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.