Arthur Weasley settled into his armchair, the Daily Prophet in hand, preparing to spend a quiet day at home on his day off. No sooner than he had unfolded the paper to read the front page, he heard someone call for him.

"Arthur, dear?"

Arthur looked up from the paper, seeing his wife of sixteen years come into the family room, her traveling cloak and purse in hand.

"What is it, Mol?" He observed her closely for a moment, arching an eyebrow. It wasn't often that she left him alone with the children, and he wondered if he had possibly done something wrong in the past twenty-four hours to prompt a shopping trip. After all, part of the reason why he enjoyed being home on his day off was to spend time with his wife.

"Can you please watch Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron while I take the others to get their school things?"

"Yes dear."

"You promise that I'll come back to a house and not a pile of rubble?"

"Molly, I ican/i handle the children, you know. I really wish you wouldn't fret." Arthur sighed when Molly insinuated that he wasn't capable of keeping things running smoothly while she was away for a few hours. He was grateful that she wasn't leaving him with all seven, and it was enough to assure him he hadn't done anything to upset her.

"Arthur Weasley are you trying to make me angry?"

Arthur winced at his wife's reply, as he hadn't meant to come across the way he had. "NO! No, dear. I promise the Burrow will be in one piece and still standing when you return."

"Good. I'll be back in a few hours." She turned to leave, but Arthur stopped her.

"Wait, don't I get my good-bye kiss, Mollywobbles?" He offered her a lopsided smile and beckoned her to him with one hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." With that, Molly swooped down and kissed her husband tenderly. After she pulled away, she called out to her three eldest. "Bill, Charlie, Percy get down here now!"

"What Mum?" Charlie asked, when he had appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"We're leaving. Where are Bill and Percy?"

"Right here, Mother." Percy answered in a slightly pompous tone. Arthur arched an eyebrow at the way his son had responded to his mother, but as his wife had things to get done, he decided to not hold her up further by commenting on it.

"Into the fireplace everyone. Quickly now, we have things to do."

Arthur watched as Molly herded their three eldest children into the fireplace and disappeared in a burst of emerald flame. As soon as he had moved to read the front page, one of the twins appeared beside him, tugging lightly on his sleeve.

"Dad, she gone?"

"Yes, she's gone Fred."

Arthur went back to his paper, satisfied that his children were not misbehaving, for the time being. However, moments later he realized that they were being too quiet, which usually meant they were up to something. He discarded his paper, and went in search of his children. He checked the den, were Ron and Fred were sitting on the floor, holding hands with George standing beside them.

"FRED, GEORGE AND RONALD WEASLEY! WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" His sudden outburst caused the boys to jump.

Fred smiled and spoke up once he had recovered from the shock of Arthur yelling. "Daddy, Mum wouldn't like you swearing."

"Did your mother return without my noticing?"

Fred, George and Ron shook their heads.

"ALL RIGHT THEN, EXPLAIN TO ME WHY YOU TWO," he pointed to the twins, "-WERE TRYING TO GET RON TO MAKE AN UNBREAKABLE VOW WITH FRED!"

The boys faltered under the sparks that were flying from their father's eyes.

"Well, uh,"

"You see, we were,"

"Ginny will you kindly fetch your mother's broomstick for me?" Arthur asked, noticing his daughter for the first time. Ginny nodded and scampered off to do as her father asked.

"Fred, George, I am absolutely appalled that you would try to put Ron under an Unbreakable Vow! It is not only dangerous, but performing an Unbreakable Vow is advanced magic AND SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED BY SEVEN-YEAR-OLD WIZARDS! NOT TO MENTION THE CONSEQUENCES OF BREAKING AN UNBREAKABLE!" Arthur roared, pausing for a second before resuming his tirade. "I SUPPOSE YOU WERE GOING TO PUT HIM UNDER THE UNBREAKABLE AND TRICK HIM INTO BREAKING IT, WEREN'T YOU?"

"No, Dad. We don't want Ron to die."

"Honest Dad."

"Daddy, here's Mum's broomstick." Ginny said, tugging on her father's pant leg.

"Thank you Gin." Arthur took the broomstick from her and gently pushed her towards the door. "Ginny, why don't you go out into the living room and wait for me. Fred and George come here." Arthur gestured to the area in front of him to show his sons that he meant business.

Fred and George made their way to their father, who was flushed with anger.

"Bend over." Arthur said harshly and the twins obeyed.

Adjusting his grip on the broom, Arthur brought it back and swung it cleanly over his sons' buttocks.

"Arthur! Arthur Weasley, what is going on here?" Molly screeched, walking in on the aforementioned scene with Ginny and the three eldest boys behind her.

Arthur jumped when he heard his wife behind him and looked over his shoulder to address her before turning back to Fred and George. "I'll tell you in a minute, Mols. You two go to your room, now!"

"Arthur, what was that all about?" She asked as she watched the twins scurry to their room before facing her husband again. She also gestured for the rest of the children to go back to the living room and leave her and Arthur alone for a few moments.

Once he was alone with her, Arthur took a breath before explaining to Molly what had happened in her absence. "Your twins tried to get Ron to make an Unbreakable with them."

"Oh dear."

"Molly,"

"DON'T YOU BLAME THIS ON ME!"

He was surprised at his wife's outburst, but he set the broomstick down and reached out to her. "I wasn't going to, Mollywobbles. I was going to say that I don't think they need one of your lectures. I think the shock of me blowing up at them is punishment enough."

"I agree. You're a scary sight when you get angry. You hardly ever do, but when you do, it's frightening."

"I know." Arthur offered her a smile, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Would you mind helping with dinner?"

"Not at all, Mollywobbles." As he guided her into the kitchen, he lightly rubbed her shoulder.