The war was won three weeks ago, and Fred was buried shortly thereafter. Even though Arthur, Bill, and Fleur had all returned to work, life at the Burrow was far from normal. All the kids had moved back home for the next few months, except Percy who had failed to reconcile with his family, even after Fred was killed. Harry and Hermione were staying there as usual..

All the Weasleys had changed in one way or another. Tempers and emotions were running high amongst the family. Fred's death, Percy's failure to come back, and the stress of the whole of the war had been tough on everyone. The person who had been affected most was Arthur, though he didn't show it…or at least tried not to.

As the patriarch, Arthur was expected to be the tower of strength for his family during this difficult time. He was expected to hold his family together and make everything better. After so long, this can wear even the strongest of people down.

The weeks wore on and Arthur was spending more and more time in his shed. Molly and the kids knew where he disappeared to every day. None of the kids dared ask him why or what he was doing in the shed. They decided it best to leave their father alone.

Molly noticed that as time went on her husband had changed. He was acting completely opposite of how he was in the days following the war and Fred's funeral. Anger and frustration were the only emotions he showed nowadays…well, except for the little bit of depression he tried to keep hidden.

On the few occasions where Molly asked what was wrong or why he always went out to the shed, Arthur replied with his temper or a simple "Nothing" Sometimes when she kept badgering him about it, a new hole would end up in the wall. She thought she knew one of the reasons for his isolation, though.

The truth was, after always having to be strong for his family, Arthur was worn down; he couldn't keep up the façade anymore. He felt better when he was alone and away from his family in his shed with a bottle of firewhiskey in hand.

On Thursday, a month after the war, Arthur returned home from work early. When Molly asked him why, he responded with a shrug and headed straight to his shed. He needed to escape from his emotions, from the pressure his family unintentionally put on him, from everything. There was only one way he knew how to escape without showing his weakness – he wasn't supposed to show weakness.

Arthur was sitting in his shed with his back to the door, staring out the window that framed the rolling hills, holding a bottle of firewhiskey. This had become a regular occurrence whenever he was home. Sometimes he would sit out here for hours on end before finally forcing himself togo inside.

Arthur was taking a drink from the bottle when he was surprised to hear a knock at the door. He hadn't even been home an hour, and no one ever bothered him out here.

He ignored the knock, hoping whoever it was would leave him alone, but, unfortunately for him, the door creaked open.

"Arthur?" Molly asked tentatively.

He didn't turn around at the sound of his wife's voice, but let out an exasperated sigh.

"Arthur?" Molly said a little louder and moved a little closer. She saw the firewhiskey in Arthur's hand, but, honestly, she wasn't surprised. This is what she suspected he was doing. She could always tell he had been drinking after coming in from the shed or even coming home from work.

"What?" he snapped, still not turning to face his wife.

"Please come inside. I'm worried about you."

He still didn't turn to look at her, but shifted his gaze to the table in front of him and said, "I'm fine."

"Arthur Weasley, you are not fine." She moved closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Now, pl-"

"Don't. touch. me." The tone of Arthur's voice was soft, but it didn't hide the bitterness..

"Ar-"

"Molly, please," he warned.

She left her hand on his shoulder and said sternly, "Not until you look at me."

"Moll-"

"- Look at me, Arthur," she demanded.

Arthur sighed and reluctantly looked up at his wife who was now standing beside him. She had never seen so much anguish in his eyes. That wasn't the only thing she saw though; she saw anger, though she wasn't sure what he was angry at – her interruption, himself, or something completely different. It was a bit frightening; whenever she had looked into her husband's eyes they had always been warm, soft, and loving.

Molly had seen the anger and sadness in his eyes over the past few weeks, but they were never like this. The only other time she had seen his eyes this anguished and angry was right after Fred died.

"Arthur, you're not fine," Molly whispered, tears springing into her eyes. She hated seeing him in so much pain.

Arthur took another swig from the bottle and looked back at Molly. "Yes, I am."

Molly watched as he stood up and walked to the window that framed the house. He placed his hands on either side of the window frame and bowed his head while letting out a shaky breath.

"Arthur, if you were fine, you wouldn't be out here drinking every day!" Molly's temper was rising and she was becoming impatient with him.

"How do you -" Arthur had raised his head and was looking out the window now.

"- I know because we've been married for thirty years and every time you're upset or need a break you come out here and grab the firewhiskey." What Molly said was true, but that was rare and Arthur never did that several days in a row. It was never this bad. "Besides, it's clear in the way you act and you reek of alcohol when you come in the house, and I'm sick of it!"

"Well, what do you expect me to do, Molly?" Arthur yelled as he turned to face her, his temper rising too.

"I've tried getting you to talk about it, but, apparently, you like sitting out here pouting too much!" Molly shouted back.

"Pouting?! Pouting?!" Arthur gave a mocking laugh. "That's what you think I've been doing? Excuse me if I want to escape and forget how things are!"

Hearing the ruckus, Bill, Fleur, Ron, and Hermione came out of the house, and Harry and Ginny came out of the garden, meeting the others on the back steps. They saw Arthur through the window and Molly through the open door. It seemed they were glued to where they were standing. They'd never seen their parents fight like that. Sure they'd seen them argue, but not fight. All they could do was watch, shocked and a bit scared. Their father had never been this angry.

