Molly had long considered Harry her son. The moment she read Ron’s letter, telling her he would be spending the holidays at Hogwarts to be with him, she knew he would be a part of the family. She had spent years calling him her son before he became an official member of the family when he married her daughter. It was second nature to her, so she was happy that it was finally official.
Their wedding day was perfect. It went just as anticipated, the happy couple walking down the aisle in the backyard of The Burrow. They had their first dance in the yard Ginny spent her childhood running around in. Harry whisked his bride away into her childhood room to spend a few, uninterrupted minutes to talk to his newlywed wife.
When they came back down, Ginny walked around, catching up with a few friends from Hogwarts while Harry sat down for the first time all evening. He took a sip from the glass of champagne he hadn’t touched since George handed it to him. He looked around at his family, a soft smile on his face. Like Molly, Harry had considered them family for years. He had started calling Molly ‘mum’ and Arthur ‘dad’ after the war ended. It felt natural, considering they treated him more like a son than Petunia and Vernon ever did. They were his adopted parents and he was going to refer to them accordingly.
Just as Molly was walking around, thanking all of the guests that had attended, she found her only black haired child sitting alone. She wouldn’t have it, so she walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. Harry reciprocated the hug and wrapped his arm around her waist. He rested his head against her body, letting out a happy sigh. They were both content in their silence, happy to be in each other’s presence.
Molly was the first to break the silence, though. She was thinking about the day Harry’s parents had been killed. Dumbledore had brought The Boy Who Lived over while he figured out the next move. “Did I ever tell you about how Arthur and I watched you after your parents died?” she asked, unsure of why she felt the need to bring it up. She knew it sounded ridiculous, considering she had taken care of The Boy Who Lived, but it often slipped her mind. She had six older children and a newborn baby, so she often forgot it had happened.
Harry’s demeanor immediately shifted. His eyes widened at the idea that he had been in The Burrow as a baby and no one thought to tell him. The older boys were old enough to have remembered, Molly and Arthur never brought it up. No one had told him. He wanted to know everything. He was far enough removed from the trauma of having grown up in the middle of a war, without his parents (he had a lot of help healing his past trauma from the Weasleys), that all he wanted was to know everything about his childhood before he went to the Dursleys. Molly softly laughed as she moved a strand of jet black hair out of Harry’s eyes.
“You had the most beautiful green eyes,” she started. “You still do,” she added. She couldn’t help but to think about the blood curdling scream she heard when she stepped out of the shower, how little he looked in Dumbledore’s arms. It was a terrifying realization that something had, in fact, happened to Lily and James and it terrified her even more seeing the baby it affected the most, unsure of where he would go next.
That hour between Dumbledore handing the scared, tired child over and getting him to calm down was brutal. As a mother, it was hard watching Harry try and calm himself down, to no avail, until he was on her breast.
“I had just given birth to Ginny a couple of months before it happened.” Harry gave her a quizzical look as to why that was important to the story. Yes, he thought it must have made an interesting story outside of what they were currently talking about, considering he had just married the person who’s birth they were talking about. But surely it had no importance to the greater conversation they were having. “Your mum must have been nursing you still because I couldn’t get you to calm down for an hour after Dumbledore dropped you off. I had just gotten out of the shower and I had Arthur’s robe on. You had easy access and you did what you would have done had I been your mum.” Yet another quizzical look. What had he done that he would have had she been his mother?
“Easy access?” He asked, unsure of what Molly was talking about. Molly had practically spelled it out for him and he still didn’t put two and two together. She had said it in so many words that she had nursed him, yet he still didn’t get it.
“I nursed you, love,” Molly said, laughing softly. Color instantly appeared in his face. He wasn’t sure if it was because he realized Molly had breastfeed him or because he hadn’t put it together that’s what she was telling him. Harry took a sip of his champagne, willing the red to leave his cheeks. “It was just about the only thing that calmed you down. I had gotten you to stop screaming bloody murder, but you were fighting sleep. There was too much chaos and upheaval. So you nursed yourself to sleep.” Harry rested his head back against Molly’s body as she traced designs along his shoulder. Listening to her talk about the hours directly after his parents death, it wasn’t easy. But because it wasn’t the direct aftermath of their murder, but what had happened to him, it was a little bit easier. It was also Molly Weasley telling him. It’s not like it was some stranger telling him.
“You stayed for a couple of hours. There was a lot of cluster feeding and a lot of cuddling.” Harry smiled at the idea of him cuddling with the Weasley matriarch, just as he was at the moment. She did give off a sense of comfort and warmth and he imagined that as a one-year-old who had just witnessed his parents being murdered, coupled with the fact that Molly looked similar to his own mother, it was reassuring to cuddle with the woman.
