2013

Molly Weasley is beautiful.

There's no other word for it. She is contradictory and perfect and useless and brilliant. She's that perfect shade of azure that captivates and compels and sickens you. She's beautiful.

She wakes one morning to her Hogwarts letter; all cream coloured parchment and swirly emerald writing and full of all those promises. Molly cries and she laughs, and her mother stares at her, and asks, "What, did you think you weren't getting one?"

Her father doesn't say anything but a stiff congratulations, but Molly doesn't mind.

She twirls around her room on light feet, and dances over to her trunk and packs a thousand more times. She checks her reflection in the mirror, stares at her auburn, fly-away curls and resents them slightly. But she brushes that feeling off, because she's Molly Weasley, and she's going to Hogwarts, so she doesn't have time to ponder over cynical thoughts.

Molly hops onto the big red steam train, and the whole family all waves her off. Baby Lucy tries to wave from their mother's arms. She's not the first Weasley - not by a mile - but it's the last year with no Potters at Hogwarts, so Molly decides to make the most of it. She finds a carriage and some new friends who all think they're going to be Gryffindors too.

In the Great Hall, Teddy and Victoire beam together from the Gryffindor table. Her new friends are right; they are Gryffindors.

Molly is not.

The Hat touches her head and calls out, "RAVENCLAW!" before she has any chance to argue; any chance to say, 'No, you must have made some mistake. I'm Molly Weasley; Molly Weasley. I can't be a Ravenclaw, Mr Hat, sir, I really just can't. There must have been a mistake.'

But after all, Molly's just a pretty little afterthought, and she's not worth the discussion.

She walks over to the Ravenclaw table, and she can still see Victoire staring at her from across the room, in all her Gryffindor glory, and Molly feels so small in her Ravenclaw rags. Even Teddy, lovely Teddy with red and gold streaked through his hair, looks a little disappointed.

Still, Molly's not one for showing her feelings, so she laughs and she jokes with the other Ravenclaws, and waves shyly to the Scamander brothers across from her. They wave back, with identical grins, and she thinks that maybe she belongs here. She doesn't go home for Christmas, but Grandma Molly sends her a jumper all the same and she thinks maybe it'll all be alright.

When Molly returns for summer, she holds her breath. She's the second oldest Weasley, you see, and not even Gryffindor? Something's gone wrong.

But they're nice enough and little Lucy still holds out her arms for a hug when Molly comes through the door, but she's too young to understand. She can only just say Mowy, let alone Ravenclaw traitor.

But Uncle George jokes how Dad should've been a Ravenclaw, really, and this just proves she's smarter than the lot of them.

'Combined,' adds Uncle Ron with a smile.

.

2014

Back on the train again, Molly talks quietly with her friend Blanca, a lovely Spanish Muggleborn girl who's still trying to get her head around Quidditch. It's almost normal, to be back in that carriage, and even when the Scamander twins burst in with stories of their trip to Greenland, all Molly can do is laugh and show them her brand new azure ballet shoes from her grandmother.

They don't know what ballet is, of course, but she doesn't mind. Lysander even asks her for a dance.

The Great Hall waits with bated breath. James Potter is sorted into Gryffindor.

Molly spends her second year practising imperfect pirouettes in abandoned classrooms and working on her dance routines. She breaks her ankle halfway through the final term, and Lysander finds her and takes her to the Hospital Wing, but Madam Delacour patches her up in a jiffy, as long as she promises to lay off the dancing for a while. She doesn't.

Lysander takes away Molly's favourite azure ballet shoes, but it doesn't stop her. Molly doesn't have anything compared to her family's fame, to her family's Gryffindor gold, and maybe she's jealous. Maybe she's just Molly Weasley, and it's not in her to be normal.

At Christmas, no one can stop talking about James is sure set to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team next year with his brand new Firebolt 14. Nobody can talk about the empty seat at the table that is no longer filled.

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2015

Third year means Molly's first boyfriend, and her first kiss - little Eddie Bateson, a blond boy with a pretty smile and wide brown eyes. Molly kind-of-almost-maybe loves him.

But it doesn't last, of course, and passes swiftly, and Molly can't really say that she misses it. She kind-of-almost-maybe just liked him, anyway. She doesn't know what love feels like; how could she, after all? She's only thirteen.

Her mother offers to pay for Muggle ballet lessons over the summer, even though Dad disagrees.

"She's not a Muggle," he argues with her, late at night around the kitchen table. He paces – he always paces, he's never still, and Molly thinks that's where she got it from – and Mum stares him down.

"I never said she was," she answers calmly. "It's something she wants to do. It's good for her."

Daddy snorts and pushes his glasses further up his nose. "If she wants to get into the Ministry, she needs to start paying attention in class, she needs to be a candidate for Prefect –" Her mum tries to argue but he cuts her off. "No, Audrey. We're not raising – we're not raising a –"

"Not raising a what?" Mum asks, ice in her voice. Molly tiptoes back upstairs.

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2016

In the Christmas of her fourth year, Molly has her first performance, in a little Muggle theatre in a town just outside of London.

She shines on the stage, and she almost belongs there, behind heavy red curtains and in front of thundering applause. Molly has found her home, amongst dance rehearsals and background lights, and she loves it.

Her dad, though, is less than pleased, and he thinks that she could do so much more than just dancing for Muggles on a wooden stage with mediocre lighting and sore feet. But he doesn't understand, and Molly loves every part of it.

"No, Dad, I won't work at the Ministry with you," and, "No, Mum, I don't want to try out for the Quidditch team."

Lucy still asks Molly to play with her dolls, though, and gives her the princess with the azure dress as she holds the one in the jade.

