AN: We have finally caught up to where Percy enters the timeline of Escape. As such this chapter is going to be longer than most. I could have split it into two shorter chapters but I thought that would drag it out. If you have recently read Escape and remember it, then forgive me but I will be quoting it where necessary. I am not going to be reposting great swathes of it, just what is relevant. If you haven't read Escape then don't worry, things should make as much sense as they ever have.

June 1997

Percy didn't want to feel hurt, but he did. He didn't want to care, but the ache was undeniable. It wasn't as if it would have made any difference anyway.

He twirled the heavy card stock between his fingers feeling the weight of it, the coloured ink flashing as the card turned over and over in his hands. He threw it on the table and stared at it balefully.

He couldn't. He couldn't go. Too much time had passed. How would he ever be able to explain? They certainly wouldn't listen to him. Even though it was clear that while he had been wrong about You-Know-Who's return and the Ministry's ability to deal with the problem, his family had been wrong about Dumbledore and his plans. Harry Potter had left the country. The Death Eaters were attacking innocent people again. The Ministry reshuffles hadn't gone unnoticed by Percy. People were moved around departments and while he no longer feared for his job, he feared that his faith in the Ministry dealing with the problem effectively and efficiently was shattered. Not one Death Eater had been apprehended after the breakout of Azkaban, not one. Oh, there was speculation that You Know Who was no longer in the country but Percy didn't believe that. He was here, waiting, watching. For what, Percy didn't know.

He heard the door open and remembered he had agreed to meet Audrey. A glance at the clock confirmed he was not only late, he was so late she'd come to his flat looking for him.

"Percy?" Audrey's voice was hesitant, surprised to see him sitting in his flat.

Percy stood up and crossed the room to meet her. "I'm sorry," he offered, dropping a kiss onto her hair as he wrapped his arms around her. Audrey's arms came up in automatic response.

"Percy?" She queried.

Percy soaked in the feel of her in his arms before releasing her and gesturing to the card on the table.

Audrey moved to the table and picked it up. "William Weasley? He's your brother?" Audrey hazarded.

"Eldest," Percy confirmed joining her staring down at the card.

"You are going to go?"

Percy shook his head.

"Percy why not? He's invited you, surely that means he wants you there?"

Percy huffed. "They don't want me there. Bill wants Charlie there, Fred and George. Ginny probably, even Ron, but not me. Not unless he can lecture me on my responsibility to my family and how I've hurt Mum and Dad with my behaviour. 'Toe the line Percy.' 'It won't hurt you to do as they want.' 'You don't have all the facts and you have to listen to them.' The sanctimonious elder brother that he is. As if I don't have an opinion to call my own." Percy dropped onto the sofa scowling.

"So, you want to go then."

"What part of what I've just said gave you that impression?"

"Percy, you stood me up so you could brood over an invitation to your eldest brother's wedding. Would you have done that if you didn't care?"

"Sorry," Percy said. "I should have called, or better yet stuck to our arrangement."

"It's fine, they're your family. Being estranged has to be hard on you. Are you sure you aren't going to go? I can come with you if you want. Moral support and all that. Then if it's terrible, we could slip off early and find a pub or something."

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm not going."

"Well, let me know if you change your mind. I've got a dress in my wardrobe that will just need a quick iron."

Percy smiled thinly. "I shan't."

"Mhmm. Do they have a gift list or something? Is Fleur as French as she sounds?"

"Fleur is yes."

"You've met her?"

"Yes, not while she was seeing Bill. I don't think I knew they were together, but she came over from France with her school as part of an inter-school competition. I met her then. She seemed to be a confident sort of person, beautiful, clever," Percy shrugged. "I didn't really speak to her beyond the pleasantries."

"Oh," Audrey said looking down at the invitation again.

Percy heard the tone of Audrey's voice. "She was a student at the time. Seventeen yes, but a student. I'd been out of school a year by then. It was just as everything started going wrong. You have nothing to concern yourself with, I can promise you I did not spare Fleur a passing thought."

"Well, you said beautiful and clever. It's stiff competition."

