Party fluff
So here's my response to the party challenge. It's James/Lily who I love to write and Molly/Arthur who I've never written before (and after this feeble attempt probably never will again!!). My comments/thoughts about the writing process are over at the fluff thread on the Quill.
‘Remind me again why we’re going?’ Lily frowned at herself in the mirror before reaching for her blusher.
‘Ministry requirements,’ called James from the bathroom. ‘All employees to show their faces at the first annual Christmas extravaganza to show solidarity in the face of the increasing threat from Voldemort.’
‘They think a party’s going to help?’ Lily was pinching her cheeks now, in an attempt to raise some natural colour.
‘Well, technically, they don’t think at all,’ winked James. ‘You look gorgeous, sweetheart.’
Lily raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘I feel awful.’
‘Half an hour.’ He held out his hand to her. ‘An hour tops. Then we can come back and… celebrate on our own?’
‘Not a chance,’ she told him. ‘I think I may just need to go to the bathroom.’
‘Again?’ asked James incredulously. ‘Unbelievable,’ he muttered to the mirror.
‘Not at all,’ the mirror informed him. ‘You make sure you take care of her tonight.’
‘I always take care of her!’ retorted James in stung accents.
‘That’s as may be, young man’ the mirror replied, sounding suspiciously like his mother.
###
‘Now Bill and Charlie need to be in bed by eight o’clock,’ Molly reminded the babysitter while she ransacked her handbag for a comb to pull through her hair.
‘Arthur! We’re going to be late! Now,’ she whisked Hestia back into the kitchen, ‘Percy’s just reading for a few minutes so you’ll need to go up and put his light out in a bit. Fred and George are already asleep. There’s plenty of food in the larder, Hestia. Help yourself to whatever you can find.’
Molly pulled the lid off the biscuit tin to check its contents. ‘Charlie! Bill! Come here now!’ She raised her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Hestia.
‘Well?’ Molly lowered the half-empty tin to show them. ‘What have you got to say for yourselves?’
Charlie grinned unrepentantly but Bill looked down at the floor and shuffled. ‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘Yeah, sorry.’
‘I should think so. Well, there’s no more for you tonight.’ Molly made sure to replace the tin on the highest shelf and shooed the children into the other room. ‘Yes, you can play with the Quidditch set so long as you’re quiet. And remember, you’re to do whatever Hestia tells you.’
‘They’re good kids, really,’ Molly sighed. ‘And if you have any problems, you can just use the Floo. We’re at the Ministry reception. Someone will get Arthur or me. Where is Arthur? Arthur! Oh, look at this.’
Mrs Weasley waved a chocolate streaked sleeve at the bemused teenager.
‘Where is my wand? I haven’t time to change. Oh Arthur, there you are at last. Have you got your wand? Could you just…’
Mr Weasley directed a well-practised cleaning charm at the dark green satin.
‘Perfect.’ She leaned to kiss her husband’s cheek.
‘Ready? Goodnight, boys!’ she called in the direction of the sitting room from where all sorts of noises were coming. ‘Goodnight Hestia. We won’t be late, I promise.’
She sketched a wave in Hestia’s general direction and reached for a pinch of Floo powder.
‘Come on then, Arthur. Ministry of Magic!’
###
Lily gazed round at the room in the Ministry which someone had decided to decorate in shocking pink with yellow swirls.
‘I thought Christmas was green and red,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘Not at the Ministry,’ he announced with unholy glee. ‘Come on, they’re serving lime green punch over there.’
Lily blenched and put a hand to her lips. ‘Where are the bathrooms?’
###
‘Now, tell me Mr Weasley, what exactly it is you do in your department?’ asked Harfang Longbottom.
Harfang was one of those ancient wizards that hardly seemed older now than when Molly had been a tiny child. His long silver hair merged with his long silver beard and his grey eyes were sunk deep into his head. He wore the old-fashioned kind of robes, patterned with an uncomfortably garish print of yellow stars and moons on a purple background.
Still, he’d always had a soft spot for little Molly Prewett and even now, he never failed to enquire after every one of the Weasley children.
