Disclaimer: Let's shake things up in this disclaimer, I do own it! It is all mine! So hands off! Yeah. Right.
Authors Note: Well this was originally going to be a oneshot, but then i sent it to my friend to beta what i had so far and she made me put this up as Part one. And yay I really like this one, I got the idea from p. 116 in The Goblet of Fire in case your interested. Reviews are appreciated!!! Happy reading!
Molly Prewett, a short seventh year Gryffindor with flaming red hair slipped silently down the girls' staircase into the deserted common room.
"Oh I'll kill that coward," she muttered venomously. "Owling me a breakup letter! And all for that skank Krissy Banes.
Molly crept stealthily towards the portrait hole and opened it slowly, trying not to wake the fat lady. She was on her way to the Hufflepuff common room and had planned on meeting her Friend Miranda, from Ravenclaw, on the way there. Their other friend, Lucy, from Hufflepuff would be waiting to let them in. Then, operation ex would begin.
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Molly wasn't the only one creeping down the stairs at midnight though. On the boys' side, Arthur Weasley was heading to the common room to brood in peace. But when he heard the object of his brooding muttering to herself on the other staircase he decided to follow her out portrait hole. Only to make sure she wasn't getting herself in trouble again. Not to stalk her. Definitely not to stalk her.
After Molly had gone out the portrait hole, Arthur waited until he figured she was a safe distance away and hurried out the hole after her. He had taken too long to figure though.
"Oh damn," he said looking left and right. Molly was nowhere to be found.
"She went left dear," said a disapproving voice behind him.
"Wha-Who?" Arthur stuttered rather loudly, jumping about a foot in the air before he realized it was only the fat lady, the picture that hid Gryffindor common room. "Oh, er- thanks," he said hurrying down the corridor after Molly.
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"Molly!" Miranda Goshawk whispered loudly, "Are you OK? I remember when Derek broke up with me, I was just devastated-"
"Miranda, I'm fine! Really, I'm glad Paul broke up with me to tell you the truth. The bastard. Best thing that has happened since he asked me out for the first time actually," Molly replied, waving her hand unconcernedly.
"Well if you say so…" Miranda said clearly not believing Molly's flippant attitude could be genuine. "If you really don't care then why are we doing this to him?" Miranda was quite an intelligent girl and could usually tell when people were lying or hiding something. She was quick to pick up on people's emotions and almost always had a solution to problems. The only person she had trouble reading was Molly though. Even though they had been best friends for years. This was always a source of annoyance to Miranda. Molly, on the other hand, had no problem with being the object of confusion for her friends.
"Oh, because that prat deserves it. Besides it will be fun!" Molly said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. If it had been light enough for Arthur to see it, he would be positively melting. "Really, I only kept him around because he is ADORABLE! He's a nuisance though. You know how much I complained about him. He's so clingy, like a girl, once you get right down to it."
Miranda shook her head in confusion. Molly really had a Jekyll/Hyde personality. Sometimes she could be a completely shallow bitch. Most of the time thought, she was quite a caring, kind girl. She was a bit of a worrywart and bossy sometimes thought. Either way, she was always exciting to be around. Always had some prank or trick up her sleeve. She always said that she never wanted to be tied down to one guy or have children. Because if any of her children turned out like her, she swore she would die worrying. Also, she wouldn't have time to do things like this with a bunch of children running around.
"Finally! You guys! I've been standing out here for ages! And it's freezing!" Lucy Clemens said with a big smile of welcome on her face. Sometimes Molly and Miranda wondered if Lucy had been the recipient of some spell that required you smile for all eternity. She was an excessively happy, hyper girl. A bit of a ditz, but they still loved her.
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Arthur had been following too far behind to hear much until now. He was really getting curious as to what the girls were up to at midnight out in front of the Hufflepuff common room. He stopped right around the corner from them to listen.
"Ready, girls?" Molly asked, rubbing her hands together, "Let's go get the supplies,"
The girls started to walk towards Arthur giggling like madwomen.
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Oh no! I can't let them see me! Arthur thought, frantically searching for somewhere to hide. He dived into a bathroom just as the girls rounded the corner.
"We can use that toilet there to brew the potions right Lucy?" Arthur heard Molly ask as they walked by.
"Oh bloody hell," Arthur said rather louder than he meant to. "This is a girls' toilet!" His face turned redder than his hair. He hoped they wouldn't come in now. That would be an all time high on the awkward scale for Arthur.
"Yeah that's the one," Lucy replied brightly. Arthur started to run towards the last stall to hide. "But we need the ingredients don't we?"
"Oh thank god!" Arthur breathed loudly.
