Dedalus Diggle (misdirection) wrote in disorderic, @ 2017-12-02 23:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | arthur weasley, dedalus diggle |
WHO: Arthur Weasley & Dedalus Diggle.
WHAT: Order dads fretting about the Youths.
WHEN: Saturday evening.
WHERE: The Burrow.
WARNINGS: Nah.
“Cookies?” Arthur offered the plate placing it on the coffee table, as he brought in a drink for himself and Dedalus. “Molly made them, so they are sure to be delicious.” Arthur unceremoniously plopped himself down into his chair with a heavy sigh. It was good to be home and off his feet. He felt that he was pulling many late nights at the office and if it wasn’t the Ministry pulling his attention it was the Order. For good cause of course, but as the holiday season was beginning you felt the pull away from family more. Or so Arthur thought. “Good to take a load off,” Arthur mused aloud before taking a sip of his drink and looking over to his old pal Dedalus. “With a bunch of whippersnappers in the Order I’m feeling old, or at least tired,” Arthur said with a bit of a laugh. Dedalus accepted the cookies gratefully and politely took a seat on the couch. “Arthur, old chum, please don’t call yourself old, or you’ll make me feel old. Feeling tired, however, is something we can both agree upon,” he said with a sigh. “I’m not sure how I’ll manage to raise one whippersnapper, so who knows how you managed to raise seven of them. Good lord.” “Ah the key is have more and they help out or something?” Arthur laughed know full well that was not really how that happened. “I think I owe it all to Molly honestly, she really is a wonder.” Arthur couldn’t have imagined doing the whole parenting thing without her. “But yes, seven is a lot. They are almost done Hogwarts now and that seems like it happened too fast. Ginny is a sixth year now.” Arthur shook his head in amazement, once again feeling kind of old. “Molly is a wonder, bless her! Her parenting skills—and these cookies—are nothing short of miraculous,” Dedalus said brightly. “Sixth year! I know it’s cliche to say ‘they grow up so fast’, but they really do grow up so fast. Marjorie’s going to be eight next year. Eight! Seems like only yesterday I could carry her around in my arms.” He smiled fondly as he thought of his daughter, then let out a wistful sigh. “Maybe I am getting old after all.” Arthur nodded his head in agreement. “They sure do grow up so fast.” All of this kids grew up so fast. Now Bill was even married, soon they would all be. “I think we are getting old, Dedalus, I mean Bill got married when did they reach a point to be able to get married?” Arthur shook his head, “But we have our children to keep us young. My goodness, eight that seems too soon.” Arthur absentmindedly tugged at his beard. “The kids keep us young though right?” He thought back to having Fred help him set up his social media accounts. “I think so, yes! I mean, I still get to have tea parties with unicorns on a regular basis—that’s youthful, right? Hopefully, it’ll be a few decades before she gets married. I still can’t believe your children are getting married, honestly. It seems only yesterday we ourselves were at Hogwarts.” “Definitely youthful,” Arthur chuckled. “I am sure it will be some time before she get married, one would hope. But I will agree it does feel like we were there only yesterday, they feel like such a simpler time.” “They were, weren’t they?” Dedalus said. He smiled, though it was tinged with sadness at the thought of how many of those simpler, happier times were with people who were no longer living—his sister, his friends. “I can’t say that I ever expected to be doing this at this age. I probably would have been voted ‘Least Likely To Become A Masked Vigilante’ in those days, and now I’ve done it twice.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Life never really does go the way anyone would expect though, does it?” “No it doesn’t,” Arthur agreed. “I didn’t expected we would need something like the Order again? Watching from the sidelines before was hard enough and here were are indeed again.” Arthur furrowed his brow. “I am proud to be helping but I wish we didn’t need to.” He tried to smile a little, “We have so many young ones in our ranks. It is good to know they care.” Dedalus folded his hands and looked down at them, thoughtful. “I wish we didn’t need to do this again, too—I wish we hadn’t had to do this the first time around, but someone had to. It’s good to know we have so many passionate young people willing to help, though I do worry about what this means for the rest of their lives.” If they survived at all, he failed to mention. He bit his lip, pausing before continuing, “I was about their age when I joined. None of this ever really leaves you. You know?” Arthur nodded his head, “You’re right none of it leaves you, but even when you aren’t directly involved in affects you. I’m not sure they would avoid it without being directly involved. I just hope they look back on this and feel they did something good.” Arthur watched his wife go through heartbreak because of the war and they weren’t even part of the order then. “I don’t think anyone understanding what is going on out there will make it through without some of this affecting you.” Death Eater or not, but he left that out. Dedalus returned Arthur’s nod with one of his own. “I suppose so. You’re probably right. I’ve just… I don’t know… seen a lot of things I can’t unsee. I hope all of this doesn’t mess them up any more than they’d already be messed up. I hope that they can look back and be proud.” He forced himself to smile, trying his best to look on the bright side despite his concern. “I suppose this is just the parent in me fretting. You know how it goes, I’m sure.” “Ah yes I do, especially considering so many of them are my own children.” He worried constantly about their involvement, unsure if they should be but not like he could tell them no. “Whether it will mess them up or not is up to them I guess, just as we can’t stop them from being involved even if we think it would be for the better.” “It’s up to them,” Dedalus repeated wearily, then sipped deeply from his drink. “Hopefully their children will never have to make the same choice. We’ll finish what we started this time. Hopefully by the time Marjorie gets older, this will all be but a bad dream to her.” Arthur nodded his head, “I know what you mean, even the ones that aren’t my kids I feel protective of. I wish I would take on some of the tasks they do.” Though when he was involved flashbacks of that night with the snake came back. “We just have to hope they are strong, which they all seem.” “You’re right though. We will properly finish it this time.” They didn’t need to go through this again and as Dedalus said it would be a bad dream for the young ones like Marjorie. “We just need to make it through this one.” “We’ll make it through,” Dedalus assured him, even if he didn’t really feel all that assured himself. He was painfully aware of his own mortality and that of those around him, but they didn’t need someone reminding them of that. He was supposed to be the optimist here, to make others feel at ease. He tried his best. “How could we even consider doing otherwise when there are cookies like this in the world?” Dedalus said, all fake cheer and lightness. “Good heavens.” “I know,” Arthur leaned forward to pick up a cookie. “Molly and her cooking is worth fighting for.” He spoke seriously before biting into his cookie. “I’ll let Molly know your rave review.” |