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The snow had frosted the windows of Gryffindor tower once again in the night. Arthur shivered, despite the warm fire blazing in the hearth by his bed. Today was Valentine’s Day, and it was going to be the first one he’d celebrate with a girlfriend. Jittering with excitement and anxiety over how the day would play out, he found himself absentmindedly fidgeting with Molly’s gift yet again – this time he had stopped midway through putting on his robes. At least Bilius is in the 6th years’ dorm room right now, he thought, the last thing I need right now is more teasing. He quickly finished dressing, trying to focus on the task at hand instead of thinking about tonight, and ran down to the common room to see if Molly was ready to go to breakfast. ----- Molly was beside herself that morning with excitement waiting in the Gryffindor common room. She had finally gotten Arthur to get up the courage to ask her out over Christmas break (even if it DID require a little…help…to pluck his nerve up enough to finally try) and now it was their first Valentine’s Day together as a couple. After having stayed up late gossiping with the other 4th year Gryffindor girls about what their beaus might have planned for today, she was beginning to worry that she might have missed Arthur going down to breakfast altogether. Right as she was about to resign herself to take the long walk to the Great Hall solo, Arthur appeared at the top of the stairs hastily trying to finish putting on his tie. The smile on his face upon seeing her still there waiting for him more than made up for the delay. Today was going to be special – she just knew it was. ----- “So what are you and little Mollywobbles doing today?” Bilius teased his brother quietly as Arthur took the seat beside him for breakfast. “Shh, she might hear you. I don’t want to risk you and Willie scaring her off. Today especially.” “Hey, what are big brother’s for? Besides you shouldn’t worry so much. I doubt we could scare her off but I could always try if you like” He smirked, leaning around Arthur to address Molly.“You’re looking rather nice Molly. Anything special about today?” Molly blushed. Arthur scowled. Toast points flew everywhere as he tried to grab one in fury; failing miserably. Without missing a bite of egg, Molly had flashed her willow wand out and with a barely muttered levitation charm caught the toast, quickly settling it back into the holder. Arthur still had not gotten used to Molly’s speed and accuracy with Charms. He knew she was tutoring her younger brothers, but she already was almost capable to do some charms silently. His scowl slowly faded into goofy grin as he thought about the fact that this was one of the reasons why he loved this witch so much. “As a matter of fact, Bilius, it is a rather special day. We are learning a more advanced version of a charm in Professor Knott’s class that I can’t wait to try out.” Molly seemed to now be brimming with spunk. Arthur could tell she was making a point not to comment on the intended topic to which Bilius was inferring. It would annoy him almost as much as he was trying to annoying her, and it was always pleasant to watch him bested in his own game. The rest of breakfast was spent discussing various charms and such that everyone had been working on in their classes, but Arthur was off daydreaming about Molly, her present, and everything he had planned for tonight. Everything has to be perfect, he thought to himself, as he obliviously chewed on his toast; his grin continuing to light up his face. ----- Molly quickly rushed Arthur along the corridor to the Charm’s classroom. “We can’t be late today,” she said, “I can’t believe I lost track of time debating wand woods with your brother over breakfast when I could have been showing up early for class. Hurry up now!” Molly normally loved spending the precious moments moving between classes conversing about, well, just about anything with Arthur, but she would not be late for Charm’s class. Especially not today. Valentines or no, this was a class she had been especially looking forward to all year, and she couldn’t wait to master it. He may not have looked it, but she knew Arthur was as well. It was studying this very subject with him that she had started to realize her feelings towards him change from that of a peer to something more. She (correctly) suspected he had been falling for her as well, which had been the only reason she had agreed to help Dawn and the other 4th years with their Love Potion. Hopefully she would be able to look back on that as a well-timed gambit as opposed to the horrible mistake it slowly seemed to be becoming for her friends and the objects of their obsessions. Molly quickly tried to shake such thoughts out of her mind. Right now, she needed to focus on getting through class. She would have plenty of time to obsess over Arthur more this evening. They entered the classroom to find the seats near the front she would have liked to have had occupied, so with a quick pout she ushered Arthur over to the last few remaining seats together right as Professor Knotts started her class. “Alright students. Eyes forward – this means you, too, Mister Craggy. Wands out. Now, today we move on from practicing the banishing and summoning charms to a common household charm that the majority of you coming from wizarding families are probably more than familiar with – the Scouring Charm. Great for scrubbing everything from boots to dishes to the mouths of children who dare curse in front of their mothers.” Many of the students winced at this comment; Arthur included. Molly hadn’t had the misfortune of experiencing this personally, but she had seen it done to her brothers enough to learn not to swear – at least not in front of her parents. “A few years back, Professor Dumbledore had some 7th years create a self-replicating barrel of whatever kind of gunk they could imagine for my 4th years to practice on, and they have yet to become completely clean. If I recall correctly, many of his students in that class had younger siblings and I believe it was a great motivator for them. I know we’ve gone over a few smaller cleaning spells in the past, but this one is the most versatile. Now, who can tell me what charm can siphon most liquids? Yes, Ms. Hemmings.”“Tergo, sir.”“Very good. 5 points to Slytherin. And can someone tell me what Skurge is good for?”Beside her Molly felt Arthur’s hand go up.“Mr. Weasley, for 5 points to Gryffindor, what is your answer.”“Ectoplasm clean up, sir.”“Good job and points well earned.”Molly felt a surge of pride pulse through her. Yet again Arthur showed how exemplary of a wizard he was.