April ended too soon. Tensions in the house were high and no one could explain it.
Luna immediately accepted her role of being Lucy's godmother and had taken to helping Penelope with the twins whenever possible. The Weasleys had even started to get jealous of the amount of time Luna spent with the twins. Luna had even almost gotten into an argument with George on who got to hold their goddaughter.
"You've held her long enough, George."
"I helped birth this baby, I think I have rights to hold her for half an hour."
Everything changed when word came that there had just been a break in at Gringotts. By Harry Potter none-the-less.
The Weasley family scrambled to find order while trying to figure out just what was happening. Their questions were answered when Ginny pulled out her galleon and read it to the family.
'He's back. Need reinforcements. It ends tonight.'
That had created a new kind of frenzy within Aunt Muriel's home. By the time everyone had their plans set, Penelope was left rocking the twins in their cot. She was conflicted. Did she go to fight? Or did she stay and take care of her only children?
George and Fred opened the door without warning and shut it in the same moment.
Fred walked right up to her and said, "You need to stay."
"No-", she tried to reason with him but he cut her off.
"You're the only thing they've got. You need to stay, Penelope." George nodded behind his twin.
"I'm not going to stand back while you all fight! It's not right!"
Fred shook his head, "It's not right to leave them orphans, Penelope! That's not right!"
"I'm smarter than-"
Fred cut her off, "Percy was smarter than all of them and look at him now!"
It was as if he'd slapped her.
"Fred." She croaked brokenly and she scrambled to get away from him.
"If we find out you leave, we're going to find you and bring you right back, so don't waste our time. Your daughters need you." They left her room in seconds.
She stood with her hands fisted in her robes until the last 'crack' of a hurried disapparation filled her ears.
George stumbled out of the portrait hole that led to the Room of Requirement. He could hear his mother arguing with Ginny to go back to Aunt Muriel's. He still couldn't believe that they'd talked like that to Penelope. He tried to reason that he'd tried to shock her into staying put, but there was that annoying voice in his mind, the one that sounded eerily like Percy, telling him he shouldn't have done that.
Actually, now that he had tuned back into the conversation around him, he did hear a voice quite like Percy's resonating from the open portrait hole.
"Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I- I-"
Every Weasley in the room stopped. Each one's gaze fell on the man with horn-rimmed glasses and the red scar on his face.
Percy jumped out of the portrait hole and pressed his lips together as he tried to figure out why everyone had stopped moving in the middle of a battle.
The silence was broken by Mrs. Weasley, who released a high pitched screech and threw her arms around her long lost son. His long arms automatically hugged her back.
"My boy! You're alive!" But before anyone else could move, Percy tore away from his mother with tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Mum, Dad! I- I never meant to say those things! I-" The majority of his siblings didn't let him finish as they converged on him as a whole, all near tears in relief.
Ginny stood on the outside of the circle, her hand in her mouth to stifle sobs. "I'm so sorry for how I treated you, Percy! You magnificent idiot! I can't believe you would- You- Penelope said- We thought-" Ginny joined the hug and buried herself in the crook of Percy's arm. The Weasley family was whole once more. Molly resolved to keep it that way. While the rest of his family pulled back from the hug, his mother's hands kept dragging down his face as she sobbed openly saying 'my baby, what happened, oh Percy' repeatedly.
Percy slowly tugged her hands from his face and wiped at his own tears that had collected behind his glasses. He turned to the rest of his family.
"Where's Penelope?"
Fred spoke quickly, "She's at Muriel's house, taking care of the girls. She wanted to come but we told her to stay put."
Percy felt the breath leave him in one blow. His girls… He grinned stupidly, "My girls? They're both girls, then! What did she name them? How are they? Are they healthy? When were they born?" He shot off the questions rapidly, filled with adrenaline.
"Would you like to go see them now?" Arthur spoke up. He had thought it was a brilliant idea until his son's grin slowly faded into a troubled frown.
"No… Not yet," before he could be interrupted, he continued, "Pen'd never stay there if she knew I was here. I want her safe, away from the battle."
Ginny felt conflicted and tried to convince him to go to his wife, "But, Percy, she was so sad- You should've seen her when she-"
"I've worked so hard to keep her safe, I'm not ruining it in one night."
His voice was strong and Arthur was that much prouder of his son.
George tilted his head, "How did you know to come?"
"Well, I actually made contact with Aberforth Dumbledore, he's the reason I'm alive, really, and he told me about ten minutes ago, so I couldn't just stand by while you all were here." Percy looked to the ground until George swung an arm over his shoulders.
"Well, we do look to our prefects to take lead at times such as these," he paused, "Now, c'mon, before all the good Death Eaters are taken!" Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, and Percy quickly exited the room.
The chaos of struggling-to-escape students was the first thing they saw when the doors opened.
Penelope quieted the crying Lucy with a quick bottle. The twins were as restless as she was. Her heart ached as she made up her mind. She wouldn't- she couldn't just stand by as her family fought the most evil wizard of all time.
She turned back to the wide awake twins. "I'm so sorry, Sweets. With any luck, I'll be back by morning."
"I love you both so much. But I have to help. The future won't be kind to you if we fail tonight."
