Chapter 4

"What do you mean she's gone?" Ginny asked, getting up off the couch. "She's not in her room! She's gone!" Fred repeated.

"Well finally. We'll get some peace and quiet around here." Ron muttered. "Ron!" Hermione and Ginny scolded at the same time.

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere. I mean, you locked the door, right? Non-magically?" Hermione asked. "Yes! We've been doing that ever since dad installed the locks into the door handles!" Fred replied.

"All right, uh, Fred...you and Angelina go in your own party. Ron, you go on your own. Hermione, you're on your own. And, come to think of it, to put it in short, we're all on our own except Fred and Angelina." Ginny said, talking to everybody in the room. "Right!" Mostly everybody said. Nobody moved.

"So what are you waiting for?" Angelina broke the silence. "SEARCH FOR MY DAUGHTER!" Everybody scattered.

Hermione and Ron walked around, looking in pantry's, bathtubs, even broom cupboards. They checked the last one in the house when Ron said, "Mione?"

"Yes, Ronald?" Hermione said.

"...Why are we searching for a ten-year old girl, in broom cupboards?" Ron asked.

"Because. Molly could be anywhere, we want to make sure that she's not stuck anywhere."

"But it's a broom cupboard."

"I ONCE GOT STUCK IN A BROOM CUPBOARD, RONALD, SO DON'T IMPLY THAT IT'S NOT A FAIRLY EASY PLACE TO GET STUCK IN!" Hermione yelled.

"Right...sorry, love." Ron said un-easy.

"No problem." Hermione said cheerfully. The pair continued to look for Molly.

Meanwhile, Harry was looking around, himself, alone. He was outside, in the chilly night air, and wished that he could just go back inside and forget about this whole search party thing. But he'd do it for Ginny.

Harry froze as he heard sniffles coming from beneath him. He jumped to conclusions: Holy crap, I must've stepped on somebody! He thought. But he looked down, to his left, to see a small girl with bright red hair, and a tannish complexion, crying in a dugout, just below the surface. It wasn't a very small hole: In fact, it looked like the girl had dug it herself and climbed in there on purpose. She sat there sniffling, then gasped when she saw Harry. "Oh no! NOW I'm in even more TROUBLE!" She burst into tears again.

Harry instantly recognized the girls voice; It was Molly. "No...no, shhhhh, Molly! It's only Uncle Harry!" He crouched down to see her better and lit his wand to see her face more clearly. Even if he hadn't heard her crying, he would've surely known it by now: There were thin lines spreading down her face. Tear-marks.

"Why are you down there?" Harry asked. Molly pouted and crossed her arms across her chest. She was sitting down, her knees to her chest.

"I...I.," Sniffle, "Wanted to...to get away from...from," Cough, "Everybody...and I...I.," Voice-cracking, "Thought this would be a good place." She hiccupped.

"Oh, well...you should really come out of there. Don't you think it's a little dark and cold?" Harry reasoned. "I'm...I'm not a baby, you know. I can handle the-the...the dark." Molly sniffled.

"What about the cold?" Harry asked. "It's not too bad...I...can keep...warm, with my wand, you know. I learned a simple incantation from Aunt Hermione's spell book for getting warm." Molly shivered. Poor Kid's taking after Hermione, Harry thought.

"...You're shivering." Harry stated the obvious. "AM NOT!" Molly said.

Harry ignored her. "How d'you have your wand, anyhow? I thought your dad took it away." He asked. Molly smiled a little, then said, "It...it was a fake wand, that I threw at him. I got it from Uncle George, for a present a while back ago. My real wand is always in my dresser drawer, when I think I'll get in trouble that day. That way Mum and Dad can't take it away from me." She smirked, but it soon faded and was replaced with a frown. "I just told you where I hid my wand, didn't I?" She asked, disappointed in herself. "Sure did." Harry said, then smiled gently at his niece.

".Is everybody looking for me?" Molly asked. "Only me, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Aunt Ginny, and your Mum and your Dad. Which, by the way, they were very worried about you when they couldn't find you in your room." Harry said.

