By dress-shoes24
Molly Weasley sat alone at the Burrow late one Monday afternoon. She was flicking through her favorite magazine, Witch Weekly for recipes, when the face of her old celebrity fancy caught her eye, a headline underneath reading,
"GILDEROY LOCKHART RELEASED FROM ST. MUNGO'S". As she was always interested in the wellbeing of this specific man, (as it had been her son's wand that had sent him to the hospital in the first place) she opened to the article.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League," Molly snorted at this, knowing full well that Lockhart had been a fraud, though this was not common knowledge. The Weasley's and those few people who knew the truth had decided to keep his secret. He had been punished enough. She continued on.
"…and former five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, was admitted into St. Mungo's hospital for Magical Maladies and Injury's some six years ago, while teaching at Hogwatrs School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, due to a freak accident involving the backfiring of a students faulty wand during a demonstration for his Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
Molly snorted again at this. What utter rubbish, she thought.
"…Thus resulting in erasing the entirety of his memory. As Lockhart could not remember how to do the simplest of spells, and was proven to be a danger to himself, he was transferred to the Permanent Spell Damage ward of St Mungo's later that year.
"Lockhart, though still memory-less, has improved quite a bit over the time he has resided in the hospital. He is no longer a danger to himself, and has mastered joint writing already. And, according to his specialty nurse, 'Though he has no chance of a full recovery, we're hopeful that he will be able to live a relatively normal life, away from the hospital.'
"He left St. Mungo's last night and is now living in his old flat in London."
As Molly finished reading the article, she sighed. Poor man, she thought. She knew he was a fraud, yes, but it must have been so hard, to lose your memory. And nobody deserves that. And, she found herself thinking in spite of herself, he is still so very handsome. Molly bit her lip and picked up her knitting needle. But that that moment, there was a knock on the door. She stood up cautiously.
"Tonks? Remus?" She called. She was expecting them over to work on things for the Order, however she wasn't expecting them for another hour at least. She opened the door slowly. Her breath caught in her throat as she came face to face with the very man she had just been reading about: Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Hello there." He said cheerfully.
"Hello." Molly replied suspiciously.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, but do you think you can direct me to my house?" Molly's maternal instinct kicked in at once.
"Oh, yes, not to worry dear, I'll help you find it. Come in, come in."
"Would you like an autograph?" Gilderoy asked excitedly. "I can even do joined-up writing now!"
"Oh, yes, that would be lovely dear, thank you." Molly said kindly. Gilderoy beamed. "Now you live in London, correct?"
"That's that really big city, right?"
"That's right." Molly said. Well, he's quite lovely person.
After scribbling a quick note to Remus and Tonks saying that something's come up and she'll be back soon, she left her house and set off to London.
"Here we are dear." Molly said as they entered Gilderoy's flat.
"Oh thank you so much. I never would have been able to find it without you." Molly smiled.
"Well I should really get going, Gilderoy." She said.
"Wait don't go!" Gilderoy replied quickly. "There's so much we can talk about! Please, stay a bit longer!"
"Oh, alright, but I can't stay for too long, I'm expecting company." Gilderoy exhibited those pearly whites again and for some unknown reason, her heart melted at the sight of it. They sat talking for several hours. About everything…about nothing…It was at seven that evening that she checked the clock on the wall and realized how long she'd been there.
"Dear me." She said. "I'm so sorry, I really must be going. I do hope that Tonks and Remus aren't too angry with me."
"Oh please don't go, Molly." Gilderoy begged.
"I must."
"Then come again! Tomorrow!" Molly smiled.
"Till tomorrow, then." She said, and exited the flat.
Molly entered The Burrow to see two people talking.
"Honestly Remus, you'd think she would be back by now!" Tonks said, worried.
"I'm sure that Arthur will find her." Remus said.
"No need!" Molly said cheerfully.
"Molly! Where have you been?" Tonks said loudly.
"I helped…an old friend find his flat." Molly said.
