Hey everyone,
And with this chapter Molly is going to learn what it means to put herself in the shoes of someone else.
And for those of you who might not entirely like this, I'm not saying that she'll be an instant expert in this or that she won't falter and fall back on old behavior from time to time.
No one's that perfect.

Also, it's quite unfortunate, but regardless of the statement I made about Offers of Fan Art and Commissions back in November and how I will NEVER ACCEPT ANY OF THEM, I still received a few of them this past month.
I understand that there is a chance that these people did not read the message I send to you all in November, but I made this new decision after receiving those offers for my own peace of mind.
This is my second attempt to put a stop to this and it might be considered rude by some of you, like the people who don't know about my first attempt to put a stop to this, but I decided to take this course of action for the sake of my own mental and emotional health.

ANY AND ALL OFFERS FOR COMMISSIONS OR FAN ART WILL BE DELETED AND SEND TO MY TRASH BIN!

Like I said in November, it became EXTREMELY tiring - mentally and emotionally - to continuously tell these people no and I just don't have it in me to keep doing that. So I decided to adhere to the saying "Ignorance is Bliss."
Hope that's clear,

Venquine1990

Chapter 69
Molly And Amare – Part 02

1st of February 1996
Destiny Islands
Amare's POV

As soon as the group of four arrived, I noticed that there was quite a bit of angered tension in the young teenage girl of the group.

And while I missed a good part of my adopted son's teenage life, it was easy for me to recognize that this wasn't the usual, cliché teenage angst or tension drawn from intense emotions or hormones acting out of order.

The girl herself – and the woman who had come with her – had given me some indication on what was troubling the young girl, but even after she answered my question and ranted at Molly, it was obvious that she hadn't addressed the subject of her tension or her anger.

And because it's obvious that Molly has been dealing with her emotional state for quite a bit longer, I decide to see if I can quickly address this problem and then get back to helping the older woman.

"Hermione dear, before we continue helping Molly, I was wondering if you could tell me what still seems to be bothering you? Is there a discovery you made recently that upset you? Or is this something that has been building over time?"

The girl shakes her head before sending me a grateful smile.

"It's like I said before, ever since Jessica came to be in Lady Destiny's realm of protection, she has changed so much and yet completely for the better.

She calmed down, she grew to understand herself better, she even started paying attention to things I barely cared about the past few years – and I was the only girl of the group these past four years.

Wow, poor Ron. Now he's the only guy in our trio."

All of us snicker or suppress snorts and Richard says: "I don't think Sora will let you keep his sister to just your little trio. I think you're better off preparing to hang out with him, Riku and Kairi more often once everything is said and done."

Hermione looks thoughtful for a moment about this before she nods and mutters: "That will take a bit, but sure. That'd be nice."

I want to share a glance with my husband, but I know I don't need to. It's already obvious that, while Hermione has gotten to know Sora, she doesn't quite know him well enough yet to know how easily our adopted son can integrate himself into any situation.

I decide to let her discover this on her own.

"Still, there is one thing that absolutely didn't change when Harry became Jessica. I mean, her now being a Kitsune might have even made it stronger, but it didn't change.

Sorry, I was talking about her love for her family and how even the smallest interactions or moments of emotional connections meant the world to her even then.

After all, in our First, Ron and – I'm sorry, I'm just done with this whole thing. Would either of you mind if I just call her Jessica, even if she was still Harry at the time?"

My husband and I actually share a glance this time and Richard answers: "I will admit that I don't know Jessica, my wife and I didn't get the chance to meet her yet.

And boys turning into girls or vice versa is definitely not something that has ever been done on these islands – or even during any of Sora's adventures in other worlds for that matter."

And before either Molly or Arthur can comment on that, I continue where my husband left off:

"But we have, over the past few decades, had a few people who change their name at a later age, for various reasons that I won't go into right now.

So based on my and Richard's experiences with that, I can honestly say that these people actually grew to feel insulted and sometimes even deeply annoyed if their friends kept referring to their past experiences with their old name.

