The Burrow was packed. Arthur had forgotten it was Sunday today when he invited the Gramgers to dinner, so everyone - Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, Audrey, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione - was there for the weekly Sunday dinner. Throw Nancy and Richard in the mix and the house was almost bursting at the seams.
Even though everyone tried acting as though nothing had happened, the tension in the atmosphere was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Ron and Ginny had told their siblings of the events that took place the previous night, so all the Weasleys knew of their parents' fight upon their arrival at the Burrow. Molly did not let on that anything had happened, not knowing her kids already knew, and, despite his various attempts, would not even look at or acknowledge Arthur. Arthur would not divulge the reason for the fight no matter what tactics his kids used to weasel it out of him. Other than Molly's coldness toward Arthur, the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione did such a fine job at hiding this tension that Fleur, Audrey, and the Grangers did not suspect anything was out of the ordinary.
Before dinner, Nancy pulled Arthur outside while everyone else was busy helping with dinner or talking. Arthur cast Muffliato to prevent being overheard anyway.
"I swear, if you say you've changed your mind..." Arthur said before Nancy could open her mouth.
"W-what? No, no, I haven't." Arthur's sudden attitude change shocked Nancy. "I was just wondering how you wanted to do this since you didn't stick around long enough to discuss it yesterday."
"Well, excuse me if I didn't know how to feel about this," Arthur said sarcastically. "I could gain a daughter and lose my family all within twenty four hours."
"Ok. Look, I'm sorry, but I'm not the one who decided to do this today," Nancy retorted. "We can do this later this week if you need to sort out your feelings on this or if you want to think of a different way to break them up permanently," she offered.
"No, Nancy, we can't. I already told Molly that I slept with someone else and have another daughter, though she doesn't know with whom or when, but either way my marriage may be over."
"Oh, now you're just overreacting -"
"- Overreacting? I am not overreacting," Arthur interrupted. "Infuriated is an understatement to describe Molly's attitude when I told her. Today she hasn't done anything to me because the kids are around. She's just been ignoring me all day."
"You didn't have to tell her right away."
"I didn't. I told her at four a.m. because I couldn't sleep and it was gnawing away at me. I could barely deal with not telling her that I cheated on her, but this whole daughter thing..." he trailed off.
"'Daughter thing'? If you don't want anything to do with her then you don't -" Nancy began before Arthur cut her off.
"- I did not say that. She is my daughter and I want to form a father-daughter relationship with her. How could you think I wouldn't?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe with the way you're acting..."
"I'm not upset with her. I'm upset with you for not telling me about her. I've missed so many important events in her life because you kept this from me. And before you say anything, letting her stay here as my son's friend is completely different than letting her stay here as my daughter."
"Arthur, -" Nancy was about to explain why she didn't tell him about Hermione, but was interrupted by Molly calling everyone in for dinner.
"Alright, everyone! Dinner is ready! Come on!" Molly's voice rang throughout the house and yard, calling everyone to the table.
"We'll do it after we eat then," Nancy hissed as they entered the kitchen with the rest of the family.
The Weasley kids did their best to make dinner a boisterous affair as it usually was. Arthur and Nancy were reserved and trying to cool down from their argument. Molly still was ignoring Arthur even though he was sitting right beside her.
Everyone had finished desert and were chatting. Both Nancy's and Arthur's tempers had cooled down and they glanced at each other, knowing the time had come to reveal their secret.
Arthur cleared his throat to gather the attention of the table. All eyes, except Molly, turned to the Weasley patriarch…He froze. He couldn't make an announcement like this in front of his entire family plus some.
Nancy, seeing this, knew she would have to take the initiative. "Hermione." Everyone turned to Nancy now. "You're not Muggle-born."
Hermione was shocked. When she was able to, she asked, "How? Are one of you a squib?" She looked between her parents.
Although she wasn't sure what a squib was, Nancy knew neither of them were. "No...Hermione, Richard isn't your biological father. Your father is a wizard…a pureblood wizard."
Things were beginning to click for Molly and her temper was slowly rising again. Is this what Arthur was talking about last night? But, why would he wait so long to tell me though?
Hermione was speechless. Finally she stammered out, "W-who - who is?"
Nancy didn't answer. Arthur would have to take the reins now.
"Who's my dad?" she asked a little louder.
"I am."
Everyone's head snapped back to the head of the table, including Molly's. Different variations of shoc, disappoint, and anger were etched in each face.
"I'm sorry?" Hermione asked incredulously.
He looked Hermione in the eyes. "Hermione. I. Am. Your. Father." He paused briefly between each word, trying to make her believe it as much as he was trying to make himself believe it.
"No," was Hermione's response. She was almost laughing. "This is some sort of joke, right?"
Arthur and Nancy shared a meaningful glance then Nancy turned back to her daughter. "No, Sweetie, we're not joking. Arthur is your biological father."
"So, is this why Mum kicked you out last night?" Ginny asked her dad.
"Yeah, Dad, you can't be serious," Charlie stated.
