The Aftermath
Once Arthur left the kitchen, everyone turned their attention to Ginny, concerned about how this might have affected her, but she showed no emotion.
"Gin?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"How could she do this to him?" Ginny asked quietly. "How could you say something so awful?" Her voice and anger rose as she turned to Charlie.
"Ginny, there's a lot more to it than you know. I didn't tell any of you the details." The dragon trainer kept his calm.
"Why don't you enlighten us then?"
"It's not my place. That's up to Mum and – and – him. But I saw what happened, so I have every right to say what I did," Charlie defended himself.
"Well, that doesn't give Ron an excuse! He knows just as much as the rest of us –"
"- Actually, I do have an excuse!" Ron interrupted his sister. "It was probably something similar to what happened out by the shed a few weeks ago."
Ginny turned on her youngest brother now. "You can't just assume that. Besides, you've been a complete ass towards Dad ever since he came back last time. Mum forgave him and so did the rest of us, so why couldn't you?"
"You all made a mistake by doing that, though, because now he has done something else. And this time she didn't kick him out. She left him! That means this has to be worse than last time," Ron countered.
"You know what? Don't talk to me until you stop acting like a prat!" Ginny hollered before turning on her heel and making her way to the back door, stopping when she noticed Harry wasn't following her. She glared at her boyfriend until he took the hint and followed her into the orchard, listening to and agreeing with everything she said as she hit a bludger whenever it came in range.
Ron breathed heavily as he watched his sister and best friend leave the house before making his way to his bedroom with Hermione. She did the same as Harry, sat quietly and listened while her significant other went on a long rant.
With the four youngest ones gone, Charlie and George were the only people left in the kitchen. Charlie was only still there because he wanted to make sure his father was gone before going to retrieve his mum. His younger brother began to leave the kitchen before Charlie spoke again.
"George?" he said, silently wondering where his brother was going.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to talk to him," George said bitterly. "I'm going to my room."
To George's relief, Charlie didn't stop him. It had been extremely hard for him ever since his twin was killed, but he was slowly making progress as the rest of his family helped him. Now though, his family was falling apart. Something else that was helping George was the special bond he thought was forming between him and his father. He felt special that his dad would let his guard down around him and open up when he wouldn't do that with anyone else. Apparently, their late night talks weren't as special to his dad as they were to him. This was a major setback for George.
A little while later, Arthur came downstairs. Not a word was spoken between father and son as Arthur went to the garden gate to disapparate. Charlie watched his father leave before going to gather his mum.
oOoOo
Molly jumped up from the couch when her Aunt Muriel's fireplace roared to life and Charlie stepped out, eager to see how things went. She knew Ginny and figured it would be a fight to get her to leave the Burrow.
"Where's Ginny?" she asked worriedly when she realized no one else was coming through the floo.
"Everything is fine, Mum," her son reassured. "There were some…issues this morning, but then Dad came in and took care of things." Before Molly could speak, he hastened to add, "He didn't cause any trouble. In fact, he made this big speech about how everything was his fault and that we were right and Ginny needed to stay with you. He wouldn't even let George go with him."
"Well, where's your sister?" Molly asked fiercely, thinking Charlie had left her at the Burrow with Arthur.
Picking up on her concern, he said, "I made sure Dad was gone. He didn't think it was fair for everyone to have to leave because of him, so he said for you to move back in and that you wouldn't have to worry about him coming around. Also, he said to tell you that he didn't mean anything he said last night and that it was wrong for him to say those things."
Molly wasn't sure what to think of this last statement. No longer could she believe anything her husband said. How could she discern if this was said out of honesty or because he wanted to get back in her good graces? Arthur could have done everything that morning just to get her to forgive him without meaning a word.
Noticing his mother's facial expression change as she contemplated this Charlie said, "I have no doubt he was being sincere." Molly nodded, still not entirely certain. "Are you ready to go home?" he asked.
His mother nodded again, hating how he called it 'home'. The Burrow would never be home without Arthur there. But he hadn't been there in weeks, though, had he? Not the Arthur she always knew.
oOoOo
Once they arrived back at the Burrow, Molly ascended the stairs to her bedroom. A feeling of deja vu overcame her as soon as she opened the door. The scene was similar to that of two weeks ago, but this time the closet was completely empty, seeing as she had packed all of her clothes the night before also.
Closing the door behind her, she made her way to the bed and set her bag down. With a flick of her wand, everything in her bag was sent flying to its proper place. Another flick, and the drawers and closet door closed. Molly sighed exasperatedly when one of the closet doors didn't completely shut. She walked over to investigate.
She tried pushing it together, but it still wouldn't close. Opening the door, she looked up at one of the hinges and made her way down the others. There was nothing wrong. Then she looked at the floor to find one of Arthur's button-up shirts lying in a heap. He must have dropped it this morning, Molly thought as she picked it up and began putting it on a hanger in his side of the closet. She wasn't going to throw it out. She couldn't. That shirt was the last thing she had of Arthur until he sorted himself out…Well, if he ever got himself sorted out which, if he did, it would take a long time, and even longer for her to trust him again.
There wasn't time to pursue thoughts and questions that rushed through Molly's head as she had to make lunch for the inhabitants of the Burrow. She hadn't seen any of the kids since she had gotten back.
"Oh, there you two are. I was about to send someone to find you," Molly said as she glanced up from the sandwiches she was making to see Ginny and Harry entering through the back door.
Harry stopped in the kitchen to speak with Mrs. Weasley. Ginny, however, paid her mother no attention.
