Arthur and Molly Weasley were sat in their home eating supper in bed happily. Their first son Bill, seven years old, was sitting on the bed along with his two younger brothers Charlie and Percy.
Molly had just given birth to their two twin boys, Fred and George, around three weeks ago. It was an easy supper, mac, and cheese from the box, the boys loved it and Molly appreciated that her husband did everything around the house while she healed.
Suddenly a Patronus flew in through the open window. A white-haired rabbit hopped around the room before it faded quickly. Everyone was silent as they waited for Arthur to say something.
“I’m sorry Mols, I've got to go that's my mother-”
“It’s okay love, I understand, I can take care of things here until you get back.” She rested her hand on his cheek and smiled warmly. She always knew how to soothe his anxiety.
“Okay, I’m sorry, I'll be back as soon as I can” He quickly jumped out of bed and went to the meadow outside of their house to apparate to his mother's lonely apartment.
Arthur's father -Septimus- had left his mother years ago. Almost as soon as Arthur had graduated from Hogwarts, he didn’t leave a note or anything, he just left. Despite Arthurs's mother and father marrying for love at a very young age which resulted in his mother being disowned from the house of Black, they hated each other.
They hated each other and they hated their kids. Septimus and Cedrella were never abusive toward their kids, they were just…neglectful. Okay, maybe neglect does count as abuse but Arthur never counted it. He wouldn’t count it because he knew his mother could be a good person.
As Arthur appeared in front of the muggle apartment complex he took in the dark time of night and cursed himself for leaving Molly to take care of bedtime. He’d make it up when he got home.
Arthur knocked three times with no answer. “Mum? Are you in there?” Screw it.
As Arthur walked into the apartment he took in the trashed place. It was always trashed. There were clothes thrown everywhere, bottles of various alcohols placed on various surfaces, pipes, bongs, needles, lighters, glassware, and various other things that he thought were locked up in a storage unit a while ago.
“Mum?”
In the kitchen, an older witch with faded black hair was trying to open a jar of peanut butter. “Oh! Arthur! Thank Merlin you’re here, can you open this?”
Her eyes were sunken and red, her speech was muffled and slurred, and she smelled awfully of alcohol. Arthur's eyebrows pinched and his face scrunched up in disgust and worry.
As he walked over to her he started talking. “What happened? I thought we agreed you’d take a break” she walked around the flat, agreeing to let him continue to make her food.
“Oh…oh ya, I tried but…I couldn’t” Her tone was regretful and her words were slow.
“I’m not going to keep paying for your rent if you don’t keep up your half of the deal Mum! I have a family!” Arthur was tired, how many times did they have to do this?
“Oh don’t shout, please! I know you’re upset and-” she blew out a puff of air. “I am trying But! I just can’t do it yet, please give me another chance Arthie” she pleaded.
Arthur went to go find a plate in her pantry but the pantry was empty, he figured all of the plates were thrown across the apartment. He settled for a paper towel and started walking over to where she was sitting on the couch.
He sighed heavily when he saw what she was doing.
“Oh! Billy help me really quickly!” she smiled softly at seeing him.
‘Billy’ was what his mother called his older brother Billius. Billius cut contact with the family the second he graduated from Hogwarts. Arthur didn’t know where he was. Billius and he used to be really close as children but as their parents separate addictions grew worse so did their relationship. Sometimes Arthur missed him but he figured he should let Bill move on from this part of his life, even if that meant leaving Arthur behind too.
“Ok mum,” Arthur’s voice was caught as he set her sandwich on the side table right next to her. His eyes started to blur with tears as he buckled the belt tightly on her upper arm.
“Oh honey…why are you upset?” she cooed softly from above him, she took her other arm and wiped away the tears that started rolling down his cheeks, this only made him cry harder. “I know I’m not the best mum but I promise, I’ll try to be from now on”
He’s heard this line hundreds of times. She never followed through. Arthur was holding the flame up to the bottom of the spoon waiting for the substance to bubble. Arthur’s been here before, more times than he can count. The familiar sensation of his throat tightening, feeling like he couldn't breathe, his chest feeling tight, and his eyes stinging embarrassingly. Why did they always have to do this?
“How are the girls Billy?” Arthur was not Billius, Billius didn’t have any children -as far as Arthur knew-, and Arthur only had boys.
Anger swelled in his chest. Cedrella could walk over him all she likes, and use him a million times over, but not being there for his children hurt so much. It was too far.
“You weren’t there at their birth,” his voice was sticky as he sighed.
Cedrella took the syringe away from him as he got up. “Oh…y’know I would’ve been there but-”
“Ya! I know…you were busy” Arthur fisted aggressively at his eyes, begging the tears to stay away, he knew his face was all red from how upset he was.
“Septimus…don’t be mad…please…” Cedrella’s voice was quiet and begging. Arthur was so mad.
“Mum…” Arthur went to her side, the syringe was emptied and now sat on the side table. Arthur worked hurriedly and clumsily to get the belt off of her arm. He kept on having to stop to take a deep breath and not break down. “I…I can’t do this anymore. I’ll pay the rent for the rest of this month but other than that I’m done with you”
Arthur wasn’t even sure that she had heard him before he got up and left the apartment. It hurt, his mother could never stay sober even after her son has begged her several times to stop, she just didn’t listen.
Why wouldn’t she stay sober? If not for him then for herself.
Why wasn’t he enough to make her quit?
As he walked into the house it was quiet. The door shut silently behind him as he rested on it. He could see molly finishing up the dishes by the sink, she was supporting most of her weight on the counter.
“Hey, honey! The boys are all asleep, Fred might still be awake, he hates going to sleep before he sees you’re home, it's the cutest thing and-”
Her sentence broke off as she felt her husband wrap her arms around her and bury his head in her shoulder. His face felt cold and wet and she could tell he was upset. She said nothing and brought her hand to run through his hair. After a while, he breathed deeply and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Arthur kissed her cheek lovingly before saying, in a very scratchy and tired voice “Our kids are so lucky to have you as their mother”
Molly turned around in his arms and hugged him properly, he practically melted into her as she played with his hair softly.
They had stayed like that for a while before Arthur felt guilty for having her stand for so long and declared he was going to go check up on Fred to see if he was asleep.
He found the little boy wide awake in his cradle while his twin brother slept right next to him comfortably. You could tell he was fighting off sleep. For being so young Fred was extremely persective.
A muggle record played quietly in the background. One of Molly’s favorite artists, John Lennon.
Arthur reached his hand into the cradle and petted Fred’s ginger hair. He started singing along softly.
“Close your eyes, have no fear…”
his voice was scratchy and tired but Fred didn't seem to mind as he fell off into sleep.
Singing the song to his son for bed became Arthur and Fred’s thing. Sometimes Fred would have to beg for his father to sing it to him because it was late and Arthur was tired but every time, Arthur would comply and sing to him because Fred was his son and Arthur would never abandon him as his father had.
Arthur didn’t account for the day that Fred might abandon him too.
“The monsters gone…he’s on the run and your daddy’s here” Arthur's voice was stuck and quaky like it had been the first time he had sung it to the little boy.
His body had been so tiny and fragile that Arthur was scared to touch him. Now Arthur was scared to touch him for a different reason.
His body was pale and lifeless, looking so small and fragile. A smile was still softly placed on his lips as Arthur sang to his little boy, who even in death, was still the most beautiful boy Arthur had ever seen.