Title: Maroon and Moldy Laced
Author: Kail Ceannai
Rating:K+
Summary:Who knows what lurks within the shadows of the Burrow attic?

Disclaimer:Based on stories, backgrounds, places, concepts, and characters that are originally of JK Rowling's imagination.

The Burrow was quiet except for the soft ticking of the family clock. Every bed was made, every speck of dust scourgified, and every dish washed. The silence wrapped uncomfortably around Molly Weasley. Once Ginerva had started attending Hogwarts, Molly had begun her annual, autumn attic retreats to escape the loneliness of her home.

Trunks lined the walls of the airy, utterly dust-free attic. Each trunk was shrunk to just the right size; small enough to easily levitate down the teetering attic stairs, yet large enough to not require a tracking charm to prevent misplacement. The trunks, from both the Prewett and Wesley lines, contained any amusing trinket, aged picture, or heirloom ornament not valuable enough to be placed in the family vault.

Molly's sons had built towering fortresses of these trunks as children. Many a brave and powerful wizard had protected fair damsels from the vicious dragons known to inhabit the attic. Well, not Charlie, he always believed befriending dragons more effective than slaying. Molly laughed to herself as she recalled the screeches of the youngest Weasley. Molly would dash to the attic certain that she would find shattered bones and guilty faces. As she would near the attics the frustrated shouting would become distinct, "Girls can fight dragons too! Girls can fight dragons too!"

She could remember trying to play similar games in the Prewett attic. Mama Prewett's demands that Molly be included in the games usually landed Molly the proud place of being a knight's page, the damsel in distress, or double-agent tavern maid. Eventually her elder siblings discovered that including Molly in games usually returned high in the favors of cookies, robe repair without report to their mother, and an accomplice in many a prank. Naming her own twins Fred and George had been an indirect tribute to her deceased twin brothers.

Molly pursed her lips. Had one of her children claimed Gideon's old school trunk as their own? Molly was certain that neither Fred nor George had elected to use either of her brothers' trunks. Still, where could they have gone to? No, Fabian's trunk had definitely been used by Bill who still remembered fondly the candies Fabian use to hide in his pockets. Charlie, rather than selecting Uncle Gideon's trunk, had unsurprisingly preferred a grandfather's trunk adorned with carvings of dragons. Percy had been too young to have remembered his Prewett Uncles. Molly was fairly certain he'd claimed his great-great-grandpa Ignatius's.

Poking around, Molly managed to locate Gideon's old school trunk, its protective wards and jinxing charms long since broken by Bill. Molly wasn't sure what to expect of the trunk; the primers and texts, chocolate frog cards and pranks, dress robes, and any other useful item had long since been reused by the growing Weasley family. The lid opened effortlessly. Within lay a few illegible scrolls of schoolboy scrawling and a blanket of some sort. How had the Weasley thrift missed this?

Molly tugged at the pile of fabric to reveal the most hideous dress robe Molly had ever laid eyes on. Where had this come from? The maroon color was nice enough she supposed, but the velvet material and limp, green lace caused her to cringe. Perhaps their owner had been colorblind. More likely the robes had been victim of a Prewett prank or the experimentation of a Weasly son.

A glint sparked in her eyes. Dress robes were required at Hogwarts this year. Molly hummed to herself as she worked. A few well placed anti-transfiguration, anti-altering charms – perfect. Oh! What a surprise 'ickle-Ronnie-kins' was in for!

Author's notes: I've been trying to iron out this one-shot for some time. After "Paper Lanterns" I wanted to explore Molly's character a bit more.