When Arthur Met Mollywobbles

Molly Prewett stared at the swirling steam billowing from the train that would take her back to school, reliving an incident from last year. Lucius Malfoy had cursed her best friend, Dakota, just because she was Muggle-born. It happened the last time they boarded the train, at the end of the Summer Term. This particular incident had made her so angry, she wanted to curse his ears into kumquats. However, she didn't get a chance - Malfoy was too quick for her. He immobilised her as she pulled out her wand.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dakota, Molly and her brother Fabian were sitting playing a game of Exploding Snap when the compartment door slid open. Lucius Malfoy swaggered in, his blonde hair swinging with each step he took. Molly looked at him and scowled. He was loathed all over the school. He bullied first and second years, and had even reduced Agatha Miller, a fellow seventh year, to tears.

But Malfoy had so far shown no intentions of bullying anyone. He looked at Molly and smiled. Molly felt her insides squirm, not with pleasure, but with loathing.

"You don't have to hang out with that slime, Prewett," he said, his voice deeper and more mature than usual. "You can come and sit with us, if you want." Malfoy turned and sneered at Fabian's second-hand robes, and his lip curled as he stared at Dakota. Molly knew what was running through his mind. Dakota was a Muggle-born, and Purebloods like Lucius Malfoy and his father, Abraxas, were known to be proud of their so-called "purity."

"Shove off, Malfoy," Molly replied coolly. It was no secret that Malfoy fancied her. Everyone else, even Fabian and Gideon, thought it was amusing. Molly just thought it was disgusting.

"You're not wanted here, nor will you ever be," Dakota added icily. Dakota had also developed a strong dislike for Malfoy. In previous years, he had mocked and teased her about her Muggle parentage. He also called her the derogatory term, "Mudblood," more often than not, not to mention making fun of her clumsiness at every chance he got.

"No one asked for your opinion, Mudblood," he said, his face screwed up in anger. Molly noticed there was a red flush creeping up Malfoy's normally pale face. She stood up, as did Fabian. Fabian's hand plunged into his pocket for his wand. His neck began to glow red, which was always a danger sign, and he said, "Didn't you hear my sister, Malfoy? Shove off."

"How dare you talk to me? This conversation was not directed at you, Muggle-lover," spat Malfoy. Clearly Malfoy had noticed the chemistry between Dakota and Fabian.

Molly felt a surge of anger, so she walked forward and whispered in Dakota's ear, "Just ignore him, everyone knows you're an amazing person." Dakota beamed at her.

Suddenly, there was a cry of "Crescocapillus!" from Fabian just as Malfoy bellowed, "Levicorpus!" Fabian swung up into the air with a bang, held up by his ankle, and Malfoy grew a long braid of hair
flowing from his nose.

"How dare you!" he screamed. Molly suppressed a snicker with difficulty; she knew it would only aggravate him more. "I, one of the Pure-Bloods, and you-you-wait until my father hears-!"

Abraxas Malfoy was well known for stirring up trouble, but always obediently (and somewhat aggravatingly, to the Wizarding World) kept his feet just behind the line of the law.

Molly caught Dakota's eye, and Dakota started to giggle at Malfoy's new and improved - in their opinion - appearance. Malfoy rounded on her and snarled angrily. He raised his wand, and yelled "Adaugeo Cruris!" Suddenly, Dakota tripped sprouted long tentacles all over her face.

"Dakota!" cried Molly and Fabian in unison.

Before Molly could let Fabian down and force Malfoy to release Dakota, Malfoy pointed his wand at her, and whispered menacingly, "You have one last chance, Prewett," he spat, losing his patience at last. "Will you go out with me?"

"Not even if you were a perfect gentleman," Molly said, before she could stop herself.

Malfoy flushed again. Clearly it was embarrassing to ask out a Gryffindor, especially since the houses didn't get along. Turning down a proposed date, therefore, was not acceptable.

"Immobulus!" Malfoy hissed, with a mixture of anger and ("Could it be?" thought Molly) sorrow on his face. A jet of light issued from Malfoy's wand, and Molly felt herself freeze up.

Maybe that was why she couldn't fall in love with anyone. Every boy she'd met just wasn't . . . right. She couldn't really explain it; she just wasn't interested in any of the guys she knew. The boys in the Gryffindor common room were odd, to say the least, and every boy that wasn't odd she'd never met before and was a little shy about talking to them. Molly didn't socialise with any guys except her brothers Fabian and Gideon, and sometimes even they got on her nerves. Dakota thought she was mentally unbalanced, and she would, Molly thought sadly. She'd had at least five boyfriends in the past couple of years. All this, combined with the fact that she almost puked every time she imagined Lucius Malfoy kissing her, made Molly a little hesitant around boys.

Dakota and Fabian hadn't taken kindly to being outsmarted by Malfoy, and they were rather embarrassed. Finally, Molly had been able to summon her wand nonverbally, and then she released Fabian. He had released Molly, and then she went to get Gideon from the Prefect's compartment. He then found their mother, who looked up the countercurse and performed it on Dakota before they strode through the barrier, away from Platform 9 ¾, and back into the Muggle world.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You OK, Molly?" asked Fabian, striding forward, craning his neck, anxiously looking for Dakota.

"Nothing, just thinking about boys," said Molly glumly.

"Boys?" said Fabian incredulously.

"I mean-oh honestly, Fabe, not that kind of thinking-thinking about why I-you know, why I've never been that great around them," Molly continued, her voice lowering with every word.

"You need a life," said Fabian in a mock sorrowful voice.

"So do you," she said playfully, punching him in the shoulder. Fabian did an imitation of a wounded soldier, clutching his arm where Molly had hit him and yelping in mock pain.

"Dakota! Over here!" cried Fabian suddenly, and dropped the soldier impression as a tall, skinny, ebony-haired girl stumbled over to them. "Hey!" she said. "You two had better hurry, or we'll miss the
train."

"Always punctual, are we?" teased Fabian. Dakota smiled at him, causing a faint blush to creep around his neck.

"Will Gideon be joining us?" asked Molly, glancing around, hesitant to board the train.

"He's already on, I expect," said Fabian carelessly, looking at Dakota.

"I meant, will he be joining us after he assigns the Prefects their hall patrol schedules and stuff?" asked Molly, slightly impatiently.

"Oh, that's right, he's Head Boy this year," said Dakota vaguely.

"Yes, and believe me, ever since he got that badge, he hasn't let us forget it," said Fabian. Dakota laughed.

With that, they boarded the Hogwarts Express, Fabian looking faintly pleased, Molly looking fairly exasperated with Fabian's sudden brain lapse, and Dakota smiling.

As they all started a game of Exploding Snap, Molly could not possibly know that this, her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, would be her most eventful . . . and that she would finally get a boyfriend.