Seperation
The three youngest Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione finished at the joke shop and headed to the Leaky Cauldron in order to use the Floo Network.
"For fuck's sake," Ron grumbled as the group entered the pub.
"What?" his companions asked.
"Dad's passed out at the bar," Ron pointed out. Sure enough, Arthur was unconscious at the end of the wooden counter.
"Should we take him home?" Ginny asked.
George glanced at his watch: eight-thirty. "I s'pose so. Ron, will you give me a hand?" he asked.
"Absolutely not. I say we leave him and if we're lucky, he won't find his way back."
"Ronald! Show him some respect. He is your father after all," Hermione chided.
"Not that piece of shit. I'll see you guys at home." Ron stepped into the fireplace and disappeared.
"I'd better go talk to him," Hermione said before following her boyfriend.
George looked to Harry then, about to ask the same question, but Harry nodded before the words left George's lips.
The trio made their way to the bar. After asking the bartender how much his dad owed, George paid off his tab. The two boys placed either of Arthur's arms around their shoulders and carried him to the fireplace.
As soon as they stumbled out of the fireplace in the kitchen of the Burrow, Arthur had regained consciousness in just enough time to find a trashcan. No doubt, the spinning sensation of Floo travel caused him to be more nauseated than he already was.
It seemed as though Ron had immediately began insulting his dad when he stepped into the kitchen a few minutes before, because Hermione was having it out with him, and Charlie was comforting his mum. While Arthur was busy retching, Ginny joined Hermione in berating her brother, George sat by his mum and Charlie, and Harry stood awkwardly by the fireplace.
Harry was startled as the fireplace roared to life next to him, and Bill stepped out of the green flames. He and Fleur had forgotten a box that morning and he had come to pick it up, so he was not expecting the mixture of shouting, sobbing, and vomiting that met his ears.
"Hey!" Bill shouted, gaining everyone's attention except Arthur's who was still bent over the trashcan. "I'm not even gone for one day and all hell breaks loose?" He let out a deep breath as he ran a hand through his long hair. "Does anyone want to explain?
This was the wrong question to ask, because the house exploded with noise again
"Shut it!" Bill commanded, causing the house to grow silent again. He knew how to control his siblings; he had watched his mother his entire life after all.
Finally, Arthur was able to stand without a wave of nausea overcoming him. He braced himself on the counter.
""You want an explanation?" he slurred. "She's a lying, cheating bitch!"
"And you're a good-for-nothing drunk!" Ron countered.
"Ron, go to your room if you can't hold your tongue," Bill commanded.
"Fine. I don't want to be in the same room as him anyway," the youngest Weasley male griped as he stamped out of the kitchen and up to his room.
"I come home to my wife alone with another man," Arthur continued. He then turned to his wife. "Speaking of which, did you enjoy the rest of your evening? I know I certainly did," he sneered before returning his head promptly to the trashcan.
When Arthur stood back up, Molly replied. "I told you that's not how it was, and I tried telling you why he was here, but you were adamant that it was exactly how it looked and didn't give me a chance to explain."
"Of course, I'm supposed to listen to and believe the story the two of you made up in order to cover your arse. I'm sorry I'm not a gullible idiot like you think I am," Arthur interrupted.
"Mum is telling the truth," Charlie cut in. "I met Conner when I got home. He was consoling Mum because you shoved her to the ground." Charlie crossed the room and put his face an inch from his father's. "The only reason he was here was to help you get your shit together. He wanted to make sure you didn't make the same mistakes he did that caused his marriage to end. Because he knows what you're going through; he went through the exact same thing four years ago. But, no, you were being too much of a knob to realize that." He went to sit back down before rounding on his dad again. "You know what? If this doesn't work out, I hope Mum does end up with Conner, because, from the ten minutes I talked to him, I know he would make a much better husband than you." Satisfied, Charlie returned to his Mum.
Arthur felt thoroughly admonished and humiliated. He had been too quick to judge, and now he would have to pay the price.
"Kids, will you give us a minute?" he asked quietly.
No one moved. None of them trusted him to be alone with their mum, especially after the past several days and with how intoxicated he currently was.
"Kids, it's fine," Molly assured.
