A/N: Yes, I know, another WIP. This one will be short, I promise :D Just a short story. But here is chapter one. Originally, I swear, it was only going to be a one-shot. But it sort of took on a mind of its own. :)
Anyway, this is for Rachel, who made me want to write Molly(II). Thanks to Gubby, who gave Mutt a name and to everyone who helped give him a heritage :)
And especially for Molly, who is always being encouraging and great. Thanks for listening to me whine! Love you :)
The sound was booming from the flat, Molly, Dominique, and Roxane could hear it as they approached 247B. Dominique looked thrilled, Roxy less than, and Molly a bit bored though trying to be enthusiastic. Dom had come bursting into her office earlier in the day while she sat staring at a folder, as if trying to divine the secrets of life from it, and after scaring the living daylights out of her cousin and best friend, had bullied Molly into agreeing to attend the party tonight. Their cousin James, younger by three years, had recently been signed by the Appleby Arrows and was throwing himself a lavish party to celebrate. He described it as lavish; Molly was leaning toward drunken revelry to describe it, probably with a fair bit of debauchery thrown in. For all his being only twenty years old, the boy really did throw quite the party. When she put her hand on the door knob, Molly felt it vibrating and threw Dom a dubious look.
Single file, the three young women shouldered their way through the crowd that had spilled into the entry way. Molly peeked into the living room and saw James there, standing atop a table with two others, talking and laughing. Well, more like shouting, she was sure no one could possibly have a normal conversation in this ruckus. They moved past the living room through the kitchen/dining area where she recognized nary a person. When Molly glanced over her shoulder, she saw Dom had fallen off and was chatting up a rather handsome bloke. Smiling and shaking her head, and seeing Roxy do the same; she continued down the hall past the bathroom and peeked into the first bedroom, which was Fred's. Empty. Next was James', whose door she quickly shut, red faced. Behind her she heard Roxy snicker. Last was Mutt Henry's room.
Bernard Jay Henry had been the best of mates with Fred and James since first year. Molly had heard her Uncle Harry comment on more than one occasion, half in exasperation, half fondness, that they were much like he knew his father and godfather had been. Uncle George said they took after him and Uncle Fred. Whatever the case, they'd become the best of friends after some other first year had made fun of Mutt for both his name and parentage. James and Fred, who were both nobler than they liked to let on, had promptly stuffed said boy in a toilet. They hadn't minded his name was outdated and unpopular or that his mixed parentage had mixed in an... odd... sort of way, what with his red hair and dark Indian skin. Mutt had jokingly given himself the nickname and it had stuck.
While they were the best of mates though, James was still a bit fizzed that Mutt was dating his baby sister, Lily. Of course Lily, who had exactly her mother's regard for fraternal nosiness/bossiness, had flicked her fingers in James' general direction and done exactly as she pleased in regards to his best mate. It was these two, along with Rose, Albus, and Nate Thomas that occupied the spacious room. Lily and Mutt sat side by side on the bed, leaning against the head board. Albus was spinning in the chair at Mutt's desk, and Rose was snuggled up against Nate on the couch, her head on his shoulder, their fingers entwined. Molly smiled at having found them and stepped in, Roxy behind her.
"Molly! You came!" Lily stood up off the bed to give her cousin a hug and, spotting Roxy behind her, gave Roxy one as well. "Weren't sure you would. Hello Rox."
"Yes, Dom bullied me of course." She smiled at Lily, whom she'd always been close to and who had always looked up to her. "But I am happy for James."
"Hey." Roxy said with a smile. "I love your hair." Lily ran her hand over her new hair style, shorter and trendier than her trademark long and straight.
"Thank you. I was a bit nervous to get it done this way, but Jill told me it'd be fab, so I decided to try it. And Henrietta is a goddess with hair."
"It's lovely Lils." Molly assured her with a smile. "I love it."
"What are you doing?!" Dominique burst into the room. "Get the hell out of this hole and have some fun." She tossed a wink Molly's way and whipped out of the room laughing, pulled along by some man none of them knew.
"Come on guys! Get out here! Dom told me you'd holed up." James appeared just after Dominique, beer in hand, sloppy grin in place.
"Congratulations James!" Molly yelled. The noise hadn't been so bad with the door shut, and obvious sound charms in place, but with it open the roar of the party intruded.
"Thanks Molls!" He reached forward, nearly unbalancing himself, and grabbed her hand. "Come on!" Smiling at James' exuberance, the group stood and filed out, making their way into the noise of the party.