“Now, the Scouring Charm actually creates soap to help it clean. Now, the incantation for this spell is Scourgify repeat it after me ‘Scourgify’ – that’s ‘SKUR-ji-fy' Mister Bones, not ‘skur-JI-fy' – yes, that’s it, and your wand motion should be a smooth, sinuous motion, like the letter S – S-curve Miss Daniels, not a Z motion – there, you are all doing great. Now, team up into pairs – I haven’t quite got enough of these barrels to go around, but we should have more than enough for each pair to get one barrel. This is probably for the best – you will probably need one person to hold the barrel while your partner practices the spell. Until you can fully control a stream of soapy water coming out of your wand you will probably have too little pressure to actually clean or so much pressure you knock your barrel down entirely. Read over page 189 in your spell book to go over some advice on how to master this spell, and when you are ready, start cleaning.” And with that Professor Knotts sat down behind her desk, silently summoning her cup of tea to her waiting hands like she always did after setting her class to task. Molly loved watching her do this tiny, yet technically difficult, ritual. Nonverbal spells were something she couldn’t wait to master, and any chance she could get to study one she jumped on – even if it was something she had seen countless times before. “Miss Prewett, I understand that today is Valentine’s Day and that you are doing pretty well in this class, but that does not excuse you to day dream away when you should be studying.” For the second time that day, Molly felt he checks burn from the sudden blushing the professor’s words had triggered. From the corner of her eye she saw Arthur pop a small smile over the top of his textbook– he had told her many times how beautiful she looked when she blushed? – and as always this only resulted in making her blush even harder. Shoving her book aside in frustration without bothering to read the text – she should be able to figure out a simple charm, right? - she grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him to the furthest available barrel. “You sure you have this spell down enough not to read over it at all?” Arthur asked cautiously. “There are still a few limitations I thought pretty important to look over, like how it doesn’t work on -” “I’ve got this Arthur. You just concentrate on blasting this barrel with everything you’ve got.”
“Alright then. Scourgify!” Arthur’s wand was moving before Molly could fully ready herself. She could just smell the fresh scent of soap before feeling something hard whack her in the head. “Molly, are you okay? Episkey!” The faint trickle of blood Molly had on her forehead was gone before she even had much of a chance to fully register it was there. “I’m so sorry, I’ve ruined today and it’s barely mid-morning.” “Is everything all right down there?” Professor Knotts inquired. “Yes Professor. Just a little scratch.” Molly turned towards Arthur with a reassuring look on her face, “don’t worry dear, it’s my fault for not paying attention better. Everything’s alright. At least it’s probably about the cleanest cut I’ve even gotten.”She managed to get a smile out of Arthur at this, but he stilled looked a bit worried“Now, let’s try this again. The sooner you start to get the hang of this, the sooner I get to try!” The rest of the class, thankfully, went smoothly, and by the end of it Molly felt confident that she had a mild grasp on the scouring charm. Arthur had at least seemed to have enjoyed himself after he recovered from hurting her, and while he seemed to be much more careful at shooting soap after that, his performance with the scouring spell today was as good if not better than hers – though she knew he’d never admit it. “Okay class, that’s enough practice for today. 20 points to both Slytherin and Gryffindor – I saw so much progress from all of you working on a new spell – and that deserves to be rewarded.” Cheers erupted throughout the class. Professor Knotts may not award points like this every class period, but everyone knew she rewarded hard work more often than any of the other professors. It was one reason Molly, as well as most of the student body, loved Professor Knotts. “Class dismissed. Everyone have fun for the rest of the day and this evening for those of you choosing to celebrate tonight.” And with that, Molly took Arthur’s hand to head down to lunch – at a much slower, meandering pace that allowed for idler chit chat than early. They would not be spending the afternoon together – having chosen two different electives that year – and Molly wanted to enjoy Arthur’s company as much as possible today. ----- Lunch was eaten hastily. They both opted for sandwiches and ate quickly, leaving less room to talk then they would like, but Arthur knew that was normal for Wednesdays. What talk they did have time for was mostly logistics – where they planned to meet to hang out tonight (the Common Room), what time they were going to head down for dinner (later than most, probably pushing 7pm), how dressed up they planned to be (dress robes but not too dressy) – and before too long it was already time to go their separate ways. Molly to her weekly internship in the hospital wing, while Arthur was to spend the rest of the afternoon in Muggle Studies. He gave Molly’s hand a quick squeeze, reluctantly let go, and watched her disappear down the hall. Grabbing his books he headed off to his class. On the few times he didn’t walk with Molly he really missed her company. It wasn’t huge, more like a little thing nagging at him, but even when they walked silently side-by-side it was different than it was when he was alone. He felt like a love-sick puppy, but he didn’t feel like that was necessarily a bad thing. It didn’t take long to get to Muggle Studies from the Great Hall, so he didn’t have much time to pine for Molly. He did pass the school’s old caretaker, Mr. Apollyon Pringle, on his way. He seemed to be even more moody than normal. Then again, Valentine’s Day seemed like the kind of thing that might make him gag. Nobody liked Mr. Pringle, and Mr. Pringle liked nothing other than his cat and punishing students. Romance just wasn’t something one would ever associate with him.Putting Mr. Pringle out of his mind, Arthur moved quickly through the Muggle Showroom that led into the Muggle Studies classroom, only to find it decorated quite oddly – even for that class. There were pink heart streamers decorating almost every inch of the ceiling. Well, all of it that wasn’t currently taken up by big, fat, blinking babies with feathery wings poking out of the chub rolls on their backs. Some of them held bows and arrows with heart-shaped arrow tips firing all around the room. There was chocolate, also in the shape of hearts, at every seat beside parchment which looked to be half filled out. The blackboard was covered in dates and events from Muggle history surrounded by even more chalk drawings of hearts. Arthur found a seat, sat down, and stared at the parchment in front of him. It read:
I wish I could explain your ______,
And how the _____ of your ______
Gives me _____.
