The corridor held a deafening silence to it as Percy walked away. His shoes were sharply thudding against the floor, head held high, showing no such remorse for the harsh words he'd spoken to his father. Acting like what just exploded in front of their eyes was nothing out of the ordinary. After what they'd witnessed, no one did anything. Not one person confronted Percy over it to defend Mr. Weasley's honor, nor did they verbally agree with him. Had he rattled them?

Evidently so.

Because once Percy rounded the corner, the vicinity erupted into whispers, the gossip mill was about to take off in full swing. People just couldn't believe what they'd seen, what they'd heard. They were taken aback by his astonishing behavior. Percy was so mild tempered, they said; he never raised his voice ever. It wasn't like him. Despite that no one had said anything to him as a result of his anger-and their apprehension it would turn on them-there was a bit of a division. A couple people thought that he'd gone too far, shouting at his father like that. Others were less sympathetic. They were on Percy's side, they thought it was about time he'd done something about that situation. Percy must have mentioned the fight to someone, or they might have gathered such from the unmistakable tension between Mr. Weasley and his son.

Harry felt awfully sorry for Mr. Weasley. He was rooted in his spot, eyes staring ahead at where Percy had gone. The anger had drained from his face and other than a touch of wornness, he didn't look like his face had much of anything to it. There was not a shimmer of expression to his eyes either. It was just...dead in there. Unsurprisingly so. It must have been difficult to hear his own son disown his family. Mr. Weasley had been hoping to mend things. Harry suspected that even though he didn't appear to be as heartbroken as Mrs. Weasley was about the whole thing, there was still a part of him that was going to be grieving for the loss of his son. Especially when that son worked so close. Just knowing where he was and yet he was still out of reach.

Harry breathed slowly.

This was not going to go over well.

Harry waited until some of the crowd dissipated before heading back to the floo networks so that way he didn't bump into anyone and reveal himself by accident. He made it back without being caught by Mr. or Mrs. Weasley, tumbling out of the fireplace but managing to catch himself. He was startled to not only see Ron and Ginny there, eager and impatient for his arrival back-Fred and George were there as well.

"What are you doing here?" He asked them, befuddled. 'Why aren't you at the shop? I thought-"

"Ginny wrote to us," Fred told him, cutting in. "She said Dad was going to talk to him."

George nodded to his twin's words. "Can't miss out on this, can we? Heard you went after them to listen in." He grinned and so did Harry, but his was far more weaker. "So, tell us, what did the prat say?"

Harry opened his mouth, but the words he was going to say died on his tongue when the fireplace roared to life again. "That's your dad," he came to realize, quickly rolling up his invisibility cloak into a ball and tossing it to Ron who was the closest to the stairs. "Take it to your room!" Ron caught it and bolted up the stairs. Meanwhile, the rest of the Weasley kids and Harry-who turned back around-put on a small smile to greet Mr. Weasley.

The older man looked incredibly worn. Older than he'd ever looked before. Angry, too. There were lines on his forehead, tension all on his face that he tried to keep hidden from his children and Harry-who, to his knowledge, knew nothing about what just took place.

"Boys," Mr. Weasley was addressing Fred and George, his tone suspicious.

"Hi dad," they chirped.

"What are you doing home-" He paused to take a gander at the family clock. "In the middle of the day? Aren't you supposed to be at the shop right now? Don't tell me something's happened."

"Don't worry, Dad," George said. "Nothing's happened."

"Yeah," Fred said. "Can't we just take a break to see our wonderful family?"

The question was asked with an air of innocence that Fred and George did not possess. Mr. Weasley knew that. "Boys," he started off with unusual sternness.

Fred de-escalated things, to avoid a lecture. "Just wanted to, er, take a little break. Vee and Lee are watching the shop for us till we get back."

"M'sure they won't burn it down," George said with humor. "Course, Lee doesn't have the steadiest of hands so if anything happens, it's really Fred's fault for hiring him-"

"You were the one that wanted him first, you ninny!"

