Work Text:
Bill Weasley stood in front of the Burrow, hand holding his fiancée’s waist, nerves fraying. He had been planning this confrontation for a long time, yet still felt every inch not ready. And considering he was planning to be someone's husband sooner than later, it was quite uncool of him, he mused.
“Here goes nothing.” Bill knocked (and wasn't that weird, knocking on your own childhood house) and waited with a bated breath. His fiancée seemed to share his nervousness, tensing slightly when she heard footsteps nearing.
“Bill!” His dad opened the door. “We weren't expecting you!” He turned even before the door fully opened, not noticing the girl beside him. “Mollywobbles! Bill's here!”
“Bill? Why ever? Is he okay?” His mum, bless her heart, seemed to just know that Bill dropping in like this wasn't the norm. Which, to be fair, wasn't, but still. To that, his dad just turned back again and…
“Oh! You brought someone with you!”
His fiancée smiled, and Bill grimaced. “Uh, yeah. Dad, meet my girlfriend Fleur.”
“It's nice to meet you, Mr Weasley. I'm Fleur Delacour.”
His dad's eyes widening, he shouted back to his mum. “Bill's brought someone home!” And back to his son's companion, “Hello, Miss Delacour. Please, call me Arthur. Oh, and do come in!”
The pair went inside the house, Arthur going to the kitchen where Bill's mum was supposedly in just in time for Molly to exit. Her eyes, too, were widening and at these times Bill always looked fond at how well his parents matched each other.
“Oh,” his mum says, “Bill.” Her eyes narrowed. “And this is?”
“Fleur Delacour, madame.” Fleur smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Bill tensed, wary of how this would go. He dreaded a clash between his mum, who to be fair could be overbearing when she went on a mama bear mode, and his fiancée, who was pretty damn headstrong in her own right. Both of them will take no nonsense from each other, and Bill wanted both to become a family. One day, he mused, baby steps.
“Fleur? The French champion of the blasted Triwizard Tournament?” Molly arched an eyebrow.
“Oui, madame.” The French fell from Fleur's lips on autopilot. Molly didn't comment.
“Molly, please, dear. You're dating my son? Since when, how? Isn't he too old for you?”
Bill took over, protesting a bit. “I’m not that old, Mum. We met at Gringotts, she started working on the British branch and we got to talking, and… here we are.” He finished lamely. Molly narrowed her eyes again at that. When he didn't falter, Molly arched both her eyebrows. Having to grow up under her knees, both eyebrows up meant fess up everything or else. It even worked for the twins. One eyebrow can be manoeuvred, sweet-talked. Two eyebrows were worse than legilimency against anyone. Before Bill can fess anything up, though, Fleur gave more details.
“Our magics are also very compatible, Molly. It was like love at the first sight!” Fleur added, a bit of excitement seeping off her tone. Arthur softed a bit at that while Molly… paled.
“Mum?” Bill asked, concerned of how rapidly his mother was turning pale. His dad caught on and supported his mum's shoulders, leading her to their couch. He motioned the loveseat opposite for the couple to take. Fleur grasped Bill's hand, eyes concerned she said the wrong thing. Bill just shook his head, having no idea what made his mum react like that. They both took a seat while his dad made some tea for his mum to drink.
“Arthur, a shot of firewhisky in my cup please,” his mum requested, still dazed, “or maybe a couple.”
Bill was even more alarmed, Fleur confused, but his dad looked very amused. “We need to be sober for the conversation, Mollywobbles. One shot.”
Molly looked considering, then nodded with a defeated sigh. She took the cup with a thank you and started to drink with small sips, which Bill knew she only does when stressed out. Surely Bill didn't stress her out? She must be used to his antics, she was there his whole life. Like that time when he forgot to tell his parents he was going to Egypt for work (“You mentioned curse-breaking, William Arthur, not Egypt! You're telling us you're going right now?! Not even a fifteen-minute notice?!) or the amount of times his hand on the clock went pointing to ‘Mortal Peril’ or any of his childhood escapades… and if Bill didn't stress her out, Fleur couldn't be stressing her out. Bill expected his mum to be difficult, or maybe not accepting straight away, maybe judging for a bit, but surely not stressed out?
“Mum?” Molly raised her eyes. “Why are you stressed out?”
Molly… Molly closed her eyes. Flamboyant, charming the eldest was. In the family though, he had absolutely no tact. “William,” she sighed, “did you get bonded behind my back?”
