Freddie
To the surprise of everyone, George turned out to be the first one Arthur’s children to bless him and Molly with a grandchild. Everyone had expected it to be Bill, had even been waiting for him and Fleur to announce a pregnancy at any moment, but George and Angelina had surprised them all.
The announcement was made offhandedly, far too offhandedly for something of that significance, by George during one of the Sunday dinners that had become tradition for the Weasley family after the war.
After spending the first four months after the war with Charlie at the dragon reserve in Romania and an additional five hiding from his family, it was one of the first family dinners that George had attended, which made the shock and skepticism from his family even more tangible. It did not help that George and Angelina, it turned out, were still merely friends, and not in a relationship (something that caused Molly great distress, which she made sure George was well aware of). Of course, there was concern too, and Arthur was admittedly guilty of all three of the emotions, even though he held his smile during the rest of the dinner and did not show them to his son.
His siblings and mother, however, with the exception of Charlie, had no such scruples, and voiced their concern loudly and clearly to George. It apparently didn’t concern him, however, which was a relief, because George’s mental state had been a fragile thing during that time. George, in a frankly admirable show of apathy, simply sat through it all and ignored them.
Angelina, when George finally brought her with him to family dinner a few weeks later, turned out to be a sharp and pleasant young woman, capable of dealing with both George’s drastic mood-swings and Fleur’s blunt manner. It made Arthur’s worry calm a little, even if Molly’s was still there in full force.
To everyone’s surprise, however, George took the role as a parent to little Freddie (named after Fred, which had brung tears to everyone’s eyes, because it turned out that time did in fact not heal all wounds), when he entered the world four months later, with more grace than anyone could have ever hoped for, and Freddie was doted on by each and every one of the family’s members.
Victoire
Contrary to how it had been with Freddie, the announcement of Victoire was expected and met with a round of happy hugs and many warm and enthusiastic exclamations of “Congratulations!”.
It was entirely unsurprising that Bill and Fleur would soon add to their family. The family had expected it even before Freddie was born, but after Freddie, Bill and Fleur had been openly talking about having a baby of their own.
“I got a strong case of baby fever,” as Fleur had put it.
The timing of little Victoire, when she decided to come, could not have been any worse, though, as she decided to turn up on the second anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, and her Uncle Fred’s death. Arthur had spent the hours after the family had been to see Victoire, Fleur and Bill holding George while he cried into his shoulder, cradling little Freddie to his chest. But while Molly found their son’s reaction worrying, Arthur privately thought that it was probably healthy for George to finally let his emotions out a little; Arthur had not ever seen him cry for his twin before, even if Angelina had assured him and Molly that he did, sometimes.
He would also admit, as he was humming comfortingly to George, just as he’d done to him and Fred when they were babies, to shedding a few tears himself.
While Victoire would forever have her birthday shunned by the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, something that Arthur wouldn’t wish on anyone, he was really proud to see how all of his family went out of their way to make Victoire’s birthday as a little girl happy occasions.
Dominique
While her sister was planned, Dominique was decidedly not. She was a surprise for everyone, but perhaps most of all to her parents, who hadn’t been planning on having another baby for several more years to come.
Still, there she was, as Fleur had laughed somewhat shakily when they told the family over yet another dinner. She’d promptly been enveloped in a hug by her mother-in-law and sister-in-laws afterwards, as she’d burst into tears just a few moments later.
They weren’t ready for another baby yet, Bill had admitted quietly to Arthur and his brothers over a fire-whiskey that same evening, before confessing to struggling with Victoire. She was a tough baby, and an even tougher toddler, Bill admitted, with big feelings and a fiery temper that made her parents unsure of how to deal with her sometimes.
Still, they loved little Dominique all the same when she entered the world, kicking and screaming, a few months later. She’d been by far the loudest when she was born, and would continue to be throughout her whole life.
Not that her parents knew it at the time.
Molly & Lucy
Like most things Percy did, his children were planned, and he would become the third of Arthur’s children to provide him and Molly with grandchildren. Percy and Audrey had formally announced their intention to start trying for a baby a few months earlier (something that made amused tilts appear on everyone’s lips, even Audrey’s herself), and so it was no surprise when Percy clicked his glass with his spoon and stood, telling them all proudly that he and Audrey were expecting.
What was more surprising was when both Percy and Audrey had stood again just a few weeks later, somewhat cautiously this time, and told them all they were expecting not just one baby, but two.