How your _____ makes my heart _____
A ______ and how every time I’m
With _____, I feel so _______.
Arthur had had a few weird classes since coming to Hogwarts, but he could only assume that this all had something to do with it being Valentine’s Day. He took one more look around the room before filling out his parchment. Professor Baker often left this kind of thing on their desks. He called them “workscrolls” and used them as “cold-breakers” during the beginning of class. It was supposed to get him more in the mindset of a Muggle or something. Regardless, Arthur had fun doing them so he set out to make his as silly as possible to match how silly the room appeared. Professor Baker walked in from his office, seemingly overly ecstatic today, as Arthur was finishing his scroll. Once everyone seemed to have finished their work, Professor Baker called the class to order and started walking around commenting on the answer people were giving. “Interesting choice Mister Abbott. ‘I wish I could explain your nose’,” he chuckled, “And Miss Flint, your ‘every time I’m with turtles, I feel so conflicted’. Very original. Hmm, ah yes, yes, Mister Weasley, can you please share yours with the class today? I think it may be the most hilarious one I’ve seen in a long time.” Arthur squirmed. He didn’t mind speaking up in class, but that didn’t mean he exactly enjoyed it. Standing up and clearing his throat he began:
I wish I could explain your wings,
And how the skin of your toad
Gives me the creeps.
How your potions makes my heart burn
A bunch and how every time I’m
With Nifflers I feel so poor.
Professor Baker let loose a deep chuckle, the kind that can only come from someone that was about five years shy of being ancient. “Very good my boy, very good. Now, this is a great example of how NOT to write a love poem, and don’t worry, you did exactly what I was wanting to have happen for this exercise. Many Muggles also struggle with writing these, but written well they can cause one to swoon in delight.” He then tried to pantomime what Arthur could only suppose was an attempt at a swoon, but it looked more like he was trying to both trip and catch himself at the same time. He joined most of the class in trying to stifle a laugh – some of them more successful than others – before Professor Baker continued. “This is only one of the ways Muggles celebrate Valentine’s Day. Other ways include exchanging chocolates, praying to the flying chubby babies to shoot their lovers with arrows dipped in special Love Potions so they would become infatuated with them, and spending multiple paychecks worth of money on jewelry. Now historically,” he pointed to the board behind him, “Ancient Romans would sacrifice a dog or a goat and used it’s skin to whip young women in an effort to, er” Arthur thought he saw his professor squirm a bit, “make sure they may have many children one day. This is not looked upon well in this day and age, and we can only assume it is a poor, non-magical attempt to divine the fates through entrails – a messy practice that even most witches and wizards don’t train in anymore. More recently, as in the past few centuries or so, many Muggle authors such as Shakespeare – we covered him briefly in our Muggle Literature mini term in case you’ve forgotten – began to write very detailed poems called “bonnets”. These had very strict parameters for how to write them, so I decided against having you try in class. If any of you try and do one in your spare time, however, I will gladly give you extra points on the upcoming exam. Now for the rest of the class I want you to take your form poems from earlier and try to recreate them as beautiful examples of love. You can even decorate these “Ballentines” to give them to your dates tonight if you have them.” With an awkward wink, Professor Baker finished his lecture and hobbled over to his desk to sit down, spent. Arthur stood up, walked over, and selected one of the lacy, red heart cut-outs Professor Baker conjured at the edge of his desk. This one was the exact same red Molly’s cheeks became when she blushed, and it was quickly becoming his favorite color. Bringing it back to his desk, he stared at his poem from earlier, trying desperately to find the perfect words to give to his Mollywobbles. I’ve got it! And with that, he set quill to Ballentine to begin creating an ode to his love. ----- Molly enjoyed her internship in the Hospital Wing. Her and another student, Poppy Pomfrey, had petitioned Headmaster Dippet, Matron Goldhorn, as well as each of their Heads of House (young Professor McGonnagal and Professor Beery respectfully) to spend a class period learning healing from one of the best Madame’s Hogwarts had seen in place of one of their electives. They both argued that healing was just as important and broad a subject as, say, Care of Magical Creatures or Divination, as well as being a very practical skill. They had agreed to let them try it out for a year, and then see where it went from there. Matron Goldhorn was pleased to have the assistance. Molly couldn’t think of a better place to learn basic counter-hexes, remedies, and various basic healing spells. She was never allowed to fix big problems – Matron Goldhorn didn’t want to put them in a situation that might put other students at risk, for both parties sake – but was always encouraged to watch and learn. Today there were lots of patients being brought in by friends that were obviously under the influence of a love potion. Matron Goldhorn had made a big batch of the antidote the night before in anticipation of this, and both Poppy and Molly had been rushing back and forth with vials of it since they had first gotten into the wing. “Whew. Today has been interesting, hasn’t it girls?” Matron Goldhorn said, offered them both a glass of pumpkin juice. It had been the first lull since they had arrived, and Molly was glad for a refreshment. “It was almost a nightmare before you arrived. I’ve asked Headmaster Dippet many times to set a higher punishment for anyone that dares to brew these love potions. I swear we get more and more patients every year because of them.” Molly