Ron was skulking in the corridor, just out of sight of where his mother sat
in front of Ginny's door. He wanted desperately to find out what was going
on, but his mother had confiscated the only extendable ear he had had, and
as it was he didn't even dare move within her range. Not unless he wanted
another lecture, and the last one had left him feeling all of six years
old. Grimacing, he leaned against the wall and waited, trying to ignore
the cramping of the muscles in his crippled leg.
He waited, staying in place even when his Mum left to talk with one of the nurses and then the black lady who'd snarled at him almost as much as Malfoy had got a phone call and hurried away. Truthfully, he wasn't sure at that point if he would be capable of moving. Yes, he thought bitterly, the great war hero Ron Weasley, can't sodding well walk down a hallway. He'd been desperately afraid, during the months of endless visits to medi- wizard after medi-wizard, that he'd lose Hermione, to his own snappishness and misery and belief that he didn't deserve her. She'd stayed, though, always by his side even when he tried to push her away.
Smiling despite the pain, he remembered the day when her temper had finally snapped, and she had literally thrown him onto the ground and sat on him. Her hands had been bunched in his shirt-front as she shook him and started shrieking in a way that boded ill for any of their future children unfortunate enough to merit a howler. There was absolutely no uncertainty to the terms in which he had been told that he had better belt up, or she would cut his legs off herself. Then she had proceeded to show him the benefits of a well-read girlfriend in ways that still made his pulse speed up when he thought of it.
His pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door closing, and then Harry letting out a breath somewhere between a sigh and a sob. Ron staggered as he tried to push away from the wall and walk towards his best friend, only to have his leg buckle. Fast as lightning, Harry was next to him, supporting Ron's weight on one shoulder while his arms went around Ron's waist to steady him.
"Thanks, mate," Ron said, forcing a wry grin. "I was afraid I'd have to sit out this dance."
Harry shook his head, giving Ron a lopsided smile. "Not while I'm around." They stood for a moment until Ron collected himself and nodded, letting Harry know he was ready to start walking. They made it to the small alcove that held a small table and a pair of vending machines, but more importantly, two chairs.
Ron collapsed into one and then gave his friend a shrewd look. "You look like hell."
"Whereas you're as beautiful as ever," Harry said, balling up a napkin and throwing it at him. Ron grinned and caught it, and they threw it back and forth a few times before Harry said, "It's over."
The look on Ron's face would have been comical in any other circumstances. "But... It can't, you... She loves you, she always has."
"Just not enough," said Harry bitterly. He clenched his jaw and Ron frowned before reaching out to put his hand on Harry's arm.
Stammering, Ron said, "Are you sure?" At Harry's nod, he sighed, then said, "I don't know... I just don't know what Ginny's thinking. Any girl who had you would be an idiot to give you up."
Harry's lips twisted and he turned his hand to clasp Ron's. "Thanks."
"Anytime, mate. You know I love you," Ron said, squeezing Harry's hand tightly. "The best brother I've got, even if your hair's the wrong color."
Molly didn't think that Ron noticed Harry's reaction. After all, with hindsight, Molly could see that she had ignored it for years. Still, something had made her stay quiet and observe their conversation, and she could finally acknowledge to herself the truth no one had allowed themselves to think of. What remained was to speak, for now was the time to interrupt, before things were changed irreparably. "Ron, Hermione called to remind you it's time for your leg exercises, so you need to get back to the inn."
Her son looked up at her with the smile that was always on his face when he thought about his wife and said, "All right, Mum." With a further grin and rolled eyes for Harry, he said, "I'd best be off, before she chases me down. Bloody mental, that girl."
Harry nodded at Ron's retreating back, then stared at the cheap veneer of the tabletop as if the answer to all his grief could be found in the fake wood grain pattern. Molly looked both ways to check for people watching, then cast a spell to glue him to his chair for a moment before finding the nurse in charge of the floor.
"I am the future mother-in-law of the owner of this hospital, and I need a private room in order to discuss something with a member of my family." The nurse stared at Molly for a moment and then sputtered. For the first time in her life, a superior smirk curved Molly's lips and she took great pleasure in saying, "I've already had one person sacked today, and I assure you it would be no trouble to do it again."
Watching the nurse scurrying away to arrange something, Molly grinned in satisfaction and wondered if this was the way Lucius Malfoy had felt all the time.
