Title: Finally Home
Summary: Percy Weasley's journey—three things that made him leave his family, and four that made him come back. Small little three-shot.
Rating: K+ (PG) for slightly dark thoughts
Author: Phinneas McCheeser
Finally Home
Chapter One
Percival Ignotus Weasley was the third oldest child in his family of nine, and he had always been different.
He grew up in a large family. Granted, they had never had much money, but family had always come first. Family. It had been second nature to say he was part of the Weasley family, until he realized he was different.
Bill was the oldest. Percy remembered him leaving for Hogwarts—he was so exited to finally be going. He remembered Bill getting the letter before his seventh year saying he was Head Boy, and thinking that, in four years, that was where he wanted to be.
Charlie had left for Hogwarts a year after Bill. He was never Prefect, opting instead for Seeking, soon becoming a Quidditch star of Hogwarts legend.
Fred and George were two years younger than he was. The twins had been pranksters since the moment they were born—using the wrong names, finishing each other's sentences, always looking exactly the same.
Ron was two years younger than the twins, and he was just Ron. Percy had always wished that Ron would become successful and follow in his footsteps—even enter the Ministry, perhaps. Secretly, he thought that was all Ron was good for.
Ginny was the youngest, and the only girl. She was always doted over by Molly and Arthur, their parents. She was always far too protected, far too innocent. But she was too hot-headed to go into the Ministry. With a temper to match her flaming red hair, the girl would never fit in.
And that was all it was for Percy—fitting in. He had always wondered where he fit into in the rather large Weasley family puzzle. The logical answer was right between the Charlie and the twins—and Percy was nothing if not a logical thinker. But he always felt that his piece of the puzzle was somewhat rough and chipped around the edges, for his strict approach to life seemed to be constantly clashing with the easygoing attitude of his parents and siblings. Quite honestly, as soon as he realized this he began to see himself as more of a next-door neighbour than a member of the family.
Fred and George were forever pranking him. Ginny would tell them to stop, but there was laughter in her warm brown eyes, and he knew she didn't mean it. Ron seemed quite out of place at those times, often excusing himself to go upstairs or outside, occasionally laughing, occasionally saying nothing at all.
The truth of the matter, Percy felt, was that he didn't fit in. He was the misfit of the family. And there it was, all out in the open, the fact that he wanted to leave. Days of bitter thoughts turned to weeks, and in that time Percy managed to convince himself that he had always wanted to. And then he did the unthinkable and did.
Percy could remember every detail of it as if it were yesterday, yesterday and not weeks ago. He had been so proud of his new position in the Ministry. His father was not. The argument had followed. He remembered seeing his sister's eyes as if through a haze. They were wide open and scared—scared that their happy family would fall apart. And it did.
He remembered leaving, not looking back, feeling no regret. The only things he remembered were his anger—burning, white-hot, unadulterated anger—and his sister's eyes. No longer scared, they had been filled with a burning hate, and a clear challenge of sorts: You leave, never come back, and see if I care. See if we care.
He had run because he felt unrecongnised, leaving behind him a broken family that would never be the same.
He had been hungry for power and money. Money. The second reason he had left. He wanted to help them. Yes, he was angry at his father, but it had passed. He was earning money working for the Ministry, and he was saving it, some each week, for the day he would go back. The day they admitted that You-Know-Who wasn't back, and that Harry Potter was a liar. The day they would see he was right.
He had only wanted to do to do it for them—to make a better world. And when he was proven right he would finally be accepted, finally fit in.
The third reason he had left? It was hate, plain and simple. He loved his family, he supposed. Professor Sprout had once said that love just happened naturally in a family—though he supposed she was talking to her Hufflepuffs. So, if he followed that reasoning, it was love that made him leave. But he knew deep down that it was hate—for his family's ideals, their blind faith, and, he supposed, for them. Percy wrestled with these thoughts—they plagued him day after day, every minute, every hour. Did he love his family? And now, he supposed—because it was all suppositions, really—that he hated his family, if that was what made him leave.
Hate. Percy knew it was a negative emotion, but sometimes it can be well founded. His family hated You-Know-Who when he was alive. And he certainly deserved to be hated. It was a well founded feeling. Did his family deserve that? Were they like You-Know-Who? Was his hate well founded?
Deep down, Percy knew the answer. But it took a certain amount of bravery to face it. The Sorting Hat did say he would do well in Slytherin—he had ambition, and he didn't get into Gryffindor for his bravery. He had gotten in because of his family—and these days, that meant nothing.
Author's Note
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does. Out of respect for her, I decided to use several British spellings and terms in this story. Yes, I do know how to spell the 'American' way, and I know that the term 'snogging' is most definitely British. However, J. K. Rowling is not American, she is British, and I want to honor that.
I am also attempting to emulate her style of writing—if you're anything of a fictional writer, you know that it is near impossible to copy someone else's voice perfectly, which is why I'm not trying. I just want to make you think of the Harry Potter books while reading this. Jo uses a lot of semicolons and long sentences, so it was a bit hard, and I ask that you just bear with me here.
Next chapter should be up soon! (Unless you don't review… Then I will delete this story and no one on fanfiction will ever see it again! Muahahahahahha!)
There will be a magic time-skip before the nest chapter; chapter 2 will take place in 7th year, GTST (Golden Trio Standard Time, hehehe!), during the Horcrux hunt.
Chapter One (Not counting A/N): 958 words.
-Phinneas