noticed Poppy nod her head. All she could do was stare into her juice and mutter, “Yeah, it’s horrible.” Thankfully, neither one of them noticed the high pitch of her voice – or at least she hoped they didn’t. Right as she was getting comfortable, the door to the hospital wing flew open with a loud BANG. “Madame Goldhorn! Madame Goldhorn! Please, you’ve got to help him – oh...Hi Molly...I forgot this was your day to work in here...”Molly watched as the color faded from his face about as quickly as his voice trailed off – it was was Willie, and under his arm he half carried, half drug Bilius into the room. “Oh dear, Mister Weasley – what on earth has happened to your brother today? Please tell me he wasn’t trying to brew ButterJack out of Butterbeer again? I’d have thought after the last few attempts at making actual alcoholic beverages he would have stopped!” “No Madame, I swear it wasn’t that...” He look right at Molly before dropping his gaze to the floor. “We were trying to brew a batch of Felix Felicis to hand out to all of our friends that wanted to get – er – ‘lucky’ tonight, but something must have gone wrong with the batch. Bilius couldn’t wait to test it out, and before any of us could stop him he had already downed a good bit. All I could think of was getting here as fast as possible.” “Oh of all the possible, stupid things you could have done! As soon as I’m done with your brother I am taking you straight to Professor McGonagall for detentions. Come here girls and help us get him onto the bed.” Molly got her first good look at Bilius. She could see why Willie was so worried – he had turned a very unusual shade of dark green, and his face seemed to be frozen in a position that looked like he was about to hurl. While Madame Goldhorn and Poppy headed off to brew an antidote, Molly stayed behind to question Willie. “Did Arthur know about this?” “No, I swear, he had no idea about this and we weren’t going to offer him any. Honest. It was all going to a few specific, pre-selected friends – and they are all of age already.” “Merlin’s beard Willie. This is bad. What if all of you had drunk it?” “Oh please, as if you have any room to talk. Do you think Bilius and I don’t know about what you girls did over Christmas?” “I – I – that was different!” “Was it? Would he feel that way if we told him?” Molly was starting to have some very conflicting emotions well up inside her. He was right, there wasn’t much difference at all. If anything, her transgressions were worse – at least liquid luck just makes you lucky – a love potion changes someone else’s ability to function. She had more than seen that today. Feelings of guilt she had been trying to hold in all day started trying to slip out of her eyes. “Hey, it’s all okay. It wasn’t that noticeable. I’m guessing you didn’t even use all that much, especially compare to how the other guys have been acting. The only reason Bilius and I figured it out was one, Arthur was a bit too coy to have asked you out on his own that fast and two, all the other Gryffindor girls in your dorm room seemed to have been in some really random relationships all around the same time Arthur asked you out. Though if you hadn’t done something, we might have soon enough.” Willie’s smile cheered Molly up a little by the time Poppy and Madame Goldhorn came back with the antidote. Thankfully, they thought the look of worry on her face was due to the state of her boyfriend’s brother. “It’s all right Molly,” Poppy told her, “this is supposed to be a really good antidote for fixing things like this.” “Help me sit him up, there we go, and down the hatch.” Matron Goldhorn started pouring the antidote down Bilius’ throat. The color quickly came back to his face and his muscles became less tense. He had a brief moment where he looked fine before his face turned a more common shade of green. Willie and Molly tried to move out of the way, but Molly wasn’t fast enough – Bilius started puking like she’d never seen someone puke before. She should have seen this coming – most antidotes tended to cause rapid expulsion of whatever they are trying to counter-act – and she doubt she would forget this anytime soon. It didn’t last long, but Molly had the brunt of it all over her. “Miss Pomfrey, can you hold down the hospital wing for a few minutes? I need to take both Mister Weasleys back to Gryffindor Tower to discuss detentions and I do believe Miss Prewett wouldn’t mind calling it a day to head on back with us to change, either.” Molly couldn’t answer. She grabbed the towel the Matron had conjured for her and wiped off what she could, but there was no help for her clothes. She followed behind the others out of the hospital wing, hoping if she ran into anyone on the way up that she recognized that there may be a chance she could use the others for cover. They moved quickly through the halls and she was just a few step away from making it to the portrait unseen when the unthinkable happened – Arthur, at that moment, turned onto the corridor right in front of her, and there was no chance he didn’t see her. The look on his face told her he could even smell what was on her robes. Molly felt like she could die right then and there from embarrassment. Flying the last few meters up to the Fat Lady, she began screaming the password so she could escape this awkward moment as soon as possible. Today was NOT turning out to be a good day after all. ----- Arthur had finished up in Muggle Studies faster than he normally did and was already almost back to the Gryffindor tower. Professor Baker had showered all of them in con-fet-tea before letting them leave early enough they could finish getting ready to give their beaus their Ballentines that evening and he was still picking it off his clothes. He could hear Professor McGonagall yelling at his brothers as he approached the portrait to the Gryffindor Common Room. He was just trying to imagine what fresh scheme they had concocted when he saw Molly. Poor Molly looked like she was having a bad day. Her hair, her robes, pretty much everything was coated in what looked to be fresh vomit – there was even a few stray