Peace Treaty

Chapter 26

"Dad, did you-"
"-find what we-"
"-asked you to find?" The twins asked as soon as Arthur entered their shop. 

"Yes, the parchment is stored in Molly's cupboard with so many wards." Arthur said keeping the parchment on the table and looked at it with nothing but disgust. The disgust was not towards the person who wrote this letter rather it is towards the people who are at his house right now. "I'm going to burn it now."

"Go ahead." Fred nodded seeing how he is tense from the moment he entered. 

"What's wrong?" George asked him as soon as the parchment turned into ashes. 

"Nothing. I just decided it is best to divorce your mother." Arthur rubbed his forehead making them frown. It's not that they are not happy by his decision, but they know something must've happened for him to take this decision finally. They tried to convince him a lot and he didn't agree, but suddenly he is saying that he is going to divorce Molly, something must've happened that changed his decision.

"How did you find this?" Fred asked instead. 
"And how did you manage to bring without alerting her?" George asked him. 

They think Arthur's change of mind is something related to the parchment which is now turned into ashes on the table. He must've seen something or heard something when he was trying to find this particular parchment at Burrow. They wanted to know what upset their father to suddenly take this big but wise decision. 

"I started searching from our bedroom when you told me about it. I was hoping to not find it and Molly wouldn't go to such extremes for money. But, I became suspicious when I saw a vault in Molly's cupboard with so many wards. It took me a few days to remove the wards and take the parchment out. I just took it out this morning and left to ministry as usual. I remembered that I forgot to put the other parchment in the vault in place of the original parchment and went back. I was about to open the cupboard when Albus came in to the room." Arthur sighed. 

"Dumbledore came to the master bedroom at Burrow?" George frowned at that.

"He must've known about the missing parchment. Molly must've informed him as soon as she saw the empty vault. I didn't think she would check it so soon." Arthur explained. "But, I felt so disgusted knowing they are so heartless and would do something like using her blood to forcefully adopt Lyra and turn her life into hell."

"Dad-" "No, Fred." Arthur shook his head. "I understood how much Molly changed as soon as I found this parchment in our bedroom. I said a few things to Molly while leaving which I know aren't completely true as she would never do what I accused her of. But, she has become someone I couldn't recognize anymore."

"Don't blame yourself." George said to him placing his hand around his dad in support. 

"I don't know how she became into some like this. Why didn't I see it? I don't even know when she started changing into a money-minded person. May be, I was too busy at the ministry earning money that I didn't notice her change in behavior." Arthur shook his head. 

"Dad, it's not your fault. You only worked hard for us." Fred said to him. 

"I'm sorry for not noticing it earlier." Arthur still apologized. "You suffered because of-"

"No." They said sternly. 

"Don't you dare-"
"-blame yourself."
"You are the best dad." The twins said hugging him tightly. 

"I love you guys." Arthur said hugging them back. "I need to find an attorney to file for divorce. I can't live with her anymore."

"We can help-"
"-you in finding one." They smirked at each other before grinning at Arthur who chuckled at their antics.