Characters: Teddy and Molly

Prompt: Sorrow

Teddy rubbed the tiredness from his eyes and willed himself to stay awake. Exhaustion was pulling at him, making his whole body feel heavier and slower than usual. He wasn't surprised; he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a decent night's sleep.

Arthur Weasley was in hospital.

A lot of the Weasleys and Potters had been in hospital over the years; bouts of dragon pox, James getting hurt in a Quidditch match, Harry and Ron suffering from the side-effects of having the dangerous job of being Aurors. Teddy himself had been hurt on the job more than once. And then there had been the whole Albus fiasco. But this...this was different.

Because this time the Healers didn't seem to be trying to stay hopeful. They didn't say things like "you'll be out of here in no time". They didn't say "don't worry". Instead phrases such as "critical condition" were being thrown around. Instead, the family was being encouraged to be "prepared for the worst".

The odds were not in Arthur Weasleys favour.

Teddy's throat constricted at the thought. Arthur Weasley had always been a sort of grandfather to him. Kind and warm and never making him feel as though he didn't belong. He's going to make it, he told himself, he's going to make it through this. And everything will be back to normal. He'll be tinkering away in his shed in no time. He'll be telling us all about muggle contraptions and we'll shake our heads and laugh and…he'll be alright.

He ran a hand through his hair and stood up. He should probably get back, he realised, they'd be worrying; Harry and Ginny and Vic especially. He'd escaped from the crowd of Weasley family members in the private waiting room they'd been given (didn't that in itself show the severity of the situation?) and into the corridor. It was cooler here, he could breathe and without the constant sight of tearful faces he could almost make himself believe the situation wasn't really all that bad.

He yawned again and stretched, feeling his muscles groan in protest.

"Teddy?" the voice was quiet. Almost tentative.

Teddy turned and was met with the sight of Molly Weasley; short, brown haired and blue-eyed Molly Weasley.

She certainly looked as though she'd been getting enough sleep. The thought angered him.

"You came" he said.

She looked up at him defiantly; "he's my grandfather"

"Figured that out have you?" Molly glared and Teddy turned to leave; he wasn't in the mood to deal with the enigma that was Molly Weasley.

"Wait!"

Sighing, Teddy turned around; "What?"

"How...how is he?" she fiddled with her a bag as she spoke.

Teddy swallowed; "he's...he's in critical condition." He ran a hand threw his hand tiredly. "The healers took him in about an hour ago. They're going to try…try one last treatment and then…" he didn't want think about what would happen then so he fell silent.

Molly nodded; "Did...did they say...what are odds of him making it?"

Teddy stared at Molly blankly; there was, they had been told, a less than five per cent chance of the treatment being successful but somehow saying that out loud, here, now, to Molly felt as though he was auguring Arthur even more bad luck.

"He'll make it" he found himself saying; "it doesn't matter what they say, he'll make it"

Molly was staring at him strangely. He could guess what she was thinking. Molly Weasley had always been practical; she's probably weighing up the risks herself, Arthur being as old as he was, the severity of the condition. She doesn't think he's going to make it, he realised. The thought only served to make Teddy feel even more restless.

"Is everyone else...?"

"They're in the family waiting room"

"Oh" she looked down and suddenly Teddy felt a wave of pity.

"I'm going there in there now...y'know, if you want to come"

Molly's eyes widened. "Oh. Oh… no. I mean, that's fine. I'll be fine out here, I mean. I don't think they'd want…." She shook her head; "what I mean is…it's probably best if I wait out here" she gave him a small sad smile.

Teddy nodded slowly; in truth he didn't know how Molly's arrival would be taken.

"Right well, I'm going to..." He pointed over his shoulder vaguely.

"Can you stay? I mean just, just for a minute. You can tell me more about what actually happened. I'm a Healer, I could maybe explain..."

"Victoire's a healer. She explained the procedure…"

Molly's face fell; "right. Right, of course." She nodded. "I'll just..." She made her way to over the chairs and sat down; "wait here, I guess"

Teddy sighed and cursing his conscience silently, sat on the seat opposite her, pointedly ignoring her look of surprise.

"So how...how is everyone doing? Mum? Dad? Luce?"

"You'd know if you actually bothered to stay in touch"

Molly paled.

"Shit. That was mean. I'm sorry. Really…I shouldn't have…" Teddy rubbed his eyes again; "I'm tired and I'm stressed and I took out on you. I'm sorry"

Molly nodded slowly.

"I do care" she said eventually.

Teddy looked up and she met his eyes pleadingly; "I do. I care about them all. I care about Mum and Dad and Luce and Grandma and…granddad" her voice broke; "I miss them. So much. And…and all the rest of you too- the whole family... I miss the teasing and the Sunday lunches and Uncle Ron's chess matches. I miss it" she looked at him desperately; "you believe me right? I know I'm a completely horrible person. And I know you all hate me and are probably much better off without me but I do care."

