Fly Her Away
It was November. Seventh Year wasn't going so well for Mister Arthur Weasley. Not studying had gotten him past six years of Hogwarts, and he just slipped by with a minimum passing grade in his O.W.L's. His and Molly's test scores were among the lowest ever given in Hogwart's History. He didn't need grades. He was going to become an Auror. He was planning to leave school soon, anyway.
"You're going to drop out?" Molly asked him.
"I don't see what the point is." Arthur said. "I mean you don't need school to become an Auror."
"You'd be surprised."
"I don't need seven years of Hogwarts to become an Auror." He said decidedly. "I mean I've passed six out of seven, that must count for something. Right?"
"Would you be angry if I dropped out of Hogwart's during my Seventh Year?" Molly asked.
"Are you kidding, Molly?" Arthur asked her, standing up. "You're brilliant! I will not allow you to leave school!"
"I'm failing, Arthur."
"Your mind is so bright, Molly. Your way of thinking is so much higher then these, these, baboons!" Arthur said passionately. "Don't you see, Molly?"
Molly smirked.
"Don't you smirk at me, young lady!" Arthur said. "I know you meant to use that reverse psychology crap on me. Well, it's not going to work. I'm dropping out of Hogwart's."
Molly smiled.
"Don't forget to write, then." Molly said.
"What?" Arthur exclaimed. "You're not going to stop me? You're not even going to argue with me?"
"If it makes you happy." She said. "Then, by all means, go. Go and be free, Arthur."
"Molly!" Arthur said.
"Yes?"
"How can you just let me go, when you know, that it'll just leave you alone again and you'll be sad?"
"Because." said Molly. "I've not right to stop you."
"That's right." Arthur said.
"You're contradicting yourself." Molly said.
"I am not!"
"Of course." Molly nodded.
Arthur was silent for a moment.
"What would you do, if someone told you, that they loved you, Molly Elaine Eloise?"
Molly looked surprised for a minute. "Arthur." she said quietly. "I thought we went over this. No one, ever, would say that to me. Who would love a poor, stupid little orphan?"
He saw her fight back the tears and felt an enormous pride swell inside of him. She was fighting for herself. She was fighting for her own tears to stay within her eyes. She was fighting. By God, what a thing he had done!
Molly stood up, letting the tears spill over.
"Molly." Arthur said quietly, smiling. "I love you."
Molly looked infuriated. She tried to push him away, but he grabbed her small little wrists before she could get the chance. For a few seconds, they just stood there, Arthur, extremely confused and Molly, bearing unimaginable greif.
"No you don't!" she shrieked. "You can't! Stop it, Arthur! This is a horrible joke! A horrible terrible joke! It's all a lie, don't you see?"
"Molly, I'm serious." Arthur said.
"Like the time you told me that you'd never hurt me?" Molly asked him, with a cold tone.
Arthur fell mute for a few moments, knowing that he had no excuse for it.
"Don't you understand, Molly?" He said.
"No." she whispered. "No, I don't." She took her hands away. "I don't understand why people have to fall in love just so they can get their hearts broken. I don't understand why people lay their heart down before another, knowing full and well it's bound to get crushed sooner or later. I don't understand why I had to fall in love."
"My Molly." Arthur said. "I want you to marry me."
Molly looked utterly shocked and horrified that this, boy, standing before her had asked her to marry him. She turned around, and ran into the school.
~-~-~-
He couldn't stop thinking about her. Until he got her response, he couldn't leave this cursed school. Seth sat beside him, arm around Mai Cho. Jerry Chang glared daggers at him across the room, as he had his eye on Mai.
"Mister Weasley." Dumbledore said. "Will you please tell us all what the formula for a tesseract charm is?"
"I don't know, sir." Arthur said.
The bell rang for the class change.
"Please stay after class, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore said.
Arthur watched his classmates file out of the room. He sighed and walked to the front of the room, towards Dumbledore's desk.
"You seem, distracted, Mister Weasley." He said. "You've not been studying, and your last year at Hogwart's is the most important."
"I don't intend to finish my Seventh Year." Arthur said.
"I see." Dumbledore nodded. "So why are you still here?"
"Beg pardon, sir?"
"What's stopping you from getting on your broomstick and flying away from this place? Nothing's in your way. There's obviously something holding you back."
"I proposed to her." Arthur shouted, suddenly at a loss for self-control. "And she just looked at me, sir! I spilled my heart out to her and she just looks at me! My God, I love her with all my heart. All I want is to be with her for the rest of my life, sir. Is that so wrong? Is it?"
Dumbledore was silent for a few seconds. "No, Mister Weasley. No, it is not wrong, but rather the nature of the human heart. No one can blame you."
"What should I do, sir?" Arthur asked.
"Fly her away, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore smiled. "Fly her away."
~-~-~-
He found her sitting in the Great Hall, staring at the table. Her hair wasn't as stringy as before, but he didn't notice. He needed to talk to her. He needed to --- what was it that crazy man had said? Oh, yes, "Fly her away."
"Molly!" He said, grabbing her wrist and hoisting her up.
"Arthur." She said in surprise
"I need to know." He said. "I need to know if you love me back. If you don't, then I'll just go. I'll be out of your life forever. So, just tell me, Molly."
"Arthur, I can't." She said, her voice trembling. "Don't you see?"
Arthur was silent, blinded by his anger, not at Molly, but at himself. He let her wrist go and shrugged.
"I guess I do." He said. "Listen to me, Molly. I'm not going to beg you for your love. I can't promise that you'll never get hurt. I can't even promise you a nice house. I know, that with my education, the best I could possibly get is a small flat in the country on some rich man's land."
Molly was silent.
"Who am I kidding?" Arthur asked her. "You don't want me, a poor little peasant. Girls only liked me because I was rich off of my parent's money. I don't want their money anymore, Molly. I understand, now. I can't give you anything but poverty and a fool's love."
