"Daddy, daddy!" Molly skidded to a stop at Percy's feet, yanking on his shirt. "Guess what, guess what!"
"What, princess?" He smiled down at her.
"I lost a tooth!" Eager to show him the proof, she held up the tiny, slightly bloody tooth, opening her mouth up wide so he could see the gap in front.
"You did, didn't you?" Percy took her by the chin, tilting her head back a bit so he could ensure everything looked alright in there. It did and passed the inspection. He nodded in approval. "Now you can put it under your pillow tonight so the Tooth Fairy can leave you two sickles."
Molly stared up at him with her mouth ajar in wonder.
"Now, don't forget, okay?"
She beamed at him. "Okay!"
Percy didn't know about this tooth fairy while growing up. His brothers usually tried to pull out the tooth themselves or it would become a competition of who could take it out. As for himself, he didn't get involved and certainly didn't trust any of his siblings to get near his mouth. No, he didn't hear of this until one evening when he was over at Harry and Ginny's house for dinner and his brother in law mentioned-once the children were out of the room-that he was going to do the same thing to James. Percy had furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, listening while it was being explained to him. It sounded clever, actually. Muggles were interesting in that aspect-that, he agreed with his dad.
Molly was not a light sleeper and he was going to use that toward his advantage. He would wait until she finally fell asleep and sneak into her room. Then once morning came, she would see the sickles.
That was his original plan.
That wasn't what happened.
When both of the girls were soundly sleeping, he curled up on the couch, reading a book and accidentally fell asleep. The next morning, he abruptly awoke to Molly standing next to him, tears brimming in her eyes and lower lip trembling. He sat up with bleary eyes. "Princess," he mumbled tiredly. "What's wrong?"
"The Tooth Fairy didn't come," she sniffled.
"What?" He inwardly cursed at himself. "Oh, er, maybe he forgot, sweetie."
"He forgot me?" That didn't help at all.
"No, no," Percy said quickly, "actually, I remember now, he, er, he fire-called me last night and said he was really busy."
"He's too busy for me?" Molly started to cry a little.
Get it together, Weasley
Fix this
"No, no. Of course not," He cupped her face, using his thumb to wipe away her tears. "You know what? He told me you can give me your tooth and I can give you the sickles on his behalf. Okay?"
"Okay," Molly said quietly, sniffling again.
"Okay," Percy was satisfied with the outcome and was about to get his wallet when she gently pulled on his clothes again.
"And the late fee?" She said in such a way that reminded him of Fred and George.
"The late fee-" He gaped at her. "What-Okay, fine. How about two sickles and a galleon?"
"Okay!" She beamed.
"Okay," he muttered, wondering when his little girl became such a con artist.