Crossing Ways

Author's Note: Hey guys. Now that everyone has read OotP, including me, I'm trying to finish this piece of fanfiction I started a few months before new Canon. It will be a bit hard to fit things (harder than I expected) but it's possible. I think. I hope so. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter and leave a review! :)

Chapter 7: The Fight

Shortly after his talk with Ginny, Bill received a letter from Gringotts accepting his transfer to a desk job at London. He immediately told his mother about the letter, but he kept his promise to Ginny and didn't reveal her secret to Mrs. Weasley, nor would he reveal it to his father.

Telling his mother about the job transfer, though, implied telling her the reasons behind it, and his talk with Dumbledore about helping in the war.

His mother took it much better than he expected. "Well, at least we'll get to have you at home, dear," Mrs. Weasley had said, a small smile on her lips. However, Bill knew that, no matter how well she concealed it, she was worried about him and his father.

At dinnertime, the rest of the family learned the news while they waited for Mr. Weasley and Percy to arrive from the Ministry for dinner.

Charlie didn't waste the opportunity that presented itself before him. "Mum," he began, "I sent a letter to Dumbledore a few days ago. I also volunteered to help."

Bill and Charlie exchanged a smile. Bill remembered how ill tempered his brother had been when he had learned about Bill's talk to Dumbledore. Charlie had said that Bill should have spoken to him before that, because he wanted to do the same, and they could have talked about it with Dumbledore together.

"I'm going to help too!" Ron exclaimed, before their mother could say anything about Charlie's news.

"No, Ron. You are too young. You have to wait until you are of age." Mrs. Weasley was adamant.

"Well, in this case, George and I can help, then!" Fred said, smiling.

"No, you can't!"

George frowned. "Why not? We are of age! We are even taking our Apparition tests in three days from today!"

"You still haven't left school!" Mrs Weasley all but shrieked.

A loud snap ended the discussion. Mr. Weasley had just Apparated inside the kitchen. "Good evening, Molly, dear. Good evening, children," he said as he sat down and surveyed his family around the table.

"Arthur, your sons think they can help in the war against Voldemort!"

Arthur eyed Bill and Charlie for a moment. "Well, we can hardly stop them, Molly. They have their own jobs and lead their own lives now…"

"I'm not talking about THEM, I'm talking about Ron and the twins!"

Arthur sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Molly, I don't really have the strength or will to discuss this right now…"

"Are you all right, dear?" Mrs. Weasley frowned, immediately forgetting about her children's desires when she noticed the weary lines on her husband's forehead.

"Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore. He's actually made perfectly clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks and leave," he sighed. "I think he suspects me."

Bill was certain that Fudge was breathing down his father's throat, if not for the fact that Mr. Weasley was friends with Dumbledore, then for the simple fact that he had never understood his father's fascination with Muggles.

Before anyone could say anything, though, another loud snap could be heard in the kitchen. Percy had just Apparated, and he looked smug about something.

"I've been promoted, Mum!" Percy said brightly. Bill had never seen Percy so haughty, and he had seen Percy quite self-satisfied before. He had a very bad feeling about this in the pit of his stomach.

"Promoted? You were just under investigation because of what happened with Mr. Crouch, Percy." Mr. Weasley said.

"Yes, promoted. I was offered a position by the Minister himself to work side by side with him: Junior Assistant to the Minister." Percy said, stuffing out his chest as he said that.

He looked around at his family, obviously expecting approval and praise from at least a few of them. His eyes in particular lingered on Bill's. But none came, and his smile started to fade.

"You are not going to accept that, are you, son?" Mr. Weasley said that in the most serious tone that Bill had ever heard him use.

"Why shouldn't I? I want to be able to give my family all they want in the future." Percy said arrogantly.

Bill thought he could hear a sharp intake of breath from his father. "What are you implying, Percy?"

"Father, don't get me wrong, but you…" Percy seemed to be looking for the right wording. Bill felt nauseated at his brother's stance. "…you had some important job opportunities pass you by, and that's why you were never able to pay for everything our family needed."