bits on her face. He was still a good way off, but the putrid stench was easily detectable even from this distance. Arthur briefly suspected that Willie and Bilius might have had something to do with, but before he could say anything to Molly she had run straight to the Fat Lady faster than he had ever seen her move before. He tried to follow to find out what had happened, but by the time he made it into the Common Room she was already gone. Knowing better than to try and climb the stairs to the girls’ dormitories, he decided to wait for his brother’s to come back in. It didn’t take too long, and Arthur tried to sit silently as Willie told him – quietly so no one else in the common room could hear – what had happened. “SERIOUSLY!” Arthur bellowed, cutting Willie off before throwing his face into his hands. “It’s not like I set out to throw up all over your girlfriend,” Billius insisted, “it just happened.” “Not that, the potion! Now she’s going to think I had something to do with it, too! That I might have- ” “Don’t worry, I already told her you were in the dark the whole time,” Willie insisted, “Besides, she- “Already knows you are much more chivalrous that that,” Billius glared at Willie, “Right?” Willie grunted, but Arthur was still freaking out too much to notice. “I hope you are right. I don’t have time to worry about this. I need to still get a few things ready for tonight. I assume Professor McGonnagall gave you a fitting punishment?” “Yeah. 25 points each we lost for Gryffindor, confinement our dormitory for the rest of the night, and since we failed to brew a successful potion we have detentions with Professor Slughorn helping him with whatever menial tasks he can come up with for us to do until we can learn to make a proper liquid luck potion – for Professor Slughorn to keep and that under no circumstances are we to try and brew another one unless we want to get expelled.” Willie shrugged, “Guess it could be worse – she could have jumped straight to expulsion this time. For a moment there I thought she might. She’s a bit scarier than when we had Professor Dumbledore for our head of house.” “Not that he would have let us off easy, either. Though we may have gotten out with less punishment had we ratted out who else was getting the potion. I guess we should head up to our rooms and let you get ready to wow Mollywobbles with- hey what’s that in your hand?” “Give that back!” Arthur yelled, but it was too late, Billius had already grabbed the Ballentine from his hand and started gushing over it. “Oh wow. This is, this is hilarious. You’ve really outdone yourself Arthur. ‘I wish I could explain your-” “GRRR. Accio!” Arthur yelled before he could finish reading it aloud, “Haven’t you done enough today? I thought you were leaving.” “You’re right. Have fun tonight,” Billius said as he swandered off making kissy noises at Arthur in his wake. Willie started to follow, but turned around before he hit the stairs. “Hey, Arthur, about Molly-” “What?” Arthur looked a bit concerned at Willie’s tone. Willie and Billius might be trouble makers, but unlike Billius, occasionally Willie could be serious. This seemed like one of those times. “Nevermind. It’s nothing. Have fun tonight. I truly mean that.” Willie patted his little brother on his shoulder before slowly walking up to his dorm. Arthur felt like Willie had something on his mind, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He had to get things ready for tonight. ----- “But I feel like I can’t show my face to him again. He saw me! Covered in vomit and- and- and-,” Molly sobbed loudly as Dawn helped magic everything out of her hair. “Tergeo. If you quit these full body sobs this would be much easier. Your hair is so thick it’s hard enough to try and get clean. The shower helped, but potions always seem harder to clean. And it’s not the end of the world. At least you still have a guy to go out with tonight. Mine straight up dumped me between classes today.” Molly tried to compose herself. There was some truth to what Dawn was saying, but she was still feeling humiliated. This was absurd. She was Molly Prewett after all! What was it about Arthur that made her have such difficulty thinking clearly? Wiping away a few stray tears she was finally able to stop crying for the first time since she entered the dorm. “Besides, it’s not like you are the first person to get covered in puke. I’m sure it happens to people in hospital wings now and then, and I know I’ve seen my mom get hit a couple of times when my sisters were sick.”
“Yeah, but there’s no way I’m getting all of this out of my hair by tonight. I would need a few hours to shower and scrub just my hair. Hang on…” Molly trailed off, obviously deep in thought. “Oh no…I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t you read the chapter in your Book of Spells Professor Knotts assigned us? It specifically said-” But Molly wasn’t listening. She had already pulled out her wand and was aiming it at her hair. Dawn barely had a chance to pull away before Molly yelled the incantation. “Scourgify!” Molly was not prepared for what happened next. There was sudsy water everywhere, not just her hair, and she had barely missed shooting out a glass window. She had had too much emotion welling up in here and had seriously overdone it. Her bed, her drapes, and most of her belongings were now saturated, including the dress robe she had laid out that morning to wear for the evening. As for her hair, it was void of vomit yes, but was so soaked there was no chance for her to get it fully dry before dinner. She was cursing her thick hair, her horrible luck, and her damn looming guilt she still couldn’t shake over what she had done to Arthur a couple of months ago. “- to be extra careful about how you cast it until you have a firm grasp on regulating its power. Especially if over-emotional,” Dawn finished before trying to help Molly squeeze excess water from her robes. Molly sunk into her bed. She never had such rotten luck until today – hadn’t the universe punished her for that love potion? Maybe, just maybe, things would ease up if she told Arthur the truth.