So both personally and professionally I would absolutely recommend that we all just refer to Jessica as Jessica, even if you tell others about something that happened before the past week."

"But what about the books? In them, Jessica is still called Harry."

I nod to Arthur's question and say:

"I will admit that this is only a theory, but – there is a chance that, for all her need to help Jessica, Lady Destiny didn't know about her secret desire any more than you did when she made those books, or when she planned any of this."

Arthur blinks a few times and then nods in acceptance of the answer.

AN. Just for the record, I am NOT going to change Harry's name to Jessica in the CR sections of the story. Too much work, lol.

"Anyway, continue dear."

Hermione nods and just the look on her face already tells me plenty enough.

The girl recently discovered about this, perhaps only minutes before she was brought here. And it's her happiness for how much better her friend's life has become that fuels the annoyance she feels over this new discovery.

And because of their earlier confrontation and Hermione admitting that she feels regret that she always blindly sided with Molly when Sirius might be in the right, it doesn't surprise me to see the girl turn to the woman once again, glaring fiercely.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm sure the Potters already gave you some grief over this, but it's still something through which you hurt Jessica deeply.

And over the past week, I've made a realization of my own, one I'd like to delve into deeply later, after we're done with this and after Mrs. Amare is done helping you calm down.

For now I just want to say that you should, if given the chance, find a way to apologize to Jessica for what you said to her when they were reading about her first Christmas at Hogwarts.

Because I've seen much trashier dresses at the Yule Ball and no one batted an eye at those! So that you said that about her beautiful dress is one thing.

But what REALLY disgusts me is just how blind you are to what you really did wrong. I just said that, since her transformation, Jessica seems to have grown even fonder of her family than before.

And unless she lied to me – and we both know that Jessica wouldn't lie about important events, regardless of what the Prophet might try to make us believe – you threw out these insults on her dress – mere minutes after her parents got engaged.

YOU BASICALLY RUINED WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INTIMATE MOMENTS IN A NEW FAMILY'S LIFE!

HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT?"

I may not have really known why Arthur and Hermione were so furious with Molly earlier, at least not until I got Arthur's side from Richard, but I definitely understand the young girl's disgust and anger with this situation.

Yet thankfully, regardless of her disgust with the woman, Hermione proves that something I have always believed in;

Those who we care for the most can hurt us worse than our enemies ever could.

Because while the girl had jumped out of her seat to tower over the red-haired woman and while she had shrilly shrieked her statement and question, she visibly calms down and even takes a step forward to embrace the woman when she sees Molly burst out in tears of guilt.

"What have I done? How could I – I didn't – oh sweet – sweet mother magic – oh goodness – I – I never – I was – oh, that poor dear.

My goodness, Hermione. You're right. You're absolutely right."

I can hear it in the woman's voice. True conviction. Sincere levels of guilt and remorse. And a powerful need to redeem herself.

This truly is a woman who has, on more than one occasion, grown to be a better person by learning from some potentially terrible mistakes that she made in her youth and years as a young adult.

And while I try to stay professional, I silently promise to myself that I will ask Lady Destiny if she could send Molly my way more often.

Not just so I can continue helping the sweet, now guilt-ridden woman, or so she can find her refuge here on the islands, but so I can get to know her better.

As one of the reasons I became a professional Shrink, is because people like this – people who are easily blinded by certain emotions to the point that they make some terrible mistake, but then come out of solving this mistake better and stronger people.

All of us wait patiently for Molly to calm down and once Hermione retakes her seat, I happily tell her that we will go back to that revelation of hers once I've helped Molly a bit more.

Both the young girl and the softly sniffing woman give me grateful smiles and nods of their heads.

Molly then, amazingly enough, draws her wand and uses it to clean up her face of the tear-marks and the redness of her cheeks.

She takes a few more deep breaths and sounds calmer than I believe her to be when she says that she's ready.