"Shh!" said Molly, "did you hear that? There's someone in there!" she exclaimed jumping up and down excitedly.
I did not just do that Arthur thought smacking himself mentally and crawling awkwardly onto a toilet seat while trying to crouch down and hold the door closed. The fact that he was very tall helped him very little in this endeavor. Why is it that she heard me sigh, but not swear? Just my luck I suppose.
"The only thing I hear is you Molly!" Miranda hissed, "And you'll wake up the whole school if you don't shut up right now!"
"No really! I heard something in there! Let's go check it out!"
"Are we out here risking our lives-sort of-to embarrass Paul or to go chasing after figments of your bad hearing?"
"Oh yeah! Come on you two, we need to get to the students supply cupboard!" and she took off running down the corridor.
"Attention span of a gnat that one," Miranda muttered.
"Hmmm…? What were you talking about Miranda?" Lucy asked, peering at Miranda in a way that would have made her look like a very lost owl if owls could laugh.
"Oh never mind!" Miranda said sprinting to catch up with Molly, which she did easily as she had much longer legs then short little Molly.
"I thought I heard something too," Lucy giggled, half running half skipping to catch up with her friends.
Had the girls not just left the bathroom Arthur was hiding in behind, they would have heard a very loud crashing noise accompanied by a few choice curses. He was sure he had broken the door when he slipped off the toilet. The door was intact though, to his surprise. The relief that had washed over him moments ago when the girls walked away was turning to panic now as he scrambled up off the bathroom floor and out into the hallway to find it deserted.
Oh no! I can't have lost her again. He thought running down the hall in what he hoped was the right direction. This stalking-er... making- sure-she's- not-getting-into-trouble business is hard.
Someone shrieked, followed by muffled shushing and giggles. Arthur peered slowly around a corner to see all three girls in a heap on the ground.
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"You prats! Get up, come on!" Molly said trying to sound annoyed. She dissolved into giggles though as she tried to get up and fell backwards onto Lucy as Miranda pushed her.
"It's not our fault we're on the floor! If you hadn't stopped so suddenly-" Lucy started to laugh more than she already was as Miranda and Molly started to tickle her mercilessly.
"Stop! Stop!" Lucy gasped, "Or I'll send my evil monkeys after you!"
Miranda and Molly stopped suddenly and stared at Lucy a moment. Lucy took this moment to start tickling Molly.
Miranda shrugged and dived on Molly too.
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Arthur was getting worried that someone was going to hear the girls if they didn't quiet down pretty soon. He swore he could here Pringle coming up behind him this very second. How he could hear ANYTHING over the racket the girls were making is a mystery though.
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Molly was shrieking like a banshee who was being, well, tickled. "Guys! Stop! Really! Where are Lucy's evil monkeys when you need them?" she gasped in between fits of laughter.
Miranda jumped up suddenly, knocking her knee into Molly's head in the process.
"Ow! Miranda that was my head you collided with. Just in case you cared. Which you don't," Molly muttered rubbing her head.
Miranda was shushing both of them (even though Lucy had gone quiet and didn't need shushing for once in her life). "IT IS THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND WE ARE OUT IN THE HALLWAYS SCREAMING LIKE IDIOTS! SHUT UP!" she whispered intensely.
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"Thank God!" Arthur thought, he had been afraid he would have had to go out there and shut them up himself if they didn't get some sense soon. But he probably would have died of embarrassment as soon as they saw him, so a lot of good that would have done.
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"Oh crap! You're right!" cried Molly scrambling up off the floor. "Quick! Let's get away from here. I'll bet someone heard us!"
They made it to the student supply closet relatively quickly after that. Much to Arthur's relief.
"Ok most of this stuff we can just get from here, but a few things we'll have to get into Slughorn's office to get,"
"Molly! You never said we had to break into his office!" Lucy squealed a smile tugging at her lips despite her worried tone. "We could get in trouble for that!"
"Luce, listen to you! We're already out of bed at-" she checked her watch, "12:26, we could get in trouble for that too. Especially after our little fiasco in the hallway," Molly said laughing. "Since we're out here we might as well do this properly."
"I suppose," Lucy said biting her lip. (To keep from smiling, surprise, surprise).
"Do love potions take that long to brew? I've never made one before." Miranda asked. "I've got loads of homework and I don't want to be falling asleep over it tomorrow.
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Arthur's face fell from behind his hiding place behind a scary looking statue of a wizard with a heavy book that he either could have been showing to someone, or about to chuck at some unlucky passerby. Love potion. They were going to make Paul fall back in love with her. Love potions wore off after a while…didn't they?
