The trials of Molly Weasley

There was no doubt about it, Hermione wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. Facing that fact she got out of bed trying not to wake Ginny up and went down the the kitchen at the Burrow. She walked into the kitchen and put some water on for tea when she noticed a light on in the living room. Having nothing else to do until the water got hot she went to see who was awake at this early hour. There in the living room she found Mrs. Weasley sitting on the couch look at photographs.

"Good morning Hermione, you're up a bit early."

"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I thought I would have some tea."

"Mind if I join you? I couldn't sleep either and I thought I would look at some old family pictures."

"I would love to have tea with you Mrs. Weasley. What pictures are you looking at?"

"Just some of my boys when they were younger."

Mrs. Weasley stood up and carried the photo albums into the kitchen and poured up tea for the two of them. Then she sat down at the table and opened one of the albums.

"I guess you know how much of a handful my boys can be eh Hermione?"

Hermione laughed softly "Well I do know a fair bit about Fred and George and of course I know a lot about Ron."

"I want to thank you for all you have done for Ron and Harry. You are a very bright girl Hermione but what's makes you so special is the care you give to those hooligans."

"I don't think their quite hooligans Mrs. Weasley, well maybe not Harry." she smiled.

"I know Ron has given you a handful at school dear. He's fortunate to have such a good friend."

Hermione looked at Mrs. Weasley for a moment. "Well Harry and I are lucky to have Ron as a friend as well."

"You know Hermione I worried more about Ron than my other boys. Bill was always so charismatic; at school he had girls three years older than him throwing themselves at him. I almost had to take away his Hogsmeade privileges because he became so popular with the young ladies of the village."

"Well Bill is a good looking man."

"Then Charlie was so good at Quidditch that it made up for his not making friends as fast as Bill did. You know how it is at school, if you are good at Quidditch then everything else is easier."

Hermione just nodded in agreement.

"Percy was so studious that he everybody was always talking about how smart he was and how good his marks were. Even with two popular older brothers he never felt overshadowed. Then the twins went to school and well you know how they are. Merlin himself couldn't overshadow the twins."

Unable to hold back her snicker Hermione just let it out.

"So by the time Ron got to Hogwarts he had two brothers who were Head Boy's, one who was a Quidditch star and two who their class pranksters and all of them had been fairly popular. It made me worry that Ron wasn't going to be able to be appreciated for who he was."

"I can see how that might worry you Mrs. Weasley."

"To tell you the truth Hermione it took me a good long while before I got a handle on what Ron was made of. The year before he left for Hogwarts Ron and Ginny were down at the pond swimming when Ginny got attacked by a grindylow. Instead of coming back here and getting me or one of his older brothers that barmy son of mine grabbed a rock and jumped in the pond. He found the grindylow and Ginny and hit the grinylow in the head with the rock until it let his sister go and then they both swam to shore. Right then was when I started worrying about that boy. People think being brave is not being afraid of anything but their wrong. Ron is brave because even when he is terrified he still won't let it stop him from doing what he thinks is right. I'll let you in on a little secret my dear, I worry about Arthur and all of my children, including you and Harry, but Ron is the one who keeps me up at nights. He'll follow Harry to the end of the earth if he thinks he needs to."

"Isn't that a good thing though Mrs. Weasley?"

'Of course it is dear but when you have children of your own you will find that sometimes you want them to do the safe thing even if it's not the right thing."

They sat there for a few moments in silence when Mrs. Weasley flipped open a different photo album. It took her a few moments but she finally stopped at a photo of two young men. Both had light brown hair and clear blue eyes.

"You would have never been able to meet them dear but these are my brothers, Gideon and Fabian. They both died in the first war. I was still pregnant with Ron when they died, they were both Aurors and I had looked up to them since I was a very young girl. After their death I used to tell Ron stories about them when he was very active late at night. I know you can believe me when I say that he kicked a great deal before he was born so I spent many a sleepless night telling him stories and rubbing my belly. I spent countless hours talking about how brave my brothers were and how hard they had fought against the Dark Lord. Now sometimes I wonder if some how he heard me talking to him even before he was born."

