THE SUMMER AFTER THE GOBLET

BY INDUS

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with J. K. Rowling or anyone involved in the creation or publication of the Harry Potter books and movies. Any original characters or situations in this story belong to me.

This is my first attempt at a Harry Potter fanfic, so please be nice and read and review.

This is Percy, Oliver slash so you might not want to read this if you have a problem with that.

Ron sighed and turned over in bed. Across the room, his best friend Harry Potter sat up, pushed his hair away from his forehead, uncovering the scar that made him famous, and patiently asked, "Do you want to talk?"

"What's there to talk about? The Death Eaters decided to get rid of the Ministry of Magic, and a pesky Weasley while they were at it, so they send a letter to Percy that was charmed with a very affective exploding spell. I mean, it's not like they succeeded at their ultimate goal, since Percy just happened to work through the entire night and opened the letter as soon as the owl brought it at night instead of waiting for the next day when more people were there in the Ministry. No one was killed because Percy used a spell to open the letter while he bent down under the desk to pick up a pen that he'd dropped. The desk shielded him from enough of the blast for him to be alive. Since the Ministry has copies of every important document in their Gringott's vault, nothing important was lost and they're a lot more careful with their mail. So, why should I be in dire need of some talking?"

By this time, Ron was shouting, and he had startled his entire family. They had all gathered in the doorway, and their expressions showed the same lack of sleep as his. Hermione, who was late because she was the only one to be actually woken up, was standing behind them. Molly Weasley was, for once, unable to comfort her youngest son, and could only hold onto her equally grief-stricken husband in the silence that followed Ron's outburst. Bill and Charlie looked wretched, as they fought demons of their own and tried to come to terms with their inability to protect their little brother. It was George and Fred who reached out to comfort Ron, and they did so with the maturity they had been displaying since that awful day, soon after the end of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. They were the ones who suggested that Hermione and Harry spend the last few weeks of the summer vacation at the Burrow, to cheer up the youngest Weasleys, and they now dispersed the group at the door, quietly told Harry to turn around and try to sleep, as they talked quietly to their little brother.

As Harry turned around and tried to sleep, Hermione put an arm around Ginny and walked her over to the room they were sharing. As she got into bed, the 15-year-old girl thought again of the events of that day, one that was rapidly becoming as famous as the night of James and Lily Potter's deaths.

She had been in Diagon Valley, visiting the world of witchcraft and wizardry. It was only two weeks after the unsettling end to the school year, and she had felt a need to steep herself in the more positive aspects of the magic world. After spending a day in a witch's small and ancient library, she rented a room in the inn and decided to stay there for the night. Her parents thought she was at an old friend's house, and while Hermione wasn't doing anything wrong, she had just felt a need to escape. Nine months of living on her own and facing dangerous adventures had made her more than a little independent. However, all that changed the next day. For a long time, whenever she wasn't at school, Hermione made sure her parents knew exactly where she was.

At about two in the morning, she realized that thinking too much of the last few weeks at Hogwarts was keeping her awake and set out for a walk, when she felt the ground shake and heard the noise of an explosion.

She ran to find out what was going on. There was a group of people who could immediately be recognized as witches from their clothes and speech, babbling excitedly and pointing to an empty shell of a building that was once the Ministry of Magic. Muggles walking by stopped and looked confused. They too had heard the noise but all they could see was an old, large house. It had always been thought necessary to hide the Ministry from them.

Soon, someone from the Ministry arrived and put a spell on the Muggles present to make them forget the strange sight of people pointing at a perfectly normal building. It was late in the night so few Muggles were actually present. Then the hologram was extended to cover rescue teams and medically trained witches and wizards. Those in the magic world came within the perimeter of the hologram to watch helplessly, and hope that no one was in the building. The body of the caretaker and a few owls was soon found, but Hermione had no idea that somewhere in the rubble lay her friend Percy.

All around England, and the rest of the world, witches and wizards were woken with the news of what had happened to the Ministry of Magic. There was not much panicking since a representative soon came out with the statement that there would have been extremely limited personnel present and little or no important paperwork lost. Work started at the usual time in a different location, and strangely enough the Ministry was still divided on the issue of whether or not Voldemort had returned. Those who did not believe Harry's story clung to the opinion that this was the work of a rogue group of his former Death Eaters. Harry himself found about the news after an owl was dispatched from Ron, whose family was trying to reach Percy at the apartment he shared with Oliver. Wood was on an emergency flight home from a Quidditch game in Turkey. At this point, they all believed Percy to be at home, asleep. Since he did not have a telephone, his family was not yet frantic, and Oliver was only returning because he thought Percy might need him. They weren't keeping their relationship a secret anymore, and the tolerant world they lived in allowed his coach to understand why he needed to leave.

Then, a list of all the people who had not arrived at work that day was made and sent to top officials as well as rescue teams. Arthur was shocked to read his own son's name and immediately rushed off to find the apartment, where he met Oliver. It was immediately obvious that Percy had not spent the night there, and Arthur rushed down to the Burrow to inform the family of the new development, while Oliver went to the old Ministry and waited with Hermione.

The twins, Ron and Ginny were with Molly Weasley, reading the latest messages from friends and family. They had not yet noticed that Arthur and other top officials had stopped sending them updates, and were completely ignorant of their brother's plight.

"Molly, there's something I need to tell you," Arthur Weasley walked into his home. His children looked confused by his entrance, but Molly immediately guessed the news. She got up and began to talk about the letters, in an effort to stop him from speaking. Suddenly, Bill and Charlie walked in.

"Hi! We came back as soon as we heard," Charlie said to his father. "We needed to see that you and Perce were Ok for ourselves."

Bill looked around the room and asked," Where is Perce, anyway?"

Arthur sighed and spoke heavily, "He didn't show up at work today and his apartment doesn't show any signs of him having spent the night there. No dishes, and an undisturbed bed… He was in the middle of an important project and we think he might have stayed at the Ministry until late last night."

Molly Weasley let out a sharp cry and her husband went to her at once. Ginny began to cry and was hugged tight by Bill, while Ron quietly went upstairs and took comfort in the practical task of informing Harry. Within minutes the boy who lived was packed and on his way to London. Charlie, one of the most active members of the family simply used Floo powder to get himself to London and join the rescue teams while the twins sat shell-shocked. Despite the strained relations between Fred, George and Percy, they were the three closest in age and they were brothers, and that was all that mattered at a time such as this.

Within a couple of hours, it was established that Percy was the only one who was actually missing, as the other people on the list were found to either be on vacation or in their homes, afraid to go to the new location of the Ministry. By now the Weasleys and Harry had also arrived at the site of the explosion, and rescue attempts were concentrated on the vicinity of Percy's office. It would be sixteen hours after the explosion that he would be removed from the debris, barely clinging to life.