Year 4: A Fresh Start
Chapter 37: March 2018
As much as Molly tried to figure out what was next for her after Hogwarts, she couldn't seem to settle on a career track. She couldn't figure out what was holding her back either. There were so many amazing options out there and yet none of them appealed to her. She didn't want to be a healer, didn't want to be a wand or broom maker, and didn't want to work in banking. None of the Ministry departments appealed to her, she had no interest in following her sister's path in becoming a reporter, and even the thought of specializing in one subject as a researcher had her pulling her hair out in frustration.
The problem was that every job she considered sounded so boring. She didn't want to be tied down to doing just one thing for the rest of her life. But there weren't any jobs where she could do whatever she wanted. Sarah and Julie couldn't understand it. They'd both always assumed that Molly would go to work for the Ministry just like her father. And there was a certain attraction to working at the Ministry. For one thing, if she worked her way up the ranks, there would be a considerable amount of prestige associated with her position. For another thing, the Ministry was as stable a job as she was likely to find, and stability was important. But Molly had no interest in spending her days filling out paperwork or whatever else people with boring desk jobs did. She watched her father work enough to know that life wasn't for her.
She just didn't know what was. And so, instead of trying to figure it out, Molly re-dedicated herself to helping her friends with their learning. She'd decided that there was absolutely no point in trying to teach herself anything beyond O.W.L. level until she decided what path her future was going to take, and she had already studied far enough ahead in all her classes that she could have written the O.W.L.s today and passed with flying colors.
Sarah and Julie, on the other hand, were only barely maintaining their positions at the top of their class alongside Molly. While they maintained near perfection in their work, they could never manage to get ahead. As soon as they would catch up, their courses would move on to a new topic. The problem, and Molly had always known it would hold them back, was quidditch. But for once, Molly didn't see this as a problem, at least not for her. If it weren't for quidditch holding them back, Sarah and Julie could have learned non-verbal magic by now and may very well be on their way to mastering wandless magic. But since they were swimming, but instead focusing on staying afloat, Molly was presented with an opportunity. In her quest to ignore the uncertainty of her own future, she could assist Julie and Sarah with theirs. The only problem now was getting them to accept her help.
"Molly, we've gone over this," Sarah said in exasperation. "I have to go to quidditch practice, I don't have time to do flashcards with you."
"Just fifteen minutes," Molly insisted. "We'll only do charms."
"I don't have fifteen minutes, I have to go," Sarah said, grabbing her bag and disappearing out the library doors.
Molly sighed. "Julie?" she asked, turning to her other friend.
Julie shrugged helplessly. "I have to get this essay written," she said. "It's due tomorrow and it's two feet shorter than it needs to be."
Tossing the flashcards on the table, Molly dropped her head into her hands. How was she supposed to help her friends if they wouldn't help themselves? If only they would try out the flashcards, they would find themselves learning so much faster than they were now, doing everything by themselves.
And then suddenly, an idea came to Molly. It was a brilliant idea, and while she would only be able to help Sarah and not Julie, she knew that it was what she had to do. She couldn't believe she'd never thought of it before. Her friends were always complaining that they didn't have time to spare, but this way they wouldn't have to spare any time. In fact, they'd have to budget this form of studying into their time.
Molly hastily explained to Julie that she had something to attend to back in Gryffindor Tower, but Julie barely heard her. Molly decided that she would do the test run with Sarah, and if it worked then perhaps, she could persuade Julie or one of her dormmates to institute the same study method in the Ravenclaw dorm.
In fact, as Molly hurried through the corridors and up the stairs, this wasn't just going to benefit Sarah, but all the girls in their dorm. Though she didn't count Flora, Eliza, and Amber among her friends, Molly was sure that they'd be counting their blessings once they realized that Molly was going to be helping them to improve academically. It was a win-win-win situation.
To her relief, nobody was around when Molly arrived back in her dorm, giving her ample time and privacy to get started. She fished her flashcards out of her bag and began walking around the room with them, trying to decide on the best places to affix them. She stuck them on drawers, cabinets, on either side of both the bedroom and bathroom door. In the bathroom she placed them at each of the sinks, in the showers, even the toilets. Nobody in her dorm would be able to do anything from now on until they correctly answered a flashcard question. She even set it up so that the questions would rotate, doubling, tripling, and finally quadrupling the number of flashcards attached to each spot.
The magic wasn't as complicated as Molly would have thought. It simply required the right combination of spells. But after a few test runs, Molly knew that she'd gotten it right and she smiled at her handiwork.
Flora and Amber arrived back in the dorm first. Molly was stretched out on her bed, reading a book she'd borrowed from the library on wizarding architecture – a completely frivolous read of course, but it's important to unwind every now and again. But as soon as her dormmates arrived, Molly stopped reading and started to watch them, eager to see their reaction to her additions to the room.
