A/N: My prompt for this chapter was "memories." I'm not JK Rowling, but the dialogue in italics near the end belongs to her from Deathly Hallows. The italics near the beginning are just a flashback.

May 2, 1998

The remnant of the Battle gathered into the courtyard at Hogwarts and stared at the procession of Death Eaters approaching them. In the silence of their footsteps, it was impossible to miss the noise of Hagrid's tears, and in his arms lay Harry Potter. Molly couldn't make out the words as Voldemort spoke to them, could barely concentrate on the exchange between Voldemort and Neville Longbottom- her eyes never left Hagrid, never left the boy she considered her son. Two sons, then, had died between last night's dinner and now. She looked out across the weary people surrounding her, thinking back to the news from only hours ago when all of her children were still alive.

"Molly." A pause. "Molly, it's time to go. Fred just got hold of me."

"What was that Arthur?" Molly asked airily, peeling her eyes away from their family clock. She'd had the clock for 15 years and hated it since the first of September when Ginny's name moved from "Traveling" right back to "Mortal Peril" when she should have been arriving at Hogwarts. Since that happened, Molly refused to let the clock out of her sight, even insisting on bringing it to Auntie Muriel's when the time came to leave the Burrow.

"I said, Fred just sent word that Harry, Ron, and Hermione are back at Hogwarts. We're fighting."

"It's time! Oh Merlin, it's time!" she said, dropping the clock and shattering it to pieces as she ran to hug her husband. With a quick swish of her wand, the clock repaired itself and hung itself on the wall. As she put on her traveling cloak, she said, "Are the others already there?"

"As far as I know."

"How are we getting in?"

"George said we're to Apparate directly into the Hog's Head. A passageway has opened up between there and Hogwarts somehow." He held out his hand to his wife. "Shall we?" She nodded, clasped her hand into hers, and they began to spin.

Had it really only been hours ago? So much had happened between now and then; her fight with Ginny, the preparation of Hogwarts for battle, the chaos as Death Eaters and creatures fought their way inside, the horror of watching the school begin to crumble. The people inside who crumbled with it.

People around her were moving, and she blindly followed them back into the Great Hall where the fighting continued. Molly threw a few half-hearted curses around, but couldn't bring herself to really duel- until she realized the way that Death Eaters were teaming up on the other children.

Something about watching Neville take on a Death Eater by himself reignited the fire inside of her, and her passion returned to her fighting. Harry was gone, Fred was gone, but so many more were alive, breathing, dueling with even more heart than they had just hours beforehand. Maybe there was something worth fighting for after all. She turned to the nearest Death Eater and began sending out curses.

Across the room, she saw Bellatrix dueling three students. Molly could see the bushy hair of Hermione, the long blonde hair of Luna, and in between them- Merlin, no. The Death Eater she was dueling fell to the ground with the impact of her curse, and she threw off her cloak as she ran. "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

No, not her daughter. Not her daughter. Even as Molly heard Bellatrix's maniacal laughter, even as she yelled, "OUT OF MY WAY!" to anyone in her path, her mind was racing through the memories of her only girl, the daughter she'd wanted more than anything.

She remembered holding her hands as she learned to walk, toddling around the living room of the Burrow. A little while later, Ginevra as a three-year-old approached her to let her know that she hated her name and wanted to be called Fred, like her brother. Molly remembered her depression and eventual acceptance of being called Ginny instead. Ginny declaring that she hated the color pink and insisted on having her room repainted yellow instead. Each memory seemed to be the fuel for another curse, and Molly's magic had never been stronger than it was in those moments.

Ginny playing dress up. Watching Ginny through the kitchen window as she snuck rides on her brothers' brooms. The way she asked over and over again to hear the story of Harry Potter. The look on her face when she first met him at King's Cross. The letters she sent home as a young girl at Hogwarts. The complaints from teachers about Bat Bogey Hexes being performed in the hallways between classes. The note from Slughorn that her exceptional magic had her a place in the Slug Club. The summer of confusion when celebrity crush turned to love. The fury in her eyes that she had been fighting with moments ago as she avenged the man she loved. With each memory, each flash of magic, Bellatrix's confident grin began to turn to a scowl. Out of the corner of her eye, Molly could see others approaching to help her.

"No! Get back! Get back! She is mine!" No one was going to take her daughter away, and she had to see to that herself.

There seemed to be no one else in the room but Bellatrix as they continued to duel, and Molly knew each curse either of them sent was intended to kill. Molly remained in the present as Bellatrix began to taunt her. "What will happen to your children when I've killed you? When Mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?"

"You-will-never-touch-our-children-again!" She punctuated each word with a curse. Seven words for her seven children. A curse for Bill, one for Charlie, one for Percy. The curse for Fred punctuated the word "touch" and Molly could barely contain herself as she sent her magic toward Bellatrix. A curse for George, one for Ron. She screamed the word "again!" and thought of Ginny as Bellatrix laughed. A flash of green light left her wand and it was with nearly hysterical triumph in her eyes that Molly watched the curse strike her chest.

Bellatrix barely hit the floor before Molly started running to her daughter. She was vaguely aware that Voldemort turned his attention to her, but didn't face him. Molly had to get to her baby girl. A Shield Charm rose to protect her and in the chaos of knowing that Ginny was safe, she almost thought it was Harry who cast it. But it didn't matter either way. Soon she was there, her arms squeezing Ginny closer, and against her chest she could feel her daughter's pounding heart and it overwhelmed her to know that it was still beating.