A./N.: Hello everyone. I want to thank you all so much for reading my story (and obviously liked it). This is the second to last chapter. I split it up because it is so emotionfilled and the next one will be too. Please give me your honest opinion. Never fear if it leave some questions unanswered, I have a sequel planned. It should be up in a few days and will be called "You Have Been Warned". I hope I can count on your support and your reviews.

LG Ilane

Love Conquers All (1)

Arthur had understood his wife's need for space this evening. After he had come back from his rampage Molly had still lain in the Hospital Wing with her face turned towards the wall, and he had stayed talking with various Order members. He had then wandered into their room and cleaned up the mess left behind by Molly's outburst, out of habit ... or just stalling the inevitable he wasn't quite sure.

When he finally decided to face Molly's rightful anger, he opened the door of their room and moved stealthily towards the Hospital Wing, only to find her clad in her pyjamas and robe, curled up on the covers of the hospital bed. He made no apologies, and knew that she would be the one to initiate the conversation when she was ready. He transfigured his clothes into pyjamas then he sat in the armchair, he conjured up opposite her bed, and stared into the fireplace, watching the flames dance. After what seemed like an eternity he finally spoke since she made no attempt to.

"Were you going to tell me?" he asked softly. "Or were you just going to rage and leave me in the dark?"

He broke his gaze from the fireplace to look at his wife; she still wouldn't meet his eyes with her own. But then she spoke softly and honestly.

"I wanted to, and knew I needed to, but how was I supposed to begin the conversation?"

She continued to stare into the fire, and he could see tears forming in her eyes.

"How could I tell, the love of my life, that I am pregnant from another man? That I am carrying the child of your worst enemy?"

He could see the tears falling down her cheeks. He moved to sit on the bed to comfort her, but she still refused his touch.

"Molly, I was upset", he confessed softly, instinctively knowing that the truth was the only way to handle this situation. Lies or false reassurances would get him nowhere. "My hopes were crushed ... like yours, I'm sure. But you must know that I would never be angry at you. Never stop loving you ..."

"And my child?" whispered Molly barely audible.

She wrapped her arms around her abdomen and curled in on herself protectively, cradling her unborn child. Arthur wanted to touch her so badly that he ached. He wanted to reassure her but again he found himself unable to say the simple words. It was again coming down to the same question Narcissa had asked.

"I will never leave you ..."

"But I want you to go", she said without any strength in her voice anymore. Her fight had long since left her, fleeing the constant battering from Lucius Malfoy.

"I won't go. I should have stayed in Headquarters with you; seen you safe, protect you ..."

"I wanted you to go and help the Order, and I meant it!" She twitched her shoulders impatiently. "But it doesn't matter now." She took a firmer hold on herself and sat up straight, still facing away from Arthur. "I just want to know one thing", she said, her voice trembling only a little. "I want to know why you came back."

He sat his jaw firmly. Truth was he kept asking himself that same question.

"Did you not want me to come back?"

"Never mind what I wanted. What I want now is to know. Did you come back because you wanted to – or because you thought you should?"

Arthur looked at her for a long moment, then down at his hands, still clasped together.

"Perhaps both. Perhaps neither. I don't know", he said very softly. "That's God's truth; I don't know."

Molly was silent for a moment, then nodded. She looked at him straight on, her gaze the twin of her daughter's.

"I don't want to live with you, if you came back for duty", she said. She looked at him then, her eyes soft with pain. "I've seen my parents' marriage made from obligation – and I've been in one made for love. If I hadn't ..." She stopped and swallowed, then went on, looking at Arthur. "It I hadn't seen both, I could have lived with obligation. But I have seen both – and I won't."

Arthur felt as though someone had struck him in the breastbone. Their marriage, she meant. They had married for love and changing that seemed like a crime. He coughed to break the silence and cleared his throat. Before he could say anything, Charlie burst through the door.

Usually his second eldest son was calm and even-tempered but now he was seething with uncontainable anger. He stormed up to the bed on which his mother lay. He stopped in front of his father and grabbed him by the lapels, hoisting him up effortlessly.

"You are an idiot, Dad!" he screamed. "I was looking all over the place for you to bash some sense into your thick head. Mum is laying here, bleeding and in pain, crying her heart out because she thinks she lost you forever, and, you jackass, just run off! Then I come back here and hear you tell Mum you don't love her anymore and don't know why you came back to her!"

"Charles Alexander Weasley!"

