Another chapter is written and up! I think you should all be very proud of my sudden updating abilities, by the way, even if it is always late at night when they are put into practice. Anyway, a kind of sad Molly chapter. And you'll find out more about what's actually going on in the last two chapters, in case you're curious. Hope you like it.

~Robin

Chapter 10

Drinking Doesn't Make Things Go Away or Grandmothers

Molly was drunk. And she knew it. Not completely, stumbling, blackout, not remember anything in the morning drunk, but enough that she wasn't acting like her usually controlled self, enough to at least get away from some of the issues that she had been facing lately. Well, for a while actually, if she thought about it. Not that she could think all that well, of course, seeing as she was drunk.

It was only around nine o'clock, but she had gotten there early, probably around seven, when she had snapped, needing to escape her screwed up family, her parents fighting, her sister hopelessly naive about what was going on. A half-empty bottle was sitting on the table in front of her and she reached out for it once more when somebody came and sat at the bar stool next to her.

"Molly, right?" he asked her.

She turned and saw somebody that she vaguely recognized, although she wasn't sure of his name. It must have been the alcohol. "Yes," she said, "sorry, but I can't place your name right now."

"Jason," he said, holding his hand out to her. The contact seemed to sober her up a bit.

"You were at Hogwarts, right?" she asked. It was the Leaky Cauldron though, so that wouldn't be that strange. "Gryffindor?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was three years ahead of you," he told her. She nodded, taking a gulp of her drink. The clarity was just making all of the problems come rushing back into her head again. "So what problems are you trying to drink away, anyway? I mean, it is Christmas Eve, after all," he reminded her.

"I know, that's why it's bad," she told him morosely.

"Ah."

"It's just family problems, stressed about work, lonely, ever since my best friend and flat mate moved in with her boyfriend. Although its better than them shagging all over the place," she finished with a grumble. Jason chuckled. "My family is just too much sometimes," she groaned, putting her head down on the table.

"You don't look too good, you know," he told her, sounding worried. She grunted, her hand still wrapped around her bottle, shaking slightly. She sat up and coughed loudly into her arm, like she had a cold.

"I've been worse," she said, attempting to take another big gulp of her firewhiskey.

He intercepted her hand and took the bottle from her carefully, setting it back down. "I don't think so," he said forcefully. "You've had enough tonight."

"And who are you to stop me?" she asked him.

"Someone who cares," he told her. She was taken aback by that. It wasn't often that somebody really cared. Tanya did, of course. They were best friends, but they had both been busy and hadn't had much time to just talk lately. And her parents tried to care, they just weren't really successful. And Lucy had no idea what she was going through. She was the lucky one. She was at Hogwarts, oblivious to what was really going on at home, her news all coming through their mother's cheerful sounding letters, rather than the terse edge that had so often filled her voice as of late.

"Now, I think you should go home," he told her. She stood, shaky on her feet and almost stumbled. He caught her elbow quickly, keeping her from falling on her face. "Or maybe I should escort you," he said worriedly.

"Maybe," she slurred.

"Where do you want to go?"

That was a tough one. She definitely wasn't going to her parents'. That was not going to happen unless she couldn't possibly avoid it. And she didn't really want to go back to her flat either, where it was empty and she couldn't shake the loneliness. She was almost tempted to ask him to take her back to his place, but felt that as he was being so kind, and that she knew him personally-sort of-it would just feel wrong. There was only one other place left. The Burrow. Grandma Molly always knew how to make her feel better, even if nobody else did. "The Burrow," she said. "I need to go to the Burrow."

He nodded, taking her arm and leading her out of the pub and into Diagon Alley, where a few straggling shoppers were just finishing up and heading for home. "I'm going to apparate. Is that okay?" he asked her.

She nodded blearily and he took her arm more tightly before spinning on the spot. They appeared almost silently in the yard of the Burrow, and he was going to just leave her there to go inside herself, but she was still walking quite unsteadily.

They went up to the door and she knocked quietly before going in, not even waiting for an answer. He assumed that this was normal for her.

Inside was a kitchen and there was an older-looking woman bustling over the stove, waving her wand as sponges and suds moved across the surfaces of the room, cleaning everything off. She looked up as they entered and worry appeared immediately on her face. "Oh, give her hear, dear. I'll bring her to the guest room and she can sleep it off until the morning when the rest of the family gets here," she told Jason without even an inquiry of who he was and why he was with her granddaughter. At least, he was pretty sure that was their relationship.

She bustled up the stairs, helping Molly, and he waited awkwardly in the kitchen for her to come back. He wanted to make sure that Molly was okay. She was back within a few minutes and gave him a bone-crushing hug without even asking his name.

"Thank you for bringing her here, dear," she told him, patting his cheek.

"Your welcome Mrs. Weasley," he said, assuming that she and Molly shared a last name.

"Oh please, call me Molly, dear," she told him.

"Jason," he told her.

"Yes, are you her boyfriend?" she asked. He shook his head and she sighed. "I had hoped that she had somebody, that that was why she had stopped showing up for Sunday lunch with the family so often, but apparently not. She's been having a rough time lately."

Jason nodded politely. "I'm just a... friend," he said. "And I hope that it all gets better soon."

"Thank you. She needs more friends, you know."

"I know. And thank you for your hospitality," he said politely.

"Oh, it's nothing, dear, but I'm sure that you have family to see. It is Christmas Eve after all." Jason smiled as she rushed him out the door, knowing that it wasn't because she didn't want him there, but because she needed to tend to Molly. He wished that his grandmother was still around.

Okay, how was it? Tell me the truth, I can take it. But in order to do that you need to review, and I would love it if you did that. I would love it a lot. Like a dog getting my belly scratched. Okay, I'm obviously over-tired, so you can review in sympathy instead. *nudge nudge wink wink*

Next: Roxanne