Bill was floored. Fleur was confused. Both shook their heads. “Merlin no! Mum, we're serious, we're compatible, we're planning to get bonded, but no, we haven't eloped!”
“Haven't? Is that a ‘yet’ there, William?” Molly sipped her tea once more. Arthur was nursing his own, content on watching his wife for now.
Fleur was quick to the rescue (full first name wasn't as bad as full name nor first-middle names, but still bad and it made Bill freeze like all his siblings do) and conversed with his mum. “Non, no, we don't plan to elope! We were hoping to hold a bonding ceremony in Britain here actually, and if you're amenable to plan…?” She drifted off. Molly was looking at her with a scrutinising gaze.
She sighed and it alarmed Bill when his mum sighed this much. Sure enough, the next question was, “Are you guys pregnant?”
“What?! Mum, no!”
His mum (and dad, for that matter) looked a bit confused at that. “You're not bonded,” she stated.
“No.”
“And you're not pregnant, either.”
“No, mum.”
“Hm,” a sip, “okay. Did you propose, William?”
Bill's eyes widened. He forgot his mum was a damn Slytherin. They didn't have a lot of chances to see that side of his mum at home (Ron tended to be too happy to forget the fact). And apparently his reaction was all his mum needed as she sighed yet again.
“William Weasley,” she started, making Bill almost shake like a leaf, “is there anything else you want to tell me and your dad?”
Fleur kept her mouth shut, eyes darting between the family. This situation wasn't what the young couple was expecting, so she would observe and let her fiancé take charge for now. The prediction of a brash raging Molly was honestly way easier to handle than whatever this was (his mum liked to act like a Gryffindor to the point people forget she was a Slytherin and ripped them bare where it matters and now Bill was her new chew toy like when he was young because Bill, too, forgot).
“Um, no, Mum, I just,” Bill gulped, “wanted to bring Fleur here to introduce—”
“As a girlfriend, William?” His mum twirled her cup around. Bill hadn't been on an interrogation like this since a detention in his fourth year which was, fair, for that particular one.
“Um, I was hoping to ease you to it—”
“And when are you planning to bond, if you so kindly ‘ease us to it’, William?”
Bill winced at the barrages of ‘William's with the pureblood-style speeches. And he did plan on bonding this year so he did not have a leg to stand on. Again, his silence was all his mother needed. She nodded. “Right.”
His dad noticed his predicament and put a hand on his mum's thigh. She eyed the hand and relaxed into the couch, letting him take charge. “So you're just introducing us to your fiancée, Bill? No other surprises?”
“Yes, Dad. And no, no other surprises,” at his mother's disbelieving look, he emphasised, “really none! Why do you think I have anyway?”
“Well,” his mum sniffed, “our family has a history. Both sides for you, actually.”
Arthur must have noticed his and Fleur's bemusement as he elaborated. “Your grandmothers, Cedrella Black and Lucretia Black were compatible with Septimus Weasley and Ignatius Prewett. Both got estranged from the Black family since they both had betrothal contracts that were more… acceptable matches, I suppose. The Blacks didn't see much in the Weasleys and Prewetts, not to mention the age gap. So your grandmum and grandma both eloped, and didn't get disinherited but never contacted their maiden family again. I believe they got blasted off that tapestry in Grimmauld, right, Mollywobbles?”
Molly nodded, and concluded the story. “So your grandparents all eloped when they found their magical matches.”
Sensing more to the story, Fleur stole a glance at Bill. When he didn't react, she asked her future in-laws. “And what happened next?”
Molly was turning morose. “Ah, next was me and your dad, of course.”
“You were matches?” Bill asked, incredulous.
“Yes, we told you when you were three. I suppose we don't really bring it up, do we now?” Arthur poured himself another cup of tea. “What happened was we met at Hogwarts. The magic started pulling us young.”
“And that means?”
“Stop playing naive, William, it's unbecoming.” At his incredulous look, Molly scoffed and Arthur snickered.
“Don't mind your mother, Bill. We just aren't expecting to discuss our history with our son.”
“You told us, though?” Bill asked, confused. Hell, he knew he grew up hearing their love story.
“Yeah, the children's version, of course. Heavily cut.” His father commented, a flat tone belied by the amusement on his eyes. “We were together young, and started getting physical young, too.” At this, Bill's expression slowly dawned into horror.