Arthur shrugged and walked away, out of the great hall.
~-~-~-
Molly lay on her bed and wept bitterly. Why didn't she say yes? The only thing she wanted was to be Arthur's wife. To love him and have him love her. She was a fool! A damned fool! How could she be so naive?
"Molly?" Lily said, coming in the room. "Molly what's wrong?"
Molly sat up and wiped her eyes.
"Nothing. I've just thrown away the chance to marry the love of my life." Molly sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Kiss him." Lily said, smiling. "That always works with James."
"Lily, dear." Molly laughed. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, whenever James is upset or angry, I kiss him on the cheek. He turns red as a cinnamon Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean and is suddenly at a loss for words." Lily said. "It comes in handy, you know."
~-~-~-
Arthur sat in the Quidditch Pitch, blankly watching his broom float before him. He had cast a levitation spell on it and just stared at it. If he left school now, then what would he be working for? What would he have to come home to at night? He knew, for a fact, he would never find anyone like Molly. He knew, he would grow old lonely and wonder where she was.
"Arthur?"
"What do you want?" Arthur said, not turning his head. "What do you want from a peasant and a fool, Molly?"
Molly came and sat beside him on the damp grass.
"You're not a fool, Arthur. You're not a peasant, either. Don't say that." Molly said.
Arthur didn't respond, knowing it was pointless to bring up the subject of marriage to her. Molly smiled at him and stood him. She looked at his broom.
"I don't understand the point of Quidditch." She said. "You fly around and fall down once or twice. You get bloodied up real good. What is it for? If you've won, that's good for you. But then what, Arthur?"
Arthur watched Molly sit delicately down on the broom.
"I'll give these broomsticks one thing, though." She said. "They make very comfortable seats."
That crazy old man! Arthur suddenly thought. What was it that he said, again? Dumbledore, what did he say? 'Fly her away...' Arthur smiled.
"Crazy old coot." He muttered.
"What was that?" Molly asked wispily.
"Ever ride on a broomstick, Molly dearest?"
"Arthur, wha--"
He didn't even wait for a response. Wordlessly, he jumped on the broom behind her and kicked off, hard, from the damp ground. The broom, although it was an old model, sped upwards, towards the full moon in the sky. He felt Molly against his chest and felt her excited fear.
"What in God's name are you doing Arthur Weasley?" She shrieked into the wind.
"Isn't it obvious, Molly dear?" Arthur said, feeling her beautiful hair in his face. "I'm flying you away."
"Arthur!" Molly shrieked as he flew through the Quidditch hoop.
He reached his hands forward to clasp over hers. Her small body seemed to tense up as he did so.
"Trust me, Molly Elaine Eloise." He said.
She seemed to relax after he said this. Her nervous shaking seemed to stop and he could feel her laughing in front of him. What a beautiful laugh, he thought. What a beautiful name. What a beautiful girl.
"Arthur." Molly said. "I take it back."
"What?"
"I want to marry you, Arthur Weasley!" She said happily. "I want to marry you!"
Shock hit him suddenly. It was a sudden smack in the heart for him, as if his heart had just been awakened from its mourning state. He lost all control of his hands and they sped downwards towards the ground. He tried to pull up from the ground and he thought he managed to. The very top of his broomstick caught the ground and the two of them toppled off of the broomstick and back onto the wet ground.
The two of them lay there, next to each other, laughing and panting. Arthur felt so exhilarated. He rolled over and looked at Molly, with her eyes closed and a laughing expression on her face.
"Do you mean it, Molly Elaine Eloise?" He asked her. "Do you want to marry a peasant and a fool who can only promise you a blind love and a small house?"
Molly smiled sheepishly and turned to kiss him on the lips. And, out of all the girls Arthur Weasley had kissed, this was the only one that meant anything to him. And he had a feeling that it would be the only one that ever meant anything to him.
Ever.
~-~-~-
Molly came back to the Girl's Dormitory around midnight, in a natural euphoria of love. She hummed a lovely love song that she had heard on the muggle radio that summer. As she clicked on the light, she found most of the girls awake, either doing last minute homework or painting their fingernails or, like most, exchanging chewy bits of gossip. Molly took her scarf off lay it neatly in her trunk over her dress robes. She took a look at her ring finger, smiling. Since Arthur hadn't a proper engagement ring, he had given her the Hogwart's Insignia ring, only given to Seventh Year Quidditch Captains. It was extremely rare and valuable and only four were made every year. The little lion engraved on it seemed to sparkle at her.
"What's that, Molly?" Lily said, looking at it with an eager curiosity.
"Oh, it's nothing." Molly said, keenly aware of the girls listening in on the conversation.
"Isn't that the Gryffindor Insignia ring? Only given to the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor? Only given to none other then Arthur Weasley who everyone knows has his eye on you?" Dana Creevey asked.
"Maybe." Molly said, trying hard to keep her voice from shaking.
"You know, you can tell me if he proposed to you." Dana whispered in Molly's ear. "I plan to be a single mother."
"Why would you want to do that?" Molly asked.
"Don't you know?" Dana asked. "Men always get in the way of raising a child. They don't know anything at all!"
"Oh." was all Molly said.
"I hope that my son doesn't want to be one of those annoying photography people, always cameras in your face." Dana cringed. "They're so annoying. But, I guess, I would love him, even if he did turn out like that."
"Molly." Lily said. "Are you going to marry Arthur?"
The whole dormitory was staring at her now. She felt her cheeks flush a slight pink as she fiddled with the ring around her finger.
"Yes." She said, quietly at first. "Yes! And I don't give a damn what any of you think of it!"
~-~-~-
"Professor Dumbledore?" Arthur said.
Dumbledore looked up from the stack of essays he had graded and towards the clock sitting on his desk. He looked at Arthur disapprovingly.