She watched with indulgent pride as Arthur began to explain the latest Muggle device he’d caught some young wizards trying to manipulate. Apparently the Muggles had made it like a photograph, with proper moving pictures and everything.
‘So what had these boys done to it?’
Arthur flushed. ‘Well, sir, they’d Charmed it so that it showed the Muggle pictures without eckeltricity.’
‘I see.’ Harfang stroked his beard. ‘What sort of pictures?’
‘Pictures of… well, of…’ Arthur was bright red as he muttered, ‘animals.’
‘Animals?’ Harfang frowned. ‘Nothing wrong with Care of Magical Creatures. Or even non-magical ones, come to that.’
‘No, sir.’ Arthur’s knuckles were white around his glass. ‘It was more… what the animals were doing, sir.’
Harfang thought about this for a moment. Then the very edges of his beard began to quiver. The trembling slowly took over his whole body until he exploded in a great shout of laughter so that everyone in the room turned to stare at him.
‘Animals.’ he chortled. ‘Pictures of Muggle animals. Oh my, oh my, whatever will they think of next. Aberforth!’ He spotted a friend on the other side of the room. ‘Aberforth! Here’s something you’ll want to hear about.’
Arthur shifted uncomfortably, hoping that Harfang wouldn’t expect him to repeat the story to every one of his cronies.
Molly leaned in towards him, ‘Don’t worry, dear, it won’t be so embarrassing second time around. I’m just going to pop to the ladies.’
Arthur shot her a reproachful glance as she departed, leaving him at the mercy of two aged but infantile wizards who wanted to giggle at stories about animals copulating.
###
It wasn’t really James’s sort of party. Too many Ministry types and too many friends of his parents. He’d spent some time talking to Frank Longbottom and caught up with one or two other people from school. But after an hour he was ready to leave and he was sure Lily would be as well.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Lily since she’d gone to the bathroom just after they arrived. He scanned the room, searching for her distinctive dark red hair and the golden dress robes she’d chosen to wear for the party. Not seeing her, he began to make his way across the room, stopping occasionally to greet an acquaintance or to ask a friend if they’d seen Lily.
Frowning and growing increasingly concerned, he reached the main entrance and went over to where a pair of house elves were operating the cloak room. Lily hadn’t taken her coat. James turned back to the party, wondering what to do next.
‘All right there, young Potter?’
That was Arthur Weasley. James didn’t know him all that well, but he’d run into him a couple of times at the Ministry and of course he knew the Prewett brothers.
‘I seem to have lost my wife, sir.’
Arthur chuckled. ‘So soon? I thought you’d only been married a few months.’
James managed a weak smile. ‘She wasn’t feeling well.’
‘Oh, I see.’ The older man looked at James knowingly as if he really did see.
But James was still panicking. ‘She went to the bathroom over an hour ago. I should go and look for her. Excuse me.’
Arthur caught hold of the boy’s arm. ‘If she’s still there, my Molly will have found her and she couldn’t be in better hands.’
‘But sir…’
‘Trust me, lad, you’ll only be in the way. Come on, I know where there’s some Firewhiskey.’
###
‘Another tissue?’
Lily took it gratefully and blew her nose. ‘I’m so sorry for spoiling your evening,’ she muttered.
‘Nonsense, dear,’ Molly told her cheerfully.
‘I don’t know what came over me.’ Lily looked down at herself pathetically. Curled up on the floor of a ladies toilet in the Ministry of Magic, with her favourite robes all crumpled and dirty and her hair falling all over the place, she made a sorry sight.
‘It happens to all of us.’ Molly patted Lily’s arm soothingly. ‘How far along are you?’
Lily looked up in shock. ‘How did you know? I mean, we haven’t told anyone. Not even James’s parents. I’m only three weeks late.’
Molly shrugged and smiled. ‘Feeling sick all the time, crying for no reason, cheeks getting a little hollow - I haven’t had five babies for nothing.’
‘F…five?’ stammered Lily.
‘Five so far,’ amended Molly.
‘So far?’ Lily’s eyes dropped automatically to Molly’s stomach, hidden under the flowing silk robes.