"How can someone lose a flat?"
"He didn't lose it! He's not stupid! He's just forgotten!" Molly said defending Gilderoy.
"He sounds like a prat!" Tonks said for the sake of arguing.
"Who is this man who lost his flat?" Remus finally asked.
"Uh…well…my old friend S-Stanley…Yes dear old Stanley, he's been away for several years and could not remember the way to his flat! Yes." Molly lied. She didn't know why, after all it was perfectly innocent. Remus looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Well lets get started then shall we? Oh, Tonks, go send a message to Arthur saying that we found Molly." Remus said calmly.
"Alright." Tonks said as she walked out the door.
"RON!" An angry voice came in with a loud bang of the door. "WHERE IS HE?" Fred Weasley yelled angrily.
"He's at his flat darling." Said Molly, her mind still on Gilderoy. Fred looked at her strangely. "Oh, Ron, um…he's-he's—"
"Here." Ron came slowly down the stairs
"RONALD WEASLEY! You bloody lady killer." Fred said laughing. Ron looked relieved, but he was more red then ever.
"Fred! Not here!" Ron looked nervously at his mother.
"No, no she needs to hear what her Ikle Ronnykins has been doing." Fred smirked as George stepped through the doorway.
"Snogging Hermione in our shop, three times this week." George said smirking even bigger then Fred.
"Though, George as you know he still has yet to beat his record."
"Right, eight times is tough to beat!" Fred said truthfully.
"I'm still trying to beat it." George said sadly.
"But girls in Diagon Alley just don't like the jokes."
"They like smarts! What's with that?"
"Well that's nice boys." Molly said, picturing her as Hermione and Gilderoy as Ron snogging in her sons shop. Molly shook the thought away, startled at her own mind. She really needed to get her mind off that very attractive man.
"Let's get started." She said quickly.
True to her word, Molly returned to Gilderoy's flat the next day. And the next. Molly would spend her time when she was alone during the day with Gilderoy, though, for a reason she couldn't figure out, she never told Arthur that she was even leaving the house. It's completely innocent. She told herself again and again. But she couldn't ignore the beating of her heart when she thought about him, or the way that she could talk to him about anything, and not have to worry about the way it sounded. She couldn't pretend she didn't stay up late at night, wishing that it was Gilderoy, not Arthur, next to her, or how whenever she was with him she felt a strong desire to entangle her hand in his and be as close to him as possible.
But non the less, she kept a respectable distance, when they were sitting alone. Until that fateful Wednesday, two months after their first meeting.
Gilderoy and Molly had decided to go for a walk and ended up at a park. Upon returning to Gilderoy's flat, they sat in silence for several minutes on the same couch. Their hearts beating, butterflies fluttering around inside them. Gilderoy couldn't take the silence.
"Molly…" He began.
"Yes Gilly?" Molly voice was trembling with emotion.
"Molly, I can't take it anymore, Molly. Molly, I…I love you, Molly!" Molly said nothing, but leaned over, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Gilly, I—" But Gilderoy cut her off, with his lips covering hers. She let out a moan full of pleasurable passion, while her mind was screaming, STOP IT, MOLLY, STOP! YOU'RE MARRIED! YOU HAVE ARTHUR, HE LOVES YOU! AND YOU LOVE HIM! DON'T LET ALL THAT GO FOR EMPTY LUST! But still, Molly didn't brake the kiss. It was Gilderoy who finally ended it. Breathless, she drew away reluctantly.
"Molly…" He whispered.
Molly returned home, lightheaded, and dizzy.
I kissed him, she thought, blissfully. She had never felt so envigorated in her life. Molly moved absently around the house, not really seeing anything. She came to an abrupt stop as she walked right into Arthur.
"Molly." He said, clearly surprised. "I thought you were gone."
"I was." She said stiffly. "You're home early."
"I…they didn't need me."