"It's midnight, Mister Weasley. I could very well give you a month's worth of detention for being out this late."
"I know, sir."
"Is something troubling you, Mister Weasley?"
"Well, sir, weren't you the Guardian of the Elopers at one point?"
The old man paused before answering. "Yes, I was." Dumbledore said, leaning back. "I wed runaway couples, before. During my first year I worked as Caretaker at Hogwart's. How did you get this information?"
"Please, sir." Arthur said, slamming his hands down on Dumbledore's desk. "I need to get married to Molly."
"You do know if I am caught I could be fired from my job? The consequences will be great for me and for you." He said gravely.
Arthur said nothing.
"But," Dumbledore said, putting his hand on Arthur's. "I believe that in this particular case, I can make an exception."
"Really?" Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you, sir!"
"Yes, yes." Dumbledore smiled. "I believe that great things will come from you and Molly Eloise."
"And I believe, Professor Dumbledore, that one day, you will be a great Headmaster of Hogwart's."
"No one likes a teacher's pet, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore smiled. "Now get to bed."
"Yes, sir."
Long after Arthur had gone, Dumbledore stopped grading papers and opened the hidden compartment in his desk. Within it, he kept a picture of every child to come from the couples he had wed. Little did he know that, eventually, the drawer would contain seven little redheads. He smiled and closed the drawer.
"Headmaster Dumbledore." He said, smiling. "I like it."
~-~-~-
There was a knock at the Girls' Dormitory door. It was one in the morning, and all of the girls (with the exception of Molly) were still awake, continuing to gossip. Lily was sitting beside Molly's bed, asking her a million questions of love. Molly, on the other hand, was half asleep, trying to answer the best she could. Little Lily fascinated her, with her bright green eyes and beautiful soft hair. She knew how to apply make up like an expert, even though she was only twelve years old. Did all muggle born girls know how to do their make up before they were twelve?
"Who's there?" the girl closest to the door asked.
"Arthur. I need to see Molly."
"Oh, hello Arthur." the girl said, getting up. "I'm afraid she's asleep at the moment. Would you like me to wake her?"
"If you would." Arthur said, feeling suddenly guilty about waking Molly.
The girl walked over the velvet carpet to where Molly and Lily were.
"Molly, dear." the girl said. "Arthur Weasley's here to --"
Molly threw the covers off of her bed and ran half way across the dormitory towards the door, tripping over several magazines and girl's bodies, laid lazily across the floor. When she reached Arthur, she felt flushed.
"Arthur." She said.
"Molly, I'm sorry." He said. "For waking you up, I mean."
"No, no, it's alright." Molly said.
Arthur was suddenly aware of the herd of girls in the Dormitory. They all had stopped what they were doing and were listening intently to their conversation. Molly stepped out of the Dormitory and into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
"Is something wrong?" She asked him.
"Of course not." He smiled. "I just talked to Dumbledore."
"Yes?"
"And he said, that he would marry us. He used to be the 'Guardian of Elopers', did you know?"
"Arthur, that's wonderful!" Molly cried, throwing her arms around him. "Oh, but, Arthur ... "
"What? What's wrong?"
"I've no wedding dress. I've nothing nice to wear except a ratty pair of periwinkle dress robes that are too big."
"Molly dearest." Arthur laughed.
"And my hair." Molly started to tear. "It's so ugly and stringy. Oh, Arthur, I must be the most ugly bride in the history of the universe! And, oh Arthur!"
"Calm down, Molly." Arthur chuckled. "Your beautiful. No shampoo or ratty pair of dress robes is going to change that, Love."
"Are you sure?" Molly asked him, smiling.
He leaned down to kiss her on the fore head.
"I hope that's a yes, Mister Weasley."
~-~-~-
Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Arthur Weasley. Mrs. Elaine Eloise Weasley. It was all Molly could think, prior to her wedding. They were to be wed on December 5th. They were to be wed at the stroke of midnight. There was something about that date that made Molly think of snowflakes and hope. Well, that was until December 4th. On December 4th, the day before her wedding, all Molly could think about was what a horrible bride she would make.
"Molly, relax." Dana said. "It's Saturday. Tomorrow's your wedding. Just relax."
"Relax?" Molly's voice squeaked. "I can't possibly relax, you fool!"
"Tell you what, Molly." Dana said, shining her prefect badge on her robes. "I'll give you the password to the Prefect's bath. You go and get all nice and clean. Then, little Lily here will do your make up."
Molly barely heard what Dana said. She seemed more interested in her shaking hands.
"Relax, Molly." Lily said. "It'll be just fine."
"Just fine." Molly smiled, looking at her green-eyed companion. "You're right, Lily. It'll all be just fine."
~-~-~-
Arthur lay on his bed, his trunk all packed. He had been rehearsing the entire wedding in his head. Married at seventeen! It seemed so impossible when he was sixteen, that just a year later, he would be a married man. What in God's name had possessed him to ask Molly to marry him? And, right away, he knew that answer. People do crazy things when they're in love. It was a proven scientific fact. He turned his head and saw James Potter staring at him, his round glasses falling down on his nose.
"Are you really going to get married?" He asked him, wide eyed.
"I guess I am." Arthur said, knowing that all of the boys in the dormitory were listening.
"Well, then." James said timidly. "I need to ask you something about women. I'm having, well, difficulties."
"Women problems?" Arthur chuckled.
"This is very serious, Arthur." James said. "Lily must be the single most annoying little girl on this planet."
"So?" Arthur said, sitting up. "Don't you have other little friends you can go and get into trouble with?"
"Of course I do." James said. "I've got Peter and Sirius and Remus. I've lots of friends."
"Well, surely, you could do without Lily for a while." Arthur said.
"Yes, but--" James paused. "She's so weird."
"Is weird a bad thing?"
