Hey everyone,
And with this, we are closing of the Stone Arc, as I decided to call it. And yes, those of you who wanted this, you're about to get your tearful, heartfelt, emotional finale, so to say.
You're welcome,

Venquine1990
PS. Please note that the Preview of Chapter 48 has been replaced with the full chapter. Please read that before reading this one.

Chapter 49
Prewetts At Peace

18th of May 1996
The Burrow, England
Harry's POV

It took me a few weeks to get this meeting with Mrs. Weasley arranged.

The biggest hindrances were the fact that my OWL exams were only a month away and approaching fast.

The biggest challenge was keeping the reason for my visit, other than wanting to see the woman again, a secret from her.

Thankfully, somehow, neither Dumbledore, Remus or Madam Bones told anyone of their own experiences, which I guessed they did out of a desire to keep these experiences private.

I really can't blame them.

I had also had to challenge myself. At first I wanted to keep it secret from everyone that I was changing my schedule.

But then I remembered what all of Gryffindor was willing to do for me after Ron had his meeting with them and I decided to just admit it.

I told Ron in the Great Hall during breakfast last Monday and spent the rest of the day observing the students.

There had been a few who had heard me and they had made sure that most of Gryffindor – and even a few people in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff – knew about it by lunch time.

Yet while a few students, such as Susan, asked me if I really was ready for this, everyone else proved that Ron's words had hit home.

They didn't care,

So they let me be.

I had told Susan that it was a test, to see if I could do more like this over summer and next year. The girl had smiled at me and only then I had remembered that my dad's best friend is now dating her aunt.

I had apologized to her for forgetting this and asked her to sit with us over lunch. She had wondered if that was allowed and Hermione had told her that students were only obligated to sit at their House Tables during official feasts.

Susan had happily joined us.

By now I'm standing in front of the Floo in the Marauder Chambers, as dad told me they were dubbed by my father in 1974.

A few minutes ago I had been really nervous and even wondered how I would have to arrange the rest of this meeting once I got to the Burrow.

But dad had reminded me of how great I had handled the decision to let Madam Bones reunite and say goodbye to her brother.

I had realized that, because the Burrow is so big and because I haven't been there since 1994, I could just go and reacquaint myself with the place while Mrs. Weasley took her chance.

I had thanked dad with a smile.

I am also grateful to McGonagall and Flitwick as they, when they learned what I wanted to do, gave me the chance to practice travelling by Floo.

It took me the better part of last Saturday afternoon and I'm still not quite there, but at least I don't trip and slide out of the grate anymore.

Though just stepping out still isn't too easy either and I still envy those who make it look as if they're just stepping over a doorstep or something.

"Wow, Harry. Well done. You must have practiced."

I don't know whether to feel amused or annoyed at the praise, so I just let it slide and smile at the woman as she engulfs me in one of her signature hugs.

And while, before everything went down, I felt somewhat uncomfortable at how tight and smothering her hugs were, this is no longer the case.

It suddenly hits me that, the way that the woman stood up for me earlier this year, my chance to say goodbye to my father and Sirius becoming my dad are all factors that contributed to this.

And the fact that, in a few years from now, this woman will be my new mother-in-law makes the smile on my face grow a small bit.

"It's so great to see you again, dear. I know it's for your own safety and if anyone deserves their privacy, it is definitely you. But there are just times where I can't help myself and worry for you. Worry that you're there, all by yourself."

I smile at the woman as we take a seat at the kitchen table. Yet while I try not to make it too obvious, I make sure to take the seat closest to the door to the garden.

I fail.

"Oh, if you would rather go outside, that's fine, dear." A snort escapes my throat through my nose and I decide to change the conversation for a few more minutes:

"Mrs. Weasley, I know you know who my help is. If you want to help me while I'm at home, you can just call him. He'll come, I assure you. You share a desire to help me get better, after all."

The woman laughs and admonishes herself for not thinking about this. Yet before she can start rambling, I change my mind and steel my resolve.

I remember what dad told me just before I left and decide to just see this course of action through. And while I cringe at my own opening line, I start:

"Speaking of having a desire to help. Mrs. Weasley, before – everything went down – on the day our letters came in and you decided to throw that party to celebrate Ron being a Prefect.

I know, please. (the woman falters in her attempt to respond).

Moody gave me a picture of the original Order of the Phoenix. He – he told me –

About your brothers."