"Oh." They avoided each other's gaze. Molly's thoughts returned to Gilly. She couldn't help it. She was in love. She knew it now and she couldn't deny it any longer. The way his hair glistened in the sunlight, the way his teeth almost literally sparkled when he smiled, a sparkle that blinded her with emotions of heart warming love and devotion. She loved him and that was all there was to it.
"Molly, i…I have something I need to tell you." Arthur said, nervousness in his voice.
"It can wait. I need to go talk to someone. I'll be back in a few hours. Don't wait up." Molly said. She grabbed her coat and hat and left the house. Molly was determined to talk to Gilly about her new found emotions.
Molly arived at Gilderoy's flat at about a quarter to eight. She knocked on the door nervously. The door opened suddenly. A gleaming smile greeted her.
"Molly! Oh molly, I was hoping you would come back!" Gilly exclaimed.
"Yes Gilderoy. I was hoping I'd come too." Gilly laughed. "Gilly, I'm here on a serious matter." Gilderoy suddenly looked concerned.
"What is it Molly?" Gilderoy said, his bright blue eyes staring
at Molly.
"Gilly, I…I'm in love with you too." Gilderoy
beamed. "But Gilderoy…you know I'm married."
"Oh, pish
posh. What is marriage but two people in love and made one. What is
marriage without love? Nothing. And we love eachother. And so, we
should be together. You and that bald git…whatever his name is…are
over. You need to let him go…and be with me." Molly thought about
this for a moment.
"But what about my children?" Molly asked
suddenly.
"Oh Molly. They're all grown up. They can take a
slight issue such as divorce and remarrige."
"REMARRIGE?
Gilly, are you proposing?"
"uh…." Gilderoy trailed off. He
looked lovingly into her dark eyes, her fiery curls falling down
around her face. She was so beautiful. She was so beautiful. He knelt
down on one knee. He took her soft hand in his (Molly was already
crying tears of great bliss) and kissed it gently. His eyes returned
to her beautiful face.
"Yes." He whispered, tears filling his
own eyes.
"YES!" Molly wailed. "I WILL MARRY YOU!" She
leapt into his arms. She was overjoyed. She couldn't belive what
was happening. Suddenly a thought struck her.
"Gosh darnit! I'm
already married!" Gilly looked suddenly put out.
"Are you
kidding me? After all that we've been through these past months,
you're going back to…him?"
"Well
of course not! Gilly, you start planning the wedding. I'm off to
break up with my husband!" She kissed him goodbye and trotted out
the door, grinning the whole time.
Molly walked into her house, the house that had been both her home and her prison for over half her life now. She had married Arthur right out of school, and though she was sure she had loved him then, she had known deep down that she had settled, that she had missed something. She resented Arthur. She had fallen out of love with him long ago, and again settled because she had believed that there was nothing better for her out there. But there was. Gilly. Gilly had given her a second chance at life and at love, and she'd be darned if she ever let that chance slip away to a terrible abyss of sadness and regret. She wandered into the sitting room, where Arthur had indeed been waiting up for her.
"Molly, we really need to talk."
"Yes, we do."
"I know you've been leaving in the middle of the day for the past couple of months."
"About that…I've been going to see a friend, someone very close to my heart. It's Gilderoy Lockhart, Arthur. And I'm in love with him. He proposed tonight and I accepted." Arthur's mouth gaped open, shock evident on his lined face. He looked down and started shaking, tears dripping into his lap.
"Arthur, I'm so sorry, but I can't stay with you. It's not fair to either of us. I do care about you, just—"
"No, no Molly." Arthur looked up, the tears of laughter still running down his long nose.
"And what, pray tell, is so humorous?" Molly inquired, utterly surprised at his response to the news that she was leaving him to marry another man.
"It's just…" he said, still laughing, "I've been seeing someone too. I was waiting up to tell you that I was leaving you first thing tomorrow for Tonks." Molly burst out laughing. Suddenly there was a noise from the stairs. It was Ron.
