When Arthur Met Molly

CHAPTER 1    

    "Isn't she wonderful?" sighed Arthur Weasley, gazing longingly across the Gryffindor Common Room.

     "Mmhmm," replied his friend James Potter, his face buried in a book.

     "No, really look at her," said Arthur dreamily, a smile crossing his face. "She's amazing."

     "Yep. Amazing," said James.

     Arthur looked over at his friend sitting beside him on the steps. "You're not even looking!" he said, nudging him on the arm.

     "Arthur, I know who she is," replied James lazily, looking up from his book and smiling. "She's in practically all of our classes."

     Arthur frowned. "Yeah, I know. And still it seems she doesn't know I exist."

     James brushed some unruly black hair out of his eyes and grinned. "Sure she does, buddy," he said. "Look, she's staring at you right now."

     Arthur's eyes widened behind his round glasses. He spun around and scanned the room. There were thirty or forty other people there, playing Exploding Snap and chess and talking loudly with each other, but he immediately saw who he'd been looking for: Molly Sullivan. She was sitting at a table with three of her friends, including Lily Evans, and they were laughing and talking. Her short red hair was pulled back into pigtails.

     Arthur put a hand on his chest and looked at James, who was grinning at him. "She's not staring at me," he whispered anxiously. "Geez, don't scare me like that."

     James laughed good-naturedly. "It's all in fun, you know that," he said, punching him playfully on the arm. Arthur grabbed his arm on the spot where James hit it when he wasn't looking. "Look, why don't you just go over there and talk to her, if you find her so 'amazing'?"

     Arthur looked shocked. "What? No way. I couldn't do that."

     "Oh, for Merlin's sake, Arthur, don't be such a baby." James rolled his eyes.

     "I'm not a baby!" said Arthur. "I just can't go over there. Besides, what would we talk about? For all I know we haven't got anything in common."

     "Well, let's see," James said, putting down his book in his lap. "Do you know anything about Quidditch? Girls like that."

     Arthur shook his head no.

     "No? Hmm. Well then I guess you're sunk, my friend," said James.

     Arthur frowned and put his chin in his hands. "Perfect," he mumbled.

     James laughed. "I'm only kidding! Geez, lighten up, Arthur."

     "It'd be a lot easier for me to 'lighten up' if you would stop making jokes at my expense," Arthur muttered.

     "Alright, well what's your best subject, then?" James asked, moving down a few steps so he was at Arthur's level.

     "Oh, that's easy!" cried Arthur, brightening up a good deal, and even managing an excited smile. "Muggle Studies!"

     "So go talk to her about that," James suggested.

     Arthur turned and looked at James through his round, steel-rimmed glasses. "Talk to her about Muggle Studies?" he asked in disbelief.

     "Well, not about the class itself. Go impress her by telling her something you didn't learn in class," said James, smiling slightly.

     "Yeah? Like what?" asked Arthur excitedly. His brown eyes glinted brightly, and his red hair hung down over his freckled forehead.

     "Oh, you know, you're always lugging around some trinket or another," said James vaguely. "Go show her one of those," he said, then leaned back on the stairs and opened his book again.

     "You really think she'll like that?" Arthur asked his friend.

     "Yeah, of course," said James, then added, "now let me get back to this book. I'm at a pivotal point."

     Arthur smiled and stood up, then turned around and smiled at his friend. "Thanks, James," he said.

     James looked up and grinned.

CHAPTER 2

     "They're looking this way again!" giggled Lily Evans excitedly.

     Maggie grinned and nudged Lily on the arm. "Not so loud!" she whispered. "They'll hear you!"

     "Oh, what have you got to worry about, Maggie?" asked Lily. "You already know Frank's smitten with you. No need to go worrying about what they're grinning about," she said, jerking her head slightly towards the boys on the stairs.

     Molly smiled at her two friends. She had bright eyes and curly red hair that was tied up in two pigtails at the back of her head. "Honestly, girls, you ought to worry more about school and less about what some silly boys think about you," she said, imitating the stuck-up Gryffindor Head Girl, Amanda Luna.

     Her friends laughed, and Lily said, "Molly, I wouldn't be saying that if I were you. It looks like somebody over there's got an eye for you!"

     Molly glanced behind her towards the stairs. She saw James Potter casually reading a book, and Arthur Weasley glancing nervously back and forth between his hands in his lap and the table she and her friends were sitting at.

     Molly spun around quickly and grinned at her friends, blushing behind her freckles.

     "You see?" Maggie said, smiling at Molly.

     "No, he wasn't looking over here," Molly said shaking her head, sending her pigtails bouncing. "He was...reading the clock, over there, on the wall."

     Lily laughed and shook her head. "Of course he wasn't. He was looking at you."

     Molly continued to smile, but she shrugged. "Oh well. So what if he is looking at me? That's not important, or at least not more important than schoolwork, which we really ought to be doing, by the way," she added, gesturing to the schoolbooks they had brought to the table but completely forgotten about as soon as they sat down.

     "Oh, we can worry about schoolwork later," said Lily. "We haven't got any Potions homework, and Transfiguration isn't due until next Wednesday."

     "I like to...get a head start on my homework," said Molly.

     "Oh, come on, just go over there and say hi!" said Maggie, laughing.

     "Oh, I don't know..." said Molly, glancing behind her quickly.

     "Oops, looks like it's too late," whispered Lily excitedly. "He's coming over here right now!"

     "Oh no," said Molly, but she smiled down at her hands as she said it.