This is really just a fun little fic that I wrote to keep my skills up, to be perfectly honest. I'm not too thrilled with it, but I like it all right. I'd like to know what others think of it, so if you have an opinion, go ahead, let it all out. I also wanted to do a fic that was more Molly centered, she's a fun character.
The timing is probably off, but that's okay. It's more of a fun fic than a hardcore focused one that checks every nook and cranny. Now if you point out the timing mishaps in a review, everyone will know you didn't read this part. Tsk tsk tsk.
Molly Weasley adjusted the table settings for what her husband, Arthur, was sure for the billionth time.
"Molly Wobbles," he started, running a hand through the hair he had left, "it's fine! Everything looks great. The kids are coming to dinner, not the minister of magic!"
"Of course he's not, Kingsley's much too busy this time of year." Molly muttered back, examining a fork as if checking it for gold.
"Molly, honestly, what is the meaning of all this? Why the panic? Is it because Ginny and Harry are bringing Teddy? I promise, he's only four, he won't care if his fork is dirty, but I'd rather you not give him one."
Molly lifted her face to look at her husband and there was a certain glint in her eye that he had failed to notice before. There was something almost mischievous in her look.
"It is about Teddy? You want to impress a four-year-old?" Arthur asked confused.
"Not Teddy! But don't you think it's a good sign that Harry and Ginny spend an awful lot of time with him?"
"Well, he is Harry's godson, and Ginny is Harry's wife…"
"But don't you think it's a good sign? A point in the right direction? That soon, maybe, Harry and Ginny will have their own little one to make me clean forks for?"
"Molly! I can't believe you! You joined Li'l Potter Patrol!"
"Arthur, please! I'm the grandmother to be, I am the original Li'l Potter Patrol!"
Li'l Potter Patrol had been started by Witch's Weekly days after the wedding of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley officially, but had been around as soon as the war had ended. Also called Bump Watch and the Hunt for Harry Jr., it was a popular past time now that the war had ended with the readers of Witch's Weekly and a few relatives of the Potters.
"I'm serious, Arthur! Think about it! Harry and Ginny spending more time with Teddy, Ginny looking into working for the Daily Prophet and giving up playing quidditch for a living. That'll be a day blessed Merlin, the day when our daughter takes on a job that doesn't run the risk of breaking her neck everyday."
"You're muttering in frustration to yourself again, dear."
"I have every right to! I want grandchildren!"
"You have grandchildren."
"I want dark haired grandchildren!"
"Victorie's hair is rather light."
"Dark! Dark haired!"
Three hours later, the Weasley's expanded kitchen was overflowing as the Weasley children and their spouses and children were digging into dessert as Mrs. Weasley had a sharp eye on her daughter's appetite.
"Gran-Molly," Teddy's voice piped up, "more pudding, please." Gran-Molly was the nickname Teddy and all the grandchildren had given to Molly, started by Teddy who had decided at age two and a half he wanted as many grandparents as he could have and had adopted as many grandparents as he could.
"'Course, dear." Molly said absent mindedly, spooning way too much for a four-year-old onto his plate.
"Mum! He's four, go easy on the boy. What were you thinking? Were yo--Oh! You weren't!" Ginny interjected, and the conversation lulled around the enormous table. Everyone knew what was coming.
Molly's face flushed, and Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he knew what was coming.
"What? What was I doing? Just trying to give Teddy some pudding." Molly's hand absentmindedly flounced around a slightly overwhelmed Teddy, who's hair had changed to match the color of the banana pudding as he shoveled spoonful after spoonful of it into his little mouth, his face full of determination.
"You were doing what you always do! You were peering at my stomach! You were doing the Li'l Potter Patrol thing!" a flustered Ginny accused. "You know I hate that! I can't even go out and have a big meal in public for fear of getting a food baby!"
"A what?" Fleur questioned from the other end of the table.
"Oh, you know, a food baby, when you eat too much and you get a tummy." Percy's wife, Penelope, answered.
"I 'ave never 'eard of zis." Fleur responded, her nose in the air over her cup of fruit for dessert.
"Bill, I am going to stab your wife." Ginny stated, her fork out and ready to go. Female faces across the table nodded in agreement, along with George.
After earning a few stares, George explained himself. "Sometimes I eat too much, and I get a little…tummy thing. It's not something I'm proud of! And Alicia always mocks me." George's very pregnant wife patted him affectionately on the leg as she rolled her eyes.
"Anyways," Molly started, snapping everyone out of the anti-Phlegm mood, "it's not right, Ginny! Are you even trying to get pregnant? Why must you keep all of the wizarding world in anticipation!"
"Mum! What about my career?!"
"You play a game! A game! That's not a career!"
"Harry, help me out here, explain this to her!"
"Arthur, explain to your daughter that she needs to be more practical!"
"Practical! George and Ron run a joke shop! Remember hating that?"
"Those two are very successful!"
"And I'm not?!"
"They're successful in a proper business!"
"Quidditch is proper!"
"Alicia's water just broke!"
All heads that had previously lobbing back and forth between Ginny and Molly now all snapped over to the other side of the table to see Alicia glaring at George.
"I just…I just wanted the yelling to stop! Now I want the glaring stop…" George muttered to his plate.
"What's he mean, water break?" Teddy whispered to Harry, his spoon still clutched in his little hand.
"Uh, well, you see, when the baby is ready to leave the mommy…it breaks…a water…bottle…" Harry's face was as red as the Weasley hair, but everyone was still too busy yelling at George or watching him be beaten over the head with a ladle by Alicia.