In short order, Molly was shown to a private room, having collected Harry on the way, and she spared one last thought for how quickly she could get used to wielding power over more than just her family before she turned to Harry and folded him into her arms.
He detached himself quickly, and she nodded, then cast a silencing charm over the room and locked the door. When he looked at her quizzically, she said, "Harry, dearest, you've been like one of my own children since your first year at Hogwarts."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, and Molly sighed.
"I've made so many mistakes..." She bit her lip, then gestured with her wand so that they would each have a comfortable chair. Harry sat down, eyeing her warily. "I've failed you, Harry, and I'm sorry for it."
When he would have demurred, she held up a hand, and he fell silent at seeing that familiar steel in her eyes. It had rarely been directed at him over the years, and when it had been, he had regretted it. "It's time to make it right, dear, and the first thing is, Harry, I want you to call me Mum. I've never asked before, because I was worried you'd think it presumptuous, or disrespectful of your own mother, but I should have, and it's past time for it."
"But... Mrs. Weasley, with Ginny, it's... It's over." Harry had looked at her for a moment in shock before he dropped his eyes to stare fiercely at the toes of his shoes.
"Harry, my precious boy," Molly said softly, raising his chin so he had no choice but to look into her eyes. "That doesn't matter."
"It matters to me," Harry said sulkily, pulling away from Molly's grip and folding his arms tightly over his chest. "I love her, and--"
"But you don't love her in the way that I love Arthur, or that Ron loves Hermione." Molly took a deep breath, and then found her courage failed her. Instead of what she'd been going to say, she continued, "If you had, nothing could have stopped you from marrying her years ago. I think... I think that if I hadn't been such a stubborn fool, I'd have accepted that years ago, would've seen..."
She trailed off, and Harry looked at her, open-mouthed. With a wry smile, she said, "I'm not making much sense, am I?"
"Did you know that I volunteered to take you in? Your father was a relative of mine, if a somewhat distant one. As soon as I heard about your parents, I went to Dumbledore and asked if I could bring you home." Harry shuddered as if he'd been dealt a blow, but Molly barely noticed, looking into the distance of memory. "I asked again every year on the anniversary of their death, and then once I'd met you, I asked so often that Dumbledore would practically leap into broom closets to avoid me."
Harry swallowed hard, trying not to think of what his life might have been like if he had grown up with a real family. "He- He had his reasons, as it turned out."
A nod was her only response, and they were silent a moment. Finally, Molly said, "I pushed you and Ginny together because that way I'd have a right to be your mother. It..." She trailed off again, wishing it wasn't such a struggle to find the right words. "She grew up hearing all about you. The boys would get bored and roll their eyes, but Ginny always wanted to hear about you. She'd make up stories where you would play together and then later she'd talk about how sad you always were, even when you seemed happy, and how she wished she could help you."
Bitterly, Harry said, "No one asked her to appoint herself my savior." He saw Molly's stricken look and flinched, but continued, "And now it's me who's left alone, because I loved her and she didn't love me."
Molly's lips pressed into a thin line. "She loved you, and she loves you still, just the same way you love her." Her voice softened as she finally delivered the necessary blow to his composure. "But it's not the way that lovers should feel about each other. It's not the same way that you love Ron."
With a gasp, Harry said, "Ron and Hermione belong together! I'd never--"
"I know." Molly's cheeks were damp as she looked at him with sorrow and understanding. "And I know that it hurts, darling."
His face twisted as he tried to rein in the emotions that he'd hidden from himself for so long, had tried to crush and destroy before they endangered everything in his world that he cared about. He bit his lip so hard that it bled, but it did no good. He could feel grief and pain and sorrow, regrets for what might have been and what never could be and what he had done, what Ginny had done, every mistake that had been made in the name of a misguided belief in what was the right thing to do. He dropped his chin to his chest in a last ditch attempt to control or at least conceal his emotions.
Molly, a mother for so long that she could barely remember being otherwise, stood by his chair and gathered him into her arms just as the first sob overwhelmed him. His arms wrapped around her and he held on as he cried, the sadness of a lifetime pouring out of him as he was rocked in the arms of the only mother he had ever known.
