Chapter 14: Talk with Arthur

Harry," Sirius said, putting a hand on his shoulder to gently turn him around, "they didn't know. Judging from what's being said, you three need to talk. So, take Hermione and Ron to your room and do that. I'll handle things down here," he added, guiding the distraught boy to the door, the other two following along.

"Alright," Harry said, leaving with his two friends, still stinging over what Mr. Weasley had said. He didn't like the fact that people were there the whole time he was grieving. That they had seen that, and just let him suffer. He didn't know how he was going to deal with that, but for now, he would just have it out with Hermione and Ron.

"Fred, George, Ginny," Sirius said after the other three had left, waving to the three who had remained quiet, "Why don't you guys let them work it out? Would you go find something to do? I have to talk to your dad." He jerked his head towards the door.

"Sure, Sirius," Fred said, taking his sister's elbow and pulling her from the room when it looked like she'd protest.

"We'll keep Gin-Gin company," George added as he followed his brother.

"Don't call me Gin-Gin!" they heard her yell as the door closed.

"Arthur, you need to talk to your wife. This has got to stop. She needs to understand that she cannot go on acting as she does. I don't even know if the wards will let her back in without an oath that she'll behave," Sirius said as he took a seat behind the desk, picking up his almost empty glass and finishing off the whiskey, blowing a bit of flame from his mouth. He set the glass down and left it. He was done drinking for now. Though the thought of the Horcruxes made him want to get pissed and not come up for a while. But he had Harry to worry about, so that was out.

Arthur sighed and slouched down in the chair in front of the desk. He picked up his discarded glass and sipped, then set it back down again. "I honestly don't know if she could keep that vow," he said, pushing his hand through his balding hair.

"What if I restrict her to her room? You can add a privy, and use the elves for meals, or you can bring her food. I'll relax the wards around the room, and she can stay there until she learns to behave," the weary man said, rubbing his goatee thoughtfully. He knew he had threatened it, but to do it just didn't sit right with him. He is too much like Azkaban for his comfort. However, that woman was stressing everyone out and he wasn't going to bow down to her just to relieve that stress.

"It won't work," Arthur said, shaking his head. "I know my wife, she'll never back down," he added regretfully.

"Then you're just going to have to keep her home. You have a curse breaker for a son, have him put the Burrow under a Fidelius," Sirius said firmly.

The redhead nodded, thinking about that solution. It might work, he could keep the kids here and take the time to talk to his wife. "I can see that that might work," he conceded with a bit of a nod.

"Arthur, I like you, you're a good man, but your wife has made this whole house uncomfortable for everyone. The Order is walking on eggshells, just waiting for her to explode. The kids are hiding in their rooms, for fear of her. It is not fair to anyone to live like this just because she can't behave," Sirius said, feeling the need to explain his actions.

"I know, I know. I've tried talking to her, but she just won't budge. I'll keep her home, but the Burrow is too well known to hide," the other man said sadly, and worriedly. Now that he thought about it, it was true. The Burrow was known by everyone he knew and some he didn't know, or even had ever met.

It was an object of ridicule; many people had teased him for its eccentricity. It wasn't his fault that he could not get promoted to earn enough to build properly. He was hampered by pureblood prejudice. As long as he was a 'blood traitor', he would be kept in his lowly position.

"Have Bill put your basement under. No one will realize that it's gone. A bolt hole if you will," Sirius suggested thinking furiously. He didn't want the Weasleys to be in danger, but he wasn't going to deal with her anymore. If it weren't for the fact that this house stood alone for years, it would have been impossible to hide it as well.

"I'll ask him. Can the kids stay here for now? I would feel much better if they could," Mr. Weasley asked in an almost pleading tone. While he loved his wife, the kids' safety came first. They would be protected here, and they would have a better time of it. Sirius was right, Molly was making life uncomfortable for everyone. He, on the other hand, would man up and stay at the Burrow.

