Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition

Team: Holyhead Harpies

Position: Keeper

Prompt: Molly Weasley

Word Count: 1,246

Summary: Some moments between two unlikely friends as they grow up.

A/N: I can't write Molly Weasley to save my life. So please forgive me if I haven't quite done her justice. Also, I've got Molly and Lucius Malfoy as the same age and no one in the Weasley family dies in my world.

Warning: Brief insinuation of child abuse.

You and I will walk together again

At every event that brought some of the Pureblood community together, two children found their way to each other and a steadfast friendship existed through these meetings.

Today, the day Lucretia Black married Ignatius Prewett was no different.

Molly gently dabbed the paste over the dark purple bruise marking Lucius' pale skin. He would flinch a little if she pushed too hard with her fingertips, but he never complained or vocalised his pain.

"Why do you have this with you?" Lucius asked, picking up the small glass jar from the garden wall he sat on. "It's a wedding."

Molly, still focused on spreading out the paste on Lucius' jawline, said, "For my brothers. They're always getting up to no good." She stopped dabbing and could already see the purple colour dissipating. "What was it this time, Lucius?"

She took the jar from him and shoved it deeply into one of the hidden pockets in her dark blue dress, her favourite dress that her mother had relented on her wearing to the wedding of her uncle. She hopped onto the wall beside Lucius and stared out at the large expanse of countryside before them.

Molly felt Lucius finally shrug, after a few minutes of quietly watching the sheep in the distance. "I said the wrong thing the wrong way. Who knows," Lucius said with a heavy sigh.

"At least we'll be at Hogwarts soon. He can't hurt you there," Molly said gently, patting at the hand resting on his leg.

The chatter of the wedding guests started to get louder as more of them came out of the house, ready to take their seats on the large front lawn. Molly watched Lucius look over his shoulder at them, scowling as his mother and father came into view.

"I'm never getting married. I'm never having children. The Malfoy line can die with me," he muttered darkly.

Molly sat up straight. "But what if you fall in love?" she asked, a smile lifting the corner of her lips at the idea of being in love. She couldn't wait to get married one day.

"Molly Prewett, you will ruin that dress!" Molly's mother walked around the garden wall to stand before the two children. Both Molly and Lucius shrunk down a little under Mrs Prewett's gaze. Her dark green eyes gave them a stern look, before they landed on Lucius' jaw and instantly became tender. "Oh, Lucius," she finally said quietly.

Molly looked at him, his cheeks going a light pink while her mother looked at the fading bruise.

Lucius quickly jumped off the wall and walked away, not saying a word of goodbye to either of them.

Mrs Prewett gave Molly a forced smile. "Come on, my love. Let's take our seats."

Molly took her mother's offered hand and got off the wall, careful not to let her dress pull on the rough brick. "Do you think I should marry Lucius when I'm older, Mum?"

"That's not a conversation for today," Mrs Prewett said, not looking at Molly. But the vice-like grip on her hand when she asked the question was enough to make Molly understand that she would not accept her marrying Lucius Malfoy.

XXX

Some Years Later

Over the course of their time at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucius' friendship wasn't as strong as they thought it would be. One became a Gryffindor and one a Slytherin, and enough was said about that.

But one tradition had stuck between them.

Every year, on the last evening of the school year, they would find themselves sat on a wall by the Herbology greenhouses. Not quite hidden away, but quiet enough to never be bothered by anyone. They would catch up properly and discuss the family events they had to attend over the summer.

And the last evening of their last school year was no exception.

Molly let a small drop of Dittany fall on the burn on Lucius' forearm; the product of brushing against one of the more dangerous plants loitering outside greenhouse two.

"All these years and you still look after me," Lucius said with a crooked smile.

"Not that you deserve it," she muttered, pushing the stopper back into the bottle.

"You're still angry about Weasley, aren't you?"

Molly let out a loud huff, getting off the wall. "Yes, I'm still angry, Lucius. You really hurt Arthur and he didn't deserve it."

"He doesn't deserve you," Lucius said sullenly, yanking a leaf off a nearby plant.

"Says who?" She rounded on him, her hair almost crackling with her instant anger. "You? The boy who is never getting married and thinks love is a fairytale?"

Lucius jumped off the table, standing at his full height. He towered over Molly after a growth spurt over the last year, but Molly wasn't one to back down to someone taller than her.

"You're a stupid fool, Molly Prewett. One day you'll realise how cruel the world actually is and wished you'd picked someone with an actual backbone!"

Molly felt her wave of anger pulse out of her which caused a nearby empty plant pot to shatter. "So much for you not becoming like your father," she said sharply, dangerously.

She stormed out of the greenhouse, accepting that whatever friendship she'd had with Lucius as a child was well and truly over. It had been inevitable as they'd been talking less and less during their time in Hogwarts, but this was it.

XXX

An Hour After the Battle of Hogwarts

Molly stood before Lucius who was sitting on one of the benches in the Great Hall. He was hunched forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his head hung low, staring at the floor. His clothes were ripped at various seams, his hair a ratty mess and his hands shook as he clasped them together. Molly didn't look much better, but she wasn't bothered about herself. Her children were safe and the world was correcting itself.

Lucius lifted his head to reveal a large, angry graze on his cheek. Molly sighed as she quietly sat by him, pulling out a jar from her skirt pocket. Lucius watched her unscrew the lid, her own hands shaking too, adrenaline long depleted from her body.

Like the years of not talking hadn't happened, Lucius turned his head without being asked and Molly applied the paste to his cheek. Much like when he was a boy, he didn't vocalise his pain, but she felt his cheek muscle tic as he gritted his teeth.

"I tried not to be like him," Lucius finally said.

"I know."

Lucius leant away slightly from Molly's touch to look at her. "How do you know?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Draco is spoilt. That's how I know."

Lucius opened his mouth to argue, but no words came out. Molly turned his head again to finish applying the paste, the redness already getting less vibrant. "At least he will be better than me."

"So much for the Malfoy line dying with you." Molly purposefully pushed at his jaw when she was done.

An unexpected smile started to appear on Lucius' face. "I fell in love," he admitted.

"And do you deserve her?" Molly asked, putting the jar back in her pocket.

"Of course I don't."

Molly laughed with him, something they hadn't done since they were ten years old. Then Lucius put a hand over hers on Molly's lap. "I didn't deserve you either."

"No." Molly patted his hand. "You didn't."