A/N: So, here I am, back again… not so soon, but better late than never, right? See dedication for why I even made it here now… I've had writer's block, which is really no excuse, but hopefully that's gone for at least awhile, because I've got a better idea of where I'm going with this- besides to the epilogue, obviously, but there's quite a while in between that. So, I'll try to be better. And- to make everybody hate me less- and because I can't resist- Chapter Nine includes a TEDDY moment. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter Nine THE TIME IT TAKESChapter Nine is dedicated to a most awesome reviewer, who scared me into motivation by her words of wisdom- "And even if it takes you months to update, I'll still read and review…" Months? Eek. So, terrified of my own procrastination- Thanks goes to TheOriginalHufflepuff
Molly Weasley was circling around her cluttered kitchen so quickly she might have been training for the Quidditch World Cup without a broom. In the past minute and a half, she had run in from the sitting room, paced the entire room searching for something frantically, run back into the sitting room, and repeated the entire routine.
Her husband, Arthur, had been watching the entire thing, and was beginning to worry.
"Food." She muttered anxiously, "Where in Merlin's name can I find some bloody-"
"Molly, dear?" Arthur asked tentatively, "Something- er- wrong?"
"Food!" She shrieked, "A bottle for the baby- I had one, and now it's gone, and- and- he's going to starve if I don't feed him soon, and a bottle's the only way, and I need the god-forsaken milk! Where is it?"
"I- I don't know?"
"You took it for one of your ridiculous experiments, didn't you? Another muggle thing! It's a muggle bottle, Arthur, I sent Hermione out for it! You TOOK the bottle! The bottle for the baby, Arthur, how could you POSSIBLY-"
"Molly, I-"
"I would never dream you'd be so selfish! How could you! A baby, Arthur, he's defenseless, you've taken his only source of- of nourishment-" She looked and sounded close to tears, and Arthur was becoming more concerned for his wife and worried for his own safety.
"Molly, dear-"
"DON'T YOU DARE INTERUPT ME, ARTHUR WEASELY!" she screamed, and he smiled at her softly, which caused her to narrow her eyes and appear more livid than ever. He quickly replaced his grin with a more somber expression, as he walked towards the sink, prepared a glass of water, and flicked his wand in its direction. He handed it to Molly, a perfect blue and white milk-filled bottle, and she stared at it for a moment before biting her lip and nodding.
"Thank you, Arthur." She said quietly, beginning to walk towards the door. "I- I suppose I'll get the bottle to Freddie, then."
It was a moment before either of them had understood her words.
Never in their thirty-year marriage had there been such a silence.
Their eyes locked, her trembling brown on his lost, sad blue, and neither said a word. Molly nodded because she had no idea what else to do. She felt the hot rush of unwanted tears gathering behind her eyes, and quickly turned to leave the room.
---
Harry glanced around the corridor nervously, surveying the empty hall for any stragglers. All right so far.
Quickly, he walked towards the end of the hallway, checked around the corner, and looked down the stairs. Seems okay…
Finally, he pulled out the Marauder's Map, he glanced towards the bathrooms that were positioned on the left wall, and smiled to himself. Looks like it's just me, then.
He stretched out on the floor, not particularly caring how ridiculous he would look to a passerby- he'd be long gone as soon as he saw one coming, of course. He unfolded the crumpled portion of the map, and let his eyes travel for a moment before landing on the Gryffindor Table of the Great Hall.
Wincing, he noticed his most-studied black dot being enclosed on by at least twenty other black dots, each baring a feminine name. He suddenly felt immensely guilty for leaving Ginny in the hall, with only Hermione and Ron for protection. Tonight's return to school had made a selfish git out of him, but he was tired. He had a headache. And, furthermore, he was sure that if he had mentioned any of this to Ginny, she would have told him to suck it up and stop whining. He convinced himself, firmly, that if things got too out of hand, he'd return and try to help.
The minute he had stepped off of the Hogwarts Express, mind still whirling from happiness for returning to school, and a flurry of mixed emotions about captaining the team with Ginny, he had begun to hear loud announcements of his own engagements. They weren't being made to him, of course, but they were so terribly audible that he must have heard sixty of them.
"Katherine, did you hear the NEWS about HARRY POTTER? Word is, he's ENGAGED, to that WEASLEY GIRL!"
"I hear they're getting married in the South of France!"
"I hear that McGonagall is allowing them to have a private dormitory, just for the two of them!"
Harry scoffed, thinking of that one. As if McGonagall would ever allow anything of the sort. He doubted she would have considered it for a moment if he and Ginny were already married. With all of these ridiculous rumors spreading around, it was only a matter of time before he started hearing-
"HARRY POTTER!" a shrill, feminine voice shrieked, "I was informed by a very reliable source that you and Ginny Weasley eloped last June, the night of the battle, to New Mexico in the United States! Can you confirm?"