"So when Gin--"
"Teddy! You are not allowed to speak until you eat all of that pudding!"
Ginny cut Teddy off with a low hiss of a voice, that startled the boy so much that he shoved the spoon back into his mouth without getting any pudding on it. Harry looked at his wife, obviously startled and blinking furiously behind his glasses.
"Is it so wrong for a mother to be anxious for her only daughter to have a child?" Molly was guilting Ginny now, much to Ginny's frustration. The table was now divided, some watching Ginny and Molly, some listening to George's verbal lashing, and Arthur playing with his granddaughter, turning a deaf ear to the entire situation.
"My job is not that dangerous! Hermione has a dangerous job! Hers is worse than mine!"
"Don't drag me into this!"
"Hermione has a job in the ministry!"
"With the magical creatures! You've met Hagrid, you know how bad they can get!"
"I don't work with blast-ended skrewts!"
"Don't talk about those at the dinner table!"
"Honestly, Ronald!"
"Alicia's water really did break!" and again, the entire table gave themselves whiplash as they snapped to see, just to be greeted by an even angrier Alicia who had turned to choking her husband. Percy was trying to pull her off, but was too flustered at trying to figure out what to do with his incredibly pregnant sister-in-law. Part of his was trying to save his brother, but the other part didn't know how to touch the woman.
"I proposed to a girl back in Romania."
Charlie's comment was what really shut the table up, and Mrs. Weasley finally got away from her daughter and the terrifyingly empty uterus to her second oldest son. She jumped up from the table and ran to him, flung her arms around him, and instantly started choking him, Alicia style.
"Why haven't we met her?!"
"What's she like?"
"Is she pretty?"
"Molly, you're going to kill him!"
"Did she say yes?"
"She--urk--did say--Mum!--yes!"
Charlie was turning a shade best described as plum before Molly finally released her son into a hug again.
"Oh, I knew you'd do this to me, I knew you'd torture me like this! Wouldn't let me meet the girl till the rehearsal dinner. You're not already married are you?! This isn't a big trick!" Molly's voice was shrill with excitement and Fleur was making faces of obvious disapproval.
"No, no, we're just engaged, she'll be able to come next month. Another dragon person, specializes in the biggest ones. She's tough as dragon hide, she is." Charlie beamed.
"Well, hear that, 'Lic? Charlie thinks he's found a dame stronger than you! I say you two have a full on brawl next month."
"George, next month I'll be nine months pregnant."
"What?! Why on earth didn't you tell me?!"
At this Arthur burst out laughing at the joke, shaking his knee which upset Victorie, which made Fleur jump up which caused her plate to fall on Bill, who hit Charlie, which shook Molly who started hassling Arthur for upsetting the little one.
"My ear! My ear grew back!"
And from there the attention was transferred back to George who was again being yelled at by groups of people for the joke, especially his already flustered wife.
"But Hermione, Ginny has a point, your job is dangerous." Ron was trying to plead with Hermione among the mess.
"Ronald, you work with George. That's dangerous." Hermione shot back.
"What's wrong with my husband?" Alicia snarled, her mood swings becoming violent at this point of the dinner conversation.
"This is how you people react to the return of my ear?!" George yelled above the noise.
At this Molly grabbed Charlie's napkin and started whipping it across the back of George's head so hard that he could have feasibly lost his other ear.
"I SAID WILL GINNY'S WATER BOTTLE BRAKE WHEN SHE HAS THE BABY!" Teddy's small voice rang above the noise, and at that the whole room froze.
Molly stopped beating her son, Charlie and Bill quit trying to cheer up Victorie, Fleur quit questioning Alicia if it was normal to gain weight during pregnancy since she just hadn't, Percy and his wife quit whispering escape plans to each other, Hermione and Ron quit bickering for a moment, and Harry looked absolutely stunned.
"What?" Arthur finally asked the small boy who was looking rather green.
"I don't wanna yell again, I ate lots of pudding." the boy answered, looking at his now clean plate.
All eyes slid over to Ginny, who was quietly trying to slip out the kitchen window and had actually gotten her head through before being spotted.
"The window! Of course!" Percy muttered to his wife, who promptly nodded, the two had a a running game where they planned their escape from Weasely dinners. The rest of the house was completely still, even Alicia's usually bouncing stomach was still.
"Why--why--why--didn't you tell me?!" Molly fumed, her body shaking with fury.
"I liked the anticipation." Ginny coolly answered, sliding her head back through the window.
"You told Teddy when?" Molly continued, her shaking subsiding but a flushed red color was creeping up her neck into her face.
"Few days ago."
"You've known for days and haven't mentioned it?!"
"Actually, we've known for a month and haven't mentioned it. I really loved the anticipation." Ginny was quite smug now.
"Y'know, maybe it wasn't the best planning to keep Ginny as the last to know everything when she was a child. I do believe she holds a grudge." George mused out loud, but no one paid any mind to him this time.
"Harry! We're supposed to be best mates! Why didn't you tell me?!" Ron demanded, his face resembling his mother's a strange amount. Arthur gave a small, unintentional shudder.
"You feelin' all right, there Ted?" Harry asked the small boy, who looked greener than ever. Seconds later, he had his answer.
And no one ever let Teddy forget the dinner he threw up pudding all over Harry, allowing Ginny to climb out the window and escape her mother's wrath for at least a few extra hours.