DISCLAIMER: I own nothing – it all belongs to JK Rowling.

**********************************************************************

"Now, Ron, calm down, "said Mrs Weasley sharply, as she went over to her third son and took his arm. "You need to hear what Percy has to say,"

Ron glared at her. "Really, Mum?" he asked furiously. "After what he put you and Dad through, what I need to do is knock his block off."

He made a move towards his brother, and Harry grabbed his arm. "Hold on, mate," he muttered. Ron shook his hand off and shot Harry an angry look

Fred and George were livid. "Mum, he doesn't deserve to be here!" burst out Fred. "He showed us last year that he didn't want to be a part of this family any more!"

Percy, looking defeated, held up his hands, almost as if he was surrendering. "I know, and you're all quite right to be angry with me," he said softly, looking at the floor as if he couldn't bear to look at any of their faces. "But Mum and Dad have taken me back, and I was hoping you'd let me give you a chance to explain myself…"

"Of course Mum and Dad will forgive you – you're their son!" hissed Ginny, who had gone bright red and was clearly struggling with the urge to go over and slap Percy silly.

"And he's your brother, so the least you can do is LISTEN!" snapped Mrs Weasley, leading Percy further into the room.

"Er … I think we should go," said Harry, grabbing Hermione's arm and starting to drag her out of the kitchen. "This is family business."

Percy held out his hand. "No, please don't go, Harry," he said quietly. "I need you two to hear this too."

The feeling of desperation surrounding Percy was palpable, so Harry nodded slightly and stepped back into the room. Bill and Charlie hadn't said anything, but by the looks on their faces, they were quite keen to follow Ron's lead and thump their younger brother.

"This had better be good, Percy," said Bill sharply. Charlie didn't say anything, but set his jaw and folded his arms across his chest. Looking around at the Weasley family, Harry could suddenly see the resemblance between the siblings. His throat contracted painfully, he realized that most of the anger directed at Percy was because of the pain that he had caused their parents. This was a family that would live and die for each other, and he suddenly felt a wave of jealousy for their closeness.

There was another loud crack, and Arthur Weasley apparated into the room. Clearly, he'd been summonsed by a silent signal from Mrs Weasley, because he was looking disheveled and was panting slightly, as though he'd hurried from somewhere.

"Got here as quick as I could," he gasped, leaning on the scrubbed wooden table. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, just me about to belt Percy," muttered Ron, glancing guiltily at his mother when she snorted warningly in his direction.

Percy sat on one of the wooden chairs and leaned his elbows on the table, running his hands distractedly through his hair. When he looked up, his eyes were determined and he had more colour in his face.

"I'm not going to just say I'm sorry," he began, and Ron's jaw dropped. Percy held up his hand. "Because that's assuming too much, and it would be presumptuous of me. What I am going to do is ask your forgiveness for my appalling behaviour, and … well, to beg all of you to let me be a part of this family again. You'll never know how much I've missed you all, and how much I've regretted what happened and the way I behaved. You need to know that even if by some slim chance you do forgive me … well, I'll never forgive myself."

Harry started feeling very peculiar. He could feel waves of emotion pouring off the Weasley family. Apprehension from Mr Weasley, fury from Ron and Charlie, defensiveness from Mrs Weasley. Ginny, Bill, Fred and George were emanating strong feelings of distrust.

Feeling lightheaded, Harry sank down into a chair near the door. He closed his eyes and started breathing slowly, using his Occlumency skills to block out the emotions that were assaulting him. Slowly, the feelings began to ease up.

As if from a distance, as though through thick pads of cotton wool, he heard Percy take a deep breath and continue.

"I have no excuses – none at all," he said. "It was pure, blind ambition that caused me to act that way. It was disgusting and self-seeking, and I can't believe I let myself think that Fudge thought I was good enough to be a junior assistant. Dad was right – he was just trying to get me to spy on the Order. But I was too bigheaded to realize that, and I truly believed that I was on a quick path to the top. Of course, I wasn't …"

"So I suppose you've only realized that now – now that you know for sure Voldemort is back, and that Fudge believes Harry and Dumbledore!" burst out Ron. "What happened, Percy – did you get demoted?"

Harry opened his eyes in shock. It was the first time that Ron had spoken Voldemort's name – and he was so angry with his brother, he hadn't even realized it. He looked at Hermione, whose mouth was hanging open in amazement.

"No, but I have resigned," said Percy heavily. Harry, who had let his defences down slightly, was assaulted again by waves of shock from the family.

"Resigned?" said Bill slowly. "What are you going to do, then?"

"I've been offered the position of assistant editor at The Daily Prophet," said Percy. "I figure I can try and accomplish some good, by making sure that the truth is printed. People need to know what's out there, and hiding it is just going to make it worse. The last thing the wizarding world needs is a repeat of last year, where the press lied to them over and over again."

He turned to face Harry. "I also owe you an apology, Harry," he said quietly. "I've known you for years, and you've always been honest and true to your beliefs. But listening to you would have meant that Fudge was wrong, and I put my allegiance in the wrong place. I hope you can forgive me for the way I behaved at your trial and at Hogwarts when Umbridge confronted you about the DA."

