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13. Molly Weasley
Molly Weasley paused, her maternal radar chirping. After a second, she relaxed, dismissing the yell as one of playfulness instead of pain. Dropping the blue robes she was folding onto the orange bedspread, she crossed Ron's bedroom, meandering around the beds and stopping at the window. From here at the top of the tall, rickety house, precariously perched on the edge of the hill, the view was breathtaking.
The landscape rose and fell; the hills and valleys stretching out in front of her as far as the eye could see, in varying shades of green and brown. Tiny bright villages were scattered around and further in the distance were fields of cows, sheep and horses, grazing contentedly. It looked too perfect to be real, spoilt only by the ominous black clouds rolling in from a distant valley, occasionally obscuring the sun before allowing it to shine radiantly back through.
And yet Molly's eye was drawn to none of this, but instead to a different vision of beauty.
Down in the clearing at the end of the long garden were her husband and a troop of nine children - well, Molly corrected herself, most of them were of age now, no longer children but adolescents - eight messy bronze heads combined with two dark. All but three of the people were currently zooming around on broomsticks. The bushy brown head of Hermione was locked in what looked like an intense discussion with Percy, their feet firmly on solid ground alongside Arthur, who was calming observing the unevenly matched Quidditch game in front of him. Hermione was waving a book around, as if to prove her point, the sun reflecting off the gold lettering on the front. As Molly watched Percy nodded eagerly, his mouth forming a reply which caused the two of them to collapse with laughter.
Her attention was caught by a twin - she couldn't tell the difference from this distance - wielding a Beaters bat, smacking a Bludger with a satisfying crack. Bill twisted around the ball, his purple cloak billowing around him, and shot the red Quaffle smoothly through the makeshift goal hoop. Arthur applauded (stopping abruptly when his four sons on the opposing team glared at him) and Harry and Ginny cheered, surging towards Bill to exchange high-fives. The twins dragged Ron over to Charlie for what Molly assumed to be a re-evaluation of their game plan.
However, it didn't seem to work - Ginny and Bill scored continually, Ginny slipping through the tiny holes in their defence and Bill simply charging like a bull in a china shop, as Harry swooped around, waving a neon coloured bat in a seemingly random fashion. Molly wasn't sure if the Bludgers or simply Harry's bat alone would prove to be more of a threat to Charlie's team. Arthur's cheers were few and far between; he just didn't know which of his children to support. After being utterly thrashed for half an hour, Ron waved his arms in surrender, and slowly the seven fliers descended down to earth, chattering loudly, all trying to be heard at once.
Molly saw the first spots of rain appearing on the window as the brooms, balls and bats were packed away. The instant the key turned in the lock of the shed, the clouds cracked open and emptied their load over the ten people outside; the dawdling walk towards the house instead became a hasty dash towards the nearest tree. She couldn't help but laugh as the group crammed themselves under the branches of the oak tree. Hermione was looking panicked and her mouth was moving a mile a minute - Molly guessed she was either berating herself for leaving her wand inside, rendering her unable to charm them all to remain dry, or was worried that her book was wet. (She hoped it was the former.)
The torrential downpour only lasted a few minutes; the rain thinned out slightly until it was merely drizzling in a continuous drone. The sun was glinting through the raindrops, creating a dazzling display of bright white flashes, much like a million wizards all incanting 'Lumos' at once. The rain had increased the quality of Molly's view across the surrounding land - all of the dirt had been washed away, making the colours seem sharper. The scene before her was now, if possible, even more perfect, with the sun shining, hanging high above the thick layer of stormy cloud, complete with the vivid rainbow arching gracefully through the patchy blue and grey sky.
Yet Molly still seemed oblivious, looking down instead of forwards.
She recognised the smirks on the faces of the twins at the back of the crowd - it didn't matter which was which, that expression only meant trouble - and cringed slightly, unable to stop whatever it was they were undoubtedly planning. Both of them slowly reached up and wrapped their arms around the branch above the heads of the cluster of people. Suddenly they began to jump, and the branch they were clinging on to showered thousands more raindrops over the huddle. Through the open window, Molly heard the girls scream, the boys yell, and the twins cackle delightedly, and she couldn't resist giggling a little at the appearance of the bedraggled group below her.
As she laughed, Fred saw her framed in the window. "Mum!" he yelled, and nine other faces turned towards her, all of them wearing identical grins and waving enthusiastically.
Molly's face split into a beautiful smile. She didn't need the perfect view of the amazing landscape. She didn't need to look ahead - all she needed was right here.
Her family, coloured with love
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