"No!" James exclaimed. "I like weird people. Normal people are so boring, Arthur."
"Hey!" Seth called, plopping down on Arthur's bed. "Scoot, little James Potter. Arthur and I have big boy things to talk about."
James shuffled quickly away, where Peter Pettigrew joined him. "Look, at my new rat, James!"
Arthur swung his legs over the side of the bed and looked at his friend, lying on his bed, looking quite comfortable.
"I tell ya'!" Seth said. "They come up with the craziest rumors!"
"Oh, they do?"
"There's this one, going around about you and Lolly--"
"Molly." Arthur corrected.
"Right, right. Molly." Seth waved it off. "Well, they say that the two of you are going to go eloping --- tonight!"
"And?" Arthur said.
"And? God, Arthur, your reputation just flew out the window and into a pile of manure! This stupid rumor's got to be stopped if you want to save your social status!"
"Who said it was a rumor?"
Seth blinked. "What? Arthur Weasley, you're going to get married to the outcast? You're getting married to that ugly little--"
"Careful." Arthur said. "I might feel like breaking your nose again."
"Hey, sorry, Arthur." Seth said. "But, don't you think it'll be a bit of a loss to be available to all of those round curly girls still out there for you to snog and leave?"
"I'm sure," Arthur said. "that you would enjoy torturing those poor, clueless girls, Seth."
"What's the matter with you?" Seth asked. "It's like you've grown up all of the sudden!" Seth shook his head. "Whatever, Arthur."
As Seth get off of Arthur's bed, grabbed his own broom and walked out of the door (his springy step now slow and unsure) Arthur felt a sudden guilt. But, why should he be guilty? Because he couldn't be that immature little boyfriend that everyone knew and loved? Because he knew he could give his devoted love to one girl and one girl alone for the rest of his days without ever seeing another girl, as attractive as Molly for the rest of his life? He smiled as he thought of his beautiful bride. He glanced at the clock. 9:36 It seemed so impossible that in only a few hours, he would be married to the girl of his dreams.
It all seemed like a dream.
~-~-~-
"Lollipop." Molly said to the tapestry concealing the Prefect's bath. The tapestry rolled itself up and revealed a heavy wooden door that swung open slowly. Molly clutched her bath things and stepped inside.
The water was warm. She tried to relax. She washed her hair with Lily's shampoo. She lathered it over and over and over until her skin started to prune. She drained the tub and put on her school robes. She didn't feel like brushing her hair at that place and time, so she tied it up in a messy ponytail.
"Your hair smells wonderful," said Lily, as she removed the ponytail, later in the common room. "You must've actually followed the directions."
Lily started the process of brushing the tangled locks of Molly's hair. Molly's hair hung loose just below her shoulders when it was tangled and not brushed.
"Surprisingly," Lily commented. "Your hair isn't getting tangled."
"My hair is going to fall out, isn't it?" Molly moaned. "I'm going to be ugly and horrid looking. I'm a failure as a bride!"
"Oh, Molly!" Lily said, putting down the hairbrush and handing her a mirror. "Arthur's going to drop dead when he sees you."
Molly sighed and looked in the mirror. The face was the same, the same pale face with the cheeks bones poking from beneath the skin. The eyes were the same, those ugly misted blue eyes that she hated so much. The freckles were still sprayed across the bridge of her nose (Arthur didn't have freckles! she thought. Why should they BOTH have red hair, and HE not have freckles?) But, the beautiful hair framing her face was not her own, she knew. It was some other girl's with a high spirit. It was long and soft and beautiful red hair. Not at all her stringy thin, short hair that she woke up to every morning.
She took her quivering hand and touched the hair that now lay on her head.
"Oh, my." she managed to stutter. "Lily, I can't believe this! Wow!"
"Oh, I know." Lily sighed. "If only I could get my sister, Petunia, to try some. She's so terribly thin and scornful. She's got stringy hair just like yours used to be. But she just hates me, Molly! I didn't even do anything to her. Well, except be born, but I don't think that's my fault entirely."
"No, Lily." Molly sighed, looking at the girl in the mirror thoughtfully. "It's not your fault at all."
~-~-~-~-
He took her hand.
Molly's hand was pleasantly warm and it shook with an excited fear. A fear of the unknown. A fear of the life ahead of her that was shrouded in a mystery not even God himself could make clear. A fear of living with this man that stood in front of her for the rest of her life. A fear of believing. A fear of letting herself be a fool and love for all it was worth. A fear of putting her heart on a chopping board and hoping and praying and believing that the hand that came down would cherish her heart rather then beating it. A fear of taking this man's last name and giving hers.
"I am afraid." She admitted, almost guiltily.
"It's okay." Arthur said, smiling gently.
"Are you?"
"Molly." He sighed. "I'm terrified out of mind right now."
Arthur had almost dropped dead when he saw Molly. Her periwinkle robes were still ratty, her scrawny figure hidden within them. Her hair was full and wavy and well, beautiful. But the thing that blew Arthur Weasley away was the look of fear that flooded her unsure, pale face. He smiled.
Dumbledore smiled at the two.
Both of them, unsure of the future, oblivious to the past and only living in the future, stepped into a new territory.
~-~-~-~
Platform 9 and 3/4 seemed like such a lonely place to be two days after their wedding. Arthur had officially resigned from school and had already applied to a job. He smiled at the girl that stood before him.
"I'm going to miss you Arthur." She said.
"I know you will, My Molly." He said. "But you wouldn't want to come home from school and find we've nowhere to live."
"Right." Molly smiled.
Arthur took her hand and kissed it just before he walked down the platform and through the brick wall to the muggle world. Molly stood there for a long time staring at where he had gone through, as if he might come back any second now and take her with him. She shook her head and half laughed.
"Goodbye, Arthur." she said. "Goodbye."