Bill had never heard such a dead silence in the Burrow.

"Percy, you do realize Fudge is not doing that because he thinks you capable of doing the job, don't you?" Arthur said, barely controlling his voice and anger. Bill didn't remember a time when he had seen his father angry.

"If not for my capability of performing the job, then why would he promote me, father?" Percy snapped. "Unlike you, I have always done an impeccable job. As a matter of fact, I have been struggling with your," another nauseating pause, "reputation ever since I joined the Ministry, trying to prove that, unlike you, I'm up to the job, and I'm not about to turn down such a golden opportunity."

At that, Mr. Weasley's control slipped. "Percy, Fudge is only doing that because Dumbledore…" he started to raise his voice, but got cut off by Percy.

"Forgive me for saying so, father," Percy said even louder than his father, "but you are a fool if you trust Dumbledore."

"Percy, are you going to blind yourself to the fact that You-Know-Who is back just for the sake of Fudge? Just for the sake of your job?" Mr. Weasley yelled incredulously and quite unexpectedly at his son.

"You have no evidence that You-Know-Who is back, father. No one has. And I'm not about to turn down a promotion on the word of a deranged kid and a nutty old wizard!" At that, the rest of the Weasley family around the table gasped. Ron actually got up from his chair, his cheeks red with rage. "I don't want to look back, twenty or thirty years from now, and realize that my family resents me because I caused them to be poor! I don't want to end up like you, father."

Bill took a sharp intake of breath. Percy had gone a bit too far.

Ron got up from his chair and shouted. "SHUT UP, Percy! You don't know what you are talking about!"

Mr. Weasley looked dumbfounded.

Percy huffed. "Really, Ron? Weren't you mad when you had to work an entire year with a broken wand?"

Ron's ears went pink.

"Percy, I think you are being quite unfair…" Bill began, but was cut off by Ginny.

"Percy, stop being a stupid prat!" she yelled. "You know we don't resent Dad for anything!"

At that, the twins got up and started to defend their father too. Bill and Charlie looked at each other, wanting to defend their father as well, but not feeling that yelling would be the right course of action to do it.

"Molly, children, could you please leave me and your brother alone?" Arthur said in a thunderous and commanding voice. It did not match his usual demeanor.

The other Weasleys quickly filled out the room, leaving only Mr. Weasley and Percy behind. They couldn't bring themselves to leave the living room though, and sat themselves at the couch and mismatched chairs around it.

"Well, so much for perfect Percy…" Fred muttered under his breath, earning himself a shove by Charlie.

For most of the time, they couldn't hear much of what was going on in the kitchen, but every now and then a shout could be heard from within the kitchen.

"I know where my loyalty lies, father, and so should you."

The Weasleys have never been quite to still, especially the twins. They were listening intently, trying to catch what was being discussed inside the kitchen, but only catching a few phrases.

"You are blinded by power, Percy!"

Tense minutes slipped by. They Weasleys in the living room started to fidget on their seats.

"If you want to become traitors to the Ministry, don't drag me with you!"

Bill got up and started pacing from one side of the living room to the other, trying to remind himself that his father had asked him to leave, or else he would barge into the kitchen.

"Fudge is wrong to believe that You-Know-Who hasn't come back, and it's the Wizarding Community that is going to pay for it!"

The discussion went for a bit longer, until the door that separated the kitchen from the living room was vehemently opened to give way to a furious-looking Percy.

"I'm going to make sure everyone knows I don't belong to this family anymore, or less I risk my career!"

Percy left the room, his eyes bright with rage, and his face red with fury. His footsteps could be heard going up the stairs to his bedroom, the door being slammed shut, then his closet doors and drawers being opened and his trunk hastily packed.

"Let's eat," said Mr. Weasley, his voice low and colorless at the door of the kitchen. Looking at his father, Bill thought he saw small hints of contained anger in him: his tightly clenched jaw, his forehead deeply creased.