Percy pulled Audrey to him and held her. "I promise that I am quite in love with you and could not care a whit for anyone else. As for beautiful and clever, be assured that I find you both those things."

"Oh," Audrey repeated, hugging Percy in return. "Well, I love you too."

They were silent for a moment in each other's arms before Audrey tilted her head up to look at Percy. "If they don't have a gift list, we can hunt through the shop for something to send them. We've got some nice bits in. Or, if you're feeling petty, we've got some hideous gilded pieces from a house clearance we did a couple of weeks ago. We'd let you have them for free if only to get them off our hands. They'll never sell."

Percy snorted a laugh. "It's a tempting thought. I'll think about it."

"Take your time," Audrey said warmly. "They really aren't going anywhere. Alternatively, how about an amateur impressionist painting of mutant fruit?"

"Mutant fruit?"

"Hmm yes. I think they are supposed to be apples, but if anyone gave me an apple that colour and shape I'm not sure my first thought would be to eat it. Hand it over for scientific research perhaps. Or how about cherubs on plates? I saw some of those at a sale, we could inquire if they are still available."

"Do you often send gifts to the people unfortunate enough to upset you?"

"Sometimes. Occasionally it's worth the postage," Audrey confirmed. "There's something satisfying knowing that a nicely wrapped and package box delivered with no note will get even the most cynical person's expectations raised, only to find something awful inside. It did backfire once. I sent a chap a genuinely terrible jug, it was a bad fake, looked like a five-year-old had done it as their first school project. Anyway, I saw him two weeks later down the pub, and he was raving about this jug, thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Convinced it was some early work by a Master that an admirer had sent him. Not quite the reaction I was hoping for."

"And what had he done to displease you so?"

"I don't remember. Likely he made Rose cry. She went through a stage of picking awful men and showering them with crap in prettily wrapped boxes was therapeutic for her. Something about them being a mirror of the people she was sending them too."

"Ouch."

Audrey grinned. "She has a mean streak does Rose, you'd do well to mind it."

"I shall endeavour to. Since I have behaved abominably in missing our date would you care to be taken out for dinner? We can go around the corner to the Indian?"

"Fair enough, although I've an early start in the morning so I can't stay over I'm afraid. You could come back to mine though if you like unless you have to be in work early?"

"Not especially early. Let me put a bag together." Percy said moving towards his bedroom to gather his things.

August 1997

Percy had visited his brothers' shop once. It had opened with all the fanfare that Percy had expected from them. Loud, bold exuberance that demanded you join them. In the crush of inquisitive witches and wizards Percy had slipped in, hidden by the crowds and judiciously placed glamour charms. He hadn't been sure what had driven him to visit. He hadn't approached Fred or George or done anything to attract notice, but he hadn't been able to stay away. He could admit that he wished them well. The gossip going around was that the products the twins sold had become must-haves for the wizarding population. Percy wondered how much of the defence lines he had seen in one corner was being purchased under the guise of shopping for Skiving Snack Boxes. Or perhaps the population, now aware that You-Know-Who was alive, was trying to hide their heads in sand in the form of his brothers' own brand of distraction.

It was Mills that mentioned the latest news to Percy. Mills worked in the permits office, and Percy had been able to add him to his stable of contacts within the Ministry with a few well-placed bottles of muggle beer. When Mills sauntered up to Percy in the corridor early in the morning and followed him into the lift. Percy only acknowledged the other wizard with a pleasant good morning. The lift door rattled closed behind Mills, and the lift set off on what Percy noticed to be the longest continuous journey a Ministry lift was able to take.

"Weasley, something fell on my desk a couple of days ago, and you're a hard man to get alone."

Percy hummed noncommittally.

"Your brothers, run that joke shop. Seems they do well enough at it, but they've applied for a permit to sell wands. The decision is being looked at by my boss. I'm not sure he's going to grant it, they run a joke shop after all. Robards isn't going to run the risk of them hurting a bunch of folks especially eleven-year-olds. I don't suppose you know what they are about do you?"