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"Oh I could whip up a love potion in my sleep! I've done it a million times, it will take five minutes." Molly said gathering up some sticky purple substance into a vial. "I don't know about the squeaky potion thought. I've never had a chance to make it before. Paul is definitely a worthy guinea pig though," her eyes glinted mischievously.
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Made them a million times? Thought Arthur What if she gave me a love potion and that's the only reason I like her?
He quickly discarded that idea though. Molly was the sort of girl who knew what she wanted and went for it. Even if it meant using love potions he guessed. He doubted she had to use them often though. He wasn't the only guy practically drooling over her. That was for sure. Plus, even though they were in the same house, Arthur was pretty sure she didn't have a clue who he even was. He sighed unhappily at this thought.
"Shhhh! I heard something again!" Molly yelped.
"I heard it too! I heard it too!" Lucy exclaimed clapping her hands and laughing (For who knows what reason).
"Put a cork in it Luce! I even heard it this time."
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Arthur held very still, not breathing.
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After listening to silence for about 30 whole seconds, Lucy got bored.
"Oh I think we just imagined it," she sighed. "Let's finish getting the ingredients and go. I want to make the love potion!"
"She's right, we must have been hallucinating or something," Molly said going back to collecting ingredients.
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Arthur was beginning to turn quite blue; he was determined not to make another noise.
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"Hallucinating?" Miranda said skeptically. "How could we have all hallucinated the same sigh?"
"Sigh? I thought it sounded like a rabbit," Lucy said, scraping out some extra beetle eyes.
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I do not sound like a rabbit. Arthur thought forcefully, almost losing control and letting his breath out.
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"Well we could have all hallucinated the same thing," Molly said reasonably. "I suppose it might be like our monthly visitors. When we spend a lot of time together they come at the same time. Maybe it works the same way with hallucinations,"
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Arthur, who was getting bluer by the second blushed when he heard Molly, and turned an odd reddish purplish color that made him look quite sick. His lungs were burning and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to last another second. And…he was right; he let his breath out in a huge whoosh of air that made the girls freeze.
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"Do we all agree that that wasn't a hallucination?" whispered Miranda, her eyes darting up and down the hall.
"It can't have been Pringle though, or any of the other professors," Molly said slowly turning her head. When her eyes came to rest on the statue, Arthur froze and prayed she wouldn't notice him.
"It could too have been a professor," Lucy said, "Who else would it be?"
"If it were a professor we would have gotten in trouble a long time ago," Molly replied. "Maybe someone's stalking us!" she said excitedly.
Miranda shook her head; it was just like Molly to be excited about a stalker.
"How do you know?" retorted Lucy, "How do you know a professor didn't hear us talking about going into Slughorn's office and they wanted to catch us in the act?"
"They'd already have caught us out of bed at night. Don't you think that's enough?" Molly asked.
"Yeah, I think we're set," Miranda said. "Shall we head to Slugs office?"
"WE SHALL!" Molly and Lucy cried in unison. All three raced down the hall, the mysterious sighs forgotten for now. And lucky for Arthur they had forgotten, because they had run straight past his statue. He decided to go hide in a broom closet past the supply cupboard in case the girls rushed out again. Unfortunately, the broom closet he chose happened to be The Broom Closet. The on where all the students snuck off to have a snog or two in every once in a while
Meanwhile, Miranda, Lucy and Molly had reached Slughorn's office, out of breath and panting loudly. Molly and Lucy made Miranda go into his office for the ingredients, as she was one of his favorites and had been in there plenty of times.
She put up a bit of a fuss, insisting that it was Molly's potion and she should go in and get it. Molly was quite persuasive though. (Get in there, or I'll hex you!" and Miranda was back out in less than five minutes.
"And now girls, the fun begins!" Molly said taking the ingredients from Miranda and cackling madly.
"You've been getting good at that Molly" Lucy said proudly.
"I know, I've been practicing," Molly said, letting out another loud cackle.
"Keep it down you two! You're like a couple of banshees, except not so pretty!" Miranda hissed.
"Oh you're just jealous because you can't cackle like me," Molly said airily sashaying up the hall.
"Students out of bed? Is that what I hear?" Came a raspy voice halfway down the corridor behind them.
"PRINGLE!" screeched Molly, "RUN!"
The three girls took off running, but they knew Pringle was fast, despite his old age, and their best bet would be to hide.
They came up on the closet Arthur was hiding in and Miranda and Lucy shoved Molly inside and began to scramble in themselves. But before they could they heard "Lucy Dennis and Miranda Goshawk-detention. But where is your ringleader?" Pringle said nastily.
