Arthur gingerly opened the back door and stepped inside. The kitchen was empty, except for Molly, Ginny, Fleur, and Audrey who were cleaning up. Luckily, Molly's back was turned to the door and she was scrubbing dishes in the sink, so she didn't know they had come in; none of the young witches let on that the trio had reentered, though Ginny did shoot her father a disdainful look. He let Nancy and Hermione quietly slip through to the sitting room before things progressed.

After the Granger ladies were safely in the next room, Arthur pointed to Molly and mouthed to Fleur, "Wand?"

Fleur shook her head, indicating that Bill still had both his parents' wands.

Finally relaxing a little, Arthur moved further into the kitchen. Trying to decide who to approach, he surveyed the women in the kitchen: Molly was still unaware of his presence, or at least pretending to be; Ginny looked as if she was ready to hex him, so he thought it best to steer clear of her until everything was sorted out; he didn't know Audrey all that well yet; Fleur had been in the family for over a year now and looked sympathetic, yet disappointed, with him. The French, part-veela would be his best choice.

Moving to stand next to Fleur at the table, he breathed into her ear, still not wanting Molly aware of his presence yet, "Where is everyone?"

"Zey are in ze sitting room," Fleur answered just as quietly.

"How are they?"

"Ginny ees ze worst, except for maybe Charlie, but no one ees really happy about zis."

"And Molly?"

"She has calmed down some, but I zink she ees more upset than angry now."

"Thank you, Fleur."

Arthur mutely gained the attention of the three girls and motioned for them to go into the sitting room. Understanding the need to, hopefully, have a calm discussion with Molly, the girls left them alone, though Fleur had to grab Ginny's hand and drag her out.

Once alone, Arthur approached Molly, who was still oblivious to her surroundings, cautiously and slowly wrapped his arms around her from behind. With a start, she looked down at the intruding hands. Recognizing the large, strong yet soft hands and familiar wedding band as her husband's, she went rigid.

"Mollywobbles?" he whispered into her ear.

She still didn't move.

"Molly, we need to talk about this. Please?" he pleaded.

"There's nothing to talk about, Arthur," Molly said as she resumed washing the dishes.

"I know I don't have a valid excuse, or any excuse for that matter, but at least let us explain. I mean, you love Hermione just as much as any of our other kids and Harry. If this hadn't have happened, she wouldn't be here. Think of how much she's helped Harry and Ron, especially the last year of the war." Arthur wasn't sure if bringing up Hermione would help him get through to Molly, but he gave it a shot. All of the Weasleys had welcomed her into the family the moment she set a foot in the Burrow, so why should this make a difference? They should be mad at him, not Hermione. "If anything, don't take this out on her."

Several silence-filled moments passed. He waited patiently for Molly to respond. He knew she was tin deep thought and not just ignoring him again because she had stopped washing and was staring intently at the sudsy water. Finally, Molly spoke.

"Arthur," she sighed exasperatedly. "I know this isn't Hermione's fault. She didn't know about any of this. This isn't about her; this is about you…about us."

"Then let me explain," he implored. "Let us fix this."

Molly turned around in Arthur's arms and looked up at him. Unlike earlier her expression was unreadable. He was usually able to tell how she felt by looking into her eyes, but even those brown orbs showed no emotion.

"Please?" he begged. Cocking his head to the side, he gave her a pleading look. She had never seen Arthur look this pitiful; it reminded her of their kids when they were little. Being used to this expression, it did not faze her.

"You have lied to me for nineteen years." Arthur wanted to interrupt and explain, but he let her continue. "You have allowed your son to date his half-sister. She has stayed in this house for seven years, and you have not said a word about her being your daughter. This is not only wrong for you to do to me and our kids, but to her as well." She extracted herself from his arms and took a couple steps back. "This is probably the worst thing you could do to any of us. I don't understand how or why you would do that. If you were any kind of a decent father, you wouldn't have kept this from her."

Since he wanted to discuss this and she hadn't acknowledged him all day, Arthur had listened and refrained from interrupting her. Everything she said was a verbal slap across his face, especially her last statement. He couldn't take any more of this.

"Molly, I didn't know she was my daughter. Nancy just told me yesterday," he calmly informed her. "I have been just as deprived of this relationship as Hermione has. You know how much I love being a part of our kids' lives and I didn't get that with her. I wish I had known, so I could have protected her, seen all the firsts in her life, been there when she needed me, and been there when she accomplished even the smallest things.. Arthur was really hurt, by Nancy keeping his daughter a secret from him and by Molly insulting his fatherhood.

