𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter seventy-six

76 | Brielle and Molly's temporary truce

"I think I'd better start my Auror training." said Marley Macmillan a few days after the event with the Death Eaters at Bill and Fleur's wedding. The Burrow was now under constant surveillance, but she and the twins were returning to Diagon Alley today. "Voldemort is back, and I want to be prepared in all circumstances. Do you understand, Mom?"

"Of course," she smiled faintly. Marley continued to feel nasty and awful about the quarrel between her mother and Mrs. Weasley. The two women refused to talk and looked, and if they had to speak they spoke coldly and with pretentious courtesy. "At your age I also wanted to become an Auror, but I never finished my training. You know why."

Marley nodded wordlessly. "What was Dad like? The real Dad."

"He was really arrogant, I'm not going to lie." Brielle let out a quiet laughter with tears, sparkling in her green eyes. "But he was a good guy, so loyal to his friends. He would have done everything for them. Just like you. But in his younger years, sometimes he was sometimes very rude and even liked to bully others. I did this too and I enjoyed it to some extent, but now I'm not proud of it. Maybe that's why Molly never harbored the warmest feelings for me."

"Because in your youth you liked to mess with people?"

"Yes," Brielle nodded, making a grimace. The two Macmillans were in the garden of the Burrow, which was empty at this time of the day. "Because if you do something impulsive that when you stunned Yaxley, I don't yell at you, because I know that James and I would have done the same. I like to make serious conversations humorous, because otherwise I feel almost depressed. And Molly thinks I'm messing about the seriousness of the situation."

"Is that why she didn't like Sirius and Noelle, either?" asked Marley and Brielle nodded.

"Molly never liked me," Brielle sighed. "She never liked my friends and our behaviour. She knows what we did in our teenage years. She thinks I'm gullible, that I don't care about you. That I don't care if you decide right now you want to duel with The Dark Lord. But it's not like that. I just approach parenting differently and Molly doesn't like it because she treated her children the other way. They have grown in complete safety until you didn't exactly. There has always been a drop of fear living with us. And that is why we often have differences with Molly about how to deal with our children's problems."

"But--" Marley trailed off, confused. "I still don't understand. I understand why sometimes Mrs. Weasley doesn't like the way you treat me, but I'm so used to it. We have our certain ways. Mom, you're just more relaxed and fun, you're not trying to make huge problems, even though you take everything seriously. You just want to brighten up the situation."

"Exactly," exclaimed Brielle with a tiny smile. "Molly have always been liking you. She accepts you as her daughter and she protects you, from how she expressed herself, 'my inappropriate parent methods'. We've lived in fear all our lives, Marley. The two of us have been hiding from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. I faked my death to protect you. Molly, all of my respect to her, but she never experienced a life like this. Except for now."

Marley stayed speechless for a very long moment, without knowing what to say. The Burrow's garden wasn't the best place to discuss Mrs. Weasley because she could hear them, but they had to talk about it. And the garden was the farthest from Molly Weasley.

As she tried what to say, carefully considering her words, Fred and George came out of the door, carrying luggage for four. It was time to leave. A minute later, Ginny and Angelina appeared, followed by Mrs. Weasley. She smiled sweetly at Marley, but didn't even look at Brielle.