‘Number six due in about three months,’ she announced proudly.
‘Gosh.’ Lily didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t imagine having six children. All that noise and the mess and… and everything.
###
‘Another Firewhiskey?’
Arthur poured a second measure into James’s heavy glass and helped himself to a generous amount.
‘I really should find Lily soon. We said we wouldn’t stay long. The thing is, sir…’
‘Arthur, please.’
‘Arthur. The thing is, we’ve just found out she’s pregnant. And she hasn’t been feeling too well.’
‘Congratulations, boy.’ Arthur reached for the bottle again but James put his hand over the glass.
‘Thanks, Arthur. But I really should…’
‘Yes, yes, of course. In a minute. Told you Molly’d look after her…’
‘If she’s with Molly,’ put in James.
‘…and if she’s pregnant, well, no one knows more about that than my Moll. Expecting our sixth, you know.’
James blinked. ‘No, I didn’t know. Um, congratulations.’
Arthur smiled peacefully. ‘Love ’em all, you know, James. Joy of my life. Even when they’re teasing their mother or falling off their broomsticks or setting fire to the kitchen. Wouldn’t be without any of ’em.’ He pointed a drunken finger vaguely in James’s direction. ‘You’ll love your boy too, you know.’
‘Well, sir, we don’t know if it is a boy.’
Arthur sighed and closed his eyes contentedly. ‘Of course it’s a boy. Weasleys always have boys.’
James shook his head in confusion. ‘But I’m not a Weasley.’
Arthur opened one eye and turned to peer at James. ‘So you aren’t. Exactly.’ On which profound note he settled back in his chair and began to snore.
James set his half-full glass quietly down on the table and left the room.
###
‘Lily!’ James bounded forward with mingled relief and concern when he finally caught sight of her coming back towards the party.
She smiled and let him slip his arm round her waist. ‘Sorry I haven’t been much fun,’ she told him.
‘Don’t worry about that. Are you all right? Is she all right?’ he asked Molly Weasley who was still holding Lily’s hand.
‘She’s fine, James. A bit tired, I expect. You should take her home and look after her.’
‘I will. Darling, I’m sorry.’ He bent to kiss her cheek. ‘I shouldn’t have brought you.’
‘I’m glad you did.’ She turned back to Molly. ‘Thank you so much, Mrs Weasley.’
Molly squeezed her hand. ‘You’re welcome, dear. Now, I think I’d better go and rescue my husband before he finds the Firewhiskey and starts making a fool of himself.’
###
‘James?’ Lily turned to nestle closer into his strong shoulder.
‘Hmm?’ He put his arm over her waist and pulled her against him.
‘Do you think we’ll be good parents?’
He sighed. ‘I think you’ll be a great mum.’
‘Oh.’ She thought about this for a while. ‘I think you’ll be a great dad. So between us…’
‘We’ll be fine. Now go to sleep.’ Lily closed her tired eyes and James stroked her hair until her breathing slowed and he felt her relax in his embrace.
###
Molly went from room to room, checking each sleeping boy. Fred and George facing each other in identical curled up balls. Percy, flat on his stomach with his arms splayed out. Charlie, who’d managed to kick the covers off again. Bill, with his cheek on his hand, breathing steadily. She kissed each one gently, tucking them in, picking up their clothes, closing a chink in the curtain.
She walked quietly back to her own room, smiling at the sight of Arthur, red hair sticking out in all directions, lying on his back with one hand stuck out towards the place where Molly usually slept. She climbed in awkwardly beside him, smelling the alcohol on his breath with distaste.
‘Arthur?’
She poked him again. ‘Arthur?’
‘Hmm?’ he mumbled reluctantly.
‘You’re snoring, love. Turn over.’ But instead of turning away as she’d intended, he reached towards her.
‘Love you, Mollywobbles.’
‘Yes, Arthur. Go to sleep.’
‘Love Bill, too. Says he wants to be an Auror like his uncle. He’d be good at that. Clever. Love Charlie, too. Want to show him the fellytone in the shed. Think he’d like that. Love Percy, too…’
Molly sighed, realising that perhaps there were occasional drawbacks to having such a large family.
