Chapter 14
I kick the door closed and throw my briefcase, robes and wand on the couch. Today was the day from hell. I spent all day chasing after some muggle teenagers that found a wand and were trying to get the damned thing to work. It resulted in having to obliviate at least forty muggles after having to correct the disasterous magic calamities these youngsters caused. I have never seen hair that color before. The worst was having to explain to a man why he had a third leg, and I'm not talking the normal one either.
I step into my kitchen, bound for the refrigerator, looking for a butterbeer. As I turn around and open my bottle, I see Hedwig sitting patiently on my kitchen table. "Well, hi there, girl. Did Harry send you to give me a message?" She hooted indignantly and stuck out her foot. Testy little thing, isn't she? I untie her burden and offer her a plate full of breadcrumbs. She takes a few bites, hoots and flies off.
After looking at the envelope, I realize it's not from Harry at all; it's from Arthur. I sit down and open it, taking a swig of my butterbeer.
Dear Dad,
Please come and get me. I don't like it here. I want to live with you. Please come as soon as you can. I don't think I want to stay here tonight. Please come. I miss you.
Arthur
I stare dumbly at the parchment. What the hell happened that is making my nine-year-old write me and ask me to come get him, not once, but three times in seven sentences? I take another swig of the butterbeer and prepare to apparate to 12 Grimmauld Place. I try to remind myself that nine-year-old boys tend to exaggerate a bit and it's probably nothing. He probably had an argument with Hermione and it will blow over in a few hours.
I apparate into the living room. The house is quiet, eerily quiet. At the sound of a cup being set down heavily on a table, I venture into the kitchen. What I see there is not what I expected. Harry is sitting at the table, his eyes are bloodshot and he is staring at the grain of the tabletop. He doesn't even notice me as I walk in.
"Hey, mate."
He looks up halfheartedly. "Oh, hi Ron."
" 'Oh, hi Ron,' that's all I get? Harry what's wrong? You look like hell." He snorts as I sit down across from him.
"Thanks for the confidence booster there, Ron." He's staring at the table again. Is there a naked lady portrayed in the grain or what?
I've known Harry forever, since we were eleven; close enough to forever for me. I know something is wrong, and I also know he is not going to divulge the information easily. "Harry, I know something's up. We have been best friends for years, you can't hide anything from me." He looks up at me over the frames of his glasses. OK, so I'm full of shit, he caught me. "That, and I got an owl from Arthur."
He sighs heavily. "He hates me."
What? "No, Harry, he doesn't hate you. You're 'Uncle Harry.' He could never hate you."
"He said so, right after he caught us kissing."
"Oh."
He looks up at me and I can see the turmoil in his eyes. Arthur has always looked up at Harry. He always wanted to be like Harry. Now… I can just imagine what's going through my son's head. "OK, when you say that he told you he hated you, what exactly did he say?"
I've seen that look before; many times, in fact. It's the look that says, "Ron, you are the biggest idiotic prat in the universe." Or in layman's terms, "Duh!"
"He said he hated me. That simple. Three words… 'I Hate You.' He asked me why I tore his family apart."
OK, here comes the guilt part that I feel for letting Hermione take the blame for this whole thing. I push down the guilt for a second, I need to know a few things before I go and talk to the boy. "And what did you say to that?"
Harry shakes his head and looks away. "I told him that I loved his mother." He then turns his teary eyes toward me. "Stupid, huh?"
"No, not stupid. A little… hmmm… I can't think of the word. But it's not stupid. You do love her. You weren't lying." Harry is not the kind of man to cry openly in front of another man, even me. I think I have seen Harry cry only a handful of times, but I have never seen him this heartbroken. "I apologize, Harry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have let Hermione take all the blame. I know she was trying to protect me, but in the end its hurt the two of you." I absently look around. I haven't seen or heard Hermione or the kids since I got here. "Where is everyone else?"
He has seemed to recover his composure somewhat as he answers me. "Candace is napping. Arthur is probably in his room and Hermione is probably trying to talk to him."