Her voice shook and she wiped the tears off her face impatiently before looking back to Teddy; "I...the first time I left it was because...I was young and stupid and, and I thought I didn't belong and...I...I was a coward so I ran...and then I came back a year later. And…I was ashamed" she shook her head; "Mum, dad- they forgave me. But…Luce…Lucy said some things and…it's not fair of me to make it seem like this is her fault. Because it isn't… it's all me…I know but what she said…it made me second guess everything and…" her voice caught again.

She was red faced and shaking and Teddy felt his heart sink.

He watched her for a moment before going to sit beside her. He had never been close to Molly Weasley; he couldn't really remember ever having a proper conversation with her. He put his arm around her slowly and she sobbed onto him, shaking and spluttering; trying to justify actions that had taken place years ago.

"We don't hate you. Nobody in this family hates you Molly"

Molly shook her head and Teddy sighed tiredly; they had all forgiven her Teddy knew, even if they didn't want or like to admit it. The Weasleys were a stubborn bunch, after all.

"You were young and you were stupid and you made a mistake." She shifted from his arms and looked up at him, her face tear-stained and pale. "It was years ago Molly"

She'd been seventeen when she'd runaway leaving behind her family. No one had expected it. They'd been shocked and angry and hurt, not to mention worried. But she'd been a seventeen year old girl; confused and lonely.

"Exactly" she said wiping the tears from her face; "it was years ago, so why…why is it so hard to face everybody? Why do I dread coming back here? Why do I make excuses to do anything but come back here?" she shook her head slowly; "I'm a horrible person, aren't I?"

Teddy smiled slightly; "You're human." He thought back to when Molly had returned a year later after leaving. She had been ashamed and they had all been hurt. It seemed back then, as though they accepted her return, made her feel welcome but…had they really?

"We all make mistakes" he said slowly; "when you came back…everyone, everyone was wrapped up in their own lives and…nobody…everybody was happy you were back but nobody wanted to be the first to come out and say "you're forgiven" or "I missed you"…" he shook his head; "we all skirted around the issue didn't we?" he looked at Molly curiously; "none of us bothered to talk to you about it. We talked about other things but not…it."

He paused, remembering the eighteen year old Molly Weasley.

"We were wrong" he said eventually. "but…so were you"

He looked at the pale shivering girl next to him, she was sitting now with her hands wrapped around her knees, her eyes clenched shut.

"I know"

"You should have given it time. You shouldn't have given up so quick and gone running." Teddy bit his lip thinking hard; "family is…complicated. Sometimes it gives us a sense of self-entitlement. But…that's wrong." Teddy paused, trying to find the right words; "I guess what I'm trying to say is…it's…it's a two way thing. Everybody has to put the effort in. It's easy to break the bonds. You found that out."

Molly snorted in agreement.

"But fixing it, fixing it takes time and it'll only work if we put the effort in. All of us."

Molly nodded slowly before clearing her throat; "You think…you think it's too late to put that effort in now?"

Teddy smiled; "it's never too late. But if you're going to do it, do it properly. No running away from the problem Molly"

Molly nodded again and took a deep breath; "Could…could you come with me…in there?" she nodded towards the waiting room.

Teddy raised an eyebrow; "You sure you're ready?"

Molly shrugged; "the sooner I start trying the better, right?"

"Right." he nodded; "let's go then" he smiled at her encouragingly before leading the way to the door leading to the rest of the Weasleys.

They would all gladly accept her back in to their fold he knew; it would difficult at first he supposed; maybe there would be one or two awkward dinners to get through and more than a few hard conversations, there'd be teasing from James and Fred he supposed…it would take time to build up the trust but… it would come back.


So this was a bit depressing and maybe a bit confusing so let me explain a little :) In my head canon, Molly Weasley runs away when she's seventeen. She's young and confused and doesn't feel like she belongs in her family. If you want to read more about that I wrote a one-shot of her leaving, a while back. It's the second chapter of "Life, or something like that" and can be found on my profile (shameless self-plugging there :P) you don't have to read it of course, but if you are interested it's there :)

Also… I see Molly returning a year later after running away to try and clear things up but everything is very complicated and Lucy says some things to her which makes her decide she's better off elsewhere (the next chapter will have a bit about that). Molly moves back to Germany and completes her Healer training. She keeps in contact with her parents and visits only for their anniversary each year.

Molly is twenty-two in this and Teddy is twenty-six.

(Oh and Arthur does make it out of this; he's weaker but otherwise back to normal)

Please review and let me know what you think :D