Order Only Private message to Bill

[alt_charlie]

Right. Got back from Grimmauld and Gred and Forge said Rachel called you out for something going on in New London. I hope it's not as bad as it could be.

Anyway, I was hoping you'd still be at the Burrow when Mum and I got back from Grimmauld -- I think you probably realised, you were looking at me like you were keeping yourself from asking what was going on, but I wanted to make absolutely sure I told Mum first. And I'm sorry I couldn't stick around and tell you in person, using the journals feels like a bit of a cop-out, but I ran out of time and had to be back up here in time to change before I went on shift.

(Sorry, I'm rambling, I'm still a bit keyed up from talking to Mum.)

Anyway. It's nothing bad! Quite the opposite, really. And you might have guessed something about this already, I'd be surprised if you hadn't.

Remember back at the end of April, when Dumbledore asked me to help him out with a project on Beltane, one he thought might do something for the wards? Well. Um. He asked me and Tonks together. He had an idea that life magic might undo some of the magic of the wards. And I don't know whether it had any effect on the wards, but the 'life' part of the life magic worked just fine, apparently!

So, yeah. I'm part thrilled and part terrified. And it keeps sinking in all over again that Tonks and I made a person.

Comments

[alt_bill]

We've all had near misses. I remember the time I was almost picked up when Archer was brought in, and I was only warned off in time by a portrait. But the thought you might be leaving a kid behind if you're caught...yeah, that adds a whole other layer to the sweating you do when you have a close call like that.

I wish I could promise you we'll all get through this alive. Rachel says she trusts me as much as she's ever trusted anyone, but there's still a faint barrier there between us because she really doubts she's going to make it through the war. I don't feel I can bring up the issue of kids with her as long as she has a hard time believing we'll win through.

Any kid is a vote of hope in a better future. If your son was conceived on Beltane, as part of a great magic to bring about that better future, well...I have to believe that's a powerful protection for him all on its own. And for his mum and dad--his entire family, really. We Weasleys are optimists, I reckon, and so I hope I'll eventually bring Rachel around to my way of thinking. Not that having a kid is necessary to believe in the future, but it would be nice if she came to think that she really has one.

I think you and Tonks will make a great team as parents. You have strengths that complement each other, you know? You'll have deep reserve brooms, too, with Remus and Sirius and Mum, all elbowing each other aside to change a nappy.

(Now I've been sitting here trying to imagine what a nephew would be like with a blend of your and Tonks' personality. Someone easy-going, but still conscientious. And someone who laughs a lot.)

[alt_charlie]

Well, as long as my reserve team fumbles less often than the Cannons', we'll be in good shape. (Not that you could be worse ... I really thought we had a chance this year.)

And thanks. It's good to be reminded of those things.

I hope Rachel does make it through all this. She's good for you.

I have to put my journal away now, we're done with inventory and it's time to go out for the night. But ... thanks for being you, big brother.