Chapter 10-In which Molly becomes even more of a problem than usual
As Harry slipped into the corridor of the main family wing, he saw Molly approaching the nursery from the stairs. Anticipating her, he through a quick locking charm on his son's door to prevent her noisy entrance.
"Molly!" he called. "Stop!"
Molly looked up from where she was now tugging on the door handle. "Why is this door locked, Harry? I want to tuck my grandson in. I just know he's missing his mother, and I'm the next best thing. I can just imagine him sobbing in there."
Worse than he thought, then.
"Molly," Harry said, gently but firmly removing her hands from the door and turning her back toward the family stairs. "Jamie is sleeping. I put him down myself at his bedtime at 7. It's nearly 8 now, and he won't be up until morning. I have a monitoring charm on his cot, and Rissa keeps a sharp eye as well. He's fine." And he definitely doesn't need overprotective grandmothers pounding down his door while he's sleeping, Harry added silently.
"But, Harry, I just know-"
He cut her off. "Molly, I know my son. And I understand you just lost your daughter. But that does not give you the right to come into my home unannounced to disrupt my son's nightly routine. It's past his bedtime. We're fine. Shall I call Arthur for you?" Harry ruthlessly kept Molly moving toward the stairs, taking her elbow and helping her to move down them back to the family parlor and its handy Floo.
"Harry James Potter, if you think I'm going to stand for you keeping me from my grandson-"
"Molly Prewitt Weasley, if you think I'm going to let you ride roughshod over my household and do what you please with it, you need to think again. Ah, Arthur." Harry, still calm and firm, greeted Arthur at the bottom of the stairs. "Come to disrupt Jamie's bedtime, as well?"
"No, Harry, sorry. She'd worked herself into a state and was gone before I could stop her," Arthur said. "I apologize. Mollywobbles, we talked about this. You can't come to Potter House and do as you please. Ginny didn't like it when you tried, and I'm sure Harry doesn't."
Nonplussed, Molly stopped pulling against Harry, and tears shone as she looked at her husband. "But he needs me."
Harry set his jaw and handed Molly off to Arthur. "Molly, we love you. And we value you and your contribution to our life. But I would personally appreciate it, very much, if you would allow me to ask for help when I need it. And I would also appreciate it, very much, if you would Floo-call or send word before you march over here. I will not tolerate this kind of interruption again, and I may lock you out of the Floo if you try it. I don't want to, but I will." Six months of the same argument-this was by no means the first time Molly had popped in unannounced, and it had driven Ginny spare-had left Harry with very little patience for Molly's neediness. "You have several other grandchildren who need attention, too."
As tears rolled down Molly's face, Arthur drew her firmly into his arms. "You know he's well within his rights, Molly darling. I don't want you to lose the chance to be a part of Jamie's life simply because you can't learn how to respect the boundaries at Potter House."
"He's all I have left of Ginny!" Molly wailed as she turned into her husband, who raised a hand to the back of her head, keeping her tucked into his shoulder. Harry stepped forward and gently ran a hand along her back. Between the two men, Molly's sobs began to settle.
They said nothing as Molly regained control of herself. When she lifted her head from Arthur's shoulder, Harry stepped back. She took a deep, shaky breath. "I apologize, Harry dear, for interrupting your evening and nearly disrupting Jamie's routine."
"Thank you, Molly," Harry said, accepting the apology. "If you'd like, we can arrange a visit tomorrow so that you can see him. I know he brings you comfort right now."
She took another of those deep, shaky breaths. "I'd like that very much."
"Shall we say lunch and a visit?" he asked.
"Would you like to come to the Burrow for lunch?" Molly asked. "Charlie is home, of course, and he rarely gets to see you or Jamie."
A concession he could make, certainly. And lunch at the Burrow was never a real hardship. "That sounds lovely. We'll come over at noon and spend a few hours."
"Wonderful!" Arthur said heartily. "That's it settled, then. Come, Molly-me-love, let's get you home for a cuppa. Good night, Harry."
"Good night, Arthur. Molly. See you tomorrow."
The couple left via the Floo, and Harry quickly and silently blocked it for all visitors for the rest of the evening as Rissa popped back in. "Young Master Jamie is still sleeping well, Master Harry, and Mister Prince is waiting in your private sitting room."
"Thank you, Rissa. Can you please pop up a bottle of single-malt and glasses? Your choice."
"Of course, Master Harry."
Rissa popped out, and Harry headed back up the stairs to his suite, hesitating at the door, feeling the stress of grief and family ready to overwhelm him. Was he ready to handle a relationship on top of all of this?
And then the door opened, and he saw Severus, waiting for him, reclining on the leather sofa in his Evan Prince glamour, eyes closed. Harry thought, perhaps, with Severus, he could handle just about anything.
However, he did decide, in that moment, that Molly Weasley, much as he loved the woman, now had a new nickname, at least in his head:
Molly Weasley, cockblocker.
He snickered, and the small, happy sound caught Severus' attention. Severus opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow, before asking, "Is all well?"
Harry moved into the room, picking Severus' feet up off the sofa to seat himself, placing the feet back into his lap. "Moderately. Arthur took Molly home. Tears, grief. I love her, I do, but she does have a tendency to want to smother family, and I had to nip that in the bud now. Or I'd never have a moment's peace."
"She's always been fiercely protective of family, especially once her brothers were killed," Severus noted. "I wish I could say I was surprised that she showed up here tonight."
"Molly has a dreadful habit of just dropping in and trying to take over with the grandchildren. Fleur and Bill have blocked their Floo. I told her tonight I'd do the same if she couldn't bring herself to make arrangements in advance to visit. Then she broke down over Ginny, and I offered to bring Jamie over for lunch and a visit tomorrow at the Burrow. Charlie's home. It'll be good to see him."
Severus felt a mild stab of jealousy. "Single, unattached, gay Charlie Weasley?"
Harry raised an eyebrow of his own. "Jealousy. Interesting. Bond side-effect? Because I now consider myself neither single nor unattached. And there never has been that kind of interest between Charlie and myself. Though now that you mention it, Molly might have something like that in mind."
Cheered a bit by the notion that neither Severus nor Harry were single or unattached, Severus sat up, moving his feet to the floor and scooting in to take Harry into his arms. "It might be a bond side-effect," Severus admitted. "But I like being assured that we, neither of us, are not single any longer."
"We're bonded, Severus," Harry said softly, looking up and into his eyes.
"We are. And we decided to be partners, did we not?" The low, deep purr of Severus' voice made Harry shudder again.
"You did that on purpose," Harry noted amiably, letting the rush of sensation fill him with the sound of his partner's voice.
"Slytherin …" Severus noted. He dropped his glamours and looked into Harry's eyes with his own. "And now that I know you like it …."
"Oh, Merlin," Harry said, and their lips met again, and the deep sensation of rightness as their tongues met filled him even as Severus brought them both back down, prone, with Harry on top this time. Their bodies met at hips and chest as Severus drew his hands down Harry's back. Harry framed Severus' face with his own hands, stroking his cheekbones, before devouring his mouth.