along with that chapter, there's this chapter (so this is a two-chapter update). it's a 'court chapter' and it's short so there was no need to really wait for it in my opinion. i'll try to update the court chapters like this, so that you get a court chapter after every 'past' event. after this, there's a big time skip of a couple of months, well into the wedding preparations...

Little Glass Houses

Chapter Fifteen: Bill Takes A Stand

Seven Months Later

Bill Weasley wiped the sweat that was forming around his mouth, in his hair, on his hands. He hung his head in shame, strands of orange-almost-ruby-looking hair falling in front of his eyes. The toast he ate this morning made his throat feel drier than ever. Bill tried not to look at the jury, least he'd recognise them. Least they saw his shame, wafting off him like a deadly perfume.

"Do you swear to tell the court the truth, nothing but the truth, so help you Merlin?" he wasn't sure who was talking to him. Bill was just staring at the light into the court. He looked at a sea of people he didn't know. Why were they there? And then his family, who he couldn't look at it without wanting to tear his hair off.

"Yes," Bill smoothed over his second-hand suit that smelled of talcum powder and overpriced infant formula. Thinking of Victoire in his arms the day before, fragile, and small, terrified him.

Hanford stood in front of him, proud and villain-like. "Mr Weasley," all of them were Mr Weasley. Arthur, Bill, Charlie, George, Ron—he might as well even call Molly and Ginny Mr Weasley. "I would like to talk about Christmas." A shiver went down Bill's spine. It was starting to protrude a little more. He was barely eating these days. Barely had the taste for it. "You went into the victim's flat for tea and biscuits." Bill nodded his head, though he was not sure if he should start agreeing then. "He told you that he didn't need help with your brother's death—that he'd just…managed to get through with it. And rather quickly."

"Yes," Bill's lip twitched, trying not to look at George's face. He'd be able to tell his expression even from the stands, even without a magnifying charm. He would be able to tell. "I didn't know about—"

"Is this a normal behaviour for an individual?" he turned to the jury as if to make a point. Hanford just gestured to Bill, as if he were making that point himself. "A young man dies in a war, a horrible war, in a brutal way—and yet his brother doesn't really care much for it!" he paused. "This is someone that you watched grow up. This is someone that shared a bed with you, shared meals with you, shared clothes with you even! And our victim somehow manages to get over his death with a flick of an eye?" he laughed dryly.

Bill didn't know that 'more pressing things' involved being battered by his own girlfriend for five days a week for years. How much did you have to change to be able to survive something like that?

To share a living with someone for years and years and listen to all the horrible things that they'd said and thought about you? How could you live through it without believing that it was true? How could you even process death the same way as everyone else? Bill didn't know if Percy was ever going to be the same again.

Hanford cocked his head to one side. "He said he had…more 'pressing things'?"

The words he'd wanted to say had gone died on his tongue. "Yes," Bill said quietly. "I didn't know about—"

"Yes, well, that is a tragedy," Hanford tsk-tsk-tsked. "And as I recall, the defendant was under the impression that the victim was ill and that was the reason why he hadn't turned up to his own family's Christmas party. Though this was never, ever addressed by any members of the family—and you never actually believed that the victim had any reason for lying," He paused, waiting for Bill to give an explanation to why they never asked the right bloody questions. "Then the defendant asked to meet victim outside."

"Yes," Bill's chest hurt because he knew what Hanford was going to mention. "Then I heard shouting."

"What did you hear?" Hanford had puffed out his chest quite proudly. The W in his robes felt like they were mocking him, mocking Bill for not figuring it out sooner. For not helping his own flesh and blood.

"Penelope had…" Bill closed his eyes, his throat burning. "Penelope told Percy not to touch her."

"She said that he was insatiable from my understanding?" Hanford turned to the jury, again, making a point.

A point that Percy was a sex-obsessed fool that was obviously unhinged, because he didn't mourn his own brother's death and had a preoccupation with being the centre of attention! Bill thought that it was all a farse.

"Yes," he paused.

Hanford cleared his throat. "And then—"

"You're making him look like a monster," Bill cut him off. He was breathing heavily. "If these people knew how Percy was really like, how subdued, how he never bloody said no then they'd understand that—"

"You knew all of that and you still believed that he might have raped Penelope Clearwater," Hanford cut him off. "So, what point are you trying to really make here? That even you didn't believe him? That you, his family, who had known him for most of your life, who thought his behaviour was very withdrawn, still had no problem believing that he might have committed a heinous crime against the defendant at the time?"

And there was it, the plain truth right in front of his eyes. The reason why he was stood here. If his own family didn't believe in Percy, then why should a whole jury be convinced that Percy was a victim?

"In fact, his own mother didn't believe him," Hanford sounded amused almost. "Is that correct?"

