Pairing: Molly/OC

:::

She's not interested in guys like him.

He's a little bit awkward, his hair looks like it's been electrified several times and his Ravenclaw tie is tied very incorrectly around his neck. They meet for the first time in the library, because he's supposed to make sure she doesn't fail her Astronomy exam in two months, and he accidentally knocks over an entire bookshelf when she shakes his hand. She sighs, her long practiced Slytherin attitude doing it's job rather well. And honestly, this must be the stupidest thing she's ever agreed to do. He's a fourth year after all and he's Dominique's idiotic best friend and if anyone of her friends ever finds out about this, she will kill him.

But then he smiles at her like that, and really, he shouldn't be able to do that to her. She's Molly Weasley II, for crying out loud. And Salazar, she doesn't even know his name.

(It's Chaskel Levinson, she finds out just a few seconds later, but he thinks that's the worst name in the world, so everybody calls him Chas; she decides this instant that she's not going to fall for this… loser. And she's going to call him Chaskel, thank you very much.)

He opens her textbook and doesn't smile at her for the entire hour, acting like a true Ravenclaw, slowly explaining every bloody thing there is about constellations and supernova's and all that other nonsense.

But when she eventually agrees to see him the next evening to continue their tutoring, he smiles at her again and she quickly looks away.

"Good night," she mutters, turning around, collecting her things, leaving him sitting there in the far away corner of the library, hoping that he didn't catch her blush.

It takes her a week and she learns everything about solar science and dying stars and planetary nebula, which turns out to be some sort of glowing, colorful emission, and then she's finally sort of ok with the fact that she's stuck with him for the next two months. He grins at her, making a silly joke about her being a cold-hearted Slytherin and she just laughs at him and calls him "Chaskel" and maybe, it's not as bad as it was before.

The next evening she watches him for a minute, sitting there with his textbook in front of him and his roll of parchment full of ink stains. And then she realizes that he's actually quite handsome. She quickly shakes the thought away as soon as he catches her staring at him though, and spends the entire evening avoiding his eyes.

The evening after that it's Friday and they don't have classes tomorrow morning and she accidentally stays much longer than the hour they agreed on. She doesn't learn anything about Astronomy, but she does find out that he's muggle-born, and has three sisters and a little brother called Boaz, who's only seven years old. He tells her that his mum is Jewish and his dad's Italian and that he's always secretly wanted to be a competition windsurfer, before he found out he was magic. He admits to her that he didn't know a thing about the Potters and the Weasleys and the war, before he met Dominique. He also mentions that he's sometimes a little bit freaked out when Professor Lupin's hair suddenly changes color during class and she laughs at that. She tells him that she was quite freaked out at first as well, but now that Teddy – "Professor Lupin, I mean" – is practically part of her family, she's not so surprised anymore. He asks her about her cousins and she describes every single one of them to him, actually smiling for once when she thinks about her family.

They talk and talk and she smiles and blushes a little, because her leg is slightly pressing into his and he's just… Well, before she knows it they're the only ones left in the entire library and Madame Pince kicks them out, because it's way over closing hours, and they're "supposed to be in their common rooms!".

He wishes her good night with a smile. "See you tomorrow?"

She bites her lip, hesitates for a second, because tomorrow is Saturday, and she's didn't really plan on spending her free evening with him. But she nods anyway.

He takes her to the top of the Astronomy tower, straight after dinner the next day, and they talk about stars and heartache and living up to expectations and she actually feels like he might understand.

He doesn't kiss her and she doesn't expect him too (she's still not sure if she even wants him to), and he's just an awkward fourth year Ravenclaw and she's practically a part of Slytherin's own royalty, so she supposes it wouldn't work any way.

But he does notice she's crying when she tells him about her break-up with Jonathan Zambini and he brushes away her tears and it's the most affectionate thing a boy has ever done to her.

:::

When she passes her exams in June she runs up to him and wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him full on his mouth in front of at least half the school and the majority of her family.

He smiles at her and kisses her back and she thinks all those long nights of studying were definitely worth it.