I don't own the Weasleys or the Burrow or their relatives. Ben, Caroline, and Rachel are from by head but being Potterverse-Wizard/witches and Molly Weasley's relatives, they hardly qualify as full original.

Perhaps he would have had more control of the situation if he hadn't had a jumpy seven-year-old beside him. He couldn't blame Ron either. Molly's aunt Muriel elicited all sorts of reactions from Arthur himself, none of them pleasant. He was fairly sure that in the two hours Muriel had been there, she had insulted everyone in the house, from Arthur to Molly's brother's infant daughter. None of his seven children had been safe.

"If you had just followed my advice, Molly, you wouldn't have all this overcrowding at the moment," Muriel burst out. Arthur glared at his plate instead of looking at her. He wasn't sure which piece of "advice" Muriel was referring to this time. Every time Molly had announced she was pregnant, Muriel had told her it was a bad idea, from Bill on down. Then again, she could also be referring to her advising Molly never to marry him at all. Apparently he had been too poor without any looks nearly decent enough to make up for his lack of money. She had threatened for a while to remove Molly from her will but had eventually seemed to dismiss the idea.

"It's cosy and after all, it is Christmas," Molly's brother Ben spoke up from further down the table. His wife Caroline next to him nodded. Their daughter Rachel was in her lap, having already eaten but crying if she was left behind. Like her father and her aunt Molly, little Rachel had bright red hair; she blended in easily with her cousins. Ben had always been the most reserved of Molly's siblings, even bordering on shy. But he seemed quite happy where he was sitting, squished between his wife and his nephew George.

"It's too much for a woman of my age. I'm a hundred and-"

"Ninety-nine," Fred inserted, a grin on his face. Arthur did his best to shoot his son a warning look but it was hard. Arthur really wanted to go around insulting Muriel too.

"Watch it young man," she snapped at Fred before turning to Molly, though her eyes flickered to Arthur as well. "If there weren't so many of them you might have a better time disciplining these boys and giving them proper moral character," she said. Arthur nearly retorted again but held his tongue, hoping not to be hypocritical to Ron who had gotten in trouble earlier in the day because he had yelled at Aunt Muriel in response to one of her insults. He had been forbidden from going outside for the rest of the day which of course had made him a bundle of nerves, bouncing in his seat next to Arthur. Personally, Arthur felt there wasn't anything in particular wrong with the moral character of his children. While certainly all of them got into trouble in their own ways it rarely had anything to do with their morals.

"This is delicious Molly," Caroline spoke up, trying to break the tension. "I'll have to remember to ask you for some advice. Ben teases me terribly on my cooking." She had one of those almost too sweet to believe voices and yet Arthur had learned that her voice was just a quality of Caroline. She was kind almost to a fault.

"Don't let him tease you," Molly said, deciding for the time being to pretend as if she hadn't heard her aunt, which was probably for the best. Arthur had seen her flushing slightly with anger. "I'm sure your cooking is just fine."

"Oops!" Ron squealed right as Arthur heard some sort of clattering noise.

"You little-"

"Charlie!" Arthur spoke harshly, cutting off his newly-fifteen-year-old.

"He dumped his milk all over me!"

"It was an accident!" Ron protested. "I didn't mean to hit it!"

"Well maybe you wouldn't have if you weren't jumping around! If you would just sit-"

"Charlie!" Arthur repeated as he used his wand to siphon up the milk that had been spilled on the table.

"But he is being-"

"It was an accident," Arthur repeated. Charlie was fixing Ron with one of his best death stares. Arthur could have sworn he had stolen in right from Molly. Ron whimpered, even as Arthur scooted him back in his chair to dry off the milk on his clothes.

"I'm sorry Charlie," he said, he eyes wide.

"Charlie stand up and I'll dry you off as well," Arthur sighed. Charlie's face went solid but he stood up as well. Arthur pushed in Ron's chair and then dried off Charlie's clothes. He understood why Charlie was in a bad mood. He had been downstairs when Muriel had arrived and gotten to hear her ranting at him for his hair that was apparently too long, the marks on his face he had gotten when helping Professor Kettleburn chase down an injured hippogriff who was refusing help before the holiday, and his lack of ambition (which in Muriel's mind was defined by a wizard not wanting to be Minister for Magic). Charlie had then spent the rest of the day sulking in his room until dinner, still in a sour mood. Still, it wasn't an excuse for his snapping at Ron, just a reason.