"Yes," Bill's voice was lower now, so low, because of his shame.

"And did you, and I quote," Hanford looked at his papers, but Bill could tell that he didn't need to look at them. That he knew what he was saying even before he said it. "Did you corner your own brother, thereon afterwards, and claim that he may be quiet and nice to you, but he has a 'fucked-up dark sex life' with his girlfriend? You've even confronted him about his 'shy and defenceless' routine if I recall correctly."

Bill wished he could take it all back. "That only proves he has a selfish, horrible brother," his voice cracked.

"Is your whole family selfish and horrible?" Hanford echoed with a raised eyebrow. "You're talking about a family of heroes here, and they're all bad enough that they didn't see something so supposedly striking? You're talking about people that not only believed in the rise of You-Know-Who before the rest of the wizarding population, but took a chance on Harry Potter when most of the nation didn't? Is there something that is wrong with that family, or with that power-obsessed fool disowning his family?"

"Objection!" Anais cried out from where she stood.

"Nobody likes you, Hanford and it is against the rules, as I remind you once again, to mention events that have happened prior to the war. Percy Weasley is not on trial for the actions he committed before the war, and neither are any of his family," the Chief Warlock looked at him with a sigh. "Can you just wrap this up?"

Percy deserves better, was all that Bill could think about. He deserved better than this trial.

"What happened afterwards?" Hanford cocked his head to the side.

Bill felt a drop of sweat fall onto his cheek. "A couple of months after, Percy—"

"I mean what happened when you were having dinner?" Hanford cut him off. Man, why bother having anyone on the witness stand if he kept cutting them off? "I believe that the defendant, so nicely, straightened out the misunderstanding. This was a woman that had been in fear of her life. She had nearly been attacked!"

Hanford smiled at him, smirking practically. "Is that correct? Did the defendant straighten out this misunderstanding?"

"Yes, but…Ginny said that…" Bill's voice trembled. "That she saw Penelope stage the whole thing."

"It doesn't sound like you cared much at this piece of information at the time," Hanford just shrugged. Merlin, what a tool. "The defendant and victim had left the Christmas dinner without this ever being brought up during the time that they were there. The defendant had never been confronted about it. Tell me, if this is such a relevant piece of information, why was it never brought up by your family, Mr Weasley?"

"We…we didn't think it was important at the time," Bill was starting to realise that his defence was breaking.

"So, if you, the family of the victim, didn't care enough at the time to confront the defendant about such a baseless life-ruining accusation, then why should the jury care?" the sentence laid hung in the air.

Bill stayed quiet. He was supposed to be standing there, defending Percy and he couldn't.

Hanford then stared at him thoughtfully. "And then nothing really happened the few months after, I suppose," Bill nodded his head sombrely, thinking about it. "After your daughter was born. After…"

"Yes," Bill replied back quietly. It had been quiet for the most part. "Then there were his wedding preparations. We saw more of Penelope than we saw of him during the time, but when they were together, he didn't really talk much." He said. "But sometimes, we felt like it was normal. Like we'd…almost gotten used to him being the way that he was. But not all the time, of course."

"Quiet?" Hanford inquired. "You had gotten used to him acting strangely, is that what you meant?"

Bill nodded his head. "Yes," he cleared his throat. "We'd asked him about it quite a few times, but we'd mostly accepted it as the new normal." After he'd exploded, after he'd asked Percy straight up why he was acting so strange and after what had happened to him—he'd just…dropped it.

"This behaviour that was so peculiar you told the jury about it a thousand times," Hanford echoed. "You accepted that behaviour as normal? I'm sure you know what I'll ask now, Mr Weasley, but if you had gotten used to this behaviour and started seeing it as normal, why should the jury feel like it's really that striking of a behaviour or a personality change?"

"Because we…we didn't do right by him. It's not his fault. He was…" remorse filled him, in a way that he could barely even cope with. "Everyone accepted him again," Bill could remember George starting to smile at Percy in the living room. "Things felt like they were normal." If only then he had known that it was the calm before the storm. "But every day that I wake up, I hate myself a little more for not doing a bloody thing."

Bill shook his head. "Do you know what she did to him?"

"Allegedly," Hanford mentioned coolly. "Well! Now after we've established this all-important Christmas debacle…" Hanford turned to the jury one more time. "How about we speed this up? I'd like to go to the few weeks prior to the incident occurring," he smiled. "Can you tell us about it, Mr Weasley?"

"Y…yes," Bill replied back quietly. He thought about it all the time. Because he might have not known exactly what happened at Christmas, but he felt like he should've been able to tell when it came when it came to the wedding fall-out. He should've known better. But he didn't. And they'd failed Percy, as a brother, as a son, as a friend. "There were the wedding preparations for Percy and Penelope's wedding…"