“You were still on edge when Dumbledore came to pick you up. The sound of the fireplace when he flooed in startled you and you were screaming again. I’m surprised you didn’t wake Ginny up,” she noted, more to herself than to Harry. “It didn’t take long for you to start nursing again. I think Dumbledore had forgotten in the stress of your parents dying and what that meant for the wizarding community that you were only a baby. When he saw you nursing, I think he finally realized what it meant for you as well.” She was grateful that Dumbledore had allowed her to nurse him one last time before he was taken to his final destination.
“At that point, I had nursed my fair share of children. I thought I had done it all, but you were so frenzied when you were nursing that I can only imagine it was a reflection of what was going on in your head.” Harry had stayed quiet the entire time Molly was talking. He wasn’t sure if there was anything he could add to the conversation. He was enthralled with hearing Molly’s point of view of what had happened that it didn’t even matter to him if he said anything. “The only time I saw you smile that day was when I mentioned you were lucky I was nursing Ginny.” Harry smiled at that, imagining himself at Molly’s breast, smiling up at the woman he was currently with, having just married her daughter. He thought it was ironic that he smiled as a baby when Molly mentioned her newborn daughter and years in the future, he would marry her. “I suppose we’ve made a full circle, huh?” Molly asked, laughing at the irony of it all.
“You’ve always been a mum through and through,” Harry finally said. He had started playing with the button on the blazer she was wearing, which happened to be Arthur’s, at some point in the story and hadn’t realized he had started doing it.
“I’m going to tell you what I told Dumbledore, I didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done had you been one of my kids.” Looking back, the sentiment didn’t age all too well considering she thought of him as her own child for years at that point. Harry smiled at that, a warmth settling in his stomach at the love he felt from a mother.
“Stand up and let me give you a hug, babe,” Molly said. She stepped back and allowed Harry to stand to his full height before pulling him into a big bear hug. “I love you and I’m so proud of you,” she said, pulling away slightly so she could cup the unruly haired man’s face.
“I love you, mum,” is all Harry had to say. It’s the only thing Molly needed in return.
Molly had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a baby screaming bloody murder. Was that Ginny that was crying like that? It couldn’t be. She had just put her down for her afternoon nap. She didn’t recognize the screaming, but she felt it in her entire body. It was bone chilling and it had Molly rushing from the moment she heard it.
But if it wasn’t Ginny, who could it be? And was that Albus Dumbledore’s voice she recognized, calling out her and her husband’s name? Not very many people were able to apparate and disapparate out of her house, so it had to be. Her and Arthur weren’t official members of the Order, but they did as much as they could without being official members and they trusted Dumbledore enough to allow him to come and go as he needed. Following her maternal instincts, Molly made her way out of the bathroom. She grabbed the first robe she could find, which happened to be Arthur’s, and wrapped it around her body. The screaming child was just about the only thing she could think of.
She made her way down the stairs with ease and Dumbledore’s familiar stature came into view at the bottom of them. Dumbledore turned at the sound of footsteps walking down the stairs. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she commented, wrapping the robe around her body tightly, embarrassed by her appearance. “I just stepped out of the shower. Is everything okay?”
Dumbledore didn’t need to give an answer when he turned towards her with the howling baby in his arms. Seeing Harry in his arms only answered the rumors swirling around that something had happened to Lily and James. But he answered anyway. “Harry needs somewhere safe to stay while we fine tune what’s to come. Your brothers offered you and your husband as a safe spot for Harry.” Molly knew that Albus wouldn’t be here with a screaming Harry if something hadn’t happened to Lily and James. She didn’t get a chance to even ask questions before the baby was practically dumped into her arms. There were too many thoughts rushing through her brain to even begin to question what was going on. What happened? Are Lily and James okay? Are they dead? And most importantly, were her and Arthur really the right choice to watch Harry as The Order figured out what to do next? Before Molly knew it, Dumbledore apparated to his next destination
So many emotions were running through Molly’s head as she went into mamma bear mode. She quickly pushed all of those thoughts out as she tried to comfort Harry. She made sure he had a dry diaper on. She swaddled him in a blanket. She rocked him like she would if she were holding her own children. An hour passed and nothing seemed to work. Finally she sat down on the couch. Harry’s screams of bloody murder died down to soft whimper. But he hadn’t settled down enough to fall asleep and Molly was at her wits end, so she started to hum to him. It was just about the only thing she could think of doing. She had done everything just shy of nursing him and that was the last thing on her mind to try because he wasn’t her baby. She wasn’t necessarily comfortable with the idea of nursing him if she wasn’t sure what Lily and James were doing in terms of breastfeeding, formula and baby food. But the humming must have triggered something in Harry’s brain because he moved her robe out of the way and attached himself to her breast. He was trying to find the warmth, comfort, and reassurance of his mother and he did it the best way he could, which happened to be nursing.