Percy swallowed his surprise and paused for a moment to think. "Not specifically no. If they have set up to sell wands, then they will have done their research. They aren't in the business of getting people hurt or launching things that won't be a hit. If they fulfil the requirements, I can't see why the permit shouldn't go through"

"Fair enough," Mills said. "I'll tell Robards."

"Don't mention me," Percy requested. I don't want to be on any official record.

"You won't be," Mills replied. "I've got a nephew in need of a wand this year. He's a muggle born. My sister married a half-blood. Her husband's brother and his wife are as muggle as they come, little Trevor though. He's a demon, my sister took him in hand you see, when his parents struggled. Helped like, you know. Flies a broom like he was born to it. I see him when I visit my sister, bright as a button too. Destined for Ravenclaw that one. Beatrice is a Hufflepuff through and through same as her mum."

"He no longer lives with his parents?"

"Oh no he does, just my sister takes him so he can learn, you know before he goes to Hogwarts. It's better for him as well, he learnt to control his magic along with my sister's brood. His parents have been pretty good about it all. Least they don't think he's ill or they are losing their minds. A bit of a shock of course, but not as much as his Hogwarts letter turning up out of the blue. They'll come shopping with him so they'll get to see a bit more of our side of it. We're going to make a family day of it. Beatrice, my sister's eldest, is going this year as well. It's a damn shame Olivander's is closed, my whole family have his wands. Wanted that for Beatrice and Trevor too."

"There are other sellers."

"Yeah but Trevor is Muggleborn. I'm not taking him or his parents into Jerkins Wands. If Jerkins let them over the threshold, I wouldn't trust anything that he tried selling them."

"Fred and George wouldn't discriminate on birth," Percy said firmly.

"No, Weasleys don't discriminate, you can say that about your lot."

"It's not a bad thing to be said," Percy replied.

"I suppose not. Well, this is me," Mills said as the lift stopped and the doors swung open. "I'll see you another time."

"I look forward to it," Percy responded. The doors closed and he continued by a shorter route to his floor and onto his office.

Percy thought about his brothers' latest venture until he reached his desk and started working. Then it slipped to the back of his mind and troubled him not a whit until the week after when he chose to stroll down Diagon Alley for some sun and fresh air on his lunch break.

There, swinging from the frontage of the shop, was the new sign. Percy continued towards the shop peering through the crowded display. Percy paused as he caught sight of one of the twins conversing earnestly with what had to be a crowd of first years on their shopping trip for Hogwarts supplies. Percy stepped closer to the window and watched fascinated as the red-headed wizard engaged the child in small talk then handed a wand over. The wand failed to react to the child and Fred, or George shrugged and gave the child another wand to try. Percy watched in fascination as the process was repeated, his brother keeping the child engaged with whatever he was saying until the fifth wand was handed over and a rain of bright colours fell from the end. The other children gasped in excitement and crowded around their compatriot. Percy's eyes were on Fred or George who nodded in satisfaction and pride. As the next child stepped forward eagerly, Percy started moving again.

Whatever his brothers were up to they were not intent on causing harm and the match Percy had witnessed was as good as he had had with his own wand. Perhaps he would contact Mills and inquire if he had taken his niece and nephew to get their wands yet. It would be interesting to hear what he had to say if he had found wands in Weasleys Wizarding Wands. The unanswered questions of how his brothers had obtained their stock and learnt the craft of matching wands to witches and wizards remained unanswered, but Percy was in no position to get them.

October 1997

When the letter was delivered, the first thing he noticed was that it was not addressed correctly.

It merely said Mr Percy Weasley, Ministry of Magic, it didn't reference his job title, or office, or floor number, as all proper Ministry correspondence should do. While it took the author a little more time to write these things, it did ensure that the post was delivered correctly, and promptly. No one really wanted their personal quibbles being given to the wrong person and splashed all over the Prophet, but by not adequately addressing correspondence that's exactly what you risked.

The second thing he noticed made the first thing moot.

Percy might not have seen his family in a while, but nothing would stop him remembering what his younger siblings handwriting looked like. He had spent hours helping them learn to read and write, and longer regretting it. As invariably, one of their pranks they had cobbled together from a source of books, had been set upon him.

Fred and George had written to him.