“Sorry. I guess I’ve been a bit more preoccupied today than I thought. Do you have a spare dress robe I can borrow? I promise I won’t cast anything on it.” Dawn chuckled. “Alright, fine. I’ve got a green one that should look gorgeous on you – even better than the one you were planning to wear if I do say so myself! It’s not like I’ll be using it tonight. Besides, now you have something in your hair I know this will work on. Tergeo!” Molly started to feel a bit better. Hopefully the evening could still be salvaged. ----- It had taken a bit longer than he had wanted, but Arthur had everything almost ready. Professor McGonnegall had helped find him a partially secluded classroom to set up in. There were a few floating candles, a table set for two, and he had even arranged with the kitchen house elves to make Molly’s favorite dish – slow cooked corned beef with lots of vegetables. It might not taste as good as if she or her mother made it, both of them being amazing kitchen witches, but he hoped Molly would still enjoy it. He also had bought a large hunk of chocolate from Honeydukes for her – even before Professor Baker had suggested it – because, after all, it WAS her favorite candy. It wasn’t as good as her fudge, but Arthur wasn’t about to try and cook that himself and he had decided not to push his luck with the house elves.Placing his Ballentine on Molly’s plate, Arthur inspected his work and decided it was as perfect as he was going to make it. He left the classroom, pulling the door behind him in hopes no one would notice what he had set up – especially Peeves – and made his way back to Gryffindor tower as quickly as he could. Upon entering the portrait hole, Arthur scanned the room first for Molly, then for anyone that he might be able to send up to check on her when, as he anticipated, he didn’t see her down yet. All the girls seemed to either be chatting intently with each other or staring lovingly into the eyes of their beaus. Arthur did notice, however, a pair of boys – a first year and a third year – huddled over a small table on the outskirts of the common room playing a heated game of wizard’s chess and began to make his way over towards them. “How could you take my knight! I didn’t think you’d notice him over there?” “Seriously, Gideon? You always favor your knights and it throws off your game when I take them. You really need to adapt your strategies.” “YEAH, LISTEN TO YOUR BROTHER” hollered one of the remaining knights on the board, “I DON’T WANT TO BE YET ANOTHER CASUALTY FOR THE FIFTH LOSING GAME IN A ROW!” “Oh bloody hell. Can we play something else Gideon? This isn’t very much fun anymore.” Arthur sensed his chance. “Hey guys, got a minute?” “Sure,” smiled Gideon. “I’m done schooling Fabian for now anyways. Dad’s chessmen always seem to favor me anyways.”Fabian scowled, but Gideon continued unphased. “Let me guess, you want to talk to us about how to make Molly’s day better? It’s been all around the common room that Billius threw up on her and she’s still trying to get cleaned up upstairs. No one knows why he got sick, but everyone is guessing it had to be a magical potion to have been that hard to get out of her hair. Do YOU have any idea what happened?” “Haven’t the foggiest.” Arthur replied, trying not to sweat. Fabian seemed to buy it, but he wasn’t as sure Gideon did. He might be mischievous, but he was definitely smarter than he let on.“But you are right about me wanting to pick your brains for things that might make tonight special. Any suggestions?” “Honeydukes Chocolate is always good. She also likes Every Flavor Beans, but I don’t think would be good on a date…” Fabian shrugged. “Besides that, I know she likes asphodel flowers. Professor Beery has a ton of them in the Greenhouse 1 that we have been cultivating this year.” “Merlin’s Beard! I forgot the flowers. I already got the chocolate – apparently it’s also a Muggle gift on Valentine’s Day – but I don’t have time to get any flowers now.” Arthur’s face fell. For all he knew he had all the time in the world if Molly never came down, but if he was anything he was a dreamer. He held out hope that he would see Molly tonight… “Hello – Arthur…”Arthur snapped abruptly out of his thoughts. Fabian was looking right at him.“I was just saying that this common room is getting too sappy and too stuffy in here for us. If you want we can go down and see if Professor Beery can spare a few flowers. I’m sure that shouldn’t be too hard, especially with how much she likes Molly.” “You sure? That would be fantastic – if it’s not too much trouble that is.”
Gideon put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder.“It’s no trouble. Honestly we’ve been trying to come up with something to help perk her up as it is, you just helped us figure out something. Don’t forget she was our sister long before she was you girlfriend and we want her happy just as much as you do.” “Alright, if you’re sure.” Arthur dropped his voice before continuing. “I have something set up in a nearby classroom for our dinner tonight. Professor McGonagall knows which one and is helping me keep it secret. She can help you get them in there. You guys are awesome. I seriously owe you one.” “How about letting me trounce you in wizard’s chess sometime soon? I need something of a challenge.” Gideon grinned and ducked towards the portrait hole faster than Fabian could figure out the jab. “HEY!” he yelled once it dawned on him, Arthur could hear them bickering away at each other until they made it out of the common room. Sitting in one of the chairs the Prewett boys had just vacated, Arthur went back to scanning the room for someone that could give him an update on Molly. Someone, eventually, would have to be able to tell him how she was doing. ----- Molly had finally gotten the courage to head down the stairs around the time most people had returned from dinner. To her horror, the moment she stepped into the whole common room it seemed to go completely silent. It seemed to be as she feared – it looked like everyone in the whole dorm knew what had transpired in the hospital ward. She could feel the anxiety begin to burn her checks and was just about to bolt back upstairs when she heard a shout. “Hey Molly, I’ve been waiting for you!” Arthur’s words cut through her embarrassment a bit. She still wasn’t used to how she was feeling over this whole ordeal. She gazed over at him as he forced his way to her through the throng assembled in the room. Locking eyes with him, new emotions started to swell inside her – feelings of guilt, of shame. Drat that Willie – she didn’t need this right now, now on top of everything else. She swallowed, dropping her eyes and trying to force a smile onto her face that looked natural. Arthur finished pushing around the last few couples to grab her hand. Tingles shot up her arm, through her body, and helped remind her legs how to move. He was leading her through the Fat Lady’s frame now, but did not turn towards the Great Hall. Curiosity started to get the better of her.“Arthur, where are we going? Isn’t it about time to get dinner?” “We are heading to dinner. Right this way.” Molly could hear the smile in his voice, even if she wasn’t looking at himHe was gesturing into a classroom. Had he gone insane? But then she started to smell something that started to make her feel better.“Is that – is that corned beef?” Arthur didn’t answer, but instead threw open the classroom door. Molly could not believe her eyes. Arthur had gone all out. There were candles floating like in the Great Hall, but with a more subdue and romantic glow about them. Her eyes zoomed in on the chunk of Honeyduke’s chocolate – he had remembered! – and a small red parchment heart on her plate. Molly felt Arthur’s had on the small of her back – causing more tingles surging through her body – as he gently nudged her into the room. Reaching with his other arm, Arthur tried pulling out her chair only to trip on the leg. Steading each of them, Molly let out her first real smile in hours. Arthur looked a little embarrassed. She quickly sat in her chair and pulled up to the table. Seeing the corned beef and veggies on a platter between their seats made her mouth water. Arthur probably didn’t know it, but that was what her mom always made her if she was having a bad day. Could things be starting to look up for her today?Arthur seemed to catch her glance. “Before we dive into the food, I made you something. Old Professor Baker had us write ‘Balentines’ in class today. It’s a Muggle tradition.” The face Arthur made when he talked about Muggle stuff was adorable. She accepted the parchment, blushing a bit as she skimmed over it:
I wish I could explain your eyes,
And how the sound of your voice gives me butterflies.