It was November. Seventh Year wasn't going so well for Mister Arthur Weasley. Not studying had gotten him past six years of Hogwarts, and he just slipped by with a minimum passing grade in his O.W.L's. His and Molly's test scores were among the lowest ever given in Hogwart's History. He didn't need grades. He was going to become an Auror. He was planning to leave school soon, anyway.
"You're going to drop out?" Molly asked him.
"I don't see what the point is." Arthur said. "I mean you don't need school to become an Auror."
"You'd be surprised."
"I don't need seven years of Hogwarts to become an Auror." He said decidedly. "I mean I've passed six out of seven, that must count for something. Right?"
"Would you be angry if I dropped out of Hogwart's during my Seventh Year?" Molly asked.
"Are you kidding, Molly?" Arthur asked her, standing up. "You're brilliant! I will not allow you to leave school!"
"I'm failing, Arthur."
"Your mind is so bright, Molly. Your way of thinking is so much higher then these, these, baboons!" Arthur said passionately. "Don't you see, Molly?"
Molly smirked.
"Don't you smirk at me, young lady!" Arthur said. "I know you meant to use that reverse psychology crap on me. Well, it's not going to work. I'm dropping out of Hogwart's."
Molly smiled.
"Don't forget to write, then." Molly said.
"What?" Arthur exclaimed. "You're not going to stop me? You're not even going to argue with me?"
"If it makes you happy." She said. "Then, by all means, go. Go and be free, Arthur."
"Molly!" Arthur said.
"Yes?"
"How can you just let me go, when you know, that it'll just leave you alone again and you'll be sad?"
"Because." said Molly. "I've not right to stop you."
"That's right." Arthur said.
"You're contradicting yourself." Molly said.
"I am not!"
"Of course." Molly nodded.
Arthur was silent for a moment.
"What would you do, if someone told you, that they loved you, Molly Elaine Eloise?"
Molly looked surprised for a minute. "Arthur." she said quietly. "I thought we went over this. No one, ever, would say that to me. Who would love a poor, stupid little orphan?"
He saw her fight back the tears and felt an enormous pride swell inside of him. She was fighting for herself. She was fighting for her own tears to stay within her eyes. She was fighting. By God, what a thing he had done!
Molly stood up, letting the tears spill over.
"Molly." Arthur said quietly, smiling. "I love you."
Molly looked infuriated. She tried to push him away, but he grabbed her small little wrists before she could get the chance. For a few seconds, they just stood there, Arthur, extremely confused and Molly, bearing unimaginable greif.
"No you don't!" she shrieked. "You can't! Stop it, Arthur! This is a horrible joke! A horrible terrible joke! It's all a lie, don't you see?"
"Molly, I'm serious." Arthur said.
"Like the time you told me that you'd never hurt me?" Molly asked him, with a cold tone.
Arthur fell mute for a few moments, knowing that he had no excuse for it.
"Don't you understand, Molly?" He said.
"No." she whispered. "No, I don't." She took her hands away. "I don't understand why people have to fall in love just so they can get their hearts broken. I don't understand why people lay their heart down before another, knowing full and well it's bound to get crushed sooner or later. I don't understand why I had to fall in love."
"My Molly." Arthur said. "I want you to marry me."
Molly looked utterly shocked and horrified that this, boy, standing before her had asked her to marry him. She turned around, and ran into the school.
~-~-~-
He couldn't stop thinking about her. Until he got her response, he couldn't leave this cursed school. Seth sat beside him, arm around Mai Cho. Jerry Chang glared daggers at him across the room, as he had his eye on Mai.
"Mister Weasley." Dumbledore said. "Will you please tell us all what the formula for a tesseract charm is?"
"I don't know, sir." Arthur said.
The bell rang for the class change.
"Please stay after class, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore said.
Arthur watched his classmates file out of the room. He sighed and walked to the front of the room, towards Dumbledore's desk.
"You seem, distracted, Mister Weasley." He said. "You've not been studying, and your last year at Hogwart's is the most important."
"I don't intend to finish my Seventh Year." Arthur said.
"I see." Dumbledore nodded. "So why are you still here?"
"Beg pardon, sir?"
"What's stopping you from getting on your broomstick and flying away from this place? Nothing's in your way. There's obviously something holding you back."
"I proposed to her." Arthur shouted, suddenly at a loss for self-control. "And she just looked at me, sir! I spilled my heart out to her and she just looks at me! My God, I love her with all my heart. All I want is to be with her for the rest of my life, sir. Is that so wrong? Is it?"
Dumbledore was silent for a few seconds. "No, Mister Weasley. No, it is not wrong, but rather the nature of the human heart. No one can blame you."
"What should I do, sir?" Arthur asked.
"Fly her away, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore smiled. "Fly her away."
~-~-~-
He found her sitting in the Great Hall, staring at the table. Her hair wasn't as stringy as before, but he didn't notice. He needed to talk to her. He needed to --- what was it that crazy man had said? Oh, yes, "Fly her away."
"Molly!" He said, grabbing her wrist and hoisting her up.
"Arthur." She said in surprise
"I need to know." He said. "I need to know if you love me back. If you don't, then I'll just go. I'll be out of your life forever. So, just tell me, Molly."
"Arthur, I can't." She said, her voice trembling. "Don't you see?"
Arthur was silent, blinded by his anger, not at Molly, but at himself. He let her wrist go and shrugged.
"I guess I do." He said. "Listen to me, Molly. I'm not going to beg you for your love. I can't promise that you'll never get hurt. I can't even promise you a nice house. I know, that with my education, the best I could possibly get is a small flat in the country on some rich man's land."
Molly was silent.
"Who am I kidding?" Arthur asked her. "You don't want me, a poor little peasant. Girls only liked me because I was rich off of my parent's money. I don't want their money anymore, Molly. I understand, now. I can't give you anything but poverty and a fool's love."
