Chapter 10
Molly didn't pay much attention to the sorting ceremony or the welcoming feast. She already knew all the staff and all the rules. There were no changes to Professor McGonagall's speech and the food was just a delicious as usual. Fred and Lily joined them at the Gryffindor table, beaming widely. Molly winked and gave them a thumbs up. She was the only person in the hall who didn't go back for seconds of each course; her mind was too preoccupied to eat much.
Walking through the corridors and jumping the trick stair all just seemed to pass in a blur and Molly wasn't even paying enough attention to remember the password. As if in a trance, she climbed the stairs to her dormitory and didn't even bat an eyelid at the fact her luggage had all been transported up to her room. Half-heartedly, she greeted the other girls in her room and sat on her bed, pulling her bag towards her. From it, she removed the small vial of potion which she'd carefully wrapped up in cloth and placed it on her bedside table before unpacking the rest of her clothes and school equipment.
Without another word to the other second year, Gryffindor girls, Molly pulled the curtains around her bed, changed into her pyjamas and folded herself into bed. She remained awake for a few hours, listening vaguely to the conversation around her until the room fell silent. Completely convinced that there was way too much buzzing around in her mind for her to sleep, Molly sat up and read through some of the textbooks she'd been set for that year.
The next morning, when the rest of the dorm awoke, that was still how Molly sat. Hunched over a pile of books, eyes scanning line after line of information. Nothing about her seemed at all tired. Her face was alert and her hair was still braided perfectly as it had been the night before. So as she followed the rest of the girls down the spiral staircase to the common room, it was impossible to tell that Molly hadn't slept.
"Double Herbology, Potions and History of Magic," Rosie sighed, looking at her timetable, "That has to be the most boring day ever!"
"At least we have Potions with the Slytherins," Matt reasoned, "That's always a laugh."
"Oh and we have History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs!" Rosie squealed.
Matt and Molly turned to look at her. "Looking forward to seeing someone, are we?" Molly teased.
"What? No! It's that that erm, we won't have to put up with Binns' lesson alone!" Rosie stumbled over her words, her cheeks turning pink.
"Sure," Matt laughed, "We won't be offended if you want to sit with Daniel instead of us, you know."
"Oi! Speak for yourself!" Molly joked, "That's my best friend, I have every intention of sitting with her in the most boring lesson in school."
"Someone's cheered up, I see," Rosie said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, yesterday you spent the entire day sulking and ignoring everyone. Care to explain that?"
"I thought it was fairly obvious that Daniel was being a prat," Molly argued.
"So you hold a strop for hours afterwards?" Matt questioned.
"It was a touchy subject!" Molly protested, "Perhaps Rosie here would like to enlighten us as to where she went on a certain train journey."
"I went to speak to your cousins," Rosie said simply.
"What? Why?"
"Because of what you told us about your parents. I wanted to see if they knew anything else."
"And you couldn't ask me, because…?"
"You weren't going to tell us in front of Kitty, Jamie or Daniel. Especially not Daniel."
"So what did you and your brilliant detective skills discover?"
"That your mum's annoyed at your dad and his family because she doesn't fit and your dad is spending more time with them than her."
"Who told you that?"
"James and Fred."
"Gits," Molly muttered.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"They're your cousins!"
"So? It's not like they heard and you know I love them really! Anyway, long story short, my mum got in a panic last year when everything was happening because it was basically torture for her staying home all the time. Then dad claims he wants to move house so he's closer to his family and he can make up for everything. Mum didn't want to leave our old house, I think she wanted to hold on to some normality."
"But you still moved," Matt said.
"Yep. And mum hates it. She tries to stop dad from using magic and then he says that he should be able to because it's part of who he is. He started leaving for work really early so he didn't have to see mum in the mornings and if they argued, he'd go straight to Uncle George's and not come back until the next day. Family meal time turned into grab some food and leave."
"Sounds like you had a fun summer," Matt said sarcastically.
"Yeah," Molly mumbled, "Brilliant."
"It'll be alright, Mol. Your mum will realise that your dad's just doing what's right. It's not like it's her fault she has to go through this mess."
Lessons were, as predicted, extremely boring, although Matt and Molly both got a laugh out of the face Rosie pulled when she saw Daniel in History of Magic. Her entire face blushed deeply and she began fiddling madly with her hair. Daniel, however, only had eyes for Molly, which Rosie didn't seem to notice. The Hufflepuff joined the three Gryffindors for the lesson (earning an excited squeal from Rosie and an exasperated sigh from Molly) and continuously tried to start a conversation with Molly. Just as she was considering throwing a Dung bomb at him, the bell rang and Molly and Matt sprinted towards the door.
"What a nightmare! I hope he doesn't do that every lesson!" Molly moaned.
"Hey Mol, you realise we have Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuffs tomorrow morning right?" Matt said, "Roz will be happy."
"And I'll find myself using a Fever Fudge if Daniel comes anywhere near me."
After dinner, the three made their way back up to the common room together, exhausted from their first day back. They collapsed into sofas by the fire to scan the extract Professor Slughorn had asked them to read for their next Potions lesson.
The common room began to empty and the sky had completely darkened outside by the time Molly and Rosie were making their up to bed. There was only one thing on Molly's mind; she couldn't help but wonder what was happening at home without her. Why couldn't everything just be normal?
The girls flopped down onto Molly's bed.
All Molly wanted was for everything to be fine.
Rosie yawned and stretched out her arms.
She wished her parents could just be happy!
Smash.
The potion on Molly's beside table tumbled to the ground.