Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Almost a month since the dedication of the War Memorial on the Hogwarts grounds commerating one year since the Battle at Hogwarts, two brothers were grappling about how to let their families know that they were moving to Paris to start new lives
Almost two months since the dedication of the War Memorial on the Hogwarts grounds commerating one year since the Battle at Hogwarts, two brothers were grappling about how to let their family know that they were moving to Paris to start new lives. When they arrived at their family home, the Burrow for their typical Sunday dinner with the family, after dessert while Fleur was putting her baby down for a nap they decided to make their announcement.
"Mom, dad and everyone I just accepted a job to work as the assistant to the British Diplomat in France. I'll be living in Paris and if I do a good job Kingsley told me that he might be able to use me in the diplomatic corps. It's been over a year now and I think that its time for me to leave England," Percy told his family.
"Where would you live at?" Fleur asked him sounding curious as to where he would live though she did have an inkling that it was going to be France since she had been tutoring him and George in French this past year.
"Paris, that's where I would be stationed at," Percy answered them hoping that they would approve of his plan to move to Paris.
"Why do you want to move over there for when you've only returned to the family this past year? You know that you'll always have your memories no matter where you go," Molly tried to reason with her son, even though she was secretly proud of his new position.
"I'm going to look after George, since he's going to open up a branch of his joke shop there and we're going to share a flat together. This past year of us living together have helped us get closer as brothers and being far away from the rest of you would help us get closer," Percy answered his mother hoping that she wouldn't question George too much about wanting to live abroad.
"Is this true, George?" Molly asked her other son sounding worried.
"Yes, it is mother my business over here is doing so well that I'm planning on expanding to the French market. It's what Fred would have wanted and Ron's already agreed to run the Diagon Alley store since he's out of school now. He's been training with me on the weekends so he does know the business inside out. I've already found a place for the shop and a flat as well," George reassured his mother who hoped that the two of them weren't running away from their heartbreak that had happened a little over a year ago.
Molly could see the sadness in Percy's eyes when Victoire was born since him and Penelope Clearwater were supposed to get married at the end of the war, until she was killed in the Battle at Hogwarts. She saw the same sadness in Charlie's eyes, though she suspected that the woman that he loved was already married to someone else when she died, plus he also started collecting muggle art prints.
"I think that it's great that you want to move to Paris, it would be good to experience another country," Fleur told them forgetting that she was homesick when she first came to live at the Burrow.
Molly knew that this would be a good opportunity for them, but she was still worried that they were trying to run away from their pasts.
"Mom anyway I want to live where no one knows me as half of the Weasley twins and feels sorry for me because my other half is gone," George told his family.
Everyone looked at him with understanding, knowing how hard this past year was hard on him, since losing his twin though he and Percy had become closer this year.
"If this is what you want, then we'll agree with it but please take care of yourselves while over there and don't just bury yourselves in your work. You need to go out and live life again, maybe you'll be able to do that in Paris better than what you can in London," Arthur told his sons.
Of course Molly wanted to know when they were leaving so that she could throw them a going away party. She only hoped that she would at least have enough time to plan and prepare for a party with her shifts at the hospital as a nurse her time was busy enough as it is.
"We'll be leaving in two weeks and we don't expect a party for us, though you can throw us a small dinner for us when we leave, since we'll be leaving early Monday morning," Percy told his mum knowing that she wanted to plan some sort of farewell party for them like she did for Bill and Charlie when they moved abroad.
"Maybe we'll find some prints that Charlie likes so much since he's now collecting art prints," George told his mother not knowing the real reason that Charlie is collecting art from one particular artist.
The other Weasleys looked at them wondering if they would ever come back home or if they would just stay in France for the rest of their lives.
"Besides it might even be beneficial for us to get away from here, away from all of the memories here," Percy tried to convince everyone that this is the best thing for them. "Well, since you're grown now we really can't forbid you from moving and if Fred was still alive we would be overjoyed that they would want to expand their business. I do want you to know that you would always be welcome here," their dad told them.
Later on that evening when Percy and George returned to their shared flat, they started to pack everything up in their flat in order to get ready for their move. The two of them were eager to get out of England with all of the memories that they had of their lost loved ones. The two of them had gotten closer this past year, since they've understood what the other one was going through and knew that they needed this move.
A couple of weeks later, on the day before they were supposed to move to their new home, the two of them arrived at the Burrow to find out that it was decorated for a going away party. They reluctantly joined in the festivities, though Fleur had helped with the cooking, especially with the French foods that were prepared. Both George and Percy were surprised that their mother would even go through all of this trouble for their leaving. They should have guessed that their mother wouldn't let them leave without some sort of party, since Bill and Charlie had going away parties when they took jobs in Egypt and Romania respectively. Percy even remembered catching Charlie snogging Tonks at his own party, though they did break up shortly afterward since their long distance relationship didn't work out. This was a small celebration according to their mum's standards with only their family and a few close friends there. They did try to enjoy themselves though, getting well wishes from their friends and family.
Bill came up to them, "Don't forget that we'll be going over there in a couple of weeks in order to let Fleur's parents see Victoire and we'll be going to France for Christmas this year as well. Since for obvious reasons we spent Christmas over here last year."
Both George and Percy looked pleased at this news, since they would miss their family while they were gone. They did know that this was for the best though. The next morning when they were getting ready to leave, they looked around their flat for one last time noticing how empty that it looked without their things in there. George had already sent ahead some of his product that would go in his Paris shop and given Ron instructions to send him a report on his Diagon Alley store once a week. When they arrived in Paris, they found the flat that they would be sharing for the next year at least and started to unpack to make their new flat seem like home. Percy had a week before his new position would begin with the British Embassy, so he helped George in setting up his new shop in the wizarding shopping district in Paris. During his free time though, Percy went out exploring in his new city, both in the wizarding and muggle districts. He even went to several art galleries, where he found a muggle painting for his brother, Charlie in one of them. He even saw a nice looking girl there whose name badge identified her as Audrey, but he was sure that a nice looking muggle girl wouldn't want to go out with a bloke like him. He did stop by that particular gallery every day though and bought art prints from her. He even visited both muggle and wizarding museums, where he took in the local culture. Meanwhile, his brother George was spending all of his free time in getting his shop ready for the opening of his shop in two weeks and receiving daily updates from Ron on his Diagon Alley shop. During the first week of Percy's job at the embassy, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that the main language spoken was his native English, though his knowledge of French did come in handy sometimes. During the next couple of weeks, Percy stopped in at the art gallery where Audrey worked at and bought prints from her each time. A couple of weeks after the two brothers were settled with their lives in Paris, they received an owl from their brother Bill inviting them to a sip and see party for their new niece Victoire at the DeLacour's villa in the south of France. Enclosed with the invitation was a not from Bill letting know that attendance to this event was mandatory, even threatening to tell their mother that they were being reclusive and shutting themselves from the world if they didn't show up. When the two brothers saw the note at the bottom, they knew that they better attend or else their mother would show up to make sure that they were taking care of themselves which they didn't want to do, so they made plans to go on the Saturday of the event. George even made sure that his new assistant, Pierre was going to be able to handle the shop on his own on a Sunday when he was going out of town. The two of them were excited to see their brother Bill and their new niece for the first time since moving to Paris. Since they've already given Victoire their presents at her first sip and see that their mum held for them back in England they really didn't need to bring her anymore presents. Percy though decided to bring one of his new art prints that he bought, as something that Bill and Fleur could hang up in their nursery.