I don't own any part of Harry Potter. I wish I did, but there you go.
Percy, the Lost Story
Percy walked through the office. How dull life had become after school and yet how much had changed. It had been three years since he had stormed out of his parents house and two years since he had realized what an idiot he had been. All along his parents and the rest of his family had been right, but he was too caught up in his own importance to see it. When it finally came out, there was no way he could face his family. After all the things he had said and done, the way he took the side of his boss instead of his own father, he knew that it would take a miracle to get back to even okay with them. It wasn't like he was very popular to begin with. He had always been something of a loner amongst his family. Maybe that was why he felt that he had to prove himself, away from them. A lot of good that had done him. He was now more ostracized than ever, barely meeting his father's glances on the lifts and never setting foot into his brothers' shop. Even though he had worked so hard and had gotten such good grades all throughout school, it was those two, they who had never gotten 3 OWLs between them, who were the most successful in the family. A part of him resented that, mostly because it was always one of the twins that was picking on him, but another part of him was proud. He was worried about his siblings who were supposed to be in school now. Ginny was for sure. Barely a day went by that he didn't hear something of her mischievous antics towards the new Headmaster. Ron, he had overheard, had a case of Spaggoit. It had come out later that he had been traveling with Harry Potter. He hadn't believed the first story for a second. They may had covered their tracks for the inspectors, but he had been willing to bet his modest savings of gold that his brother was traveling along with Harry and Hermione Granger.
He finished up some paperwork and attended a few meetings with his boss. He was not a fan of Thicknesse. He didn't much care for the jokes the Minister had to offer, but he had to laugh just the same. If you didn't laugh at a Muggle joke you were pretty much considered a traitor on the spot and Percy couldn't afford to lose his protection. Not after all it had cost him. The day flew by fairly quickly and after declining a trip to the pub he headed back to his quiet flat on the other side of London.
He arrived home after a short trip and made a fire. Despite being early May it was still quite cold out. He made himself a glass of tea and sat down in his beat-up chair. On the mantle directly in front of him were two pictures. One was of the family taken in Egypt the summer before his last year at school. It was one of the happiest he could find and he looked at it quite often, especially when he was thinking up ways to make it up to them. The other was a picture of Aberforth Dumbledore. It may have seemed odd to anyone looking in that he had a picture of his former headmaster's brother on his fireplace mantle, but after looking at the other picture and thinking long and hard about what he could do, he would then turn to the second picture and think back to the day at the bar several months ago.
He accompanied Thicknesse to the school to make sure that everything was still running smoothly. Or at least as smoothly as could be expected considering the circumstances. After receiving an excellent report, the Minister asked Headmaster Snape if he would like to join him for a round at the Three Broomsticks. The trio set forth to the small village of Hogsmede where the tavern lay, running into many students along the way.
"Hogsmede weekend," Snape had muttered. "Why we still allow them I don't know."
"Come now Severus," the Minister replied with a smile, "give the children a break. After all, this is probably as much fun as they'll ever get."
They both laughed wickedly as the neared the tavern. When they walked in, Percy's eyes immediately found his sister, laughing and talking with her friends. He wanted to avoid her as much as possible but as his luck would have it the only free table in the entire area was next to hers. He made a quick excuse about having to pick up something from town and headed out as quickly as he could. Once outside, he found the wind bitter and fast and most of the shops were closed. He spied the other pub a little ways off the beaten path. The Hog's Head. This place was much quieter, only one other patron besides himself. When the man looked up he recognized Percy as the minister's assistant and quickly hurried off.
"I won't have you scaring off my few customers," the barkeeper barked. "Tell me what the minister wants and be on your way then."
"I don't have anything from the minister," Percy replied in confusion. "I'm just here to get away from the cold and get a drink."
"Are you now?" sneered the old man. "Well then, you can just turn right around and get a pint from Rosmerta. I don't need more of your kind in here."
"'My kind'?" he stuttered in anger. "What do you mean, 'my kind'?"
"I know that when the son of the biggest blood-traitor family becomes a traitor to them, it gets around. How do you live with that shame?" The man's eyes, so like his brother's, pierced him in the same way.
"You don't understand," he yelled. "I had to follow what I believed."
"And you were wrong. So now, instead of apologizing to them, you've turned your back on them and joined up with all the rest of the ministry Death Eaters, is that right?"
"I'm no Death Eater!" Percy bellowed. "You think I want to be there? You think I like what they do? I hate it! I wish I could do something, but I can't. And maybe it's because I'm a coward, but I can't think of any way to help. If you have any suggestions, I'd really love to hear them." He was panting slightly, but he was pleased. Aberforth had a dumbfounded look on his face.
"If you feel like that, and so strongly, then why don't you join up with your family again?"
"Because I need to prove to them that I can be good. And I can't do that just yet," he admitted.
Aberforth nodded. "Then I'll make you a deal. Stay in touch with me, and I'll let you know anything important that happens around here. I'm sure that sooner or later something will come up that will help you prove yourself. For now, bide your time."
Percy rubbed his eyes, pulling himself back into the present. He thought a lot about what Aberforth had told him, but nothing had happened yet. He was so desperate that even now he imagined that Aberforth's head was looking out at him from the fireplace. But it was!
"Weasley!" he snapped. "Quit your daydreaming. There's going to be a battle at Hogwarts and somehow I didn't think you'd want to miss this. I was able to rig up the fireplace to the floo network so get your arse over here now!" The head disappeared. As quick as lightning he jumped out of the chair and threw a fistful of floo powder into the flames. Almost before they turned their emerald color he dashed in and yelled, "Hog's Head!" This at last might be his chance to prove to his family that he was still one of them, could still be good. As long as he didn't mess it up, he'd be fine.