The House Competition
Round 9 It all Ends Here
House: Hufflepuff
Class: DADA
Type: Standard
Theme: Fluff
Main Prompt: [Pairing] Arthur/Molly Weasley
Second Prompt: [Location] Honeydukes
2250 words
"Come on Arthur, keep up!" hollered Ben Filion. The scrawny thirteen-year-old was puffing as he tried to keep up with his friend.
"Hogsmeade isn't going anywhere," Arthur protested as he caught up
"Yea, but it's our first time. I want to get to Honeydukes before all the Exploding Bonbons are gone!" the other Gryffindor insisted.
The two boys trooped to the top of the hill and stared down out at the village. It was almost Halloween and the shop windows were outfitted with pumpkins and skeletons. The trees were adorned with orange and yellow leaves and the street below was filled with mingling Hogwarts' students eager to buy toys and sweets.
"Last one there's a rotten egg!" shouted Ben as he leaped into a run.
"Hey, wait up!" Arthur shouted as he jogged behind him.
The two boys ran until they skidded to a stop in front of Honeydukes. Arthur could see his breath condensing in the cool air as he relaxed after the run. The door of the shop was slightly ajar to accommodate the flow of students and the two boys slid into the warm air of the shop.
"Ooh, Sugar Quills!" Ben exclaimed, his eyes going wide. In his excitement, it took him a while to realize that Arthur had frozen, his mouth slightly agape.
"Yo, Arthur, what's up?" he asked.
"Nothing," Arthur insisted as his friend started to fill his arms with Skeletal Sweets.
"Uh, huh," Ben teased, "it definitely isn't Molly Prewett and her friends over there in the corner then?"
"What? No! I'm just looking for some –"
Ben cut off Arthur's lie with a firm shove, "Just go talk to her."
"I can't!" Arthur protested, "She's with her friends. It's like they travel in packs."
"Coward," Ben accused, although there was jest and no bite behind it, "watch this."
Ben walked up to a black haired Ravenclaw browsing the Ice Mice at the edge of Molly's group.
"Would you like to grab a Butterbeer with me, my beauty?" he asked, sweeping into an overly dramatic bow. The girl giggled and accepted his arm as he linked it in hers. Ben winked at Arthur on their way out of the shop; all thoughts of Exploding Bonbons were forgotten.
Left alone, Arthur tried to pluck up the courage to approach the rest of the group.
Molly Prewett and a group of friends had left the castle early, catching one of the first carriages down the village. This had given them time to purchase some novelties at Zonko's joke shop and wander the town enjoying the scenery. After lunch at the Three Broomsticks, the group had found their way to Honeydukes for some dessert.
Molly was perusing some Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans when Arthur Weasley walked into the store. She was pretty sure she had correctly determined which ones were safe to eat herself and which she could ever-so-innocently slip into her brother's stash when Velma, a first-year Ravenclaw who had taken to hanging around her friend group elbowed her in the ribs.
"I think he's looking at you," she whispered. The rest of Molly's friends, all gathered close around, heard and smiled knowingly. Molly's face turned bright red.
"Arthur and Molly sitting in a tree. K. I. S. –" teased a fifth-year girl before being silenced by Molly's glare.
Their good-hearted teasing was interrupted by the arrival of Ben Filion, who the girls knew to be a cheeky third-year that often played class clown in school. He approached Velma and dropped into an exaggerated bow, holding his arm in front of his chest. Velma broke into a burst of giggles as he led her away arm in arm. The group's attention refocused on Arthur who was clearly procrastinating across the store as he tried to look at a chocolate frog display, but kept shooting not-so-subtle glances at the group.
Molly cast an unsubtle glance of her own. Arthur was sort of cute in an awkward self-aware kind of way. She decided to take charge of the situation.
"Hey, everybody go and look busy. Give me a bit of space." The other girls shuffled and rotated so they were looking at a variety of sweets and novelties on the surrounding shelves. Molly casually took a step or so away, pretending to examine a display of Pepper Imps. It took about 30 seconds for Arthur to approach her.
"Uh, hi," he started, his voice rising as if asking a question.
"Hi!" Molly responded, trying to assuage his nervousness by injecting some enthusiasm into the conversation.
"Do you, erm, do you want to go to the Three Broomsticks with me?" he asked, seemingly mimicking his friend's strategy. Molly decided he was definitely sort of cute when he blushed.
"I'd love to. Should we go now?" she responded, gesturing to the door. Arthur nodded and off they went.
It was midmorning and the lunch crowd hadn't arrived yet. Arthur felt much less nervous in the less crowded setting and led Molly to a table. He pondered how to start the conversation.
"So, do you have any siblings?" he tried.
"Two brothers, Fabian and Gideon. They're twin Gryffindor 7th years. What about you?" Molly replied.
"I have two brothers too, they both got Prefect positions. Makes it a little intimidating to be honest," Arthur admitted.
Molly laughed, "I don't think my brothers were ever in the running to be prefects. They're very clever, but they get into a lot of trouble." She looked around and then lowered her voice, "Actually, they've found a bunch of passageways out of the castle, and they've told me about a few."
The conversation drifted into the various pranks and antics Molly and her brothers had gotten up to and how Arthur felt compelled to follow his older brothers first into a prefect position, and later into a high-powered career at the ministry but secretly wanted a lower-key life. By mid-afternoon the two realized they were hungry and ordered some fish and chips to go with their Butterbeer.
Arthur fumbled in his robes and drew out a bright yellow rubber duck, he pushed it across the table to Molly.
"I want to give this to you. My brother gave it to me before the Grindylow lesson this year. If you float it on water it will let out a quack when there are any dangerous magical creatures nearby."
"Oh, thank you. It's really cute," Molly replied.
