A flood of chatters entered Molly's ears as she went inside the classroom. A wide variety of students were speaking. From curious purebloods to nostalgic half bloods to Muggle borns who just wanted to get caught up on their favorite show.
Molly fit into the first category. After years of her Muggle born friends laughing as they made references to Muggle culture, she was determined to find out what they were going on about.
"Settle down," the Professor commanded. Everyone scrambled to sit and Molly, whose friends weren't in class with her, squeezed into a random seat.
There was a boy beside her, drumming his hands on the table. He was a ginger like her and was practically radiating excited energy.
"Now, welcome to Muggle Studies. We'll be covering the everyday life of a Muggle, Muggle culture, technology…"
The boy threw his hand up in the air and the professor squinted in surprise. "Your name?"
"Arthur Weasley."
"Ah, a Weasley… What's your question?"
"What's tech-know-logy?"
He's going to teach us that, Molly thought, suppressing an eye roll since she hated them. There are much better ways to express your annoyance. Like yelling. But she couldn't do that in class so she pursed her lips shut.
"Technology. And it's essentially the Muggle way of coping without magic. As I was saying…"
Despite the fact that the professor was likely delivering critical information, Molly could hardly focus on it due to the boy beside her. It as as if she was trying to hear him from beneath the ocean but Arthur kept splashing the water with the muttered comments he felt the urge to make every five minutes.
"The most commonly used Muggle technology is the television."
"Wow…"
"Some popular Muggle games include checkers and chess…"
"Marvelous…"
"Muggles have a variety of toys such as rubber ducks, dolls, action figures…"
"Fascinating…"
Molly clutched the quill so tightly she felt ink clumping her skin. Listening to a lecture was hard enough without Arthur oohing and ahhing (CHECK) at every word. Not to mention asking so many questions.
"Professor, Professor, what toys are most popular?"
"When was the television invented?"
As the professor went on about Muggle figures of speech, Molly could already sense the inevitable comment. She looked at Arthur expectantly. What would it be this time? A, "mind boggling…" "Unbelievable…" Or perhaps a, "What a wonder!"
But Arthur said none of those. He simply gasped. And something changed, then. As if a window had opened to let in the light. His eyes reflected the system in his mind that analyzed and experimented on every morsel of Muggle information he could find with a childlike curiosity. He, Molly realized, didn't fall into any of the three categories. Not just in curious, but in genuine awe of everything about the Muggle world. His mind was completely open. He wanted to know more.
Who was she to blame him for that?
It soon became apparent to Molly that Arthur was rubbing off on her. His infectious astonishment sprouted questions inside her too. Once a mere elective, Muggle Studies was actually becoming somewhat interesting to her. Enough so that she was more motivated to work on it and study it and learn it. The Muggle world was much more intriguing than she gave it credit for.
Once again, Arthur was almost desperately craning to get the teacher's attention. Molly reckoned his arm spent more time standing in the air than it did hanging by his side. Didn't they get sore?
A loud sigh followed. "Yes, Mr. Weasley?"
"What exactly is the function of a rubber duck?" He said the words so quickly that the syllables were tripping over each other. His arm went limp beside him and he panted as if he had been waiting his entire life to ask that question. Then again, he probably had.
"That's...not in the curriculum." He glared. "And I think the entire class would prefer it if you refrained from asking so many questions, Mr, Weasley."
Based on the snickers that rang out behind them, that guess was probably correct. Everyone turned towards their friends to whisper, so nobody but Molly looked at Arthur. His face fell and he stared sullenly at the floor. A flare ignited in her stomach. He was just excited! The most excited one in the entire class in fact, and that's how he's repaid?
Arthur seemed to be in lower spirits for the rest of the class. Somehow, Molly was already losing interest in the class material without his astounded gasps to stimulate her. The dull lesson droned on until they were finally free.
Arthur picked up his things and headed towards the door, Molly behind him. As he passed through, a few snickers were exchanged between a group of people.
"Gasping-"
"at everything he said-"
"needs to get a life-"
Arthur's face flashed crimson as he stumbled out the door. As much as Molly wanted to yell, she had already done it quite a bit earlier when she and her brothers got into an argument. Of course, her glares were just as powerful, and she threw them a good one before scurrying after Arthur.
"Don't listen to them. It's all rubbish."
A smile. "Maybe. Thank you."
"It's just common sense. Which most people around here don't have, of course."
He chuckled. "They're not that bad."
"No, I think they are." She shook her head slowly. "Keep loving the Muggle world."
"Oh, I will. I have to. I can't stop, even if there was a war. It's just so intriguing, isn't it? A new world with their own way of doing things and methods of coping without magic? It's wonderful!"
His eyes lit up again. He always looked so passionate when he spoke of the Muggle world. "I agree…"
"One question."
"Yes."
"Do you know the function of a rubber duck?"
He just kept going at it, didn't he? Still, Molly let out a laugh. "No."
"Ah well, I'll find out eventually."
"I'm sure you will."
She walked down the corridor, still grinning to herself. It didn't last long before she was bombarded with mental reminders. Her friends had something the wanted to tell her. There was a test tomorrow, no, two tests tomorrow and a couple of assignments. Did she study? Of course she did. But maybe she didn't…
One thing was for sure though. Molly could not wait to attend Muggle Studies again.
I have no idea if this is canon, (heck, it might have been contradicted by canon) but I've always liked the idea of Molly and Arthur meeting in Muggle Studies. Such an underrated ship. Review please!