Still, no one budged.
"Would you feel better if Bill stayed in here?" she asked.
At this suggestion, everyone mumbled their agreement and departed.
Arthur carefully made his way to a seat at the table. It was amazing he was able to cross the room with stumbling or tripping.
After a moment, he spoke quietly. "This was my last chance, wasn't it?"
Molly nodded.
"And I've mucked it up?"
She didn't answer this, but replied with a question. "Why are you acting like this?"
Arthur thought for a moment before answering honestly. "I don't...know."
"Fine, Arthur, don't tell me. Continue messing things up then there will be nothing left to ruin." Molly stood and began making her way to the kitchen door.
"Molly." Arthur attempted to stand but quickly realized that he couldn't. "Molly, I'm telling you through truth. That's what I was going to say earlier…Trust me," he pleaded.
She turned to face her husband. "Well, I don't trust you, and I no longer believe a word that comes out of your mouth. You never mean anything you say." Without another word, Molly went upstairs for a much needed bath.
As she sat in the warm bubble-filled water, she could only think about what she should do. She had thought that everything that had occurred after the whole fight in the shed would straighten him out, but he was worse now than he was then. He was uncontrollable and unpredictable. What could she do that would put him back on the right path? She wasn't ready to give up on him yet. After a long while, she thought of something that might work…
Make him realize what he would lose.
It had worked last time. He was torn apart and only wanted her forgiveness when the family had kicked him out. Sure, it didn't last long, but there was no definite answer that it wouldn't stick now. Unlike a week ago, Molly did not want it to go as far as one of them leaving though.
While she was blow drying her hair with her wand, Arthur came to stand in the doorway. It had been nearly an hour; she supposed he had to sober up a bit before coming upstairs. He could barely stand while leaning on the counter when he got home after all. It was obvious he had drank more tonight than he ever had.
"I - Um - I need to shower," he said quietly.
Molly ignored him, partly because she couldn't handle any more of his lies and partly because of the plan she just devised.
Not hearing "No", Arthur entered the bathroom and began getting ready for bed. When he entered the bedroom, Molly was sitting in bed reading a book. Wanting to avoid more confrontation, he stood near the edge of the bed and waited for her to look up before speaking.
"So, am I sleeping in here tonight, or am I on the couch?" he asked timidly.
"I don't care. Do whatever you want," Molly answered indifferently.
Not wanting to raise suspicion by sleeping downstairs, he climbed in the bed. After they turned the lights off, he went to hug her up like he always did, but she moved his arm. She didn't want him to touch her and she had a cut and a large, sensitive bruise on her arm from when she fell earlier that evening.
ooOoo
"Dear, do we have any hangover potion?" Arthur asked the next morning as he entered the kitchen, rubbing his forehead.
"No."
"Well, what's for breakfast?" he asked, coming up behind his wife at the stove.
"Whatever you fix," was Molly's blunt reply, ignoring Arthur's close proximity. This was all part of her plan: act like she doesn't care and do as little as possible for him.
"You always make my breakfast, and, I swear, we still had some hangover potion the other day." He was having a difficult time keeping his temper in check now. Every day for the last thirty years, Molly would wake him up, fix his breakfast, and pack his lunch. Today, she did none of those things. "What's the matter with you?" he asked angrily. "I'm going to be late for work."
"Well, if you hadn't overreacted and stormed off last night, you would have breakfast and you wouldn't need a hangover potion," Molly said as she plated the last pancake. "Now, why don't you just get to work?"
"You don't tell me what to do. I tell you what to do," he said as he snatched up a pancake to take with him. "You're just a meek little housewife. And from now on, I expect to have breakfast ready every morning," he growled. "If you'll excuse me, I must get to work."
ooOoo
Percy walked into his dad's office without knocking and took a seat across from him. "I heard about last night. Are you okay?"
"Merlin, Son, do you have to talk so loudly?" Arthur grumbled, his head still pounding. "Other than screwing everything up and having the worst bleeding hangover of my life, I'm fantastic," he answered sorely.
"That's not true, Dad. I'm sure you didn't mess things up too badly," Percy assured.
Arthur leaned back in his chair. "According to your mother, I have."
