This takes place in the same universe as all my others. For this story to make the most possible sense, I'd suggest going through the parts of my Dreams Series that I've posted first, but the main point you need for this story is that Ginny dreams real (usually past) events that happened to people closely connected to her. For those of you who remember the Dreams Series, I am working on Chapter Seven, but I've hit a roadblock, so for now you're getting this separate but tangentially related little scene...

This is set at the end of Harry's sixth year.

Disclaimer: They aren't mine; please don't sue me!

Summary: Percy wasn't born a stick in the mud.



Sisters

Harry and Ginny were lying out on the lawn by the lake, her head on his stomach. It was the middle of June, exams just done, and everything was beautiful and warm.

"I had sisters, did you know that?"

Harry propped himself up on his elbows, surprised. "No, I didn't know that."

Ginny kept staring straight up at the clouds. "I hadn't just been having dreams about you these past few years. I had one about Percy a few times. When they woke me up I just pretended it was one of the ones I'd already had about you, though. I didn't want to tell remind them.

"It was before I was born. Mum wasn't even pregnant with Fred and George yet, or only just barely. Percy was only maybe eighteen months or so, I'm not sure he even remembers this.

"Bill was about to start Hogwarts. Mum and Dad took him and Charlie to Diagon Alley to get all Bill's school things. A neighbor's daughter came over to watch Percy and Katherine and Anna.

"Right before they left, Dad was joking with Percy and said, 'You have to keep an eye on them, Percy--You're the man of the house now, got to keep all these women safe.' I think it was to rile Katherine and Anna up. They were already very independent, even at seven and four.

"Halfway through the afternoon Percy decided to play hide and seek without telling anyone. Apparently he was very mischievous at one point long ago. Pretty soon all three were looking for him. He'd somehow managed to magic himself up into a tree, and he was giggling to himself because they were looking all around the yard and didn't see him. He was breaking the rules and loving it..." Ginny smiled sadly.

"That's when the death eaters came. They all just apparated in the middle of the yard in broad daylight. They asked where our parents were. I think they were after Dad, Muggle-loving and all that. None of them answered, they were too scared. So they just Avada Kedavra'ed and Dark Mark'ed them, just like that, and disapparated.

"Percy was still up in the tree, too much in shock to make any noise at all. They never knew he was there. He must have been up there for nearly an hour before my parents and brothers came home and saw the Dark Mark over the house.

"I've never seen grief like that, Harry... Mum and Dad were torn between going to Katherine and Anna and clinging to Bill and Charlie. It only took a minute to register Percy wasn't there, and that made them frantic, running all over the garden, tearing through the house...

"Dad finally found him in the tree, he held him for the longest time. Percy could finally cry, they all could. Dad was so grateful that one of his children had survived, so angry that Percy had had to watch his sisters die.

"All Percy could think was that he'd broken the rules and he hadn't been looking out for the women and the men had come and killed them. He'd taken Dad seriously, he wasn't even two, he didn't know any better. I don't think Dad remembered saying that to him, it was just a joke, after all.

"I get the impression that Percy doesn't directly remember any of that day now, he was so little, and probably would have mentally blocked it anyway. I think it's just a part of who he is now.

"Bill and Charlie must remember, they were old enough, they saw Katherine and Anna and the sitter. And Mum and Dad. They've never talked about them. George and Fred and Ron must suspect... I mean a seven-year gap in kids is really odd in a family of nine. But I guess by the time you're old enough to notice how strange that is you're old enough to realize that maybe that's a question you're not supposed to ask.

She looked at Harry briefly and gave a tiny grin.

"Drives the rest of the family crazy, though, how rules-oriented he is. And protective. I mean you saw how he was with Ron at the end of the second challenge. And I remember seeing him just shell-shocked when Penelope was petrified. She just couldn't take that side of him anymore, you know. That's why they broke up."

Ginny stopped for a minute. She picked a piece of grass and played with it, her eyes fixed on her hands.

"I would have never been born, I don't think, if Anna and Katherine hadn't died. I think Mom and Dad kept trying until they had another girl."

What do you say to that? Harry unclasped Ginny's hands and kissed one of them. Then he stroked her forehead and remained silent until they walked in for dinner.


Finis


Unresolved, I know...

Please read and review :) To all of you who do: You are so kind, thank you!