Chapter 9: Fred and George
Arthur completely avoided Molly for the next two days. He didn’t look at her, and he wouldn’t speak to her. She couldn’t understand why, but every time she tried to talk to him about it, he muttered an excuse and left as quickly as he could.
“Ms. Prewett, may I have a word?”
Molly snapped out of her daze to find that Professor Dumbledore watching her concernedly. There were no students left in the classroom.
“I don’t believe you paid a moment’s attention in class, Ms. Prewett…” he said.
“Oh, I’m sorry Professor “ I’m just … I was just thinking…”
“Well, that’s perfectly alright, I do enjoy a good thought now and again, myself…” he mused.
“I’ll make it up, I promise…” Molly told him.
“Well, now that you suggest it, I suppose it would be a good idea for you to stop by my classroom today, at about six o’clock in the evening, so that you can make up today’s lesson.”
“Oh… okay, Professor. I’ll be here “ thanks. And, again “ I’m really sorry…”
“And before you go, here’s you’re essay back, as well “ very good work, Ms. Prewett…”
Molly took the parchment he held out to her, “Adaptations taken for Vertebrate Vanishing” “ there was a sparkling green ‘O’ drawn on the top.
“Oh, thank you Professor…” she exclaimed.
Dumbledore just nodded curtly, and Molly grabbed her book bag and quickly left the classroom. She found Maeve waiting for her outside.
“Why didn’t you tell me class was over?” Molly snapped, as they moved towards the Great Hall for lunch
“I tried!” Maeve protested. “I even waved my hand in front of your face, snapped my fingers, poked you, pinched you, bit you…”
“You didn’t bite me!” Molly said.
“And you would know that how?” Maeve asked. “I mean, you were in another universe…I don’t suppose I should even ask what you were thinking about…”
“You know very well what I was thinking about,” Molly told her.
“You know if you just talked to him…”
“I’ll make a deal with you “ you get him within five feet of me, and I’ll talk to him,” Molly said, trying her best not to sound hurt. It didn’t work.
“I’m sure Shane was right, Mol “ maybe Arthur just needs some time…”
“He’s had two days,” Molly said, turning to enter the Great Hall. “I don’t know what he could be so upset about, anyway…”
“Hello ladies…” Shane interrupted, putting an arm around each girl as the three of them walked to the end of the Gryffindor table. “You know, Prewett “ I was just thinking… when you and Arthur have kids, they’ll probably all have red hair…”
“Shane, this probably isn’t the best time…” Maeve muttered.
“All seven of ‘em…” Shane continued, ignoring Maeve’s warning. “Will you do me a favor Prewett, and name the first one Shane. I think I’d like that…”
“Shut up, Casey,” Molly told him, sitting down to eat.
“What, you don’t like ‘Shane’?’ he asked, hurt. “Well “ what about William? William’s my middle name…”
“Please stop…” Molly said, sounding tired.
“I’m sorry, Mol…” Shane apologized, sounding quite sincere. “I was just trying to lighten up the situation…you know, you shouldn’t worry so much.”
“What are you so worried about?” someone grunted from the other side of the table. They looked to see Alastor sitting down, throwing his book bag on the table.
“Oh, nothing Alastor…”
“Is someone threatening you, Molly?” he grunted.
“Where would you get that idea?” Shane laughed.
“Well… there are dark wizards about, you know…” Alastor growled. “Heard a rumor about this kid that went here just a few years back… he was Head Boy and all, but he’s disappeared since he left Hogwarts. No one’s seen him”
“So, what “ you believe he was killed by dark wizards?” Maeve asked.
“No… of course not, Maeve…that’s absurd,” he growled. “He is the dark wizard… who knows what he’s getting up to, or when he’ll be back…”
Maeve just watched Alastor with her mouth hung open incredulously. Molly put her head down on the table and groaned. Alastor stopped his ranting about dark wizards.
“You know, Molly “ I’m sure if you just talked to him…” he grunted.
---
That evening at about ten to six, Molly headed for Professor Dumbledore’s classroom to make up her Transfiguration work. To her surprise, when she reached the class “ she found that Dumbledore was not alone. Arthur was with him.