Molly blinked up at her mother while Lucy downed the bottle. They made soft, babbling noises and Penelope ran her hand through Molly's hair before she placed Lucy back with her sister. She gave both twins a kiss on the forehead before she found Muriel in the den.
"I had no idea you were still here." Muriel snapped at her. Penelope gripped her wand in her hand.
"Yes, well, I'm leaving now. Please take care of my twins."
Muriel glared and nodded and Penelope stepped outside before she apparated into the Hog's Head.
When she dropped into the Room of Requirement, she was surprised to find Luna waiting for her with Harry Potter himself, wanting to know about a diadem.
Percy, Fred, George, and Lee stood over a crude map of the castle.
"George and Lee can cover this side," Fred pointed to the far side of the castle, "We have a lot, a lot, of Whiz-Bangs that can hold off some of the creatures from the forest."
"And you and I can take the other side, near this corridor here, so they can't break through the windows there." Percy nodded. It'd been his idea to separate the twins so they wouldn't be distracted.
"Exactly."
After a quick not-goodbye, the brothers and their friend shot off in different directions.
"Fred- please, tell me about my daughters." Percy huffed as he ran alongside his brother.
"They- They're adorable. Safe. You can see them yourself when we get back."
Percy rolled his eyes as they rounded a corner. His eyes widened significantly as he saw his former boss standing in front of him. He felt Fred's presence right behind him, ready to back him up.
"Hello Minister!" Percy saw Ron out of the corner of his eye but focused on the opponent who kept firing spells at him, "Did I mention I resigned?"
He heard Fred laugh from behind him and grinned triumphantly when his old boss turned into a sea urchin.
His heart nearly stopped when he heard a familiar 'eep' coming from the end of the hall.
Penelope watched as Luna was whisked away from her by a boy with sandy brown hair and another boy with the Hufflepuff crest on his tattered robe.
"Be careful!" She cried as they exited the castle and started cutting through the chaos on the grounds. She heard a scream and gripped her wand as she rounded a corner. A burly man on a broomstick dodged her expertly before turning around to see her.
His eyes locked on her face in shock. "I thought you were dead!" A curse flew above their heads and the moment was over.
"Flipendo!" Her spell threw a Death Eater through a window and Oliver stunned two more.
"Nice to see you- too, Ollie!" She shouted between the curses she was tossing out the broken. "Is Katie here-!"
He frowned when he spotted Mandrakes being thrown from Ravenclaw Tower.
"She's out on the grounds. By the pitch, with Angelina and Alicia. I've got to find her, you alright here, Penny?"
"Just fine. Be safe, Woodie." She nodded through a hex and he was gone. She finished off the Death Eater with half a mask by stunning him quite harshly. Her heart pounded and her mind raced. What should she do? Where should she go? Should she find the Weasleys? Where were Fred and George?
The castle shook and she made her decision. To the Great Hall. But as she raced down stairs and across halls, a surge of tears arose and blurred her vision.
She groaned loudly and wiped at her face.
Stop crying. Why are you crying?! She slowed her run to a walk and the flames of an incendio almost caught her in the face. She couldn't help the 'eep' that escaped her lips. She moved quickly behind a pillar and as a 're' rolled off a tongue, she knew she was about to die. She saw her years at Hogwarts pass before her eyes, all those precious moments with Percy, and the past months with her daughters filled her mind - her happy baby girls with her dark curly hair and his bright blue eyes.
She wished she hadn't left them orphans. But they wouldn't be alone. They'd have each other and Penelope knew the entire Weasley family was already wrapped around their tiny fingers. She thought of Percy and welcomed death as her ears picked up the sound of 'ducto!'.
Followed quickly by a loud 'Protego!'
Her clammy skin went cold.
"Stupefy!"
That voice.
She bounded from behind the pillar and she struggled to keep her composure as dark red hair and horn-rimmed glasses entered her vision. It couldn't be. She'd seen him dead on the ground. She'd almost touched him. But there he was.
He fixed his lopsided glasses and his breath caught in his throat when his eyes finally caught hers.
She screamed but no sound left her lips.
Everything else vanished; the battle cries, the rumbling floors, the screams, there was only Percy.
Before she knew it, she was wrapped up in his arms, sobbing and clutching at his coat. He brought them both to their knees and buried his face in her neck. She pulled his head back to get a good look at him. There was a bright red line across his face but he was Percy and he was alive, and in one swift move, she reveled in the familiar feel of his lips on hers.
She heard an enraged huff from a few meters away.
"What are you doing here?!" Fred shouted.
Percy pulled them off the ground and steadied her.
She laughed and cried as her feet met the ground. She placed her hands on either side of Percy's face and pulled him down to meet her lips once more. She felt him grinning into the kiss and she laughed and pulled away. You're alive.
"I've missed you." His voice was so rough and Penelope restrained herself from breaking down right then and there.
"I thought you were dead." She wailed and held him tightly.
Fred, despite his anger at Penelope for disobeying a direct order, grinned and waved at Ron, Harry, and Hermione as they entered the corridor; he quickly made his way to his little brother and his friends, who were wheezing.
Penelope turned to face Fred and shouted, "Am I crazy?"
Percy answered her as he pulled her flush against him, "Not at the moment, but I'm sure you'll be back to normal soon."
Fred released a barking laugh. "Percy! You're joking! I don't think I've heard you joke since you were-"
And it all went to hell.