"Regardless," Mr. Weasley's voice interjected and the twins quieted down alarmingly fast. It wasn't often that their dad's voice was raised. "You two wanted that shop, you can't just leave whenever you like. You have responsibilities now. Do you think it's acceptable for me to come home whenever I please?"

Fred and George glanced at each other. They hadn't anticipated this. Neither did anyone else. Ron was just coming back down, scrunching up his face in confusion. Harry avoided the looks given to him by Ron and Ginny.

"No, but-"

"No buts, indeed!" Mr. Weasley's voice pierced the room. The emotions that were plugging him were coming out and Harry braced himself for what was to come. "You two insisted this was your dream and all you've wanted and so help me, you're going to take this seriously or else!" The last word came out as a shout. "Is that understood?"

Fred and George coughed lightly.

"Yes..."

"Yes, Dad..."

"Good," Mr. Weasley said firmly.

Ginny took a step forward. "Er, Dad, is everything-"

The front door opened and the sound of crinkling bags filled the air. Mrs. Weasley was holding on to several things at once. Harry wondered why she hadn't shrunk everything and put it into her handbag like he'd seen her do on previous occasions. Fred and George moved away from the severe look they were receiving from their dad, taking some of the bags out of Mrs. Weasley's arms, setting them on the kitchen table.

"Oh, thank you, boys," her face showed surprise at seeing them so early. "What are you two doing here? I wasn't out that long was I? Have you closed the shop early today?"

Mr. Weasley didn't let them put forth any explanation. "I was just having a talk with them."

"For what?" She was now concerned. "What have you two done now?"

They didn't get to protest their innocence.

"Leaving whenever they'd like! Never mind the fact they're putting those galleons to waste! I've enough of it. Absolutely enough!"

Mrs. Weasley seemed to sense there was something deeper going on, more than just Fred and George leaving their job to come home. "Arthur," she said tentatively, "is something the matter-" She remembered why he went to the Ministry in the first place. "Did something happen with Percy?"

That did it. Saying Percy's name. The thick tension. It was like a cloud that hung above them all. The whole atmosphere seemed to shift. Everyone felt it.

"What happened, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley grabbed his arm, to which his face softened slightly. "Are you alright? Did you have a run in with Fudge again?"

He probably wished it was Fudge he'd run into.

"Not exactly," Mr. Weasley took that moment to exhale. He gently extracted himself from his wife's arms and turned around, closing his eyes. Harry was mildly surprised that neither adult had paused to send them all away for privacy.

"Well, did you happen to see Percy?" Mrs. Weasley asked, hopefully just a few seconds later, unable to wait any longer.

Ron and Ginny scowled.

"I did," Mr. Weasley said, quietly. He turned back around, shaking his head, looking like he didn't know where to begin, what to say. Harry didn't blame him.

"And?" Mrs. Weasley prompted, some of her earlier anxiety returning.

It felt like an eternity before Mr. Weasley answered her.

"He doesn't want anything to do with us."

The older man sounded hurt, the anger coming back in that moment. He began to take long strides back and forth.

Mrs. Weasley's hand flew to her mouth, letting out an awful whimpering noise. "No," she croaked out, shaking her head, unwilling to accept it. "No. Percy wouldn't do that. He wouldn't! You...you must have misunderstood him, Arthur. You must have-"

Mr. Waasley was momentarily pained, the anger leaving his face. Hidden. He was hiding it, because now was not the time to explode-again-when his wife was distraught. "No," he said at last. "I didn't. He was very clear, Molly."

The Weasley children and Harry watched on as Mrs. Weasley sobbed behind her hands, her body trembling. She was still shaking her head, still in denial, still trying to make it all seem less real.

"I don't believe him!" Ginny hissed from her spot. Her brothers were looking equally as furious, after they'd gotten over that stunned, speechless feeling.

Ron was quieter than Ginny, but he was by means less enraged. "I never want to see him again."

"I don't understand!" Mrs. Weasley had been saying that a lot recently. "What brought this on? What-what happened down there? What could have provoked this?"

Mr. Weasley placed his hands on the back of the couch, leaning forward and sighing. "He didn't want me there," he said. "I caught him while he was coming out of his office, I believe to deliver something for Fudge. He was...I've never seen him look like that before. He was very unhappy."