(Author's Note: The reason this update took so long is that Monki, evil wench that she is, pointed out something very important about Harry, and I fought it for a long time before finally giving in. The next update won't take anywhere near as long - the absolute latest I would post it would be Tuesday the ninth, since that's Annibug's birthday. In the meantime, please don't kill me, the D/G goodness is coming.)
He waited, staying in place even when his Mum left to talk with one of the nurses and then the black lady who'd snarled at him almost as much as Malfoy had got a phone call and hurried away. Truthfully, he wasn't sure at that point if he would be capable of moving. Yes, he thought bitterly, the great war hero Ron Weasley, can't sodding well walk down a hallway. He'd been desperately afraid, during the months of endless visits to medi- wizard after medi-wizard, that he'd lose Hermione, to his own snappishness and misery and belief that he didn't deserve her. She'd stayed, though, always by his side even when he tried to push her away.
Smiling despite the pain, he remembered the day when her temper had finally snapped, and she had literally thrown him onto the ground and sat on him. Her hands had been bunched in his shirt-front as she shook him and started shrieking in a way that boded ill for any of their future children unfortunate enough to merit a howler. There was absolutely no uncertainty to the terms in which he had been told that he had better belt up, or she would cut his legs off herself. Then she had proceeded to show him the benefits of a well-read girlfriend in ways that still made his pulse speed up when he thought of it.
His pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door closing, and then Harry letting out a breath somewhere between a sigh and a sob. Ron staggered as he tried to push away from the wall and walk towards his best friend, only to have his leg buckle. Fast as lightning, Harry was next to him, supporting Ron's weight on one shoulder while his arms went around Ron's waist to steady him.
"Thanks, mate," Ron said, forcing a wry grin. "I was afraid I'd have to sit out this dance."
Harry shook his head, giving Ron a lopsided smile. "Not while I'm around." They stood for a moment until Ron collected himself and nodded, letting Harry know he was ready to start walking. They made it to the small alcove that held a small table and a pair of vending machines, but more importantly, two chairs.
Ron collapsed into one and then gave his friend a shrewd look. "You look like hell."
"Whereas you're as beautiful as ever," Harry said, balling up a napkin and throwing it at him. Ron grinned and caught it, and they threw it back and forth a few times before Harry said, "It's over."
The look on Ron's face would have been comical in any other circumstances. "But... It can't, you... She loves you, she always has."
"Just not enough," said Harry bitterly. He clenched his jaw and Ron frowned before reaching out to put his hand on Harry's arm.
Stammering, Ron said, "Are you sure?" At Harry's nod, he sighed, then said, "I don't know... I just don't know what Ginny's thinking. Any girl who had you would be an idiot to give you up."
Harry's lips twisted and he turned his hand to clasp Ron's. "Thanks."
"Anytime, mate. You know I love you," Ron said, squeezing Harry's hand tightly. "The best brother I've got, even if your hair's the wrong color."
Molly didn't think that Ron noticed Harry's reaction. After all, with hindsight, Molly could see that she had ignored it for years. Still, something had made her stay quiet and observe their conversation, and she could finally acknowledge to herself the truth no one had allowed themselves to think of. What remained was to speak, for now was the time to interrupt, before things were changed irreparably. "Ron, Hermione called to remind you it's time for your leg exercises, so you need to get back to the inn."
Her son looked up at her with the smile that was always on his face when he thought about his wife and said, "All right, Mum." With a further grin and rolled eyes for Harry, he said, "I'd best be off, before she chases me down. Bloody mental, that girl."
Harry nodded at Ron's retreating back, then stared at the cheap veneer of the tabletop as if the answer to all his grief could be found in the fake wood grain pattern. Molly looked both ways to check for people watching, then cast a spell to glue him to his chair for a moment before finding the nurse in charge of the floor.
"I am the future mother-in-law of the owner of this hospital, and I need a private room in order to discuss something with a member of my family." The nurse stared at Molly for a moment and then sputtered. For the first time in her life, a superior smirk curved Molly's lips and she took great pleasure in saying, "I've already had one person sacked today, and I assure you it would be no trouble to do it again."
Watching the nurse scurrying away to arrange something, Molly grinned in satisfaction and wondered if this was the way Lucius Malfoy had felt all the time.
In short order, Molly was shown to a private room, having collected Harry on the way, and she spared one last thought for how quickly she could get used to wielding power over more than just her family before she turned to Harry and folded him into her arms.
