Lady Tonks, Lord Potter

The pause before the war

Late Halloween night

Molly Weasley sat in her favourite chair, half-there. She was there physically, obviously, but her mind was someplace else entirely. The knitting for the Christmas jumper was at hand, and she'd done a few rows of Ron's jumper, the maroon wool spooled in the bag at her feet, but her heart just wasn't in it. There wouldn't be a jumper for Percy this year, or one for Arthur. She glanced over at the chair next to her, separated by the small table and enchanted lamp, then turned back to her knitting with a sigh.

"Ok there, Mum?" Charlie moved towards her, two cups of tea in his hands. He sat one down on the small table next to the lamp before settling himself in on the sofa with the other cup. "Thought you might need a cuppa."

"Thank you, dear." Molly tentatively reached forward for the cup, not trusting herself to betray the emotions that were swirling inside her. Once she'd gained a hold of the cup she brought it up and took a sip, hoping that her face hadn't betrayed the fact that her son had made an entirely too strong cup for her. Arthur knew how she liked it, but she ignored the taste and swallowed quickly.

So much was gone, her family had been torn apart again by the evilness of Voldemort. At times she could take it, but in the quiet moments of the day she found herself quite close to breaking, usually over the smallest of things. Finding one of Arthur's plugs in one of the cabinets, doing laundry and finding his stockings that needed mending, having to remind herself that it was no longer necessary to fix the holes he always seemed to make where his big toes stretched the fabric. At times she even found herself talking to him, as if he was there, relating her worries, her fears, wishing that he would be there to assure her that even though times looked dark the sun would always rise on the morrow.

In the part of her mind that heard her son she registered that he'd said 'Dad?' but couldn't open her eyes. "I wish he was here too, Charlie."

"He is here, Mum."

She nodded and sighed deeply. "He'll always be here. I see him in so many things." But then, as if in a dream, she heard another voice in the Burrow. Arthur's voice. She turned and opened her eyes, shocked beyond belief, as there, in his chair opposite from hers, sat her husband. "Arthur?"

"I'm here, Mollywobbles." Arthur moved forward in his chair, reached out and took her hand. "I'm not sure for how long, though."

"No!" She pulled her hand back and clutched it tightly against her chest. "This isn't possible! This is wrong!"

"Molly..." Arthur knelt down in front of her. "Remember what night it is...I'm here because you and Charlie...because it's happening tonight. As we speak He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his forces are attacking all over Britain. Love of my life, it's me. And we need to leave the Burrow."

"Where?" Charlie sat, pale and almost immobile, his breathing shallow and rapid. "And how do you know all this?"

After a deep breath Arthur looked to his son. "Percy. Percy came to me and told me I was needed. So many are needed and we've come. We've come to help." He turned to his wife. "It's been painful to see you, love. To watch you despair and not be able to talk to you, to hold you. But somehow I've been given a gift to see you, to talk to you one more time and protect you. But we must leave now."

Molly couldn't speak, but she reached forward one more time to her husband, gently laying a hand along the side of his face. She felt his solidity, his warmth. "I've missed you so."

"And I've missed you too, dear, but time is short. Eventually we'll have all the time in the universe but we really must be leaving now." He turned to Charlie. "Bill upgraded the wards, didn't he?"

Charlie nodded, still somewhat in shock. "Yeah, he and the goblins, Harry made sure."

"Good. That gives us some time." Arthur put his hand on Molly's, clasping it tightly as he stood up, bringing her out of the chair. "We need to go to Hogwarts."