"Yes, of course they can. I would never endanger children, even if I don't agree with their parents," Sirius agreed. "Besides, it might help Harry to have them around." He had a feeling that the poor man didn't want his wife to take her anger out on her children. Sometimes, Sirius felt that women were too hard on them. She never really had anything nice to say to the youngest of her boys. She was always weighing them against the oldest three and always found them wanting. It was kind of sad.

"What about Order meetings?" the redhead asked.

"Does she need to be there? I mean, you can tell her anything that's happening, and she can convey messages through you. That's what Snape has to do. Stupid bastard won't let go of the past," Sirius mumbled the last part to himself.

"I might offer the Burrow for the meetings. We can hold meetings in the basement. That and the kids can't eavesdrop if they are held there," Arthur stated thoughtfully.

"That might be best. I can Floo over when they occur. Still, Molly needs to behave, or I won't come. Someone can keep me informed if it comes to that," the other man stated. It would be different if meetings were held at the Burrow, he'd have to be the polite one. He could do it though. Manners had been pounded into his head since he could talk.

"I will talk this over with Molly," Arthur said, getting out of the chair. "We'll discuss it with Dumbledore. He might nix the whole plan." He nodded to Sirius and walked out the door.

"Yeah," was all Sirius would say as he watched the Weasley patriarch leave. "Controlling old coot," he grumbled. He got up and went to the nearest bookshelf and grabbed a book he thought mentioned Horcruxes. He then settled in an armchair and started reading. The Molly problem would just have to wait.

Meanwhile, in Harry's room, the three teens sat around the room on chairs and the bed. Harry glared at his friends, though not as fiercely as before. He was starting to understand that they too had been kept in the dark.

"You truly didn't know what I was going through?" he asked them.

"We didn't," Ron answered.

"He lied to us," Hermione said on the verge of tears. "He told us you were dealing with it, and that you were never alone."

"We have to do something about this. It's bullshit, the way we've been treated. Not to mention the way Sirius had been," Harry spat angrily, mostly at people not in the room. The man they all looked up to until a few minutes ago. The woman he thought of as a kind motherly woman, until today. Even when Sirius had told him about her treatment towards the other man, he still held out hope that he was just misreading it all. That was blown out of the water upon his arrival here.

"Perhaps…" the bushy-haired girl started, only to taper off when Harry spoke.

"No, Hermione," Harry said, with a slash of his hand. "there is no excuse. You have got to get that through your head. What he did borders on abuse. Abuse of me, abuse of power. The last few weeks have been hell on me. To top it off, I almost died a few hours ago," he added pensively, looking at the floor.

"What?!" both Hermione and Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah, Dementors tried to suck mine and Dudley's soul out. If Dobby hadn't been there, we'd be dead," Harry said, still glaring at the floor. His thoughts were dark as he remembered feeling the cold of those demons. His mum's scream still echoed in his head.

"That was the something that you told Dad about? Dementors?" Ron asked incredulously. His eyes were wide with horror. 'Why Harry?' he wondered, thinking hard as to what that could mean.

"Dementors? In Little Whining? How is that possible?" Hermione inquired to no one really, getting a faraway look in her eyes.

"I think the Ministry is trying to shut Harry up," Ron answered anyway. That was the conclusion he came to.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," she snapped, coming out of her thoughts.

"No, think about it. They've been putting Harry down all summer. Now, they're trying to do him in, so he can't tell anyone what happened," the redhead insisted.

"What do you mean, putting me down all summer?" Harry asked perplexed.

"The papers are calling you an unstable, attention seeking, psychopath," Ron answered, folding his arms across his chest with a disapproving face.

"What? Why?" the boy exclaimed.

"Fudge reckons you lied. Says that you're trying to get attention. Don't understand that myself. I mean, you won the tourney, why makeup stories?" his friend stated confused.

"I'm going to talk to Sirius about this. There has to be something we can do to stop it," Harry said, getting up from the bed and stomping out of the room.

"At least he's not mad at us anymore," Ron said with a shrug and followed his friend.

"No, just everyone else," Hermione whispered to herself.