Molly's good with Lucy, and she knows it. She's always had younger cousins, after all - when Lucy is born, Molly's nine and already has nine younger cousins. It's hard, growing up in a family like theirs. But it's worth it.

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2017

By the end of the first term in her fifth year, Molly gains a little bit of a reputation.

It's all only rumours, of course, because Molly's a Ravenclaw and she knows better than to feed the fire, but there's gossip spreading all the same. There's a list that says she has the best tits, and since then, boys think it's okay to grab her when she walks past, slap her as she bends over her cauldron. She's only fifteen.

Dad sniffs and says it's just the way boys are, when they're fifteen.

"And did you know, pretty Molly Weasley was caught in bed with her cousin's boyfriend, her best friend's boyfriend, her enemy's boyfriend, the Quidditch instructor, the Potions teacher..."

Of course, it doesn't last.

She doesn't know how these rumours started. Lysander pleads with her to ignore them, but Molly is determined to be the one to stop them. She settles down with a steady Ravenclaw boyfriend, Lukas Macmillan, and it almost lasts the whole year.

Her father's happy – "He's a nice lad, good for you, that one. I'm proud" – and her mother's excited – "Oh, and I can't wait to meet him, Molly; I still remember introducing Percy to your grandparents!" – and Lucy's confused – "But, why would you want to kiss a boy?"

And Molly's over-the-moon, because Lukas is handsome and he's funny, and he's so unlike those other boys that came before him – but shh, don't tell! The spotlight turns to other Weasleys, and she is safe, tucked away in azure shadows.

But then they start to argue. He's so passionate, more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw, and sometimes he can't contain it. He shakes her and shouts at her, asking why boys think they can still look at her when she's his.

'I don't belong to you,' she spits. 'I'm mine.'

Just once, he slaps her. She'll think about it for a long time, the sting against her set jaw, the way her eyes water. That night, Molly walks away, and she does not look back, but she never tells anyone why.

Lysander probs and probes, but she doesn't give in. Even he stops trying.

.

2018

In sixth year, she doesn't try so hard. Her grades drop, and she knows it, and her friends dwindle away. Her evenings are spent in detentions for hexing boys who tell her she was too much of a slut for a boy like Lukas. No boys ask her to Hogsmeade anymore.

Molly doesn't feel very beautiful. It's like there's a little raincloud above her head, and no one can bear to go near her without an umbrella to protect them.

She stops dancing.

One day, the last day of her sixth year, she opens her trunk to find a bouquet inside. It's very pretty; little white roses tied with a little blue bow and -

Two perfectly miniature azure ballet shoes hang from the ribbon, glinting mysteriously, with that little extra bit of (magic) sparkle. When she unties them, they swell and grow. They're a perfect fit, of course. Molly walks slowly down into the common room, and Lysander waves at her from the crowd. She takes a slow, ironic bow, and jumps into his arms.

He's taken down his umbrella.

Over the summer, Molly decides to give one final performance, and it's her favourite, so she dances her little heart out. Her azure dress shines under the mediocre lighting, and the Muggle dancers she's kind-of-almost-maybe friends with give their all around her too.

It's their best dance yet, and they know it.

Molly has a fake beam on her face and is panting heavily by the end, her toes – good toes, naughty toes, good toes, naughty toes – aching and her heart pounding. Somebody throws a bouquet and, in surprise, Molly catches it. Lysander grins at her from the crowd, and she grins back.

.

2019

Seventh year begins, and as Molly stumbles in the Scamanders' carriage, a big grin on her face and her hair tied back in an azure bow, Lorcan shouts, "Molly's back!"

And a few of her old friends that she neglected in sixth year pop their heads in and grin at her, and Blanca asks where she's been, and doesn't she know that Mummy Lorcan has been worried sick, and why couldn't she have sent a postcard?

(It turns out that Molly's ex-boyfriend Lukas has a looser tongue than fist, and Blanca thoroughly cursed him when he admitted what he said. What he did.)

Which is all pretty brilliant, actually, but then Lysander kisses her, and that's even better.

Seventh year passes in a twirl of NEWTs and kisses and friendships, and Molly cries her heart out when they leave Hogwarts for the last time. On their last day, though, she punches Lukas in the jaw, kisses not-so-little Eddie on the cheek and gets on the Hogwarts Express hand in hand with Lysander.

Molly graduates and works her robes off, dancing all hours of the day and night, and spending the rest of her time with Lysander. Lorcan travels the world, Blanca plays professional Quidditch, and Lucy starts Hogwarts.

She becomes a renowned dancer; both in the Muggle world and the Wizarding, and they all say, that Molly Weasley, she's really something, isn't she? She watches her family crash and burn, but she makes cups of tea and tries to keep them laughing. There's not much more she can do.

Lysander comes and sees her perform, and when Molly gives up full-time dancing – inevitably, it seems, because no one can dance and hide forever – she opens up her own studio for little Wizarding girls and boys.

Dad is happy for her - though he still drops hints about the Ministry – and Mum is happier for her – and she stops dropping off Quidditch magazines – and Lucy is just happy. Right?

Lysander and the family take Molly to her first proper Quidditch game after one of her debut performances, watching the Appleby Arrows soar above. He turns to her, a white-blond head amongst Weasleys, smiling and confident with his mother's butterbeer cork necklace tied around his wrist. Molly proposes to Lysander there and then.

He says yes, and the Appleby fans shout as one of the players dressed in azure scores. All her family hug her and cheer and the noise is lost in the crowd.

In the end, they're Molly and Lysander Scamander, and in their own way, they're beautiful.