It was clearly Fred and George together even though Fred's handwriting was on the outside. Those two had a hive mind and never acted without the other. If one didn't want to, the other would talk them round or change the plan until they both agreed. It was what made them brilliant.

Percy looked at the parchment suspiciously, putting it on the blotter in front of him. He cast a detecting charm on it. The one he had asked Bill for before, well, before and used on any incoming mail he didn't recognise.

The charm said the letter contained no jinxes, that opening it wouldn't turn him yellow, or transfigure his nose into a beak, or anything else the Twins might have come up with.

Sadly, this only made his suspicions heighten. Since when did Fred and George pass up an opportunity to prank anyone? Sending a letter without a prank attached … oh, Merlin. Suddenly a rushing noise filled his ears, and he couldn't swallow properly. Every harsh word he'd ever exchanged with his loud, boisterous, sometimes alien family, came screaming back to the forefront of his mind.

If they hadn't sent a prank, then they wanted him to read it, and if they wanted him to read it… Merlin. He hoped no one was seriously hurt in whatever foolish errand they had gone on for Dumbledore. He hoped that at worst it was a couple of weeks in St Mungo's. That he wasn't being told that fences couldn't be mended with one of them on a permanent basis.

Hands now trembling and throat so tight he thought he might suffocate, Percy ripped the letter open, taking less care than he should to ensure he didn't tear the contents.

His eyes scanned the message not really taking it in just hunting for the news. His shoulders dropped and his head sagged as he realised that it mentioned nothing of any injuries, attacks, and possible deaths. He took a minute or five to get himself back under control.

Percy didn't want to admit it, but Audrey was right, being estranged was hard. He ignored it most of the time, but it never left him. Under the anger and disappointment, he held against his family it didn't stop the worry. Estrangement hadn't stopped him loving them or worrying about them. He heard things about them of course. There were enough gossips in the Ministry to put the Prophet out of business although they probably kept the prophet in business printing rumours and supposition.

Picking the letter up he read it over properly. It was short, succinct for the twins, and written as usual in both their handwriting as they had taken it from each other and penned bits.

Percy,

Don't throw this away. You can't because we've charmed it not to be destroyed. If you want to try, you can, but we suggest you don't set it on fire. Being responsible for evacuating the Ministry at whatever ungodly hour you chose to start work will look bad on your record.

It's true don't try it – unless you know, in case of an emergency sort of thing. Not like a real emergency, where the building is coming down around you and people are already panicking, because no one will notice. But a small emergency, where forewarning was helpful and makes you look good. Seriously, it will work, the siren on this thing is loud. Testing it was a nightmare.

We're writing because we thought you probably didn't want us coming to visit. We'd have to ask at the desk which department you were in, and where that was. Since we're not exactly good for your Ministerial image, we didn't think you would appreciate that.

This isn't about the whole working for the Ministry thing.

Well, it is, but not because you got huffy and walked out on us.

Right, we weren't going to mention that so you'd actually listen, so ignore him. We need your help. It's nothing illegal or dangerous.

The only danger is losing your mind, your arm falling off and a potential national ink shortage.

Exactly, so nothing that is going to make you look bad. We promise to abide by the terms of parley and will meet on accorded neutral ground. We've no idea where you Ministry types hang out anyway.

Will you come? There's a park in London called Kensington Gardens. It's Muggle so you know we can't pull anything. There's a statue of Peter Pan, we'll be there tomorrow after your shift ends. Ask a Muggle for directions.

Your brothers,

Fred and George

Percy dropped the letter onto his blotter again and looked it over. He was willing to take the twins at their word. They never warned you about the consequences of their products unless they were serious about them, and they weren't part of whatever they were planning.

What did they want? They said it wasn't about his separation from the family since they hadn't been planning on mentioning it.

Where did the twins find out about Kensington Gardens? He knew where the Pan statue was of course. He'd told Audrey about his brothers, and she had, in turn, told him the tale of the boy who never grew up. It fitted them somehow. They'd gone to look at it on a weekend, enjoying the autumn colours and the fresh air after a tiring week at work.