The woman's eyes widen. She asks me if we really need to discuss this now that there's not going to be a war against Voldemort.

As a response, I pull the Resurrection Stone from my pocket and put it on the table in front of her. The woman looks at the Stone and after a minute, her eyes widen.

I get up out of my seat and whisper: "You deserve it. Consider it my way of thanking you. For everything and especially for how you stood up for me when it mattered."

I leave for the garden.

I close the door behind me.

Molly's POV

Amelia warned Arthur the other night that, because he's still going through the test, Harry might have a second, unexpected reason for coming over.

Even that warning hadn't prepared me for how this whole thing went or what is lying on the table in front of me.

I really don't know how to feel.

It suddenly hits me that, while Amelia didn't feel like sharing her own experiences, she had indeed had her own chance already.

Yet I am too shocked and too transfixed on the small pebble in front of me to wonder how her reunion with her brother – or perhaps her parents or niece – had gone.

Yet the more I think about it, the more confidence that she had chosen to say goodbye to her brother helps me to calm down from the shock.

Tears start to gather in my eyes as I reach out for the Stone. And up until the moment my hand closes around it, the little piece of powerful magic feels – and looks – as if it lies on the other side of the room.

Yet as soon as it lies in my hand, my heart seems to slow down its erratic beating. I know I'm just imagining it – or maybe not – but I can almost feel Harry's empathy and his genuine desire to thank me as I hold this little bit of nature.

For a moment it dawns on me that the Potters/Peverells were the first owners of the magical object held within my grasp.

The Resurrection Stone might look like a regular little rock with a lot of scratches on it. But to people like me, it's more valuable than all of the gems that can be found in all Gringotts branches all across the world.

I take several deep breaths, not just to calm down my breathing together with my still slightly erratically beating heart, but to also regain the confidence needed to commit to the task that Harry obviously placed upon my shoulders.

I hardly need to focus on my memories of my brothers, as they have been on my mind since they were killed and all the more since last June.

I roll the Stone in my hand.

Their spirits appear.

I let out a gasp as my emotions overwhelm me.

Both of my brothers smile at me and, while they are translucent, they take seats. Gideon takes Harry's and it startles me to see that the seat next to it is also slightly off the table.

With a start I realize that Harry must have moved it this way as he left to go outside.

Part of me wants to call him back in, part of me wants to go to the Floo and call Arthur. But the biggest and strongest part of me keeps me in my seat.

"It's good to see you again, Molly-Wolly."

"We really miss talking with you on the other side, you know?"

"And yeah, we get the chance to see you raise our nieces and nephews."

"But –."

Here Gideon holds silent and I whimper: "It's just not the same."

The two nod, yet they keep smiling as they repeat my statement. The warmth in their voices somewhat masking the pain that is trying to sound through.

"I – I just don't know what to do sometimes."

It takes everything I have to admit this. My brothers glance at each other for a moment and then Fabian says: "You used to have that problem before we died."

With a startled laugh I realize that he's right. The startled laugh also makes me look up for a short moment as I had looked down, not wanting to see their transparent forms.

"Do you think me a good mother?"

Gideon seems hesitant to reach across the table, yet he does so regardless. I can't help myself. I hold my breath, ready to shudder in reaction the cold.

Yet just like their tone, his touch is actually somewhat lukewarm, even if I don't feel anything more than a sensation similar to a warm breeze that seems to have been frozen in time above the skin on my arm.

"We kind of, sometimes, wish you had been the one to raise us instead of our own mother."

I want to snap and yell at Fabian for this as mother had been amazing and wonderful and had been the one to encourage me to take my chance with Arthur.

Yet then I remember that, when we were young, Gideon and Fabian would often complain about how distant mum was with them and I would respond with statements of jealousy over how close they were with dad and how he spent all his free time with them.

The war against Voldemort only made that worse as mum was determined to let dad train my twin brothers to be warriors, soldiers even. She had even been the one to arrange for them to be invited and inducted into the original Order of the Phoenix.

All the while, dad would only have meetings with Gringotts and the Ministry to arrange the official stuff about my wedding to Arthur and to make sure my new husband would get himself a steady job so he could support us.

Suddenly a memory comes to mind.

It's Christmas of 1967. My and Arthur's seventh year. We're already engaged to be married and are thinking of having the wedding during next year's Christmas.

"Now Arthur, remember. A good husband provides for his family. Your job is highly important and you need to pay proper attention to it at all times.

I also expect you to treat your kids right."

