Molly spent most of her time with Arthur now. This wasn't much different than before but her girlfriends saw much less of her now. She wasn't quite sure what to say to them. This made classes very awkward. The only place she really felt comfortable was Transfigurations. In Dumbledore's class she knew she was safe.

One afternoon in late November, however, she found her self neither in class or in the company of Arthur. She was walking down the chilly corridor with her friend Sophie Clearwater.

Neither of them were saying much, but this had been the norm with Molly lately and Sophie wanted to know why. She spun around suddenly and stopped directly in front of Molly. "Okay, what is it?"

"What is what?" Molly stopped startled.

"Something's going on with you."

"Nothing's going. . ."

"Oh stuff it, Molly. You usually never shut up. I haven't heard a word out of you in weeks, months even."

Molly looked at her friend. Sophie had never given away any of her secrets before but she had never had to tell her anything this important. Arthur could be a bit smothering with his protection and Dumbledore was more and more busy with that Phoenix thing-a-ma-whazit. She had to have someone else to talk to.

"Well?" Sophie looked at her.

"Okay, I'll tell you but we can't talk here." The two girls ran out of the castle and out onto the grounds where they met with a cold blast of wind. Winter was coming but they had yet to see the first snow.

"Let's go in here where it's warmer," Sophie pulled Molly into the empty number one greenhouse.

Molly looked around. There were a mixture of magical and ordinary muggle house plants surrounding them. She walked over to a single beautiful pure white flower, "I thought these only bloomed in the spring."

"Molly, we're not here to look at the lilies. Tell me what's going on."

Molly took a deep breath, "I told you that Arthur came to visit me over the summer."

"Yeah, go on."

"Well, he kissed me and. . ."

"You didn't!"

"We did, and now I'm. . ."

"You're not!"

"I am actually." Molly bit her lip.

"My best friend, Molly O'Grady is going to be a Mummy."

Molly nodded.

"Well you look great. I never would have guessed."

"Well, even without my robes being enchanted I'm not really showing at all yet."

"You got your robes magicked so nobody could see your tummy grow!?" Sophie's eyes widened.

"Yeah, Dumbledore did it so we wouldn't be found out and expelled. He's the only one who knows except for Arthur and you."

"Molly this is unbelievable!"

"You can't tell a soul."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Sophie was true to her word but no one was paying attention to Molly anyway. Everyone was too excited about the up coming Yule Ball. Last years Ball had been the first time Arthur had asked Molly out. In the spirit of not doing anything out of the ordinary they would be going together again this year.

"What are you going to wear?" Sophie asked Molly one evening after supper in the Gryffindor common room.

"Come on I'll show you." The two girls went up the spiral staircase to the third year girls dormitory. Molly opened her trunk and pulled out the cornflower blue dress robes.

"Wow it's beautiful."

"You think so?"

"Oh yeah," Sophie nodded excitedly.

"My mum made it for me last summer." Molly suddenly looked sad.

"Oh Molly, your mum will come around. She's gonna have a grandchild after all."

"She probably won't even see the baby. I'm giving it up remember."

Sophie wasn't sure what to say. She looked down at the dress robes again and changed the subject, "I wish I could go to the Yule Ball."

Molly smiled again, "Don't worry. We'll find an upperclassman to ask you."

A friend of Arthur's, Spence Desmond, asked her the next day.