Audrey Ellington-Weasley leaned back in her chair and fanned herself with her hand.
"Come on Molly, Lucy! It's too hot for you girls to be playing outside. Come in and have a drink."
"Mum, look!" The dried-out leaf in Lucy's hand was folding up, before unfurling itself again.
Audrey sighed. "You're not allowed to do that, Lucy, honey. You know the rules."
"But Muu-" Lucy started to whine. "I'll be at Hogwarts next year anyway."
"Be that as it may, you're underage and even if you were old enough to be in school, magic isn't allowed outside of Hogwarts until you're seventeen. Do you want me to tell your father that you've been misbehaving?"
Lucy glared at her mother for a moment longer, before following her sister inside.
"It's too hot," Molly grumbled as she filled her cup with water. "When are we going home?"
"Your father expects to be finished with his work in about a fortnight. We'll be going home after that," Audrey replied smoothly, by now used to this question from her daughters.
"Why couldn't we have stayed in the city?" Molly continued to complain.
"Most wizards here don't live in the city. It's too hard for them to go unnoticed. It's different from home."
"What's so great about living with wizards, anyway?" shot back Molly, storming off to her bedroom.
Audrey sighed. Much as she and Percy wanted to keep their daughter around, and not to do what had been done with Squibs for so many generations, perhaps it was time for them to look into sending Molly off to a Muggle boarding school.
"Idiot," Lucy muttered, interrupting Audrey's train of thought.
Pushing away her thoughts for the time being, she got up and pulled out some food from the fridge. "Come on, Lou. Want to help me get dinner ready?"
Lucy slid off her stool. "If I have to."
Audrey shook her head and smiled. "Some things never change."
Percy Apparated onto the front porch of the Weasleys' holiday house. He opened the door, and hurried inside, glad to not be spending an extended period of time outside in the overwhelmingly dry heat.
He entered the kitchen to see Lucy standing at the counter, furiously slicing the vegetables like they had personally offended her.
"Hey," Audrey smiled in greeting as her husband walked into the kitchen. "How was your day?"
"It was good, thanks for asking," Percy responded, wordlessly giving his wife a quizzical look over Lucy's aggression.
"Later", Audrey mouthed, inclining her head slightly. "Lucy, have you finished with those vegetables for the salad?"
"Yeah I have. Can I leave now?" she asked, eager to leave the room before the mounting tension broke.
"Yeah, go ahead. Stay in the house though, dinner will be ready soon," Audrey answered her, somewhat distracted.
"Did something happen while I was at work?" Percy asked.
Audrey exhaled loudly. "Yeah. Molly was feeling pretty badly over, you know, the usual stuff."
Percy raised his eyebrows. "And how did the argument go for you?"
"No fireworks this time round. Thankfully. But I don't know if we can keep doing the same thing over and over for much longer. Maybe sending her to boarding school would be the best thing for her?"
Percy gripped Audrey's hand and squeezed it, comforting her. "I don't know. It's so hard. Can we discuss this another time?"
Audrey let go of his hand. "Yeah, another time," she nodded.
"Aud-," Percy started.
"It's okay. Now's not the time. Not when we're on holiday, and you're so busy with work. I get it," Audrey slammed the crockery down onto the dining table.
Percy closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. "Call me when dinner's ready."
Audrey pressed her lips together. "Yeah."
Audrey bustled about the question, cooking and setting the table, trying desperately not to think of how her family seemed to be falling apart.
She filled a jug with water, and set it down on the table.
"Dinner's ready!" she called down the hallway.
Dinner was a mostly silent affair, with only Percy attempting to make polite conversation with Molly and Lucy, ignoring Audrey.
Lucy shovelled food into her mouth at top speed, seemingly swallowing it whole, not bothering with biting it.
"Slow down," Audrey chastised her.
Lucy just laid her fork down, ignoring her mother's comment. "Finished," she mumbled around a mouthful of food. "Can I go now?"
"As long as you rinse your plate and put it in the sink,"
"Okay," Lucy huffed in impatience, getting up and practically throwing her plate into the sink.
"Don't talk to your mother like that," Percy reprimanded her.
"Oh, but it's okay for you to speak to Mum like that?" Molly spoke up.
"That's enough Molly," Audrey interrupted before a full-on argument could begin. "Lucy, remember your manners. Rinse your plate and be more careful with it next time. Molly, you shouldn't be so happy if Lucy does something wrong. Wipe that smirk off your face and go to your room, please."
"Merlin, when did you start taking drill sergeant lessons from Grandma?" Molly grinned as she exited the room.
