A Wonderful Weird and Wacky World of Weasleys: Saving Polly the Dolly

Disclaimer: I own only my creative situations. I do not own any of the character's you recognize. They belong to the ever so brilliant J.K. Rowling and her affiliates.

A/N: As I have said before, this chapter is completely from Molly's point of view. The situation for this particular story is true. This happened to me when I was little but I did not find out until I was older. In addition, my doll's name was Molly but it would be confusing if I used that name.

Polly was Ginny's favorite doll of all time. She received her for her third birthday. There was nothing special about the doll. Polly had a pink dress with a purple flowered frock, a pink hat with purple flowers and was just a giant rag doll. Ginny carried Polly everywhere with her. In the bathtub, out splashing in mud puddles and through the floo to top it all off. Therefore, it was not surprising that Polly was very dirty.

It took me a week of bribery and various promises before I could convince Ginny to part with Polly so she could go through the enchanted washing and drying machines. One morning Ginny begrudgingly left Polly in my care and I put her in the washing machine and shut the lid. When the machine stopped awhile later, Ginny rushed to my side.

"Mummy? Is Polly done now?" She hopped from foot to foot, eager to hear my answer.

"Not yet honey. She still needs to go into the dryer."

"Will she be ok in there?"

"Yes, she will."

"Can I give her a hug so she won't be scared?"

"Yes Ginny, you may."

Ginny walked up to the washer, pulled out the sopping wet Polly, and gave her a huge hug. "Don't worry Polly. You'll be ok." She then put Polly into the dryer and walked away announcing that she was going to have a tea party with Ron.

The dryer cycle lasted exactly half an hour. When it stopped and I looked inside, I was fortunate that Ginny had gone out in the yard. Polly the dolly was nothing more than a piece of cloth. Her stuffing had simply emptied out of her and turned into lint. I folded up the remains of Polly and put her in the pocket of my apron. There had to be a way to fix this, there just had to be.

After doing some thinking and some folding, it came to me. I could re-stuff Polly and give her back to Ginny and no one would be the wiser.

It was lunchtime before Ginny realized that Polly hadn't resurfaced after her trip in the dryer.

"Mummy? Where's Polly?"

"Well, honey, Gin-bug, you see Polly had to go visit her mummy. She'll be back in awhile." Ginny looked at me and considered my answer. She nodded.

"Ok. As long as she's back before bed," Ginny said before she turned back and finished her sandwich.

"She will be," I said, more to myself than her. I knew how upset she would be if she didn't have Polly to sleep with her. She would most likely have a magical temper tantrum.

It was the middle of the afternoon and Ginny, thankfully, was taking a nap. I had time now to re-stuff Polly. I went to my sewing basket and pulled out a bag of Muggle pillow stuffing and took it to the kitchen table where I would resurrect Polly. I quickly got to work and before I knew it, she was stuffed and sewn back up.

I studied Polly, something was different and it wasn't just her abnormal cleanliness. There was something else. Just then, Ginny sleepily entered the kitchen. Her eyes widened when she saw Polly on the table.

"Polly! You're back!" Ginny ran over and grabbed Polly, holding her close. "I missed you."

"See I told you she would be back."

Ginny was quietly studying Polly before she turned and looked at me. "Mummy," she said.

"Yes, Ginny."

"Why is Polly so big?"

"Big? What do you mean?" I asked, slightly alarmed.

"Well, she's bigger now."

I looked at Ginny, then Polly. Ginny was right. Polly did look bigger. I had to come up with a reasonable explanation for this.

"Well, you know how Polly went to visit her mummy?"

"Yes," Ginny said impatiently.

"When she was there she ate a huge lunch and grew to be big and strong."

"Wow. Like I will?"

"Yes like you will if you eat your vegetables."

"Ok mummy," she said to me before talking to Polly. "Come on Polly. Let's have a tea party. You're better at it than Ron.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd gotten away with de-stuffing Polly and re-stuffing her without getting caught. Thank Merlin for that. Well, there was no time for dilly-dallying. The dishes wouldn't wait forever.

Ginny still has Polly; she sits on her memory chest. She still has no clue that one day Polly the dolly almost was no more and I think I would like to keep it that way.