It was the first time since Dumbledore had handed him over she had time to sit down and just… relax (if that’s what she could call it). It was the first time the gravity of the situation fully hit her. She was unknowingly nursing the boy whose shoulders the entire wizarding world rested against. She felt tears in her eyes as she looked down at the boy, his chin taking long strokes against her breast as he drank. He was calm for the first time she imagined since he last saw his parents alive. His eyes wondered until they met hers and she smiled softly at him. Her stomach dropped at the beautiful emerald green of his eyes.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said as she rubbed a finger against his cheek, her breath hitching in her chest. His little feet kicked as he regulated the chaos in his head. She knew his life would never be the same and if she could provide him with even the slightest comfort, she was happy. “Is that what you needed this entire time?” Molly asked, taking comfort in the tugging of her breast, knowing this would be one of the last times he would nurse.
She hadn’t even realized Arthur had walked in as she started talking to the baby as he nursed, her own baby screaming in his arms, until Arthur said, “You’ve got the wrong baby, Molls.” He hadn’t realized she was feeding Harry because he wouldn’t have cracked a joke if he had. Molly quickly wiped the tears away as she looked up at her husband. She forced a smile on her face. It was just about the time Ginny normally woke up from his nap and wanted to nurse.
“I’ll get her after,” Molly said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s Harry Potter,” she said, answering the question she could see forming on Arthur’s lips. He was curious as to who’s baby she was nursing. This was the first time, as far as he knew, she had nursed a baby that wasn’t hers. She got a similar reaction she was sure she had given Dumbledore. “Fabian and Gideon offered us as a safe spot for him until they figure out how, or what, they’re going to do next. He wasn’t asking, Arthur. You should have heard Harry crying.” Molly word vomited, the tears appearing instantly as she continued to talk.
She knew she didn’t have to explain to Arthur as to why she was nursing a stranger’s baby, but she was a bundle of nervous energy and she couldn’t stop. Arthur sat down next to Molly quickly, his newborn daughter still in his arms, and wrapped an arm around his wife before pulling her in. He planted a soft, loving kiss, against the side of her head. He didn’t have it in him to ask if Molly knew what happened to Lily and James.
“You don’t have to explain, love.” He looked down at the boy at his wife’s breast. He was so close to sleep, but he craved the comfort and security Molly was giving him so he continued suckling against her breast. “I imagine this is the most security he’s felt since...” He stopped himself, not sure how to finish the sentence.
“It’s certainly the calmest he’s been since Albus handed him over.” With both of them looking down at the tired baby, Molly rubbed Harry’s cheek again. She knew he was comfort feeding, but it’s what he needed.
Once Harry’s eyes fluttered close, Molly decided it was time to take him off of her breast. She did so with ease and she passed him to her husband, surprisingly without much of a fuss. She took their tired and hungry baby and attacked her to her other breast with just as much ease. It was a totally different feeling, feeding her own baby. With Harry, the long strokes of his chin against her breast felt frenzied, like he hadn’t nursed in a while, almost as if it would be the last time he would ever do it and he wanted to soak it in for as long as possible. But with Ginny, the stroke of her chin against her breast felt lazy, like she knew she would nurse again. For Ginny, it was a way for her to self soothe after waking up from a nap. For Harry, it was to help ease the feeling of chaos.
Arthur had Harry in a soft slumber not too long after Molly had Ginny happily suckling at her breast. They were quiet for a while, looking at Harry and thinking how uncertain their lives were. Arthur kept Harry close, not wanting to put him down. He wasn’t sure if it was to comfort Harry, despite his slumber, or to help soothe the unease of possibly leaving his kids like Harry’s parents had. Once Ginny finished nursing, Molly took her off of her breast and started to cuddle with her. She obliged as she nuzzled herself comfortably into her mother’s body.
The married couple stayed like that for a while. Harry had stayed asleep long, only to then startle himself awake. Again, he worked himself up into a frenzy. Despite being conscious enough when he fell asleep to know Arthur had been holding him, he didn’t calm down until Molly had him and he was able to nuzzle himself comfortably into her embrace.
After Harry calmed down, Molly managed to keep Harry calm long enough for her to change into a different set of clothes. She went about her day as she normally would, the only exception being a dark haired boy attached to her hip. About an hour later her day was interrupted again by the fireplace, Dumbledore’s head appearing, asking if he could come over and pick the baby up. The parents agreed.