"Mum? Dad?" Ron said, squinting. He was obviously still half-asleep. "'S so funny?"
Molly and Arthur sobered up at once. They didn't know how the children would react.
"Go and get all your siblings, dear. You're father and I have to tell you something." Molly said delicately. It was the weekend of Harry's birthday, and the Weasley's had arranged a surprise party for him. Harry and Hermione would be arriving late the next afternoon, but all the Weasley's were home tonight.
"Alright…" Ron said curiously. As her seven children gathered around her, Molly thought about her life with Arthur. They had had some good times, but she was never truly happy. The only really good thing that had come of their marriage was her kids. She did love them and did want them to be happy, but, as Gilly had said, they were grown up. She and Arthur had done a good job of raising them to be good, strong, and decent people. Now it was her time to break free and be happy.
"Your father and I…" Molly hesitated, looking around at the curious eyes that surrounded her. This was best. "Your father and I are getting married."
"What, like vow renewals?" Ginny asked. Molly and Arthur glanced at each other.
"No…maybe I didn't put it clear enough…"
"What your mother is trying to say, is that we're not marrying each other…but other people. We both have found love else where." There was a very long silence. It lasted half an hour at least. When, at last, Ginny spoke.
"This makes you happy?" She said, staring deeply into Molly's eyes.
"This makes me very happy." Molly said honestly. Ginny looked at her father, asking the same question.
"I've never been so happy." Arthur said unflinchingly.
"Then we're happy for you!" George sincerely exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, Ron, and Ginny said in unison. The whole family beamed at each other.
"Now, I think we need to know who our new mommy and daddy are going to be." Bill said happily.
"Well, I will be marrying Nymphadora Tonks." Arthur said, a dreamy expression in his eyes.
"Yes! I love Tonks!" Ginny exclaimed merrily. "How about you, Mum?" Ginny was very excited.
"I," Molly said breathlessly, "am going to marry the one and only Gilly Lockhart!" There was uproar of shock following these words.
"Lockhart?" Ron was beside himself with surprise. "I thought he was in the hospital?"
"He was released several months ago. We met, and well, what can I say? I love him. He's the most beautiful man I have ever laid my eyes on. Look, I know he's a little bit crazy, I know he doesn't even remember how to tie his shoes without making the bunny ears, and I know he's younger, but he is the most magnificent wizard in the history of the world! " Molly's eyes were filling with tears of love again. She was so happy.
"It's not that I mind, it's just that I didn't know he was out." Ron said. "But good for you, if you love him, we'll all learn to love him as a second father. Welcome to the family, Lockhart I say. Welcome to the family!" And they all hugged and wept, and smiled, and laughed and celebrated new life and love all night long.
Three Months Later"Gentlemen, you may kiss your brides." And with those words, Molly and Arthur kissed their new loves. They had decided that a joint wedding ceremony would be a marvelous way to celebrate each others happiness. After all, they were still the best of friends. And so, after a minute or so of joyous, love affirming connection of the lips, they broke apart from Gilderoy, and Tonks and looked at each other. Molly gave a bright smile to Arthur, while Arthur gave a small wink. Arthur had been a good husband. He always tried, and tried, without cease to take care of her and the children. But she had known, deep down in her very soul that she did not love him like she loved Gilly. She smiled again as Gilly lead her to the backyard where the reception was being held.
The happy couples beamed around at their guests, beings who they loved and cared for. They had decided to make the wedding a small one. Just close, intimate friends to bask in the warm light that seemed to be coming from every inch of Molly's being. As Arthur, Tonks, Molly, and Gilly chatted and greeted their guests, they couldn't help but keep stealing glances at their respective spouses.
Our love affair is a
wondrous thing
That we'll rejoice in remembering
Our love was
born with our first embrace
And a page was torn out of time and
space
Our love affair, may it
always be
A flame to burn through eternity
So take my hand with
a fervent prayer
That we may live and we may share
A love
affair to remember