Because the baby were in fact babies, twins. Percy's voice had cracked when he told them, and he’d been clutching Audrey’s hand tightly. Everyone had been emotional; Molly had been sniffling during the entire rest of the dinner, and George had buried his face in Angelina’s hair and not resurfaced until twenty minutes later. Not even when Freddie had tried to ask his father why he was sad, petting his hair and cooing at him all the while. An adorable sight, had it not been so sad.
After that, all six of his living children had disappeared up to the roof of The Burrow, leaving Arthur and Molly to play host for their partners and the three children all on their own. It didn’t matter, though, because once they returned, it was with wet faces but happy smiles.
Molly and Lucy, as Percy and Audrey would name their girls, would turn out to be the only ones of Molly and Arthur’s grandchildren to arrive on their due date.
It was something that George, Ron and Ginny would all find greatly amusing for years to come, and something that Percy would, somewhat grudgingly, smile at.
James
Ginny and Harry’s pregnancy announcement had taken Ginny’s brothers by shock. Their sister, they told Ginny loudly when she protested, would never be old enough to have a baby, much less make one. Arthur, though he told his sons sternly to calm down at the time, would later admit to Molly that he quite agreed with their sons. It made Molly laugh and shake her head fondly at him, kissing him softly as she laid down in bed beside him.
Still, James Sirius Potter arrived on a sunny summer’s day that same year, regardless of what his uncles and grandfather thought. He was a loud baby - screaming, crying, cooing and making all sorts of other noises from day one. Everyone found it adorable, him and his little noises, even if his parents did grow quite tired of them in the end.
Roxanne
Roxanne, George would admit somewhat sheepishly to Arthur, Charlie and Ron, was as much of an accident as Freddie had been. In fact, he confessed, he and Angelina had just come to the agreement to not have any more children just a few days before Angelina had found out that she was pregnant again.
But Roxanne had already been there, determined not to let her brother have their parents all to himself. As for their parents, they adjusted to the spontaneous change of plans quite quickly;
“The more the merrier, or at least that’s what they said,” as George had said when they told the family. It had been met with laughter and teasing from the rest of the family, as he’d accidentally admitted to Roxanne being yet another accident. Thankfully though, both George and Angelina had taken the teasing in stride and even chimed in with their own occasional snarky comment at their own expense.
It was, all in all, a much more happy reaction than the one they’d gotten for Freddie a few years earlier.
When she arrived, just a few hours after her cousin James, it was with an impressive set of lungs. They’d one day make her famous, but for now, they merely made her family laugh and teasingly wish her parents good luck.
Perhaps, Angelina had joked when Molly and Arthur had been to visit her, George and little Roxanne at the hospital, she’d grow up to be an opera singer, which they’d later remark wasn’t that far off the truth.
Rose
Ron, or Ronald, as Molly preferred but would almost never say, would become the last of their children to provide Molly and Arthur with grandchildren.
The news of Hermione’s healthy pregnancy had been received with a collective sigh of relief within the family, as Ron and Hermione had been open with their worry of not being able to have children. They hadn’t been using contraceptives for many years, Arthur would later learn, and had considered it a large surprise not to have accidentally fallen pregnant over all the years. It had led to their worries; what if one of them was infertile?
But in the end, little Rose had graced them with her presence and proved all of their worries wrong. Ron and Hermione took the whole family’s clear relief and hugs with a grace that Arthur admired, as he suspected that they hadn’t been as subtle with their relief as they’d intended.
Rose, when she finally entered the world exactly two weeks after her due date, had been a quiet and forgiving baby. She was, in fact, so easy to take care of that all of his other children and their partners would express their envy to the very smug Ron and Hermione.
She didn’t cause any trouble during delivery either - Hermione’s delivery had been a perfect by-the-book example.
Albus
When Ginny and Harry told them all about their second pregnancy - another boy, they told them all proudly - Arthur was struck with what he would later admit was a bit of an age-crisis. His children were all grown up and had been for several years now - his youngest and his only daughter would soon have two children of her own.
In fact, all of his living children - with the exception of Charlie, the children’s favorite uncle and who, in his own words was “quite happy with that” - now had children of their own, and had thereby provided him and his wife with a bunch of wonderful grandchildren to dote on, and suddenly Arthur felt his age.
Molly, when he confided this to her, told him that she felt the same. It made him feel a bit better, at least, to know that he wasn’t alone in his little crisis.