That was a mild way of putting it.

"I tried to talk to him, get him to come with me so we could discuss this in private," Mr. Weasley continued, "he refused. Said he didn't have anything to say to me."

"What did you do, then?" Mrs. Weasley was lost and still teary eyed. "Did you make him talk?"

"I did," Mr. Weasley said. He cleared his throat, looking guilty. "I might have tried to guilt him a bit."

His wife was astounded. "You what? What do mean you egged him on? What did you do?"

"It wasn't on purpose, I assure you," he said to her. She didn't seem convinced. "I told him how much this was hurting you," he grasped her at arms length, "how it was hurting our family. I wanted him to see the light, to understand what he's putting us through."

Mrs. Weasley glanced up at him, her eyes showing just how much her husband's words were true. She was hurting. Hurting deeply. Her husband turned back around to face the other side of the house.

"It didn't even faze him," the older man said, his voice hollow. "You'd have thought it would've done something. Nothing. Nothing at all. He didn't care."

Mrs. Weasley wrung her hands, trying to come up with a suitable, reasonable explanation. "Perhaps he's just had a bad day. He needs time to cool off."

"I don't think that's it," Mr. Weasley said, exhaling.

Mrs. Weasley went silent until she inhaled sharply and pointed a finger towards the stairs. "Go upstairs," she instructed her children and Harry with a sense of finality that left no room for negotiation. "All of you," she eyed Fred and George and apparently after the way their dad reacted, they must have known better than to insist on staying. The five of them climbed the stairs one by one. "And don't even think about eavesdropping! I want you all in your rooms!"

She didn't go up there to ensure that they listened, which was a good thing because they didn't. They piled into Ginny's room, with the door slightly ajar. That way, she wouldn't assume that they'd been listening in. Even though that's exactly what they did. They kept quiet, craning their ears but it was difficult. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were deliberately talking low.

"Can you hear anything?" Ginny asked them, frustrated.

"No."

"Nope."

"Nothing."

Harry didn't say anything.

George nudged Fred's side with his below. "Oi," his twin complained. "What was that?"

George shushed him. "You've still got an extendable ear under your bed, yeah?"

"Yeah. But what-"

"Go get it," George nudged him again. "We'll have a listen that way."

Recognition lit up in Fred's eyes. "Right. Be right back, kiddies," he slid out the door and a moment later returned with the extendable ear and a long piece of string.

"Where'd you get the string from?" Ron asked, confused.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's what you focus on?"

"I was just wondering," Ron said, defensively.

"How're you going to use it without your parents seeing?" Harry was the one who asked. Mrs. Weasley could be incredibly hawk-eyed when she wanted to be. He imagined she would quickly see the ear and come up to Ginny's room, raging at them not respecting privacy and listening to what she deemed as a conversation not meant for their own ears to hear.

"Simple," George clasped his hands.

"We'll just put the handy little invisibility charm on it."

"Mum won't see a thing."

Fred took out his wand and said the incantation. Before their very eyes, the ear vanished from sight. He looked satisfied with the results. "Watch this," he announced to them and tip-toed out in the hallway, crouching down, slowly dropping the string lower. All of the sudden, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's voices were easy to hear now, as if they were in that very room. Once again, they all hushed up.

"There, there, Molly. It's alright," Mr. Weasley was comforting his wife. Harry imagined he was rubbing her shoulders as he so often did.

A somber look came onto the Weasley children's faces. It was a grim reminder to them that their mum was upset, worse now than she had been after the incident. Now that fate was set. Now that there was no foreseeable chance of Percy coming home. However, given how Harry could feel the tension building up in the room, he didn't think anyone apart from their mum would want him back.

"I really can't believe him," Ron was looking at no one, his nose flared. "Really gone too far this time, he has. I mean, what was he thinking?"

"Nothing," Ginny snarled. Harry suspected with the way she'd been acting and reacting to it, she was quite hurt. Even if she didn't want to admit to it. He wondered if she and Percy were close when they were both younger, before Hogwarts. It made sense; Percy had likely come to help take care of his siblings beginning at some point, especially when Bill and Charlie were off to school. If so, that would definitely explain things. "Absolutely nothing."