He detached himself quickly, and she nodded, then cast a silencing charm over the room and locked the door. When he looked at her quizzically, she said, "Harry, dearest, you've been like one of my own children since your first year at Hogwarts."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, and Molly sighed.
"I've made so many mistakes..." She bit her lip, then gestured with her wand so that they would each have a comfortable chair. Harry sat down, eyeing her warily. "I've failed you, Harry, and I'm sorry for it."
When he would have demurred, she held up a hand, and he fell silent at seeing that familiar steel in her eyes. It had rarely been directed at him over the years, and when it had been, he had regretted it. "It's time to make it right, dear, and the first thing is, Harry, I want you to call me Mum. I've never asked before, because I was worried you'd think it presumptuous, or disrespectful of your own mother, but I should have, and it's past time for it."
"But... Mrs. Weasley, with Ginny, it's... It's over." Harry had looked at her for a moment in shock before he dropped his eyes to stare fiercely at the toes of his shoes.
"Harry, my precious boy," Molly said softly, raising his chin so he had no choice but to look into her eyes. "That doesn't matter."
"It matters to me," Harry said sulkily, pulling away from Molly's grip and folding his arms tightly over his chest. "I love her, and--"
"But you don't love her in the way that I love Arthur, or that Ron loves Hermione." Molly took a deep breath, and then found her courage failed her. Instead of what she'd been going to say, she continued, "If you had, nothing could have stopped you from marrying her years ago. I think... I think that if I hadn't been such a stubborn fool, I'd have accepted that years ago, would've seen..."
She trailed off, and Harry looked at her, open-mouthed. With a wry smile, she said, "I'm not making much sense, am I?"
"Did you know that I volunteered to take you in? Your father was a relative of mine, if a somewhat distant one. As soon as I heard about your parents, I went to Dumbledore and asked if I could bring you home." Harry shuddered as if he'd been dealt a blow, but Molly barely noticed, looking into the distance of memory. "I asked again every year on the anniversary of their death, and then once I'd met you, I asked so often that Dumbledore would practically leap into broom closets to avoid me."
Harry swallowed hard, trying not to think of what his life might have been like if he had grown up with a real family. "He- He had his reasons, as it turned out."
A nod was her only response, and they were silent a moment. Finally, Molly said, "I pushed you and Ginny together because that way I'd have a right to be your mother. It..." She trailed off again, wishing it wasn't such a struggle to find the right words. "She grew up hearing all about you. The boys would get bored and roll their eyes, but Ginny always wanted to hear about you. She'd make up stories where you would play together and then later she'd talk about how sad you always were, even when you seemed happy, and how she wished she could help you."
Bitterly, Harry said, "No one asked her to appoint herself my savior." He saw Molly's stricken look and flinched, but continued, "And now it's me who's left alone, because I loved her and she didn't love me."
Molly's lips pressed into a thin line. "She loved you, and she loves you still, just the same way you love her." Her voice softened as she finally delivered the necessary blow to his composure. "But it's not the way that lovers should feel about each other. It's not the same way that you love Ron."
With a gasp, Harry said, "Ron and Hermione belong together! I'd never--"
"I know." Molly's cheeks were damp as she looked at him with sorrow and understanding. "And I know that it hurts, darling."
His face twisted as he tried to rein in the emotions that he'd hidden from himself for so long, had tried to crush and destroy before they endangered everything in his world that he cared about. He bit his lip so hard that it bled, but it did no good. He could feel grief and pain and sorrow, regrets for what might have been and what never could be and what he had done, what Ginny had done, every mistake that had been made in the name of a misguided belief in what was the right thing to do. He dropped his chin to his chest in a last ditch attempt to control or at least conceal his emotions.
Molly, a mother for so long that she could barely remember being otherwise, stood by his chair and gathered him into her arms just as the first sob overwhelmed him. His arms wrapped around her and he held on as he cried, the sadness of a lifetime pouring out of him as he was rocked in the arms of the only mother he had ever known.
(Author's Note: The reason this update took so long is that Monki, evil wench that she is, pointed out something very important about Harry, and I fought it for a long time before finally giving in. The next update won't take anywhere near as long - the absolute latest I would post it would be Tuesday the ninth, since that's Annibug's birthday. In the meantime, please don't kill me, the D/G goodness is coming.)