Molly's Corner

Apparently the twins did very good business over Halloween. They showed up for dinner last week wreathed in smiles, babbling about the state of the shop, how long it was going to take them to restock, and other such things. I didn't wish to ask what exactly they had sold out of, but they were so enthusiastic that I didn't stop them talking about it, either.

The only thing that upset me was George mentioning that they'd been thinking about checking out the shop that used to be Zonko's, and possibly buying it. The thought, especially now, with people disappearing everywhere...it's frightening and dangerous as well as tactless.

Arthur, on the other hand, thought it was brilliant. It was hard to hold myself back from pointing out that he also thinks the little two-pronged metal things that Muggles use to run their appliances are also brilliant.

And so the year moves on, the everyday dangers grow darker, and my own uselessness hangs over me like a cloud. I'll never get used to feeling helpless.

It's so quiet around the house now with Ron and Ginny back in school and Bill and Charlie back off to their jobs.  Fred and George are hardly ever home any more; they practically live at that store of theirs.  I'd swear they only come home when they feel like a home-cooked meal.  I'm afraid to ask what they're living on the rest of the time.

Arthur has been working longer and longer hours.  I feel like I hardly see him any more.  It makes me uneasy, like my family is drifting apart at a time when it's so important for us to stay together...

The Daily Prophet doesn't help matters.  I wish they would stop running stories that try to discredit the safety of Hogwarts.  There are so many parents, like me, who are worried enough about their children.  We don't need any help in our worry or anything that is only going to add to the paranoia already mounting in the wizarding community.

I suppose that all we can hope for is that these reports are exaggerations, and that we can all count on each other for protection if the need arises.

Oh dear.  I seem to be more on edge than I thought.  I've just finished knitting the children's Christmas presents, and it's not even September yet.  I suppose I could make something for Arthur, but as it's still rather warm, I doubt he'd appreciate anything woolly...

{hexed from non-Order members}

I do wish someone knew where Dumbledore was.  It's worrying to go so long without hearing from him.  I know it's silly but, without him, it feels like there's nothing any of us can do, or that what we are able to do somehow has less of an impact.

Then again, I suppose we could take it upon ourselves to meet once and a while.  It couldn't hurt to do a little talking or planning.  Although, with the way tempers have been running, there's a chance that certain people might hurt each other...

{/hexed}

I think I'll go make a pot of tea.

The problem with being a mother, of course, is the worry.  Not just the worry for the children, but the worry for everyone who comes into their lives, everyone they cross paths with...

In this day and age, crossing paths can be only one of two things: a blessing or a disaster.  There's no in-between any more.  There's no learning from a bad experience, because so many bad experiences end in death.

Thus, the preoccupation with life.  Keeping the house clean, cooking, knitting, gardening...I do it all, and far too much of it.  But, at the same time, not enough.  I can't do everything, no matter how much I'd like to believe I can.  Regardless of how much my two hands contribute, there are dozens more out there working to undo what little good an aging housewife can accomplish in the middle of a war.

I love my family.  I'm just not sure I like the lot we've all been given.