‘Remind me again why we’re going?’ Lily frowned at herself in the mirror before reaching for her blusher.
‘Ministry requirements,’ called James from the bathroom. ‘All employees to show their faces at the first annual Christmas extravaganza to show solidarity in the face of the increasing threat from Voldemort.’
‘They think a party’s going to help?’ Lily was pinching her cheeks now, in an attempt to raise some natural colour.
‘Well, technically, they don’t think at all,’ winked James. ‘You look gorgeous, sweetheart.’
Lily raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘I feel awful.’
‘Half an hour.’ He held out his hand to her. ‘An hour tops. Then we can come back and… celebrate on our own?’
‘Not a chance,’ she told him. ‘I think I may just need to go to the bathroom.’
‘Again?’ asked James incredulously. ‘Unbelievable,’ he muttered to the mirror.
‘Not at all,’ the mirror informed him. ‘You make sure you take care of her tonight.’
‘I always take care of her!’ retorted James in stung accents.
‘That’s as may be, young man’ the mirror replied, sounding suspiciously like his mother.
###
‘Now Bill and Charlie need to be in bed by eight o’clock,’ Molly reminded the babysitter while she ransacked her handbag for a comb to pull through her hair.
‘Arthur! We’re going to be late! Now,’ she whisked Hestia back into the kitchen, ‘Percy’s just reading for a few minutes so you’ll need to go up and put his light out in a bit. Fred and George are already asleep. There’s plenty of food in the larder, Hestia. Help yourself to whatever you can find.’
Molly pulled the lid off the biscuit tin to check its contents. ‘Charlie! Bill! Come here now!’ She raised her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Hestia.
‘Well?’ Molly lowered the half-empty tin to show them. ‘What have you got to say for yourselves?’
Charlie grinned unrepentantly but Bill looked down at the floor and shuffled. ‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘Yeah, sorry.’
‘I should think so. Well, there’s no more for you tonight.’ Molly made sure to replace the tin on the highest shelf and shooed the children into the other room. ‘Yes, you can play with the Quidditch set so long as you’re quiet. And remember, you’re to do whatever Hestia tells you.’
‘They’re good kids, really,’ Molly sighed. ‘And if you have any problems, you can just use the Floo. We’re at the Ministry reception. Someone will get Arthur or me. Where is Arthur? Arthur! Oh, look at this.’
Mrs Weasley waved a chocolate streaked sleeve at the bemused teenager.
‘Where is my wand? I haven’t time to change. Oh Arthur, there you are at last. Have you got your wand? Could you just…’
Mr Weasley directed a well-practised cleaning charm at the dark green satin.
‘Perfect.’ She leaned to kiss her husband’s cheek.
‘Ready? Goodnight, boys!’ she called in the direction of the sitting room from where all sorts of noises were coming. ‘Goodnight Hestia. We won’t be late, I promise.’
She sketched a wave in Hestia’s general direction and reached for a pinch of Floo powder.
‘Come on then, Arthur. Ministry of Magic!’
###
Lily gazed round at the room in the Ministry which someone had decided to decorate in shocking pink with yellow swirls.
‘I thought Christmas was green and red,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘Not at the Ministry,’ he announced with unholy glee. ‘Come on, they’re serving lime green punch over there.’
Lily blenched and put a hand to her lips. ‘Where are the bathrooms?’
###
‘Now, tell me Mr Weasley, what exactly it is you do in your department?’ asked Harfang Longbottom.
Harfang was one of those ancient wizards that hardly seemed older now than when Molly had been a tiny child. His long silver hair merged with his long silver beard and his grey eyes were sunk deep into his head. He wore the old-fashioned kind of robes, patterned with an uncomfortably garish print of yellow stars and moons on a purple background.
Still, he’d always had a soft spot for little Molly Prewett and even now, he never failed to enquire after every one of the Weasley children.
She watched with indulgent pride as Arthur began to explain the latest Muggle device he’d caught some young wizards trying to manipulate. Apparently the Muggles had made it like a photograph, with proper moving pictures and everything.
