Four months later
It was still dark outside but Arthur was already sitting at the kitchen tables, going through newspapers. Old muggle newspapers because it had been weeks ago since the last ones were printed. There wasn't a company open, everything had shut down even the governments of the muggles. Cities abandoned, whole neighborhoods empty. The remaining muggles were smart enough to stay hidden in forests in the middle of nowhere. But still every day more and more of them were found and executed on the spot. Just a few of them weren't killed immediately. But their fate was worse than the ones that were murdered instantly.
Hogwarts had changed since Arthur had lived and learned there. The last headmaster had retired and the new one certainly had never liked muggles in the beginning. The subject Muggle studies had been deserted a long time ago but suddenly it had revived because of the recent troubles with the muggles. But not in the way that it had always been. It wasn't a subject about how muggles lived but more how to take care of muggles that stood in your way and how to find them.
Arthur wasn't the only parent who got his children off school, many others did the same even though it could result in a trial before the court for sympathizing with the enemy, the muggles. Arthur didn't know what happened to muggles that were held captive on Hogwarts but it couldn't be too good. The Daily Prophet talked about educational purposes to teach the children how they should defend their selves but there wasn't talked about the specifics.
But if it was the same as what happened at the Ministry, Arthur pitied them. Any muggle that was proven to be involved in rebel actions or in the war were used by Aurors to test their skills on. To teach young Aurors what to do in case of a rebelling prisoner or a prisoner outbreak. Not that there was a real chance of an outbreak, it seemed that they just wanted revenge for the killed wizards and witches in the war.
Arthur's glaze moved from the paper to the corner of the table to a pile of papers. He had been thinking about this for a while now. The war was won by the magical society and there were barely any muggles left but he was still interested in them. Observing them in their own city and with their normal behavior was impossible even without the war. Arthur was getting to old for things like he had done when documenting about the function of a rubber duck.
For weeks and weeks he had magically tracked every rubber duck that he could find and hid in bushes close to the houses to follow every move of the muggles inside. It was obvious that the muggles were very attached to their rubber ducks because every time Arthur had found them with the yellow thing, they started screaming at him and throwing strange bottles at him through the window. Some even yelled that they were going to call the police, something similar to Aurors Arthur had heard.
No he had to find another way. Arthur reached over and grabbed the pile and a quill. The first few questions were easy, who he was, where he lived and how old he was. The next few were more difficult. Why did he think he could handle a muggle, where would he keep the muggle for they couldn't have escaped muggles running around the towns?
Arthur penned down that he had worked as an Auror for two years, not telling why he stopped. He also wrote that he had a lot of experience with muggles, having a job at the Ministry as a muggle expert for at least a decade. That was the answer for the first difficult question. The second one he needed more time but in the end he just wrote that the muggle would stay at his house, protective spells around the house to keep the muggle from escaping.
Arthur couldn't imagine the muggle wanting to escape. If the muggle was just as curious about magic as he was about them, he was sure they would just get along fine. The muggle might even be glad he was safe from the less friendly wizards and dangers.
About two hours later he was done filling in the papers, most of them completely useless questions according to him. Putting the papers in an envelope he walked towards the window to look for one of the family's owls. Pigwigeon was the only one there, staring at him with his enormous eyes.
Arthur suddenly wasn't so sure about sending the papers by owl, it wasn't that he didn't like Pigwigeon but it was just… That owl was something beyond stupid, it was always a miracle if he entered the house without breaking at least two things. Arthur finally decided to just take the papers with him to work so that he could immediately hand them to the man responsible.
''Arthur are you sure you would want to take on this kind of responsibility?'' the skinny wizard asked him, looking suspiciously at the envelope that Arthur had pushed into his hands. Arthur nodded slightly irritated, why couldn't the man just accept his request? He had barely heard of any others who's requests for a muggle got denied.
''A muggle even though captured is still dangerous Arthur. He can be dangerous to your kids'' the man continued. ''I don't know if you even got the right certificates to ke…'' Arthur took another messy pile of papers out of the bag and put it on the envelope in the man's hands. ''That's the Auror certificate of mine, that's my work about muggle behavior and that's my N.E.W.T certificate'' the last one had excellent grades for Muggle studies and for Defense against the Dark Arts.
But the skinny wizard again shook his head. Arthur got irritated, wanting to ask why his request was denied before it was even considered. But at that moment he heard footsteps closing in on them. Familiar footsteps. Before he had even turned around he already knew who it was, Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy to be exact. ''Are there any problems, Marius?''