"Er-asleep?" answered Lucy glancing very obviously towards the closet they had almost escaped into. Luckily it was relatively dark, or Pringle would have been able to tell as if Lucy had yelled that Molly was in the closet.
"She better be. My office you two. NOW!" he said marching them down the hall back the way he had come.
When Miranda and Lucy pushed Molly into the closet, she had landed right on top of Arthur. She had promptly stood and demanded to know who he was. Arthur, disappointed that she hadn't stayed put for longer, he had quite enjoyed those few seconds, started to reply. But before he got past Ar-, Molly had clamped her hands over his mouth to shush him. He had finished saying his name, but it sounded more like Ahber Wheely, than Arthur Weasley. She responded by clapping her other hand on his mouth so she could hear her friends fate.
It's a bit like she's hugging my head. Arthur thought, going cross eyed trying to look at her hands.
"My office. NOW!" They heard, then footsteps heading away from them.
"Ok, who are you??" demanded Molly.
"It's Arthur Weasley, I'm in Gryffindor too. I don't know if you know me but-" Arthur began to babble.
"I know who you are!" Molly snapped.
"Y-you do?"
"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?"
"Er- well…"
"Anyway," Molly interrupted, "why are you hiding in The Broom Closet?"
Arthur realized the complete awkwardness of their situation and positively glowed with embarrassment. He was sure his face was lighting up the whole broom closet with a bright red light. He had a fleeting notion to say "I could ask you the same question" but decided that wasn't the smartest thing to say to her.
"Well, I er- I was-
"You weren't stalking me were you?" Molly asked pointedly.
"Stalking you?" he squeaked. "Of course I wasn't…" he trailed off miserably. Now there was no way she would ever go out with him.
Molly's face fell, "You weren't? Are you sure? I've always thought having a stalker would be incredibly romantic." She sighed.
"Oh I er- yes," Arthur finished confused, sure that his face was the reason the closet was heating up so fast.
"Well since Miranda and Lucy are off getting detention, you're going to have to help me with the potions." Molly said with finality.
"Erm..ok I guess I could help you make your love potions," Arthur replied, torn. He would never pass up a chance to spend time with Molly, but the fact he was going to help her make a love potions for her ex took some of the enjoyment out of it.
"You are a stalker!" Molly squealed, beaming at him. "You knew what potion we were going to make and I never even told you!" She looked delighted.
"Er- yeah I guess," Arthur said thinking how beautiful she was when she smiled.
"Well let's get out of this closet, its quite stuffy,"
Arthur-thanking the darkness that hid his face- blushed again as he remembered where they were.
Molly started down the hallway, walking briskly towards Hufflepuff, piled high with potion ingredients.
Arthur caught up to her quickly with his long legs.
"We're er- not making the potion in the girls' toilet are we?" he asked nervously.
"Oh you're funny Arthur," He breathed a sigh of relief. "Of course we are, where else would we be making it?" she finished.
"B-b-but Molly! I'm not a girl!" Arthur said alarmed.
"You're not?!" she practically shrieked, dropping all the ingredients in mock surprise. Noticing his worried look though, she said, "Oh Arthur, it's the middle of the night! No one is going to be in there except for us, and besides the squeaky potion needs two people to make. So you just can't bail on me now,"
"Squeaky voice potion? What do you need that for?" he asked.
"For Paul of course, just like the love potion," she replied off handedly. "Here hold these would you, doll?" she said dumping the potion ingredients in his arms.
Arthur looked at the ingredients and back at Molly in confusion. Why would she want her boyfriend to have a squeaky voice? He hurried back up to her and asked just that.
"But Molly, if you're going to make him fall back in love with you, why do you want his voice to be squeaky?"
"Make him fall back in love with me? Are you insane? I'm making fall in love with Pringle. And the squeaky voice potion is just for some extra embarrassment for him. I thought it would be fun to try,"
Arthur stared at her, speechless. This definitely changes things.
"I have some of Pringles hair off his jacket from last time I had detention. You have NO idea how much he sheds. I figured it would come in handy at some point," she laughed, "And I was right! Can you just imagine it? Oh Appollyon! Appollyon! I LOVE you! Of course it will wear off eventually. But if it didn't, then he wouldn't be able to be embarrassed about it. And his voice will be cracking like he's an ickle second year! Oh this is going to be the best prank I've ever pulled. And lucky you, you get to help me!"
"Ye-lukarmee," Arthur said, hoping his ability to speak would come back soon, preferably as something recognizable as human speech.
Authors Note: Don't know when the next part will b up, i still need to write it. It shouldn't be too incredibly long tho. REVIEW! and you get LICORICE! and hugs and stuff.
mwah♥
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