Punches Are Thrown

Dinner was not as boisterous an affair as usual. Everyone had to watch what they said to avoid setting off tempers or upsetting Molly. They attempted light conversation in order to have a somewhat normal dinner.

Everyone was finishing desert when a pop of apparition filled the quiet house. As one they all looked out the window to see Arthur pulling the garden gate together behind him.

Charlie was the first outside. The sight of his father brought his temper back in full force. Bill, Ron, and Ginny were close behind him; Bill out of concern that Charlie would do something rash, and Ron, like Charlie, out of anger towards his father. Ginny had taken into account what Bill and Ron had said earlier and was now leaning more toward their point of view on the situation.

Charlie pulled out his wand as he approached his father. "How dare you? I swear if you don't leave right now…" Charlie snarled.

Ron and Ginny outran Bill and reached their father seconds after Charlie had. Ron had his wand aimed at his father, also. Even though she was only sixteen, Ginny drew her wand but didn't aim it; she would use magic if she felt it necessary - It's not like she would be expelled for underage magic after fighting in a major battle against Voldemort, right?

Bill thought it best to hang back a few feet to see what would pan out. He was half hoping one of his siblings would hit their dad with a hex, but he promised himself he would step in before things got too heated. Molly and George were the last out of the house. They both decided to hang back with Bill. Harry, Hermione, and Fleur stayed in the house.

With three wands pointing at him Arthur backed up against the gate, dropping his bag and holding his hands up in surrender.

"Kids, please just put your wands away."

"Why don't you make us?" Ron threatened.

"I'm not going to raise my wand against my own children," Arthur said indignantly.

"So you'll raise your hand against your wife but won't' raise your wand against your kids?" Charlie said.

"Well, actually, I don't think he meant to," George chimed in.

"Just tell us why you're here," Bill said. "None of us want to see you,"

"I'm just here to talk to your mother," Arthur said calmly, lowering his hands and relaxing a little.

"I don't believe this! You think you can do what you did, go out to a pub for a few hours, and expect us to let you talk to her? You're even more drunk now than you were!" Charlie accused.

"Okay. I'm not going to deny that, but I'm not drunk right now," Arthur defended himself.

""Don't lie! I saw you! You were drinking firewhiskey like it was water."

"Hagrid talked some sense into me and I took a Sober Up potion before coming here. I'm thinking clearly now –"

"- But you didn't even care that you hurt Mum -" Arthur's face paled at the sound of these words; sure everything was a bit fuzzy, but he didn't think he had actually hurt her. "- All you could think about was getting hammered."

"No, I – what," Arthur's voice was faint. He looked over Ginny's head at Molly. "M-Molly, I - I – but – I actually hurt you?"

Molly nodded slightly, tears glistening in her eyes. This was all very upsetting, hearing what Charlie had just said, remembering what happened earlier that day, seeing how distressed Arthur was.

"If you can't even remember what you did then you really better leave," Ginny said.

Arthur didn't take his eyes off Molly. "No, I remember what I did. I just didn't think I actually hurt you. I didn't mean to, honestly. Molly, I'm sorry. I know I've been saying that a lot lately, but you have to believe me, I really am sorry." His voice grew thicker the more he spoke.

"That's what scares me, Arthur. I know you don't mean to, but you keep doing this and you keep apologizing and it keeps getting worse. You are always either drunk, or angry, or both. That seems to be the only emotion you ever show anymore…You're not the man I married." Molly took a deep breath. "This can't keep happening. I can't keep doing this, Arthur." Molly couldn't look at him a minute longer. She turned and headed back to the house.

Arthur swallowed hard. "Molly. Molly," he called after his wife, but she didn't stop. "I want to fix this, for good! I don't want to do this anymore either. Help me change, Molly, please. I don't want to throw away thirty years over this."

Molly disappeared into the house. She couldn't help thinking about what Arthur said. Did he really want to fix things? Did he really want to change? Should she trust him? He had already blown several chances she had given him.

"Molly! Please!"

He tried shoving past his kids, but before he could get past them, something hard collided with his abdomen. He fell backward onto the ground, clutching his stomach. He had just enough time to see George pull Ron back before his second oldest son lunged at him.

"Can you not leave her alone?" he growled.