"He's just lucky dad's so calm," George spoke up. In Harry's opinion, Mr. Weasley didn't necessarily seem calm back at the ministry. "Didn't deserve it. If I was dad, I'd have really given it to him."

"I'd use my bat bogey hex if I could," Ginny added with tangible viciousness.

Harry exhaled and refocused back on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Is this really, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley asked, shakily. "He's really gone?"

There was a pause.

"I do believe so, Darling. I'm sorry."

"No," she refused to accept it. "No. I'll not believe this. We have to do something."

"Molly-"

"We'll do it together. Tomorrow morning."

"Molly-"

But his wife wasn't listening. She rattled off a half baked plan she came up with in just a few seconds. "We'll go find him and talk some sense into that boy. That's what we'll do. And another thing-"

"Molly!"

It was so quiet they could've heard crickets if there was any around.

Mr. Weasley, in all the years that Harry had known him, never ever raised so much as raised his voice to his wife. But as of right now, he was doing the unthinkable. "Just listen to yourself! The boy isn't coming back. He's made that perfectly clear."

"He didn't mean that!" Mrs. Weasley snapped back in a rare fit of anger that wasn't aimed toward her children for their misbehavior. "And what is boy business? How can you speak of him like that?"

"I think you'll find that he did mean it," Mr. Weasley said, stiffly. "And for the record, I'll speak of him as such when he's being so voluntarily foolish."

Mrs. Weasley made several sputtering sounds. "How can you even say that?"

"Molly-"

"That's your son!" She shrieked. "That is our child! How can you even think of-"

"When he starts acting like my son, I'll treat him like he is!" Mr. Weasley bellowed.

There came a sudden shattering of glass and a yelp of alarm from Mrs. Weasley. They all jumped at the unexpected noise. Harry got on his knees and peeked out from his spot on the stairs. Down at the bottom, smashed to smithereens, was the Weasley family portrait. It had been taken off and thrown to the floor.

"Arthur, what is the meaning of this!"

This was a startling sight, seeing Mr. Weasley positively fuming. He hadn't been this angry since Harry had first met him, not even during the explosion with Percy. Even then he'd kept his cool rather impressively.

"No," Mr. Weasley said firmly, "not this time, Molly. I've had it up to here with his attitude. I understand his job is important to him but so is our family. And if he wants to throw it all away then we should let him."

"You can't be serious!"

"I am. He's shown us time and time again how little he cares about anyone but his own self."

The Weasley children nodded in agreement with their dad. They'd expressed on occasions before how Percy had preferred to stay secluded with a book or-more recently, work-than to spend time with his family. It hurt their mum immensely, especially around the holidays when they were supposed to be enjoying the season together.

Mrs. Weasley was flustered. "That is preposterous."

"Is it?" Mr. Weasley challenged her. "Do you recall when we went to visit Charlie and the twins mentioned that he didn't want to sit with them during Christmas?"

Mrs. Weasley was silent.

"Or how he hardly came out of his room the following summer when he was mailing numerous letters to his girlfriend? Or how he acted like he didn't want to be in the same room as us during our trip to visit Bill or any time after that, for that matter?" He took a sharp intake of air. "He's clearly shown us where his priorities are."

Ginny grumbled. "And we're not important enough to be one of them."

The conversation dissolved from there. Harry took a glance at the Weasley siblings, seeing the emotions crossing their faces. It felt overwhelmingly tense, as if they were all one second away from doing something horrible. He imagined they were angry. He might have been angry, too, if he were in their shoes. He would be if one of them or Hermione just abandoned him for one reason or another.

"Well," Harry found himself saying. "That was something. I've never seen your dad that mad before."

"I know," Ginny agreed. "He's never upset. Mum's usually the one that is."

"It's all his fault," George said.

"Thinks he's so much better now that he's Fudge's lapdog," Fred said nastily.

They were going on a rant now.

