Molly/Fred

Prompt: Foolish

A/N: Sorry for the swearing :)

Foolish

June 30, 2021

A large celebration was taking place at the Burrow. James and Fred had finally graduated Hogwarts, and while James seemed thrilled and ecstatic, Fred was rather gloomy. He sat, slumped in the corner, sipping what had to have been his forth glass of mead since his family had arrived. His eyes darted over to where his mother was chatting with Aunt Ginny. Every so often her eyes would meet his, and the cold stare would make his cheeks flush, and he would hastily turn his head away. No one seemed to notice his wasn't taking part in the celebration. They were all too busy congratulation James, as he announced his desire to move to Romania to work with Uncle Charlie on the dragon reserve.

The celebrations continued well into the night; the laughter and joyous atmosphere making Fred groan in disgust and sink further into the floor. He hated the disappointment on his mother's face; the cold look in her dark brown eyes, the thin line of her pursed lips. It made him feel like a little boy again, being scolded for doing something foolish like setting his sister's hair on fire – as he had done once when he was eleven. He was seventeen, almost eighteen. He was in charge of his life, not her. That was what bothered him the most.

"It's a little foolish to be sulking at your own party," a small, high pitched voice interrupted his hateful thoughts. Fred looked up to see Molly standing above him, her red hair in two pigtails and a mischievous smirk on her face. The last thing he needed was to be scolded, especially by Molly. Though nothing like Lucy, Molly was the 'golden child' of the family. No one could ever find fault in the sweet, smart, kind Hufflepuff. Fred didn't have the patience to deal with her perfectness.

"Leave me alone, Molly," he grumbled darkly and turned his body away from her.

Instead, Molly just giggled and plopped herself down next to him. "Or what?" she taunted. "You'll grump at me?"

Fred sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. "What do you want?" he snapped.

The harshness of his voice surprised her a little, and her cheerful demeanour faltered ever so slightly. A part of him took delight in seeing her taken aback.

"I just want to make sure you're okay," she told him softly, reaching out to take his hand.

He jerked it back. "Well, I'm fine!" he shouted at her. "For Merlin's sake Molly, would it kill you to stop sticking your nose where you don't belong?!"

At this, Molly drew away, her brown eyes glistening with tears. "Alright," she whispered thickly and sniffed as she got up to leave. Fred instantly felt bad for her. He actually liked Molly – she was kind and thoughtful and always knew what to say, even if she was a little naïve at times.

"Wait," he muttered. "Molly I'm – I'm sorry… it's not you I'm angry at…"

She gave him a small smile and sat back down beside him. "Who are you angry at?" she asked him gently.

Fred turned away. He didn't want to talk about it. It was a typical Fred move. His mother had said he was 'foolish', that it was a 'foolish' thing to do, throwing his life away like that. It was hard enough to hear it from his mother, he didn't want all of his cousins telling him the same thing. Especially sweet, perfect little Molly.

"You know," Molly told him wisely, "It's sometimes easier to cope with things once you tell someone. Talk always helps."

She was still smiling at him. He though she was being awfully patient with him, acting like a thirteen year old brat. She was right of course, Molly was always right. Everything she did was right. Fred was the exact opposite. He always managed to fuck something up – whether it was with his grades, or his relationship with Emily, or Quidditch. He hated how he was such a failure. He hated how his mother roused him on it – telling him that he wasn't setting a good example for his sister. How he was letting her down. Letting his father down. Letting his namesake down. All he ever got told in his life was how terrible he was at things. How foolish he was. What a disappointment he was.

"Who are you angry at?" Molly prodded him, gently.

Fred clenched his hands into fists. "Everyone!" he hissed. "Her!" he pointed at his mother. "Them!" he pointed at his family. "Me!" he slammed his fists on the ground and let out a cry of frustration.

Molly watched him with pity. As though approaching an angry hippogriff, she reached out and took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Why are you angry at yourself?"

"I'm a fuck-up," he whispered bitterly, and if Molly was alarmed at his use of profanity, she didn't show it. "All I ever do is fuck things up. I'm just a failure."

He pulled out of her grip and pulled his knees up to his chest, burying his head into them. Molly patted his back.

"Why would you say that?"

He muttered a reply, but his voice was muffled by his knees.

"What was that?"

"I failed my NEWTs!" he cried out, lifting his head to look straight into her eyes. They were filled with such grief and disappointment, that it almost brought Molly to tears.

"Oh, Freddie," she muttered.

"I'm a fucking failure. And they," he pointed at the rest of the Weasley's all gathered around the living room, "They are all celebrating it. They're celebrating a fucking loser. They don't know I failed. But mum does. I'm surprised she didn't storm in and tell Granny straight away. You know what happened when I turned up?" his voice was ragged, and there was a slightly crazed look in his eye that frightened Molly a little. "She hugged me! She fucking hugged me! She told me how proud she was of me, and I just stood there, feeling like complete arse. I was too much of a coward to speak up. I just – I couldn't tell her – I can't tell her… she'd – "

He broke off and buried his head between his knees again. Molly continued patting his back.

"Granny loves you," she told him quietly. "Your mother does to. We all do, Freddie. We all love you."

"I've never seen her so disappointed in my life," he retorted.

"Well, of course she is," Molly reasoned. "My mother would be disappointed in me too, if I failed my NEWTs."

At this, Fred laughed. "As if you'd ever fail anything! You're the golden child."

"No one's perfect Fred," she said, seriously. "But just because Aunt Angelina is disappointed in you, doesn't mean she doesn't love you any less. You're her son."

"Even James passed. James. Fucking. Potter. He passed his NEWTs. You know what I did. I shagged Emily." Molly eyed him in surprise. "Yep, that's right. I shagged Emily for the first time, and James passed his NEWTs. Who d'you reckon's the prouder mother? Ginny or Angelina."

Molly sighed. "I don't know what you want me to say?" she cried out, exasperated. "Do you want me to comfort you? Scold you? Ignore you? Because I've tried all options and it's getting me nowhere!"

Fred ran a hand through his black, curly hair and sighed. "Could you just let me vent? I just need to let it out."

She nodded. "I can do that."

The two of them remained huddled together underneath the stairs, as Fred ranted and raved about his failures, and Molly listened and held him and for a moment, it was as though the two cousins were the only people in the world.

A/N: A bit more angsty. Poor Freddie :( Molly's a pretty patient listener though, if you ask me.

Ages: Molly (15), Fred (17)

For some reason, FF won't let me write NEWTs with fullstops between them, so I'm sorry for the continuous updates of the same chapter.

Please leave behind a review when you're finished. I love hearing your thoughts! :) xx