Disclaimer: Don't own.
Errr... you hate me, I know, I keep posting new stories when I should be updating my other ones. But this one didn't want to be left alone. Away, the basic plot? Well, what if Percy had a very different reason for the fight he had with his family. What if it wasn't even a real fight? What if he just needed to get somewhere really quickly and couldn't afford to reason though his decisions. What if... Yeah, that about covers it. Read, review and enjoy!
What If
Fred and George had had it, they had had it with their mother crying at Christmas when the jumper was sent back, they had had it with everyone talking as if the family was something less than one without one of its members. So they had devised a cunning plan. Find out where Percy lived and drag him back to the burrow, kicking and screaming if necessary. They were rather proud of this plan, as they had come up with it on the spur of the moment while visiting the ministry to see their father. The war had been over for almost a year, everything was piecing itself back together slowly. The only thing that remained broken was their family. The thought had just struck them out of the blue and they had immediately changed course towards the records, where Percy's address should be kept as part of the employee register. It proved a disturbingly easy task to find their brothers file and the address, written neatly at the top of the first page.
Perhaps had they bothered to read on they mightn't have been so surprised by what they found when they got there and knocked on the door.
"Oh for the love of everything magical!" Percy's voice was easily distinguishable through the door, his tone taking on a note of frustration, annoyance, and resignation all mixed together. The twin's shared a look, that was a tone that had very normally been reserved for themselves. Whatever could Percy be so annoyed about. "OLIVER! Put that down right now!"
'Oliver?' they mouthed to each other, pressing closer suddenly.
"Oliver, could you give me a hand here; I can't do this and open the door at the same time!"
There was a laugh that the twins remembered from their old school team captain. What was Oliver doing in Percy's flat?
There was a loud bang, the sound of something hitting the floor. "I swear on Merlin's beard that if that is broken--"
"Percy, open the door, I've got it covered."
Percy's voice was closer to the door the next time he spoke. "Since when have you ever had it bloody covered." there was a slight pause when the twins knew Percy had reached the door and was most likely smoothing down his robes. Too bad they'd get all rumpled again when they dragged him off. After saying hi to Oliver of course. Percy opened the door, but his attention was distracted away from it by yet another loud bang, with a frustrated sigh he looked back, his body blocking most of the room. "I knew letting you talk me into buying those things was a bad idea!" he said.
Oliver, who the twins could just about see behind their brother laughed. "I only suggested it; you didn't have to buy them."
Percy shook is head. "Of course not, you only went and suggested it at Christmas. I had no choice in the matter." he turned back to the door. "Sorry, you'll have to excuse..." he took a step back as he recognised them.
"Percy?" Oliver asked having seen Percy moved away from the door and fearing the worst. The room fell silent.
"Um... What do you want?" he asked, his voice rising to a squeak by the end.
Fred'n'George grinned wickedly. "We're here to drag you back home so you can sort out the mess you made!" Fred told him sternly. "Hi Oliver!" George added with a wave.
Percy straightened suddenly. "I don't think so--" he began.
"You haven't got a choice!" the twin's said in unison, raising their wands.
Percy deflected the spell easily; after all, he was very skilled, despite what he did with his talents. "No, you misunderstand me. I don't think so at the moment."
"Oh, and why is that?" Fred demanded.
Percy seemed to deflate a little. "Because... em..."
Oliver came up behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. "Well, you always knew it was gonna happen Perce. You gotta tell them now."
Percy grimaced. "Why did it have to be them!" he muttered. He squared his shoulders, shaking off Oliver's hand. "Fine. Would you like to come in for a moment and I'll try to explain why I can't go anywhere for the moment."
Curious now beyond words the twins nodded mutely and stepped in the small living room of the flat. Percy motioned them to the sofa, waiting until they took a seat before he attempted to begin. But his words got lost, and he looked to Oliver for help. Oliver shrugged and smiled.
George had been watching the two of them carefully. "You gay Percy?"
Percy's jaw literally dropped at that statement, and Oliver started to crack up. Glaring at Oliver Percy righted himself. "I most certainly am not!" he told them sternly.
"Then what?" Fred asked. "It had better be bloody good for putting mum through everything you did these last four years!"
Percy blew out a sigh.
"Maybe you should just show them." Oliver suggested, and before Percy could respond one way or the other, he bellowed. "Boys!"
Fred and George turned when the door at the left hand side of the room burst outwards, just in time to catch sight of two little redheaded bundles tumbling onto the floor. They frowned, for the moment completely uncomprehending, though there was something scarily familiar about them.
"Yes Uncle Oliver?" the bundles asked, detangling themselves and becoming two separate beings. Two small little boys, both with red hair and an abundance of freckles. A lot like...
