His only option now, was for him to try and hide Molly somehow. His first thought was the balcony, (which to muggle eyes just looked like scaffolding from the outside) but realised that probably wouldn't be a good idea, as he had been told there was someone watching the windows.
Then another idea occurred to him
"Maybe she would fit in one of the wardrobes!"
It wouldn't be easy as they were already stuffed full of clothes, but it seemed his only option.
He walked over to the bed and as he looked down at Molly, it struck him how lovely she looked. She was almost asleep, head slightly on one side, smiling gently, her hands slowly stroking up and down her body. He was momentarily distracted from the task in hand, but quickly snapped out of this reverie, when he heard Arthur's impatient voice coming from the other side of the door.
"Get a move on will you! I haven't got all night! I'm already late home and Molly's going to be mad enough as it is without me turning up at gone midnight!"
The mention of Molly's name made Gilderoys stomach, tighten even more and panic started to set in. He hurriedly picked up her inebriate form and carried her rather awkwardly in his arms to the least fullest wardrobe, but on getting there, it dawned on him that it was probably the first place they were going to look.
"Damn! You stupid idiot!" he cursed himself quietly "of course!"
He began looking desperately around for somewhere a little less obvious, when his eyes alighted on the canopy over the four-poster bed. It was made from thick red velvet and looked like it could possibly be strong enough to hold Molly's weight.
He climbed on to the bed, still holding Molly and using every bit of strength he had left, managed to lift her, huffing and puffing, on to the top of the dusty canopy. Molly seemed to think that this was some sort of game and began to giggle drowsily. Gilderoy frantically begged her to be quiet and in the end gave in and told her that it was a game they were playing and part of it was that, she had to stay where she was, lie absolutely still and not make a sound until he told her otherwise. He explained that someone was going to come into the room in a few moments and that she had to pretend she wasn't there. He finishedwith a finger to his lips, smiling reassuringly. She mimicked him clumsily, then clamped a hand on top of her mouth to stop herself laughing again. When she at last lay back quietly, Gilderoy breathed a sigh of relief and hoped against hope that she wouldn't be discovered. He stepped down off the bed and on doing so, quickly spotted her clothes strewn all over the floor, he gathered them up and slung them on top of the canopy too, making Molly whoop with surprise.
"LOCKHART! I'm not waiting any longer, I'm coming in no matter what!" Arthur suddenly yelled angrily through the door, making Gilderoy almost jump out of his skin.
Gilderoyran to the door, but before he could open it, it came crashing off its hinges and fell to the floor with a thud in front of him, making him have to jump quickly out of the way.
Arthur then stalked in to the room, with a face like thunder, closely by followed by Professor Snape who was looking around with great interest.
"Where is she then? This fool of a woman who decided to waste an evening on you?" Arthur snapped
"Erm.. she left.." came Gilderoy's rather hurried reply
"How? You can't apparate inside this building! There's no fireplace in here and the window is still bolted shut!" snapped Arthur incredulously, indicating towards the window with his head. "Plus, if anyone had left it would have been reported to me immediately by the man we have posted outside!" he finished, indicating the window again, then stood there with his eyebrows raised, waiting for a reply.
"Erm, she's got an invisiblity cloak and she ..she flew away on her broom.. then she locked the windowwhen she left.." Gilderoy stuttered, trying desperately to sound casual and nonchalant - and a lot more confident than he felt. His stomach was knotting up more and more every minute and he'd now started to feel quite light-headed; he desperately wanted this to be over with – the tension was killing him.
Arthur still looked unconvinced, even though this excuse sounded fairly plausible. He narrowed his eyes at Gilderoy
"You're hiding something Lockhart, I know you are!And believe me, whatever it is I'll find it, have no doubts about that!" Arthur stated contemptuously, pointing his wand threateningly,before resuming his search.