"So is Ron like them then?"

"Only in how fiercely he will fight to protect the ones he loves. It kills me to say it but Ron is more like Sirius than anyone else."

"I thought you liked Sirius Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh lass I did, I loved Sirius like a brother even though we often fought over the best way to keep Harry safe. You have to understand what I admired in Sirius makes me worry about Ron. See I want Ron to have all the things life offers and I don't want anything to happen to him before he gets to experience all of it."

Hermione just smiled at Mrs. Weasley.

"That's why I'm glad he has gotten involved with you Hermione. You've got good sense and you're quite clever. If anyone can control Ron it will be you."

"Should I be controlling Ron? Shouldn't I let him make his own choices?" Hermione whispered.

"I'm going to tell you a secret Hermione and I trust you to not tell a soul. Weasley men need to be told what to do, they are wonderful but most of them require a firm hand to guide them and Ron is the worst of the lot in that regard. He's going to be a fine man but he needs you to keep him from going too far sometimes."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean Mrs. Weasley."

"You will dear, you will."

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Hermione was glad to be back at Hogwarts, she had thoroughly enjoyed the holidays but now she could get to work on the research she needed to do. The Burrow was probably the happiest place in the world but it wasn't a library and that's what she need to start looking for Medea's Cauldron. In the two weeks since they had been back at school she had found several references to the cauldron but none that had in any given even a clue as to where it might be hidden. It was starting to wear thin, no she was starting to wear thin. She had been sleeping less than four hours a night to do as much research as possible and still keep up with her studies and prefect duties. Not to mention she had been neglecting Ron and had not been able to organize the reformation of the D.A. like she had promised Harry. Then when Ron had suggested she might want to take a break last night and get some sleep they had one of their now infamous rows. It had been a spectacular one if she did say so her self. Looking back on it now Ron had been right but she had been tired and in no mood to hear him saying she was working too hard. That great big git spent hours every day training with Neville, Harry and of all people Susan Bones. It seemed that Susan was quite the prodigy at shielding spells and as such had been added to their little training group. In addition those maniacs had started exercising in the morning after Ron saw a television show about it at her house over the holidays. Tonks had also started some particularly violent training regimen that left all of them sort and bruised.

The upshot of all of that had been that Hermione was in no mood to be lectured about working too hard by someone who was covered in bruises and scrapes. Suffice to say that they had set Gryffindor tower abuzz with gossip over their shouting match. Harry and Ginny had just laughed and said it had reminded them of the good old days. This morning she had found it amusing as she lay in bed but last night she had been furious. She need to find Ron and left him know she wasn't mad. If he had been at breakfast when she was there she could have then but the boys had eaten very early before heading to Room of Requirements.

She also needed to spend some more time with her Christmas present. That book was a fountain of information. Hermione was pretty sure that Ron didn't even open the book as it contained a great deal of dodgy spells and even more powerful rituals. In fact only a very brave or very oblivious wizard would give that book to a witch on purpose.

Well Ron can certainly be both of those.

Oh bloody hell I still have to read all those Animagus parchments that Ron did for McGonagall. Ron really is a bad influence on m, now I'm swearing in my head.

Hermione buckled down and started to get back to work. The sooner she figured out where this ruddy Cauldron was the sooner she could get some sleep and work on one of the dozen other things she had been putting aside. As she busied herself in the books that surrounded her she had one more distracting thought.

I have got to remember to tell Ginny about the orb in the Room of Requirements.

A/N; I had to split this chapter after all sadly. I also want to dedicate this chapter to a reviewer who seems to have a good handle on the foreshadowing in the storyline. So belanna30 this chapter is for you. All the foreshadowing you could want.:)