Arthur shrugged and walked away, out of the great hall.
~-~-~-
Molly lay on her bed and wept bitterly. Why didn't she say yes? The only thing she wanted was to be Arthur's wife. To love him and have him love her. She was a fool! A damned fool! How could she be so naive?
"Molly?" Lily said, coming in the room. "Molly what's wrong?"
Molly sat up and wiped her eyes.
"Nothing. I've just thrown away the chance to marry the love of my life." Molly sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Kiss him." Lily said, smiling. "That always works with James."
"Lily, dear." Molly laughed. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, whenever James is upset or angry, I kiss him on the cheek. He turns red as a cinnamon Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean and is suddenly at a loss for words." Lily said. "It comes in handy, you know."
~-~-~-
Arthur sat in the Quidditch Pitch, blankly watching his broom float before him. He had cast a levitation spell on it and just stared at it. If he left school now, then what would he be working for? What would he have to come home to at night? He knew, for a fact, he would never find anyone like Molly. He knew, he would grow old lonely and wonder where she was.
"Arthur?"
"What do you want?" Arthur said, not turning his head. "What do you want from a peasant and a fool, Molly?"
Molly came and sat beside him on the damp grass.
"You're not a fool, Arthur. You're not a peasant, either. Don't say that." Molly said.
Arthur didn't respond, knowing it was pointless to bring up the subject of marriage to her. Molly smiled at him and stood him. She looked at his broom.
"I don't understand the point of Quidditch." She said. "You fly around and fall down once or twice. You get bloodied up real good. What is it for? If you've won, that's good for you. But then what, Arthur?"
Arthur watched Molly sit delicately down on the broom.
"I'll give these broomsticks one thing, though." She said. "They make very comfortable seats."
That crazy old man! Arthur suddenly thought. What was it that he said, again? Dumbledore, what did he say? 'Fly her away...' Arthur smiled.
"Crazy old coot." He muttered.
"What was that?" Molly asked wispily.
"Ever ride on a broomstick, Molly dearest?"
"Arthur, wha--"
He didn't even wait for a response. Wordlessly, he jumped on the broom behind her and kicked off, hard, from the damp ground. The broom, although it was an old model, sped upwards, towards the full moon in the sky. He felt Molly against his chest and felt her excited fear.
"What in God's name are you doing Arthur Weasley?" She shrieked into the wind.
"Isn't it obvious, Molly dear?" Arthur said, feeling her beautiful hair in his face. "I'm flying you away."
"Arthur!" Molly shrieked as he flew through the Quidditch hoop.
He reached his hands forward to clasp over hers. Her small body seemed to tense up as he did so.
"Trust me, Molly Elaine Eloise." He said.
She seemed to relax after he said this. Her nervous shaking seemed to stop and he could feel her laughing in front of him. What a beautiful laugh, he thought. What a beautiful name. What a beautiful girl.
"Arthur." Molly said. "I take it back."
"What?"
"I want to marry you, Arthur Weasley!" She said happily. "I want to marry you!"
Shock hit him suddenly. It was a sudden smack in the heart for him, as if his heart had just been awakened from its mourning state. He lost all control of his hands and they sped downwards towards the ground. He tried to pull up from the ground and he thought he managed to. The very top of his broomstick caught the ground and the two of them toppled off of the broomstick and back onto the wet ground.
The two of them lay there, next to each other, laughing and panting. Arthur felt so exhilarated. He rolled over and looked at Molly, with her eyes closed and a laughing expression on her face.
"Do you mean it, Molly Elaine Eloise?" He asked her. "Do you want to marry a peasant and a fool who can only promise you a blind love and a small house?"
Molly smiled sheepishly and turned to kiss him on the lips. And, out of all the girls Arthur Weasley had kissed, this was the only one that meant anything to him. And he had a feeling that it would be the only one that ever meant anything to him.
Ever.
~-~-~-
Molly came back to the Girl's Dormitory around midnight, in a natural euphoria of love. She hummed a lovely love song that she had heard on the muggle radio that summer. As she clicked on the light, she found most of the girls awake, either doing last minute homework or painting their fingernails or, like most, exchanging chewy bits of gossip. Molly took her scarf off lay it neatly in her trunk over her dress robes. She took a look at her ring finger, smiling. Since Arthur hadn't a proper engagement ring, he had given her the Hogwart's Insignia ring, only given to Seventh Year Quidditch Captains. It was extremely rare and valuable and only four were made every year. The little lion engraved on it seemed to sparkle at her.
"What's that, Molly?" Lily said, looking at it with an eager curiosity.
"Oh, it's nothing." Molly said, keenly aware of the girls listening in on the conversation.
"Isn't that the Gryffindor Insignia ring? Only given to the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor? Only given to none other then Arthur Weasley who everyone knows has his eye on you?" Dana Creevey asked.
"Maybe." Molly said, trying hard to keep her voice from shaking.
"You know, you can tell me if he proposed to you." Dana whispered in Molly's ear. "I plan to be a single mother."
"Why would you want to do that?" Molly asked.
"Don't you know?" Dana asked. "Men always get in the way of raising a child. They don't know anything at all!"
"Oh." was all Molly said.
"I hope that my son doesn't want to be one of those annoying photography people, always cameras in your face." Dana cringed. "They're so annoying. But, I guess, I would love him, even if he did turn out like that."
"Molly." Lily said. "Are you going to marry Arthur?"
The whole dormitory was staring at her now. She felt her cheeks flush a slight pink as she fiddled with the ring around her finger.
"Yes." She said, quietly at first. "Yes! And I don't give a damn what any of you think of it!"
~-~-~-
"Professor Dumbledore?" Arthur said.
Dumbledore looked up from the stack of essays he had graded and towards the clock sitting on his desk. He looked at Arthur disapprovingly.
