Young and Old, Back and Bold

Chapter 1

AN: sorry for such a short chapter. It's more informing you more about what the story is going to be about before it actually starts. Next chapter will be an actual chapter, I promise

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Molly Weasley knew what she was doing. She had seven children, after all. She knew when a child was truly in trouble and not faking it. She knew as soon as she saw that boy wandering around her property that he needed help. How he got there, she would never be sure.

He was around five years old, maybe the same age as her Ronald. Dark hair that hung in his face, a skinny frame beneath a large jacket that was meant to fit a grown man. Dark eyes rimmed in red, tears covering his pale face.

Malnourishment was written all over him.

Who could leave a child alone? Even though she had enough of her own, even though they may not have enough money, they took him in that day. Nico, he said his name was, after they had finished feeding him good and getting him calmed down. Nico, but he didn't know his last name.

It was a year later when they realized that he was also a wizard. Wandless magic seemed to come a little too quickly to the boy, quickly enough to cause some concern. But they wrote it off, tried to help him control it. He was just like their own son at that point.

When he was seven he still fought with his brothers. The twins had pranked him from day one, and Ronald himself didn't go anywhere near him. Nico scared him, he'd explain. He was creepy.

Since day one, he didn't mix with their family. But they kept him anyway.

Molly loved him like one of her own. She taught him with the rest of her kids, she fed him and clothed him. During the nights, she and Arnold would take turns helping the boy fall back asleep after one of his many nightmares. He didn't explain what they were about, but she could only wonder what had happened to him before she found him. Who had hurt a child so much to cause such horrible memories?

When they were nine, she found Ronald had gotten up to help Nico one night. Both boys were downstairs in the kitchen, feasting on cookies as they spoke in soft voices. For the first time, they acted like brothers.

It made her day, and when the sun rose, she saw that they had become closer.

They were eleven when they both got their Hogwarts letters. Both were excited, but she could see the anxiety in them. Nico didn't come out of his room all day.

Dinner rolled around and the boy still hadn't come out. Finally, she went to his room and knocked on the door. For any other kid, she would have just entered. But something about her relationship with Nico was different. "Nico, dear, you need to eat. You're skin and bones."

"I'm too tired," Nico replied. From the sound of his voice, he was sitting on the other side of the door. "Ron kept me up all night."

"And why was that?" she asked.

"Talking about Hogwarts." his accent kept changing, kept getting further and further away from hers. What it was changing into, she had no idea. "Ranting about what would happen if he didn't get in Gryffindor."

"That boy shares his thoughts a little too much." she agreed. "But you still need to eat. You've had all day to rest up. What else have you been doing in there?"

Nico took another minute before answering. "Thinking."

"About what, dear?"

"Something."

"It's always something." she stood for a minute before speaking again. "Would you rather tell Arthur?"

"No!" Nico quickly protested. "Please, no. I already told Ron. I'm not telling anyone else."

Molly took her wand out. "Come down to eat, Nico." Walking away from the room, went to find Ron to get out of him what Nico had told him.

When Ron told her that Nico was gay, she didn't quite believe him. Not until she started to put it all together. Even as an eleven-year-old, Nico never showed any interest in girls. Instead, he stared at each boy they saw.

And when she eventually took them to Diagon Alley for their school supplies, she noticed that he always stared at blond-haired boys, boys with light blue eyes. He still didn't know why, still hadn't seen Will in his nightmares.

But every sight of one of those boys sent familiarity down his spine. He stared, tried to figure out where he had seen it before. He tried to remember who he was before Molly Weasley had found him, but he couldn't.

Nico Weasley, eleven years old. It was who he now was. If he had a life before, he didn't remember.

And something in him wanted to keep it that way.