I know what I have to do. "Let me go see if I can fix this. What room is he in?"
"Remus' old room." I nod and go to straighten my mess up.
As I walk up the stairs, I hear faint crying. I round the corner and see the source of said crying. Hermione. My ex-wife. God that still sounds weird. She is sitting against the doorframe of Arthur's room with her head resting on her knees. I kneel beside her and take her into my arms. "Shhhh. Hermione, I'll talk to him."
"Oh, Ron… he hates us. He won't talk to me. He won't even open the door…" I gently wipe her tears from her face and lift her to stand. "Hermione, go sit with Harry. Have a cup of tea. Let me handle this. It's my fault, let me straighten it all out." She smiled slightly at me. Even that small smile lifts my heart a bit. She nods and starts to walk away.
Suddenly she turns to me and says, "Oh, he locked me out. I couldn't get the door open,"
I smile, "Alohamora." The door clicks open and Hermione's face falls.
"Damn, I didn't even try that. I feel so dumb."
"You taught me that charm, remember?" She nods defeated. "It's all right Hermione, when you are upset, you tend to think like a muggle. It's understandable." I can't help but smile as she shakes her head, ignoring me, and walks down the stairs.
I walk into my son's room. I am shocked at what I see. His room is blue and plastered with the remains of a dozen Puddlemere United Quidditch posters. I assume the posters where whole this morning. There is one poster of Harry when he was a seeker that looks to still be intact. I look closer at it and realize it is indeed intact, but has quite a few darts sticking out of his face. This is not good, definitely not good.
Arthur is lying on his bed, refusing to look at whoever just entered the room. I clear my throat and he looks up slightly. "Dad!" he yells as he jumps off the bed toward me. His arms wrap around me and I guide him back toward his bed to sit.
"Arthur, what happened?"
Oh boy, he is just like me. His jaw is clenching and his blue eyes are burning with anger. "He happened." He growled thumbing toward the Harry 'target.' "He's the reason Mum left you, isn't he?"
"Arthur…" this is going to be harder than I thought it would be. I open my mouth to say something and the boy cuts me off.
"Don't defend him Dad. He's not worth it. He probably just stole Mum from you to prove that he could. He…"
"Arthur Frederick Weasley! You will not talk about anyone that way. Harry is not to blame in this and neither is your Mum!"
"But Dad, she said you were separating because she was in love with someone else. It's Harry, Dad. Don't you see?" Dammit, he is just like me - stubborn, hotheaded, opinionated and blind. I feel sorry for whomever he decides to date when he gets older. They will be in for a rough ride if he takes after me in that department.
I take a deep breath and mentally count to ten. The boy is frustrating, now I know why Hermione would get so aggravated at me. "Arthur, let me finish. I am the adult here. Listen. If you cut me off again, so help me…" he sighs and looks down at the ground. All right what's my line? Oh, yeah…
"Arthur, it is not, and I repeat NOT, your Mum or Harry's fault that we divorced. It's… m-mine." There's the stupid expression that Harry used to make fun of me about. His mouth is hanging open like a fish and his eyebrows are furrowed until it looks like there is only one of them. "Yes, you heard me right. It's my fault."
I hold up my hand to stop him from asking any stupid questions. I might as well lay it all out. He may only be nine, but he understands what I'm going to say. "Arthur, I messed up. I let your Mum take the blame, when I should have all along. You know when I was going on the business trips and was working late all the time?" He nods. "Not all of it was work."
His eyes burn brighter and I can see the anger and hurt there. As I said, he understands. I hate doing this, but he needs to know. "I am the one who fell in love with someone else. There is this woman at work…"
"I don't want to hear it Dad. You're just doing this to save them. I know you were working. You're lying."
I move to sit next to him. My voice softens. "Artie, I'm not lying. Her name is Lavender. I am in love with her. I cheated on your Mum. I lied to you. I lied to Candi. I lied to everyone. Your mum found me out and confronted me. I love your mum, but I couldn't hurt her or you guys anymore. I told her, she left me. It's not her fault, it's mine. Harry was just there to help her make it through. He's her best friend."
