Everything happened so fast. He wrenched his hand out of her grasp, grabbing her wrist in the process, and raised his free hand as he spun around, fire burning in his eyes. Bill, Ron, and Ginny immediately took off to the spot where this scene was unraveling.

Arthur's demeanor immediately changed and his expression softened when he saw the hurt and frightened look on Molly's face, realization of what he had almost done sinking in. He let go of her wrist and dropped his other hand as this sunk in. What happened? Why did he grab her wrist? How could he raise a hand against her? Arthur would never hurt his Molly.

"Molly, I – I –" Arthur stammered, but he couldn't find a way to explain himself; how could he?

As Arthur was trying to put his words together, all three kids came to a halt beside their parents; Ginny stopping next to her Mum, Ron next to his Dad, and Bill between his siblings. All three of them were furious at their father. Arthur looked at his three children with a shameful expression while Molly couldn't take her eyes off her husband

"Maybe we wouldbe better off if you left, Dad." Ron spat out his father's name.

Arthur looked between his three kids before turning back to his wife. "Mollywob-" he began before she cut him off.

"Don't call me that." She took a deep breath. "Ron's right. Maybe it would be better off without you. Even you said that, and you were leaving just now anyway."

"You know I would never do that to you."

"I'm not so sure what you would or would not do anymore."

"But -" He reached for her hand, but before he could do so, Bill stepped in the way.

"You heard her. Get your stuff and leave." Arthur didn't move. Was his family actually telling him to leave his house? He couldn't believe it. "Now." Bill pointed to the house.

This time Arthur did as his eldest son commanded. He made his way to the house and upstairs to his and Molly's bedroom.

He closed the door and began pacing, running his fingers through his thinning hair. How could he let things get so out of hand? How could he do that to his Mollywobbles? They really are kicking him out. Well, Molly was right. He was going to leave of his own accord…but would he have stayed away?

Arthur got so frustrated and upset he couldn't hold it in any longer he screamed and punched the wall. Leaving his hand in the hole it had made, he rested his head against the wall and let the tears overcome him. He had held everything in for so long that it finally spilled over.

He wasn't able to get ahold of himself for quite some time. When he had finally calmed down, he dug a bag out from the back of the closet and shoved some of his clothes in – not all of them but enough for a week just in case. He wasn't sure how long this would take to blow over…or even if it would blow over. God, he hoped he hadn't messed up so bad that he wouldn't be able to come back. They had never had a fight like this. He had never gotten that angry before. Molly and the kids had never gotten that angry with him…..Molly had never told him to leave before.

He went into the bathroom and put his toiletries into the bag, and made his way to the stairs. As he walked down the steps, he heard someone say, "Dad?"

It was George.

He had come out of his room because he had heard his father's upset and angry outburst. "Dad, where are you going? What's wrong?"

Arthur didn't answer, but kept walking. How could he tell George, of all his kids, what happened – what he did – what he almost did? George was already been through enough. He heard his son's footsteps behind him, but continued to the door, avoiding eye contact with Harry, Hermione, and Fleur in the kitchen.

When Arthur exited the house, he looked over at his wife and three of their kids. He could tell his kids were still infuriated, so he gave them a wide berth.

Arthur came to an abrupt halt. He had caught Molly's eye. He could still see the hurt, scared look in her eyes and tears were still streaming down her face. He still couldn't understand how he could hurt his Mollywobbles so badly?

Molly could tell Arthur had been crying too. His eyes were red and puffy and his face was red. Whether his face was red because of that or his anger, she did not know…perhaps both? She couldn't help questioning if she had made the right decision by making him leave. Would they be able to patch things up? How long should she make him stay away? Would he even come back? He was already going to leave, and she and the kids had made it clear that they didn't want him there.

Their gaze was broken after a few seconds when Ron, Bill, and Ginny noticed their father had stopped walking and hadn't disapparated yet.

"Oi! What'd she say?" Ron pulled out his wand while taking a few steps toward his father.

With one last longing look at his wife, Arthur turned and disapparated with no clue as to where he would go.

ooOoo

George followed his dad down the stairs, but when he reached the bottom, the door had already slammed shut.