“We knew we were compatible, but our families didn't agree, despite both of the couples eloping, you know? The hypocrisy. We were young, and related to the Blacks through our mothers, even if they came from different branches. We weren't sure about eloping though, and planned to go the long way persuading them. But then, I got pregnant with you. I took my N.E.W.T.s while pregnant.” Molly dropped the bomb very casually, still sipping her seemingly endless tea. Her son was speechless, not knowing what to say from all the information before his dad, too, casually commented.
“It was a miracle you only got pregnant in seventh year, really.”
His mum hummed her agreement. “All those broom cupboards. Small mercies.”
Small—?! Bill, shocked to silence, wished he had his mum's cup of tea for himself. After noticing the silence, his mum chuckled (chuckled! Like it didn't shock Bill's very core!) “You know you were an accident, Billy, you counted the years. Don't act all shocked now.”
“I,” Bill started, “I didn't need the details.” He all but choked out, feeling very young and innocent trying hard not to catch his parents on the act.
“Anyway,” his mum, ignoring him, continued, “so your dad and I eloped, too. We both weren't disinherited either, and we weren't as estranged with the family as our mums, but we drifted apart, I suppose. Elopement was a big deal, not to mention pregnancy out of wedlock… and then Charlie happened.”
“??? What do you mean Charlie happened?”
Arthur looked at his son with something akin to pity. Molly had already started to answer, however, and his son was going to listen, like it or not. “Why, he was another accident, of course.”
Bill choked on air.
“High from forming an independent family, you see. Bonded, having a house, being parents… it makes you high, figuratively, of course.” Molly's teasing glint was not lost on Fleur yet went right past Bill's head. She squeezed Bill's hand, offering support, more amused than Bill's mortified.
Bill groaned, putting his head on one hand and squeezing Fleur's hand back with the other. “Please don't tell me we're all accidents.”
“Percy was planned. I like to entertain the thought that that was the reason why the boy is the only one organised between you siblings. He's a planner,” Molly admitted, “and we did plan for the pregnancy after that, though that was Fred and George… so not exactly the plan. So yes, I suppose, except Percy, you're all surprises.”
Bill felt his jaw might as well be on the floor. One out of seven?! Or from what he heard about the twins, two out of seven were planned. His father laughed outright seeing Bill's expression, his mother smiled kindly, like she would when he was a child. “You don't exactly plan for seven children, dear.”
“I thought you wanted to keep trying for a girl!”
“Yes, well,” his mother shifted, looking guilty, “that is a very convenient excuse, is it not? Rather than ‘yes we have another unplanned pregnancy’ better ‘oh we're trying for a baby girl’, you see.”
“Ron?” Bill asked, sounding strangely strangled.
“Ron was conceived in St Mungo's,” his dad admitted.
“Excuse me?”
“St Mungo's is the hospital, non?”
“Yes, well. It was the height of the war, and Arthur’s hand on the clock was on ‘Mortal Peril’ and I couldn't reach him and he wasn't coming home. The next thing I knew I was beside his bed in St Mungo's, and the near death experience led to desperation and fear, the thrill of him surviving led to one thing to another and it ended up as your brother.” Bill groaned again, with a grimace he couldn't hide. He buried his face in his hands and moaned no. He knew enough, thank you very much. He'd pay for an Obliviate right now.
“And by Mordred how did you even get another accident? You should've known better at that point, Mum, Dad!” He all but mumbled into his hands.
“Well,” his mum's tone was turning morose, again, “we thought we found a permanent solution, you see. You know how those are heavily regulated and extremely illegal, considering pureblood fertility problems…”
Arthur kept nodding, looking similarly morose. Bill became more alert. Two descendants of the Blacks, with fertility and something illegal… “What do you mean?”
“I cursed your dad infertile,” Molly admitted. “That's worthy of an Azkaban sentence, you know? We took precautions, though, in the form of magical contracts and such.”
“It didn't work as well as we'd like it to be,” his dad added, “a pity. Though it did give us Ginny.”
Fleur and Bill were sporting identical expressions of disbelief. This was not what they were expecting when they crossed the Burrow's door earlier.
“So we figured we needed to do something to both of us, rather than one of us, and do that something together rather than separately, so we found a ritual.”
“You… figured?”
“Arithmancy, Billy dear.” His mum waved him off.
“And found… a ritual.” Bill stated, levelling his tone to a semblance of calm.
“Well,” his dad shifted, “it's not illegal, exactly.”