Molly slowly covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, Arthur," she breathed.

Arthur continued as if she hadn't said anything. "And do you really think I wouldn't tell her, or that I would let my children date each other? I am not that kind of person, and you know it. And I would never keep something like this from you; I would never be able to. That's why I told you at four in the morning. Knowing this and not telling you was gnawing away at me."

"You kept your one night stand with Nancy from me for nineteen years," she pointed out a little sharply.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I haven't felt guilty about it ever since."

"Was I not enough for you?" she asked.

Holding her hand and looking straight into her eyes, he assured her, "Exactly the opposite. You were and are more than enough,"

"Then, why did you do it?"

"Like I said, it's not a valid excuse."

"I don't care. You wanted a chance to explain. Here it is."

"I went to a pub in Muggle London with Perkins and a couple other blokes one day after work, Perhaps we had a bit too much of a good time. We chatted up some nice girls, and split up after a while. My curiosity got the better of me. I wondered if they did it the same way in their world as we do in ours," Arthur explained. "It was a one-time thing, with her, with anyone. I promise…I haven't forgiven myself for betraying you."

"If it has bothered you so much, why haven't you told me?" asked Molly.

"I was afraid you would leave me," was his simple answer. Then he added in a whisper, "Please don't leave me."

"I told you before this whole fiasco, 'I love you and nothing could change that.' Nothing, Arthur. I may get upset with you, but I will never stop loving you. And I love Hermione as much as any of our kids or Harry, but…you still lied to me. For nineteen years, Arthur, you lied to me, maybe not directly, but still. It doesn't matter how bad or guilty you feel. Feeling bad doesn't change anything. And I feel like you would never have told me if Nancy hadn't told you about Hermione."

They stared at each other for several long moments before Arthur finally spoke. "Well, what do you suggest we do?"

"There is no 'we' about this. You will have to find a way to fix this, Arthur. You betreayed my trust and you will have to regain it.

"So, after everyone leaves, you will pack whatever you'll need for the next two weeks, at least. I'm not kicking you off of this property, but I am kicking you out of this house. That gives you the shed or the chicken coop to stay in."

"T-two weeks? Molly…" he protested.

"You better be glad it's only for two weeks."

"But, Mollywobbles, I know what I did was horrible and wrong, and I wouldn't expect you to not be upset about this, but –"

"No, Arthur. You are not getting out of this."

Opening his mouth to speak, Molly cut him off once more. "You best quit while you're ahead. I'm only letting you stay here so you can spend some time with Hermione."

Surrendering, Arthur swallowed hard and nodded. "Thank you." He hesitated before asking his next question. "Do you think – maybe – I could get a kiss, for reassurance that you still love me?"

Molly sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. She knew he knew she still loved him; he just wanted a kiss before being banished form the house. "Fine." Standing on tip-toe, she gave Arthur a quick peck on the lips. "Happy now?"

Arthur gave her a small smirk

Turning to head into the sitting room, Molly spotted six extendable ears lying on the floor. Honestly, these kids… she thought. Looking at Arthur, she held up three fingers and pointed to him and repeated the same motion with herself, indicating he would take three ears and she would take the other three.

Arthur nodded, lifted his foot, positioned over three ears, and stomped down in unison with Molly. Immediately, they heard a cumulative, "Aargh!" from the six Weasley kids.

The door swung open to reveal six red heads scattered on furniture throughout the sitting room, each holding one of their real ears, while their friends, girlfriends, wife, and the Grangers sat innocently, and just as spread out, on the furniture.

"What was that?" Charlie asked angrily.

"Teaching you lot to keep your noses, or in this case ears, to yourselves?" Arthur replied.

"Well, your teaching almost burst our eardrums," Bill complained.

"Honestly. I've already lost one ear. Do you want me to be completely deaf?" George whined.

"Maybe that will get you all to stop eavesdropping," Molly said, then continued a little less harshly, "I swear, you will all be ninety years old and still eavesdropping…Now, I take it no one needs filling in?"

"No, ma'am," they all answered.

"And I trust you all conveyed what was said to everyone else in this room?"

A guilty silence filled the room.

"So," Arthur said as he sat on the settee with Molly, waiting for his kids' reactions. The bombardment of questions began immediately. Ginny, Charlie, and Bill started the questioning with hostility while Percy, George, and Ron stayed out of it for a while: Percy because he didn't want to risk another falling out with his family, George because he didn't find it that big of a deal. It was nineteen years ago and nothing else had happened, right? And Ron was still shocked that his girlfriend was his sister.