Looking at his mother, though, Bill felt his heart going out to her. Mrs. Weasley was crying silently.

***

Her first day of Auror training was exhausting. And it had been just the one day.

Moody had informed Fleur the day before that her training would be hard, and that they would train everyday, morning and afternoon, until the end of summer. He would assess her magical skills, her spell casting proficiency, and her knowledge of all things magical.

That, however, had not prepared her for the actual training.

It had started painlessly enough, with Charms. Fleur had always been a natural with Charms – probably because of her inborn Veela Charm – and so she not only had an easy time learning new Charms while at school, she had worked to sharpen and widen her knowledge on them, always researching the Beauxbatons library for more and more complicated Charms.

Moody actually hadn't had much to comment or complain about Fleur's Charms, even if he still hadn't looked pleased.

But everything went downhill from there.

After Charms, Fleur had had to do hexes and hex-deflection. The more common and ordinary hexes had come without much difficulty for her, but there had been some that she hadn't quite mastered, and a couple that she had never even heard about. That had earned her more than a few impatient growls from Moody.

In the afternoon, things didn't improve. Fleur knew a lot about French magical creatures, but very little about British creatures, almost nothing about Oriental and African creatures, and nothing at all about South American creatures. Moody had given her a list with about a dozen books to read on that subject.

And just when Fleur thought things couldn't get any worse, there was curse-breaking.

She hadn't managed to break one simple curse on the magical object that Moody had especially brought for her class. However, he had only given her one book to study on the subject, dimissing her from the day rather gruffly.

Curse Breaking for Beginners - A step-by-step explanation on the basics.

By the time Fleur had finished exploring the library, having dinner, and writing a letter to her mother, she had felt so drained that she collapsed on her bed, fast asleep

***

The next morning, Percy was gone. The twins, Ron and Ginny kept talking in hushed tones about him around the breakfast table, as if not to upset their mother, who looked like she had cried all night long, until Bill gave them a dirty look and they stopped. As for Mr. Weasley, he was trying to put up as calm a façade as possible. Like Percy's decision had not been a blow to him as well.

Bill didn't even want to think how his father and Percy would react to each other when they met by chance at the Ministry. He feared his father would not be so controlled about his emotions and thoughts, even though he knew better than to risk exposing Dumbledore and his preparations to face Voldemort.

"Mum, when are Harry and Hermione going to come spend the summer with us?" Ron quite suddenly asked.

"I already told you Dumbledore said Harry had to go to the Dursleys first…" Mrs Weasley said in a tired voice.

"Well, hasn't he been there for long already?" Ron interrupted.

Mrs. Weasley snapped at her son. "Ron, Dumbledore promised me he would tell me when and if Harry can come visit us! So, if I haven't told you anything, no, Harry can't come yet!"

"But Hermione can come, right, Mum?" Ginny asked, throwing Mrs. Weasley off, and quickly added. "You should write to her and invite her, Ron."

"Erm, well... I mean, I don't know if... because Harry won't... I mean..."

"If you don't write her, then I will." Ginny said simply, getting up from her chair at the table, going to the living room and coming back a while later with what could only be a letter in her hands, and attaching it to Errol.

Bill suppressed a laugh. Apparently Ron still hadn't figured out that his feelings for Hermione were changing.

After eating breakfast, Bill got up to get ready for work – he was supposed to present himself for his new occupation at Gringotts London today – but when he reached the staircase, he heard a knock on the front door.

He promptly turned around and opened the door. Standing there was a man in shabby robes, with light brown hair blemished with a few gray ones.

"Good morning," he said in a pleasant voice. "Is Mr. Weasley at home? I'd like to speak with him."

"Yes, he is. And you are...?" Bill said, quirking one of his eyebrows up inquisitively.

"I'm Remus Lupin. I have a," he lowered his voice, "very important message for him from Dumbledore." That last part was delivered in a very serious tone.