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When the news from home about her best friend’s death reached Molly she didn’t know what to do. It was heartbreaking knowing she would never see her friend again, to see her smile, laugh, cry, or even argue with Molly. She would never stay up with her friend until the early morning, talking about their dreams, their future, how they planned to marry and have children at the same time, and how they would raise their children together.
The dark clouds of the war were moving over them, spreading a hateful darkness into their hearts, leaving wounds behind which would never heal. Molly found it hard to breathe as she realised that life was so fragile they could lose it at any time without any warning.
Knowing just how short life could be Molly decided then to do something she never thought she would do. Grabbing her shawl she ran out of the Gryffindor common room, down the stairs and down to the main hall, crashing into students, teachers, and if it had been possible even ghosts. By the time she reached the main hall entrance she was out of breath, but it didn’t stop her.
She thought of calling out for Arthur but decided against it, after all the number of redheads in the school wasn’t that high. The third red haired boy she saw was the correct one, the one she’d been sneaking around with, the one who never questioned his own feelings towards her, who continued to pester her to go out on a date with him even though she kept rejecting him. They hadn’t been dating for long, but deep down in her heart she knew he was the one.
“Arthur,” she called out, not caring about the strange looks she was receiving as she reached him.
“Molly?”
Standing there in front of him, out of breath, still in her nightgown, her hair a mess and her face probably unrecognisable, she hoped Arthur wasn’t scared.
“Arthur,” she began again. “I wanted to ask you something.” Arthur smiled, his expression as silly as always. “I just received news from home, Genevieve was murdered by Death Eaters, and-”
“Oh my, are you well? Is there something I can do for you?” Arthur interrupted.
“You can shut up and listen,” she answered back, trying her best not to sound as if she snapped at him. He looked taken back by her response, not because he didn't respect it, more because she hadn't been as firm in a long time. “Genevieve liked to tell me what a fool I was for letting you wait so long, she knew we were made for each other and that I was stupid for believing you only liked me because I had red hair, or because we are both pure blood, or because of some other silly reason I made up because I doubted you were sincere. These last weeks I realised I was a fool for believing all those things, we are like one, we're meant to be together. Once I realised it I knew that I've wasted enough time, and that in this world where we don't know what tomorrow brings we should do our best at holding onto the good things in our lives, and you are one of those. What I am trying to say is, will you marry me?”
The whole room was silent as Molly confessed her feelings to Arthur, so everyone heard her proposal. The silence didn't last long as Arthur didn’t spend even two seconds thinking about it before answering, his arms pulling her into a big hug before he kissed her deeply.
The room was no longer silent, Looking around the room she noticed that every house cheered, even most of the Slytherins, as well as the teachers.
It wasn't until the headmaster clapped his hands together that the room fell silent. Dippet was a stern man, everyone knew when he required silence you better shut up, even though she found it to be rather difficult as she couldn’t contain her happiness.
“I believe that such glimmers of hope in a world where the darkness overshadows the good things we should acknowledge it. Dumbledore brought it to my attention that it’s been a long time since we had any kind of celebration, so in the name of all kinds of love we will host a feast tomorrow night, come alone, come with friends, come with your sweethearts, it doesn’t matter, just show up and celebrate the love that hate will never destroy.”
As soon as he sat down the room exploded in cheers once again. Molly and Arthur were congratulated, they were thanked, they were then told to get a room when they couldn’t stop kissing and hugging because of the intense happiness that brought them together. The circumstances around their engagement were sad, but Molly knew Genevieve would be proud of her for daring to take a chance on love.