For Mystii's Next-Gen Challenge

Character: Molly Weasley II

Fairy Garden

Mum likes flowers. When Dad bought us the house, it had a really, really big field that wasn't owned by anyone right next to it. Thus, we have at least fifteen different gardens.

Lucy likes the fairy garden that looks like it's from a fairytale. It's nice, but it's a bit too… dreamy for my liking. It's just the kind of thing Lucy would like; she lives in her own fairytale. As for me, I like to keep my feet on the ground. Sometimes, when I'm in the garden, I have to pinch myself to remind myself that I'm not in a daydream.

It really is a pretty garden. Mum had some Muggle landscapers come in and make a river. There are silver stepping stones leading across to a marble pathway. The grass always looks like it was just rained on. You go through a white archway with vibrant red roses intertwined. You open up in a clearing surrounded by beeches and pine trees. There's a little white bench tucked in a corner so it's always in the shade no matter what time of day it is. It's one of those benches that swings back and forth. There's a gray fountain in the middle with stone fairies carved around the edges. There's not much more to look at, but it gives off an unusual aura of magic.

But, as I said, I don't really like that kind of thing. It's nice to go out there and read a book every once and a while, but it just seemed too magical. It's hard to remind yourself that even in a world of magic, there are limitations. It's easy to forget that there are no such things as alternative universes, and that fairies don't actually exist.

It was in my sixth year at Hogwarts, I think, that I first questioned that simple fact, that even magic had its limitations. I invited Julius Goldstein over during the Easter holidays for lunch…

Someone rapped sharply on the door. I flung myself downstairs before Dad or Mum could answer it. I pulled the door back excitedly. Julius beamed at me as he politely invited himself inside. Mum and Dad had come to see who it was. I introduced my parents to him. When Mum started pressing questions on whether he was my boyfriend or not, I told her that he was a friend from school. I think she's still suspicious, but it threw her attention off him for a little while.

"Well, we're not having lunch for awhile," Dad announced. "Why don't you two explore that maze your mother calls a garden?"

"I heard that, Percy!" Mum called from the kitchen.

Dad laughed. "Have fun, kids."

"It's so embarrassing when your dad calls you kids," I muttered as we headed through the fields.

Julius nodded. "Mum does it all the time to me. You're mum seems cool enough."

"She's a lot like Lucy," I agreed. "You know- floaty, dreamy and she really, really likes flowers."

"So I assumed," he replied.

I had never mastered my way through the gardens. There are a lot of them, and they're all connected by a marble path. It's really easy to get lost, though. So, Julius and I wandered aimlessly through a sea of flowers and a jungle of trees. I suddenly heard the familiar sound of a creek. The fairy garden!

I shot a look at Julius. He was swatting some flies that had decided to be his buddy and were swarming incessantly around his head. Would he like something like the fairy garden? It certainly wasn't something that I had assumed he liked, and it was a bit plain, but maybe the magic fairies would come and make him like it. I scoffed and banished the thought. There are no such things as fairies. The fairy garden is just a name.

"Come on," I told him.

I dragged him through a thicket of blueberry bushes to the stepping stones. He glanced expectantly at me, and I nodded encouragingly. Julius hopped from stone to stone until he was safely on the other side. I followed him eagerly. My foot slipped on the last stone and I nearly fell into the river, but Julius grabbed my shoulders and steadied me.

"Thanks," I told him breathlessly.

"No problem," he answered. "Where are we?"

"The fairy garden," I answered.

"There aren't real fairies, I hope."

"Of course not," I scoffed. "Fairies aren't real."

"Who knows?" Julius shrugged. "Maybe they'll find a new species of pixies and name them fairies."

I laughed. "Even magic has its limits. As much as I'd like to believe that there are such things as fate or destiny or controlling them, there isn't. No one can make the sky green or make the salmon swim downstream instead of up. There are simple facts of life that no one can affect."

"You're really different from Lucy," Julius announced. "Lucy would say that you could make the sky green or make salmon swim downstream instead of up. Lucy believes in fate and destiny and being able to control them."

"And is that a problem?" I demanded, my temper rising.

"No," Julius replied. "To each his own, right?"

I nodded and lead him through the archway before he could continue comparing me to Lucy. I knew I was different from her, but Julius was right. I had my opinions, and Lucy had hers. Maybe I had been acting a little hot-headed about Julius comparing me to Lucy. I turned around to apologize, but when we reached the fairy garden, I couldn't speak.

Flowers had popped up everywhere. Tiger lilies had magically sprung from the ground. Cherry blossoms were sprouting from pine trees, and they were in full bloom. Daisies and tulips and petunias and poppies were blooming in the sunlight. There had to be some kind of magic at work! I had been in the fairy garden with Lucy a week ago! These flowers couldn't have sprung up this quickly! But Dad had sworn not to use magic on Mum's gardens. She nearly made him make an Unbreakable vow; she was that serious. Mum meant that much to Dad; he would have never done something like that. That only meant one person.

Lucy! I groaned mentally. Of course, Lucy had done this. She was still underage, but, as I never grew tired of pointing out, she could indeed use magic so long as there was a wizard or witch of age supervising her. Dad must've let her.

I spotted a piece of paper taped to the edge of the fountain that was sprinkling dark waves of cool blue water. Just five simple words- Have a fun date, Molly. I laughed as I saw Julius admiring all the flowers.

So he was a Scamander-like Ravenclaw? I thought, smiling. The kind that, instead of using wisdom to prove what had already been proven, used wisdom to prove the impossible? Excellent. Just excellent.