Running

Chapter 11

Yesterday, Ron and his brothers had been sat in the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron opened the letter, not bothering to read it as he made his way through the first meal of the day. He didn't need to read it anyway. He already knew what it said, and while he still wasn't particularly happy about staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, at least his brothers were stuck in the same boat. And he'd finally be able to get some alone time with the Boy-Who-Lived. He looked over to his brothers who looked pretty annoyed considering they had already packed all of their things and were ready to go home for Christmas. He wouldn't have packed, either way, he was sure he had everything he would need at home.

The rest of the Weasley brothers however were taken by surprise when the letters arrived for them in the morning. And fairly disappointed, to say the least.

My dear boys,

I'm so sorry for how short notice this is, but your Aunt Muriel recently became incredibly ill. Your sister and I are going over to help her out for the next week or so, but she isn't expected to recover until February. Your father is working incredibly hard at the ministry so he also won't be home to take care of you. Bill and Charlie have already written to say they're too busy to come home for Christmas. Because of all this, I'm afraid you'll have to spend this Christmas at Hogwarts. I'll still send your presents to you, don't worry about that!

I'm very sorry about this, but hopefully, you can come home at Easter.

Lots of Love,

Mum.

The truth was Molly and Ginny would simply be sitting at home fantasising about an extravagant wedding, masses of riches and bucket-loads of fame. They could have everything and more once the Boy-Who-Lived was in their grasp.

Arthur would be working. Though it certainly wouldn't be so hard that he wouldn't have been home. When he was home, he certainly wouldn't be in any condition to take care of his children alone anyway. Arthur, unfortunately, was very much under the effects of Dominus Autemea and his case was grave.

A 16-year-old Molly Prewett didn't have someone to tell her how to administer the potion properly. She may have had a penchant for potions, but she'd never attempted anything this advanced. She'd taken an interest in a 7th Year student. Arthur Weasley. He came from a good pureblooded family, and she knew they held some status amongst magical Britain. She'd tried to get his attention in normal ways, but he was so focused on his studies that he had no plans of dating while in education. Eventually, she'd had to take more drastic measures. She'd had her mother send her a package of cookies. Specifically lacing one of them with Dominos Autemea, and handing out the rest to the other students in the Gryffindor tower. While that first dose was only enough for him to begin taking an interest in her, she severely overdosed Arthur on their first date. She offered him a drink she'd made especially for him, which he accepted and borderline chugged the drink on there and then. It almost seemed to call to him with its milk blue swirls mixed in the magenta liquid and it tasted incredibly sweet. The flavour was addicting and reminded him of the very woman in front of him, whose beauty seemed to have amplified 100 times over.

Arthur continued to take that same undiluted drink to this day, soothing his headaches and stresses but unbeknown to him it was slowly, but surely decreasing his intelligence. Arthur couldn't get a promotion, not because of the corruption in the Ministry, though that corruption was very much real, but because the work he produced was very unsatisfactory. He had been given his initial job due to his incredible OWL and NEWT grades. He had always admired muggles and their ability to adapt, which was why he began to work in the department that was specifically for them. But due to a decrease in his mental stability, admiration became obsession and the job he had was one given out of pity. No one else was truly willing to take a job in the "lesser" departments, such as ones that dealt with muggles, but the moment someone finally applied, Arthur would most likely be out of a job.