Author's Note: Thanks to Liza for betaing.
Written for…
Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Practice Round! Team/Position: Holyhead Harpies, Seeker. Task: Write about the relationship between a parent and child.
Hogwarts Assignment #9. Lesson: Muggle Art, task 2. Task: Write about someone prolific or extraordinary in their chosen field.
(Writing Club) Disney Challenge. Prompt: Write about someone finding their place in the world.
(Writing Club) Emy's Emporium. Prompt: write about a woman fighting
(Writing Club) Ami's Audio Admirations. Prompt: (Era) Next-Gen
(Writing Club) Character Appreciation. Prompt: next-gen
(Writing Club) Showtime. Prompt: (Relationship) mother
Photography Month. Prompt: Write about a bright idea
(Writing Club) Lyric Alley. Prompt: And I had a dream
365 Challenge. Prompt: (title) One Door Opens
Cooking Club. Prompt: Next-gen, cookies
Insane Challenge. Prompt: Vials
One Door Opens
1,040 words
"It doesn't have to be like this," Percy said, following his eldest daughter from room to room as she collected her belongings. "You're welcome to stay as long as you want."
Molly turned, a smile on her face, and shook her head at him. "It's not about you, or Mum, or Lucy. This is about me."
"I don't understand," he admitted. She knew how hard that must have been for him. Percy Weasley absolutely had to know everything. If there was something he didn't know, he studied it until he was an expert.
"I don't belong here. I've tried fitting in for years - really, I have. But I can't keep living under this roof, letting you and Mum shelter me from the outside world."
Perching on the side of her bed, Percy watched her pack quietly for a few moments. "I just want what's best for you," he murmured.
She paused and sat by his side. "I have no doubt of that. But … I'm a squib, Dad. Like it or not. And I do like it. I like being different, I like that I got to go to the same schools that Mum and Uncle Robin attended. But I'm still part witch and I'm not going to let anyone tell me I don't belong in this world." She smiled, reaching for his hand. "I'm eighteen, I don't need you to protect me from this."
He nodded, slowly understanding. "Where will you go?"
"I have a flat ready in London with a girl James knows."
"And work?" Percy frowned. "There won't be many people willing to hire a squib, dear."
"I know. I've got an interview with the Daily Prophet on Monday. If that doesn't work out … I'll look somewhere else. I'm not going to give up just because a few fools can't see how talented I really am."
He let out a quiet chuckle. "You really are just like your mother, you know."
Molly beamed. "Mum wouldn't let anyone tell her 'no' when she was blinded, and I'm certainly not about to either."
"You realize you're going to have to convince her of all this? I'm not going to break the news for you."
:-:
Audrey Weasley was in the cellar, where she spend most of her free time these days, brewing up a surpluss of simple remedies and salves to distract herself from the changes happening in her life.
Her daughters were grown now. Lucy was just going off to Hogwarts for the final time, full of energy and ideas and big plans for her future. It wouldn't surprise Audrey one bit to learn that her youngest was planning to drop out of school in order to get a head start on her peers.
Molly was a strange creature, one that her mother had always had difficulties in understanding and taming over the years. Nevertheless, she couldn't deny how similar the teenager was to her in spirit. Not once had she let her uniqueness get her down, even as her father and sister wept when they learned that she was a squib, Molly kept her chin up and worked even harder in her Muggle studies.
Audrey knew the day was coming when Molly would approach them about her future. Percy, she knew, had grand ideas of what his daughters would do with their lives - and indeed, they were both intelligent, powerful women - but Audrey also knew when to let her girls take control.
So when Molly crept into the cellar to meet with her just two days after seeing Lucy off at the platform, Audrey suspected immediately it was to tell her that she wouldn't be attending university after all.
"I'll go eventually," Molly explained. Audrey could hear her pacing by the doorway. "I just don't want to waste my time right now. It won't help me get a job in the wizarding world so I might as well go and try to find something now, and save the Muggle world as something to fall back on."
Audrey smiled. She'd had a similar plan for her life when she was Molly's age. The attack that blinded her had derailed her somewhat, but she liked to believe she was where she was always meant to be: married to a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, and a job she was passionate about. She could only hope that Molly and Lucy would be half as satisfied with how their lives turned out.
"Whatever you choose to do with your life, I will be behind you," she said, finding Molly and pulling her into a hug. "I have no doubts that you'll do great things."
:-:
It wasn't anywhere close to where Molly thought she would be, but the little shop was something she could honestly say she was proud of at the end of the day. It had been hard work, of course, spending years hopping from job to job, waiting for her big break, never backing down from a challenge. Never accepting failure. It had taken six months just to fight for her right to rent out a shop in Hogsmeade, but here she was, and with her family by her side, as always.
"This is marvelous, honey," her mum told her, let her hands run over the vials gently, a wide smile on her face. Molly inherited her love of potions from her mother, after all.
"I already have three orders for next week," the twenty-five-year-old bragged mildly, watching the way her dad's eyes roamed over the back room, full to the brim with cauldrons and a makeshift owlery in the rafters. "I'm hoping to expand by next year. Maybe hire another potioneer to help me."
"That's a great idea," Lucy chimed in. She sat behind the counter, nibbling on a cookie from the batch Molly had baked for new customers. "I know at least five people at work who take pepperup potion on a near daily basis, and their current supplier has been watering it down. I'm going to tell them to contact you."
Molly grinned, happy with how her life had turned out, with how she'd made something of herself in a world that rejected her at every turn. Now, maybe, people might see the value in squibs.