"So then I said that if Jesse Davis wanted to ask me to Hogsmeade, he was just going to have to ask me himself," Flora was saying as the girls entered the room.
"But what about Trent Harper?" Amber inquired. "He's on the quidditch team."
"Yeah, and the newspaper," Flora said in a judgemental voice. "Talk about mixing cool with lame."
Flora moved over to her bedside table and reached out to open the drawer. Instead of opening, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Molly's spoke out loud to the room.
"What is the incantation for the banishing charm, and what is the correct wand movement?" the voice inquired.
"What the hell?" Flora frowned at her drawer, pulling at it harder.
"What is the incantation for the banishing charm, and what is the correct wand movement?" the voice repeated.
"Molly, what did you do?" Flora demanded, spinning around to face the smiling Weasley.
"Oh come on," Molly insisted. "It's not even a hard question."
"That's hardly the point," Flora declared. "Why is my drawer asking me charms questions instead of opening?"
"If you answer the question, the drawer will open," Molly explained. "Isn't that fun?"
"In what universe is that fun?" Flora demanded. "It sounds like studying."
"Well it is," Molly defended. "In a fun way. It'll make us all better students."
"You're saying I'm stupid?" Flora demanded.
Molly looked at the girl that continued to wear bows in her hair even now that she was fifteen years old and gave her a withering stare. "I'm saying that we could all use help," Molly said. "I thought you'd appreciate it."
"Well I don't," Flora crossed her arms. "So take it off."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Molly insisted, crossing her own arms. If Flora couldn't see how selfless Molly had been in including her and the others in her study plan for Sarah, that wasn't her fault. But she wasn't going to let Flora bully her now.
"For Merlin's sake, I just want to get into this drawer," Flora cried, tugging at the handle, and causing the bedside table to rattle.
"What is the incantation for the banishing charm, and what is the correct wand movement?" the voice rang out a third time.
"It's depulso and a sharp jab away from the body," Molly rolled her eyes, exhausted by Flora's antics. At her words, the drawer popped open, revealing the scattering of random useless items that Flora kept in it. "Was that so hard?"
"That's hardly the point," Flora insisted. "The point is maybe I don't want to have to study every time I need something out of my drawer."
As she said that, Amber had crossed over to her part of the room and had tried to open her own bedside cabinet drawer, and the same voice sounded throughout the room with a brand-new question.
"Where did erklings originally come from?" it asked.
"Seriously?" Amber demanded. "Molly did you spell all our drawers like this?"
"So what if I did?" Molly demanded. "You obviously need the help if you don't even know where erklings come from."
"The obviously come from Germany," Amber said, triggering her drawer to open. "But like Flora said, that's not the point."
"So you're not even going to thank me?" Molly demanded. "I did this for you."
"No, you did this for you," Amber shot back. "To prove to us all yet again that you're smarter than us."
"Those questions were easy," Molly insisted.
"For you maybe," Amber cried. "But not all of us study as much as you do. We covered the banishing charm last term. It's been ages since we've reviewed it."
"But you've performed the spell," Molly said. "How can you perform a spell and not remember the incantation and wand movement?"
"We've learned a lot of spells," Amber said. "Sometimes they can blend together."
At that moment, Sarah walked into the room, a grin on her face.
"Hey Molly," she greeted her friend. "I was just in the bathroom and I tried to wash my hands, but before I turned the sink on someone that sounded an awful lot like you made me list all the properties of bubotuber pus. Was that your doing?"
Molly grinned. "Yeah, what did you think?" she asked.
"It was brilliant," Sarah beamed. "Did you rig the whole bathroom like that?"
"And the dorm," Molly confirmed, glad to have someone understand the benefits of something like this. "Now we'll be forced to study all the time. And I can update the questions as we continue to learn more."
"Fantastic," Sarah said.
"Fantastic?" Flora demanded. "Not likely. You rigged the bathroom too?"
"I call it immersive studying," Molly insisted. "It'll give you motivation. Like if you've really got to use to loo, but you can't get the lid up until you state the date of the first goblin rebellion."
"What if I can't remember the date of the first goblin rebellion and I piss in my pants?" Flora cried. "That's insane."
"If you have to go that badly, you'll be able to remember the date," Molly assured her.
Flora shook her head. "You're insane!" she cried. "Now either disable this nonsense or I'm going to Professor Longbottom!"
"Go to Professor Longbottom if you'd like," Molly said. "But I'm sure he'll agree that this is a great idea and support it."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Flora declared, spinning around and stalking out of the room. Amber followed closely behind her, leaving Molly and Sarah alone in the dorm.
"So I guess they didn't appreciate your work like I did?" Sarah asked awkwardly.
