermione is this true?"
"Yes." she answered.
Ginny felt her heart lurch. She sank into Harry's side and he wrapped his arm around her again. "I'm too young to get married." she whispered. "And Harry would never want to marry me. Please." she begged.
"You are too young to get pregnant." Harry told her. She started to cry. "And I will marry you."
Both Ron and Hermione's jaw dropped.
It took all of ten minutes to perform the ceremony. Harry and Ginny fetched their wands and stood side by side. Since Harry had no parents, it was left to Molly and Arthur to bind the two. Arthur played parent and the Ministry Official who married them. Hermione played witness. The rest were guests.
Arthur told them to touch their wands together and repeat after him. They did. Molly was crying by the time Arthur finished the ceremony. Everyone noticed that he had skipped over the part where the wizard kissed the witch.
"Now that I'm married," Ginny began "I can leave without your permission." Arthur paled. "Take me home Harry."
Harry stared at the Weasleys with a solemn face and then he glanced at his new wife. He saw how close she was to actually breaking down. Without another thought, he grabbed her in a tight hug and used the floo network to get them to Godrick's Hollow.
For Arthur and Molly, these after wedding events seemed all too familiar.
Arthur and Molly were given Ginny's room to sleep that night. Though neither of them could sleep. Molly lay in bed that night in utter turmoil. As she allowed her fingers to toy with Arthur's red locks, she pondered what they had done to Ginny. By telling her secret, they had forced her to marry Harry Potter against her will. They had also forced her to go against her family. Molly knew that they were in trouble now. How were they ever to protect their children if their children hated them?
It turned out, that that wasn't much of a problem. That very next morning, the fifty-two year old Arthur called all of the Order Members together for an emergency meeting. This also included Harry and Ginny. When the two refused to come, he told his wife.
They came.
During the meeting Molly noticed that Harry and Ginny acted as though they had been abandoned and cornered at the same time. Ginny sat holding Harry's hand on the loveseat, while the rest of the family and Order sat around them looking like they had never seen something so intimate before.
"I still say that this was a bad idea." Alistair Moody muttered.
"And it was worse then letting this continue without acknowledging it?" Manerva McGonagal demanded.
This threw Molly and Arthur over the edge somewhat. Neither of them wanted to see their future child unhappy. Molly placed Arthur's arms around her waist as he stood behind her. They watched on.
"As much as I disagree with the way it was handled, I think it was the right thing to do." Remus Lupin but in.
"There, you see. It was a bad idea." Alistair said.
"I never…"
"Will you all just stop?" Arthur unwrapped his arms from his increasingly distressed wife, and stepped in front of her. "There is nothing to be done with this marriage now. It is a fact. They are married and going to have a baby. What we really need to talk about, is what is going to be done with this war and with schooling. Now I think that they should still remain in school and finish their education. And the only way Molly and I can protect them is to be there too."
Minerva gaped at them. "You already finished your education. You cannot go back."
"It is the only way. I am really glad you are not shocked about Molly and I coming from the past and all, but that does not mean that you can let Molly in the thick of the war."
"What?" Molly demanded from behind him. "I most certainly will be in the thick of it. If that is where my babies are then that is where I am too."
Arthur stared knowingly at Minerva. She finally understood.
Minerva looked at Harry and Ginny, then at both Arthurs and Mollys. "Alright. We'll think of something."
"Good." the elder Molly said.
Her younger self grew angry.
"What dear? I may be you in the future but I have to agree somewhat with Arthur. I love my children too much to let them die. And this way, you can do what Gid and Fabe wanted and watch out for them."
"She makes sound sense." Her husband smiled.
The pregnant Molly frowned. She glared at all three of them and then brushed past her husband to plop herself on the loveseat next to Ginny. "I'm on your side." she muttered.
"There are no sides." Remus replied.
"What year did you graduate Hogwarts?" The young Molly inquired.
"1977." Remus Lupin shared a confused look with Arthur.
"Well I graduated in 1967. I'm older then you so shut your mouth."