A Friendly Familiar Face

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Molly Weasley had been extremely busy over the past few
weeks. It was always around this time of year that Mollly could feel the stress
slowly affecting her. Since all of her family had gone their separate ways
after the New Year, she had the house almost put back together. If each room
wasn’t to her liking, she would redo it until it was. She was picky about how
her house was kept, it needed to be somewhat organized… That is, until everyone
was home for the summer holidays, and then her somewhat organized home would go
back to being a mess.

 

Today, Mrs. Weasley had to go out from some supplies.
Shopping was hardly her thing, so she expected to be out for a half an hour at
most. She decided to take her favorite method of transportation, the Floo Network.
Molly chose to stay away from apparition once her children started learning how
to do it. She had heard the popping sound far too much for one lifetime. Mrs. Weasley
often scolded her children for using apparition all the time, but they hardly
listened to her once they reached a certain age.

 

She stepped into the fireplace with a handful of power. She
opened her hand and clearly stated, “Diagon Alley.” Once she heard a gust of
wind die down, she opened her eyes to see the last few sparks of the green fire
disappearing. As she had expected, shopping didn’t take her long at all. She
was about ready to go home when she decided that she wanted to stop for a bit
of a treat. The Leaky Caldron wasn’t that far away, after all.

 

Her pace was slow and she did her best not to make eye contact
with a lot of people. That was just her being cautious, she didn’t need to run
into anyone she didn’t like while she was out. Molly tightened her cloak around
her, trying to not keep from freezing. The short walk was extremely uneventful;
the only obstacle in her way was the brick wall, which opened quickly.

 

A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she entered the warm
pub. Her grip loosened on her cloak as she walked to an empty table in the pub.
She placed an old piece of parchment in front of her so she could look it over
and her mittened-hands patter her flushed cheeks. Once she was slightly warmer
she took off her mittens, and placed them in her lap, waiting for the waiter or
waitress to come and take her order.

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February had its firm grip on Londond these days, both the muggle and the magical world were glad for any excuse to stay indoors to not deal with muddy grounds and the sharp wind blowing around each corner. That of course meant good business for the Leaky Cauldron, and Jocelyn had a busy day tending to all the customers that wanted to get something warm into their belly or to simply unfreeze their limbs. London’s typical wet cold could get down to the very marrow of your bones, it always felt a thousand times colder than it really was. Jocelyn already dreaded the end of her shift, where she would have to brave this particular cold. Of course, she could apparate, but that would rob her of a very much needed training session. The Londoners were preparing for another Parkour contest in the following week, and she had gotten a little rusty in some of her moves. Trying the beeline from the Leaky Cauldron towards her own little appartment would be a good practice, and she would go through with it, no matter the weather. Didn’t mean she was particularly looking forward to it today, but a hot bath afterwards while listening to the wizarding radio channels would get her right back on her feet, she was sure of that.

Now, however, she still had a few good hours of serving in front of her, and also would have to look after the rooms later. Tom was coming down with some cold, and so she had taken most of his duties up today as well. She didn’t mind so much, just had to be careful to leave no one waiting while she did so. Sometimes cloning yourself wouldn’t be such a bad idea, then your alter egos could catch up on work elsewhere. The thought amused her somewhat, having a few Jocelyns running around the place, with people never knowing which one they had been talking to, and then wondering why she did not remember things they had said to ‘her’. Clones with a shared brain, then, she decided with an inward chuckle. Oh there was certainly something magic could do about it!

Just as she had decided on that particular future goal for magical inventions, she felt the cold gust of wind on her face as another customer entered the Leaky Cauldron. Looking up, Jocelyn was surprised to see none other than Molly Weasley who must have come from a shopping tour. A smile worked itself over the barmaid’s face. As much as she had tried to forget her involvement with Charlie Weasley over the last few years, she always had had a weak spot in her heart for the resolute yet sweet mother figure of Molly Weasley. She gave a few moments to situate herself, then she walked over and smiled down at the sitting woman. “Mrs. Weasley, how nice to see you! What can I bring you?”

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Molly stared at the paper once more, reconfirming her order, “Yes I would like a Firewhiskey, please.” She wasn’t that into drinking, but Molly figured one heavy drink would be fine. She glanced up at the girl, and it took a second to realize who the waitress was, “Jocelyn! I am wonderful, how are you, dear?” She smiled, even though she wasn’t sure how to feel about the encounter. She liked Jocelyn alright, but she was Charlie’s ex-girlfriend. It was not in Molly’s nature to be unkind to her, after all, she had only a little idea of why they had broken-up.

“Care to join me, dear?” She was aware that Jocelyn was working, but she did want some company, and there may have been a way for her to sit down without getting into trouble. Molly always had a way of getting people to agree to sit down and chat, it was a skill she prided herself on. She could usually find something to talk about with anyone; she was not shy at all. Even if their conversation was brief, Molly was happy that she would now have someone to join her.

But she began to think about her children. She did miss them dearly, even though it had only been a month or so since she had seen most of them. Molly often looked forward to any time she got to have most of them together, because it was impossible to get all seven of them together at once. They were, after all, nearly all grown. Ginny was in her 5th year at Hogwarts! That was a big deal, and it made Molly feel extremely old. Still, she believed age was a beautiful thing. She looked upon it fondly; knowing that with age came wisdom. Molly was quite fine with the idea of getting older, as long as she wasn’t slowed down. She made sure she was as busy as ever, and that’s the way she liked it.