A/N: A short and simple songfic to the song 'Buses and Trains' by Bachelor Girl. It's a nice little song and I was singing it today when I thought I'd jot this down. It is a one-shot, so don't shoot me if you see any errors or spelling mistakes.
It all belongs to JK, of course. You know it does.
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Hey Mom
Why didn't you tell me?
Why didn't you teach me a thing or two?
You just let me go
Out into the world
You never thought to share what you knew
Ginny Weasley stomped through the kitchen entrance of her house, slammed the door shut and screamed. Then she proceeded to stomp through the kitchen, into the hallway and was just about to stomp up the stairs when someone put their hand on her arm and was holding her back. She turned around to glare at whoever was there, to tell them to leave her alone, but once she saw her mother's worried look all anger abated and she sighed.
"What's the matter, love?" her mother said, still holding on to her arm. "Are you quite all right?"
Ginny snorted. This woman had carried her for nine months, given birth to her and now she had acted as her mother for seventeen years, and she had to ask if she was all right?
"Yes mum, I'm perfectly fine," she said and made as if to go upstairs. But her mum hadn't raised seven kids for nothing, and instead of letting her go started directing her towards the kitchen.
"Come here, sweetie. Sit down and I'll make you a cup of tea and then you can tell me all about it."
Ginny rolled her eyes. Make tea. That was her mother's solution for everything. If you had an upset stomach she made tea. If you had just lost a game of chess to your obnoxious older brother and you were angry because you were sure he had cheated, she made tea. If she wanted to talk to you about anything or anyone she made tea. Of course, Ginny had never been big on telling her mother about her innermost feelings. Especially not the ones that were bothering now. In fact she had been quite sure those very feelings were long gone, and that they had been replaced by something else as time had passed by. But of course, Ginny thought dryly, if you had the charms and the irresistibility of Harry Potter you were bound to fall again. And again. And again. There was really no way past it.
And I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I wanna do it again
Molly put a mug of steaming tea in front of her daughter and sat down on the other side of the kitchen table. Something was bothering her daughter, and although she had a policy not to pry into her children's personal lives the way Ginny had expressed her feelings was a sure way for Molly to know a little interference might be just the thing.
"So what is the matter?" she said and stirred the milk in her tea.
Ginny didn't look as if she wanted to answer, instead she looked around carefully, obviously trying to act as if this was the most normal thing in the world, but Molly knew the Look.
"I just saw Ron and Hermione go outside," she said as if it was the most normal thing to say. "Fred and George are in the backyard pouring over their cauldrons, and when I went by to see what it was they were doing I was told to stay away 'for my own best'. I swear those two will injure themselves horribly some day." She didn't sound too worried, though. She knew her boys, and she also knew they knew what they were doing… most of the time.
"And Charlie just left with your father, as did Bill. They were going to London on some Ministry business or the other. They never bothered to fill me in, which I suppose is just as good. I think Bill and Charlie needed some alone time with your father. George let slip something about a girl, and well… both boys turned quite red so I decided not to interfere." Molly kept talking, but looked at Ginny occasionally. Was this helping at all?
"And Harry," Molly said at last, adding him without a thought to the long list of her children, "Harry is…" Then she looked dubious for a moment. Where was Harry? Had he gone with Ron and Hermione? Probably not. They had been giving off that 'we want to be alone' air as they left, and Harry would see it as sure as anyone. He was their best friend after all. So where was Harry?
"Harry is outside," Ginny said suddenly, and Molly looked up at her daughter. "He said he needed to go for a walk." She snorted again, and suddenly Molly realised that this might be where Ginny's anger came from. Harry. Amazed at herself for not seeing the connection before Molly looked at Ginny, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said.
"And why does Harry need to go for a walk?" she asked carefully, keeping her voice smooth and normal. She poured some more tea and waited for Ginny to answer. It was amazing what tea could make people say.
Hey Mom
Why didn't you warn me?
Cause about boys there's something I should have known
They're like chocolate cake
Like cigarettes
I know they're bad for me - but I just can't leave them alone
Her mother was thinking about something big, of that Ginny was certain. You could see it clearly from the way she was furrowing her eyebrows. She always did that when she was deep in thought, although she probably wasn't aware of it herself. Ginny wondered what her mother was so caught up in, but decided not care, and instead she tried to keep the conversation flowing by answering her question. But what could she say? 'You see mum, Harry and I had a bit of a fight, and then he declared he needed some time to think the great bloody prat.' No, she couldn't say that. After all her mother knew nothing about her and Harry. Not that there was much of an 'her and Harry' to talk about.
"He was… upset… about something," she said slowly, choosing her words with care.
"Oh," her mother replied. "And why was he upset?" She seemed to have come out of her reverie now and her full attention on her daughter.
Ginny sipped her tea while thinking about what to say next.
"He… umm… he had a bit of a row with someone. And it made him a little angry, and so he needed to cool down before being faced with this someone again." There. That wasn't too bad. Maybe a little too obvious, but her mum had been known to overlook the clearest of hints even when they were a lot less subtle than this.
