Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, this is only for fun and stress relief (cheaper than therapy). Special thanks to Lord Dreadnault for his betawork. I really appreciate your help. Chapter 6 is done (its my favorite chapter) and hopefully will be up within the next two weeks. Chapter 7 will be the ending of this story. Thanks again to all the reviewers.

Chapter 5

I knew that I didn't want to get up. I wondered if I would be missed if I just stayed in my bed and pretend that today didn't happen. I could just sleep all day and then wake up tomorrow, fresh and ready to start that day with a vengeance.

But I knew that I needed to get up and help my mum. Today wouldn't be a good day for her and she needed all the support she could get.

Today is Percy's birthday, or would be his birthday if he was still alive. He died at the end of my fifth year. He never officially reconciled with the family. Today is a day of regrets and unspoken words.

It's hard for me to describe how I feel about Percy. He was my brother and for that I love him in a general sort of way, but down deeper, my feelings are a lot murkier.

Percy was always the odd one of the family. Some people say that they have a black sheep in their family and I guess that in ours, Percy would be considered it. I know Percy wasn't a bad person; he had his courage, intelligence, and his integrity. He just never really fit in with the general chaos that is the Weasley family. Maybe he decided that early on his niche in our family was the extremely intelligent boy who played by the books, always, even to the point of alienating himself from us.

Percy got on my nerves. There I said it. I loved him, he was a good person, he died a hero and he got on my nerves

My strongest memory of him, and I think the one that I really cherish about him, is that he tried to help me during my first year. He didn't succeed of course, but at least he had his head out of his books long enough to notice something was wrong. In his limited way he sought help for me, which is a lot more than my other brothers did. Sometimes I still can't believe how idiotic my brothers acted that first year; for goodness sake, I would have noticed that one of them was being possessed. However, that is a dead issue because I made my peace with Ron, Fred, and George years ago.

After Voldemort was 'officially' recognized by the Ministry, I had sort of hoped that Percy would come back. I know my mom desperately wanted to see him. No matter what he had said and done, he was still her child. My father was silent, torn between anger and wanting to hug his son. My brothers were mixed; Ron, Fred, and George had basically written him off and didn't want to ever see him. Bill and Charlie were a little less severe in their reactions, they did want to talk to him at least and find out what was he thinking. I wanted to talk to him too, to at least tell him I missed him, and to give him a Bat Bogey hex for making Mum (and me) cry. Everyone was the same on the idea that he needed to apologize to Mum and Dad and to Harry. Hermione told me what Percy wrote to Ron, and I really couldn't believe that he would think those things about Harry.

During that summer, I know Mum went to his flat and did see him briefly. She wouldn't tell me what happened, but when I eavesdropped on her and Dad talking about it, I learned that Percy was calmer but there was still a lot of tension. Mum was hopeful that eventually the bonds could be repaired.

When I was made a prefect that fifth year, he sent me a note. I have no idea how he found out, but I owled him back and thanked him and I told him that I missed him. I didn't hear from him again until Christmas that year when he sent me a gift. It was a beautiful bracelet with a charm of a dragonfly on it. I cried when I opened it. I still have it and I always think of him when I wear it.

We owled each other one more time when he wished me a happy birthday in late May. A week later he was killed in an attack on Diagon Alley. He took a death curse for a witch he was trying to help escape. It was the saddest day of my life when Professor McGonagall told me what happened. By some miracle I managed to take my OWLs and even though my heart and my mind weren't there, I did quite well.

Mum was devastated of course and during that following summer we did our best to help her and console her. It was hard for Ron, Fred, and George because they were still so angry at Percy, but to their credit, they didn't say one bad word about him around her.

Eventually the acute grief faded away and was left with a general sadness. The sadness started to fade also, but sometimes, like today, make it flare up again. I always stay with Mum the whole day and try to get her out of the house, because she has a tendency to dwell on things and fret and I know with Percy it is worse because he wasn't completely reconciled with our family. Not only is there the grief of a mother losing her child, but the added guilt that maybe she could have done more.

I walked downstairs, hoping to see her in the kitchen at least. However, only my father was there. He looked at me when I entered and gave me a sad smile and shook his head.

'She's already been crying, Gin, and she doesn't want to get out of bed, just do the best you can and I'll be home early so we can go visit the grave'.

Every year, Mum, Dad and I go and visit Percy's grave on his birthday. Mom gets some forget-me-nots and puts them on the grave. Whenever we arrive at the grave someone has left red rose and a bouquet of daisies. We don't really know who does it, but I think the rose is from Penny, who was still Percy's girlfriend at the time of his death, and I think the daisies are from Hermione, whom I suspect once had a crush on Percy.

Right after his death I owled Penny and together we shared our grief. Somehow, in a way it made me feel closer to Percy, to talk with someone outside the family who really loved him. After the war, Penny moved to the States and works there as sort of an Ambassador from the British Ministry of Magic. She has done well there, and we still occasionally owl each other, she seems happy, and for that I am glad.

My father and I sat at the table and sipped our tea, both lost in our thoughts and worries about my mum. He stood up bent over kissed the top of my head and he left for work.

I decided to get some baking done and got out the ingredients to make some bread as we were running low. It was somewhat therapeutic with the mixing and kneading of the dough. After I had set the dough aside to rise I heard a pop from the living room.