Gilderoy tried to look unworried and wastrying to hidehis panic, by taking deep breaths and rythmically rocking back and forth on his heels. As he was standing there he happeneda glance at Snape who was still standing in the doorway. Snape was looking in the direction of the bed, smirking knowingly and when he caught Gilderoys eye, the smirk turned into a grin and hebegan slowlylifting his wand. Gilderoy's breath caught in his throat, as he saw Snape point his wand at the bed and begin chanting a spell under his breath.
What the hell is he doing? Thought Gilderoy in dismay, He knows doesn't he? He bloody well knows! Shit! What the hell is he going to do? He began to look quickly from Arthur to the bed, but at that precise moment Arthur had his back turned, too busy searching the wardrobes to notice anything.
Ever since Arthur and Snape had been in the room, the top of the bed had been creaking and groaning with the strain of the extra weight andGilderoy could only look on helplessly, when he guessed just what the dark potions master was going to do - he was going to weave a spell to help the speed up the inevitable.
When he'd finished chanting his spell, Snape waved his wand, almost lazily, at each corner of the bed frame. Gilderoy watched in fascinated horror, as the fabric tied to each post began to unravel, leaving only shreds and after only a few moments, there was a sickening tearing noise, which signalled the weakened fabric was about to give way. The canopy gave one last rip, before letting its squealing occupant drop onto the bed, amidst a cloud of dust. Molly sat up coughing and wafting at her face for a while, then began to laugh uncontrollably at her predicament, which to her at least seemed hilarious.
On hearing the noise, Arthur at last turned away from his intense search of the wardrobes, tolook in the direction of the bed.
Gilderoy looked on at the scene, his face frozen in an expression of absolute dread for what was bound to come. He watched as Arthur walked over to the bed, who's face for the moment, was only a mixture of curiosity and concern.
Gilderoy had begun thinking that now, was a good time to try and make a run for it and forced his rather unwilling legs to start moving. But just as he got to the doorway, an impenetrable wall of black, in the shape of Professor Snape, prevented him from going any further and he backed away, defeated.
When the dust eventually settled and Arthur could see clearly whom it was sitting on the bed -at first, his expression changed from curiosity, to one of complete and utter disbelief. He was unable to speak momentarily and could only mouth Molly's name silently, under his breath. Then his expression changed yet again, when the reasons for Molly's present state suddenly became clear to him.
His hands balling up into fists, Arthur stalked towards the now cowering Gilderoy, who grinned apologetically, hoping desperately for leniency.
"You! You...BASTARD!" Arthur screamed, launching himself upon his unfortunate victim with well-aimed punch, knocking Gilderoy to the ground.
"I..I..I..can explain! It was all her idea! I swear!" Gilderoy stuttered "she came over to me tonight and told me you weren't going to be in and thatshe wanted to have a bit of fun. She bought that funny wine with her, she must have thought it was going to make me more susceptible to her charms and I hate to admit it, but it worked!" Gilderoy lied, sounding quite convincing, but Arthur didn't fall for it
"LIAR!" he snarled, "Molly isn't like that! She would never do that to me!"
"Well..she did! Maybe you don't know her as well as you think!" Gilderoyboldly retorted back, but still holding his hands protectively in front of his face
"I've known her half my life, you slimy piece of flobberworm crap! I know her better than I know my self!" came Arthurs incredulous reply
"Then how come you didn't know how unhappy she was!" Gilderoy sneered, making Arthur back off a little, confused.
Heartened by this small victory, Gilderoy continued. "yes and it was me who she came to for comfort! You were far too busy with your new job to notice weren't you? I mean with you ignoring her, it was only natural that she would fall for my charms.." Gilderoy continued rather arrogantly (and stupidly) "after all, most women do!"
Arhtur was just about to launch into another attack when Snape intervened.