‘So what had these boys done to it?’
Arthur flushed. ‘Well, sir, they’d Charmed it so that it showed the Muggle pictures without eckeltricity.’
‘I see.’ Harfang stroked his beard. ‘What sort of pictures?’
‘Pictures of… well, of…’ Arthur was bright red as he muttered, ‘animals.’
‘Animals?’ Harfang frowned. ‘Nothing wrong with Care of Magical Creatures. Or even non-magical ones, come to that.’
‘No, sir.’ Arthur’s knuckles were white around his glass. ‘It was more… what the animals were doing, sir.’
Harfang thought about this for a moment. Then the very edges of his beard began to quiver. The trembling slowly took over his whole body until he exploded in a great shout of laughter so that everyone in the room turned to stare at him.
‘Animals.’ he chortled. ‘Pictures of Muggle animals. Oh my, oh my, whatever will they think of next. Aberforth!’ He spotted a friend on the other side of the room. ‘Aberforth! Here’s something you’ll want to hear about.’
Arthur shifted uncomfortably, hoping that Harfang wouldn’t expect him to repeat the story to every one of his cronies.
Molly leaned in towards him, ‘Don’t worry, dear, it won’t be so embarrassing second time around. I’m just going to pop to the ladies.’
Arthur shot her a reproachful glance as she departed, leaving him at the mercy of two aged but infantile wizards who wanted to giggle at stories about animals copulating.
###
It wasn’t really James’s sort of party. Too many Ministry types and too many friends of his parents. He’d spent some time talking to Frank Longbottom and caught up with one or two other people from school. But after an hour he was ready to leave and he was sure Lily would be as well.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Lily since she’d gone to the bathroom just after they arrived. He scanned the room, searching for her distinctive dark red hair and the golden dress robes she’d chosen to wear for the party. Not seeing her, he began to make his way across the room, stopping occasionally to greet an acquaintance or to ask a friend if they’d seen Lily.
Frowning and growing increasingly concerned, he reached the main entrance and went over to where a pair of house elves were operating the cloak room. Lily hadn’t taken her coat. James turned back to the party, wondering what to do next.
‘All right there, young Potter?’
That was Arthur Weasley. James didn’t know him all that well, but he’d run into him a couple of times at the Ministry and of course he knew the Prewett brothers.
‘I seem to have lost my wife, sir.’
Arthur chuckled. ‘So soon? I thought you’d only been married a few months.’
James managed a weak smile. ‘She wasn’t feeling well.’
‘Oh, I see.’ The older man looked at James knowingly as if he really did see.
But James was still panicking. ‘She went to the bathroom over an hour ago. I should go and look for her. Excuse me.’
Arthur caught hold of the boy’s arm. ‘If she’s still there, my Molly will have found her and she couldn’t be in better hands.’
‘But sir…’
‘Trust me, lad, you’ll only be in the way. Come on, I know where there’s some Firewhiskey.’
###
‘Another tissue?’
Lily took it gratefully and blew her nose. ‘I’m so sorry for spoiling your evening,’ she muttered.
‘Nonsense, dear,’ Molly told her cheerfully.
‘I don’t know what came over me.’ Lily looked down at herself pathetically. Curled up on the floor of a ladies toilet in the Ministry of Magic, with her favourite robes all crumpled and dirty and her hair falling all over the place, she made a sorry sight.
‘It happens to all of us.’ Molly patted Lily’s arm soothingly. ‘How far along are you?’
Lily looked up in shock. ‘How did you know? I mean, we haven’t told anyone. Not even James’s parents. I’m only three weeks late.’
Molly shrugged and smiled. ‘Feeling sick all the time, crying for no reason, cheeks getting a little hollow - I haven’t had five babies for nothing.’
‘F…five?’ stammered Lily.
‘Five so far,’ amended Molly.
‘So far?’ Lily’s eyes dropped automatically to Molly’s stomach, hidden under the flowing silk robes.
‘Number six due in about three months,’ she announced proudly.