Molly and Arthur didn't notice their audience, too engrossed in their fight.

"Well, while you've been out here being selfish and forgetting," venom dripped from the word, "you should have been in the house helping your FAMILY because we're going through the same damn thing you are! We lost Fred too."

"I know, and I have tried helping, but there's only so much I can do!" Arthur turned around, took a deep breath while running his fingers through his hair, and turned back to Molly. He said, more calmly now, "This isn't much of a family anymore, now is it." It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Molly asked breathlessly, a hint of hurt in her voice.

Arthur scoffed. "Like you haven't noticed?"

"No, Arthur, I haven't! The only thing I've noticed is you always being drunk!"

"Well, let's go through it, shall we? Bill doesn't talk much anymore. Charlie runs off to Merlin knows where every morning and doesn't come back until right before dinner. Percy," Arthur growled and clenched his fist, "Percy didn't come back when Ron, Bill, George, or I almost died! And he didn't come back when Fred did!...And Fred's dead, Molly. Our son is dead." Arthur's anger and anguish was past its boiling point. In one fluid movement, he turned around and threw the bottle at the wall and watched it shatter into a million pieces before turning back to his wife.

Molly swallowed hard. The rage in Arthur's eyes scared her. She'd never seen her husband this upset or angry; she'd never seen anyone this upset or angry.

"Continiuing…It's not like George is here anymore! He stays locked up in his room except for meal times, and even then it's not like he's really here! Ron doesn't eat anymore! He always used to be hungry, but now he barely eats anything! Ginny's just as bad as Bill! And you – you don't help any!"

"EXCUSE ME! I don't help any?" She had been letting Arthur blow off steam because he'd needed to talk about why he was so upset, but now he had crossed the line.

"No - No, you don't! You hardly sleep! And you act like everything is okay, but then you - you bring everything back up! You could at least not talk about it around me."

Molly cut him off. "I'm trying to help you, Arthur!"

"Maybe I don't want help, Molly. Maybe I don't want to remember! Maybe I want to forget what that bloody war turned our family into!"

"You'd rather forget and let this family fall apart than -"

"- This family has already fallen apart!"

"Well, maybe if you had cared and helped a bit more-"

"I do care! How dare you say I don't? Why would you even say that?"

"Well, with the way you're acting...and you could at least attempt to help –"

"I tried, Molly! I tried for weeks. I did my best and nothing helped. There's only so much I can do. You expect me to be able to handle everything – to fix everything, but I can't!" Arthur hit the wall with the side of his fist and let out a deep breath, looking at the ground.

Molly didn't know what to say. She couldn't say anything even if she did know. Had she been relying on him too much? She had always expected him to take control whenever something bad happened. The snake attack didn't even seem to faze him. He was always able to fix everything and pull the family through…until now

"I don't think I can do this anymore, Molly," Arthur continued quietly after a minute or two, still leaning with his fist on the wall and staring at the ground.

"Do what anymore?" was all Molly could manage.

Arthur looked at her. "This, Molly." He gestured around them. "This."

Molly felt a glimmer of hope, thinking Arthur was talking about coming out and drinking in the shed every day. Her hope was shattered when he elaborated.

"I can't keep seeing my kids like this. I can't keep arguing with you. I can't keep pretending everything is okay. I can't stay in this bloody house anymore!" His voice rose with every sentence. Arthur paused and almost whispered, "You know, if I am making things so much worse, maybe you'd be better off without me."

Bill kept a straight face while he watched the fight. Ron had lost all color in his face. And tears were now silently streaming down Ginny's face. Harry, Hermione, and Fleur stood like statues, unable to move.

Bill, Ron, and Ginny wanted to do something, but they knew better than to intervene. It was bad enough when they interrupted one of their parents' minor arguments. There was no telling what would happen if they got in the middle of them now.

Tears silently slid down Molly's face now. She slowly made her way over to Arthur and put a hand on his chest. Arthur watched her warily as she did so. Molly looked up into her husband's eyes, preparing to apologize for putting so much pressure on him. "I didn't reali-"

Arthur interrupted her with a deadly quiet tone, "I told you not to touch me." He shoved past her and made his way to the door.

Molly turned with him and followed. "Arthur, where are you going?"

He didn't respond, but walked out of the shed. Still, neither of them noticed the kids on the back steps fifty feet away. Arthur was looking at the ground in front of him and Molly was looking at Arthur, trying to catch up.

"Arthur!" But he kept walking. "Arthur!" Molly caught up with him a short distance from the shed door and grabbed his wrist.

Everything happened so fast. He wrenched his hand out of her grasp, grabbing her wrist in the process, and raised his free hand as he spun around, fire burning in his eyes. Bill, Ron, and Ginny immediately took off to the spot where this scene was unraveling.

A/N: So, there's chapter 1. I have the first few chapters written out already, so I should be able to update by Monday. Please review and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoyed chapter 1!

Also, if you have been reading "Secrets Revealed", I will be doing an epilogue and it should be up by Thursday.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.