Harry jumped nearly a mile. The girl standing in front of him held a small pink notepad in her hand and was scribbling incessantly with a shimmering green quill. Her blonde hair was cut into a flippy bob, held in place by a deep magenta colored headband, and she wore gem-studded cat's eye glasses. Her lips were red and shimmering with something that he often watched Ginny slide onto her own lips in a glittery tube. The effect was much more charming on Ginny than it was on this girl- because, standing in front of him, smiling widely, could only be a fifteen-year-old Rita Skeeter.
"No comment? Hmm. Interesting. All right, then, what do you say to the rumors that Ginny is, in fact, carrying a child?"
"WHAT?" he yelped. This was really getting ridiculous.
"Ah. I suppose the other part of that rumor must be accurate as well, than… I'll have to question that Draco Malfoy, then, I do wonder if he knows about all this…"
"Malfoy?"
She made a face that could have been sympathy, had her wide smile not betrayed her 'sad' blue eyes. "Adultery is a terrible thing, Harry, and I really don't know what Ginny sees in that Malfoy character…"
"She doesn't-" Harry closed his eyes, trying to regain composure. "Who are you?"
"Lucy Rigby." She said quickly, "Now, could you please answer my questions, because this is highly important information for the Daily Hogwash, and-"
"Er- are you by any chance related to Rita Skeeter?"
Lucy looked astonished, but not unpleasantly so. "Related? Rita is my role model, my- my inspiration! You- you think we could be related?"
"No- I mean, er- you look a bit like her, is all." He muttered uncomfortably.
Lucy apparently took this as a most high compliment. "We'll talk later, Harry Potter." She said confidently, and strode away, leaving Harry both awestruck and worried.
The last thing Hogwarts needed was a teenaged Rita Skeeter.
---
"There, there, dear," Molly whispered to the wailing baby in her arms, "Settle down, Teddy, darling." She gently eased the bottle into his mouth, and smiled down at him, and he was silent for a moment, until he reached a chubby hand and touched her wet cheek.
"That's it, love." She murmured, allowing his hand to enclose around her finger. "Poor little darling, Teddy-bear. We're just alike, you and I. Both a bit lost."
"You aren't just alike." A voice from the doorway said quietly. "You had the power to mention that you were feeling lost."
Molly jumped, causing Teddy to let out a short wail. "Shh." She whispered to him. "Arthur." She said quietly, still looking at Teddy. "You scared me."
"I could say the same to you." He walked towards the couch where Molly and Teddy rested, placing his hand on her arm. "You aren't the only one in pain, Molly. He was my son as much as yours."
She looked up at her husband in surprise, eyes welling with tears. "Oh, Arthur." She sighed, "It's only that… with the Ron and Ginny at school- and Charlie and Bill and Percy off, of course, and Georgie-" She gulped, the tears gushing down her face, "Poor George, consuming himself with work, shut up in that damn flat, never saying a word to anyone if it can be helped- I- I just miss my…" She was incoherent now, bubbling half-sentences, her tears dripping onto Teddy's face, and Arthur held her tightly.
"It's all right to cry, Molly." He said quietly, "We all need to cry- none of us are crying nearly enough…"
"I pushed him!" she sobbed into his shoulder, Teddy still in her arms.
"What?"
"When- when Percy came- before he died- I- I pushed him, Arthur, I pushed him out of the way for Percy… I was always pushing him away for Percy… and… and he was so brave. So good… my b-baby…"
"He loved you, Molly." Arthur said fiercely, his voice low. "He loved you and he knew you loved him."
"But I was so hard on him- him and Georgie both, of course… was so unsupportive of that joke shop…"
"Shh." Arthur sighed, "Molly, dear, he never expected you to be supportive of the shop. That was half the fun of it."
She laughed. It was shaky and watery, but it was a laugh nonetheless, and soon it was a fit of laughter, giggles and chuckles and tears gushing down her face the whole time, but she laughed.
When she stopped, it was to look down at Teddy, who had let out another cry. As she saw what he had been calling her attention to, she cried aloud herself. Red hair, a thatch of scarlet, jaunty freckles scattered lightly around the face- and something in the brown eyes, shining and flashing- that familiar, friendly, glimmer, that mischief and laughter- the look that had solemnly sweared that he was up to no good.
But for Molly at that moment, it did all the good in the world.
All right. So, I like this chapter; my only personal quabble is that there's no Ron, Hermione, or Ginny, which I will make up for with Chapter Ten, which should be up soon, and which features: Auror Training, the identity of the Mysterious Head Boy, and… the much begged-for Ron/Hermione romance-y stuff. So, I've got a question which you are free to answer in the form of a REVIEW: Lucy Rigby- what do you think? My little OC- and she's not a carbon copy of Rita. That's only Harry's first impression of her… and, really, are Harry first impressions usually accurate? Anyways, let me know what you think, and btw: does anybody know where her name comes from? If you think you do… let me know that, also. I looove reviews so much. Okay. So, leaving now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, look out for the next Update.