The others drifted off to their own amusements; even Roxy found someone to dance with, so Molly grabbed a beer and dropped onto a window sill. Besides family and a few others, she recognized no one in the massive crowd. While James, Fred, and Mutt had a nice, large flat, she was still surprised at how many people they had packed in. With drinks in hand, people danced and laughed, moving to the beat of the music with wild abandon. The table James had been standing on when Molly had arrived was now occupied by one of his quidditch mates and two slinky blondes in tight black dresses. Molly picked at the hem of her linen shorts with a sigh, knocking back another drink of her beer.
Her dark eyes, inherited from her mother, watched the room about her. Feeling a bit like leaving, and guilty for it, because she was very happy for her cousin, Molly leaned back against the window and sipped her beer. The cool glass was a welcome sensation through her tank top, in direct contrast to the sweat and heat before her. In the midst of the madness, she let her thoughts drift away.
Molly had always been practical, a lot like her father in that respect, if less stuffy. She thought through her decisions thoroughly before making them, and was always sure of her way ahead. Unlike her bohemian cousin, Dominique, Molly did not drift with any wind or float on clouds. A part of her had always wanted to be brave like Dominique, spontaneous like her and Roxy. Something always held her back though, a fear of failure. Steady decision and reliability was safer, so safe she stayed. Every once in awhile though, usually after a terrible date or lots of alcohol, she wistfully thought of something different. Tonight was one of those nights, though there were no bad dates in her recent history, no dates at all actually, and her alcohol intake was still relatively low.
When Dominique had burst into her office earlier, demanding she drop everything and get ready to attend James' party, Molly had been staring at her desk. She'd been contemplating life, her life in particular, and love, especially the finding of it, if it really existed. True love anyway, for there are many different sorts. She knew it must exist though, even at times she doubted it, her own family held proof enough. Her aunts and uncles, her grandparents, and even her cousin Victoire had all found it. Perhaps it just didn't exist for her. Unlike them, she'd not met him while still in school and gotten married before her twenty-first birthday. Here she was, twenty-three, single and dateless. She snorted into her beer. Reduced to sitting on the windowsill, alone, at a raging party. If only she could be impetuous.
"Hey." A deep, loud voice just to her left grabbed her attention. She tried to discreetly peek at what was going on. If the face matched the voice, some girl was quite lucky. Letting her red hair fall forward, she glanced through it. A tall, dark haired man stood there but she couldn't see who he was talking to.
"Hello? Christ it's loud in here. Can you even hear me?" Casting all subtlety aside, Molly looked over her shoulder. The tall, fit, dark haired man was smiling down at her.
"Oh my God." Embarrassed, Molly jumped up and nearly tripped over her own feet. A strong hand with fast reflexes reached out and grabbed her, steadying her.
"Whoa. Slow down there, didn't mean to startle you. Had a bit to drink?" His wry smile made her blush. He thought she was completely rat-assed.
"Just a bit." She held up her beer. "My first." That wry look again, and a raised eye brow.
"All it takes sometimes."
"Not me." She chirped. "Oh, not that I'm a fish or anything I just – Shit!" She swore as a passing bloke who was quite pissed slopped his beer down her leg.
"Mmphf." He mumbled, giving her a drunken leer. Molly took a step back, her features twisting into an expression that clearly said 'ick.'
"Not interested, mate." The tall, dark haired man said, giving the drunk a gentle shove along. Luckily, the guy gave no protest and moved along, walking with arms wide open toward a pair of giggling groupies.
"Thanks." She drew out her wand and magicked away the mess, wrinkling her nose at the smell that was sure to cling to her shoe and making note to clean it later.
"You can hear me." He grinned cheekily. Molly looked up, still a bit startled.
"I didn't think you were talking to me." She said. "I mean, no one does."
"Talk to you?"
"Oh, no. I mean, no, they do. But not here. Parties. I don't get talked to at parties. I don't go to them very often actually. They don't like me. The parties, I mean." Her face flushed beet red as her mouth continued to move on.
He just grinned again. "I don't see why. You're pretty and so far quite funny. Would you like to dance?" His question took her off guard. She blinked at him for a moment. When she didn't answer, his eyebrows raised and his cheek quirked. "Or not."
"I can't."
"Dance with me?" He gave her a quizzical, confused look.
"Dance. At all. I don't dance."
"Everyone can dance."
"I can't."
"Then you can't have danced with the right person." They were standing quite close to each other, and shouting to be heard. It occurred to Molly that he was flirting with her, and doing so by shouting himself hoarse.