Arthur tried shielding himself from his son's fists.

"Stop. Get – off!"

Finally, Bill and Ginny were able to wrestle Charlie off their Dad. George was still holding on to Ron.

Bill turned to his brothers. "What the hell was that?!"

"He deserves it!" Charlie panted.

"Yeah. He better be glad I only got to hit him once. He'd be a lot worse if George hadn't grabbed me," Ron said as he yanked his arm free from his brother's grasp.

"Whether you think he deserves it or not, you don't go through with it!" Bill scolded them.

"He's lucky I didn't use my wand. He'd probably be in Mungo's by now," Charlie said under his breath.

"Just go inside. Now," Bill barked.

Ron and Charlie did as they were told with one last glowering look at their father.

Bill, George, and Ginny turned back to their dad. He was leaning on an elbow and gingerly touched side of his face with his other hand. Blood trickled down from his temple, his lip was busted, and his nose was broken. The few punches Charlie got in did quite a bit of damage, not to mention his gut still hurt from Ron's hit.

George walked over to give his dad a hand up.

"Thank you, Son," Arthur grunted as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"You're welcome, Dad."

As Arthur turned to his eldest, he saw Molly through the kitchen window and they held each other's gaze for a few seconds,

"Bill, please let me talk to her. I really do want to fix this."

"I find that hard to believe. Besides, I don't think that's a very good idea, what with Ron and Charlie, and I'm with them on this. I don't think Mum wants to talk to you right now either."

"But – Bill, you don't understand how important this is to me."

"Important like all the other times you apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again?" Ginny scoffed.

"No, I really mean it this time. I've never actually hurt her before. It's never gone this far – it shouldn't have gone this far."

"No, sorry, but no. It did go this far, and if you come round again, I won't stop them. Now, I suggest you leave… and don't come back."

"At least tell me how bad I hurt her. I know I didn't hit her."

"You left a bruise where you grabbed her wrist and you scared her pretty bad." Bill started for the house before pausing and turning around. "Oh, and she cried in her room for an hour, too." He wanted to make his dad feel as bad as possible.

Arthur began pacing, running his fingers through his hair.

"Merlin, how could I do this?" he muttered. "I love her, and I hurt her. This is so screwed up and it's all because of me!" Arthur kicked the garden gate. "I'm not even able to fix it!"

"Dad."

Arthur gave a start at the sound of his son's voice; he forgot George and Ginny were still with him/

"It'll be okay. I know you didn't mean to. Look, I'll help you, but probably shouldn't try tonight, you know, tempers."

"Thanks, George, but you didn't even see what happened. How do you know I didn't mean to. I'm not even sure if I would've stopped," Arthur added quietly.

"They told me what happened, and I know you'd never hurt Mum on purpose. You should know that, too. There's no reason for you to question it. Besides, you love her too much."

"Right, you're right." Arthur nodded and blew out a deep breath.

"Here, Dad, let me fix your nose," Ginny said.

Arthur faced his only daughter, trusting that she wouldn't mess his nose up worse.. She pointed her wand at his nose and said, "Episkey".He rubbed his nose after it fixed itself.

"I thought you were mad at me too?" Arthur asked Ginny, confused.

"Well, I am, kind of. I'm on the line between the two…You promise this will never happen again, unlike all the other times you said it wouldn't?"

"Yes," Arthur answered honestly.

"You really want to fix things?"

"Yes."

"Not gonna drink anymore?"

"No, I'm not."

"Gonna get your temper in check?"

"I'll do my best."

"You're being completely honest?"

"Yes, I promise. Completely honest."

"Alright, I'll help you too." She looked at George, "We'll have to be careful not to set anyone off, though."

George nodded.

"Thank you so much, both of you. Well, I see Bill and Charlie looking out the window now. I guess I need to go." Arthur picked up his bag and opened the gate.

"Wait, where are you staying?" George asked.

"I don't know. Hogsmeade is full up. I guess I'll check the Leaky Cauldron."

"Okay. Just be careful."

Ginny nodded in agreement. It was mostly safe, but there were still dark wizards loose.

"I will. Love you, guys."

"Love you," they responded in unison.

Arthur turned and disapparated into the cool night air.