Because of this belief, I decide to put extra focus on staying calm as I ask: "Okay Molly, what happened in the past few months between you and Sirius that aggravates you the most? Can you name one thing for me?"

The woman seems to think deeply on this and then sighs as she says: "At the end of last school year, a – a terrible wizard who reigned war against us in the 70's – came back to a body.

Ha – Jessica was witness to this and was even the one to alert us about this. And Albus, the Headmaster of our school and the one who this monster feared the most –."

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I also just had a smaller realization – smaller than the one I had this week.

A lot of people still fear saying his name, you see. But that's not his real name, it's the name he made for himself when he declared war against us.

So because you're part of the organization that rebels against his beliefs, his propaganda and his actions – why not call him by the name he wants everyone to forget he was once known by?

Why not call him Riddle?"

Molly actually cringes at this and Arthur gently but firmly tells Hermione: "Ginny."

Hermione also winces, apparently getting that one-worded hint, yet then she retorts: "Is a lot stronger and more resilient and rebellious than you seem to give her credit for. I mean, she's been a real go-getter and active part of the group and all that.

To be honest, I get the feeling that she only says You-Know-Who because you guys do the same. I definitely think that she'll start saying – that other name sometime soon, maybe even sometime this year.

And if we suggest this to her, I think – based on how I got to know her these past few years – that she'll curse herself for not being the first to come up with this idea herself."

Molly and Arthur share a look that proves that they have some hesitation with believing this. "Why don't we agree that we'll just call him, Him for now, that Hermione will ask Ginny about this when she gets back and that you'll go from there?"

All three gratefully nod at my suggestion.

"Either way, Albus naturally did the rightful thing. He called the old crowd together, the Order of the Phoenix – that – that organization we mentioned earlier.

And because both Sirius and my family are close to Harry, Albus feared for our safety. So because Sirius is from this really powerful and paranoid family, his family home was enchanted to the gills to keep everything and their mother out.

So Albus considered it the safest place for us all and especially for Sirius. After all, he didn't just have the Death Eaters out for his blood to get to Harry – I mean Jessica, he is also a wanted man because he was framed for those crimes all those years ago."

It really bothers me that a man, any man, suffered injustice for so long, yet I keep silent for now. After all, only amateur shrinks would change the topic away from what can help their patients get better or get closure with topics that bother them.

"Now, I'll admit, it has been bothering me for months that Sirius seems to try and come up with all these scenarios that will get him out of the house, while being inside keeps him safe, but – to be honest, that's not even what bothers me the most or what I'm most annoyed with him for."

I don't need to turn my head to know that my husband and I feel the same about what was just said. Molly, like when she blamed Sirius for Pettigrew and Percy, is not seeing the problem here, because she's not seeing this from Sirius' POV.

I silently vow to myself to help her with this later as I continue listening.

"No, what bothers me is this. I feel really uncomfortable in that house. It's full of dark magic, you see, because Sirius is one of the few people in his family who didn't join Him back in the day.

So, to show how grateful I was that Sirius was willing to house so many people – I have five of my seven kids living with me, you see – I wanted to get rid of all that, clean the place up.

And I figured that, because Sirius needs some activity after sitting still in Azkaban for so long – oh, that's the name of our prison – it would do him some good, give him some exercise.

But every time I suggest this to him, he just blows me off. And when I tell him that I am going to go and clean up a certain room or section of the house, he responds with such obvious disdain and sarcasm.

It's – it's just infuriating how ungrateful he is, how blind to my efforts to show him my appreciation. And I just don't get why he doesn't share my desire to make that place better.

I mean, if he –."

"Let's not go there, Molly. Let's instead, try to cover this whole topic a different way. Let's, again, try to analyze this from Sirius' POV, but then in a positive way. Your approach just now would've ended negatively and that's not what we're trying to accomplish here, remember?"

Molly nods after blinking thoughtfully a few times.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Hermione who has actually been looking around the room while Molly talked. And the way her eyes widen when they land on the pictures stashed atop the fireplace-mantel catches my interest.