Fred and George turned back to Percy, open-mouthed.
Percy could only offer them a helpless little smile. "Oliver, Arthur, could you come here for a moment." he called to the two little boys.
The two boys bounced over to him happily, coming to stand on either side of them. "Yes daddy?" the one on the right asked, looking up, the one on the left as far more interested in the two strangers on the sofa. "Who are they daddy?" he asked, scrunching his nose up cutely. They couldn't have been more than four, if even.
Percy's long fingers came down to rest on the curly hair of both his children, ruffling them lightly. "They're your uncles, Fred and George."
Two sets of bright blue eyes lit up immediately. "The one's who are twins like us?" the one on the right demanded happily.
"Yes Oliver, the one's who are twins like you and Arthur." Percy smiled, a smile his brothers could never recall seeing before, but they weren't paying too much attention to Percy, their entire attention was focused on the identical boys in front of them, both of whom looked like minuture versions of Percy, well, a kind of opposite mirror of Percy in a way. The one Percy had called Oliver seemed bouncy, happy and intent to cause mischief if the glint in his eyes were anything to go by. The other, Arthur, was like a mini Percy, complete with analysing stare, you could just tell he was working out exactly who, what, where, when and how when he looked at you.
"Ummm..." Fred managed finally, which was a lot more than George could have managed right then.
Oliver gave them both a clap on the shoulder, startling them. "See, that's why he can't go with you at the moment. The twins are a bit sick today." he told them.
Percy bit back a groan. "Which reminds me. Oliver, bathroom now, Arthur, go and get your glasses would you and give them to me before you lose them again and then bathroom!"
"But daddy!" the two cried in perfect unison.
"No 'but daddy's'. Get, now!" Percy said, he didn't raise his voice, didn't even make it seem like he was yelling. But the two boys went. At the door to the room they had burst out of little Oliver turned.
"When we've had our bath can we play with Uncle Fred and Uncle George?" he asked hopefully.
Arthur glanced over as well, also hopeful.
Percy looked at his brothers and back to his son's. "We'll see." he offered them.
"I'll keep an eye on them Percy, you'd better start explaining I reckon, before your brothers keel over from shock." Oliver chuckled.
Percy nodded, taking a seat in the recliner, looking thoughtfully at his brothers. Fred and George were just coming back to full awareness, still not fully comprehending, but almost there, when Percy suddenly called. "Oliver!"
"Yes?" Oliver called back.
"Take Arthur's glasses for me, and don't let them take those blasted brooms into the bath!"
"Yeah yeah. I have done this before Percy!"
"That's why I'm reminding you." that said he turned to his brothers. "Now. I assume you want an explanation, no?"
George shook himself out of it first. "Yes, Merlin yes. What the hell is going on here?"
"Did we step into an alternate reality without realising it?" Fred added.
Percy grimaced slightly. "Ah, no, you haven't."
"Ok," Fred started, pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts. "They're yours? Like definitely?"
Percy smiled wryly at that one. "I believe the evidence speaks for itself in that regard." he told them. "Yes, they're definitely mine."
"How come you never told us?" George asked. "I mean... mum would have..."
"Oh, and how was I supposed to do that, just waltz back to the burrow one day and say, 'well, you see my dear parents, I didn't mean to exile myself from the family, but my psycho ex-girlfriend as going to put your first grandchildren up for adoption of I didn't arrive at the hospital to take them by six exactly. The timing of our last conversation together couldn't have been worse.' Really, that would have gone over well."
"Why didn't you tell them before then?" Fred asked.
"Psycho ex-girlfriend? You mean Penelope Clearwater?" George asked.
"Yes, I mean Penelope. And I couldn't tell anyone before then Fred!" Percy snapped, the memory obviously striking a nerve.
"But why not?" Fred demanded. "Did you think mum would be mad at you for getting Penelope pregnant?"
"No..." Percy said softly.
"Then why?"
Percy closed his eyes tightly, rubbing his nose under his glasses for a moment. "Because she was going to have it terminated." he said quietly, so quietly his brother didn't hear him.
"She was what?" George asked, wanting to understand.
"She was going to kill them." Percy said louder.
"She what!" George let out all his breath in a rush.
Percy looked at them, not knowing what reaction to expect, but he was glad to see shock, and a trace of anger, hopefully not directed at him for once. "Yes. I suppose you would like the full story. I suppose I owe you that much after everything." he took a deep breath and sighed slowly.
Explaining would be difficult, but it might help them understand what had happened, why he had left as he had, why he had never come back.
Feeling their eyes boring into him, demanding answers, he knew it was going to be very difficult.
err.. you like? Hopefully you do. well. reveiw!
Next Chapter: Percy begins his story. We drift into the past, and how all this started... well...