RP: Visit from Mum

[anon_molly]

Date: March 22, 2003
Character(s): Molly and Charlie Weasley
Location: Charlie's shop
Status: Private
Summary: Molly goes in search of her second oldest son, hoping he's with a person, not a passel of animals. She is disappointed.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[anon_charles]

Charlie struggled to keep the little thing in his arms, but it was proving to be very difficult. And it hurt like hell. "No, sweetie. Come on, don't do that." He pleaded softly while he tried to keep a good grip on the creature, only to get stung but the sharp spikes on it's back.It simply glared at him and tried to get away again, even though it had several injuries.

He had found by a whim earlier that day, wandering around the edges of the fields and forrests of Annwn. He had just wanted to get some fresh air and instead he had found a small hedgehog by a tree. Somehow it had gotten into a scuffle and managed to get several gashes on its legs and belly. Charlie hadn't been able to simply leave it behind to fend for itself and had been able to get it to his shop. He was slowly beginning to gather supplies for the shop, food, toys and medicine. He didn't have any animals yet, but he wanted to wait until the interior was suited to hold them. And for that he needed carpenting skills better than his.

Charlie had tried to clean the gashes, but the hegdehog certainly didn't like it and in return he had gotten injuries of his own. When a knock sounded on the door to the shop, he looked up from the animal, which allowed it to get away. He cursed and gave chase into the front room... where he found his mother standing in the open doorway. "Mum! Close the door! Don't let it get out!" He cried frantically as he wathed the hedgehog make a beeline for the opportunity of an open door to freedom.

[anon_molly]

All Molly saw was her scratched up son and the blur of a creature with four legs and what looked like spines heading straight for her. What she wanted to do was take a broom and sweep it out the door or her wand and push it out, but Charlie insisted on keeping it inside, so she jumped back, the door closing with the movement of her body.

Without another thought, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the rodent-looking thing and with a silent Stupefy! stopped the thing in its tracks.

"Charles!" Molly turned to her son with her hands on her hips and an exasperated expression. "WHAT are you doing with a prickly rodent thing?"

[anon_charles]

He was quick to pick it up, once his mother had stunned it and even though he generally frowned upon using spells like that on animals, he didn't admit that it was much easier to handle now.

Charlie held the small hedgehog his arms, cradling it against his chest. Then he looked over at his mother and down at his boots with a sheepish grin on his lips. His parents were the only people he never corrected when they called him Charles... he couldn't very well do it without getting a lecture about taking pride in his given name.

"Hedgehog, Mum." He said softly. "It's a hedgehog and it's injured." Stroking the spikes down on its body, Charlie examined the wounds closer.

[anon_molly]

"You should have just stupefied the thing to begin with," she said, watching her son cradle the animal like a baby. "Perhaps then you could have tended to it without getting yourself shredded to bits."

She gave Charlie a frustrated look and shook her head. While she admired his dedication, she had hoped to see him with a nice wife and a child or two by now, and though he was still young and had plenty of time for those things, he didn't seem interested at all in getting out there and meeting any humans.

"Charlie, dear, you know I love you, but why are you in here with a hostile rodent when you could be outside interacting with people?"

[anon_charles]

"I don't like using spells on animals, Mum." Charlie said as he finished checking the hedgehog for other injuries. Then he gently put it down on the table and grabbed the ointment he had found for its wounds earlier and began smearing it on them, before wrapping gauze lightly around its body. "It comes with the job." He grinned lightly, but quickly wiped the grin away at the look on his mother's face.

Oh, Merlin. He thought. Not this again. It seemed like every time he met his mother, she wanted him to go out and socialize more. Go meet other people than his animals and, by reading the undertones of her words as he was used to by now, get a wife and five kids.

He did do those things! Well, not the last part. But he did go out, he had fun, met people, got drunk. Charlie just didn't want to get married right now, he didn't want children at the moment. His animals were enough to handle and children, he had babysitting duties with Victoire for that.

Still, he ducked his head and sighed. "Hedgehog." He couldn't stop the word, it was a reflex. "It's injured..." Trying to play on the lost puppy eyes look, Charlie bit his lip and stared at his mother with wide innocent eyes. "I can't just leave it." Maybe she would leave him alone. He didn't want the 'socialize more' speech.

