A/N: Thanks for the reviews, Phoenix Rising and persephonella. Like I said, I LOVE reviews.

Phoenix, I like any feedback. You don't know how big of a smile I got from the last one you made. And don't worry about offending me. Say whatever you like. But I think by the end of the story, you are gonna feel sorry for him. (;

Here's Chapter 10! Enjoy! And review please!

Family Dinner

Having left the kids to their shenanigans in the village, Molly climbed the grassy slope that led to her crooked home.

Arthur was sitting at the kitchen table in his worn out blue house robe when Molly entered.

"Good afternoon, love," she greeted cheerfully as she made her way to the counter.

"Today was beautiful down in the village," she began as she started pulling groceries out of her bag which had an expansion charm on it. "The weather was very nice with a light, cool breeze every once in a while. The kids were about to go meet Percy and his girlfriend in Diagon Alley when I left."

Without a word of acknowledgement, Arthur stood up with his mug, chair scratching the floor, to leave the room.

"Arthur?"

His wife's gentle voice stopped him before he could open the door to the sitting room.

Without facing her, he replied, "I want to be alone." It wasn't an angry or forceful tone he used, but more of a defeated and tired one.

"Love -"

"Goddammit, woman!" he said angrily through gritted teeth. At the same time his mug began a vertical race to the floor where the prize was destruction. It took both of them by surprise as the shattering of porcelain rang throughout the quiet house as neither had expected him to throw it. "Can I not have any fucking time to myself?"

When no words of protest came, Arthur disappeared through the door, leaving a bewildered, and somewhat upset, Molly in his wake.

Molly made her way to the shattered mug. As soon as she saw him, she was suspicious of what he was drinking. Of course there should be trust in any relationship, but with Arthur getting drunk just a few hours prior and everything else that had happened in previous weeks, she had lost almost all trust in him. Before repairing the mug, she found a piece that had a few drops of liquid still in it. Molly dipped her pinky in the brown substance. Before tasting it, she noticed that it smelled only of tea. Contrary to her nose, her mouth told her a different story. It tasted strongly of firewhiskey with only a hint of tea. It was clear Arthur had used a spell in order to disguise his drink in case something like this happened.

She pushed her worries to the back of her mind as she went back to putting up groceries. There was no time to think about what she should do or what would happen now. The kids would be back in three hours with a special guest and she still had to straighten the house and cook dinner.

OoOoO

As pops of Apparition resounded through the house, Molly knew her gaggle of kids were home and, more than likely, very hungry.

Before she knew it, her kitchen was packed full. Luckily, most of the kids were only passing through to greet her then go to the sitting room.

Percy waited for the flood of redheads to die down before bringing his girlfriend to meet his mum.

"Audrey this is my mum. Mum this is Audrey," he introduced in a professional manner.

Audrey stuck out her hand, but Molly, unsurprisingly, went in for a hug.

As she stepped back, Molly beamed and said, "It's nice to finally meet you, dear."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Weasley," Audrey reciprocated.

"Please, call me Molly," the middle-aged woman insisted.

Audrey smiled shyly.

Looking around, Percy asked where his father was.

Truthfully, Molly wasn't sure. She hadn't seen him since he disappeared earlier. To avoid suspicion from any of her children, she told Percy she thought he was up in their bedroom.

On his way upstairs, Percy left Audrey in the hands of his siblings, hoping they wouldn't scare her off.

Percy knocked lightly on his parents' bedroom door.

"I fucking swear, Molly…" was the answer he received through the door.

"Fa – Dad. It's me. Percy," the confused, bespectacled young man called back.

Nothing happened.

"Um. Is everything okay? Can I come in?"

As there was still no answer, Percy took the liberty of entering his parents' bedroom. What he saw next shocked him. His father had not gotten dressed yet and was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Dad, what are you doing? Audrey is here. You can't be dresses like this when I introduce you," Percy said, slightly panicked.

Arthur checked the time.

5:48. Was it already time for dinner? He wasn't even hungry, although he hadn't eaten anything all day. Nowadays he rarely had an appetite. After a couple minutes, Arthur sat up on the edge of the bed.

It was only then when Percy noticed how drawn his father looked.

"Are you alright?" Percy asked.