"Far be it from me to interfere in your marital affairs Arthur, but I do believe he is lying - about tonight at least" he stated casually, stepping forward, " I followed him earlier ( indicating Gilderoy) and according to the doorman downstairs, the lady who arrived with him, looked very nervous and unsure of herself. Which certainly does not sound like a woman set upon seduction, whereas he said Lockhart looked very pleased with himself"
Arthur turned back to Gilderoy, after listening intently to Snape and waited forhis now decidedly dejected looking opponent to speak.
"You were following me tonight? I thought you were only following me when I was buying potions!" Gilderoy bemoaned sulkily. Then he looked down, shaking his head and sighing heavily
"Oh this one was just for fun – following people is a little hobby of mine, I like catching people out doing things they shouldn't be. I only do it of course because of the great satisfaction it gives me, to do such good work.." Snape replied, snidely, a slight smile catching at the corners of his mouth.
Arthurhad beenshaking his head at Snape, then spoke with rebuke
"No wonder you were so keen to join me, searching this flat, after you told me about him" he snapped, indicating Lockhart with his head, "it was because you knew that he was here with Molly and you couldn't bear to miss out on the fireworks could you? You were probably really looking forward to it, weren't you? You're sick Severus Snape, really sick! And I thought you came to me with your information first, because you just wanted me to know the truth about the man my wife is in business with, but you justwanted to gloat at someone else'smisfortune didn't you?"
Snape shrugged, appearing unmoved by this tirade. Then he raised his eyebrows questioningly, "would you rather it had been you, or someone else that discovered her like that?" he asked,looking over to a still giggling and very naked Molly
While Arthur and Snape were talking, Gilderoy got to his feet, thinking he might have got off lightly - but he was soon to be disappointed - thanks to him opening his big mouth..
"Arthur, look ..I'm sorry about all this" he began, in a friendly tone, with a now, genuine regret, "I mean, I suppose I must take some of the blame.. I mean.. I suppose I was flattered by her attention. Ha! So you can't blame me for..." but Gilderoy didn't get a chance to finish what he was about to say, because a well-aimed blow to the nose, from Arthur, prevented him from doing so. The force behind it was such that it knocked the unfortunate man to the floor and he slipped dazedly into unconsciousness.
After hitting Gilderoy, Arthur immediately turned his attention back to Molly, who had by now got to her feet and was enjoying her self immensely, jumping up and down on the bed, laughing with rapturous delight.
"Molly! Molly! Stop!" Arthur shouted desperately, rushing over. He whipped off his cloak, leaping on her with it, to cover her up as quickly as possible.
Once she was covered, he turned around and gave Snape a reproachful look
"You could have averted your eyes, you pervert! Have you no shred of decency in you!"
Snape merely raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips slightly before answering
"I assure you Arthur, that I haven't the slightest interest in your wife in that direction" he announced haughtily, but nevertheless, looked away in the other direction
"It didn't stop you looking though did it?" Arthur retorted back angrily, "now, could you leave us alone, I want to talk to my wife in private and you can take that with you as well if you wouldn't mind" he finished, indicating the unconscious man on the floor.
Snape dutifully levitated the sleeping Gilderoy and guided him rather haphazardly through the doorway, unconcernedly banging his head on the frame on the way.
Once Snape was out of the room and the door closed, Arthur turned back tothe now dazed and confused looking Molly. He reached into his pocket, brought out a small box and opened it. Inside were several vials of different coloured liquids, he slid one out and undid the stopper.
"Here take this.." Arthur said quietly, putting the vial to her lips, "it's only expergo, It'll help to wake you up"
Molly offered little resistance and drank some of the liquid down. After a few moments she looked as if she coming to and began moaning gently, holding her head as if in pain
"Molly? Molly? Are you alright?" Arthur urged, putting his own hand on top of hers.
"Arthur?" she replied, at last, looking up and squinting "What happened? Did I fall asleep? Oh! I've had such a vivid dream, I daren't tell you what it was about though.." she smiled, blushing.
"It wasn't a dream Molly.." Arthur said, looking down sadly