Author's Note: Thanks to Emmeebee for being an awesome beta and putting up with my paranoia. ;)

Written for…

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Montrose Magpies, Chaser 1. Task: Write about Molly Weasley II. Prompts: 'Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever' - Keri Russell (quote), stubborn, "Where did that come from?" (dialogue)

All About You Challenge. Prompts: Write about someone struggling to get into their chosen field.

Small Decisions

"How's the job search going?" Audrey asked as she peered over her eldest daughter's shoulder at the newspaper sprawled on the dining table.

"About as good as it's been for the last two months," Molly answered. She scribbled over a wanted ad in black marker.

Audrey nodded solemnly, taking the seat next to Molly.

"You know, if you're really desperate, I'm sure we can get you a position in the Ministry. Your father and my department is always looking for new interns."

"No offence, Mum, but I'm really not cut out to work in the Ministry. It's so stuffy and boring. I don't know how you put up with it."

Audrey chuckled. "I'm positive I said those exact words when Flitwick suggested it to me."

"So why didn't you do something else? There must have been lots of shops you could've worked in, or some department more exciting that Magical Transportation."

"I'm afraid there wasn't much at the time. The war had just ended and half the shops in London were demolished. Moreover, not a lot of were open to hiring an inexperienced blind girl."

She fiddled with the glasses which gave her limited sight and Molly felt instantly guilty for bringing the subject up. She knew how much her mother hated discussing her war injury and all it had cost her.

Molly had always felt herself drawn closer to her mother than her father. She may have inherited the flaming Weasley hair, and the do-or-die work ethics shared by both of her parents, but it was the proficiency with potions that she had inherited from her mother that Molly felt guided her life. Or at least it had until the apothecary where she had dutifully spent every morning for three years had unexpectedly closed down, leaving her unemployed.

"Maybe I should go get a muggle job somewhere."

Audrey was taken aback. "Where did that come from?"

Molly shrugged. "I was talking with Uncle Ethan yesterday and he said I could stay with him while I look for a job."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Honey, abandoning the wizarding world just because it hurt you isn't the answer. Believe me, I was a wreck after they told me I couldn't go back to working at St. Mungo's. I almost let Ethan talk me into giving up too. He'd even started looking at jobs I could do with a computer."

She reached for the hand Molly resting on the table. "Luckily I'm stubborn and refused to be scared off; otherwise I wouldn't have met your father."

"But I'm not stubborn like you."

"Oh, yes, you are. Both of you girls have always known what you want and never let anyone stand in your way, and I'm eternally proud of you."

Molly took back her hand and shook her head. She wanted to make her mother see that she was nothing to be proud of. Unemployed, single, still living with her parents and just passed her twenty-first birthday. Lucy would be leaving Hogwarts in a few months and she already had a job lined up at the Daily Prophet.

The egg timer sitting on the corner of the table started dinging before she had a chance to say anything and she rushed to pull a batch of cupcakes out of the oven.

"Those smell delicious," Audrey commented. She squinted to be able to see them as Molly placed them under a cooling charm.

"Thanks. I was bored earlier so I had a look through Grandma Lucy's cookbooks. Baking always relaxes me."

"Your grandmother was the same way. The house always smelled like cinnamon and we never ran out of cookies."

Mixing up a bowl of frosting, Molly smiled. "It's a lot like potions. It takes the same level of precision and attention to detail." She covered the first cupcake with a flourish and passed it to her mother. "It's a shame they didn't offer a baking course at school. I might've gotten more than one O on my NEWTs."

"Muggles take more pride in the simple arts. It's one of their strengths," Audrey said. "Not to say that wizards don't appreciate a good meal, of course. The Three Broomsticks has been around since before I was born."

Molly hummed, twirling the cupcake in her hand as she spread frosting on it. She was already halfway through the tray. "You think they need a manager?" she asked jokingly.

Audrey's eyes lit up as she bit into the cake. She had devoured the whole thing in the time it took Molly to change the cupcake colors with a tap of her wand.

"Forget the Three Broomsticks, you should open your own shop," Audrey told her, licking frosting off her finger. "You can call it 'Molly's Magic Kitchen' or something."

Molly laughed, shaking her head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? These are fabulous. Better than my mum's, actually."

"Just because you like them, doesn't mean the rest of Britain will."

"I'm willing to bet that they will. In fact, I'm willing to invest in your shop." Molly frowned down at her creations. "I'd suggest opening up an apothecary, but I think Slug and Jiggers are beating out the competition right now."

"I don't know, Mum. It's a lot to think about."

Audrey shrugged, reaching across the table for another cupcake. "Well, sometimes it's the smallest decisions that change your life forever."

"You think opening a shop is a small decision?"

"Maybe not right now, but one day you'll realize that everything that seemed like such a big deal at the time really isn't in the end. My disability led me to meeting your father. Maybe the apothecary closing down is what's going to lead you to your destiny."

Audrey plucked a purple cupcake from the tray and scurried out without another word, leaving Molly to return to the wanted ads with her marker in hand.

She had reached the end of the section without finding any decent options and was about to fold the newspaper up again when she spotted the last ad on the page.

SPACE FOR RENT IN HOGSMEADE

Molly glanced at the cupcakes, perfectly decorated and making the whole house smell like vanilla.

"I'm going to regret this," she muttered. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the marker to the page and circled the ad.