Prompts used: leaves,tree, fight,breathe, song, brown

A Hogwarts Romance

(In five parts and four seasons)

Fighting and Making Up – Autumn – October 1966

Molly runs until her breath is catching in her throat and she cannot run any more. She has reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but she is too angry and upset to be frightened, or even worried about being caught out of bounds by the ubiquitous Pringle or by Ogg the gamekeeper. She has never fought with anyone as she just has with Arthur – or maybe it is that she has never cared as much about fighting with someone – and right now she feels that if she never sees him again it will be no problem at all. A sob catches in her throat, giving the lie to the thought, and she holds her breath as she hears someone coming towards her, the dry leaves underfoot rustling with their approach.

She hopes it is not Arthur. She does not want to see him now, to hear his apologies, to have to forgive him. (Not yet, though she knows she will in the end. They cannot break up over something as stupid as the brown mark his homemade fireworks made on her Transfiguration essay, however long the essay had taken her. But she cannot forgive him for laughing about it, for saying it didn't matter, it wasn't a big deal. Not yet. She had worked hard on that essay. It was a big deal to her.)

She hopes it is not Sally – or worse, Monica. Their sympathy will only make her cry more, and seeing them will remind her how much nicer Arthur is than Sally's over-earnest Delloran or Monica's self-centred Patrick. She does not need to hear them tell her that "all boys are horrible really", when none of them really believes that is true.

A voice calls her name, and it is so unexpected that she sobs out loud. Gideon should be laughing about her "lovers' tiff" with Arthur, not coming to find her to make sure she is alright. Fabian might do that sort of thing, not Gideon. She tried to get away, but it is too late, he has seen and heard her. He is beside her in a second or two, and suddenly she is sitting against the trunk of a tree, Gideon's arms around her, and crying so hard that she can barely breathe.

"Hey, come on, sis, he's not worth it." There is a note of amusement in Gideon's voice, but concern too. "D'you want me to curse him for you? Or beat him up? That would be more satisfying."

"You-you can't," Molly chokes. "He's bigger than you. And anyway, you know what Dad threatened if you get any more detentions this term."

Gideon laughs. "I'll get Fabe to do it then. He's had fewer than me. He doesn't hit as hard though."

Molly laughs shakily despite herself, and scrubs at her eyes with her fists. Gideon pulls out a handkerchief and holds it out to her, but it is so filthy she refuses to touch it, which makes them both laugh again.

"Come on, Moll," Gideon says, standing up and extending a hand to pull Molly to her feet. "It's bloody freezing out here. Let's go back to the Castle, and you can get into a huddle with Sally and Mon and discuss the horrors of the male of the species."

But Molly hangs back, reluctant. "What if I see Arthur?"

"Then you can treat him with the contempt he deserves. Ruining a perfectly good essay for mere fireworks!" That makes Molly laugh again as she falls into step beside her brother. In Gideon's world, fireworks are far more important than homework.

The common room is practically deserted when they clamber through the portrait hole, though the radio is still burbling away to itself – some late-night music programme that no one has bothered to turn off. And Arthur is sitting at the table in the corner, painstakingly copying out Molly's ruined essay. He looks up as Molly and Gideon enter, and blushes furiously. Gideon glares at him balefully, and seems about to say something, but he gets in first.

"I'm sorry, Molly," he says very fast. "I'm sorry I spoilt your essay and I'm sorrier that I laughed about it. Forgive me? Please?" Molly smiles at him, and is in his arms immediately, kissing him hard. Gideon groans. Fabian, who has been sitting by the fire, unnoticed by any of them until now, stands up and comes over to his brother.

"Face it, mate," he says. "She's a lost cause. Let's leave them to it."

Molly and Arthur, still wrapped in each other's arms, don't even notice them go, Celestina Warbeck's voice swells from the radio, and Molly and Arthur smile at each other.