"You're too similar to your sister. You shouldn't break down in tears so easily," Muriel told Ron. Ron opened his mouth to respond and Arthur put his hand on Ron's shoulder to remember him to keep his temper. Muriel had called Ron girlish earlier too. Ron certainly looked sensitive compared with Fred and George but he wasn't girly. His idolizing of Bill and Charlie gave the older two boys a huge amount of power over his emotions, which Charlie hadn't yet figured out, thankfully. Ginny was the same way however she wasn't girly either. Charlie and the twins had been sure to keep her away from that. Bill and Percy would have coddled her given the choice. Ron was close enough to her in age that he saw her as a playmate before a girl who had to be coddled or kept from being girly.

"I don't cry!" Ginny said stubbornly. Arthur could practically hear Charlie coaching her.

"Of course you do," Muriel replied. "All little girls cry."

"I'm not that little!" Ginny yelled.

"Ginevra!" Molly scolded.

"None of them know how to speak to their elders, Margaret! You and that Weasley boy ought to be ashamed."

"Arthur," he insisted. "And she's Molly, not Margaret."

"I told your parents it was ridiculous to name you Molly plain," Muriel countered, ignoring Arthur. If Ron hadn't started squirming again at Arthur's side, perhaps he would have noticed George glancing at the clock. If Molly hadn't been pink with rage and yet attempting to rein in an infuriated Ginny she would have noticed Fred fidgeting in his seat. But as it was, neither of them noticed the tell tale signs of trouble until a smell starting seeping up from the end of the table.

Percy covered his face and Bill wrinkled his nose; they were the ones sitting closest to Muriel. Fred, who was next to Bill began dramatically fanning the air in front of his nose. Rachel started to cry and Caroline scooted back her chair, seeming grateful for an excuse to leave the room as she dashed away with the distressed baby. "Aunt Muriel, don't you know you're supposed to say pardon me?" George asked, way too innocently and way to scripted. She shot daggers at him and Fred with her eyes.

"Mum!" Ginny cried, attempting to cover her nose with her sweater.

"Go get your cloaks and go outside," Molly told her and then looked up at the others. Ron, who had been doing some sort of dance in his chair to get rid of the smell, now knocked over his chair in an attempt to get out. There was a hard clunk that Arthur knew the chair hadn't made and Ron started to cry holding his head. Percy had run away faster than any of them had known Percy could run with Charlie and Bill right behind him. Ben had taken Ginny's hand and dragged her from the room. Arthur bent down next to Ron who had attempted to get up and then, dizzy, fallen back down and hit his head again, this time on the table. "You two stay right here!" Molly hollered at Fred and George who were slinking away. There was blood on Ron's forehead from where he'd hit the table and Arthur forced his stomach not to turn; he hated blood.

"Molly, I'm going to get him out of here," Arthur said, scooping Ron up into his arms. The smell couldn't be helping his head wound. Muriel was starting to rant though she hadn't yet found the smouldering remains of a dungbomb beneath her chair. Arthur had a feeling it was one of the delayed release ones Charlie and Bill had gotten the twins for Christmas and he reminded himself to have it out with Bill and Charlie later.

Half an hour later, Arthur stood in the garage with a shamefaced looking Bill and Charlie. His arms felt like they were about to fall off because he had fixed Ron's cut and then given him a potion for his pounding headache which had made the little boy fall into a deep sleep. Caroline was leaning against the wall with Rachel in her arms. Ben was outside building a snowman with Ginny and Percy.

"I can't believe those two!" Molly raged crashing into the garage. Bill and Charlie exchanged a look and then slipped out the door before it had even fully swung closed. "They're still attempting to go with the story that it was Muriel's flatulence, not a dungbomb, even after Aunt Muriel told them she felt an explosion under her seat and we found the remains of a dungbomb." She had a growl in her voice but she moved towards Arthur and he smiled at her, wishing he could lend her an arm but he was afraid if he let one of his arms move from Ron, he would drop his son.

"Where are Fred and George?"

"I left them with Aunt Muriel. If she thinks she can discipline them better than I can, I'll let her try," Molly said, crossing her arms over her chest. Caroline raised her eyebrows.

"Who are you trying to punish," Arthur asked, "Fred and George or your aunt?" Molly gave him a warm smile but the devious look that Fred and George had gotten from her gleamed in her eyes.

"Fred and George of course," she said. If he hadn't known her so well, Arthur probably would have believed her. Maybe.

End of chapter.