"She said that?"
"Pretty much."
"If the words 'You messed things up' didn't come out of here mouth, then she didn't say that."
"But she did say she doesn't trust me and doesn't care anymore, so it's technically the same thing."
Percy didn't believe what his father was telling him. He knew his mother would never give up that easily, what he didn't know was how hard she had already tried.
"Well, do you want to get lunch together?" Percy asked, changing the subject.
"No. I'm skipping it today."
"I'll see you tonight then. I'm coming over for dinner," he said before closing the office door behind him.
"Good luck with the shrew," Arthur muttered as he returned to his work.
ooOoo
That evening, Percy didn't see his dad at supper. None of his family did. In fact, the only person that saw him that night was Molly. She had sat up waiting for him until, finally, he came home around two in the morning...
Drunk.
"Where have you been?" she asked, highly annoyed. You would think he had learned his lesson.
"Where do you think?" He fumbled with his shoes as he took them off. "You know, I was thinking. What's the point? You've given up on me, therefore there is none."
"I've stayed up all night worrying about you."
"That's odd," he blurted. "Why would you be up all night if you didn't give a rat's ass about him?"
"I never said I stopped caring," Molly defended herself.
"You sure acted like you didn't last night and this morning."
Molly couldn't deny that. It was her intention to make him think she didn't care. Where she was hoping it would knock some since into her husband, it was now causing a fight. She attempted to change the subject and turn the blame back on Arthur.
"With the war over, I thought the late nights worrying were over -"
"Well, I didn't ask you to wait up. Personally, I'd rather you be asleep when I get home so I don't have to put up with your NAG-GING." Arthur made to pass Molly and go up the stairs to the bedroom, but she put her arm out to stop him.
"No. You'll be on the couch from now until further notice." She glared daggers at him as she said this.
Arthur grabbed her wrist tightly and forcefully moved her arm. "What did I tell you this morning? You don't tell me what to do. I'm the husband. You're just the lowly housewife." he growled before heading upstairs.
Molly rubbed the wrist in which her husband was just holding, tears forming in her eyes from fear and pain. She wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to sleep in the same bed as him, but she felt if she didn't then he would become even angrier.
There's always Charlie, Molly thought. She had promised to tell him if his father ever did anything, but she didn't want to wake him. Every day he worked so hard to rebuild Hogwarts and he needed his rest. So, she reluctantly followed her husband to their bedroom.
ooOoo
Over the next couple days the only thing that changed was Molly becoming more submissive. In the mornings, she made sure to have Arthur's breakfast ready and at night she pretended to be asleep when he got home. When the kids were around, they both acted as if everything was perfectly fine.
One evening, their cover was blown. Charlie was helping Molly set the table for dinner when her sleeve slid back a little to reveal her bruised wrist.
"Mum." Charlie stopped what he was doing.
"What is it, dear?" Molly asked, not realizing what her son had seen.
Charlie gently took his mum's hand and pulled back her sleeve completely. Immediately, he knew what caused the bruise due to the patterning of the bruising.
"Mum." He looked at her seriously. "You promised you would tell me if he hurt you again."
"I know. I just - I don't know. You've been so busy; I didn't want to be a bother."
"That doesn't matter. This is absolutely unacceptable! What else has he done?"
Molly told her protective son exactly what had happened since the night Conner was at the Burrow, tears silently streaming down her face.
This infuriated Charlie. He blamed himself partially. If he had paid closer attention, perhaps he could have caught on sooner.
"I know you don't want to hear this, but you have to leave him. Tonight. Because this isn't healthy, and I don't want to see you hurt again."
ooOoo
That night, Charlie stayed up with his mum, waiting for Arthur to get home. He would be there for moral support and physical defense. In Bill's absence, he would have to step up.
They watched the old grandfather clock as it chimed and Arthur's hand settled on "Home". A moment later, he came stumbling through the door.
Upon seeing his second oldest standing behind Molly, Arthur froze.
"Don't you have to be up early, Charlie?" he quickly recovered, doing his best not to slur his words.
"I know everything," Charlie deadpanned. "But I'm gonna let Mum do the talking."