"I'm sorry." Molly said, wiping her tears off of her face with the back of her sleeve. "Why did you come out here anyway?" Harry asked. "Everybody was talking about Hogwarts...and I don't want to go to Hogwarts. I want to stay here, with Mum and Dad, free of all homework and mean kids, and the Slytherins."

"Ah, so your Mum and Dad told you 'bout them?" Harry asked. Molly nodded. "They're some of the meanest people. I hate them. They called Aunt Hermione a...a...you-know-what," She whispered, "And they were supporters of.you-know-who." She seethed the name with hatred. "Not all of them were, Molly. I mean, some were quite nice."

"What about the Malfoys? Look at them. Look at who they were followers of, and who Draco almost killed...I wanted to make it to Hogwarts, to see Dumbledore in the flesh. But now I can't."

"I also don't want to end up in the wrong house. I want to be in Gryffindor! What happens if I let my family down, my mum, my dad? What happens if I get put into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw...or...Slytherin?" Molly implied.

"You don't have to worry about that." Harry said. "And why not?" Molly asked. "Because...let me tell you something, Molly. You're just like your Aunt Hermione. You may not be blood related to her- only related to her by marriage- but you remind me of the same way she acted, the first time I met her on the Hogwarts Express. She was 11, going on 12. And she was very excited about going to Hogwarts, unlike you, I understand.," Harry said when Molly opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't happy about leaving, "...But she had the same stubbornness, that made her so loyal to all of her friends...she spoke the truth...she was thick-headed at times...but yet she was smart. You're just like her. That warming spell you learned? You said that you learned it in one of Aunt Hermione's spell book? That's because she's always reading. And don't think that I haven't seen you on that couch, before, reading your little heart out. Because I have. You're just like her. You'll do great in school, you'll have lots of friends who you'll have for the rest of your life." Harry said.

"For the rest of my life?" Molly asked, her face brightening up. Harry nodded. "But...where are your friends, then? How come they're not here?" Molly asked.

"Oh, they're here all right. See those two, searching in the bushes, over there?" Harry pointed to Hermione and Ron shuffling and bickering in the bushes. Molly nodded. "Those...are my best friends. The ones that I've had forever. Hermione...your Aunt Hermione...is like a sister to me."

"But she's your sister-in-law, isn't she? So that just started when Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione got married, didn't it?"

"Oh, no. I've known Hermione for ages. I love her. And not like, that way, either.," Harry added when he saw Molly's angry expression, "But as a sister. I always have, since our fourth year at Hogwarts. She's been like the sister I've never had..and Ron."

"Ron's been there, too. And although we may've had a few fights here and there, we've always made up, forgive, and forget-,"

"It's forgot." Molly corrected.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"You said that you always made up, forgive, and forget. The correct way to say that is that you always made up, forgave, and forgot." She smirked.

"See what I mean? Just like your Aunt Hermione." Harry smiled. "Do you have any other friends? I mean...from Hogwarts?" Molly asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Harry said.

Molly gaped. "You have three friends that you've been with, since Hogwarts?"

"Yep."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"Sure do."

"Who is it then?"

"Her." Harry said, hitching a thumb behind him, where Ginny was standing. Molly smiled and then got up. "You know what?" She said. "I'm going to Hogwarts. I want a bunch of friends, just like you, Uncle Harry. And I want to be the smartest witch of my house-,"

"Gryffindor, no doubt." Ginny said, grinning. Molly beamed. "Do you really think so?" She asked. "I said no doubt, didn't I? No doubt, means no doubt. You'll be in there, most definitely." Ginny said. Molly climbed out of the hole. As soon as she did, she flung herself on Harry. "Thank you, Uncle Harry.," She said, looking up at him, her face brightened up like a kid at Christmas, "Thank you." She said one last time, then ran off.

"When'd you find her?" Ginny asked, wrapping her arms around Harry's waist. "A few minutes ago. But that doesn't really matter, now, does it? She's safe. That's all that counts." Harry said. Ginny sighed. "Do you think that Lily will be upset when she finds out that she has to go to Hogwarts?" She asked.

"We'll have to see. Six more years, and we'll have to let her go out into the world." Harry replied. "Oh, Harry, stop making it sound so hard." Ginny sniffled, then laughed at herself. "Trust me, Gin. It's going to be hard. I have no doubt about it."