“Exactly.” Bill parroted.
“Yes, well, the rituals we based it on are quite illegal, but an unlisted ritual that doesn't conform to any of the characters of a banned ritual is not an illegal ritual.”
Bill looked at his mum, looking every inch domestic, sipping her tea, leaning on the old couch beside his dad, in despair. “Mum.”
“What? It worked.” She finally finished her tea, his dad nodded vigorously beside her. It was a sight so familiar it was almost soothing. Key word being almost. Before Bill could squeeze a few words in, though, his mother started to rant.
“So you can see, Bill, we weren't expecting you to visit, much less with your fiancée when we didn't even know you were seeing someone,” his mum levelled a pointed glare at him, “because usually children tell their parents beforehand for them expect you and your significant other so the parents can prepare, William. Not strutting in, bombing your poor parents with information and stringing along your lover with.” She shot her cup of tea a troubled look.
“Thought you did something to give me a heart attack. No, he just proposed. Will it hurt to give a heads up, William? A Floo-call, ‘hey Mum I'm bringing my girlfriend in a few’? Or maybe ‘hey Mum I've been seeing this girl’? No, he didn't say anything and acted like I'd bash his head in a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy. The nerve!” His Mum's hands went up in exasperation, getting up from the couch ranting. “Didn't even know he was seeing someone! My word! Even I threatened my parents with the elopement before! Communication is what the kids nowadays suck at, honestly!”
Arthur nodded along while Molly went to the kitchen. “You frightened us, Bill, son. Why you didn't tell us beforehand, I'll never understand, but it does give way to active imagination, considering our history, yes?”
Bill and Fleur just nodded, dumbfounded. Worded that way with the history of elopements it did look like Bill went ahead to get bonded and planned to spring it up point blank today.
Molly was back with a tin of cookies she put on Fleur's side. “Here, dear, it must've been rough with this sometimes-idiot son of mine. Please don't hold back telling us things in the future, alright? We'll be glad to have you. You said you're planning to bond in Britain?”
“Ah, oui,” Fleur nodded, hand in the cookie tin, “we plan to settle here in England.”
“Oh, Bill didn't tell me that, I thought he was going to spend the rest of his life in that tomb in Egypt.” Molly glared at her eldest son, again. “And your parents are okay with that, dear?”
“Oh, yes, they understand we'll need to settle down ourselves, see! They think it's, what, um, ah! Bittersweet, of course, with me getting married and all, but they're also very happy for us. France and the UK aren't that much far either, so they're quite okay with it now. ” Fleur hummed around the cookie. It was good, Bill knew, but his mum's stare when Fleur said ‘settle down’ made him retract his hand.
“Well, we'll have to meet each other to get to know each other and plan the bonding then! Bill dear?”
“I'll arrange it, Mum.” Bill sat up straighter.
“Hm,” his mum looked at him, considering, “do tell us if you both need anything, okay? I'll start to write to our future in-laws, I suppose.”
“Yes, Mum.”
“Do you want to stay for lunch? I—”
“No, no,” Bill cut her off, wanting to break down desperately because he really couldn't hold it in anymore, “it's okay, Mum, you were right, I should've told you and gave you time prepare and all, rather bringing Fleur and surprising you and all, it really isn't fair to the both of you, and um we'll be back this weekend, maybe, to get to know each other better? Fleur?”
Fleur was fighting a laugh, he knew, mirth dancing in her beautiful eyes listening to him rambling. He earned the right to ramble, he thought, listening to all of that and oh he'd be damned if he didn't traumatise his siblings in return right after he was home with a Floo access. He was hardly going to be traumatised alone. Eldest or not, he refused.
“Oui, Molly, we'll be in touch, yes? It's been very nice meeting you today.” Fleur got up, supporting Bill yet wholeheartedly meaning it at the same time. She was looking forward to bond with his future mother in-law, specifically.
His parents exchanged pleasantries with Fleur, Bill himself drifting. Finding all of them getting along was all he hoped for this morning, but now it was at the very back of his mind. His mum and dad looked distinctly aware of how uncomfortable he was right now, looking more than a bit amused (Bill was a source of amusement a lot when he was younger, he was used to it, but dear Merlin did Bill want to cry).
He came to himself back at their London flat, Fleur chuckling while he scrambled for a handful of Floo powder.
“Romanian Dragon Reserve, Charlie Weasley's Tent!”
One by one, all of them are going down.