Molly recovered quickly from her temporary shock, and walked in with a falsely bright smile.
“Good evening, Arthur…” she said. “Didn’t expect to see you here…”
“You were not the only one having difficulty paying attention in class today, Ms. Prewett,” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
Arthur gave Molly a rather nervous smile, and then quickly turned his attention back to Dumbledore.
“Now, so as not to take up to much of your social lives with something as boring as Transfiguration, I suggest we get started right away. You have both Vanished your snails with excellent success, so expect you shouldn’t have too much trouble with mice…”
Arthur and Molly just nodded and pulled out their wands. Dumbledore opened a box and put two mice in front of them, both with bright orange fur.
“These two I’m quite fond of,” Dumbledore said. “Fred and George are their names, I do have trouble telling which is which of course, but I’ll be sad to see them go…”
Molly didn’t know whether he was serious or not; she tried to catch Arthur’s eye, but he was immensely focused on the two mice.
“Oh, I’ve just remembered, I was supposed to meet Ogg about a renegade owl on the grounds “ so I’ll just leave the two of you to it, then?”
“But “ how are we supposed to “” Molly spluttered.
“It’s the same as Vanishing invertebrates, Molly “ just with a few adjustments that I’m sure you’re both fully aware of due to the excellent essays you both turned in… have fun, now,” he said, and with that he stood up from his desk and swept out of the classroom.
Molly stared after him in disbelief. It was just all too convenient.
She turned to her mouse and silently began trying to vanish it. Neither she nor Arthur had much success.
“I think this one is Fred…” Molly said casually.
“Hm?” Arthur said.
“Fred, I think this one’s Fred “ he seems like a Fred…” Molly said.
“Yeah, I guess so…” Arthur said. “I suppose this one seems more like a George, too.”
“So… do you want to talk about “ ”
“Not really, no.”
They sat quietly another few minutes… Arthur managed to make ‘George’ Vanish, though there was a bit of red fur left on the desktop. Molly found this ironic, because all she’d been able to Vanish on ‘Fred’ was his fur.
“Arthur “ why are you so upset that I know?” Molly asked him suddenly, hoping to catch him off guard.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he sighed timidly, his ears turning red.
“No, it’s not actually…”
“Molly “ I have feelings for you…” he said. “And now you know, and I just “ I just liked it better before, that’s all. It was easier. Now I have to face rejection…”
“What makes you think you have to face rejection?” Molly asked him softly.
“Well, it seems I already have, doesn’t it?” he said, pointing his wand at the red mouse hairs on the table, vanishing them.
“What are you talking about?” Molly asked.
“Well, how long have you known, Molly?” he asked.
“Well, Maeve told me the first day of term “ but I didn’t really believe it until I overheard you and Shane in the library…”
Arthur looked up at her, the first time he’d done so in two days.
“So it was you? Who dropped the book…”
Molly nodded guiltily.
“Anyways… you’ve known, and you’ve had the chance to tell me how you feel, and you haven’t, have you? I just assumed…”
“Assumed what? That because I haven’t said anything, it means I don’t feel the same?”
“That would be the obvious assumption, don’t you think?” Arthur asked. “I mean “ if you have feelings for someone and you know they feel the same, what do you do? You tell them, Molly… and you haven’t done anything of the sorts… It’s okay, I get it… you don’t have to feel bad, it’s alright…”
“Arthur “ ” Molly said, but they were interrupted by Dumbledore.
“Ah… sorry about that,” he said. “Hope the two of you have sorted those mice out… but you should probably get downstairs for something to eat…”
“Yeah, sounds like a good idea…” Arthur said quickly, picking up his things and vanishing quickly from the classroom. Molly sighed and waved her wand over her hairless ‘Fred’, he disappeared instantly.
“Fantastic, Ms. Prewett “ simply splendid work. It looked like there was hardly any effort at all…”
Molly just sighed, thanked Dumbledore, and left the classroom quickly, hoping to catch Arthur before he got to the Great Hall.