"You would never do something like that to Mum," Bill said matter-of-factly
Arthur nodded, avoiding making eye contact with any of his kids or his wife. He couldn't look at any of them right now.
"Arthur. Weasley," Molly snarled. The chair scraped across the wooden floor as she stood abruptly, reaching for her wand which had apparently vanished. Arthur was out of his chair just as quickly as Molly, putting his hands in front of him in an attempt to calm his wife.
"Molly, dear, please calm down."
"Arthur, where is my wand?"
"I took it to prevent a repeat of last night."
Arthur stood his ground as Molly advanced and slapped him hard across the face. His hand flew to his stinging cheek. All the kids could do was look on helplessly as these and the next events unraveled in front of their eyes.
"It is one thing to screw some hussy and get her pregnant, but to keep it from me for nineteen years and have your illegitimate daughter live in this house and date your son is just despicable!"
"Molly, it's not like that!" Arthur protested.
"It sure as hell looks like it! Have you slept with anyone else? Or have any more illegitimate children? Is Harry your son? Is that why he's living here too?" She shot question after question at him, not giving him enough time to answer any.
"It was one night!" Arthur yelled, putting a stop to Molly's rampage. "It was one night and I didn't know! If you would be rational and let me explain, you would have all your questions answered."
Molly glared at him then said in a deadly calm voice, "Give me my wand now." She looked as if she were about to explode with anger.
Finally, someone made a move to stop this argument from going any further. Bill went to settle his father down while Charlie took their mother since he had experience with dragons and right now Molly resembled a Hungarian Horntail.
Once Molly and Arthur were separated and had calmed down and Bill had both of their wands, Hermione asked Richard, "Did you know about this?"
"Half of it. I knew I wasn't your father, but I didn't know who was."
Hermione looked down the table at Arthur and then back to her mum. "How could you?" she accused them both. "How could you let me stay here for seven years and not say a word about this? I was on the run from the Ministry for a year when they were hunting Muggle-borns. Why didn't you say something then?" She directed this last question at Arthur since her parents knew nothing of the wizarding war. "Were you just going to let them kill me or send me to Azkaban if I was caught?" Hermione glared at him.
"I didn't know," Arthur stated calmly.
"You didn't know what, that I was on the run or that I was your daughter? - Oh, wait, you knew both! This is so - You are so - You are both - unbelievable!" Hermione bolted from the kitchen and out the back door, knocking her chair over as she did so. With a quick glance at each other, Arthur and Nancy chased after her. They knew Hermione would need some time to herself in order to process what was just revealed, but they needed her to understand this completely.
Arthur reached her first, just before the apparition point. He grabbed her shoulder. She spun around, fire in her eyes and tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Let me go," she said in a strained voice.
He shook his head. "Please, let us explain?"
Hermione saw a difference in the way he looked at her. He had never looked at her this way. It was how he looked at Ginny. He only looked at Ginny, his daughter, this way. Could he possibly not have known she was his daughter? Her expression softened.
"You're looking at me differently," Hermione mumbled.
Arthur furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"You've only ever looked at Ginny that way…You really didn't know?"
"No, honestly, I didn't. If I had known, things would have been much different."
She looked to her mum for reassurance. "He's my dad?"
Nancy nodded.
"And you didn't tell him? Or anyone for that matter?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I didn't know how to contact him. Then when I saw him in Diagon Alley when you were twelve he had his own family and I didn't think he recognized me. He was so happy. I couldn't bring myself to tell him, so I thought it would be acceptable to allow you to stay here for holidays. No one would have to know."
"Actually, I remembered you five minutes into our conversation. I just didn't want anyone to think we already knew each other," Arthur clarified. "So that's why you never told me?"
"I tried telling you before dinner, but you wouldn't listen. I just didn't want to mess everything up for you. I guess it had to come out eventually, though," Nancy explained.
"Oh, well, thank you, but I'm still disappointed that you didn't tell me. You should've known this couldn't be kept a secret forever. Look, why don't we finish this inside? It's cold out here and I don't feel like going over this multiple times.
"That sounds like a good idea," Nancy agreed. She and Arthur started making their way back to the house, but Hermione didn't move.
"Wait." The two adults turned around. "Isn't this a bit awkward now? I mean, what do I even call you?"
Arthur looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged and said, "Whatever you want to...just, not Mr. Weasley."
Hermione's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "H-how about I call you Arthur for now…and work my way up to Dad?" she asked shyly.
Arthur beamed at her. "I'd like that." He walked over to her, put an arm around her shoulders, and gave her a tight, comforting squeeze as they looked into each other's eyes.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I had a stomach bug and had to work and go to college. Also, I took a little break for Harry Potter weekend on ABCfamily (well FreeForm now). This chapter turned out to be a bit of a challenge also.
Anyway, I love getting reviews from y'all, so please let me know what y'all think of this chapter. There will be one more chapter coming within the week. If y'all want an epilogue let me know, but I guess y'all won't really know until y'all read the next chapter. So, anyway, until next time and thanks for reading!