"How could you do that to Mum?" Ginny aggressively inquired.

"Yes. I would love to know that answer, too," Charlie agreed with a false pleasant tone.

"And why did you do that to Mum?" Bill added.

"And why did you let me snog my sister?" Ron chimed in. "We almost did it once," he added indignantly, his cheeks growing red.

"I doubt she would have wanted to even if she wasn't your sister, Ronniekins," George interjected. This caused Ron to blush even more, if that was possible. He elbowed George hard in the ribs, then looked to his father for an answer.

The questions finally halted, giving Arthur time to respond. He felt, Ron's question needed to be answered first. "Ron, I'm sorry. I didn't know, otherwise I would have put a stop to it."

"How could you not know? They're always all over each other," Ginny retorted.

"No, I knew about their relationship. I didn't know Hermione was my daughter."

"Hold on. How could you not know you had another kid?" asked Bill.

Nancy answered his question, "I never told him. He just found out yesterday. I was the only one that has known."

"Mum, did he tell you this, that he didn't find out until yesterday?" Charlie asked because Molly didn't look surprised at this new information.

"Yes, in the kitchen a few minutes ago. I though you all were listening in on us?"

"We were, but there at the beginning neither of you said anything for, like, ten minutes. It was quite boring," Ron answered.

"Apparently, we missed something important during that time," Percy stated.

They spent the next half hour going over all the details and answering more question to clarify any misunderstandings. Everyone had calmed down during this time of enlightenment. Then they got on the topic of Hermione herself.

"I don't see how you couldn't tell she was your daughter. She's practically lived here for the past seven years," Bill said.

"Well, she doesn't look anything like a Weasley. Think about it, she doesn't have red hair or freckles or…anything that defines a Weasley really," Harry pointed out.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione sighed in exasperation. "We spent months living in a tent together and you didn't notice I dye my hair?"

"Sorry, no." Harry shook his head.

"My hair is actually a reddish brown color, not just plain brown."

"Can we see it?" Fleur asked.

"You'll have to wait for the dye to wash out."

"Maybe in the Muggle world." Audrey stood and walked over to Hermione, pulling her wand out. "May I?"

"Umm – sure?"

Audrey waved her wand around Hermione's head three times and her true hair color began to show with each rotation. When she finished, Audrey stepped back for everyone to see. Hermione's hair color was a perfect combination of Nancy's brown hair and Arthur's red.

"Bloody hell! And you didn't figure something was off?" Ron exclaimed. You're supposed to be the brightest witch of your age."

"Ron, you can be so inconsiderate sometimes. Please show some self-control," Percy chided while Molly shot Ron a warning look.

"Sorry, but she's bloody brilliant. You'd think she'd figure it out," he muttered.

"I think it's beautiful," Arthur complimented. Murmurs of agreement echoed through the room. "Why would you ever dye it?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I just always have." She looked to her parents for further explanation.

"Well, Nancy and I started it when she was younger," Richard started.

"We didn't want anyone to question if she was Richard's daughter," Nancy finished.

"Okay, so all I have is the red hair," Hermione said bitterly. Secretly, she had always wanted to be a Weasley, but now she was disappointed because she was and had no Weasley traits.

"Actually, now that I think about it, you have Arthur's goofy smile, you both take your tea the same way, and your interest in the wizard world rivals Arthur's interest in the Muggle world."

"Really?" Hermione and Arthur asked in unison, the same big, goofy smile stretching across each of their faces. How could they never have noticed? How did Molly notice?

"Really," Molly assured them both. "I'm sure you'll both find more in common now that you know you're his daughter and he's your father."

After this, there were not many more questions and it was getting rather late, so the crowd slowly dwindled down to just the six current inhabitants of the Burrow. Soon after everyone had left, Arthur gathered his things and went to his shed, where he would be staying for the next two weeks. At least he was allowed to stay there in order to bond with his new daughter until she went back for her last semester at Hogwarts.

A/N: So, last chapter. Kind of long too, but I think it got everything wrapped up pretty good. Hope y'all enjoyed it!

Also, let me know if y'all want an epilogue and how far in the future you'd like it to be. And I could find a compromise if there are different time periods that y'all want.

I'll be updating "Learning to Cope without Arthur" really soon. I just haven't had much time for it lately. And I will be starting a new story titled "Weasley Family Fallout" or "The Fight" (I haven't really decided on the title yet,so if y'all want to give me input on what sounds more interesting that would be great) The first chapter should be posted tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and reviewing guys! This story was way more popular than I thought it would be!