Title: Scorpius' Gift
Words: 500 exactly
Rating: G
Prompts: Molly Weasley/ Scorpius Malfoy, falling leaves
A/N: written for nextgen drabble challenge
Molly was older now, and sadder. The fight had gone out of her. Even her hair was not the bright flame it used to be, but more of a smoldering ember of gray ash. She would have been rueful if she had noticed, but her heart was simply not in it anymore. Grief had stilled and tamed her wild nature.
When Arthur died, she thought she would go half mad from the constant ache in her heart. The Burrow, which had always been so full of life and love and children and chaos, was now silent as a tomb to her, full of nothing but painful memories. Molly had to get out before it brought her to her knees completely.
She decided to visit her grandchildren at Hogwarts, a school that was always near and dear to her heart. She was allowed a pass for a few weeks, and couldn't wait to be around the youth there. Maybe she would take a job there, if one was available.
Her first yearning upon arrival was to take a nice, leisurely stroll around the grounds. It was a crisp fall day, and she wandered away from the castle near the trees.
As she was walking, she heard a noise behind her and spun around, startled. There was a boy there. She felt like she was staring at a ghost "Draco Malfoy!"
"That's my father," he said shyly. "Everyone says we look alike. I'm Scorpius. Who are you?"
"Molly Weasley. Surely you know Rose?"
He nodded. "She is okay-for a Gryffindor," he smiled to show he was just kidding.
Molly had been suspicious at first. The resemblance that this boy bore his father was uncanny and unsettling, but he seemed of an entirely different nature. She relaxed a little.
Scorpius cleared his throat and looked at her through a fall of his white-blond hair. "I heard that Rose recently lost her grandpa. I was never close to mine, but I really love my dad, and I can only imagine what you must be going through. I am so sorry."
Molly's breath left her, and she stared at the boy before her, so pure. All of a sudden, the tears that she hadn't been able to cry came to her eyes. It was as if two moments were juxtaposed. As Scorpius stood before her here, in the bright fall sunshine, giving his condolence, it felt as if time was overlapping. She had the oddest notion that he were apologizing for more than that, as if he were trying to right all the wrongs in the world, make amends for his father and all of the losses she had suffered. He was just a blameless child, and yet there was sincerity in his gray gaze that she could accept.
A gust of wind blew a fall of leaves down upon them at that moment, and Molly smiled. "Thank you," she said, and turned her face to the sun.