He then turned to the three people sitting in the kitchen – Harry, Hermione, and Fleur – with a silent question

All Harry said was, "Just go outside." None of them were going to get in the middle of this. Sure, they would have their own opinions, but they would publicly have to side with their significant other.

As George stepped outside, he saw his mum with Bill and Ginny halfway between the house and the shed, and Ron was a few feet away from them, putting his wand away, as their dad disapparated.

George approached his mother and siblings. As he got closer, he saw that his mother was crying, and heard the end of their conversation.

"No, Bill, I'm fine. It was my fault anyway. I shouldn't have bothered him," Molly told her eldest with a strained voice and tears still running down her face.

"Mum, you're not fine and none of this is your fault. Besides, that's what you two were fighting about, except he was the one saying he was fine," Bill responded.

"I just need to be alone for a bit."

Ginny stopped her mother from walking away. "Mum, that's exactly what started this. That – that jackass just wanted to be alone and it snowballed into this mess."

Molly gave her kids a questioning look.

"We saw the whole thing…and just about heard all of it too," Ron said.

"There's no telling what would have happened if we hadn't stepped in," Bill stated.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" George finally spoke up. Who were they talking about? Who was going to hit his mum? Surely it wasn't his dad.

Everyone gave a start and exchanged nervous glances before turning to George. They hadn't noticed him standing a few feet away.

"Umm – w-when did you get out here? Why are you out here? I mean – you never leave your room nowadays." Bill stammered. George had been through enough. He didn't need to know what had happened. But how could they hide it from him?

Molly took this distraction to sneak into the house unnoticed.

"Tell me what happened first."

"Mum and Dad had a fight." There, that should be sufficient enough. Maybe he didn't have to tell George everything.

"So? They've been arguing a lot lately."

"This was different." Ginny cut in.

"How could it be different? They've been arguing about the same thing for two weeks."

"It was still about him always being in the shed, but this one was bigger. This one wasn't an argument; it was a fight. We heard them yelling from in the house." Bill decided his brother would find out the whole story one way or another, thought he wouldn't tell him how their father blamed the family for his problems.

"I've never seen Dad that angry, and I've only seen Mum that angry a handful of times." Ginny had mixed feelings about her father. She was angry with him, but she still loved him. This was the man who raised her, yet…it wasn't.

"Oh. Well, where did Dad go? He wouldn't just leave." So this was the biggest fight his parents had ever had, but George didn't believe his father would just walk out, especially after how upset he seemed.

"Who cares where the bastard went?" Ron said under his breath. He didn't care if this was the man who raised him. He didn't act like it anymore. Besides, no matter who it was, he wouldn't let them hurt his Mum.

"I care and, apparently, you three still haven't told me everything."

"Honestly, we don't know where he went and I don't care either." Bill took a deep breath. "Mum told him to leave and he said he was going to leave before that anyway."

"Why would Mum ask him to leave? I mean – I get that they had a fight, but still."

"The S.O.B was going to hit Mum, that's why!" Ron couldn't hold back his anger any longer.

"Dad," George put an emphasis on the word to correct hi younger brother. He didn't care what they claimed his dad did, he still wanted to show him respect, "would never hurt Mum. That's not him and he loves her too much."

"You weren't out here. You didn't see what happened. You didn't see what he almost did!" Ron's temper kept rising.

"Almost, Ron. Almost." George kept his composure. "He didn't hit her -"

"- Only because Bill stepped in the way. He was drunk, George. His hand was raised. You don't know what happened because you keep yourself locked in your room!"

"RON! Stop!" Bill knew how his youngest brother's temper was. He knew Ron would say something he would later regret.

"Well, I don't believe you. He's never hit her before. He's always directed it at a wall or something else…I'll be in my room – where I always am." With that George turned and started for the house. He really didn't believe his siblings.

"George, wait." Ginny ran to catch up with her brother.

George turned around. "What?"

"Why did you come out of your room? I'm not complaining. I'm glad you came out, but I'm curious as to why?"