Audrey groaned softly. "Where on earth did they learn to be so effing cheeky?"
"Molly's a teenager, whether we like it or not. And Lucy's happy to copy that sort of attitude, unfortunately."
Molly woke Lucy in the middle of the night. "Wake up sleepyhead," she hissed.
"Why are you getting me up now?" complained Lucy.
Molly grinned. "I think it's time for an adventure, give Mum and Dad a bit of a scare."
Lucy sat up, wide-eyed. "Where are you going?"
"I'm just going for a walk. Experience the nature, all that sort of stuff," Molly replied innocently.
"I'm coming."
The two girls snuck carefully out of the house, not bothering to put anything on over their pyjamas – they were already far too warm.
"This way," Molly whispered, grabbing Lucy by the arm.
Lucy giggled, suddenly caught up in their adventure.
They hurried through a line of trees, and Lucy came to a stop. "Hey, look at this!" She pointed to a smouldering pile of twigs on the ground.
Molly leaned forward in alarm. "We should probably put that out. Remember, Dad was telling us about the fire danger the other day?"
"How are we going to put it out, smarty pants?" Lucy challenged her older sister.
"I don't know, why don't you use your magic, special girl?" Molly retorted.
"Fine," snapped Lucy. She stretched out her hand, feeling as if it was the right thing to do, and concentrated. To both girls' horror, the fire grew larger rather than smaller.
"We have to go," Molly cried out, running away.
"I have to put it out! Let me go!" Lucy pulled at her sister's arm in earnest.
"Don't be stupid, Lou! You'll get hurt, idiot!" Molly yelled. "Let's go back home and forget about it, for Merlin's sake!"
"Fine, have it your way." Lucy spat at her sister. She yanked her arm out of her sister's grasp, and sprinted back towards the fire.
Molly stared for a minute, before turning on her heel and running back into the house. If her sister chose to be so moronic, on her own head be it.
"Molly, wake up!" Audrey frantically shook her daughter awake. "We're leaving!"
Molly stumbled out of bed, tripping, but her father caught her.
From somewhere in the haze she heard him say, "Focus, hold on tight now," before he stepped and they re-appeared in a darkened alley. "What's going on?" Molly mumbled blearily.
"A fire started close to where we were staying. We needed to get you out, but Lucy was missing. Do you know where she might have been?"
Knowing she couldn't reveal where Lucy had really gone, Molly chose to tell a little white lie.
"I don't know. But I heard her leave at around midnight. Maybe she just needed some air."
"Air? In this heat?" Audrey snorted.
Percy rubbed Audrey's back. "Calm down," he whispered soothingly. "Take Molly somewhere safe, and meet me back at the house, yeah?"
"Y-yeah," Audrey hiccuped through her tears. "I'll t-take Molly to the P-Portkey terminal."
Both Percy and Audrey Apparated away, Audrey with Molly in tow.
At the Portkey terminal, Audrey sat Molly down on one of the chairs and gave her a case of Galleons. "If your father or I don't return in about thirty-six hours, I want you to get yourself a Portkey to London. From there, you should be able to get to the Ministry. Once you do, get yourself to Uncle Harry's office and explain what happened, yeah? I love you honey, whatever happens." Audrey hugged Molly tightly and gave her a swift kiss, before hurrying off.
Molly hugged herself, bringing her knees to her chest, trying not to cry in front of the other people in the terminal. She bit down on her lower lip, suppressing her sobs. She had led Lucy into danger, and if it wasn't for her her family wouldn't be here in the first place. It was because of her whingeing that they hadn't come in the Australian springtime like they were meant to. All because selfish old Molly hadn't wanted to miss the start of the school year. And now, her sister and probably her parents were dead because of her actions. She allowed the tears to freely flow, and lay down on the chairs, trying to get some sleep, so as not to have to face the pain that would surely greet her in thirty six hours' time.
Molly stood numbly, wearing a black dress. Ironic, that the memorial service for her parents and sister was happening in the springtime, the start of the whole mess. Unfair, that her father had survived the hunt for Lucy, but had died serving with the Muggle firefighters trying to save other parents from the pain he himself was experiencing. She kicked at the dirt savagely, wishing she belonged to the Weasley clan before the wars, before the fire, when they'd been happy and whole.
Like her family had been, Molly's soul was burnt. Burnt by tragedy and the unfairness of life, Molly Weasley's soul was far older than her body, and knew not to expect anything good of the world.
A/N: Gifted to Rachel, as part of the Gift-Giving Extravaganza 2014. Enjoy, darling!
Also written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Beater One, Bellybats. Prompts: springtime and biting.