Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, it belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Thoughts

They were sitting at the kitchen table at the Burrow.

Arthur held out a vial filled with a clear liquid to his wife. "Three drops, or I'm gone."

"Arthur, I…"

"It's here and now, or you'll answer in court, Molly."

Gwendolyn decided that this is how Arthur must have looked like to the Death Eaters. Serious, implacable, and cold as ice.

Pale faced; Molly sat down at the kitchen table and allowed Arthur to feed her three drops of Veritaserum. Her eyes glazed over, and she answered in a monotone.

"Did you give me any potions before we started dating?" Arthur asked her.

"Yes."

"What potions did you give me before we started dating?"

"Level 1 love potions."

"How did you give them to me?"

"I poured them in your pumpkin juice every morning."

"How long did you feed them to me?"

"Every day for two months until you asked me out to Hogsmeade."

Arthur hesitated. They all knew Molly had done that. She'd bragged about it before. Although she had implied it had only been once, not every day for two whole months.

"Did you give me any potions after we started dating?"

"Yes."

Arthur swayed and Bill hurried to pull out a chair for him to sit in.

"What potions did you give dad from after you started dating until the day I was conceived? And how long did you give him each one for?" Bill asked her.

"A Level 2 potion every day for a month, a Level 3 every day for two months and then a Level 4 every day for a week."

"Was I conceived while dad was under the effects of a love potion?" Bill asked her.

"Yes."

"Which one?"

"A Level 4 love potion."

"Fuck," Gwen cursed, "That's only slightly below Amortentia."

Bill shrugged, "I always knew there was something wrong with me."

"We still love you Bill." Gwen reassured him.

Percy, the twins, and Charlie chimed in with their agreement.

"Just don't break the law," Percy admonished him.

"Or get caught!" The twins giggled as Percy glared at them.

"Or hurt our siblings." Charlie smiled and grabbed Bill's shoulder.

At 15, Charlie was bigger and broader than his 17-years-old brother. Bill was still taller though.

"You know I'd never hurt them." Bill reassured him, "You guys are mine."

They smiled at his possessiveness.

Arthur watched them in interest, his eyes taking in everything that was happening. "Why would me being under a love potion affect Bill?"

Percy answered him, "The Russians did several studies to try and understand what effects being conceived under a love potion had on children. The effects are much worse if the mother is being drugged during the pregnancy, but the father being potioned during the intercourse is enough to cause permanent damage."

Fred continued, "Level 1 have no effect on the kids."

George, "But they're also not enough to make someone sleep with you unless they're already attracted to you."

Gwen, "Level 2 means the children have difficulty forming romantic attachments."

Charlie, "Level 3 makes them incapable of forming romantic attachments."

Bill finished, "And Level 4 makes us incapable of forming romantic attachments and we lack empathy."

Arthur looked pale, "I'll want to read those studies." He looked back at Molly and fed her 3 more drops to keep her under, "Was I under a love potion when I married you?"

"No."

"When did you stop giving me love potions?"

"Two days before the wedding."

"Did you give me love potions at any point after our wedding and before Charlie was conceived?"

"Yes."

"When did you give it to me and which one?"

"The day after, a Level 3 potion."

"How many of our children were conceived while I was under a love potion?"

"All of them."

"What potion was I under when Charlie was conceived?"

"Level 3."

"What potion was I under when Percy was conceived?"

"Level 3"

"What potion was I under when the twins were conceived?"

"Level 2"

"What potion was I under when Gwendolyn was conceived?"

"Level 2."

Arthur took a deep breath, "Am I under a love potion now?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because of the Ministry's yearly check-up."

Arthur laughed. It was a wretched, grim laugh, "So you've drugged me for so long that I actually fell in love with you?"

It wasn't a real question.

Molly answered anyway. "Yes."

§§§

Now that they knew for sure, Charlie went out to meet his soulmate, and, after swearing her to secrecy, explained to her why he would never be able to love her like she deserved.

"She doesn't care," Charlie told them, wonder in his voice. "I mean," he corrected himself, "she cares that something so horrible happened to us, but she doesn't care that I'll never love her romantically, and that I have no interest in sex."

Percy frowned, "That's not one of the effects."

Gwendolyn slapped the back of his head, "Some people just don't like sex, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Oh, I like it," Charlie admitted, "I just don't want it most of the time."

"And she doesn't care?" Bill asked him seriously.

"No, she said she can use toys if she wants an orgasm, that we're great friends, and as long as I want to start a family one day, in the far, far future after we're both satisfied with our careers, then she'll marry me after we graduate." Charlie grinned.

Gwendolyn looked sceptical, "Immediately after?"

"No, no." Charlie waved his hands around. "When we're older. Like 20 or 30." Charlie smiled, "She wants to be an Auror and I want to work with dragons. The closest dragon reserve is in Romania so that's what I'm aiming for. We're planning to save up enough to buy a permanent international Portkey I can use to commute."

"A long-distance relationship," Gwendolyn smiled, "Good luck with that. I'm sure you're both stubborn enough to make it work." Those Portkey cost a shitton.

Charlie grinned, "Thank you."

Bill sighed, "I hope my soulmate will be as understanding as yours."

"Same," Percy agreed.

I went through 4 lives before this one and I've never met my soulmate. "There's no guarantee that you'll meet them."

"That's true." Bill agreed.

"I hope we don't have another soulmate." Fred told them, rubbing his twin's name written in gold on his right wrist.

"Yeah, what if they mess up our dynamic?" George whined.

Gwendolyn laughed, "You do know that a name appears on the right side of one's body only if they have two soulmates? The first one on the right and the second on the left. If you have one soulmate it will appear on the left immediately." She nodded towards Charlie, "Like his did."

"Nooo!" The twins wailed.

§§§

Muriel, per her brother's will, couldn't help Molly. She could, however, help Arthur and the children.

They moved into Prewett manor, leaving Molly at the Burrow, and Arthur started attending sessions with a private Mind Healer to deal with the revelations, and a private Healer to try and reverse the damage done to his body (mostly to his brain chemistry, kidneys and liver).

St Mungus Healers were required to report any law breaking, and Arthur didn't want to mess up Molly's relationship with her colleagues, so the Stars Clinic was out.

News, however, travelled fast in their community, and soon every wixen knew that the Weasley, two of Dumbledore's staunchest supporters and the only two purebloods to have more than three kids (not for lack of trying. Purebloods were just known to have problems conceiving), were having marital troubles.

That Lady Prewett had taken Arthur's side had many eyeing Molly in suspicion. The Lady in question had, with Arthur's permission, spread the rumour that they'd married too young, the war had made everything feel more pressing, and now that they were at peace the spark had just fizzled out.

Most pureblood marriages had the spouses sleeping in separate rooms, living in different wings of the manor, or different houses entirely. That Arthur had chosen to move himself and his children to a bigger, better place wasn't out of place.

Divorce may not be possible with wixen marriage vows, but separation was often encouraged to prevent a murder, and from raising their children in a toxic environment. Very few pureblood wixen vowed fidelity.

This was not the case with Molly and Arthur. They had vowed fidelity to each other.

Now, the only thing that could break their marriage bond was Molly being magically disowned (which would affect her children's social standing too so it wasn't an option) or for one of them to meet their soulmate.

Soulmate bonds always destroy any existing marriage bonds or betrothal contracts.

§§§

Fred and George started Hogwarts.