Of course, his grandparents’ crisis didn’t stop little Albus Severus (a name which had caused quite an uproar within the family - “he cut my fucking ear off, Ginny!”) from entering the world that winter, obvious to the small crisis he’d caused his grandparents. Just like Rose, who turned out to be only a month and a few days older than him, little Albus turned out to be a calm and quiet baby. It was an excellent contrast from his older brother, who had always been an unapologetically loud and wiggly baby, and continued to be so as a toddler.
It was, Arthur and Molly laughed, probably a great relief to his parents, because they were not quite sure that Ginny and Harry would have been able to keep up with both of their boys at the same time otherwise.
Louis
After Albus came Louis, the little boy who would turn out to be the last baby of his parents’, Bill and Fleur. Unlike with his elder sister, Dominique, this time his parents were prepared and had even planned for him.
Fleur had confided in Molly several months before their pregnancy announcement that she and Bill had agreed on trying for one last baby for their family, and then they’d be done. Of course, they’d had his wives’ support every step of the way, even if she’d kept Arthur out of it all. He didn’t mind; what their children chose to tell them separately was entirely up to them, and this time it had been Arthur’s turn to be kept out of the loop.
When they’d announced the news of their pregnancy to their family - at a Sunday family dinner, as had become the tradition for all sorts of announcements - the whole family welcomed the news with open arms and an enthusiastic round of cheering. Though Albus, who had always been a sensitive baby and was turning out to be a sensitive toddler too, had burst into tears at all the noise around him, and had been comforted by his still-cheering mother.
Louis’s delivery would turn out to be a long one, with forty-seven long hours of labor for poor Fleur, who’d been in quite a state when it was all finally over and they’d been allowed in to say hi to the new baby and his tired parents.
Still, Louis would make up for all the trouble by being a very calm and peaceful baby, even if he’d eventually grow up to cause his father quite a lot of headaches and sleepless nights.
Hugo
Hugo came next, also planned, because of course he was. Hermione was his mother, after all. One of her many quirks was her inability not to plan her life, as the family would often fondly remark.
The pregnancy announcement on the Sunday dinner - a familiar ritual by now - had been met with cheers and hugs before Hermione had even had the chance to begin speaking.
Hugo would turn out to be the one grandchild to cause the whole family to fear, however. His delivery was very much not as straight-forward as that of his sister, as he’d gotten stuck on his way into the world and had been unable to enter the birth canal. After almost thirty-four hours of hopeless waiting, screaming and frustration, as well as pacing all over St Mungos, he’d been delivered by emergency c-section.
It had made the immediate aftermath messy too, with the little boy being wheeled away to be checked up as soon as they’d gotten him out, but Hermione staying in the room to be healed up again. It had left Ron with a hard choice, as he told Arthur with haunted eyes about a week later; stay with his wife, cut up on a hospital bed, or stay with his newborn son? Of course, his choice had been easy in the end, and he’d followed his son as the Healers checked him over. Hugo hadn’t been perfectly healthy; he’d had a hard time breathing for a few days, which did not ease his parents’ stress, but he’d perked up quite quickly once they got his breathing in order and had come home a very wriggly baby.
As Ron had once told Arthur, exasperated, Hugo was constantly in the process of wiggling or rolling out of each and every thing his parents put him in, whether it was a chair, his cot, his little nest on his parents’ bed or even his clothes.
It had not only annoyed his parents, but also his sister, Rose, who wanted to read to him, but found it immensely difficult as her brother simply refused to stay still as she did.
Lily
Last but certainly not least came little Lily Luna, who would turn out to be tiny all her life, but who would never let it deter her. With Lily’s pregnancy, Harry and Ginny decided not to do an announcement, but instead let Ginny’s bump do the talking for them. When it had gotten big enough for it to be little to no doubt that there was a baby hiding in there, both Fleur and Angelina - who’d both gotten themselves a bit of a reputation for being terribly blunt while still staying kind - had demanded simultaneously if Ginny was, in fact, pregnant.
Upon getting the answer “Yes! Finally someone asked!”, they’d been the first ones to envelop their sister-in-law in a squealing hug, quickly followed by the rest of the family.
Little Lily Luna Potter would turn out to be the last of Arthur’s many grandchildren - forever the baby of the family - but she’d be the one to be the most fond of him, and could often be found snuggled up next to him. ‘Gramps’, as all of his grandchildren affectionately called him, became Lily’s hero during her childhood; the one she came to both for comfort and for fun. Even during her teenage years, she did not hesitate to snuggle up next to him, something her brother James liked to tease her for, even if Arthur could see in his eyes that he, just like everyone else, secretly found his sister terribly cute.