The Weasleys were Harry and Hermione's de facto family in the magical world with Molly Weasley filling in as a mother figure. At the same time, her own kids were often in the firing line when Voldemort took over and she lost one of her own. She lost her own brothers during the First Wizarding War.

Burrow Mother

The Yule season was almost upon them. A time for family and to give thanks. Molly stretched her back, feeling the bones in her spine creak. Her surviving little ones were all grown now, many parents themselves. Snow. Heavy snow was expected over the weekend. Would Charlie fly in before the weather cut him off? Charlie never liked portkeys or the Floo. They saw little enough of their second child as it was.

She graced her Arthur with a peck on the cheek when he stepped in through the Floo with the Christmas goose. The tree was twinkling with fairy lights and there was a gaudy singing elf on the shelf which looked nothing like a house-elf. All the children would back for the festive season. The grandchildren too. Teddy Lupin was walking out with Bill's eldest girl. It would hurt later, she supposed, when the Burrow emptied out.

Bill and Fleur had their little cottage by the sea. Percy, George, and Ron had made their family homes in London. Charlie lived in Romania, when he was not flying about taming dragons or whatever he got up to. She had long despaired of him finding a match. Ginny had hung on the longest at the Burrow, until Harry finally got the Potter townhouse fixed up for them to move in. The last of her children had flown. Even when Harry and Ginny were living with them, they were more often out of the home – Harry pulling long hours and weekends as an Auror on the case, Ginny flying about training or competing in the Holyhead Harpies.

Fred Weasley beamed from the photo Arthur took of the twins when they got their OWLs. It hung above the mantel, alongside the photo of her twin brothers. Molly charmed the dust off the photos and yelled at the family ghoul to stop tossing the old furniture about the attic. The old ghoul still got cranky when it felt the Burrow too quiet. The ghoul had not quite forgiven them for leaving it behind when the Death Eaters were after the family.

Bill and Fleur were the first to Floo in with their children. The pair were as loving as always. Bill always looked a little peaked despite his wife's best efforts. The three children had inherited the Veela-blond hair of their mother. The girls had inherited their mother's ethereal beauty and their brother his father's good looks, at least before the scarring. Charlie flew in next, a little worse for the wear with the snow that was just starting up. He crash-landed in the garden and tracked mud and slush through the living room. She ordered him to go to the bathroom and take a bath as he reeked of mud and dragon manure.

Percy and his family turned up next. Audrey was a working mom. They left their two girls in the care of a house-elf hired for their townhouse while they worked. Molly had made a fuss to Audrey about whether the girls were being properly cared for, enough to offend poor Topsy. Topsy now refused to visit the Burrow or attend to Molly when she visited Percy's townhouse. Now the redhaired girls batted a pink fairypuff about the living room. Percy never really came back, not fully, after he walked out on them during the height of the war. There was always that gulf. He had begged for and received the forgiveness of his family at Fred's funeral, but he had walked a different path from his brothers. He was their polite son of course, the one who followed his father into the Ministry, but his ambitions would take him further than his father.

Next were the Potters and their godson. Harry always considered Teddy as his son. Ginny had recently started working for the Daily Prophet as a sports reporter. Molly was a little perturbed by the awkward distance between the couple. Ginny was chatting with someone on one of those new-fangled mobiles while Potter helped his youngest tie her hair ribbons. She had offered to care for the children while the parents were at work, but Harry politely declined. Albus was soon starting at Hogwarts. They had arranged for Andy Tonks to help with little Lily. They preferred to have the children in London. Molly wondered if like George and Angie, it had been too fast too soon.

Angie turned up next in the Floo to drop off her children and presents. She had an appointment elsewhere and would collect Freddy and Roxanne at half past nine. Molly tried to be polite, being Christmas and all, but she still blamed Angie for not being patient enough with her son. Divorce was unseemly. Proper witches are expected to grin and put up with their husbands' foibles. Nothing could convince Molly otherwise. Angelina was normally gone by the time her ex turned up.