"Oh, but that is not good," Molly replied and looked a little worried.
Ginny shrugged. "I guess not. But it is all his fault anyway." She gasped when she heard the words that came out of her mouth. She had not meant to say that. Not meant to say that at all! But her mother did not seem to have noticed the major miss Ginny had done, because she looked even more worried.
"What did he do? I hope it was nothing bad."
Ginny snorted again, and her mother raised her eyebrows, causing her to blush. Maybe she wasn't as far off as she had thought. What if she had guessed? Oh no, then what could she do?
I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
And it feels so good
I wanna do it again
Molly had no idea exactly what had caused Harry to run off, nor exactly what Ginny had said that had made him upset enough to do so. Because she was sure it was something Ginny had done. But instead of letting of what she suspected she continued to play ignorant.
"Well, dear, why didn't you try and stop him, then?" she said carefully, and Ginny turned red at the ears. Molly smiled to herself. They had inherited that from their father, all of the children. And it was a sure sign that something was up if you knew what to look for. Molly herself had learned quickly what the red ears meant, and she passed the knowledge on to every new member of the family. But of course, most of them had figured it out already. In fact it had been Penelope who had told Hermione about the red ears. But Hermione knew. And she had known all along. No wonder, really. She was the exceptionally clever, after all, and you didn't spend seven years with someone without noticing a few things about them. It really was too much of a giveaway, and if you knew how to use it properly it could clearly come to your advantage.
And now Ginny's ears were red, and Molly felt herself growing curious. And Ginny could probably tell, but as she was already way into the second cup of tea it seemed as if she would actually open up a little.
"Mum, you probably don't know this but…" This time not only her ears went red, but her neck and face were glowing too. Molly kept a straight face.
"Know what, dear?"
"Umm… it's about Harry and me. We… we have a sort of… oh don't get mad, mum… but we sort of have a relationship now."
Her daughter looked intently at the table and Molly's heart started to beat faster. She had had her suspicions of course, but that it had actually happened. When had her little girl managed to grow up like this?
"Well," said Molly matter of factly. "If you two have a relationship then why didn't you stop him from going away? Even if it was your fault that he was mad, and I'm not saying it was, then why didn't you stop him?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Because he told me not to follow him. He said 'Ginny, please don't follow me.' How much clearer could he have been?" She groaned. "Should I have followed him?"
Molly smiled softly. "Well, dear, I don't know Harry as well as you do, but I do know that he has never liked to be on his own. I also know that boys in general find it hard to repay love. Most boys run away when confronted with feelings they don't know how to handle, and we all know that Harry was never one to talk about, or express, love."
Ginny stared out of the window for a while and then sighed. "Mum, how come you never told me any of this before?"
Molly looked at her daughter. "Told you what? About Harry?"
"No. About, you know… boys and stuff. You must have learned something through the years."
Molly laughed. "To tell you the truth, dear, I never realised until now that you might be interested."
Hey Mom since we're talking
What was it like when you were young?
Has the world changed?
Or is it the same?
Had she never realised that she was interested? Of course, she knew her mother was old, and that she and her dad had been married for ages, but it wasn't like their marriage was arranged or anything! They would have had to fall in love. And she figured her mother would know love when she saw it. Maybe the way people fell in love had changed since then. Ginny shook her head. No, it was probably the aforementioned fact that her mother was partially blind to anything interesting that went on.
"But mum… I… argh, never mind. I can't believe you never noticed, though. Well, so much for that I suppose."
"Ginny, you should try and talk to him," her mother said, and Ginny nodded sagely. "I guess."
"And if he wants to go off for a while, then let him. But also make it very clear that you will still be there when he returns."
"But…"
"He will return, love. They always do."
Just then the door slid open carefully, and Harry's head came sticking through. He looked worried and uneasy, and when he saw Ginny he smiled carefully.
"Excuse me, Ginny. I just wanted to know if I could talk to you."
Ginny's heart leapt into her throat and she smiled. "Of course. I'll be right there." She drained her cup of tea, then, before she went outside walked to the other side of the table and gave her mother a hug.
"Thank you. And I'll let you know how it goes." Then she took a deep breath, flattened her robes and went outside.
And I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I wanna do it again
Molly watched her daughter go with a pang of sadness. Of course she was happy that Ginny had finally found someone to love, who would love her back. But there was always something sad about seeing your children grow up, and Ginny had always been her baby.
"Well, she is no longer a baby and that's all there is to that," she said to herself and got up. Then she started filling the sink while thoughts of her children went through her head. As she set the needed spell for cleaning the dishes she started to sing, and by the time the dishes were cleaned, the dinner ready and the table set Molly felt that she was considerably lighter at heart. Her daughter had talked to her. She had let her in on her most private thoughts, and Molly knew from experience just how had that could be.
She called them in for supper, and as they sat down to eat Molly noticed Ginny and Harry sitting considerably closer than they normally did. Molly sent her daughter a brief smile which Ginny returned. Molly sighed happily. It had been a good day.