It was September 1st, and Platform 9 ¾ was bustling with Hogwarts students ready for the new school year. All around owls squawked in their cages as children chattered about how their summers had gone. Standing in the midst of all the chaos was Molly Prewett, a short, red-haired, fifth year girl. She was scanning the crowds looking for her friends, but so far she hadn’t spotted a single familiar face. Suddenly, she heard someone call her name.
“Molly!”
She turned, to see a thin, tall boy with red hair almost as bright as her own approaching her.
“Hello, Arthur,” she said politely. “How was your summer?”
“It was brilliant,” he said. “I went to a Muggle art museum in London, and not a single one of the paintings moved. Not one bit. Mad, isn’t it?”
“Yes, quite…mad,” she raised her eyebrow at him. Everyone at Hogwarts knew that Arthur Weasley, though very kind, was a quite odd. He had a strange obsession with Muggles. He hung around Molly quite a bit, which could be irritating at times, but he was very sweet, so she didn’t mind “ much.
“How was your summer?” he asked.
“Just lovely. I’ve been made a prefect “ third in my family to do so.”
“That’s great “ I’ve been made a prefect as well!” he said, beaming at her.
“You’ve been made a prefect?” she asked. “You do nothing but cause trouble, Arthur!”
“Ah, yes “ but it is always in the interests of having a good time. That’s what counts…”
“Rules are rules, Arthur Weasley. They are not meant to be stepped on, bent, or broken,” her eyes flashed. “If you are a prefect, you are going to have to behave yourself. I am not going to do the work for both of us.”
“Don’t worry, Molly. I won’t let you down,” he promised, winking at her
“You better not,” she warned.
“Molly!”
Molly turned to see Maeve Glenwood, her best friend, rushing towards her.
“Maeve! You look wonderful “ what have you been doing this summer?”
“I went to Majorca for the holidays…”
“I thought you looked tan…”
Arthur shrunk into the background, feeling forgotten. Molly and Maeve began to walk away. Arthur was just leaving for the prefects’ car, when Molly turned around “
“Bye, Arthur “ I’ll see you in a few minutes “ on the train.”
He turned to smile and wave, but in doing so he knocked a second-year to the ground. He rushed to help him, but the second-year just jumped up in fright, grabbed his things and ran off as quickly as he could. When Arthur looked up to see if Molly had witnessed his show of clumsiness, he saw that she had already turned around and was walking in the opposite direction. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
“Could he get any stupider?” laughed Maeve, as they turned from the embarrassing scene Arthur had caused.
“Leave him alone - he’s really nice…a much better person than you are.” Molly replied, attempting a defense.
“He’s in love with you,” Maeve said smirking.
“He is not!” Molly protested.
“Oh, please, he follows you around like a house-elf.”
“That is not true…”
Maeve just raised her eyebrow at her.
“Okay, maybe he does “ but he’s not in love with me…”
Again, Maeve said nothing.
“Well, at least I don’t have some ungroomed dog chasing after me…” Molly shot, trying desperately to change the subject.
“If you’re referring to Shane…he is not an ungroomed dog!”
“His hair is past his shoulders, it’s appalling.”
“I happen to find it very attractive.”
Molly just pursed her lips; she did not agree with her friend’s taste in boys. She looked at the clock “ it was five till eleven.
“I should get to the prefect’s car…”
“Alright then, I’ll see you later “ Hopefully I’ll be in a compartment with Shane,” she grinned mischievously as she spoke.
Molly quickly left for her car, Arthur was already sitting inside, quiet; he was fiddling with something that had a circle on the front with little numbers inside holes running along the edge. His face lit up when he saw her.
“There you are, Molly “ I’ve been waiting for you “ I wanted to show you something. It’s called a fellytone, Muggles use it to communicate with each other.”
She merely smiled at him, not knowing what to say. She remembered all the time Arthur always spent following her around, showing her Muggle ‘artifacts’, asking her how she was.
Then she realized…maybe Maeve was right. Perhaps Arthur Weasley was interested in her as more than a friend.
She then immediately pushed it out of her mind.
It’s not possible, she thought to herself. Muggle-loving Weasley in love with Molly? The idea was more funny than realistic.
Maeve was just trying to pull one on me, she told herself.
Arthur, in the meantime, had completely forgotten about his ‘fellytone’. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from Molly “ who hadn’t even noticed she was still being watched. She also didn’t notice the look of disappointment on his face when she left the compartment, after they had been given their instructions, to find Maeve. She never noticed “ and Arthur was beginning to believe she never would.