Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing the wonderful characters that currently belong to J.K. Rowling and will not be making any profit off of this.
A/N: Thanks as always to Zsenya for her expert beta-ing skills.
"I wonder," George said,"if maybe we're partially responsible for Percy."
Fred looked shocked.
"What kind of thing is that to say? Percy's been a git for as long as I can remember."
"Well, yes, but think about it, we never gave him opportunities to not be a git," replied George.
A thoughtful expression crossed over Fred's face.
"I never thought of it like that, but maybe you're right."
"On the other hand, we might have teased him but we wouldn't have let anyone else do that. He was still our brother, he ought to have known that."
The row between Percy and their father was still fresh in their minds although it had been weeks since it had occurred.
Percy had looked as though he carried the world on his shoulders. The inquiry had not been easy on him. That day though, he arrived home with his head held high and his shoulders thrown back
He had flung the door open and proudly announced that he'd been appointed Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic. A silence had fallen around the table and Percy's triumphant smile had faltered.
"What is it?" he had asked.
Mr. Weasley had risen from his chair, "It's not that you don't deserve such a position, but don't you find it a little bit odd that it's been offered to you now?"
"No, I was a good assistant to Mr. Crouch and the Minister acknowledges that."
"But, Percy, you know Fudge is trying to discredit Dumbledore. He knows we're a family that is close to Dumbledore. Perhaps he hopes to gain information."
Percy's face had drained of color and he had spoken quietly and, for him, dangerously. "You think he wants me to be a spy for him? You don't think I'm capable?"
"You are barely just out of Hogwarts, dear," Mrs. Weasley had said, gently.
"Yes," Mr. Weasley had added, "You're young. I wasn't able to get the position I had until-,"
Percy hadn't let him finish, "Yes, you," he had ground out between clenched teeth, "I've been struggling against your reputation ever since I joined the Ministry. Just because you never had any ambition, I'm held back because everyone assumes I haven't got any either. And I have. I'm not going to let my family starve because I never tried to get promoted!"
"Percy!" Mrs. Weasley had looked shocked.
But Percy hadn't been through yet. "I also know where my loyalties lie, something none of you seem to have figured out. Dumbledore may have been strong once, but he's gotten old. Is it so hard to believe that he might have been mistaken?"
Ron had stood up so fast that he nearly knocked over his chair, "What about what Harry said? Harry saw You-Know-Who, he was there!"
"Yes," Mr. Weasley had nodded, "What about Harry?"
"There's no tangible evidence except for Harry's word."
"And you don't consider that adequate?" Mr. Weasley's voice had taken on that dangerously quiet tone.
Percy had looked his father straight in the eye.
"No," he had said, "I don't. According to the Prophet, he's been having funny turns all over the place."
"Don't tell me you believe what Rita Skeeter has been saying," Mr. Weasley had snapped.
"I believe she's got the measure of Dumbledore better than you have. He's leading you and Mum down a false path. As for me, as I said I know where my loyalties lie and if you don't know where yours should be-."
"We support Dumbledore as you should." Mr. Weasley interrupted.
Percy nodded as though he were making a decision, "Then you are traitors to the Ministry and I will make sure everyone knows that I am no longer associated with you or your family!"
He went upstairs and within ten minutes had quietly shut the gate behind him.
George chewed on the end of his quill. This was not going to be an easy letter to write. It would be acknowledging a sort of weakness. But he and Fred had discussed their worries about responsibility when it came to Percy and decided that the best thing to do would be to seek outside opinions. And who better to ask than the two Chasers who knew them almost as well as they knew themselves?
Friday
Dear Alicia,
All right, I've reassured you once. Now it's your turn. Fred and I have talked about something that happened this summer and we wonder if we're at all responsible. So we thought we'd seek outside opinions from people who are sweet and sensible. But we couldn't find any so we decided to write to you and Angelina instead. Oh, and Lis, please don't tell anyone else about this except for Lee or Kit.
Remember Percy? Well, he and Dad had a horrible row a week after term ended. Percy believes Fudge. He came home all puffed up and excited because he'd been promoted to Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic. Dad reckons it was only because Fudge wanted someone to spy on Dumbledore or something like that and when he tried to mention this to Percy, Percy exploded and left. He's got a flat in London now and every time he's mentioned, Mum cries and Dad breaks something.
I know Fred and I teased him a lot about being Head Boy and prefect and Crouch's assistant etc. but he is- was still our brother. Do you think that we may have teased him too much? Is that possible?
Love,
George
Unfortunately, ever since she'd come of age, Alicia's family had decided to increase the amount of chores she was required to do. It wasn't malicious on her family's part, it was just, as Mr. Spinnet had put it, a matter of taking advantage of the resources at hand. Alicia could use magic, therefore chores like washing dishes or doing laundry were easier for her, but Alicia was still only seventeen and just as resentful of being asked to do anything as any other teenager.
