mllysw:
“i know what classifies a defense spell, funnily enough,” molly spit, getting a little tired of the pretense. “and i just –” want to talk someone who understands my pain. want to focus on something other than my injury, for a change. want to protect my family – maybe at any cost. maybe in a way that will make them never trust me again.
she had a lengthy list of folks she knew could obliviate cress if they made any breakthroughs with the charm, before he could teach his death eater friends. half of them shared her last name.
“i know it’s only been a few weeks, but this kind of spell damage…” the young witch flexed the fingers of her left hand a bit, unable to open her hand completely without the muscles and tendons seizing and snapping the digits back together and onto her palm. “has made me reconsider wand use for the time being. i’m not a healer. but i could maybe – with this…armour charm, i can help prevent this sort of thing from happening to anyone else.” the extended weasley family especially.
molly closed her notebook and glanced at her watch. dinner was soon, and the girl was eager to see her sister. “help me or not, cress, that’s fine – it just might be more of an intellectual challenge for you than sucking up to gemma gamp.”
her notebook closed-- and, with the decisive clap of the pages, what he had thought to be an unspoken moratorium on hostilities ended. molly was openly taunting him now, seemingly eager to return to status quo, and, while he admitted that he half-wanted to rise to the bait----- to raise his voice in a way that was sure to stir up animosity and starting with a solid retaliation of i don’t suck up to anyone, least of all her----- he found his jaw locked in position when he tried to speak. he could do nothing but stand still, frozen in place, her words weighing heavily in his mind.
for most of his life, cress had considered himself a researcher first. boundlessly curious and relentless in his studies, it had been no surprise to anyone when he found himself sorted into ravenclaw as soon as the sorting hat had been placed on his head. even as he’d joined the death eaters, had sworn loyalty to them, in his mind, it was still the pursuit of knowledge over all -- and thus, what came out of his mouth surprised even him.
“of course, i want to help,” he said emphatically, “and, moreover, honestly, i think i can... but, if that’s what you think of me, that i’m a puppet or that i can be used by you or anyone else, then maybe... i’d rather not.”
“you and your family-- you’re always nattering on about loyalty and what’s wrong and right. you’re all so happy to treat me like a pariah just because of where we happen to stand on the side of a fence,” his teeth were gritted together by now, “it’s not that simple.”
after a moment of tense silence, his eyes shuttered downwards. then, as if seeing things for the first time, cress looked from her arm to his own and flexed his fingers in consideration. he took in a deep breath, choosing his words carefully.
“i’m sorry about what happened to you, molly. i wouldn’t wish that on gemma gamp and i swear on merlin that she deserves everything coming to her,” he said, “and i guess, that’s the thing. i’m not here as your enemy. i don’t want to use things against you. but, at the same time, i think magic is for everyone. i don’t want to just help you. i don’t want to work on anything that everyone doesn’t get equity in-- and i just don’t know if that’s what i’d be agreeing to.”
“i think the question is not whether i’ll help you,” he said, “but whether you’ll let me. if you’ll treat me like an enemy every step of the way, then we should just keep our conversations to charms for dragon-keeping.”








