For the record, since it seems to be necessary - I write because I enjoy it. I write for me, and for my friends, and for the other people who read my things and enjoy them.
I do not write to order, though I may do a request for a friend now and again.
I do not write for the benefit of people who never bother to leave a review, and when they finally do, just tell me that what I'm doing is stupid and I should be doing something else. Especially when they have neither the guts nor the courtesy to leave a recognisable name or an email address.
I think you know who you are...
I hope "Birthdays and Beyond" will be updated next week. When I am good and ready. Same for "Il faut...". I know a lot of people care about those fics, and I am happy and grateful for that. But I think 100+ reviews shows that this story has its fans too, as do the other "stupid random things" I've posted recently.
If that's a problem for you, please go and read elsewhere.
Thanks.
Now, to the matter in hand - Eurythmics, Abba, Eurythmics again, U2 for the umpteenth time, and Eva Cassidy's version of Sting's amazing "Fields of Gold".
JKR's universe, of course, though the Percy/Penny pairing is part of my own AU.
Weasley Shuffle
XXXI. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Molly)
In the darkest days of the war, she dreams.
Playing with Fabian and Gideon in the big overgrown garden of their house outside London.
The first day on the Hogwarts Express.
Dancing with Arthur, neither of them aware of the music because they are so aware of each other.
Their wedding
Every baby.
Laughing at the boys and Arthur playing snowballs in the orchard, a twin asleep on each arm.
Gideon laughing, and Fabian with his arm round her shoulders telling her, "Don't take life so seriously, Moll!"
Christmases and birthdays. Cakes, laughter, balloons, fireworks, presents.
Ordinary things. Fittings for school robes at Madam Malkin's. Breakfast in bed on Mothers Day. Charlie finding yet another pet. Bill telling her he was going to Egypt. Percy reading, looking so serious.
Sweet dreams.
But all true.
XXXII. Dancing Queen (Ron and Hermione)
This isn't the Hermione he thought he knew. She looks amazing. How has she got her hair to look like that? And her dress… He is used to seeing her in school robes or in jeans and sweater. Not like this, in a dress fit for a princess.
She twirls in Krum's arms. Ron scowls.
At Bill and Fleur's wedding, he is less surprised, but still overwhelmed with how she looks. She really is gorgeous…
At least she is dancing with him now.
At their wedding, Ron seriously believes Hermione is the most beautiful woman in the world. Her dress is gorgeous, her hair perfect, but he cannot take his eyes from her face.
And she is dancing in his arms, and her smiles are for him only.
XXXIII. Would I lie to you? (Bill)
He is not lying, but he is not telling her the whole truth either. They have been going out only a few weeks, but he knows already that Fleur is the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. This is so different from how it was with Sarah or Bette or Jen or Yasmina….
But he can't tell her the full truth. He trusts her. Completely. For himself.
But he can't expect others to place that full trust in her yet, nor can he entrust secrets that would endanger others to her. So he makes excuses, and sees in her eyes that she does not believe him.
He wishes more than anything he could tell her the truth. "We were getting a family of Muggle-borns to safety"; "We had to watch a group of Death Eaters to see where they were planning to attack next if we could." Instead he makes vague excuses about work or family events, and knows that she doesn't believe him.
He longs for the day when he can tell her the whole truth.
XXXIV. Crumbs from your table (Percy and Penny)
She smiles at him across a crowded bar, and suddenly he remembers. Walks in the Hogwarts grounds; stolen moments when they were supposed to be patrolling as Prefects; doing homework together; smiling at each other from their separate tables at mealtimes; how bad he felt when she was petrified by the Basilisk.
Could they have that again? They hadn't finished well. A stupid argument about priorities and ambition…
But she is smiling as if she is pleased to see him. And he is so lonely.
He needs a miracle. A sign of hope. Something – a crumb of comfort.
He takes a deep breath and stands up. Crossing over to where she is sitting on the other side of the bar seems to take at least a month. He clears his throat. "Penny?" He manages a kind of smile. "Can I buy you a drink?"
She smiles and nods. Perhaps it is a sign.
XXXV. Fields of Gold (George and Fred)
"Remember those who died for our freedom."
Words on a memorial. True, but insufficient.
Remembering is every day. All the time. Everything he does is a memory. Doing it with Fred. The very fact he is now doing it alone makes the act a remembrance.
They never imagined that one of them would go on without the other. If they thought of dying, they thought of doing it together.
Until that day when George lost his ear, and the realisation that this was for real, and that he could have died. One of them could have died and left the other behind.
And the promise. In the dark, that night. No one else ever knew. George never told anyone.
"George? If you'd died…"
"I didn't…"
"You could have…"
"I know."
Silence.
"Fred… If one of us… The other one - has to…"
Silence.
"Go on. I know."
"I promise."
"Me too."
Silence, and they both pretend they cannot hear the other crying.
So George goes on, as he promised, to a golden future that is his alone.