"Apparently not," Molly said, feeling a little upset by the current circumstances. She'd worked hard to get the dorm set up like this and had truly wanted to help all her dormmates improve in their studies. How could Flora and Amber not see that she was just trying to help?
"Well I love it," Sarah said. "I've got to go take a shower now, but I hope there will be more quizzes waiting for me in the bathroom?"
Molly nodded. "Definitely," she said. "And the ones for using the showers are some of the harder ones."
"Perfect," Sarah said. She grabbed her bathroom kit and slipped out the door and across the landing to the bathroom, leaving Molly alone to lament over how poorly things had just gone.
MmMmMmMmMmM
An owl arrived for Molly while Sarah was in the shower requesting her presence in Professor Longbottom's office immediately. Sighing, Molly decided to get this ridiculous meeting over with and left a note for Sarah explaining where she was before descending to the common room and then exiting into the castle, heading to the first floor and the herbology professor's office.
"Professor Longbottom?" Molly inquired, peeking through the partially open door.
"Molly, come in," Professor Longbottom's voice greeted her.
Molly pushed the door open further to reveal both Flora and Amber sitting across from Professor Longbottom and looking at Molly smugly. Reluctantly, Molly took a seat in the third and final chair next to Amber.
"Your roommates tell me you've made some adjustments to the dorm," Professor Longbottom said.
"Yes," Molly agreed, sure that Flora had presented the situation in the worst possible light. Molly was determined to make him see that it was a favor she was doing the girls, and not a disservice. "But its not what you think."
"So you didn't charm Flora and Amber's bedside drawers so that they can't be opened until they answer a question?" Professor Longbottom inquired.
"Well I did, actually," Molly admitted. "But only to help them to revise. You see, this way they – or rather all of us – have to be constantly recalling facts that we've learned in our classes over the years. It's great practice for the O.W.L.s, which are little more than a year away at this point."
"It is true that the O.W.L.s aren't far off," Professor Longbottom agreed. "And we professors recommend that our students do their best to study as much as they can in preparation for their exams. But it was not your place to put these charms in place on your dormmates' furniture."
"It wasn't just on theirs," Molly insisted. "I did it to mine too. I did it to all our things. This way we all study together."
"Be that as it may," Professor Longbottom said. "Flora and Amber's bedside cabinets are their own to do with what they wish. If they don't want them charmed this way, then you have to remove it."
"But I was only trying to help them," Molly insisted, growing annoyed. How could nobody see that she was doing this for them?
"Yet you didn't ask if they wanted the help," Professor Longbottom said. "I'm sorry Molly, my decision is final. You can do whatever you want with your own things but leave your dormmates out of it."
"Sarah appreciates it," Molly defended. "She thought it was brilliant."
"If Sarah doesn't mind having her furniture charmed, then feel free to leave the enchantments on her furniture as well," Professor Longbottom said. "But each of your dormmates has a right to decide for themselves. And Flora and Amber seem very adamant that they don't appreciate what you did today."
"But – "
"Molly," Professor Longbottom interrupted. "I'm sorry. I understand that you thought you were helping, but you can't push people into doing things your way. Some people have their own way of going about things."
"But my way is better," Molly insisted. "I'm top of the class and these two are scraping by. With my help they could rise."
"And that's their decision to make," Professor Longbottom said. "Look Molly, I'm done having this argument. Take away the charms, or I'm going to dock points from Gryffindor."
"Seriously?" Moly cried. "You'd dock points over this?"
"I will if you continue to be belligerent," Professor Longbottom said strictly.
Molly couldn't believe it. Professor Longbottom was being completely unreasonable. Next to her, Flora and Amber were smirking smugly, and Molly just wanted to sink into the floor. This was so unfair. She'd done a nice thing and they'd twisted it into something ugly.
"Fine," Molly declared. "I'll take down the enchantments."
"Thank you, Molly," Professor Longbottom said.
"But don't think I'll ever help you with school ever again," Molly said, turning to her dormmates. "If you ever have a question, or want me to read over an assignment, well don't bother asking, because I won't do it. You don't want my help now? Then you don't get it ever."
"Fine by me," Flora agreed.
"Me too," Amber chimed in.
Molly frowned. They would regret this, she decided. She would make sure of it. They thought they were winning, but they'd always relied on Molly's knowledge and position at the top of the class to help them out when they'd needed it most. But no more. Molly wouldn't be used, and it was clear that they'd never liked her and never would.
As Molly returned to the dorm alone to undo her handiwork, she once again found herself thinking about her purpose. She'd thought that she could avoid trying to figure things out by helping out her friends and dormmates. But even that had backfired. If she had nobody to help and nothing to work towards, then what was she even doing? What was the point of it all, and what was she supposed to do next?