Sometimes Ron will show up on Percy's birthday to say hello to my mum. He won't officially say that he came because of Percy's birthday but I know that he remembers. It really makes my mum feel better too.

I walked down the hallway and entered the living room and Harry was there. No, I hadn't talked with him yet. I haven't seen him since the night of the party. I heard from Hermione that the Death Eater had been captured but that they had caught him with a whole shipment of 'Dark' items. Harry and Ron had been working day and night trying to trace where everything had come from and to where it was going.

I was very happy to see him, it was almost a relief, since the house was so quiet and I don't think Mum was ever coming out of her room. I walked over to him and hugged him and told him how happy I was to see him.

When he asked why, I had to explain about Percy's birthday and how hard Mum takes it. He seemed to really understand.

He followed me into the kitchen and I put the kettle on for some tea. I grabbed some lemon biscuits and placed them on a plate. Harry went to the correct shelf and grabbed two mugs, got the cream out of the panty, and grabbed the sugar from the counter. I poured the tea when it was ready and we sat down at the table and enjoyed our little 'elevenses'. I asked him about work and listened to him with great fascination as he explained how meticulous Ron and he had to be. Due to their extreme care and thorough investigation they arrested three other people and confiscated a room full of Dark items.

'So what brings you by to visit us today?' I asked him.

'Well, I need your help', he started, 'I have a couple of weeks leave and I want to buy a house. I am meeting with a realtor after lunch and I really need your help to pick one out. I have no idea what I am doing, and I know you can help guide me. I know it's short notice, but, please?" The poor boy looked quite desperate, definitely over his head.

I couldn't help but laugh and said 'Harry you know I will help you and I think that this just might be the thing to get Mum out of her bed. Can we be back by four?'

An intense look of relief crossed his face 'Yes, that will be no problem; I'll take you and Mum out to lunch, or dinner, or both'.

'Ok, let me go get her going and change, do you want to wait or come back'? I asked as I got up and cast a speed charm on the dough to make it rise faster. I really don't like to do that as in my mind I feel the bread isn't as good, but today, time was of the essence and I couldn't wait all day for it to be done.

Harry said he had a quick errand to do and he would be back in a half hour. I hurried upstairs and knocked on my parent's bedroom door. Mum said I could come in and when I explained that Harry needed our help and that he was coming back in a half hour, I could see a little smile on her lips. Mum has always had a soft spot for Harry and I knew that if anything or anyone could get her out of her depression it would be him. It really was perfect timing. She got out of bed and went into her bathroom to get cleaned up and ready. I smiled and said a small prayer of thanks and headed to my room to get ready also.

Harry returned exactly as he said he would and together we Apparated to Hogsmeade and had a lunch at the 'Three Broomsticks'. Harry was doing his best to entertain my Mum and I could tell it was working, she was definitely looking up.

After lunch we walked over to the realtor's office and met with her. She showed Harry some photos of different properties and after input from Mum and I he selected three he wanted to look at further.

We Apparated to the first house, which was not too far from The Burrow and my Mum liked it for that reason. The outside needed some work on it as it had been empty for the past couple of years. According to the realtor, the previous owners moved to the Caribbean after the War was over. It was a nice Tudor style, four bedrooms and a large den. For some reason, which I couldn't figure out, I didn't like the home, it depressed me, maybe because it was a dark home, there wasn't a lot of light coming in from the windows. However, Mum stated it was lovely, but to be honest, I think she said that mainly because it was close to the Burrow.

The next home was in a suburb of London. It was located in the middle of a Muggle neighborhood and to me was a lot better than the previous one. Mum wasn't too impressed (small kitchen, not enough cupboards, and small fireplace).

Finally we went to the third home which was in Hogsmeade. It was more expensive but had a large lot of land attached and was well situated on a tree lined street. The moment I walked into the house I could feel a sense of happiness come over me, the house had an aura of love in it. My Mum sensed it too, because she could not stop gushing about how beautiful the home was. She loved the kitchen which had two fireplaces, one for cooking and warmth, and one for travel. She raved about the cupboard space, and the fact that the master suite had a huge sunken tub. The house got a lot of natural light, which I noticed right away, and had wonderful molding and woodwork that obviously had been customized. The room that won me over though was the conservatory, which was next to the library. The room was a magnificent design and perfectly proportioned. There was a gorgeous view over the grounds, which had been maintained, and the room had the best location to maximize the natural lighting but without it being blinding. The artist in me was already setting up my pallete and figuring which direction would be the best to face. I had to mentally stop myself when I realized that this wasn't my home.

Harry noticed how entranced I was with the room and walked over to me, 'Are you setting up your paints?'

I laughed and blushed a little, guilty at being caught, 'I forgot that I won't be here, for a moment, Harry, I do love this room, and this house, and it has a positive warmth and aura to it. I think you would be very happy here'.

He smiled at me 'I could feel it when I walked in too, I think you Mum likes it.' He walked over to the realtor and told her he wanted it.

Of course she was delighted as it was the most expensive, 'How lovely, this house just came onto the market and I knew it would go fast. I will have everything done for your Mr. Potter, you can move in next week. I am sure you both will be happy here.'

At that comment my head jerked up and I opened my mouth to explain that I wouldn't be here with him (well at least not yet), when Harry just put his arm around me, and replied 'Yes, we will.'

I almost passed out.