"This is odd." She shouted to him. He shook his head with a bit of a smile and Molly realized how off topic her comment was. "I mean the yelling."
"So let's dance instead." He aimed his smile at her and she nodded dumbly; forgetting she couldn't dance, had never tried and thought she'd be quite terrible if she ever did. His smile was what Dominique would call killer. Even white teeth, full pink lips that looked so soft, and softly bronzed skin. His deep blue eyes twinkled at her as he set their beers on the window sill and took her hand, pulling her along with him, walking backwards so he never broke eye contact. Molly took time out of the moment to wonder how he did it without crashing.
He drew her wrists up to his shoulders, letting her hands drape over them, naturally curling behind his neck. His hand settled, one on her hip, the other on the small of her back, pulling her close. All the while his hypnotic smile never wavered, his eyes never left her. Molly gave a little shiver of excitement and his smiled widened into a knowing grin. Careful Molly, being spontaneous, dancing with a boy she didn't know. Getting close to a man she knew nothing about; not even his name.
The music pounded in her ears and in her blood, she could feel her heart keeping tempo as his hands held her close. Each breath, each heartbeat, every touch registered blindingly for Molly. She could feel his hot breath wafting across her cheek and her ear, where his head was bent. Every inch of her body that touched his felt like molten fire, lazily swirling about and searing her. His leg between hers, his jeans chafing against her soft skin; a callused thumb stroked the sensitive skin of her hipbone with each movement, her shirt slowly rose up in back until the tips of his fingers brushed the skin there as well. Her thighs rubbed against his, her stomach against his, her chest against his own hard, muscled chest. They moved with the pounding music, letting their sweat mingle, dripping to the floor with everyone else's, but she felt alone with him. Even as she bumped against others, they felt alone.
She wasn't sure how long they danced, only that she loved it and didn't want to stop. She thought that Dominique would be proud of her; all her cousins would be shocked if they saw her. Did they see her? Were they watching as she pressed herself up against this stranger, loving each second, each touch of spontaneity? She had been feeling so very sorry for herself lately. So used to sitting in the corner, unwilling to dive into something. Not tonight. A smile turned up the corners of her mouth at the thought of it. The vision of her here and now, she was so different from only half an hour ago.
She tipped her head up, looking him. Of course he couldn't know who she was, that she was James and Dominique's quiet, cautious cousin. That most people didn't bother asking her to dance because she'd say no. She'd never danced before. He didn't know that. His eyes caught hers and his smile matched hers. When she laughed it grew and she leaned into him. His hand stole under her shirt, caressing her bare skin and she let him. He bent his head down and stole a kiss, and she liked it. So he kissed her again, in the middle of the floor, surrounded by people who would see. She didn't care. Tonight wasn't for cares, but for something new and exciting. Like him.
"Let's get out of here." He didn't shout this time, but she heard him loud and clear. She brushed off the cautious thoughts and nodded. He smiled broadly, and threaded his fingers through hers. Feeling on top of her world, she followed him as he swiftly made his way through the crowd, into the hallway and out the door. Molly laughed as they came into the hallway. He kissed her again, pulling her into the lift. The ride was short and then they were spilling out onto the street and into the alley. He pulled her into his arms and disapparated.
She let her thoughts drift away as he kissed her like she'd never been kissed before. His lips, as soft as she'd guessed, trailed fire down her throat. His hands played music on her skin, running across her stomach and her back, rising higher and stroking down. Molly let go set herself free.
Spontaneous. Like Dom.
The hotel bed was soft, the sheets cool, but they made enough heat of their own. He smiled at her, holding her gaze. That smile, not something she'd ever forget. She ran her hands over his broad shoulders, pulling him down to kiss her. Molly felt swept away, breathless and heady. It was glorious. Everything she'd ever thought it might be.
"Do you live in London?" He asked her, propped up on one elbow, lazily tracing circles around her belly button.
"Yes, with my cousins Dom and Roxy." She shifted so she rested against his chest. "We're the best of friends."
"What's your favourite restaurant here?"
"Mmm... I really like this little place not far from my work. It's called Kendall's. They have the most amazing pasta."
"Favourite colour?"
"Blue. Yours?"
"Green." She drifted off to sleep, snuggled in his arms. He watched her for a while, then placed a kiss on her brow and fell asleep himself.
When Molly woke the sun was just rising and flooding through the window. For a moment she was quite confused, unsure of her surroundings. She'd never seen those buildings outside her window before. A movement behind her startled her and her head whipped around. She was greeted with a bare male shoulder and the back of a dark head of hair. It all came rushing back to her. Her spontaneous decision to be spontaneous and the following plunge. The dancing, the kissing, the...