[anon_molly]

"Stupefy doesn't hurt anything," she argued, watching him. All right, admittedly he was very good with animals, though she still thought he should have just used magic on it to begin with. "There's nothing wrong with using a little magic so long as it won't hurt whatever animal you're working with. Muggles do something similar, I think." She wasn't sure, she might have heard Arthur babbling about it at some point. Normally she tuned her husband out when he got that way.

Anyway, she could see him pulling into himself, and knew it was because of her. She'd had this conversation with him before, and this wouldn't be the first time he hadn't answered her directly. Sighing, Molly put her wand away.

Oh, those eyes. Blast whoever taught him to use the eyes, and she had a good idea of who it was, too! Arthur used them on her much too often for it to be coincidence.

"Oh, fine. What are you going to do with it once you've got it patched up, though?" She hoped he didn't plan to keep it.

[anon_charles]

Charlie sighed, his mother was right. It didn't harm the animals by using certain spells to keep them calm. But he still didn't like it. He had always prefered to subdue them with soothing words or treats, to get them to trust him and know that he didn't want to harm them. "I don't know what Muggles do, but I still don't like it, Mum." He said quietly.

He breathed out in relief when she didn't push the issue of getting out and meeting other people. All in good time, he kept telling himself. All in good time. He would find someone when he was good and ready... but not now.

"I don't know." Charlie could tell that her eyebrow might start twitching if he told her that he wanted to keep it. It had always been the sore spot between them, dating all the way back to when he was a child. He wanted to drag every animal home and keep it, his mother didn't like them filling up the already crowded house. "I guess... I'll let it go?" He tried to placate her and wondered whether he could sneak it back in at some other time.

[anon_molly]

Sighing again, Molly looked from her son to the still stupefied rodent. She cast a mean stupefy, or any other spell when she needed it, and the rodent would be out for a while unless enervated. "So you'd rather let them tear you apart because they're animals and don't understand that you're trying to help? And in the process of fighting you probably hurt themselves more?"

Molly knew her children better than they seemed to think she did, and while she knew he was just telling her what she wanted to hear, she managed somehow to keep her eyebrow under control. "You sound absolutely certain of your decision."

"Actually, it wasn't only general interaction I came here to talk to you about. From all you've talked to me or your father, one would think you were avoiding us."

[anon_charles]

Charlie rolled his eyes discretely, while petting the stunned hedgehog. He wanted to keep it calm and safe for when he lifted the spell and it would be itself again. "They won't tear me apart. I know how to handle the little critters." He sighed, looking at his handywork on the animal.

"Very certain, Mum." He couldn't hide the cheeky grin from her as he chuckled. She was onto him, he knew that. But then he had always tried to bring animals into the house with or without her consent.

"Oh..." Charlie grew quiet and shrugged. He had been avoiding everyone lately when he could. "I just needed some time alone, Mum... It hasn't been the best year for me so far..." He trailed off, feeling the loss of his old life weigh down on his shoulders again.

[anon_molly]

"Mmmhmm." The sound was the only response she can, verbally, to his insistence the animals wouldn't tear him apart. Instead of words, she pursed her lips and let her eyes pointedly look over the scratches on his hands.

Her lips still pursed, Molly turned to look for a chair. She had the feeling this would be a long conversation, and she wanted to be comfortable. However, nothing looked clean enough to touch, let alone sit on. Sighing, she thought Charlie must have done the cleaning himself. Tempted to pull out her wand again to do it right, Molly refrained just yet.

"It hasn't been the best year for anyone, love," she said softly as she looked back to her son. "Since when haven't you been able to share these things with your family, with me and you father?"

[anon_charles]

Charlie's eyes followed the path of hers and he quickly tried to hide his hands behind his back with a sheepish grin. "Not that bad, barely even drew blood." He explained.

He watched her look around and sighed, from the expression on her face he was pretty sure that she was not too happy with the job he had done cleaning up the place. But he wasn't even done yet! He had only gotten the first stage over with, getting rid of the trash and most of the filth.

