Time
Home had always been Molly's favorite place. Everyone would always say it was Hogwarts if asked the question. Mostly for nostalgia reasons but everyone had the right to their opinion. But for Molly it had always been home. Even when she was a child, with two bothersome brothers who seemed to be constantly creating some sort of havoc wherever they went. More often than not they were in detention, mostly given by McGonagall. Every holiday between terms at Hogwarts was spent with her family. She would stay in her father's study for hours just reading and talking before going to bed. She would spend most of her days with her mother, who taught her the Weasley sweater tradition, how to make a perfect Treacle tart, who would tell her stories of the family. Sometimes she would tell something about her youth and the time she dated father before they married.
Molly loved the smell of home. The constant smell of homemade cookies and coffee in the kitchen. Of hair potions and steam all through the hallway when someone took a shower, which by the time Ginny was born, seemed it was all the time. She loved to listen the noises of house. Not just the children running around and playing in the backyard, although that was certainly one of her favourite noises in the world. She loved to sit in the kitchen or in the living room, just listening to the house. The creaks of the house, the radio playing while she knitted the famous sweaters, the ticking of the clocks. Sometimes she caught herself just sitting in the sofa, with her eyes closed, just listening. Other times it was Arthur who did.
When the war started. Slow and almost unnoticed at first, she was just a child herself, still at Hogwarts most of the year and for her it meant stupid adventures her brothers got into what almost always got them injured in some way. Then she started growing up and became more aware of what was happening. She met Arthur, who later she found out, was her brothers' friend and partner in missions for the very recently founded Order. The war only made her love Home more. It became even more the safe place that it already. She was never keen on Order missions. Combat and spying weren't really her forte and she'd much rather host the reunions at her place, make food for everyone, take care of possible wounds, and provide the exact safe, comfortable and loving space she thought of Home to be. Then the attacks started to get more dangerous. The Order grew quieter as more tense. The missions became more secret than even and she knew they got to a point where they couldn't even trust each other. And she was terrified. There was always a constant fear of what was happening and the consequences of being in the front of the resistance. There were times she would have panic attacks when Arthur was 20 minutes late for dinner, or when her brothers forgot they had dinner planned at her house. The meaning of home started to shift in those times. It no longer was just a place for comfort but also a place to worry. Every time Arthur went to work, Molly would stand by the window, heart clenched, unknowing if he would come home or not, if he was safe, if he was injured.
By the time she was pregnant with Ronald, she had made enough fuss about it that her making tracking spells on her husband and brothers became a daily occurrence. It was troublesome. Fabian and Gideon had to go to the Burrow in the morning every day but no one complained. They knew how important it was to her.
On her thirtieth birthday, her brother's finally gave her the Clock. It was a large grandfather clock, made of a rich dark wood with intricate golden motifs all over the sides and the front. It looked like a regular clock although undoubtedly beautiful and seemingly very expensive, they was one peculiarity. The Clock didn't have just three pointers. It had ten pointers and each one had a picture attached. A picture of them. Molly, Arthur, Fabian, Gideon, Bill, Charlie. Percy, George, Fred and Ron. And instead go numbers to give the time it had names of places or situations. It started to have just a few like "Work", "School", "Hospital", "Travelling" and "Mortal Peril" but on that same day she added a new one. "Home". After that, she no longer stood by the window. Instead she would find herself standing in front of the Clock looking at three particular pointers who never seemed to leave "Work", "Travelling" and "Mortal Peril". Most of the time she didn't have time to stare at the clock. Having six children and taking care of the house was time consuming and most days she would only space a couple of glances to the Clock on the kitchen.
Then two pointers turned black and stopped moving. She didn't notice at first. Ron's teething kept her in her pacing around the house and she didn't have the time to look at the Clock. It was almost midnight and Arthur had just finished putting the last of her children to bed and when he went to join her for a cup of tea in the kitchen he found her standing in front of the Clock. She didn't remember most of that night except her husband's muffled voice and Ron's whimpers.
With time she started adding things here and there. With the war over there wasn't exactly much need to pay the attention to the Clock and it became a peculiar and interesting item of the house. Its purpose was no longer as urgent and dramatic as before but it was still extremely useful. There was the time she added "time to punish Fred and George" after they terrified Ron with a stuffed spider. Later that night, she commented on their children's obvious talent with magic, even if clearly ill-used.
After the war started again, the Clock gained its role again, this time with new members. The first time was in Ron's first year at Hogwarts. Then Ginny in her first. Then Ron in his third year. Then both her younger children and her husband two years later. It was happening all over again. And again she was at home, alone and wondering. And that Clock became a source of both comfort and distress. Almost immediately Harry had become like one of her children. She had known Lily and James Potter from the order. They had been pregnant at the same time and being the older woman and with more children than most women her age had, she had took Lily under her wing. Many times they stayed together, at home waiting. Looking at the Clock. So, obviously, she had a pointer for Harry made and set. That one never left "Mortal Peril" though it passed briefly through the others.
The second war took Home away from her. Until Fred's death that had been what affected her the most. The loss of their home. Watching it burn to the ground. The Clock was gone. Burned with the rest of the house and in a way she felt the loss of it too. The Clock had meant a window to what was happening to her loved ones. The Clock had been a balm of comfort and relief. And she lost that too.
Then she lost one of her own children. And she pictured the Clock. Fred's pointer. Turning black. Like her brothers' had. And she was glad she didn't have the Clock anymore. She knew she couldn't bare to look at it. And then the war was over. Finally over. She had no need for the clock anymore.
On her sixtieth birthday there was a large dinner party with friends and family. Harry and Ginny sat in corner of the living room, finally had announced their engagement. George and Angelina had just finished moving out of their apartment and into a larger house in the country, Charlie brought home his boyfriend after years of pestering from his mother, Hermione was in deep conversation with Bill and Fleur. Ron was content enough to just stare at his girlfriend.
By the end of the party they all stopped their conversations and looked at Molly. She watched George walk to her with a large smile, so rare these days, and took her hand. They had a final gift for her. He led her into the kitchen and there was a package on the table. She looked at them quizzically and opened it. It was a clock. She received another clock. A smaller one. More modern with new pointers. Seventeen to be precise. Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Victoire, Charlie, Percy, Audrey, George, Angelina. Fred, Ronald, Hermione, Ginerva, Harry, Teddy and Andromeda. Fred's name was in the pointers. At first she thought it was a cruel joke but she knew her family would never do such a thing. Then she looked at her son with his wife next him with glowing smiles.
"There's going to be another Fred in the family, mum."