"Oh, my God." She breathed quietly. She'd just had a one night stand. "Oh shit." The gravity of her actions, no matter how reflective her words were, just weren't sinking in. She said all the right things, of horror and regret. But inside she felt bright. Shoving it deeply away, she gingerly rose from the bed, careful not to wake the slumbering Adonis. He really was quite attractive.
As the sheet fell away Molly squeaked and started scrambling for her clothes. Knickers under the chair, shorts by the door, shirt in the corner, bra on the lamp. Her face was flaming bright pink as she fished a shoe out from under the bed, its mate she found in the bathroom. It must have flown through the door when she kicked it off. She felt her ears and discovered on earring missing. Frantic, she searched all over the floor and furniture but found nothing. The man was stirring and she decided she didn't care that much. As quickly and quietly as she could, she let herself out the door and raced down that hallway.
"You did what?!" Dominique exclaimed. Molly had made it home safely, to find Dominique and Roxy sitting at the breakfast table. They had looked up when she came in, one earring missing, shirt on inside out, hair all a mess, and immediately demanded answers.
"I don't know what I was thinking." Molly groaned into her hands which were covering her face. All spontaneity of the night before was forgotten. "I was feeling sorry for myself and wanted to be more like you." She shot Dominique an accusing glare.
Dom glared right back. "I do not sleep with random strangers you cow."
"I know." Molly sighed. "I'm sorry. I just meant I was being bloody spontaneous. Living in the moment. Letting go, as it were."
Roxy snorted. "Letting go indeed. Of sense! You don't know who this guy was." She admonished. "He could have some strange disease, or be a raving lunatic."
"Eww, Rox. And he wasn't a lunatic. He was... he was great. Wonderful. I mean, he came up to me, me, sitting in my corner and told me I was pretty. He flirted with me."
"Guys do that Molls, in order to get laid." Dominique said cynically.
"But it wasn't like that. He even fended off some drunken sot for me." Molly smiled wistfully. "He was so handsome. Dark hair, these amazing, deep blue eyes. Like the sort Roxy's bodice rippers would say you might drown in. And his smile. Oh Dom, Roxy, you should have seen him smile at me. And he asked me to dance, so I did."
"With a stranger?" Dominique exclaimed.
"This is so unlike you Molly." Roxy frowned with concern. "To take up with some strange guy you pick up at one of James' parties."
"That's just it. Don't you guys see? I don't want to be me anymore. I mean, like this. So bloody cautious and careful all the time. He was amazing."
"In bed?"
"Oh my God Dom, no." She hesitated. "Well, yes. But that's not what I meant!" Molly wrinkled her nose at her laughing cousin. "Seriously. We just – he just – it felt so different. So good." Her hand that had been gesticulating wildly fell into her lap and her eyes followed them. "It was wonderful." She whispered. "And I'm not just talking about the sex." She shot Dominique a pre-emptive glare. "I mean the entire evening."
"Well," Roxy said slowly. "That's good Molly. I mean it."
"Yeah." Dom agreed. "As long as you don't make a habit of it."
Molly smiled a little half smile. "I won't. It wouldn't be the same with anyone else."
"My God, Molly, you're positively taken with this bloke." Roxy declared.
"Any chance for a follow up date?" Dom asked with interest.
Molly shook her head with regret. "I left the hotel so fast I don't even know how to get back. Even if I could, I don't know the room number or anything."
"What's his name? Maybe the front desk will tell you."
Molly floundered. "I don't know." She said it so quietly the girls nearly didn't hear. "I don't know his name. I'll never be able to find him." Her cousins, her best friends, put their hands on her shoulders. There was true regret and pain in her voice.
He awoke when he heard the soft click of a door. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he was staring at fancy hotel wall paper. He supposed the girl must have gone to the loo. A smile stretched across his face. Her scent, soft and floral, surrounded him on the sheets. He rolled over and sat up, fishing for his boxers next to the bed. Maybe she'd let him shower with her. And tell him her name. He'd really like to know her name. But everything was silent.
A frown creased his brow. "Hello?" No answer. He looked, and could see the bathroom door open. Empty. Her clothes were gone. A strange sinking feeling took his heart, and a pit settled in his stomach. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shining. Turning his head, he saw something on the bed. His fingers picked it up, dangling it before his eyes. Her earring. Delicate silver and crystal. It was all she'd left behind.