RP: Thank you for everything

[headonshoulders]

Date: 19 June 2001
Characters: Nick, Molly
Status: Private
Summary: Nick wants to show Molly how much her support has meant to him
Completion: Complete

Comments

[headonshoulders]

"I don't have too much to move," Nick said, "and everything should fit in the expanding wardrobe Dumbledore gave me, singing suit of armour and all." He mentally inventoried the contents of his room. Clothes, mirror, books, sword, some of Zach's photos, Sir Cai's things, and of course, the record collection. "Perhaps not my turntable and albums. I wouldn't dare trust delicate Muggle things inside one of Albus' artifacts. That said, I should be able to manage on my own, though I thank you for the offer."

He eyed the food and laughed, embarrassed. "I didn't realise I'd ordered quite so much. I hadn't been planning on taking any with me. You might as well keep the leftovers- you're a busy lady, and you often have unexpected guests popping by."

[mumof7redheads]

"Better a surplus than arguing over who gets the last chicken leg, don't you think?" Molly asked brightly.

"So. What are you and Zach up to these days? Besides moving into a new home and enjoying your flesh?"

[headonshoulders]

Nick choked on said chicken leg and took a huge swallow of tea to help him recover. He had never met a woman so utterly straightforward as Molly Weasley.

When he could speak again, he said, "Zach is still working on the biography of your friend Rex. And he's still taking marvelous photographs as well. I know I'm just a bit biased, but he has amazing talent. Beyond that and my work at the Estate, we've mostly been investigating my ghostliness, and coming up with nothing. It's been somewhat frustrating. I've been considering speaking with a private investigator. Young Harry Potter is out of the country, but he works with Nymphadora Tonks. I remember her from her school days. She was clumsy but well meaning back then, and always conscientious. I might still go to see her, but perhaps those days are behind me now."

[mumof7redheads]

Goodness, are you all right?" Molly was just considering getting up to thump on Nick's back when he managed to stop choking on his own.

"A private investigator is a good idea," she said. "And certainly Tonks is still, well. She's not less clumsy, I think, but she's competent and was a great help during the war. I do wonder how Harry is doing; I'd heard he went off to ...somewhere overseas. Quite an adventure for him, I think.

[headonshoulders]

"I heard he's off with Draco Malfoy," Nick said carefully. Gossiping wasn't right, of course, but there was nothing wrong with sharing information. "I never liked that child when he was at Hogwarts, but we all do grow up, don't we?" He shook his head with a nostalgic smile. "Harry deserves some time to relax and explore, and from what I hear, the Malfoy boy is the love of his life."

Stealing some beef, Nick couldn't help but grin. "And I suppose we have no choice but to love the people we love, do we?" Had someone told him last year at this time that he would be hopelessly in love with a blunt, beautiful young man one twenty-sixth his age, Nick would never have believed it.

[mumof7redheads]

"None at all," Molly agreed. "Harry does seem to love Draco, and certainly the times they've been around, I've seen no reason to object. After all, I've been married to the silliest man, ever since I was a girl, and I don't seem to tire of him." She smiled. "I'm glad you and Zach are happy."

[headonshoulders]

"Oh, I don't know that 'silly' is the right..." Nick bit his lip, knowing that Molly didn't need any appeasement or sugar-coating. "Yes, you have, and you're the happier for it. Just as I would never have thought Zach to be my type, and yet he is everything to me."

He smiled dreamily and lifted his teacup. "A toast, then. To love and friendship."

[mumof7redheads]

"I certainly will drink to that," Molly said. "That's always worth toasting."

She lifted her own teacup and clinked it against his. "Thank you for the lovely supper," she said.

[headonshoulders]

"Any time, my dear Molly," he said, handing her a plastic-wrapped fortune cookie. "And I do mean that- any time you wish to have dinner, do let me know."

He unwrapped his cookie and cracked it open, fishing out the fortune that lay inside. "Abstinence should be practiced in moderation," he read, and then blushed once more.

[mumof7redheads]

"Magic time is created when unconventional person comes," Molly read from hers. She grinned. "Maybe we got switched."

She winked and ate her cookie.