Molly

Molly jumped with a start as she heard the front door open. The living room was completely dark, even the fire was down to its last few embers. She had only meant to close her eyes for a few minutes, but she must have been asleep for hours. It was becoming a common occurrence now as she reached the end of pregnancy, with twins no less. But despite her exhaustion, she always tried to stay up until Arthur returned home.

"Arthur?" she said wearily.

"Coming, Molly," came Arthur's cheery voice.

A little too cheerful, Molly noted. It was the tone of voice he adopted only when he had done something he knew would make her cross, or if something serious had happened but he did not want her to worry.

"Is everything all right?"

No reply. Silence apart from the sound of more shuffling in the corridor, and hushed voices as the door clicked shut.

"I'll tell her—"

"Not looking like that you won't—she'll have a heart attack! We should—"

"No—"

"Who else is with you?" Molly said. Growing increasingly concerned, she pushed herself up from her armchair and she had to pause for a moment, one hand on her belly and the other on the armchair, to regain her breath. She had had an upset tummy all day, and the babies were moving rather more excitedly than usual. "Arthur?"

The door to the living room opened suddenly, but instead of Arthur standing in the doorway it was—

"Gideon!"

"Bloody hell, it's dark in here," Gideon said. He waved his wand and the fire lept up in the grate.

Molly had to blink a few times as her eyes adjusted to the new brightness. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night? And don't curse in my house. The children are upstairs!"

"Yes, Gideon," said Fabian, as he too entered the room. He smacked his brother on the shoulder. "So rude!"

"Sorry, Molls," Gideon apologised. He came in and kissed Molly on the cheek. "I meant no harm."

"Why are you here?"

"Always straight to the point with you," Fabian said. He was teasing, but Molly did not fail to notice the nervous look he and Gideon exchanged, which only increased her growing sense of concern. "Erm—well—erm do you want to sit down?"

"No," she replied stoutly, despite the fact that she really rather did.

"Oh, ok." Fabian looked helplessly at Gideon, who seamlessly took over.

"Well, Molly. Erm—Fabian and I were on some business for them—erm—Order," he said, mouthing the last word rather than speaking it out loud. "And it all got rather heated. A few spells were shot and—well we dodged quite a few of the really scary—"

"She doesn't need to know the details," Fabian hissed.

"Right, yes. Well, we were by the Ministry—where those telephone boxes are, you know?"

Molly nodded, her mouth suddenly very dry as slowly the pieces of the puzzle clicked together.

"And who should turn up out of the blue but our brother-in-law?" Fabian added. "Stepped out of one of those boxes right when a particularly nasty spell—"

"You don't mean—"

"He's fine," Gideon interrupted her quickly. He tried to hold her back, but Molly was already rushing through to the corridor calling for her husband.

"Arthur?"

"Molly, it was just a graze! He's fine."

Molly ignored them both. She made a beeline for the bathroom, the door of which was open. "Oh my—"

"Giddy aunt?" Arthur teased. He was slumped against the wall, sitting on the closed toilet seat. Half of his face was covered with blood which was oozing from a very large gash above his eye. "Hello, Mollywobbles. I certainly know how to make an entrance, it seems."

"Oh, Arthur," Molly said, and she hurried towards him and cupped her hands around his cheeks, inspecting every part of his face to see if he had suffered from any other injuries.

"It looks worse than it is," he said, more confidently than he perhaps felt, Molly thought. "I sent your brothers in to distract you while I tidied myself up, but they haven't been very good at their jobs."

"Hey—"

"Hush, both of you," Molly snapped at her brothers. She returned her attention to Arthur, and she stroked his hair with shaking hands. "Oh, darling, it looks very painful. Do you think we need to go to St Mungo's?"

"It's not that deep, Molly," Arthur said, and upon closer inspection of the wound, Molly could tell that he was right. "And I'm very tired. Will you take care of it? You've always been much better at this than I have."

"I'd rather—"

"Please?" he said. "I trust you."

Molly bit her lip. "Oh, very well then. Give me those," she sighed, taking Arthur's remarkably intact glasses from his nose, and placing them on her own so that she could see better. She narrowed her eyes, frowned, then waved her wand and muttered a few words. The wound slowly sealed itself shut, leaving nothing but a very faint red line, which would disappear in the next few hours.

Arthur seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He was very pale but otherwise seemed all right. Once Molly had cleared away all the evidence of the dramatic scene that had greeted her in the bathroom with a few flicks of her wand, she picked up the hand towel and hit her brothers with it.

"Ow!"

"Molly!"

"What on earth were you thinking?" Molly snapped. "Getting yourself into a dangerous situation like that?"

"We can't help it, we're part of the—"

"I could have lost both of you and—and Arthur too!"

"Molly we've been in situations much worse than this. This was—"

"Was light," Gideon finished. "A small squirmish is all."

"Is all," Molly said, scandalised.

"No one was hurt," Fabian added.

"Arthur was hurt," Molly said shrilly. She felt Arthur's hand slip around hers, as though to try and calm her down. But if anything it did the opposite, and tears sprang to her eyes. "Every night when you go off on one of those missions I'm simply beside myself with worry. What if something happens to you—to either of you? I couldn't bear it if—oh!" She stopped suddenly and pressed a hand against the side of her belly. It had been on and off for a few hours now, but she had not experienced a contraction quite as painful as this one yet. She groaned as the pain became more and more pronounced. "Oh—Merlin's pants."

She felt Arthur stand and then help her so that she was sitting on the toilet seat instead. "Is it the babies?" he said. "Do I need to call St Mungo's?"

The pain had almost passed, but Molly still did not open her eyes. "No," she said breathlessly, "of course not. It's not time yet. I'm fine. We're fine," she added. "If I could just have a glass of water, perhaps."

Gideon and Fabian duly disappeared into the kitchen, likely grateful for the excuse to stop being berated by their sister.

Molly felt Arthur kneel down in front of her. "Are you sure, Mollywobbles?" he said quietly. "All you need to do is say the word, and we can go. We already have our babysitters for the boys here."

"No, it's nothing and it's so late now and—and—ngh" she broke off again and leaned forwards so that she could lean against Arthur. "Although perhaps yes."

"Yes?" he said.

Molly nodded. "Yes, I think so," she panted. She opened her eyes as the pain subsided again, and she straightened so that she could look into her husband's eyes. "I think it's time."

"All right then," Arthur said with a smile. "I'll tell your brothers and get the car ready, and then we can go. Is it all right if I leave you for two ticks?"

"Two ticks," Molly repeated. She nodded slowly and smiled too. "But a kiss first."

Arthur grinned. "Anything for you, Mollywobbles," he said, and he kissed her warmly on the lips.