CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

SNOWBABY

Aunt Audrey handles things pretty well in my opinion. She doesn't scream or cry. She holds Molly until she stops crying and then she goes into the kitchen to talk to the other adults. She refuses to go after Uncle Percy, she's pretty pissed about how he treated Molly. We don't know exactly where he is but we all just assume he's gone back to their house and nobody really cares - except Molly. She's distraught. But we all try to take her mind off of how he reacted. All of us kids - and Vic and Teddy - go and hang out in the livingroom. Freddie - as usual - is the first to break the silence.

"Didn't you drink firewhiskey at our party?" He asks bluntly. Molly shakes her head and explains about how she turned it into pumpkin juice.

"Why didn't you tell us Mol?" Asks Lucy before anyone can say anything. She looks hurt, "I get why you didn't tell Mum and Dad, I do. But what about us? We wouldn't have said anything. Why didn't you tell me? I'm your sister! You can trust me." Molly smiles at her sadly.

"I know Lu, but I just ... wanted to handle it alone. I thought I could handle it alone."

"You told Lily. And Jack. Why didn't you tell me?" Points out Lucy.

"Jack is the Father," She answers and mutters, "Unfortunately. And Lily-"

"She didn't really have a choice. I walked in on her throwing up." I laugh. Everyone joins in.

"So ... about Jack," Starts James, "Your Dad won't really do anything, we all know that ... but I'm going to hex him into the middle of last year when we get back to school!"

"Me too." Says Al, and Louis and Hugo nod their heads.

"Don't be stupid boys." Says Vic. Teddy agrees with her. That surprises me until he says:

"Yeah. I agree with Vic. You can't just hex them in the middle of the hallway, you have to be subtle - prank them. BADLY! And while your at it you can prank Lily's boyfriend!" He grins in his way only he can do. I smile but shake my head.

"God, not this again Teddy-bear. Leave it alone, will you." I tell him. But no one listens to me.

"See we would Teddy ... but she won't tell us who it is!" Says Al, and looks at me accusingly. Merlin, if he only knew.

"Can we please get back to talking about Molly's life."I ask. I think I said it a little too urgently because Vic and Rose both give me a weird look, but luckily the boys don't seem to notice.

"Aren't you worried Molly. Not just about being a Mother but - if my calculations are correct - the baby should be born in May. That's right in the middle of your exams. You can't be walking around Hogwarts with a massive belly, carrying all those books, getting bumped into. And don't even get me started on how stressful it will be. What are you going to do?" Asks Vic. A little bit of panic ignites in Molly's brown eyes, but for the most part she stays calm.

"I don't know. Maybe I can do them from home or ... I don't know. I just thought I'd cross that bridge when I came to it." There is a dramatic gasp from Freddie and we all look at him as if to say "why are you gasping".

"Oh my Merlin! Molly Weasley not planning ahead? I never thought we'd see the day." He puts on a fake shocked voice. Molly points at her stomach.

"Well, I didn't exactly plan this now did I?" She smiles, a little sadly.

"Did you mean what you said to your Dad, Molly? About how you care about the baby, how you want it?" Asks Roxie. Molly nods.

"Yeah. I mean, it's scary as hell and I have no clue what I'm going to do ... but I feel almost ... protective over this baby. I'm not going to give it up."

"Did you - Did you ever consider giving it up? Like for adoption or something?" Asks Rose.

"Of course I did ... for about a week. I was so scared when I realised, thought I was way over my head. And yeah, I considered it but then I knew I just ... couldn't. After I told Jack, he suggested I ... get rid of it, and I slapped him in the face. There was no way I was giving up my baby, but, of course, that doesn't mean I was any less terrified." Everyone laughs when she says that she slapped Jack in the face, and Dom high-five's her, though the boys do seem quite angry about it - the tips of Teddy's hair have gone red. Everyone seems quite happy for the rest of the evening and then we go up to bed. Molly sleeps peacefully and so do I.

When we go downstairs in the morning all the adults take turns at hugging Molly, telling her it'll all be ok, saying how we'll all support her. Everyone except Uncle Percy, who didn't come back last night. Molly is convinced that he hates her but we all tell her that's nonsense.

"You have to understand Molly," Says Uncle Bill, "You're his little girl and you always will be. You're still a child yourself and he always thought that he would have a lot more time to prepare for something like this."

"That doesn't give him the right to talk to our daughter the way he did!" Points out Aunt Audrey, who is still really, really mad.