"How are you, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry inquired softly.
Mrs. Weasley gave a sad smile and replied, "I think I'll make it. How is Ginny?"
"Oh. Um. She's just a bit upset is all," Harry partially lied.
Ginny made it up the stairs to George's closed bedroom door. Not even bothering to knock, she walked straight in and sat next to him on his bed.
George was taken aback by his sister's abrupt entrance. "Ginny?"
"What?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Um. What are you doing?" George asked curiously.
"Checking on you."
"Ok…And?"
"You aren't going to start looking yourself in here again, are you?" Ginny asked, genuinely concerned.
George shrugged.
"You are not," his little sister stated matter-of-factly.
"Ginny -" George began to protest.
"No, George. There is no reason for you to regress. You've even said you're going to reopen the shop next weekend."
"I do to have a good reason."
"Mum leaving Dad again is not a good reason."
"I didn't say that was my reason."
"Ok. Fine. What is it then?" Ginny stared at her brother, waiting on an acceptable answer.
"…I just thought Dad would let me go with him."
"If you hadn't noticed, he didn't let anyone go with him."
"Yeah, but...he opened up to me a couple times when he wouldn't talk to anyone else."
"What about?"
"That's just it. He told me, in complete confidence, things that no one else knows. I just thought...Well I don't know...I thought maybe he trusted me more than everyone else or that there was a stronger bond between us or…I don't know. It's stupid."
"Dad is having a really tough time right now. Maybe if we give him some space he'll come around. But for the time being we should put out those flyers for the grand reopening."
"Okay," George conceded.
"Come on." Ginny led George downstairs and out the front door in order to avoid their mum.
oOoOo
Bill was sitting at his desk at Gringott's when he received an owl from Charlie. It requested that he take his lunch break as soon as possible and meet his brother at Shell Cottage.
"Charlie!" Bill called as he entered his house.
"In here!" Charlie called back from the kitchen.
"Is everything alright?" Bill asked worriedly.
"That depends on your definition of 'alright'." Charlie paused as he began pulling out the take away he brought. "Mum left him again. This time for good, I think."
"What happened? Bill asked quietly as he took a seat at the table.
"Yesterday I saw that her wrist was bruised again. When I asked her about it she told me everything. How he's been drinking again, more than he ever has. How he's been mistreating her, physically and emotionally." Charlie looked his older brother in the eye. "Bill, our Father is a brute." He wasn't going to beat around the bush.
"That's not our Father, Charlie."
"No, Bill, he is. He hasn't been imperio'd, or possessed, or anything else. Physically and biologically he is our Father."
Bill thought for a moment. "I can't argue there," Bill said. And he really couldn't argue that point. No matter what they said or what excuses they tried to make, Arthur was the same person. He was their dad. The man who raised them.
A few moments passed in silence as they both ate before Charlie spoke up again.
"You know what really gets me, Bill, is that it's my fault all this happened again."
"That's not true. Why would you even think that?"
"The day we all went into the village, I was the first up, and when I passed Dad on the couch he reeked of alcohol. I didn't do anything because Mum didn't want anything to happen to the family. Apparently, since the whole thing with Conner, Dad has been treating Mum horribly. I didn't even notice something was wrong until last night. It's been going on for days."
"Charlie, you couldn't have known, especially if they were trying to keep it a secret."
A few more minutes passed in silence. Charlie was only picking at his food now.
"Did you know that we were supposed to have another sister?" Charlie asked quietly.
Bill was taken aback. He had no clue where this was coming from. Then it all rushed back to him.
"Mummy is having another baby!" Molly announced excitedly to little Billy.
"You're going to have a little sister! Isn't that exciting, Billy?" Arthur asked his firstborn.
"Apparently she was still born," Charlie stated.
"Did Mummy have Gracie yet?" an excited three and a half year old Bill asked as his dad came in through Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's kitchen.
A redfaced, exhausted looking Arthur picked his oldest son up and carried him to the couch.
"Son...Billy, something happened, and you aren't going to have a little sister anymore," Arthur said gently.
"Oh." Little Billy adopted his dad's somber mood. "Daddy? Are you sad?"
Arthur nodded.
"Is Mummy sad?"
Arthur nodded again.
Little Billy hugged his dad as tightly as he could. Sobs racked Arthur's body as he held on to his son for dear life.
"I completely forgot about that," Bill said as he came out of his reverie. "Mum and Dad were so excited, but then…" Bill trailed off. "They never talked about her in front of me again, so naturally I forgot…How did you find out about her? You can't have remembered that. You were just one and a half."
"When Mum confronted Dad last night he brought it up and blamed her."
"Did he mean it?"
Charlie shrugged. "Sounded like it but after he sobered up he said that he didn't."
Silence fell again, each brother thinking about their forgotten sister.
"I hear the castle will be fully repaired within the next day or two," Bill broke the silence.
"Yeah. There are just a few minor details left."
"What are you going to do when it's finished?"
"Well, I was gonna go back to Romania, but with everything that's happened..." Charlie trailed off.
"Don't let this keep you from doing what you love. Mum will be fine. She has all of us here."
"I know. It just doesn't seem right. I feel like I need to be here now."
"It's up to you, Charlie."
A/N: Alright, y'all. Chapter 14 finally. It's not the best written chapter, but I think it says what it needs to. I know I had said within a week, but I am so sporadic with my writing and then school started back. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. There's more to come. The next chapter will have Percy and Arthur, and hopefully I won't take as long getting it posted.
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