Summary: Molly was tasked to find some presentable dress robes for her children. Holding onto a few memories happened to payoff after all.

Rated: K

Genre: Family, General

Warning Tag: N/A

Mending Memories

It was a cold, crisp morning at The Burrow, but the weather wasn't going to dampen Molly Weasley's spirits. She received a few letters while she was having breakfast and was thrilled to see that they were from Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Fred and George respectively. It was rare to get so many letters at one time, especially from her children. Hedwig gave a gentle squawk at Molly for a quick treat to rejuvenate her.

"Feel free to rest a while with Errol in the barn while you wait," Molly said to the snowy owl as she read the letters.

Hedwig chirped in reply, eying the plate of toast in front of Molly. The witch pulled a piece of crust off and offered it to the bird.

"Dress robes for a ball!"

Molly got to her feet immediately and checked the calendar. "Oh goodness, those children certainly know how to wait until the last minute to inform me of time sensitive matters, Hedwig."

The owl fluffed herself up and relaxed, giving Molly the appearance that she had shrugged in agreement. She re-skimmed two of the letters and promptly removed the small pouch of coins that she only now realized were attached to Hedwig's leg.

"At least three children are taken care of," Molly said with a relieved sigh, feeling the heavy bag of Galleons Harry sent for his robes. It felt to be far too much money to purchase just one set, but she dismissed it as Harry being over-cautious.

"I better get started on figuring out robes for Ginny and Ron," she tapped her finger on her chin. "Fred and George claim to have theirs covered."

Muttering under her breath a tired rant about how her twins earned their money, she finished her breakfast before making her way up to the attic of her tall, creaky home where the ghoul lived. It paid her no mind as she lit her wand and started rummaging through the dusty boxes that were abandoned up there. Opening the first box, she found the scrap fabric she'd need and shifted it to the exit and went for the next one. Placing her wand between her teeth, she reached for two other boxes and tripped over one of the three cracked cauldrons she didn't remember putting up there.

"Those twins cracking cauldrons from their silly pranking concoctions!" she hissed under her breath as she inspected them. "Thought they were being clever hiding them up here with you."

The ghoul moaned in reply. Molly placed the least damaged cauldron by the exit to put it to use before sorting through old garments that she collected when her mother passed away. There was a photograph tucked away at the bottom. She pulled it out and examined a much younger version of herself looking back at her. The young Molly was giggling as she stood between her older brothers. They were dressed in their best robes for someone's wedding—she assumed—and the foggy memory made her eyes water.

Placing the photograph back in the box, she pulled out one of her brother's old dress robes and examined it. Silverfish must have got to it as some areas of fabric had a few small holes in it. Sighing, she laid it over the cracked cauldron and pulled out the dress that she wore in the picture and looked it over.

"Looks like both of these items will need some work," Molly muttered to herself, feeling a little discouraged at the task ahead as she carefully levitated her findings down through the trapdoor before climbing down and closing up the attic.

Moll carefully hung the outfits on the clothesline and inspected the old dress robes in the sunlight outside. She carefully casted the mending charm on the holes of the garments. The lace on her brother's robes seemed to have completely disintegrated away, and the tulle on her dress was frayed and torn, but the little holes were easily repaired.

"Diffindo," Molly uttered, using a practiced hand to carefully slice the damaged tulle and remains of lace from the garments that were irreparable with magic.

Once she was sure the damaged areas were fixed or removed, she grabbed the cracked cauldron and filled it with water and soap and carefully placed the dress into it. As she allowed it to soak, Molly turned back to the dark purple robes and gave them another thorough look over to make sure there was no hidden damage anywhere.

Other than being dirty from storage, they were in good shape. "You just need a little wash and a quick fix here and there."

Molly often talked to herself while she worked, muttering out a recipe as she cooked or, in this case, what the garments needed to have done. She carefully cleaned her old dress in the cracked cauldron, reviving its bubblegum pink color back to almost new again. Pinning it up to dry, she got to work on the other robes, shortly followed by the scrap fabrics. It was lunchtime by the time the cleaning was done, but it didn't stop her from finding busy work while her projects air dried in the rare winter afternoon sunlight.

Before long, she used a hot air charm on the still damp fabrics and started on mending the robes since it had the least work needed. Finding a few old pink-dyed lace doilies, Molly used the slicing chrm to slice them into even strips for the sleeves before scouring for a larger one to use for the neckline. Once she started stitching them all together, Molly fell right into her element. The robes looked like they did exactly in the old photograph when she was done and was proud of her handiwork.

"Perfect. Ron will look so handsome in you." She glanced at the clock and her face fell slightly. "Is that really the time?"

Sighing, she will have to work on Ginny's tomorrow. Arthur would be home soon and supper was needing made and evening chores were waiting to be done.

Molly needed to find a balance in mending her old dress. She was becoming frazzled with the simple looking outfit after she finished trimming off the damaged pieces. It didn't look completely awful, but she didn't want her only daughter to wear something so plain and easy to overlook to the ball.

It was disastrous, if she had to describe it. There was little she could work with in terms of scrap materials. All she could even consider using was some mint-colored tulle and fabric.

"I'm running out of time," She huffed out in aggravation as she moved around the outfit hung up in the kitchen, trying to picture how she wanted to modify the dress with the pop of extra color.

Making a few measurements, Molly chewed her lip as she double checked measurements and eyed the tulle nearby. If she did this right, there will be just enough on hand. But before she could risk it, she would tend to the shoulder straps first. Shaping and stitching those were easy, and once finished, it really helped her feel confident about the color choice. It blended quite nicely with the pink.

"Now to get the skirt handled," she said with a puffy breath.

Taking out her measurements and roughly made pattern, Molly laid out the tulle on the table and traced the oval shape on it before checking the measurements a final time. Levitating the material, she subconsciously held her breath as she silently cast the severing charm along the outline. First layer was a success. She repositioned the remaining pieces and sketched out a smaller oval shape and slowly sliced the shape free.

"Hardest part done," Molly said almost joyously while taking in a relieved breath. "Now let's get you finished."

The pink dress hovered as she had the tulle loosely wrap around the skirt from the waist down—looking like petals of a tulip. It turned out better than Molly anticipated, and she wondered why she worried over it so much.

"She will love it."

Stitching the materials together was a breeze, and after adding a sash around the waist and hemming the tulle with leftover fabric used on the straps, Molly stepped back and had the dress do a twirl.

"That looks beautiful, Molly," Arthur said as he entered the kitchen side door.

He placed his hat and traveling cloak on the coat rack and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "This for the Yule Ball?"

"Yes. I have to get them sent out today or they will be robeless." Molly looked at her husband before realizing that he was actually there.

"Oh," she said, checking the clock. "Is that really the time?"

Arthur chuckled, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry about supper, hun. We can have leftovers. You worked really hard on these outfits and need a break."

"Thank you."

Molly swished her wand and had both garments gently fold themselves and placed by Harry's parcel. "But first I must get these sent to the kids."

Originally Written For:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

Written for The Houses Competition

Written for Monthly Challenges for All

Word Count: 1,508

Originally Written: September 2018