How your smile makes my heart skip a beat
And how every time I’m with you,
I feel so complete.
-----Arthur sat with bated breath, waiting for Molly to finish reading. He wasn’t sure how she would react, and the anticipation was killing him.He was NOT expecting her to burst into tears.“Mollywobbles, what’s wrong?”Before she could respond, the door burst open.“Arthur! We got them!”“Professor Beery was more than happy to give us some after she heard how terrible Molly’s day- “Gideon and Fabian’s hustle into the room was stopped short once they saw Molly.“We seem to have interrupted something…” Gideon said, handing Arthur the asphodel before pulling Fabian back through the doorway by his shirt.“Yeah…see you later guys.” Fabian eeked out before Gideon had fully pulled him through the doorway. The door slammed shut almost as abruptly as it had opened.Stunned, Arthur handed Molly the bouquet of flowers before kneeling beside her.“Molly, please tell me what’s wrong. You are starting to worry me. Did I goof something for the dinner? Was the ‘Balentine’ that awful?”Molly’s eyes looked like she was stealing herself to say something, but broke down again.“I – I can’t stop it. I’m sorry…”“It’s okay, it’s okay. Just breathe. You don’t have to be sorry for anything. I’ve got you.”“But I – “Arthur waited. They had all night if they needed it, but he wasn’t going to leave Molly to go through whatever it was that she was struggling with. He held her hands in her lap and leaned on the table.Moments passed. Arthur had no idea how long he sat there as Molly cried. After what could have been minutes or hours, her tears finally began to slow.“I have to tell you something Arthur. Something that is really difficult for me to say. You are amazing – your passion for learning, especially charms, is exemplary, your absentmindedness makes me fall for you again and again, your love of all things Muggle is infectious, as is your smile.” She stiffened. “You’re perfect, and I love you, but this is wrong.”Arthur was puzzled. “What do you mean, Mollywobbles?”Molly choked. This looked like it was really conflicting her. “I MADE YOU DATE ME WITH A LOVE POTION, OKAY!”She froze. Apparently Molly hadn’t expected to say that out loud. Words just started pouring out of her mouth. “The girls and I made a love potion over Christmas break. It was Dawn’s idea but they knew couldn’t have done it without me, so they started convincing me that it was the only shot I had to date you. It’s a pretty complex potion and she has the worst marks in Potions right now… we hid it in a batch of fudge I made. It started to seem like we had managed to get away with it, but everyone else has had a complete nightmare of a relationship afterwards. I tried only giving you a little in hopes you’d just ask me out finally, but I still drugged you. I’m sorry. You can leave me now if you want.”Arthur laughed before he could catch himself. Molly looked even more worried. “So you’re upset because you think you drugged me with your own fudge? Molly, I never actually ate that batch.”
