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Percy didn’t yell at his children.
He believed it to be ineffective when it came to disciplining them and so, he had other ways of dealing with their bad behavior. It worked well, the majority of the time. He was usually able to reign in his temper, even when his girls had their moments where they tried to push the limits and see how far they could go. Even so, there were occasions-- rarely but still so--where he didn’t quite make it. Where he just exploded .
Such as now.
His girls knew his study was off limits. They were not to go in there alone and under absolutely no circumstances, were they permitted to touch anything. He had important parchments in there for his line of work. They could not be touched. Not be messed with or tossed around. They knew that. They’d told him they understood.
He thought it was perfectly clear.
And then he came into the room to find the mess .
It was as if a whirlwind had swept through there. His parchment papers were being thrown in the air. A bottle of expensive ink that he’d recently bought had spilled over on his desk, dripping onto the carpet. Molly was in the center of the room, giggling and jumping around. He stood there in the doorway, thunderstruck. Rendered speechless with a gaping mouth.
His brain short-circuited.
He’d...
He’d told them.
He specifically said not to enter unless he was accompanying them.
And what did Molly do? She not only came inside but made a bloody huge mess!
“ Margaret Grace Weasley !” be barked.
Molly looked up at him with her blue eyes, head tilted. A beam came onto her face at the sight of him. “Daddy!” She said happily. He did not reciprocate her happiness. The anger that surged through his veins was so great that he trembled . He..he had deadlines to make. Things to look over, to sign. He did not have the time to clean up a mess and organize everything back to the way it was.
He put his fingers on his forehead, massaging the skin to soften the incoming headache. “What were you thinking?” He exclaimed, unable to suppress the incredulity from his voice. “You and Lucy know you’re not allowed in here!”
The smile dropped from Molly’s face. She shrunk a little. She opened her mouth but he was so blinded by his fury he did not want to hear it.
“No, I don’t want to hear excuses, Molly!” He snapped. He gestured around them. “Look at this mess ! Do you understand how busy I am right now? I don’t have time for this. What..what made you think you could disobey like that? You know the rules. You don’t get to ignore them whenever you like!”
He’d raised his voice. Shouting at her in a way that he hadn’t before. His daughter’s face crumpled up and tears welled in her eyes. He shook his head.
“Daddy...”
“No,” He said sharply. “No. No waterworks, Molly. I’m not in the mood for it.”
“But Daddy-”
“But nothing ! You knew the rules and still chose to disobey. Now you get to do nothing for a month. No Burrow, no dessert, no nothing . And you get to explain to your grandparents and uncle why you’re not allowed over for Uncle George’s birthday.”
Molly’s lip wobbled. She’d been looking forward to George’s party as he always made it extra fun for the kids.
“Go to your room,” Percy threw his hands up in the air, his anger starting to affect his head. He knew it was bad when he began to feel lightheaded. His pressure had skyrocketed in these few short minutes. Molly let out a sob as she rushed past him, stomping all the way upstairs.
Percy sat down in his chair, slumping down with his face in his hands, sighing.
////
“Look alive Uncle George is here!”
“Uncle Georgie!” Lucy giggled as she was picked up and tossed in the air and then caught back in her uncle’s arms safely.
“There’s one of my favorite nieces,” George bopped her on the nose. She giggled again. “Where’s the other one and your dad?”
Lucy had a grin on her face as she used her little hand to gesture for her uncle to lean in closer. George raised his eyebrows but did so. “Daddy’s mad,” She whispered into his ear.
“Oh, is he?”
She nodded like it was top secret information. “At Molly. She was bad .”
George hummed. “Bad, huh? How come?”
“I don’t know. But Daddy yelled.”
“Must be pretty serious. Say, Lucy, why don’t I leave you here and I’ll go check on your dad, okay?” George put her down and set off in search of his brother. He eventually found Percy in his study. It was still a mess. George took a glance around and casually asked,
“You redecorating in here, Perce? It's about time.”
“Don't start with me,” Percy scowled. He was in no mood to hear his brother’s teasing.
George held his arms up in surrender. “What’s got your panties in a wad?”
“In case it’s escaped you, my study is a complete mess !” Percy snapped.
“I know that,” George said. “But what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that my daughter refuses to listen to basic instructions.”
“ Oh ,” George nodded understandingly. “So that’s what Lucy meant.”
“She told you?”
“In a roundabout way. She said you were mad at Molly. Didn’t say what for.”
Percy yanked on his hair. “I don’t understand what’s so difficult to understand. I specifically told the girls they weren’t permitted to enter unless I’m with them. And yet I find Molly in here making a huge mess!” He shook his head, attempting to calm down. “I told Molly she isn’t going to do anything for a month, including your party. I’m sorry but we’ll have to miss it. I’ll drop Lucy off or see if dad can take her.”
George frowned. “Little harsh, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely not. Molly needs to learn consequences. I’ll not have her run amok and do whatever she pleases.”
“No one’s saying that,” George told him and then added, “Lucy told me you yelled.”
“Of course, I did! Wouldn't you?” Percy gestured wildly around them.
“Perce, you never yell.”
“I’m allowed to lose my temper sometimes,” Percy grumbled. “I’m behind on my work now, George. All because she didn’t want to listen.”
“She’s a kid. She’ll do that,” George shrugged.
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“No. But you can’t expect her to be perfect all the time.”
George received a harsh glare from Percy. “I don’t expect my daughters to be perfect. I expect them to listen.”