"It's midnight, Mister Weasley. I could very well give you a month's worth of detention for being out this late."
"I know, sir."
"Is something troubling you, Mister Weasley?"
"Well, sir, weren't you the Guardian of the Elopers at one point?"
The old man paused before answering. "Yes, I was." Dumbledore said, leaning back. "I wed runaway couples, before. During my first year I worked as Caretaker at Hogwart's. How did you get this information?"
"Please, sir." Arthur said, slamming his hands down on Dumbledore's desk. "I need to get married to Molly."
"You do know if I am caught I could be fired from my job? The consequences will be great for me and for you." He said gravely.
Arthur said nothing.
"But," Dumbledore said, putting his hand on Arthur's. "I believe that in this particular case, I can make an exception."
"Really?" Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you, sir!"
"Yes, yes." Dumbledore smiled. "I believe that great things will come from you and Molly Eloise."
"And I believe, Professor Dumbledore, that one day, you will be a great Headmaster of Hogwart's."
"No one likes a teacher's pet, Mister Weasley." Dumbledore smiled. "Now get to bed."
"Yes, sir."
Long after Arthur had gone, Dumbledore stopped grading papers and opened the hidden compartment in his desk. Within it, he kept a picture of every child to come from the couples he had wed. Little did he know that, eventually, the drawer would contain seven little redheads. He smiled and closed the drawer.
"Headmaster Dumbledore." He said, smiling. "I like it."
~-~-~-
There was a knock at the Girls' Dormitory door. It was one in the morning, and all of the girls (with the exception of Molly) were still awake, continuing to gossip. Lily was sitting beside Molly's bed, asking her a million questions of love. Molly, on the other hand, was half asleep, trying to answer the best she could. Little Lily fascinated her, with her bright green eyes and beautiful soft hair. She knew how to apply make up like an expert, even though she was only twelve years old. Did all muggle born girls know how to do their make up before they were twelve?
"Who's there?" the girl closest to the door asked.
"Arthur. I need to see Molly."
"Oh, hello Arthur." the girl said, getting up. "I'm afraid she's asleep at the moment. Would you like me to wake her?"
"If you would." Arthur said, feeling suddenly guilty about waking Molly.
The girl walked over the velvet carpet to where Molly and Lily were.
"Molly, dear." the girl said. "Arthur Weasley's here to --"
Molly threw the covers off of her bed and ran half way across the dormitory towards the door, tripping over several magazines and girl's bodies, laid lazily across the floor. When she reached Arthur, she felt flushed.
"Arthur." She said.
"Molly, I'm sorry." He said. "For waking you up, I mean."
"No, no, it's alright." Molly said.
Arthur was suddenly aware of the herd of girls in the Dormitory. They all had stopped what they were doing and were listening intently to their conversation. Molly stepped out of the Dormitory and into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
"Is something wrong?" She asked him.
"Of course not." He smiled. "I just talked to Dumbledore."
"Yes?"
"And he said, that he would marry us. He used to be the 'Guardian of Elopers', did you know?"
"Arthur, that's wonderful!" Molly cried, throwing her arms around him. "Oh, but, Arthur ... "
"What? What's wrong?"
"I've no wedding dress. I've nothing nice to wear except a ratty pair of periwinkle dress robes that are too big."
"Molly dearest." Arthur laughed.
"And my hair." Molly started to tear. "It's so ugly and stringy. Oh, Arthur, I must be the most ugly bride in the history of the universe! And, oh Arthur!"
"Calm down, Molly." Arthur chuckled. "Your beautiful. No shampoo or ratty pair of dress robes is going to change that, Love."
"Are you sure?" Molly asked him, smiling.
He leaned down to kiss her on the fore head.
"I hope that's a yes, Mister Weasley."
~-~-~-
Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Arthur Weasley. Mrs. Elaine Eloise Weasley. It was all Molly could think, prior to her wedding. They were to be wed on December 5th. They were to be wed at the stroke of midnight. There was something about that date that made Molly think of snowflakes and hope. Well, that was until December 4th. On December 4th, the day before her wedding, all Molly could think about was what a horrible bride she would make.
"Molly, relax." Dana said. "It's Saturday. Tomorrow's your wedding. Just relax."
"Relax?" Molly's voice squeaked. "I can't possibly relax, you fool!"
"Tell you what, Molly." Dana said, shining her prefect badge on her robes. "I'll give you the password to the Prefect's bath. You go and get all nice and clean. Then, little Lily here will do your make up."
Molly barely heard what Dana said. She seemed more interested in her shaking hands.
"Relax, Molly." Lily said. "It'll be just fine."
"Just fine." Molly smiled, looking at her green-eyed companion. "You're right, Lily. It'll all be just fine."
~-~-~-
Arthur lay on his bed, his trunk all packed. He had been rehearsing the entire wedding in his head. Married at seventeen! It seemed so impossible when he was sixteen, that just a year later, he would be a married man. What in God's name had possessed him to ask Molly to marry him? And, right away, he knew that answer. People do crazy things when they're in love. It was a proven scientific fact. He turned his head and saw James Potter staring at him, his round glasses falling down on his nose.
"Are you really going to get married?" He asked him, wide eyed.
"I guess I am." Arthur said, knowing that all of the boys in the dormitory were listening.
"Well, then." James said timidly. "I need to ask you something about women. I'm having, well, difficulties."
"Women problems?" Arthur chuckled.
"This is very serious, Arthur." James said. "Lily must be the single most annoying little girl on this planet."
"So?" Arthur said, sitting up. "Don't you have other little friends you can go and get into trouble with?"
"Of course I do." James said. "I've got Peter and Sirius and Remus. I've lots of friends."
"Well, surely, you could do without Lily for a while." Arthur said.
"Yes, but--" James paused. "She's so weird."