Molly stopped crying. “You mean, you asked me out on your own?”“Yeah, I overheard Willie tell Bilius a bit of a plan to trick me into finally doing it. I kinda got a bit suspicious over everything that was given to me for Christmas because of it. I couldn’t know if the fudge was really from you or them. It killed me to trash it – your fudge has kinda always been a big deal around here – but after I calmed my anger down towards my brother’s meddling, I thought about it for a while and it finally dawned on me how much I would love a chance to date you. You think I’m perfect? I’m nowhere near as amazing as you are.”Molly stared at the table for a moment before speaking again “Yes but my intent-“Arthur pushed up on his knees. He could only think of one way to get Molly to realize how much he loved her, and as an added bonus it would hopefully stop her from rambling. He carefully took the back of her head in his hand and planted a kiss firmly on Molly’s lips. At first she didn’t respond.Had he made a mistake?Did he makes things worse yet again today?No, she shifted. She was kissing him back!Arthur was overjoyed – he couldn’t believe his luck. He was actually kissing the love of his life for the first time. It was almost surreal. He wished this moment could last forever, but he knew it they were pulling away. Panting for breath, they stared at each other for a few minutes before Arthur suddenly remember the food on the table. He pulled back, grabbed his chair and slid it over next to Molly’s.“Now that that’s been cleared up, how about dinner? I’m afraid it’s probably a bit cold now…”-----Molly couldn’t believe how silly she had been. Why must love be so complicated anyways? To think she had almost ruined one of the best things that could have happened to her by being so stupid. She had more than learned her lesson that day, and by the time they had finished dinner, Arthur had her laughing again. He always could pull out the best in her.“Merlin’s Beard! I almost forgot. Hang on,” Arthur leaned over towards the other side of the table and pulled out three packages. “I went back and forth over what to get you for Valentine’s Day but I think you’ll enjoy this.”Molly was stunned. “After all this, you still bought me a present? This is just too much Arthur.”“No, it’s not. If this was going to be our first Valentine’s Day, I wanted it to be remembered long after we have left Hogwarts. Granted, that’s probably not going to be fully for what I had intended it to be remembered for.”Arthur trailed off. He must have seen Molly look a little hurt at his comment as he thrusts the parcels into her hands a little quicker than he probably meant to. Molly could tell immediately what they were – books. Her face immediately perked up with that realization. Tearing off the wrappings, Molly saw that Arthur had given some new cooking books – “One Minute Feasts – It’s Magic!” “Charm Your Own Cheese” and “Enchantment in Baking”. Mom didn’t even have those yet!“Now you do realize you’re going to have to bake me some-“Molly cut him off. She put the books down on the table. It was her turn to throw her hands around his neck and kiss him. When she pulled away, Arthur looked a bit dazed. Molly enjoyed this look on him immensely and was trying to figure out how to make him do it again when a large owl hooted on his way past window the classroom window. It slowly dawned on her that neither of them had any idea what time it was. Molly knew there could be some serious consequences if they were caught out of bed, and she could tell Arthur was coming to the same conclusion.“Maybe we should head back to the Common Room-” she began when Arthur clamped his hand across her mouth. She followed his gaze to the doorway.A black cat with a white chest meowed up at them. Molly suddenly knew why Arthur had quieted her. This was Scurzy – Pringle’s beloved accomplice. If she was here, getting back to the dorm was suddenly the least of their worries.Arthur helped Molly quickly gather up her new things. They had made it into the hallway before Arthur stopped.“I forgot your books! Quick, run! I’ll catch up, I promise.”Molly ran as fast as she could to the portrait. Hopefully she could wake the Fat Lady up without much trouble.-----Arthur reached for the books. He knew there was no way they could’ve both outrun Pringle once Scrurzy had found them. Hopefully “forgetting” the books would buy her enough time to get to away. Turning a little too quickly on his heel, he stumbled getting back out into the hallway. It was all Pringle needed to catch the back of his robe with his cane.“Fancy finding a student out of bed this late at night, hmm Scurzy?”“Mr. Pringle, if you please-”The sound of The Fat Lady filled the walls “It is 4am young lady! What do you have to say for yourself for being out so late! Why I never!”“Hmm, and it sounds like ye weren’t alone in this venture. Well, it seems your little miss is out of my ability to punish. YOU on the other hand.”“Mr. Pringle, please, no-”“You know the rules, young Mister – Weasley I’m guessing? Red hair and freckles hmm? Your brothers certainly should by now. Don’t worry, I’ll just give you enough punishment for both you and whoever you had with you. That’ll teach you to not bother me on Valentine’s again!”-----Molly waited patiently outside the portrait while The Fat Lady continued to berate her. She expected Arthur to show up behind her at any moment. All of a sudden, the sounds of someone being caned filled the walls of the school. The Fat Lady stopped mid rant. “Quick child, inside!” Molly didn’t have any doubt as to what was happening. Arthur had been caught.The portrait frame dulled the sounds coming from out in the corridor, but didn’t block it out completely. She knew the maximum allowed hits one could be caned for was 5, but Molly was certain she had heard more than that. She listened until she heard Arthur slowly coming up to the portrait before she opened it to help pull him into the safety of the Common Room.“Arthur, are you alright? Let me see.”“I’m just – glad you – you’re safe.” Arthur winced out.“Shh, just relax. Episkey” Molly tried to do what she could to lessen the pain Arthur was in, but it seemed to do very little. These welts would most assuredly scar. Something wasn’t right. “How – how many times did you get caned?”“I lost track around 8 I think. Bilius told me ages ago that Pringle can get away with more than he’s supposed to at night. He, he may have also known you were out after hours as well…”It clicked that Molly’s suspicion was correct. She had escaped, but Arthur had been given her punishment.“It’s fine, Mollywobbles. I’ll be alright. I’m just glad you’re safe. I’d gladly do it all over again to protect you.”Molly could see the fire in his eyes at those words and knew he meant them. It was nothing like the eyes of her patients in the hospital wing today. Those were the eyes blinded by infatuation. This was something completely different, something real. Molly had no doubt anymore, Arthur truly did love her. And she loved him-----Arthur said goodnight to Molly at the foot of the dormitory stairs. He kept his smile up until she passed out of his sight before finally letting himself feel how much pain he was in. Molly’s healing spell had done next to nothing – there was no way he was going to be sleeping much tonight or any night for a long time. He slowly made his way up to his own bed. Sitting through classes was going to be difficult tomorrow, but in a strange way Arthur knew that every time he recoiled in pain he was going to be reminded of Molly and how he had kept her from being hurt. And that would lead back to the look on her face when she had opened her gifts, the feeling of her lips on his – she had even kissed him today! That was definitely worth thinking about again. As Arthur closed his eyes to end this very long and trying day, he remembered one other thing he would think of when the pain got too bad – the fact that not only did she love him, but he loved her.