"He'll never see the truth," Ginny scoffed. "You-Know-Who could apparate right in front of him and he'd still deny it and say that Harry's lying for Dumbledore."

"Dunno how he could even say that," George said. "They're both nutters. As if Dumbledore would want Fudge's job. He's the headmaster for a reason. There's no one better. And besides, I don't think Dumbledore is a smidgen interested in politics."

"Don't blame him," Fred muttered. "It's a madhouse for sure. Especially with people like Lucius Malfoy out there."

"I just wonder," Harry interjected anyway, despite his brain telling him it might be wise to do it just yet, "why he's doing this in the first place? It doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"Who cares?" Ron said dismissively. "Clearly he doesn't want anything to do with us. Honestly, dad will probably disown him now. You know, legally."

"How does that work?" Harry was curious.

"Well either by Gringotts or the ministry. Dad would probably go to Gringotts because of Fudge. He just has to tell them he wants nothing to do with him and they'll take care of the rest. It's simple, really."

"Mrs. Weasley will never approve," Harry noted. He couldn't see Mr. Weasley going behind his wife for something that huge.

"Yeah, probably not," Ron said. He didn't seem happy about it. "She still thinks he's coming home."

"She can't possibly think so now," Ginny said. "He's made it clear he isn't."

George sighed heavily. "You know mum. She'll probably knit him a Weasley jumper in case he comes home for Christmas."

"He better not," Ginny's temper flared slightly. "He better not do that after everything he's caused!"

"He won't," Fred disagreed. "He wouldn't dare come back now. Even if he does, George and I have plenty of merchandise we can use on him."

He and his twin shared a smirk.

Ginny had an idea and smiled up at her brother with a not so innocent gleam. "Say, Fred, George?"

"Yes?"

"What is it, dear sister?"

"I've got an idea," Ginny grinned.

"We're listening," Fred said.

"Yeah, tell us what you've got?"

"Dad would kill us if he went to see him for ourselves, but what if we use Errol to send a few of your products. I'm sure he'd love to see what you've both been creating lately."

Harry didn't have a good feeling about this. Fred and George could be diabolical enough on their own, let alone with Ginny's own vengefulness. It had to be because she was feeling hurt. It had to be. And now she was attempting to level things out as well as dishing out some payback for how Percy had been treating the family. He didn't think this was going to end well.

"I really don't think-" He started to say.

"Brilliant!" George exclaimed.

"I concur!" Fred was grinning too. "Just his luck, we're in need of a test dummy."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "You need a...are they that dangerous?"

"Oh, nothing terrible, ickle Harry," Fred had the audacity to ruffle his hair like a small child. Harry pushed his arm away, ignoring their sniggering. "Just to make sure the spell wears off after a while and that it works correctly. Things like that."

Ron thought about it. "Won't he know it's you two? Mum and Dad will be furious if anything else gets in the papers."

But Fred and George were waving that possible probability off. "He won't say anything."

"They're not on speaking terms anymore, remember?"

"The papers, Ron?" Ginny looked at her brother flatly. "Really? He'll never do anything to ruin his perfect image. No one will ever find out."

"I suppose," Ron conceded.

But Harry still wasn't so sure about the idea. "What will you do to him, anyway?"

"Well," Fred tapped his chin. "We've got some canary creams we never got to use on him so we might do those first."

"We already used those on him," George reminded him. "Remember? Mum made fudge for everyone and we put it in his piece."

"Right," Fred snickered at the memory. "Ahh, what a glorious day."

"Not for him," Ginny was laughing.

"Well, I'm sure we'll figure out something. We'll make sure to do it before you lot head back to school. Speaking of, have any of you heard when Mum is taking you to get your school things yet?"

"No," Ginny shook her head. "I think she's waiting until the last minute because of the papers and stuff."

Ron sighed. "Great. Was hoping to beat the crowd this year. It's a madhouse there."

"Maybe next year," Harry said. "Maybe we can go ourselves."

Privately, he doubted it. With the threat of Voldemort, no one was going to let him or the Weasleys-being as much of a target as he was-be unaccompanied out there.

"Yeah," Ron echoed. "Maybe."