There really is no mistaking what dad means with those words. They piss me off, yet I know that unleashing my famous temper won't get me anywhere with this man.

By now, after almost six and a half years at Hogwarts and almost 14 years of conscious memory, I know just where my dad expects me to be and what he thinks of me.

The fact that I haven't ever received a letter from home from him in six years is a clear message, no matter how much mum tries to include him in her letters to me.

At the same time, thanks to rumors that are spreading that someone might try to cause conflict between the Purebloods and the Muggleborn sometime in the next few years – and because dad is a decade older than mum – I know I cherish any sign of affection that he sends my way.

Then Arthur proves why I'm so crazy about him and why mum is so happy that I found him.

"Sir, with all due respect. Like I told Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy the other day, you and I have a very different view of "right".

I understand why "right" means money, wealth, reputation and stability to you.

But it means reliability, trust, respect and care to me. So yes, I intend to treat my kids, as many as your daughter is able to bless me with, right.

My kind, not yours."

Everyone is silent, Fabian seems not to notice that the lettuce has fallen off of his spoon and Gideon is sending me a look that makes me wonder if he feels sorry for either me or Arhtur.

"And that's why you're marrying my daughter. You're a man, a wizard, and you're not afraid to prove it.

Well done, son."

Needless to say, dad left us all speechless that night. Yet as I think back, I suddenly remember that he left the table shortly after.

And that for the rest of the few minutes he needed to finish his meal, he was either really quiet or short with his answers and replies.

My eyes widen.

"Yeah, dad was actually a little upset that we got here before Arthur."

Gideon says as he notices this sign that I made my realization.

"Believe it or not, sis, but he adopted Arthur into his heart the same way you did Harry."

"Then Charlus and Dorea, James and Lily, Dorcas and the others joined us and they worked together to set dad straight."

"Don't get us wrong. He still has his quirks, he's still as stubborn as a mule ("Sometimes more stubborn." Fabian interrupts) and he still has relapse moments."

"But trust us when we say this."

"You're not going to recognize him when you see him."

I want to laugh at this and yet I can't. Instead, I look up, seeing my ghost brothers yet again yet not looking down like I've been doing this entire time.

"Does he hate me? For the fact that I only think of Arthur, my kids, Harry or you guys?"

Fabian and Gideon share a long look and then give me the answer I didn't know I needed: "I don't think he even noticed."

I don't even care to ask if that's because of his quirks or what he was like or if it has another reason.

I just feel too relieved to care.

My brothers move out of their seats and move over. They don't hug me, like I'm sure they want to and which I desperately want to, but they move their bodies in such a way, that warm sensation envelops me.

For once in my life I feel like I'm at the receiving end of one of my own hugs.

A few minutes later Harry, who seems to have spotted me being alone again, walks in. He wraps his arms around my shoulders and before he can apologize, which I can see in his eyes he wants to, I whisper a soft word of gratitude.

Arthur finds us like this an hour later when he comes home from work. He gives Harry a hug and Harry, suddenly looking awkward, apologizes and tells us that he has to go, that a House Elf is waiting to bring him home.

Arthur grimaces and declares how sorry he is that he wasn't able to come home sooner. In return Harry promises that, next time, he'll make the appointment with us sometime sooner so Arthur will have more time to arrange things with work.

We both thank him and the boy leaves. Yet whether Arthur knows it or not, I'm not just thanking Harry for his consideration.

I'm thanking him for bringing me peace. I'm thanking him for giving my brothers the chance to leave this world peacefully and with a smile, instead of gruesomely and with grimaces of intense pain on their faces.

I just know that those horrid images might still haunt my nightmares from time to time, but now – together with Arthur and my children – I have another new and strong memory to help me recover if that happens.

I'm sure that these nightmares will lessen in quantity now that I've been given this incredible chance, this truly heartfelt gift.

Good on you, Molly.
Okay, so maybe it's still not the highly emotional rollercoaster that some of you might have expected, but I tried my best.
I just realized how little we really know about Molly's youth and the lives her brothers led, so I decided to take a chance.
To me, the most important goal of this story was exactly what I wrote at the end. Going by one of the earlier chapters of OotP (Molly's Boggart), I just felt that this would be something that would do the woman a lot of good.
If you disagree with me, let me know.

See y'all,

Venquine1990
PS. As I said earlier, this story will be finished by the December update and you can expect at least one more chapter sometime tomorrow, on the first.