Most unfortunately, I am not JKR. I know, shocking. Somehow I will get over the pain.
Ron looked closely at the brother seated across the table from him. It was easy, in times like these, to feel helpless, so Ron had taken to observing his surroundings to distract himself. The target of his most recent observations was none other than the prodigal son himself, Percy.
Percy and Ron had never been close, per say, but in childhood they had held something of an alliance over the fact that they had been the twins' favorite targets for pranks. It wasn't much, but it had been something to bond over, at least until Percy had gone off to school.
Now, almost ten years later, Ron was getting his first good look at his brother since fourth year. The man seated in front of him was so unlike the arrogant older brother Ron remembered that he was having a hard time reconciling him as the same person.
It was just Ron, Percy, Bill, and Ginny sitting in the Great Hall at the moment, as their father and Charlie were checking the Burrow and their mother and George had left the room towards some unknown destination a few minutes prior. Fleur and Hermione could be seen on the opposite end of the hall with Madam Pomfrey, helping in the makeshift hospital wing set up there. Despite the somberness of the event, the fact that Ginny was sobbing in Bill's arms, and the gritty feel of battle that Ron suspected would forever tarnish the halls of Hogwarts, he couldn't help but want to smile at the thought of Hermione, in his arms, kissing him...
Back to Percy, though. His glasses were off, the left lens sporting a crack right through the middle that Percy couldn't seem to be bothered to fix, and his blue eyes, identical to Ron's and their father's, were focused on a deep gouge in the table that could just as easily have been caused by a misfired spell as an age old prank. Every movement he made was careful, as if one wrong move would cause the shaky forgiveness between himself and the rest of the Weasleys to crumble. Ron's concentration on Percy was shaken by the entrance of the new Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and a thin, dark-haired woman in healer's robes who looked to be a few years older than Ron. Kingsley gestured at the knot of Weasleys, something which went unnoticed by all of the siblings but Ron, and the dark-haired woman nodded with a grateful smile and started in their direction. Ron was fully prepared to tell the lady that no, he did not have any idea where Harry was, that was one of their many concerns at the moment, when she stopped uncertainly a few feet away from the table. Probably had something to do with the amount of tears being shed by Bill and Ginny a few spaces down from Ron and Percy.
"Mr. Weasley?" she called quietly. Once again, Ron seemed to be the only one to notice her.
"Which one?" he said tiredly. The woman blinked.
"Percy, I believe," she said after a moment. Ron reached across the table and jostled Percy on the shoulder. Percy jumped, and his hand was halfway to his wand before he came to himself and looked nervously at Ron, who sighed and pointed at the woman.
"She wants to speak with you," he explained. Percy nodded and slowly turned.
"Can I help you?" he asked, confused. The woman took several steps forward, then visibly steeled herself and sat gingerly on the bench next to Percy. Ron watched with interest.
"My name is Audrey Perez. I was a year below you, in Ravenclaw," the woman said, toying with the end of a strand of long hair. Percy seemed to recognize the name. "Shacklebolt told me what you did for my family, and I wanted to thank you."
Percy winced slightly, and glanced at Ron. "It was the least I could do," he said finally, as evenly as possible. Ron could see, though, that this Audrey woman's thanks had shaken him. He looked disbelievingly at his older brother. Out of the corner of his eye, Ron could see Bill look up from Ginny and do the same.
Audrey either didn't notice the incredulous stares of the other Weasley brothers, or pretended not to. She seemed to think about it for a moment, then quickly hugged Percy, which rattled him further. "You gave my family a chance to go into hiding. If there is anything I can ever do for you, to thank you, please owl me." She handed Percy a card, then headed towards Madam Pomfrey on the other side of the room. Percy looked at it for a moment, before shaking his head and folding his hands on the table, gaze once again fixated on the gouge in the table.
Bill cleared his throat, which caused Ginny to raise her head from his chest. She wiped her eyes, then followed Bill's stare to Percy, who gave no indication of the attention other than a slight reddening of his cheeks. "What was that all about, Perce?" Bill asked, voice scratchy.
"What did you do?" Ron added, then winced at his accidentally accusatory tone. "I mean, for her?" Ginny looked between an extremely uncomfortable Percy and Bill and Ron in interest.
Percy fiddled with the arm of his glasses, before tapping the lens with his wand and fixing the crack. He cleaned them with the hem of his shirt and put them on. Ron, who had been best mates with a guy who wore glasses since first year, wondered if it was a universal glasses-wearer thing to mess with your specs when trying to stall. After a solid minute, Percy looked up and met Bill's eye quickly, then Ginny's and Ron's, before looking back to the table.
"By the time I knew and had accepted I was on the wrong side of things, it was too late to go back," he began, then paused. "So, when Kingsley approached me and asked me to tell him the things I heard around the ministry, about half a year ago, I agreed," Percy said slowly. "I could only do so much, but I was high up enough to get some good information." He cleared his throat. "I also was in a prime position regarding the Muggleborn Registration Commission. My other job was to make muggleborns… disappear."
Ron was surely gaping at Percy now, if the looks on Bill and Ginny's faces were any indication. Percy leveled a flat look at the three of them, the first expression Ron had seen on his face that held any resemblance to the brother that had left the family the summer after fourth year. "You must know that the MRC was little more than a hit list for Death Eaters. I couldn't save everyone, but I could help."
At that, Ginny disentangled herself from Bill and threw herself at Percy, who looked almost as unsure of the hug from his sister as he had at the one from Audrey Perez. Bill and Ron exchanged a look, then Ron got up and joined the hug. It was relieving, to know that Percy hadn't only decided the ministry was in the wrong when Voldemort launched an attack at a school full of children, like Ron had feared. Bill followed a moment later, wrapping an arm around Percy and Ron, with Ginny crushed in the middle. The whole thing was eerily reminiscent of lighter days, days when they were all young and group hugs mended scraped knees, not the relationships between estranged siblings. Ron could feel Percy's glasses digging into his shoulder, and he wondered idly when he had gotten taller than Percy.
Their family would never be whole again, but that was alright. It wasn't fair, that the Weasleys had to lose one brother so soon after they got another back, but they had survived.
Three years later, there would be a wedding. Bill would have a toddler in his lap, Fleur's head on his shoulder, her hand on her softly protruding stomach. Ginny would have her left hand on Harry's knee, a sparkling diamond on her ring finger, glinting in the floating lights overhead. George would have Angelina Johnson on his left, an empty seat on his right, but a smile on his face. Molly and Arthur would look on proudly. Ron would make a speech, stumbling over his words, Hermione giggling softly at his side, a hand with a silver band on her fourth finger covering her mouth. Ron would tell this story, in his speech. He would tell how Audrey Perez asked if there was anything she could do to thank Percy Weasley for what he did to save her family. He would say how glad he was that Audrey Perez was now Audrey Weasley, because she brought their family back together, without knowing it at the time. He would finish his speech by asking if there was anything he could do to thank her. Percy would kiss his new bride, and the people gathered to celebrate would cheer.