‘Gosh.’ Lily didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t imagine having six children. All that noise and the mess and… and everything.
###
‘Another Firewhiskey?’
Arthur poured a second measure into James’s heavy glass and helped himself to a generous amount.
‘I really should find Lily soon. We said we wouldn’t stay long. The thing is, sir…’
‘Arthur, please.’
‘Arthur. The thing is, we’ve just found out she’s pregnant. And she hasn’t been feeling too well.’
‘Congratulations, boy.’ Arthur reached for the bottle again but James put his hand over the glass.
‘Thanks, Arthur. But I really should…’
‘Yes, yes, of course. In a minute. Told you Molly’d look after her…’
‘If she’s with Molly,’ put in James.
‘…and if she’s pregnant, well, no one knows more about that than my Moll. Expecting our sixth, you know.’
James blinked. ‘No, I didn’t know. Um, congratulations.’
Arthur smiled peacefully. ‘Love ’em all, you know, James. Joy of my life. Even when they’re teasing their mother or falling off their broomsticks or setting fire to the kitchen. Wouldn’t be without any of ’em.’ He pointed a drunken finger vaguely in James’s direction. ‘You’ll love your boy too, you know.’
‘Well, sir, we don’t know if it is a boy.’
Arthur sighed and closed his eyes contentedly. ‘Of course it’s a boy. Weasleys always have boys.’
James shook his head in confusion. ‘But I’m not a Weasley.’
Arthur opened one eye and turned to peer at James. ‘So you aren’t. Exactly.’ On which profound note he settled back in his chair and began to snore.
James set his half-full glass quietly down on the table and left the room.
###
‘Lily!’ James bounded forward with mingled relief and concern when he finally caught sight of her coming back towards the party.
She smiled and let him slip his arm round her waist. ‘Sorry I haven’t been much fun,’ she told him.
‘Don’t worry about that. Are you all right? Is she all right?’ he asked Molly Weasley who was still holding Lily’s hand.
‘She’s fine, James. A bit tired, I expect. You should take her home and look after her.’
‘I will. Darling, I’m sorry.’ He bent to kiss her cheek. ‘I shouldn’t have brought you.’
‘I’m glad you did.’ She turned back to Molly. ‘Thank you so much, Mrs Weasley.’
Molly squeezed her hand. ‘You’re welcome, dear. Now, I think I’d better go and rescue my husband before he finds the Firewhiskey and starts making a fool of himself.’
###
‘James?’ Lily turned to nestle closer into his strong shoulder.
‘Hmm?’ He put his arm over her waist and pulled her against him.
‘Do you think we’ll be good parents?’
He sighed. ‘I think you’ll be a great mum.’
‘Oh.’ She thought about this for a while. ‘I think you’ll be a great dad. So between us…’
‘We’ll be fine. Now go to sleep.’ Lily closed her tired eyes and James stroked her hair until her breathing slowed and he felt her relax in his embrace.
###
Molly went from room to room, checking each sleeping boy. Fred and George facing each other in identical curled up balls. Percy, flat on his stomach with his arms splayed out. Charlie, who’d managed to kick the covers off again. Bill, with his cheek on his hand, breathing steadily. She kissed each one gently, tucking them in, picking up their clothes, closing a chink in the curtain.
She walked quietly back to her own room, smiling at the sight of Arthur, red hair sticking out in all directions, lying on his back with one hand stuck out towards the place where Molly usually slept. She climbed in awkwardly beside him, smelling the alcohol on his breath with distaste.
‘Arthur?’
She poked him again. ‘Arthur?’
‘Hmm?’ he mumbled reluctantly.
‘You’re snoring, love. Turn over.’ But instead of turning away as she’d intended, he reached towards her.
‘Love you, Mollywobbles.’
‘Yes, Arthur. Go to sleep.’
‘Love Bill, too. Says he wants to be an Auror like his uncle. He’d be good at that. Clever. Love Charlie, too. Want to show him the fellytone in the shed. Think he’d like that. Love Percy, too…’
Molly sighed, realising that perhaps there were occasional drawbacks to having such a large family.