Arthur blushed again, "There's a picture in Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles of one that Muggles make. The Muggle ones don't detect magical creatures, of course. I'm not actually sure what they do…" Arthur realized he was babbling and trailed off.
"Do you like Muggle Studies?" Molly asked, to fill the silence. Arthur's face broke into a wide smile,
"Yes! It's just so interesting how many ways they have to do things without magic. Have you ever heard about elevators?"
This led to an extended conversation on different Muggle inventions. Molly couldn't pretend to share Arthur's enthusiasm for all things Muggle, but she did enjoy how his face lit up and he started gesticulating enthusiastically whenever he described a new Muggle solution. They continued to talk late into the afternoon when Molly noticed the pub had emptied and orange rays of sunset were starting to fall through the windows.
"Oh," Molly noted, "We'll miss the carriages back to the castle."
Arthur looked panicked, "McGonagall will kill us – let's try to catch the last carriages."
The two children ran through the streets of Hogsmeade to the meeting place of the carriages. They arrived just in time to see the silhouette of the final carriage disappear in the distance. Arthur leaned over, pressing his elbows against his knees and tried to catch his breath,
"So what do we do now?"
Molly knitted her hands behind her head and looked at him, "Promise you won't tell anyone, but I think I know another way into the castle.
The two walked back into Honeydukes, trying to look casual in a store that was now mostly empty of students. Molly pointed Arthur to a thick wooden door.
"That leads to the cellar," she whispered, "I'll create a distraction and you run down there. I'll follow you."
Arthur nodded and pretended to be engrossed in comparing flavors of jelly slugs. Molly approached the shopkeeper standing by the till and put on her best innocent student voice,
"Ma'am, I'm very sorry. I can't find my way back to where the Hogwarts carriages are. Could you maybe point us in the right direction?"
Arthur tried to creep towards the wooden door. The shopkeeper, perhaps exhausted from a day of children milling through the shop, narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"They're that way," she pointed, "now hurry along."
"Of course," Molly said with a smile and turned as if to leave the shop.
"And you too," the shopkeeper said, gaze snapping to Arthur.
Arthur did not have to respond because Molly took that moment to let something drop from her robes.
"Oh no!" she cried. Arthur wondered if he was imagining the laughter hiding just underneath the serious façade. "That's a skipping stink bomb, we'll be skipping all night if we breathe in too much. Best open the windows."
Molly darted for the window closest to the door. Arthur took the cover of the smoke emerging from the stink bomb to yank the door open. The shopkeeper's expression was apoplectic, but she was doubled over in a fit of coughing and had begun to skip merrily as if to inaudible music. The two children took the chance to disappear.
In the basement, Molly pushed aside some boxes and revealed a trap door that she pushed open.
"Come on, it's safe," she reassured. Arthur dropped down and was relieved to find it wasn't a very long drop. Molly followed.
"Did you see her face," she was openly laughing now, "I'm so glad I went to Zonko's this morning."
"Do you – well do you do that kind of thing often?" Arthur asked as they moved up a staircase and along a tunnel.
"Not all the time," Molly reassured him, "but it's helpful to know how to create a little bit of chaos when you're the only girl and have two brothers. Usually, I'm the one controlling the chaos before Mum comes home though."
They reached a long slide. Molly pondered it for a moment.
"Ah, Fabian only explained how to go from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, not the other way around. Let me think."
"I have an idea. We learned about a couple helpful spells in charms," Arthur offered. He stepped onto the bottom of the slide and drew his wand, "Viscosus." His feet stuck to the uneven ground as if held by glue. "Elevatus," he added, pointing his wand at the slide and the ground began to inch upwards, carrying him with it. Molly repeated the same incantations and began to rise as well. After several minutes the slide dumped them unceremoniously at the top and Molly demonstrated how to open and climb out of the statue hiding the passageway.
"That was fun," Arthur said smiling despite the rough landing. He checked his watch, "it's not after curfew yet, I think we can just walk to Gryffindor tower. Care to walk with me?"
Molly nodded and they began to head for the tower.
"You know," she said, "that was a really great day. Maybe we can explore the town a little bit more together next Hogsmeade weekend?
"I'd like that," Arthur affirmed.
55 years later
Arthur Weasley arrived at the front of Honeydukes carrying a bag filled with trinkets and toys.
"George had a great idea taking over the old Zonko's property. It looks like the new Wizarding Wheezes location is doing quite the business."
Molly pulled out an extendable ear from the top of the bag.
"Oh, I used to hate when the kids used these. They'd run straight into trouble, the lot of them."
Arthur planted a kiss on her cheek, "Well, they have children of their own now. It's our privilege as grandparents to stock the little ones up with the toys that used to drive us crazy."
Molly laughed, "Is it time to stock up on treats, then?" she asked.
Inside Honeydukes Molly grabbed the biggest basket they had.
"12 grandchildren!" she gushed to the shopkeeper, a younger and much more pleasant woman than the one they had unleashed a skipping stink bomb on years ago, "I have to make sure they aren't going hungry."
And so they filled the basket with Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, toffee, fudge, Pixie Puffs, Pumpkin Pasties, and all manners of other novelties until it was overflowing and Arthur had to reach a hand out to steady the oscillating pile of sweets.
They paid for their haul and left, this time through the front door rather than the basement passageway. As the sunset on the village they gazed at each other.
"Remember the first time here?" Arthur asked.
Molly pulled a Skipping Stink Bomb out of the toy bag and held it up, "Of course. That's why I asked you to get this one for George's kids. Revenge for every time we got a letter from McGonagall about their antics. I thought we would run out of howlers"
Molly and Arthur walked together to their room in the Three Broomsticks, eagerly awaiting visiting their grandchildren at the castle the next morning.