Noctilucent: visible during the short night of the summer.
June 20, 1967
Arthur Weasley woke abruptly to a rap on his window.
"Wha's'at?" he mumbled groggily, fumbling for his glasses.
The rap came again, more impatient. Arthur shoved his glasses on and made to slide out of bed, but got tangled in the sheets and fell instead. Groaning, he picked himself up and staggered over to open the window.
"Took you long enough. Budge up so I can get through."
"What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" he asked, goggling as none other than Molly Prewett scrambled over his sill.
"Coming to get you," she told him. "Get some clothes on, you can't leave the house in pajamas."
"But where are we –"
"Hurry, or we'll miss it!" she interrupted, pulling open his dresser drawer and flinging robes at him.
"How did you even get here? You live in Essex, don't you?"
"I apparated of course."
"But you're only sixteen!" Arthur spluttered, quite forgetting that he was halfway through getting dressed.
"So? They let sixth years do it in the village. I watched your lessons," she said over her shoulder, keeping her eyes closed as he changed.
"So? Molly, that's illegal! You could splinch yourself!"
"Quite right, which is why you're going to have to handle the rest of the traveling tonight. Are you ready yet?"
"But where are we –"
"Back to my house. I'll show you from there."
Molly turned around as Arthur finished doing up his robes and took his hand. He gave her a dubious look. She just smiled and squeezed his fingers.
"You're just going to have to trust me, Arthur Weasely."
"Alright then," he sighed. His grip tightened around her hand as he spun and a moment later they were standing in front of the Prewetts' small cottage nestled in a grove of willow trees.
Molly didn't drop his hand when they landed. Instead, she pulled him forward, looking up at the sky through the branches above.
"It hasn't started yet, but it will soon."
"What is it?"
"Come on!"
Arthur laughed as they ran along the rutted, twisting forest path. "Are you kidnapping me?"
"Yes, hurry!" Molly ordered through her giggles.
Finally they burst out of the trees and charged up a small, grassy slope, the velvet sky unfurling before them. Molly threw herself down on the soft ground without letting go of his hand, and he was pulled down half on top of her.
"You're mad," he laughed. "What is it you've dragged me out here for?"
Molly gave him an impish smile, rolling so that she pinned him. She dropped her lips to an inch above his, their noses almost touching. Then she rolled away.
"Guess you'll just have to wait and see."
They lay side by side on the hilltop, staring up into the boundless heavens. They were carefully not touching, but Arthur could feel warmth radiating from her, just inches away. He listened to the wind rustling through the woods, fell into glittering sky above, let the heady scent of wildflowers smother him, but still he was acutely aware of Molly just beside him, could still feel her on top of him.
And then something streaked across the sky. Arthur pushed himself up on his elbows as Molly gasped. One, two, three more streaks shot blindingly bright from one edge of the dome to the other, leaving fiery trails behind.
"It's amazing," Molly breathed.
He looked sideways at her, dusted silver in the starlight, fiery light flashing across her face. "Yeah… it is."
He felt her fingers slide back into his and swallowed painfully.
"Molly… I'd really like to kiss you right now."
She was still gazing up at the sky. "So do it."
Arthur bowed his head close to hers. "I would if you're little brothers weren't watching."
Molly whipped around. There was a frantic rustling and muffled giggles as two shadows rolled back to the bottom of the hill.
"Fabian and Gideon Prewett, get your little bums up here right now."
There was silence.
"Come on, then. Now!" Molly called sternly.
Slowly, the shadows crawled back up the hill until the identical faces of Molly's ten-year-old brothers grew into distinction, mixed between mischievous and apprehensive.
"What are you doing out here at this time of night?" she scolded.
"What are you doing?" one of them shot back, and Arthur held back a laugh at how alike Molly and her brothers were.
"I'm nearly of age. I can do what I like," Molly told them primly. "You lot are little sneaks."
"We're sorry," the other one said in a tremulous voice, looking at his sister with wide blue eyes. "We only wanted to see the meteors, but it's scary in the dark, so we stayed close to you."
Molly instantly softened. "You're a bunch of suck-ups, too," she said, but they could all tell she'd been won over. "Alright, then, come up and watch the rest of it with us and we won't tell mum, hm?"
The boys grinned. They scrambled up to wedge themselves between Molly and Arthur. One curled up under Molly's arm, using her stomach as a pillow, the other leaned against Arthur's knees as if he'd done it a hundred times. Arthur started. He was the youngest in his family by several years. He'd always been awkward around children. He tentatively reached down and ruffled the kid's hair.
The four of them settled in to watch the universe's brand of magic.
A/N: Yeah, so I know, this is total whiplash. Hope you aren't getting tossed about too much. But Molly and Arthur. They always had kids between them, lol. It was just there from the start. Thank you all for your wonderful comments! Love you!