He looked up at me, his eyes were confused, hurt. "But Dad, I didn't that think friends were supposed kissed. I saw them kissing."
I smile at him. I can't help it. My heart is breaking alongside his, but I can't help but smile at him. "I know, son. Harry told me. When your mum said that she was in love with someone else, she was, and yes, it was Harry. They didn't fall in love until after I had broken her heart. Harry was there to pick up the pieces and honestly, I am glad that he was. I couldn't have picked a better person to take care of you and your mum."
"Arthur, tell me, when was the last time you and I went flying?"
"I don't remember."
"When was the last time you and I went out together?"
"I don't know."
"Arthur, I messed up. I put everything else in front of my family. I hurt you. I deserve for you to hate me. Harry doesn't deserve that. When was the last time he took you flying?"
"Yesterday."
"When was the last time he took you out, just you and him?"
"Last week, we went to Florian Fortescues."
"See. I'm not saying that I am altogether happy that he is a better dad than me, but he could be. I love you Arthur and you will always be my son. I will try to be a better father to you. Really, I will. But you need to give Harry a chance. He makes your mum happy. Have you seen her upset in the past few weeks? I mean really upset, like when I didn't come home?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Artie, Harry is not trying to replace me. But he wants to take care of you. He wants to be your friend. He loves your mum, and she loves him. Your mum needs you right now. This has been very hard on everyone, including me. But she needs you and Candi most of all. You are the reason she wakes up in the morning. You two are her life. If something were to happen down the road and she and Harry don't work out. You will be all she has. She will always need you. Help her be happy."
Arthur nods and wraps his arms around me. "I love you Dad."
I squeeze him tighter. "I love you too, Son."
"Why did you do it, Dad?'
Why did I do what? The boy is as stubborn as me, and temperamental as me and as inquisitive as his mother. Merlin, help me. I looked at him not quite sure what he was asking.
"Why did you cheat on Mum?" Oh, that's what it is. Sometimes, I wish he were older, maybe it would be easier for him to understand.
"You can't control who you fall in love with. I started seeing Lavender more and more and I fell in love. Your mum and I weren't happy. We tried, we really did, but this was different. I understand if you hate me. If you don't, I think you should."
Arthur looks up at me, his blue eyes shining back at me. "I could never hate you Dad. You messed up But you're right, Mum's happy. Harry makes her happy. If Mum's happy then so am I.
"So does this mean you don't want to come live with me? Let me think on that one Dad. Mum needs me, right?" I nod. "Then I might as well stay, at least for a couple more days. Besides, you have work, you're never home." Ouch that stung a bit. I know I asked for it, he didn't mean anything bad by it, but it still hurt.
I pull him into a hug. "I love you. Don't ever forget that. I will try to be around more, but I think it would be best for your Mum, if I took a break for a while longer. All right?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go downstairs. I think we need to talk to some people." I help him to stand up and we walk toward the stairs.
"Hey Dad?" I look at him and see a smile spread across his face. "Harry will always be Harry, but you will always be my Dad."
I can't help the stray tears that escape my eyes at his words. This is my son. He should hate me and he doesn't/ I actually did something good, for once. Harry and Hermione deserve the happiness they have found. I know that Arthur and Candace are keys to that happiness. Harry may live with them, but as Arthur says, 'I'll always be their Dad."
*
A/N - I apologize for the long delay. I have finished one of the longest fics I have written. It was my baby. Now it is grown and out in the world. This is my baby, now. I hope to be able to update more often.
This chapter was hard. I know it probably seems like Ron is OOC, or that it is unlikely that he would be so supportive of H/Hr. But Ron had cheated for 4 years, he made his bed, he must now lie in it. Why fight the inevitable?
Thank you for your reviews.
Next chapter may still be Ron's POV. Maybe a split. I'm working on it as we speak. J