Arthur ran a hand through his already messy hair.

"I'm fine," he lied. "I'll be down in a bit."

With that, Percy took his leave. It was obvious his father wasn't being truthful with him, so he decided he'd ask his mum about it.

Before going to the kitchen, Percy checked on his girlfriend who seemed to be getting on well with his siblings, Harry, Hermione, and Fleur.

"Is everything alright, darling?" he asked.

Audrey gave a small start as she had not noticed Percy was behind her. "I'm wonderful," she replied with a great smile. "Your brothers are quite entertaining."

"Just making sure they haven't scarred you for life yet." He gave a small grin.

"Oi!" Charlie caught his younger brother's attention from across the room. "We only scar people we don't like, Perce."

The room exploded with laughter as this was mostly true.

Once the laughter died down, Percy told Audrey that he would be back in a minute then headed into the kitchen.

Sensing her son's appearance, Molly said, "Well, it sounds like everyone is having a good time. It hasn't felt like this for quite some time now. It's a pleasant change…Hopefully, it will stay this way," she added under her breath, but Percy still heard.

Putting two and two together, he decided not to beat around the bush, but to still be gentle. "Have you and Dad had an argument?"

Molly glanced at Percy before answering. "No. Why would you ask such a thing." She wasn't lying. It was had only been an outburst from Arthur earlier, not an argument.

"I just - you know - checking how things are. What with everything that has happened recently," Percy stumbled over his words. He didn't want to tell her how his dad greeted the initial knock at the door. "Well, anyway…Is he ill?"

Molly stopped in her tracks. The seriousness of the way her son asked concerned and confused her.

"What do you mean?"

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "You haven't noticed anything? He was still in his house robe when I went up there, and he looked exhausted."

"He shouldn't be tired at all. He slept all day," Molly informed her bewildered son.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." Percy shrugged. "I need to get back in there. He'll be down any minute."

"Let them know supper will be ready in about five minutes, dear."

"Yes, ma'am."

Just as Percy announced that supper would be ready soon, Arthur entered the room. His appearance was completely different than upstairs; his hair was fixed, he wore his usual casual attire, and he didn't look tired at all.

This abrupt change took Percy by surprise. "Uh – Er – Oh, Dad, this is Audrey."

Audrey stood up and faced Arthur, extending her hand in the process. A broad smile spread across Arthur's face as he shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Audrey. Hopefully this brood hasn't startled you too badly."

"No, sir, they haven't. I actually like the big family feel. I'm an only child, so it's a good change."

"Well, I'm glad." Then he turned to Percy. "Close your mouth, Son."

Percy snapped his mouth shut and a light blush crept up his cheeks. "Sorry," he mumbled. He hadn't realized his mouth was slightly agape. He was too busy trying to figure out what was going on with his dad.

At that time, Molly appeared in the doorway.

"Supper is ready," she said with a smile.

Before taking his seat, Arthur bent down and placed a chaste kiss on his wife's cheek. All through the evening it was like he was his old self. The only people who were confused were Molly and Percy because they had seen how he was acting earlier in the day. Everyone else, aside from Audrey, thought things were returning to normal.

Hours quickly passed. Percy and Audrey said their good-byes and thanked Molly for the meal. The others began getting ready for bed and, soon after, disappeared into their various bedrooms.

Once he and Molly were alone, Arthur let down his façade. It had been exhausting acting like nothing was amiss. This may have been a relief to Arthur, but for Molly it caused her emotional pain to return. She hated seeing him like this, and she hated the way he treated her whenever he was in one of his moods.

Molly decided to confront him again once they were in bed.

"Arthur…What is going on?" She braced herself for her husband's temper…It never came.

Arthur let out a heavy sigh. He had no energy to have an angry outburst. Instead, he mumbled something about not wanting to talk about it and that he was too tired to anyway.

"Fine then." It was clear that he was worn out. "You have to promise me that we will talk about it tomorrow," Molly said sternly. She wasn't going to let this pass. She would do everything in her power not to let him throw his last chance away.

Her husband was already half asleep, but he heard her. "Sure, sure. Tomorrow," he mumbled.

Satisfied, Molly was able to fall asleep slightly less concerned. He was finally going to open up.