“All the time?” George raised his eyebrows. “Think you’re expecting a bit much from them.”
Percy stared at his brother. “I’m expecting too much from my children because I expect them to listen?”
“Don’t go twisting my words,” George scolded him. “You’re expecting too much because you don’t think they’ll mess up. Don’t you remember what Dad said to Bill when Vic was in her terrible twos?”
Percy did. He’d explained to them that when children started to become more independent, they would try to see how far they could go in regards to boundaries. So it shouldn’t be seen as unusual when Vic began having more tantrums or exhibiting different behavior.
But Molly wasn’t in her terrible two stage. She was seven years old. Perfectly old enough to comprehend why something she was doing was wrong.
“Yes, I remember.”
“Good,” George grinned, “I forgot. Knew it was something important, though.”
Percy rolled his eyes.
“Percy, come on. You’re overreacting just a bit. Punish her, sure, but don’t turn into Mum.”
George did an exaggerated shudder.
“I’m not turning into Mum,” Percy said, believing that the notion was absurd.
“I dunno...remember how she used to yell at all of us?”
Percy said nothing.
“And remember Bill and Charlie hated it? They said if they have kids, they’d never do that.”
“They were children themselves,” Percy reminded him. ‘Of course they’d say that. But it’s different when you're a parent, George, It happens sometimes.”
“I know that,” George huffed. “But don’t you remember how Mum screamed at me and Fred for everything ?”
“I remember you and Fred causing her to scream at you.”
“Not all the time,” George protested. He then dropped that particular subject. “All I’m saying is don’t treat Molly or Lucy like Mum treated us sometimes. Did Mum ever apologize?”
“What?” Percy was caught off guard by the subject change.
“Did Mum ever apologize?”
“When?”
“When she did something wrong,” George clarified. Percy was confused. “Remember when she thought me and Fred ate the pie?”
Percy was exasperated now. “ Goerge -”
“Just listen,” George scolded him. “Do you?”
“Yes,” Percy rolled his eyes. That was the pie she’d made for Bill when he'd been made Head-Boy. It never got to him in one piece because when their Mum went to grab it after dinner, she discovered that someone had already been gnawing on it. Right out of the middle. Oh, she’d been furious ! “I remember.”
“She screamed at us for hours.”
“It wasn’t that long.”
“ Felt like it. Then Dad got on us for it.”
Their parents had immediately suspected Fred and George of getting into the pie. They’d loudly insisted otherwise and were quite upset when their parents had banished them to their bedroom for the rest of the evening, followed by no dessert for a month.
It was sometime later, a year perhaps, when the truth had come out.
It was Ron who had done it. He snuck into the kitchen when their Mum had her back turned and ate the majority of the pie, keeping silent while the twins were punished for it instead.
“Never apologized either,” George pointed out.
Percy lowered his eyes. It was true. She never did. Even when the truth came out and Ron admitted to the whole thing, she’d only pursed her lips and said,
“Well, you two are usually into something .”
“Don’t be like that with your girls,” George said quietly.
Percy sighed softly.
////
“Molly, sweetheart?”
Percy opened the door to her bedroom, surveying around but could see no signs of his daughter. That is, until he saw a shoe sticking out from under her bed. He lowered himself to the floor where he repeated himself.
“I’m not here!” Came her muffled response. “Go away!”
But Percy did not.
He would not.
He got as small as he could make himself, crawling underneath to where she was. A scowl came on her face at the sight of him. He spotted her wiping away a few tears on her face, burying her face in her stuffed hippogriff.
“Go away!”
“Honey,” He winced, “please, just listen to Daddy for a second-”
“ No !”
“Molly,” Percy took her hand just as she was trying to inch her way back out. “Please, listen to me, okay?”
She stayed put but refused to look at him.
“Sweetheart, I’m very sorry I yelled at you.”
She sniffled. “You are?”
“Yes,” Percy nodded--or tried to. The space he had was limited.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Can I give you a hug?” She looked hopeful.
“Of course you can,” He smiled tenderly. He slid out from under and so did she, crashing into him with tiny arms going around his neck and her face pressed into his sternum. Percy kissed the top of her head, giving her a squeeze.
“It was really scary, Daddy,” Molly whispered.
He cupped her face, looking into those blue eyes of hers. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Molly. I would never do that to you or your sister. You know that, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“Good,” He shifted her so she sat better in his lap.
“But why did you do it?”
He blew out a puff of air. They always had to ask the difficult questions, didn’t they? “Well, I was upset. I don’t like it when you or Lucy disobey me.”
“But why do you get to yell and we can’t?”
“Well, I shouldn’t be doing it either,” He said carefully after a moment of internal deliberation.
“Then why did you?”
If Molly kept this up, she could be a good lawyer. “Sometimes,” He said, “we do things we don’t mean to do. Just like when we say things we don’t mean to say. I was unhappy with work and when you disobeyed me, I lost my temper. And I’m very sorry for it, okay?”
“Okay,” She said quietly.
He held her tighter. “We still have to talk about your punishment.” She deflated, looking sad all over again. “I know. But you still went into my office after I told you not to.”
“Okay,” She mumbled.
“However, I was a bit too harsh with you earlier,” Percy admitted. “Instead of a month, I think a week will suffice. No dessert or that play date with Cody and you're going to help me clean up my office.”
She wasn’t thrilled about it but it wouldn’t have been a proper punishment if she was.
“Okay,” She snuggled closer and they stayed there for a bit longer. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too,” he whispered.