Breakable

Molly and Ron

He's three the first time he takes to the sky.

(Not really, actually, because he doesn't make it more than a few feet off the ground.)

And then the broomstick goes shaky in his hands, and he's falling, falling, falling, it feels like hours go by before he cracks his head on the pavement.

It's Mum who yells at him and tells him he's a fool, but it's also Mum who picks him up and clears away the blood. "Be careful," she reminds him, wiping a tear from her youngest son's eye. "You are breakable."

He doesn't fly again for years after that, not until the second flying lesson with Madame Hooch. He doesn't fall this time, but that's because he barely mounts his broom; he hovers for one, two, three seconds, trainers barely an inch off the ground, and then he gently returns to solid ground.

(Because everyone saw what happened to Neville at the first flying lesson, and Ron knows just how breakable people are.)

The next time he flies is at Quidditch tryouts in fifth year, and he's nervous as hell, he's never been up this high in his life, but he's a Gryffindor and he's supposed to be brave even when he doesn't want to be.

It goes just as badly as he thought it would - he goes spinning out of control, he drops the Quaffle, he nearly falls and breaks every inch of himself.

Part of him is relieved when it's over, because now he never needs to fly again.

Except, of course, that they want him on the team, and for the rest of the year the word breakable is constantly on his mind.

The fourth time he flies is at practice, where he is assured that the more he practises the better he will become, and he doesn't believe it for a second.

(Throwing a china cup thirty feet in the air doesn't make it any less breakable, even if you do it a hundred times.)

But then on his fifth flight he notices the shakiness has gone away from his hands, and on his ninth flight he's stopped looking down, and one day - he's lost count of how many flights he's had now - he's able to focus on the match, instead of clinging to his broom so tightly it begins to crack under his palms.

That's the same match in which he saves a goal shot by Malfoy, and the disbelief on that git's face makes everything worth it.

(Because people are breakable, right down to their egos, and some people need to be shattered once in awhile.)

He teaches his son to fly when he's three years old.

"Careful," he says, holding Hugo up with one hand on his back. "Don't lean too far to either side. Don't want to fall off."

"I can do it," Hugo insists. "Take off your hand, Daddy."

Of course the moment the training wheels pull away, Hugo falls flat on his face, and it's a flashback to his own mum and for a split second Ron feels his own head crack against the pavement.

"Don't worry," Ron says, lifting his son to his feet and dusting off his shirt. "We'll try again. You'll get better."

"No." Hugo folds his little arms. "It hurts. Don't wanna."

Ron kneels down to his son's eye line. "I know. People are breakable, Hough, and sometimes they get hurt. But you have to remember something."

"What?"

"Even broken things can be put back together." He lifts his son back onto the broomstick. "And sometimes they end up even better than before."

[Connect the Weasleys Challenge: Molly/Ron; breakable]

[Monthly Drabble-a-Thon: better]

[Collect A Collection Competition: Hugo (Weasleys) Word Prompt: spinning]

[Hook A Prompt Challenge: R5 - Broomstick]

[30 Harry Potter Prompts: Quidditch]

[Wizard Family Portrait: Ron Weasley]