Arthur thought about taking the papers with him and leaving, he didn't want to spend a minute longer in Lucius presence. But the man with the long blonde hair had already opened the envelope in Marius hands. Arthur opened his mouth to protest but Lucius was quicker. ''A request for a muggle?'' his eyebrows rose. A small smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, clearly amused by it.
''Yes, I was just about to tell him his request was denied'' Marius quickly said, turning to Arthur and glaring at him. Lucius was respected, or a better word for it 'feared', at the Minstry. Marius certainly didn't want to get in trouble with him.
''No, accept his request'' Lucius said while browsing through the pages, angering Arthur more and more. He then looked up from the papers, his smile becoming wider and looking at Arthur. ''Accept his request. I would love to see Arthur handle a muggle. You said that they were equal to us, right?'' His bright white teeth showed through his smile, grinning slightly. ''It isn't like the Weasley's could afford a house elf. So let them have a muggle, cheaper and more to their… standing''
Arthur was close to exploding by now, his face going as red as his hair, but he kept his mouth shut his lips forming a thin line. ''Don't worry Arthur, if he gets too difficult you just need to ask me to take care of it'' Malfoy grinned before pushing the papers back in Marius' hands and leaving, his cloak waving in the movement of his walking.
Arthur glared at him as he saw Lucius leaving the hallway. Marius sighed deeply and opened the door to his office behind him. ''Arthur, come in. You first need to work through a few more papers and documents.''
It was certainly a lot more than just a few more papers and documents. For the rest of the day Arthur was busy with filling in every question on the parchment. Questions about insurance if something happened to him, questions about if he wanted to change his will and a complete relinquish on any claims on the Ministry. Arthur had frowned and Marius had explained him bored that there weren't any specific muggle documents so they used the standard ones for dangerous animals like dragons.
In the evening Arthur was out again, his hand hurting of the many writing. The next task would prove to be even harder he thought when going back to his home. He had to tell his family and especially his wife about his decision to take a muggle into their home.
At the beginning of the evening meal, Arthur had to ask for their attention three times before they finally listened. It had been even worse when Bill and Percy still lived at home, then it was almost impossible to get their attention. ''I've decided something that's important for everyone of us here'' Arthur began, getting the attention of his sons and daughter. His wife stopped conducting the pans and cutlery to the table, the objects floating in midair.
''I've decided that we will take a muggle into our home'' Arthur said, feeling relieved now he had finally said it. After three or four seconds the flood of questions came. ''Why dad?'' was the first question of his daughter. ''Is he going to be a house elf?'' Ron's question sounded half a second later. ''Awesome!'' the twins said simultaneously, already clearly thinking of any experiments on them like they had tried before on the rest of their family.
But before Arthur could answer any of their questions, his wife had regained full consciousness. The pans and utensils fell on the floor. ''Arthur Weasley!'' her voice boomed through the dining room, silencing everyone. Arthur turned his head to her slowly, knowing that he had made a mistake by not informing her earlier or even asking her opinion about the matter. ''Kitchen, now!'' her voice was softer but a lot colder and icier.
''You didn't even ask me anything! You can't just take a muggle into this house without even informing me!'' Molly shouted at him after slamming the door behind them. Not that it mattered much, she yelled that loud that it could even be heard outside of the house. ''But honey, otherwise the muggle will end up in Azka…'' before he was interrupted. ''I don't care where the muggle will end up! Not in my house!''
Molly had respected her man's obsession about muggles but that went as far as the doorstep. No muggles in her home, especially not after the war. Why should she allow an enemy to enter her house? It was just too dangerous! ''You will go right back to the Ministry that you have changed your mind about it! No muggle here!''
Arthur bit on his tongue. ''I can't! Lucius Malfoy knows about it'' That was enough to silence Molly for a moment. The Weasleys have been made fun of by the Malfoys for as long as the families existed. She didn't want to lose face against them. Molly didn't reply but turned around and marched back into the dining room, sitting down in her chair and putting food on her plate.
Her children stared at her, curious about the outcome. Would there be a muggle in their home or not? Their father soon too returned to the dining room, starting to eat. Molly looked up for a moment. ''Eat your vegetables Ron!'' she said before resuming her own dinner.
The rest of the meal was in silence, all in their own thoughts about it. It was clear that Molly didn't want to hear any more questions about it, or anything else for that matter.