Before Molly could speak, Arthur began slinging insults. "Very mature. The going gets tough and you run off to your son for help. Pathetic."
Even though he hated the way his dad was talking to his mum, Charlie knew he had to bite his tongue and let his mum do this on her own.
"I'm not running to anyone. Charlie is here to make sure you don't harm me when I tell you I'm leaving," Molly said confidently.
Arthur laughed humorlessly. "You're not going anywhere. We took vows on our wedding day -"
Molly interrupted, "- Vows which you already broke."
"Either way, you are my wife…You are not leaving," he challenged.
"Watch me." Molly tried passing her husband to get to the door, but he grabbed her upper arm. Charlie was quick on his feet; in the blink of an eye he had his wand drawn and pointed at his father who just as quickly released his grip and took a step back.
"So you're going to abandon your kids?" Arthur accused.
"No. In the morning, Charlie will tell them what happened, and the boys can come with me or stay here with you. They can decide."
"What about Ginny?"
"She'll be coming with me."
"What if she wants to stay? She is old enough to make her own decisions."
"She doesn't have a choice. She turns seventeen in August. If you haven't sorted yourself out by then, I can't stop her though I'd prefer her to stay as far away from you as possible."
"You can't keep my daughter from me. You've already taken one of them...Or do you not remember Gracie?"
At this, Charlie was lost and Molly was appalled that Arthur would even think that she'd forgotten her first little girl.
"You told me countless times it wasn't my fault," Molly said, barely audible.
"What was it you said, Molly, 'You never mean anything you say'? Apparently, I didn't mean things I said back then either." Arthur had never been this ruthless.
The dam broke. Tears began cascading down Molly's cheeks. Was Arthur telling the truth? All these years, did he secretly think it was her fault the pregnancy failed?
"Why are you bringing this up now? We agreed never to talk about her," Molly choked out.
"See! The other night you wanted to discuss whatever George and I were talking about, but you wouldn't believe me when I said you didn't want to talk about it...The first time I get to talk about my first daughter in twenty-two years and you ruin it! Just like you destroyed whatever chance she had at life or having her memory preserved. You're too selfish and weak to even be reminded of her that you decided no one could ever talk about her.
"No matter what I said back then, It was entirely your fault. The complications and premature birth," it was now that Charlie realized he was supposed to have another sister, "were caused by your high blood pressure and the excessive amounts of stress you put on yourself. The war had barely begun and all you could do was worry. I'm surprised we didn't lose any other kids because of that." Arthur's face was bright red now.
"It's also your fault that I've had to keep all this bottled up for twenty three years, like she's some sort of ugly secret. Did you even consider how this would affect me or were you only thinking about yourself?
"And guess what? Now we've lost a child we raised for twenty one years and more than six people know of his existence. How do you suppose we ignore that?" Finally, Arthur stopped his tirade, giving Molly a chance to process everything he just said.
"I-I didn't realize how hard this has been on you, but it's not like I don't think about her every now and then either."
"I think about her nearly every goddamn day!" he shouted. He couldn't help thinking that the mother should think about her lost child more than the father.
Charlie recovered. There was no time to think about his lost sister or to be shocked that he was supposed to have another sibling. He had to keep his mother on track.
"Mum, don't let him distract you," Charlie whispered from behind Molly. "He's just trying to make you feel guilty so you won't leave." He wasn't sure how true that was, but Molly desperately needed to get out of this situation. Charlie had never seen his father this mad, and he was afraid Arthur could overpower him if he truly wanted to.
Focused once again, Molly wiped her face with her sleeves, and stood up straight.
"Goodbye, Arthur," she said definitively.
Charlie walked between Arthur and Molly in case his father tried anything else. To everyone's surprise, he didn't. Arthur allowed them to leave without any further altercation.
A/N: Alright, hope y'all enjoyed chapter 12.
In some ways it wasn't as good as I'd originally hoped, but in others it was better. All because the first third of it got deleted by accident and I had to rewrite it the best I could from memory. I got it relatively close though.
Phoenix Rising, I am so glad I can make you piss you off so easily. Maybe, I did it again and can continue angering you.
Please review! And I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I think it's the longest one yet (3,500 words). See y'all next time!
