i.
It's the first memory Molly has of Roxanne.
They're playing in her bedroom, with their combined dolls set up in a circle with a play tea set in the middle. Roxanne's two years older, but agrees to play anyways.
"Look at this," Molly yells, reaching for the tea cup. Her foot catches on the side of the stand-up mirror, and seconds after she cries out in pain the gilded mirror crashes to the floor in a tsunami of glass and metal. Molly attempts to reach the door, but a searing pain in her foot causes her to crumple to the floor.
"Molly!" her cousin yells, dodging the shattered glass on the floor with her quick and nimble feet. Roxanne reaches her in seconds, and glances at her foot while Molly bawls her eyes out.
"Aunt Audrey! Uncle Percy!" yells Roxanne through the door, and she hears the frantic footsteps coming down from the hallway, no doubt from hearing a crash, a wail, and a shout.
"Hey, Molly," says Roxanne, staring at her with those poignant brown eyes that could reflect chocolate,"shh, Molly, it'll be alright. You'll be fine. You're strong."
And for some reason, Molly believes her.
ii.
Molly hated Hogwarts. Just loathed it. Why couldn't she go home? On summer break she'd be certain to ask her parents if they could home-school her, because she absolutely hated Hogwarts. Who thought it was a brilliant idea to let girls and boys share the same common room? All boys did were act ridiculous and immature. She was mature, right?
"Molly? What's wrong?" a thirteen-year-old Roxanne peered into her cousins face anxiously, awaiting an answer. She had known something was up when the normally bubbly eleven year old disappeared into the common room with her face in her hands and hadn't moved.
Her face was as pale as a dove, making her orange freckles stand out even more. "I don't have any friends. No one likes me, Roxie."
"Hey, that's not true," Roxanne replied, her voice soothing. "Don't let what people say to you, Molly. And remember," she said, even softer, "I'll always be your friend. You won't be alone."
For some reason, Molly believed her that time too.
iii.
Quidditch hated her, and she hated Quidditch. Well, not exactly hate - that was a bit harsh. She enjoyed watching it, but she was just pants at playing it.
Molly could not understand why James, Fred, and Louis played Quidditch constantly. Perhaps it would be fun for a while, but wouldn't it get boring after a while? But then again, they didn't quite understand her odd love of gardening and flowers.
"That's the only time I've ever seen you get your hands dirty," Roxie commented, peering over Molly's shoulder as she dug a hole for a new bunch of peonies. Molly grinned up at her, sweeping a strand of red hair out of her eyesight.
"It's worth if it, if it looks so beautiful in the end," Molly said wisely, admiring her garden at the Burrow that Grandma Molly let her tend to.
Roxanne smiled back at her, a twinkle in her eyes. "Certainly."
It was one of many times that Molly taught Roxanne a thing or two.
iv.
"Where are you going? Roxanne? Roxie, really!" Molly yelled, hands on her hips in a very unconscious imitation of her namesake. "It's pouring outside, you're completely crazy, you know!"
Dark clouds rolled across the sky, covering the light of the day like a blanket. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the sky was lit up like Muggle fireworks with lightning.
"Don't you love thunderstorms?" she laughed, spinning around in a circle with her head thrown back and arms spread wide. The rain hit her like she was the target, and her auburn curls hung soggy and loose down her back. It was one of the only times she had seen nineteen-year-old Roxanne so carefree, looking so purely, utterly, happy.
Molly stood in the doorway of the Burrow in utter disbelief.
"C'mon!" exclaimed Roxanne, giggling. Molly stepped out tentatively, letting the cold water soak through her clothes and chill her bones. Roxanne reached out and gripped her arm, pulling her into the middle of the field.
"Doesn't it feel so... just so amazing?" Molly had to admit the chill it gave her was refreshing; it opened her eyes and made her feel much more awake. Roxanne's eyes twinkled down at her, conveying her words and thoughts unsaid, and Molly caught their gaze, returning unspoken dialogue of her own.
"It really does," she whispered up at Roxanne. The girls stood still, feeling as though they were the center of the earth and the planet was spinning faster than they could imagine around them. They stood locked in a gaze, with the noise of the rain soaking the ground, blinding their vision.
A roll of thunder jolted them out of their moment.
Molly spent the whole time drying off and wondering if maybe, perhaps, Roxanne felt it too, even thought it was so, so wrong.
v.
"My boyfriend," says Roxanne, grinning like she's just won the lottery. The man standing next to her is clearly a fellow Quidditch player; broad, with strong arm muscles and steady-looking. She introduces him as something-or-the-other Wood, and Molly hadn't really payed attention to what she was saying because she was too busy wondering.
Wondering why she was so upset over her cousin's boyfriend.
vi.
A year later Molly's introduced to Roxanne's second boyfriend; thinner, taller and more cheerful than the last one. Roxanne still grins widely, although she does look a little tired - her posture was slouched, and she had faint rings underneath her eyes from lack of sleep.
Molly had to bite back a laugh when she snapped at him, telling him that although her father owns a joke shop doesn't mean he can't be serious around her.
And she feels a little bit more down when Roxanne bites her lip with guilt and apologizes to him, kissing him sweetly. But - why? Why was she down? This was Roxanne's boyfriend, after all. She was just jealous because that meant she'd be seeing less of her favorite cousin.
Molly felt both doubtful and hopeful; but more often a mix of the two, being half agony and half hope.
Even though she didn't quite know what she was hoping for.
vii.
It was the first time Molly ever remembered consoling Roxanne.
It was always Roxanne who had a shoulder to cry on, and some conforting words to offer. It was always Roxanne who gave Molly the best hugs, warm and reassuring silently that everything would be okay, maybe some day.
It was odd, so very odd, for it to be the other way around. That Roxanne would need comforting after a breakup, instead of Molly. It ought to have been the opposite way around.
"Are you okay, now, Roxie?" The question broke Roxanne out of her reverie, staring listlessly at a wall.
"Yeah," she spoke quietly, "yeah, I'm fine."
"C'mon," Molly held out her hand to Roxanne, heaving her off of the sofa and towards the balcony of her flat. She slid open the glass door and stepped into the night, a cloak of black enveloping the sky with little peepholes of light bursting through the seams.
The sky was cloudless and the stars twinkling. Molly could clearly make out constellions - the Orion was right there, she knew it.
"Wish upon a star," Molly prompted. It was from a Muggle storybook her mother used to read as a child - the herione would lean over the balcony and wish upon a star. It was a habit she had taken to since she was little, peeking out of her curtains at midnight to examine the night sky with bright eyes.
"I wish I could have somebody who loved me wholly, completely, for me," whispered Roxanne, folding her arms and leaning forward against the cold metal.
Molly smiled wryly at Roxanne's wish, but did not speak up.
She wasn't a Gryffindor, after all.
a/n - Well, I hope this was okay. It was more unrequited!Molly/Roxanne, and I think it's pretty okay; Molly feels something odd, something different in a surprisingly good way, and wonders if Roxanne feels it too.
For the Big Sis/Lil Sis Prompt Competition; I used the pairing Roxanne/Molly, wishes, glass, "I am half agony, half hope," and disbelief. I'm the Big Sis to the lovely, brilliant Teddy. c:
Also for the Ultimate Femmeslash Competition, and the Popular Song Competition; I Will Wait.