The girl gets up and moves over to the mantel, picks up one of my older photographs and seems to really study it for a few moments.

And her moving caught the attention of the others as well.

I wonder what is going through the girl's mind as the look in her eyes proves that she is deep in thought, perhaps even reliving a memory or something.

Then, after another moment or two, she turns back and apologizes before she asks: "Could you perhaps tell me more about this event?"

I wonder what it is about that picture that caught her attention and yet, after receiving a nod from Molly, I start talking:

"That was over 10 years ago now. Sora had just turned 6 and Richard and I decided to give him a present that could help him learn and that he could enjoy at the same time.

So we took him to the local shelter and the people there allowed us to go into this room that was full of puppies and small dogs."

It doesn't escape my notice that Arthur and Molly share a shocked look with each other, but I just leave it for later.

"Either way, they told us to just let Sora hang with the dogs and that, eventually, one would probably either pick him or just feel right to him to be with.

And that one, that sweet Border collie pup that was 1 year old, turned out to be the one. And when Sora said that, said that he'd take her, she decided to show her joy at being chosen.

That's the moment you see on that picture there. Sora was sitting down, as you can see, when he said it and she instantly jumped up on his shoulders and started to lick his face.

Richard just knew that Sora would deeply enjoy that, so he took the picture, though he unfortunately pressed the button a minute too soon. But you can still see how happy Sora was, even before his furry friend decided to thank him."

Hermione nods and then turns to Molly as she says: "For the record, I didn't know that that was normal dog behavior either, Mrs. Weasley. I just noticed the picture, is all."

"May I ask what this is all about?" Richard asks.

Arthur cringes and mutters: "Sirius is a Dog-Animagus. That is, he's a wizard who can change into a dog at will, a large black-furred one that is the size of a bear.

And that form is very well known among His followers, which is why Albus and Molly are so insistent on Sirius staying indoors."

At this I grimace as this new discovery reminds me of my earlier decision.

"Okay, Molly, I promise that I will help you with your biggest gripe. But I just need to cover this problem first.

Because, unfortunately, while I can definitely see where you and Albus are coming from, I feel like you are so focused on these problems, that it makes you blind to factors that are equally problematic."

The sight of Molly looking at me with a need to understand fills me with relief and confidence.

"Alright, here's where my problem lies. Just now, during your explanation of what bothers you about Sirius the most, I noticed two instances where your choice of words gave me cause for concern.

Now I'm willing to believe that I misunderstood your choice of words or that I misinterpreted them. But if I didn't, then I hope that, when I give you my interpretation, you will understand why your word choice concerns me."

Molly has a smile on her face that is equally grateful and concerned as she nods at me.

"First you mentioned that Sirius is supposed to stay indoors. I understand where you're coming from, but it sounded like even sticking his head out of a window was something you didn't think safe for him to do, regardless of those protections you mentioned earlier.

So am I wrong to think that you might have pushed that need to keep him indoors too far or – you know what, let's shelf that for now, I need a bit more intel on Sirius and his past before I can make proper judgement on that."

Molly looks both remorseful and grateful this time around.

"The other time you used words that concern me – is actually worse. You claimed that Sirius just sat still.

But according to Richard, who heard it from Arthur, in that period of time that you address with that description, he was also surrounded by absolutely fiendish monsters.

Molly, if someone is wrongfully put in a cell for crimes they didn't commit, calling that sitting still is incredibly disrespectful towards their suffering.

You can agree with me on that, right?"

And Molly proves that she can as she hides her almost bloodred face in her hands and moans: "Did I really say it like that?"

She probably can't see us, yet we nod all the same.

We're getting there!
Though to be honest, I wasn't expecting this to take this long – or that I would extend this whole thing over multiple chapters.
But I have something in mind that, in all honesty, deserves its own chapter, so I decided to end it here.
And once I'm done with Molly, helping her see the error of her ways a little more and giving her a bit more experience with seeing things in a different light,
It's Dumbledore's turn,

Venquine1990