"Not fair . . .nobody else's parents . . .think I'm Cinderella," she grumbled to herself as she cast an Ironing spell on the pile of clothes before her. There were other spells or rather, she admitted, jinxes that she wanted to learn, but no, she had to learn all the domestic spells to help out around the house.
Alicia watched the iron press her mother's blouse and yawned. Once she'd got down to her holiday homework, it hadn't been that bad and she'd finished quickly. Now she wished she'd delayed it, if she'd delayed it her parents would never have had their brilliant idea about her playing the house-witch.
There was a soft thud against the window and she recognized the grey lump immediately as the Weasley owl, Errol. She hastily opened the window and pulled the owl inside. He looked blearily up at her and dropped a letter in her lap. She thanked him and carried him over to Athena's cage. Athena clucked her beak in sympathy and moved over to allow him access to her water.
Alicia slit open the envelope and read the letter with growing concern. How could this have happened? The Weasleys had seemed like such a solid family. How could Percy have been so stupid?
She remembered the night she'd panicked over her Transfiguration OWL. She'd been trying desperately to remember the difference between the incantation for a Switching spell and the incantation for a Vanishing spell and had finally slumped down on her textbook.
"I give up," she'd said to no one in particular, "I'll never get this."
Across the common room, Percy Weasley had closed his Defense Against the Dark Arts book, pushed back his chair, and crossed over to her.
"It's not that hard," he'd said, not unkindly, and had explained the differences to her until she knew them backwards and forwards.
She shook her head still wondering at Percy's apparent idiocy. She also wondered how on earth either of the twins could think that they were in any way responsible. She quickly wrote a reply and called Athena over.
"You need a rest," she explained to Errol, "you can fly back when you look up to it."
Sunday
Dear George,
NO, NO, NO! You are in no way responsible for Percy's being a git. You tease everybody. You laughed at Angelina for being a prefect too. And you two are never really malicious except maybe when it comes to Malfoys.
Do you want to know what I think? I think there's more going on than meets the eye. I mean, Percy's not stupid and he does have good intentions. I know because he helped me out with Transfiguration when I was studying for the OWLs even though he was studying really hard for the NEWTs. As I said, I don't think you have anything to do with Percy's leaving.
It must hurt though to come home proud of being promoted hoping your family will be proud too and then they tell you that you haven't been promoted on your merit at all but as a tool for someone else. That's probably what set Percy off more than anything. I think he'll come around. And if he doesn't, that's his loss.
Love,
Alicia
p.s. I've sent Athena because Errol looks like he needs a rest. He'll be along soon but unburdened with a letter.
"No," Fred said, holding up a long piece of flesh colored string, "that's not going to be long enough, it needs to get down the stairs and next to the kitchen."
"And if we cast a Lengthening Charm, we can't hear anything clearly, there must be something we're missing." George studied the string thoughtfully.
Fred tossed it aside, "I think we're thinking too hard. Let's think about something else."
"Well, on an up note, the Fainting Fancies work pretty well. Ginny tried one. She said she wanted to see why all the ladies in medieval times were always fainting."
A black owl shot in through the half open window, dropped a letter in Fred's lap and zoomed out again.
"Hey, Hecate! Wait!" Fred groaned, "That owl never waits for a reply. Just like Angelina, never lets me get a word in edgewise."
He opened the letter.
"Well?" asked George, "What's she say?"
"Here." Fred handed it over to his twin.
"Oh, honestly, Fred, don't be such an idiot. If everyone who's ever been teased by you two decided to side with the Ministry, the Ministry would be packed to the gills," George read aloud. "Oh, well, that's one answer."
"From the outspoken Chaser, let's wait and see what the practical one says."
As it turned out they didn't have very long to wait. Alicia's owl, Athena, was already sitting on George's bedspread blinking a pair of large amber eyes at them expectantly.
George opened his letter.
"She says the same thing. Nothing to do with us. And she's got Errol. Says he looks like he needs a rest. When doesn't he look like he needs a rest? That's just Errol."
"That's a relief" said Fred.
George wasn't listening, he was already scribbling a reply. As Athena departed, he had a sudden idea.
"Fred, what if we make them slightly thicker before we do the Lengthening charm? That way we might still get the right hearing quality even if they are longer."
"That's worth a try." And the twins turned back to their experiments.
Tuesday
Dear Alicia,
Thank you. You've got a point. Angelina wrote almost the exact same thing except she worded it in typical Angelina terms. 'Oh, honestly, Fred, don't be such an idiot.'
We've been doing some housecleaning lately. Mum says it's so we learn to be responsible. And it would be awful except that we're finding some interesting things that we can use for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Fred and I try to pocket them when Mum isn't looking. Hermione has come too and she's helping as well. She can usually figure out what something is when none of the rest of us has any idea. Sometimes it's good to have a know–it- all around. But I prefer the green eyed variety. You know, the one who got an O on her Ancient Runes OWL.
Love,
George