"I heard Dad in their room. I wanted to find out what was wrong."

"What do you mean 'heard him'? How did you know who it was?" Ginny asked.

"How could I not hear him?" George looked somber and continued quietly. "He hasn't cried like that since right after he found out about Fred."

Ginny didn't say anything, but adopted George's somber expression.

At that time, Bill had gotten Ron to calm down and they approached George and Ginny.

"I'm sorry, George. I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just angry." Ron apologized.

George nodded, took a steadying breath and continued to answer Ginny's question. "Anyway, I didn't figure Mum could hit the wall that hard."

"That just proves he was going to hit Mum."

George went into the house without another word. He wasn't getting into another argument.

"Ron, don't be thick. If he actually was going to hit her, he wouldn't have been so upset afterward." Ginny retorted.

"That, or he was mad that we were kicking his arse out."

"Didn't you see how ashamed he was, Ron?" Ginny asked.

"He was ashamed because we caught him!"

"He was ashamed because he realized he had almost done something terrible!" Ginny's temper was rising now too.

"He wouldn't have stopped and realized it if we hadn't shown up! He's changed, Ginny! You need to understand that!"

Ginny couldn't think of a comeback. She couldn't disagree with Ron's statement. She wasn't even sure her father would have stopped if they hadn't shown up, and he had changed a great deal.

"I agree with Ron, Ginny. There's no way of knowing what would have happened, but that's not the man who raised us." Bill settled the matter.

Ginny wasn't sure what to believe now. She was torn; she wanted to believe that her father wouldn't have hit her mum, but it looked like he was going to and there had been other close calls during her parents' smaller arguments recently.

"I'll go start dinner." Ginny went into the house, followed by her brothers.

ooOoo

When Molly entered the house, she kept her head down to avoid making eye contact with anyone as she headed for her bedroom,

She closed the door behind her, her fingers brushing against the busted sheetrock where Arthur punched the wall. She examined it closely. Not only was the sheetrock busted, but it was also quite bloody. Some blood had even dripped down the untouched wall below the hole.

Would Arthur really have hit her if their kids hadn't intervened? No, she saw the look on his face; he wouldn't purposely hurt her. Did asking him to leave set him off? Or could he not hold his emotions in any longer? And why did it look like he left his hand in the hole for a few minutes?

She heard her kids yelling outside, but she couldn't referee right now. Anyway, Bill could handle it.

Molly turned to the room. The closet door was standing open and some clothes had been dropped on the floor. Half of the closet was a mess, actually – Arthur's half. She could see he had left some of his clothes. Was he planning on coming back or could he not fit those in his bag? Maybe he left those for her to remember him by?

The fight and trying to determine what all this meant was too overwhelming. Molly slid down the wall and sobbed. Even though tears had escaped while she was outside, she wasn't able to let it all out.

After half an hour, Molly got up and went into the bathroom to get a cool rag to wipe her face off with. When she thought she didn't look like she had cried for the past hour, she went downstairs to start dinner. She hadn't realized how late it was – it was nearly 6:30.

She saw Bill, Ron, and Harry in the sitting room when she reached the bottom of the stairs. She figured George was in his room again, and it was always 6:45 when Charlie got home. The girls were no where to be seen.

The three boys looked up at her.

"Mum," Bill started as he stood up, closely followed by Ron.

Molly cut him off, "I'm fine now." She tried to smile, but ultimately failed.

"Okay," Bill said even though he didn't believe her. "Ginny, Fleur, and Hermione are working on dinner."

"Oh, now I just feel terrible, making them fix supper. I should have paid attention to the time." Molly hurried off to the kitchen to help.

Bill and Ron sat down. Their mother always tried looking on the bright side and tried convincing them that she was fine even when it was clear she wasn't.

A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for reading, reviewing, and favoriting. I hope y'all liked this chapter.

Next up, we're going to see where Arthur disapparated to. There will be a surprise character, too.

Also, do y'all like longer chapters (2,500 - 3,000 words) or shorter ones (1,000 - 1,500 words)? Let me know about that please.