Hugo and Rose turned up alone in the Floo. Their mom had been held back at the Ministry and told them to go ahead. Their dad was at Uncle George's. Molly grumbled a bit about irresponsible parents. Rose cut her off, stating she was old enough to look after herself and her brother. An apologetic Hermione would turn up horribly late after Molly had served the pudding. The Minister for Magic's work was never done.

Ron dragged George in through the Floo just before half-past seven. Her youngest boy dropped a kiss on his children's brows and gave his mother a peck on the cheek. He asked that they start without his wife as there was no telling how long she would be delayed. They could set aside some goose and taters for her. The younger children were likely hungry by now.

Bill found Teddy and Victoire snogging in Ginny's old bedroom. Words were exchanged between Harry and his godson. Little Lucy found a stray doxy in the Christmas tree and got bit. Charlie regaled his family with tales of his latest trip into the Andes to look for the elusive Fairy-winged Dragonet with the famous magizoologists Rolf and Luna Scamander.

Freddy and Roxanne preferred their Grandpa Arthur's company to George. George had been absent from his children's lives for so long he did not know how to approach them. He brought a fairypuff each from his store for the children, which were quickly abandoned to their younger cousins Lily and Lucy. There was a little argument between Albus and his father over some mischief he got up to with the Malfoy kid just before the break. After Freddy went into Hufflepuff, the Hat sorted Albus into Slytherin because Albus asked to be different from his elder brother James.

Molly had always dreamed of a happy family, but she had to admit few were. They had worried so much over money back then. Poor Ron had to go to school with second, third or even fourth-hand robes and stuff. She had been angry with him when he complained, as they could not afford new things. She had yelled at Arthur once or twice over his obsession with Muggle trash. Her girlhood had been idyllic or perhaps it appeared so through the lens of nostalgia. Aunt Muriel had been just as gossipy even back then. Her elder brothers rarely home, even before they joined the Order.

Slowly, the children and grandchildren left after dinner. There had been a spot of unpleasantness when Angeline turned up to pick up her children, but George was not quite willing to let them go yet. Charlie retired early, claiming he had an early meeting the next morning in Wales. It was just the two old folks left in the kitchen.

Molly wished Hermione were not so busy or that George was not divorced. She hoped things were aright between Ginny and Harry. Surely Ginny could not mean to spend her days chasing after those Quidditch matches again. And Harry too, checking in and out of St Mungo's with all manner of nasty injuries in the course of his work as Head Auror. Just because you survived the Killing Curse twice doesn't give you the right to take as many curses as possible for your fellow Aurors. She wished Bill and Percy's families spent more time in the Burrow, and that Charlie would finally settle down. She wished…

If there were not a second war, perhaps there would not have been a rift between Percy and his family that lingered even now. Perhaps Harry and Hermione would not feel so compelled to live up to everyone's expectations as the Chosen One or the brightest witch of her generation. Expectations on their shoulders that remained long after the dust settled. Bill would not have been attacked by a werewolf and badly scarred.

Fred. She wished Fred had lived… If he had, would George be in less of a state? Perhaps he would have found a more supportive wife instead of hooking up with Angie. Perhaps Ron would not need to spend so much time making sure his brother did not work himself to death over their joke business.

Tears came to her eyes.

"Mollywobbles, thank you for the wonderful dinner," Arthur kissed his wife on the cheek. He hugged her from behind and breathed in the scent of her hair.

Molly Weasley nee Prewett smiled as her very core glowed. Arthur was with her - everything was just right.

Author's Notes:

A little insight into the postwar family dynamics in the extended Weasley clan. I do not think it will be all happy families for everyone. There are some tensions between the couples, but they are working through things in their own way.

I believe being born of parents who lived through events as tumultuous as a war would have some effects. It may be something as minor as parents stockpiling food for fear of storages or being raised by paranoid, distrustful parents who teach you the rest of the world is out to get you. The war would have affected Molly's children and their peers and affected how they form relationships with their own kids later.