"No, Audrey, it doesn't. But he is entitled to a bit of alone time to get his head around the idea. I'm sure when he comes back he'll be ... better about things." Says Uncle Bill. Aunt Audrey just pulls a face and doesn't reply. After breakfast her and Molly floo to St Mungos to make sure everything is Ok with the baby. While they are away I go outside and make a snow-woman (got the idea from Caleb's letter) holding a little snow-baby. My Mum comes out just as I'm putting on the finishing touches.

"That's really good, Darling." I smile at her and look at my sculpture proudly. It is quite good.

"Thanks Mum. What are you doing out here?" I ask her. Her face gets a weird expression. One she wears when she wants to talk about something akward or strange.

"All of us adults, we were talking, and ... Well, with Molly's situation ... We were- we were all wondering ... how many of you, I mean, you haven't ... have you?" She stutters and I am very confused.

"Haven't what, Mum?" I question.

"You haven't ... had sex have you?" Asks my Mum. I feel myself blush beet-red but I look my Mum in the eyes so she knows I'm not lying.

"No, Mum ... I haven't, um, y'know ... done that." She looks relieved momentarily.

"And your brothers, your cousins, they haven't ...?" This time I look at the ground.

"You'll have to ask them that question." I mutter. I hear my Mum sigh and I look up. She has one hand covering her face. Then she takes a deep breath and shakes her head.

"Never mind. I don't want to know." She laughs. And then she lets it go and goes inside. I love my Mum. She's so ... cool. For a Mum, anyway. When Molly gets back, she runs outside to tell me how it went.

"Well, is everything ok?" I ask her, worried about my little Godchild.

"Yeah. Well, the woman said that the baby was a little bit small, and she gave me a row for not telling someone sooner but apart from that ... my baby is completely healthy." She smiles and subconsciously rubs her stomach. I grin and give her a hug.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" I wonder aloud. She shakes her head and I make a pout-y disappointed face.

"No. It's a bit early. She said I could come back in maybe 2 weeks and find out but I don't think I want to. I'm kinda just getting used to it and if I find out the gender ... it makes it more serious somehow. I know I shouldn't, like, block it out - and I'm not - I've just had a ... very stressful couple of days."

"I get it. Besides, baby clothes come in all sorts of colours - yellow, white, green, orange, red ... ok I'm out."

"I am not dressing my child in orange." We laugh and then she looks at my sculpture, "Is that me? It's really good." I look at it again. It does sort of look like Molly, I guess.

"I guess. I was thinking about you when I made it but I wasn't really aiming for you if you know what I mean." We go inside. Sitting at the kitchen table, head in hands, is Uncle Percy, deep in conversation with Aunt Hermione and my Mum.

"Daddy? When did you get back?" Uncle Percy looks up and gives Molly a brief smile.

"Hey. Em, I just got in. I was hoping we could talk. About las-"

"Where's Mum?" Molly interupts.

"She, uh, She went upstairs. She doesn't want to talk to me, she's pretty mad. You know how she gets."

"Can you blame her? You did just abandon her and your daughter at a time when they needed you most." I say sarcastically without thinking. I cover my mouth in shock that I had actually said what I was thinking.

"Lily!" Scolds my Mum, but I can see in her eyes that she's slightly impressed.

"No, she's right, Ginny." He says to me then addresses Molly, " It was wrong of me to just leave, no matter how shocked I was. I'm not saying I'm not disappointed, or angry, but I'm not angry at you. I know you didn't ... I mean, gahh. Look, I love you. You are my daughter and I love you, that's all that matters. Am I upset about what this might mean for your future? Yes. But I will be there for you. No matter what." He tells her, his eyes glistening with tears. Molly smiles.

"I would cry, but I think I've run out of tears. I love you too, Daddy." She says and runs to him. They hug for a while until my Mum goes to get Aunt Audrey. She refuses to talk to Uncle Percy for a while, being the hilariously stubborn person she is, but then finally hugs him and they all smile. I feel like an outsider watching it, but I'm happy for Molly. I know life's just going to get harder for her, but right now, with her parents knowing about and excepting the baby, life must seem pretty damn close to perfect.

Damn close ... but not quite. The story of my life.

IMPORTANT - So another un-eventful chapter but the next one will be better. IT'S THE NEW YEARS EVE PARTY! LOTS of drama. Lily and Caleb WILL BE REVEALED. And there will be a few HINTS at other secrets too. Look forward to fun, fights and drama!

Read, Review, Please give any and all opinions that you have - as much detail as possible would be much appreciated. xx