I love M.O.M.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything else that may seem familiar. In fact, I own very little.
Author: DracaDelirus
Warnings: none that I can think of
Dedication: for 'Mom' - I wouldn't be me, if you weren't you
MOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOM
"Harry dear, do you want me to look over your homework when I get done with Ginny's? I've already done Ron's and the twin's."
Molly Weasley looked up expectantly from a summer homework essay she was reviewing at the kitchen table.
"… er… it really isn't necessary Mrs Weasley… but… well… if you have time… I guess… that is… if you want to… ah… on second thought… no ma'am, thanks anyway… it doesn't really matter," Harry stammered uncomfortably.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had never cared how he did in school as long as he never did better than his cousin Dudley, and no one else had ever asked to look over his homework before, well except for Hermione and she was… well… she was Hermione. Not the same thing as Mrs Weasley, a mother, his best friend's mum.
"I think I'll go see if the twins want a match."
Harry got up from the table, scooping his homework into an untidy pile before grabbing his firebolt and fleeing to the apple orchard.
"So was that a yes or a no?" Molly asked Ron before he followed Harry out the door.
"Don't know Mum," Ron said cheerily as he too grabbed his broom and headed for the orchard.
"Well, I think I will take it as a yes," Molly mused to herself as Ginny followed the boys out the door.
Taking the untidy pile, she made herself a cup of tea and settled into a comfy chair to read through Harry's homework essays. She was still reading an hour later when Arthur came home. He found her curled up in the chair, feet tucked under her, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Molly, what's wrong?"
"I… I was just reading Harry's summer homework, and I… I found… Here, read this…" Molly said handing him a parchment for Professor Binn's History class titled "How I Spent My Summer Vacation".
"Hey, I remember doing these for Professor Binn's during my Hogwarts days. It's boring, but nothing to cry about Molly - he assigns the same thing every year. I do agree though that it's not terribly original, and it has nothing to do with the History of Magic, but I suppose someone has to assign it. It is tradition after all."
"No Arthur, read it…" Molly sniffed, and then blew her nose loudly into a handkerchief.
"Okay… 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Harry James Potter. This summer I got to spend the last two weeks of August with my Weasley family, six older brothers and a younger sister. We played Quidditch every day in our Apple Orchard, and Dad taught me several new moves. Who knew he could fly so well? And Mum, what can I say other that I really love Mum. I wish I could stay here every summer…"
"Oh! Ooohhh! Stop there and read that part again Arthur! Read it again!"
"What? Why? It's just the standard stuff…"
"It's anything but standard Arthur! Didn't you listen to the words? 'my family'… 'our orchard'… 'Dad'… and… 'and I… I really love Mummmm'…" Molly started wailing again as Arthur reread the essay.
"Wow… I didn't know he felt that way."
"We have to do something about it Arth…" Molly's voice trailed off as she saw Arthur look up and freeze. Looking behind her, she saw Harry standing in the doorway - his face pale with a stricken look, her children crowding in behind him looking puzzled.
"… er… sorry…" Harry said apologetically, all of a sudden moving rapidly to snatch up his essay and shove it in his book bag.
"I'm a bad speller that was supposed to be MOM… with an "O" you know… for… er… Ministry of Magic… not… um… MUM… with a "U" like um... you… anyway… er… I'm so sorry…" Harry took a shy look at Molly's tear stained face and turned as red as any of the Weasley's hair. Dropping the book bag, he fled once more out the door.
Ron finally tracked him down, perched on the highest limb of the apple tree at the far end of the Orchard thwacking the back of his head rhythmically into the trunk against which he was leaning. Ron climbed up the tree and sat on the wide limb next to him.
"Harry! Here you are. We've been looking everywhere for you."
"Congratulations. You found me."
"You're a total git you know."
"Yeah, I know."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Apologize I guess, once I get up the nerve to face them."
"Apologize?"
"Yeah."
"Whatever for? Are we talking about the same thing?"
"Apologize for… for upsetting your parents and making your Mum cry… apologize for writing about your family like that… like they were mine, I didn't have any right to… apologize for living I guess."
"You are a total git."
"Yeah."
"No, I mean it Harry… YOU. ARE. A. TOTAL. GIT!" Ron punched him hard in the arm with each word to make his point.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"Mum was not upset, she was happy, and then you up and go berserk and BREAK. HER. HEART. Tell her how much you looooove the Ministry of Magic! The Ministry of Magic… not her? Get off it! Nobody loves the Ministry of Magic. Except for maybe Percy. How could you say that?"
"I thought…"
"Well, you thought wrong."
"She was crying…"
"She was happy."
"But… she was crying…"
"So, she cries when she's happy," Ron shrugged.
"She does?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"All the time. You should have seen her when we finally got all the doxies out of the drapes - a regular waterworks."
"I am a total git."
"Yeah."
"They aren't… mad?"
"Nah. Now let's go home little 'bro'."
"You read it too?" Harry asked mortified.
"Hey, we all did," Ron grinned, pointing to his siblings on the ground below.
"I think Mum is going to have it framed and hung on the wall. So you're going to have to write something else for Professor Binns 'cause Mum isn't letting go of that one anytime soon. Now climb down, your Mum wants to give you a big hug and she is going to drive us all mental until she does."
"Er… maybe I'll just stay up here…"
"No way," Ron laughed as he pushed him off the branch, his fall cushioned by landing on top of the twins.
"Ron's right Harry," George said seriously, as he rolled him off and then helped him to his feet.
"True, you did ask for it," Fred agreed equally serious as he brushed him off and whacked him on the back until he started breathing again.
"Now you'll just have to suffer through…"
"… like the rest of us Weasleys," the twins finished grinning.
~fin~