Molly's faint gasp of horror didn't register at first in her enraged son's mind. Then he suddenly let go of his father and stepped back. His head was bowed but he looked up again, glaring fiercely at his father.

"You are still her husband and my father", he started, taking deep breaths all the time. "I never thought you could hurt Mum like that. But you have and I give you until MY little sister is born. You have till then to decide why you're here – and convince her of it. And she will then choose whether she wants to remain married to you – or whether you'll leave and trouble her no more. And don't be mistaken, father", Charlie spat out the last word in disgust, "Bill and I will make damn sure you won't."

"Charlie, I ..." Molly began but Charlie just shook his head and Bill walked over to stand next to his younger brother.

"He is right, Mummy", her eldest said gently. "We told you so before, you can count on all your children's support ... good thing that there are so many," he tried to joke then he turned to his father and his voice grew grave again. "You will live with us as her husband. But if you touch her unwilling, I'll rip your heart out. You understand?"

"BILL! That's enough!" Ginny's voice rang through the Hospital Wing as she walked menacingly closer towards her brothers. She looked remarkably like her mother and Bill and Charlie instinctively shrank away from her. "This is still our Dad we are talking about. He is NOT Lucius Malfoy ..."

She was forcefully interrupted by her father.

"You think I'd trouble a woman who didn't want me?" he asked witheringly. "Especially your mother who is pregnant and under strict orders not to engage in sexual intercourse for the sake of her child?"

Ginny whipped around and Molly's eyes filled involuntarily with tears. Both had noted the 'her child' when Arthur had before made it so painstakingly clear that it was 'their child'. Molly couldn't hold back her tears any longer and buried her head in her hands. Arthur didn't wait for an answer but glared his two eldest sons down and gave them both a stern talking to.

"When I married your mother, I listened intently to the vows I was about to make. They said 'in health and in sickness' and 'for better or for worse' and most importantly 'until death do us part'. I meant every word of those vows because I loved your mother. I ... I still do."

Molly knew he was telling her the truth. She felt the same way about him. Her tears continued to flow, but they were now tears of joy. So he hadn't forgotten that once they had married for love? He still felt something for her. Not obligations but still love.

Arthur closed his eyes and was again presented with images from a much happier past. Images of him coming home from work and finding Molly on the floor, holding Bill in her lap. She smiling up at him and helping Bill to stand. Then his little boy taking his first wobbly steps towards his daddy all alone. He had flung his bag away and knelt down, catching his son as he fell forward. The delighted laughter from Molly had turned him around and he saw her laughing at him lovingly. She had looked so happy then, so careless, so genuinely at peace.

"I am not angry at your mother", he whispered suddenly. "Nothing could be further from my mind. You have to understand that it came as a shock ..."

"And you think I like the thought any more than you do?" Molly asked stingingly. She eyed him strangely.

As Arthur looked at her, she trembled. She wanted to tell him that she understood, and that he was forgiven, but her voice simply wouldn't comply with her heart's wishes.

"No, of course not, Molly", he whispered back, bowing his head in defeat. "I am sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for yelling at you and I'm sorry for leaving you. This damn anger and hatred had me running to find Malfoy. To rip his heart out and kill him for all the pain he put you through, our children, our family ... myself."

He came slowly closer to her and sat down next to her on the bed, not daring to touch her.

"I told you I will love this child as my own ..."

"Will you really be able to look at her and not see M-Malfoy in her? Will you really be able to love her?" Molly interrupted him, wringing her hands in her lap.

This was the moment of truth, she knew. When he gave her a negative answer she wouldn't know what to do. She still loved Arthur with all her heart but how could she have a marriage with him if she felt the touch of another, saw him in her dreams, carried his child or even worse had to abort it. She couldn't make this sacrifice.

"I will be honest with you, Molly", Arthur said, heaving a sigh. "At first I will accept the child because of you and the love I feel for you. Given time I am positive that I can love her for her own sake and overlook how she was conceived and who fathered her. I meant it. I will be her father."

She heard his plea "don't shut me out" and her heart answered for her. Although her voice didn't work, her body did – and she propelled herself into his arms.

Their lips met in the gentlest of kisses. Each trying to convey the love they had for one another, the understanding. She knew he would be angry and had accepted it even before his outburst. She had felt the same way – the room was living proof of that.

Arthur understood his wife's insecurities. They would have the hell of a road ahead of them but they could and would make it together. Because ... what was that old adage again? Oh, yeah, Love conquers all.