Harry stared at him for a second, and felt a strong wave of remorse pouring off him. It was genuine, he was sure of it. He stood up and held out his hand to Percy.

"No hard feelings, Percy," he said simply. "I've made mistakes in the past too, and I've been forgiven. You deserve at least that."

A look of relief spread over Percy's face, and he stood to shake Harry's hand. "Thanks, Harry," he muttered, sounding very close to tears.

There was a brief, awkward pause, and then suddenly Ron moved. Flinching, as though expecting a blow, Percy looked at him cautiously.

"OK," said Ron gruffly, still glaring at his brother. "I forgive you. But I'm warning you – you ever do something like that again, and I swear I'll thump the living daylights out of you … whether Mum likes it or not."

He held out his hand to Percy, who took it and shook it firmly. Then Ron surprised them all by giving Percy a rough, single-armed hug. That was all it took to break down the barriers, and within seconds the rest of the family was crowding round, hugging Percy and shaking his hand. The prodigal was home at last.

***

Dinner was a noisy, cheerful affair that night. Tonks and Remus had made their appearances shortly before Mrs Weasley served up a chicken casserole and a steak and kidney pie, and tucked in enthusiastically. Fleur Delacour had also arrived, and had thrown herself on both Ron and Harry, to Hermione and Ginny's disgust.

The house was vastly improved. The Order had been rather busy cleaning it up, and had scrubbed and whitewashed all the walls which made the house seem much bigger and less foreboding. The portrait of Mrs Black on the entrance hall wall had been permanently boarded up, as no-one had been able to remove it and they had finally gotten sick of her shrieks and screams. The odd mutter could be heard from behind the boards, but nothing more ominous than that.

Kreacher was gone. When Sirius had died, he was forced to go to the only remaining member of the Black family – Narcissa Malfoy.

"Excellent," sniggered Ron. "I always thought I wouldn't wish that little blighter on my worst enemy – but you know what? That's where he is now! I'd love to know what Malfoy thinks of him!"

Kreacher's defection, however, worried Harry greatly. "Won't he tell all the Order's secrets to the Malfoys?" he asked Bill quietly on the side, while everyone else was bustling around the dinner table.

"Well, he might have, but Dumbledore Obliviated him before he left," said Bill with a small grin. "If you thought he was peculiar before, you should have seen him after the Memory Charm was performed. Completely cuckoo. Took one look at the heads of his ancestors on the walls upstairs, and shot out of here like he had a fire under his backside."

Surrounded by the entire Weasley clan again, Harry suddenly felt remarkably shy about his relationship with Ginny. At school, he had only Ron to contend with. Here, there were all six brothers and a pair of parents. During dinner, he felt her toes suddenly slide along his foot and up under his trouser leg. Shocked, he glanced up at where she was sitting opposite him. Ginny was looking entirely composed and was having an enthusiastic conversation with Bill about her animagus form.

Harry blinked at her, shocked. He couldn't believe she could do something like that, and sit there all unperturbed. Then he noticed Ron, who was sitting next to her. He was staring fixedly at his plate, a silly grin on his face.

It all fell into place. Hermione, who was sitting next to Harry, was thoroughly enjoying her chicken casserole and a conversation with Lupin, in which she was discussing her continued work with SPEW. Clearly, Ron's foot was aiming at Hermione and had gotten Harry instead.

Harry clamped his foot on Ron's and bore down with as much weight as he could muster. Ron choked on his mouthful of pie, and looked at Hermione in horror. Then, realizing it was Harry's foot he had been caressing, he went bright red in embarrassment and became completely engrossed in his food again, refusing to look up. When he did, Harry shook his head dolefully and tutted.

"Your aim is shocking, Ron," he said sweetly. "Need to work on that, son. You'll never make an Auror if you keep getting the wrong target."

Ginny, however, wasn't going to let him get away with pretending they were just friends. She swapped places with Hermione and defiantly took Harry's hand in front of everyone.

"Hmm," said Bill, eyeing this development. "Do I need to have a chat with you, young Harry?"

"Don't worry – Ron's got it in hand," Harry mumbled, as the rest of the family laughed. "He's already threatened to kill me slowly if I hurt Ginny."

"Mhmmph," said Ron, swallowing hard to get rid of a mouthful of pie. "And Harry's promised to do the same to me if I upset Hermione, so not to worry, Bill – it's sorted."

"Harry said WHAT?" said Hermione, pretending to be outraged but secretly touched.

"Zat is so sweet," crooned Fleur, earning a filthy look from Ginny.

"I'll give her sweet," she whispered viciously to Harry. "Just wait and see. If she dumps my brother, I'll .. I'll.."

Later that night, after an excellent dessert of hot jam sponge with custard, they trooped upstairs to bed. Ron and Harry shared the same room as before, but this time it was spotlessly clean and the linen on the beds rustled with starch. Harry was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, exhausted by all the emotional output he'd had to deal with. Tomorrow, he'd discuss it with Remus and find out how he could shut it out. It was all too much to deal with.