A Ginger Announcement

It was a cool, autumn afternoon. The wind blew gently through the countryside, rustling leaves and grass. The orchard brought colors of red, orange, and yellow to the luscious green fields. The scent of fresh roast wafted out of a crooked, multi-story house. A loud bang and cursing came from the shed out back.

"ARTHUR!" his wife called.

"Coming, Love!" he responded, closing the shed door behind him and sucking on his throbbing, burnt knuckle.

"What did you do?" Molly exclaimed as her husband entered the kitchen. She rushed up to him and began gently rubbing his sooty, forehead with a damp cloth.

"Only a minor explosion. No worries!" Arthur assured.

"No worries?! You're missing an eyebrow!"

Arthur felt where his left eyebrow should be. What he felt was smooth skin. He winced. "Oops."

"The kids will be here any minute and I have to tend to your injuries," Molly fussed in a motherly way. "I do not have time for this." She waved her wand over his forehead and muttered. His eyebrow quickly regrew. "I swear, those Muggle contraptions are gonna be the death of you! Here, give me that," she ordered, grabbing his injured hand. "What was it anyway?"

Arthur's face lit up like a child's on Christmas day, ecstatic his wife showed some interest in his Muggle hobby. "It's called a gas grill! It's like a regular grill – you know, where you use charcoal – but it uses, well, gas!" he exclaimed.

Molly brushed dust and dirt off his sweater vest. "What on earth did you do to make it blow up?" she clucked.

"Well, you see, there is this tank that connects to the grill – That's where the gas comes from – I started letting the gas out before I connected it and lit it then...BANG!" he exclaimed with a bounce and wide eyes, gesturing with his hands to resemble an explosion. He ruffled his hair and frowned. "I don't think I was supposed to do that," he said wryly.

"Obviously..." Molly mumbled as she tried fixing her husband's mussed up hair. Stepping back, she huffed in consternation and rested her hands on her hips, pursing her lips.

Cocking his head, Arthur watched her innocently. Molly couldn't help but grin and give a small giggle at the sight. Somehow, he didn't even have to try to look adorable. It usually happened at moments such as this when she was in a tizzy.

Molly stood on her tiptoes and reached up to fix his hair again.

"Molly, what are you doing? Stop. It's fine," he whinged while lightly swatting at her hands like a protesting child.

It didn't seem she heard him because she kept fighting with a few wild strands sticking up on top of his head. However, she dropped back down on her heels. After a few more attempts at wrangling the unruly hair, Molly seemed to give up. She draped her arms around his neck. Their eyes met, and Arthur grinned at her with that goofy, lopsided grin of his.

"Are you finished now?" he asked with slight amusement, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Molly glanced up at the mess of red hair and giggled before answering, "You look like a madman."

"Because I'm mad for you," he murmured, a twinkle in his eye.

"Really now?" she asked. She ran a hand through his hair, messing up what little she had been able to straighten.

Arthur nodded.

Molly's cheeks became rosy. "Well, Mr. Madman, I think you should get cleaned up before the kids start getting here."

"Anything for you, Mollywobbles," Arthur murmured. He bent down and softly kissed her on the lips. She pulled him closer. Slowly, he trailed delicate kisses down her neck and onto her collarbone.

A suggestive whistle sounded before the door slammed behind George. Molly and Arthur gave a start and looked in the direction of the sudden noise. Molly's cheeks turned scarlet. Arthur huffed and rolled his eyes. Even with all their kids moved out, they were still constantly interrupted.

George strode over to the stove, picked off a piece of roast, and ate it. "Should I warn the others and come back later?" their son teased, mouth full.

The couple reluctantly broke apart.

"Your dad was just about to get cleaned up," Molly said.

"Looks to me like he was about to get dirty," George said, waggling his eyebrows.

"We did not teach you to be vulgar," his mother chastised, but his dad couldn't help grinning. She cracked a wooden spoon across his knuckles when he went to pull of another bite of roast.

George jerked his hand back. "Oi! That hurt!" he complained.

"I'll be down in a few minutes," Arthur said. He kissed Molly on the top of her head before going upstairs to get cleaned up.

Before long, the Burrow was close to bursting. Their daughter, sons, and daughters-in-law, along with two grandchildren, lounged around the house and garden. However, a particular raven-haired young man seemed to be missing when the family gathered around the table. Arthur did a quick headcount: 14. That was the number they were supposed to have. He counted again. The same outcome. His eyebrows knit together.

"Ginny, where's Harry?" he asked his daughter who was keeping little Teddy from knocking over a glass of pumpkin juice.

"I'm right here, Mr. Weasley!" Harry piped up on the other side of the toddler.

Arthur squinted at the twenty-one year old. A few people snickered. The young man's formerly black hair was now red. Ah, that would explain how they overlooked him.

Molly beat Arthur to his question. "What on earth did you do to your hair?"

Broad grins spread across both Harry's and Ginny's faces.

"I'm a Weasley now!" Harry announced.

"Well, not officially, but close," Ginny corrected.

The table was silent while they processed what the young couple meant. Suddenly, Molly jumped up, rushed over to where Harry was sitting, jerked him up, and enveloped him in the biggest most bone-crushing hug he had ever experienced. Soon, Ginny was in her mother's arms as well.

"Oh! I just can't believe it! It's about time!" Molly exclaimed. "When did this happen? How did this happen? When is the wedding?" she fired question after question at them.

Arthur was absolutely beaming. "Molly – Molly - Dear," he chuckled, "they can't answer if you don't give them a chance." He succeeded in bringing her back to her seat, and congratulated the couple himself.

With Molly out of the way, the rest of the family was able to congratulate the couple as well.

When everyone was seated again, George studied Harry's hair. "Do us all a favor, mate. Turn your hair back. There are enough gingers here. It's nice to have a little splash of color," he teased. The table erupted in laughter.

Harry and Ginny were the center of attention at dinner that Sunday. Eventually, they answered the seemingly unending line of questions from Molly. It appeared all of the Weasleys were just as ecstatic about Harry becoming an official member of the family as Harry was.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope y'all enjoyed it. 

The idea for this came from a Tumblr post made by stardustgraves.