And just like that, Dumbledore appeared a few minutes later through the fireplace, the noises startling Harry. He started wailing again. Molly went into mamma bear mode and started shushing him, rocking him like she would had it been her child as he sat on her hip. She managed to quiet him down so he wasn’t wailing loudly, but he was still comfort seeking. Much like Ron or Ginny would do, and she was sure Harry would do to his own mother if he had been startled or he needed comfort, he had his hand down her shirt and her breast in his mouth before she knew what was happening.
She let out a sigh loud enough to disrupt the men’s conversation, not wanting to stop him or deprive him of the comfort of nursing, but she knew Dumbledore needed to get his plan in motion.
“Sorry, Albus,” she said when the pair of men looked over at her and the nursing baby. “He’s cluster feeding. I fed him an hour ago. He’s comfort seeking.” It was understandable, considering the trauma he had just endured. She was a mother through and through and Harry sensed it (and she also looked very familiar to his own mother). The stress and the weight of everything going on visibly left Albus’ shoulders. In all of this, he forgot there was a child involved. Harry needed the love only a mother could give. He needed the comfort of breastfeeding and Molly could give it to him, even just momentarily.
Molly knew this second nursing session would only make it harder on herself when she handed Harry over. But like the last time, she gave into it, if only because she wanted Harry to feel some sort of security. His fist grabbed a tuft of red hair as his eyes searched for hers. Still rocking softly back and forth, she looked into the beautiful emerald eyes Harry had gotten from his mother and she could feel herself become choked up again. The kneading of her breast with a tiny hand, the suckling of her breast, the soft cooing as Harry drank, it was all so familiar. She had done it with six babies, after all. But this was different.
Molly felt a pit in her stomach, knowing Harry wasn’t hungry, he was just nursing to comfort himself. She would either need to take him off her breast or he would do it himself. Where would he go? What would happen to him? She was curious, but she wasn’t brave enough to ask. She just wanted to take this in, knowing this was quite possibly the last, and only, time she would ever see The Boy Who Lived. Dumbledore looked at the clock and nodded his head. “Take your time. We’ve got a few minutes.” Molly gave Dumbledore an appreciative smile.
“Feel free to make yourself comfortable. This might take a while,” she said. The adults shuffled around the room so everyone was sitting. Molly relaxed herself into the couch and she moved the baby so he was straddling her legs, his head upright so he could continue breastfeeding. It was a coincidence that Molly had recently given birth and she found herself thinking about how lucky it was when Harry found his way into her robe earlier that day and he attached himself to her breast that she was still nursing her youngest child.
Again, Harry’s eyes scanned around until he met Molly’s eyes. “You’re lucky I’m nursing Ginny, love,” she cooed down to the baby, “because this wouldn’t have worked if I wasn’t.” He smiled behind her breast as he continued to nurse. She knew Harry wouldn’t have known either way if she was nursing Ginny or not, but she couldn’t help but to wonder if he had a sense of whether or not she was breastfeeding. Molly’s general rule of thumb was to make it to a year of breastfeeding and after that, she let her kids self wean.
Dumbledore respectfully watched the mother and child as they sat on the couch, Harry at the red headed woman’s breast. He didn’t have kids of his own, but he had so much respect for the Weasley family. He never had any doubt when Fabian and Gideon offered their sister and brother in law, but this only cemented their choice to watch Harry.
“You know,” Dumbledore said into the quiet room, talking to no one in particular, “I never doubted your brother's advice to ask you to watch Harry, but watching you with him eased any doubts I might have had.”
“I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t do with my own children,” Molly said, softly laughing at the compliment. Truth be told, it was Harry who had initiated breastfeeding to begin with and she followed his lead. She appreciated the trust it must have taken from Dumbledore and the entire Order of the Phoenix to entrust her family with Harry, if only for a few hours and the compliment was certainly nice. Like it had done earlier, Molly found solace in being able to provide Harry with the comfort, warmth, and security of breastfeeding, even just momentarily.
“I suppose that’s why you were the right choice to watch him,” Dumbledore said. “You treated him no differently than you would your own.”
A genuine smile crossed Molly’s face as she looked down at the little boy nursing. Her stomach dropped when Harry’s eyes fluttered close, knowing she had to take him off her breast now or it would only get harder. She put her breast away and allowed him to nuzzle himself into her body, tears in her eyes. She didn’t have him for very long, but it wasn’t easy passing him over to Dumbledore. She knew she now had a bond from nursing the boy who saved the wizarding world, but it didn’t make it any easier.
“He should be out for a little bit,” Molly said as she pushed herself to stand up, the men following suit. She effortlessly passed the baby over to the grey haired man, just as Arthur pulled her in for a hug, giving her the comfort she needed to watch Dumbledore nod his head and thank her wordlessly before apparating out and bringing Harry to his next destination.