"Is weird a bad thing?"
"No!" James exclaimed. "I like weird people. Normal people are so boring, Arthur."
"Hey!" Seth called, plopping down on Arthur's bed. "Scoot, little James Potter. Arthur and I have big boy things to talk about."
James shuffled quickly away, where Peter Pettigrew joined him. "Look, at my new rat, James!"
Arthur swung his legs over the side of the bed and looked at his friend, lying on his bed, looking quite comfortable.
"I tell ya'!" Seth said. "They come up with the craziest rumors!"
"Oh, they do?"
"There's this one, going around about you and Lolly--"
"Molly." Arthur corrected.
"Right, right. Molly." Seth waved it off. "Well, they say that the two of you are going to go eloping --- tonight!"
"And?" Arthur said.
"And? God, Arthur, your reputation just flew out the window and into a pile of manure! This stupid rumor's got to be stopped if you want to save your social status!"
"Who said it was a rumor?"
Seth blinked. "What? Arthur Weasley, you're going to get married to the outcast? You're getting married to that ugly little--"
"Careful." Arthur said. "I might feel like breaking your nose again."
"Hey, sorry, Arthur." Seth said. "But, don't you think it'll be a bit of a loss to be available to all of those round curly girls still out there for you to snog and leave?"
"I'm sure," Arthur said. "that you would enjoy torturing those poor, clueless girls, Seth."
"What's the matter with you?" Seth asked. "It's like you've grown up all of the sudden!" Seth shook his head. "Whatever, Arthur."
As Seth get off of Arthur's bed, grabbed his own broom and walked out of the door (his springy step now slow and unsure) Arthur felt a sudden guilt. But, why should he be guilty? Because he couldn't be that immature little boyfriend that everyone knew and loved? Because he knew he could give his devoted love to one girl and one girl alone for the rest of his days without ever seeing another girl, as attractive as Molly for the rest of his life? He smiled as he thought of his beautiful bride. He glanced at the clock. 9:36 It seemed so impossible that in only a few hours, he would be married to the girl of his dreams.
It all seemed like a dream.
~-~-~-
"Lollipop." Molly said to the tapestry concealing the Prefect's bath. The tapestry rolled itself up and revealed a heavy wooden door that swung open slowly. Molly clutched her bath things and stepped inside.
The water was warm. She tried to relax. She washed her hair with Lily's shampoo. She lathered it over and over and over until her skin started to prune. She drained the tub and put on her school robes. She didn't feel like brushing her hair at that place and time, so she tied it up in a messy ponytail.
"Your hair smells wonderful," said Lily, as she removed the ponytail, later in the common room. "You must've actually followed the directions."
Lily started the process of brushing the tangled locks of Molly's hair. Molly's hair hung loose just below her shoulders when it was tangled and not brushed.
"Surprisingly," Lily commented. "Your hair isn't getting tangled."
"My hair is going to fall out, isn't it?" Molly moaned. "I'm going to be ugly and horrid looking. I'm a failure as a bride!"
"Oh, Molly!" Lily said, putting down the hairbrush and handing her a mirror. "Arthur's going to drop dead when he sees you."
Molly sighed and looked in the mirror. The face was the same, the same pale face with the cheeks bones poking from beneath the skin. The eyes were the same, those ugly misted blue eyes that she hated so much. The freckles were still sprayed across the bridge of her nose (Arthur didn't have freckles! she thought. Why should they BOTH have red hair, and HE not have freckles?) But, the beautiful hair framing her face was not her own, she knew. It was some other girl's with a high spirit. It was long and soft and beautiful red hair. Not at all her stringy thin, short hair that she woke up to every morning.
She took her quivering hand and touched the hair that now lay on her head.
"Oh, my." she managed to stutter. "Lily, I can't believe this! Wow!"
"Oh, I know." Lily sighed. "If only I could get my sister, Petunia, to try some. She's so terribly thin and scornful. She's got stringy hair just like yours used to be. But she just hates me, Molly! I didn't even do anything to her. Well, except be born, but I don't think that's my fault entirely."
"No, Lily." Molly sighed, looking at the girl in the mirror thoughtfully. "It's not your fault at all."
~-~-~-~-
He took her hand.
Molly's hand was pleasantly warm and it shook with an excited fear. A fear of the unknown. A fear of the life ahead of her that was shrouded in a mystery not even God himself could make clear. A fear of living with this man that stood in front of her for the rest of her life. A fear of believing. A fear of letting herself be a fool and love for all it was worth. A fear of putting her heart on a chopping board and hoping and praying and believing that the hand that came down would cherish her heart rather then beating it. A fear of taking this man's last name and giving hers.
"I am afraid." She admitted, almost guiltily.
"It's okay." Arthur said, smiling gently.
"Are you?"
"Molly." He sighed. "I'm terrified out of mind right now."
Arthur had almost dropped dead when he saw Molly. Her periwinkle robes were still ratty, her scrawny figure hidden within them. Her hair was full and wavy and well, beautiful. But the thing that blew Arthur Weasley away was the look of fear that flooded her unsure, pale face. He smiled.
Dumbledore smiled at the two.
Both of them, unsure of the future, oblivious to the past and only living in the future, stepped into a new territory.
~-~-~-~
Platform 9 and 3/4 seemed like such a lonely place to be two days after their wedding. Arthur had officially resigned from school and had already applied to a job. He smiled at the girl that stood before him.
"I'm going to miss you Arthur." She said.
"I know you will, My Molly." He said. "But you wouldn't want to come home from school and find we've nowhere to live."
"Right." Molly smiled.
Arthur took her hand and kissed it just before he walked down the platform and through the brick wall to the muggle world. Molly stood there for a long time staring at where he had gone through, as if he might come back any second now and take her with him. She shook her head and half laughed.
"Goodbye, Arthur." she said. "Goodbye."