A/N: Written for the QLFC

Round:5

Position:Seeker

Team:Cannons

Prompt: word- "cousins"

Word Count:1401

Thanks for beta-ing Ned!


The majority of the Weasley family had married up and settled down right out of Hogwarts, and all of them had careers and lived close to home. They had all done what was expected of them, and in a way, Molly and Dom had too. No one who really knew them would have ever thought they had any plans of living simple, ordinary lives.

The girls had hatched a plan when they were young. It was a Weasley family tradition to work in their Uncle George's joke shop once you turned fourteen, and both Dom and Molly were up to their knees in Puking Pastilles every summer from the second they were able to help. The one thing they had done differently to the rest of the family was that both of them had saved almost all of their earnings.

With Gringotts accounts quite full for most people their age, it was fairly easy for the girls to change enough galleons into Muggle money to buy an old, cheap convertible car and pay their way as they drove across Europe once they had graduated from Hogwarts.

And so, the day after returning from their graduation ceremony, the girls cast undetectable extension charms on a couple of silver handbags, packed up the multitudes of floaty shirts, tank tops, bohemian skirts, ripped jeans, and shorts that filled their rooms, and went to buy the car they had had their eyes on. It was old, rickety and only cost them five hundred pounds, but as soon as they left the used car dealership, Molly performed a few quick spells and it was as good as new.

The girls climbed into the car, their purses filled with money, clothes, recently acquired driver's licenses, and their wands. Pointing the car south, the girls kicked off their shoes and headed towards France.


The two cousins stayed on the road for years, traveling all over Europe in their little convertible. Five years after they began their journey, the girls found themselves in Northern Italy, closer to England than they had been in a long time. They still had more than enough money due to the fact that a little magic can go a long way, not to mention they were young, beautiful girls.

One night, while in the Italian town of Mantova, they decided to go to a local bar. It was late at night, so the bar was very crowded. However, they managed to score seats by doing a little flirting.

One of the men who gave up his seat hung around, flirting with Dom. The other had eventually walked off, distracted by some other woman who filled out her blouse just a little better than Molly did.

Molly didn't mind; the man who had given up his seat to her had a receding hairline and, more than likely, a wife at home he had every plan of cheating on. The man who was talking up Dom, however, was around their age and strikingly handsome. He had dark features, the kind of hair a person wants to run their fingers through, and, based on what the Molly was able to tell through his partly unbuttoned shirt, abs that probably came from surfing somewhere off the coast.

Dom slowly but surely made her way closer and closer to him the drunker she got, and soon she was leaning against his exposed chest.

The man put a hand on the small of Dom's back, pulling her even closer to him. Molly panicked for a moment, knowing that Dom often kept her wand in the back waistband of her jeans, but remembered the pair had left their wands in the car, realizing that a situation like the one unfolding before her might arise.

Molly watched as the pair flirted. They were falling all over each other, and she wasn't sure if it was actual attraction or the fact that Dom had not been so drunk since the night of their Hogwarts graduation party. If she had to guess, Molly would have gone with the latter.

No matter the what the reason was, Molly soon caught the pair trying to slip away.

She smiled into her whiskey, only her second of the night, before lowering her glass and calling out to her cousin, "See you in the morning!"

Dom gave a laugh and waved, before disappearing off to what would more than likely turn out to be some dodgy hotel room. The girls had always complained about the language lessons Dom's mother had forced them into, but Molly was quite convinced Dom was very grateful for them that night.


Molly woke up to the sound of someone crashing around in the front seat of the car. Raising up from her makeshift bed in the backseat, she found Dom, up to her shoulder in her old silver handbag.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Dom did not even look up from her purse as she said, "I'm looking for something to wear. I want to go out tonight."

The girls were somewhere in the South of France. They had gotten in late the night before and parked their car at the first roadside campsite they had come to. Molly had not gotten a good look at the place, but she had seen a few bars that she definitely wanted to go to.

Molly grunted her approval. She was all for going out and having fun. She was not, however, a morning person. With that in mind, Molly lay back down as Dom began to pull things from her bag.

It was five minutes later, just as Molly was getting back to sleep, that she was quickly and completely woken up by the most terrifying shriek she'd ever heard.

She shot up. "What's wrong?"

All the color had drained from Dom's face. She stuttered, but not being able to find the words, simply held out the box in her hand.

"These, I haven't used these."

Molly rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked closer. It was an unopened box of tampons, the writing in Italian. The girls had not been in Italy for over two months.


Twenty minutes later, Molly and Dom were standing in a convenience store bathroom staring at the small stick in Dom's hand. As they watched, a small plus sign appeared on it and Dom began to sob.

Molly pulled Dom to her, trying to comfort her.

Dom opened her mouth to speak, but Molly cut her off. "Dom, this is kind of a crap place to talk about this. Besides, the lady washing her hands is looking at us like we're mental." Molly shot the lady a look. " Do you want to go out to the car?"

Dom took a deep breath and nodded. Molly hugged her cousin close to her side and led her out to their old convertible.

Once the girls had slid into the front seat, Molly released Dom, who was attempting to stifle her tears, and sat back. The two sat in silence for a bit letting the news sink in.

Dom finally broke the silence. "I'm keeping the baby," she stifled, "and, as much as I'd like to keep the life we have, the backseat of a car is no place to raise a child. I'm going to have to go back to England, it's time for me to settle down."

"So, I guess our gypsy days are over," Molly said with a small laugh.

"Mine are anyway," said Dom. "You can have the car and come back. You should get the chance to keep going if you want to. It's not like you're the one pregnant here."

"I may not be pregnant, but my best friend is. Not to mention she's single, technically homeless…" Molly joked, trailing off when she saw that Dom had cheered up a little.

Dom chuckled and lightly punched her cousin on the arm.

"But seriously, I'm coming back to England with you and we'll figure out the rest when we get there."

Dom looked at Molly rather skeptically. "Well, if you're sure—"

"Of course I'm sure. Besides, do you honestly think I'd subject that little baby to being raised by you alone. I mean, the kid needs a shot at being normal."

"I never thought this would be how it happened, but I guess we're going home," Dom smiled.

"Yeah, I guess we are," Molly breathed.