"I know." He admitted softly, then looked away with a grimace. "I... just really needed to be alone." Charlie glanced at his mother. "I got kidnapped for that stupid riddle or whatever, and lost my job because it. I lost Tiahmat, Mum." His shoulders slumped in defeat.

[anon_molly]

Molly rolled her eyes at her son's insistence, and let that subject drop as well. If he wanted to continue getting himself mangled by wild animals, who was she to stop him? Just his dear old mother who worried herself sick over him, that's all. At least it was just a prickly rodent-thing--hedgehog.

Despite being his mother and therefore automatically given the right to say anything she might think about him or his choices in life, Molly would never, ever tell Charlie that she was happy he'd lost that job. Now he could be with his family instead of far off in Romania, and he wouldn't be risking life and limb for some of the most dangerous creatures in existence.

Of course, being in Annwn wouldn't be much better than being with dragons. At least he'd be with his family, though.

"Charlie, I'm sorry about your job, and... Tiahmat." She went to him, and motioned for him to bend down so she could hug him. Blast that all her sons except the twins were so much taller than she was!

[anon_charles]

Charlie bent down obligingly with small smile. His mother's hugs were always the best, he thought as he wrapped his arms around her and just for fun picked her up from the ground. But he was quick enough to put her down again. He felt like snuggling into the embrace and wondered for the first time why he had avoided his parents.

Well, usually he did avoid them to avoid being coddled too much. He was a man, dammit, all grown up and out in the world. He didn't need his mother to pamper and care for him! He could take care off himself. But... once he was there caught in her warm hug, he didn't want to leave. He knew that his mother would always be there for him, when he needed it. In her own, overprotective, yelling at him for leaving his socks and dirty laundry on the floor and never cleaning out behind the sofa/bed/bookshelves/anything in the kitchen and coddling way.

He sighed and breathed in that Mum smell only his mother could have. "I guess... it was something that just had to happen at some point. With this sodding calling from Annwn at all hours of the day, I would probably have gone insane before long." Charlie laughed, but there wasn't any mirth behind it. "But... I have my own shop now." He said, feeling a sense of pride flare up in him.

[anon_molly]

Molly shrieked when he picked her up, her legs kicking in the air just a bit before he sat her down again. When did he get so strong, just like Bill, and why did all her strong sons like to pick her up and scare the life out of her?

Oh well, she loved them all anyway, and though she swatted him on the arm for scaring her, she smiled up at him when they let go. Merlin, but he was such a tall man, yes, and a grown one as well, though she hoped he would never really stop needing her. If he did, if any of her children stopped needing her, well then what was she supposed to do?

At the mention of Annwn, she made a face that made her opinion of the matter quite clear. "Well, love, this place will probably drive several people insane before long, even having already come to live here."

Looking about, Molly took in the shop and the... cleaning job he'd done. "Do you need any help, dear?" She knew what he'd say, but she just couldn't help asking.

[anon_charles]

He grinned, feeling a thrill of happiness run through him at her surprised shriek. It wasn't often that he was able to catch his mother off guard like this. But he did have the common sense to look guilty when she swatted at his arm. A look with usually turned into a pout, just like now.

Charlie nodded with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Yeah..." He didn't want to like the town, but he did. For some reason this shoddy, magalomaniac person run town had that effect on him. He felt comfortable here and he didn't like it. It was too perfect.

He shook his head slowly. "Nah... I can handle the rest of the cleaning." Charlie said, though he was sure to give his mother a smile in thanks for offering. "I just need to wash the floors... I think." He scratched the back of his head with a frown as he looked around the shop as well.

[anon_molly]

She continued to look about and pretended not to see his pouting face. Blast Arthur! He'd taught all the children those eyes and that pout, taught them well, and she was going to have to talk to her husband when she talked to him next.

Only when he didn't really respond to her comment about Annwn did she look at him, and she didn't approve of what she saw, or heard. Charlie didn't seem to have a problem with the town, or at least if he did, not enough of one to make a comment. If he agreed with her, surely he'd say so. Molly frowned. Annwn seduced everyone with its promises of peace, prosperity and life beyond death. She wanted to say something, but didn't know what.

So she let herself snort and roll her eyes at his idea of cleaning. "If you expect this place to be clean enough to open for business, you have to be able to eat off the floors. But don't eat off the floors, of course."