Mrs. Weasley was getting the last of the food ready when Harry came downstairs to the kitchen.
"Hello, Molly," he said, planting a friendly kiss on her cheek.
"Harry! Happy birthday my dear," she said as she gave him a hug. Molly then gave Dumbledore, Sirius, James, and Lily each a hug. "You must be Amos' boy," she said to Cedric. Cedric shook Molly's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley," he said.
"No, no, please call me Molly. It makes me feel younger," she added quietly. Cedric smiled. He instantly liked Molly. She was warm and caring, and from the smell lingering in the kitchen, an amazing cook.
"Everybody is already outside," said Molly. "Oliver Wood dropped off a spare box of Quidditch supplies. He said that he was sorry that he couldn't stay, but there is a game tomorrow that he has to train for."
"I guess we'll head outside than. I expect that some people still don't know we're here, judging from Tonks' reaction," Sirius said.
Everyone went outside to surprise those who hadn't known about Hermione's potion. Everyone, that is, but Lily. Her motherly instincts began to kick in, and she helped Molly clean up a little bit.
After a few minutes of silence, Lily said, "Molly, I'd like to thank you for looking after Harry. It seems like your whole family has had some sort of impact on him." Molly put down the plat she was holding, and placed a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder.
"Your son is an amazing man, and I'm glad that I had the chance to raise him the best I could; although, he was at school most of the time. As you can imagine, I was more than thrilled when he and Ginny got married. I don't think I've ever seen two people so deeply in love at such a young age." Lily sat down on the closest chair.
"I feel like I don't even know my own son!" she exclaimed. Molly sat down across from her.
"Welcome to my world. I have six sons."
"Six! Poor Ginny! To be the youngest, and the only girl!" Molly laughed.
"Sometimes I feel like I don't know my own sons. Bill lived in Egypt for a while, but moved back here to England, and got married. He doesn't really talk much, at least not after he was attacked a few years ago. Charlie still lives in Romania; he works with dragons there. Percy went to work for the Ministry about six years ago, and called us all liars when we tried to tell everyone that You-Know-Who was back. We haven't seen him since, save for one time a few years ago. Fred and George own a joke-shop in Diagon Alley. They're married to Angelina and Katie; both sweet girls who have their hands full with them. And, of course, you met Ron and Ginny. Now then, I've bored you enough with my family history, say we go outside?" Lily smiled.
"No, no, I like what I've heard about your family. I always wanted a large family, James did too." She looked towards the back door. "Did you know that Harry is exactly the same age as I was when I-" Lily stopped. She couldn't say, "died". It felt too awkward. Not when she was standing in front of her son's surrogate mother of sorts.
"I know what you mean, Lily. And no, I didn't know that. I can't imagine…at such a young age! Why, I was that age when I had Bill! It must be heard to come back after so many years. Albus was gone for five years, but he didn't miss a child's whole life. Let me tell you, Harry takes after his Father (from the stories I've heard). Rules just don't seem to apply to him." Lily laughed. It was true. The famous, or rather, infamous Marauders really didn't like to play by the rules.
"Well, Molly," she said. "I think we should go to the party before they send a search party in after us."
A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I really wanted this friendship to form between Molly and Lily. Ok, I'm going to pass along this website that I've been using to make sure all my facts are correct. Apparently, J.K. Rowling likes this site a lot too! It's: Check it out! Until next time (and don't get used to updates this often).
Tina101