His shift didn't end until five, but he needed to do an hour or so more after that to keep on top of the new legislation that was being pushed through. Without checking them over, he couldn't be sure his boss was getting a full and complete breakdown. It wouldn't do for the Minister to be under-prepared to answer questions at any time. He folded the letter up and slipped it into his pocket. When he was ready to go home, he'd think about it then. Otherwise, he had a solid day in front of him.

The end of the day arrived. His office was silent except for the scratch of his quill against parchment. The buzz of activity in the Ministry had quietened and died off as more and more people left for the day.

When Percy reached the stopping point he had set himself for the day, he cleaned his quill and placed it neatly on the inkstand on his desk. He tidied his parchments filing them until tomorrow. He cast a charm on his outbox, the spell had each memo and packet of parchment neatly fold up in an aeroplane and zoom out of his door. They would float to their destinations slipping through the cracks under the doors to settle in the recipients in trays ready for perusal the next morning.

One last thing lay on his blotter. The letter Fred and George had sent.

Percy grumbled to himself. He was going to go. He'd not gone to Bill's wedding despite Audrey's encouragement to attend. He stubbornly shut down any conversation that broached the topic. He had caved to Audrey's urging and sent them a gift, and despite her initial offer, he had turned down the gilded carriage clock and the painting of mutant fruit. Audrey had picked out a delicate bud vase, and Percy had agreed that it would do.

But the twins hadn't sent him an invitation, one of many sent out if he knew anything about his mother. They had specifically written to him and specifically requested his help. Percy wasn't reassured about their assurances that whatever they were doing wasn't illegal. Many things weren't illegal, but that did not mean his prankster brothers should be getting involved with them.

Grumbling to himself he locked his office up and made his way to the floo. The sooner he found out what they wanted, the better.

Percy approached the meeting place, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. The cold nipped at the end of his nose, and he wondered if his brothers would still be waiting for him. As he came around the corner of the hedge, he paused spying the two lanky forms huddled together, and their conversation floated over to him.

"…Think he's chained to the desk? Manacles rubbing his wrists and ankles sore, wand held hostage?"

"We'd have to think of a daring rescue."

"Heroic, too."

"Of course. Maybe we could ask Charlie for a dragon, a small one. We could have it fly around outside the Ministry, distracting everyone. Drawing them outside to gawk, while we bravely battled through the corridors to rescue our fair brother from his prison."

"I would rather you didn't if it's all the same," Percy said as he stepped out of the shadows and walked towards them. "The dragon alone would need three import licenses signing off."

"Percy!" the twins whirled as one, throwing themselves at Percy.

Percy staggered slightly under their combined weight and effuse thumps of greeting. He had a moment of surprise as his siblings threw themselves on him, followed by a rush of relief that they had done so. As they drew away, he smoothed his hair and robes in an automatic gesture and saw the twins catch each other's glances and roll their eyes. He ignored them and instead said. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yeah, we did," The twin Percy thought was George responded eagerly. "Do you want to go somewhere warmer? Only it's a bit cold out here."

Percy eyed them suddenly wary. They had agreed to meet on neutral ground to show they meant to behave. If they went elsewhere would that still stand? For all their joking a moment ago, Percy wouldn't put it past them to take him somewhere he could not leave if they thought it for his own good or they were under orders.

"We're not going to do anything, and no one in the family knows we're here. You can pick where and we'll behave," Fred offered sincerely.

Percy looked at them, concerned as to why they were acting so politely. The twins were not serious people and only earnest when something really mattered. Politics warred with family inside him once again. He sighed in inevitable defeat. "I suppose you can come to my flat. But I'm taking you in, and you are not to touch or otherwise mess about with any of my things."

Once the twins settled on the sofa, Percy was unsure of what to expect. The explanation of their need of his help with their business puzzled Percy. The forms were perhaps detailed, but he had not expected his brothers to find them onerous. When the forms were produced in a dramatic flourish, Percy felt his eyebrows rise. Certainly, he hadn't expected quite so many. A glance through also showed that they were as detailed as Percy recalled. The worry was that the file was surely big enough to cover every product the twins sold, and yet they claimed that this covered just their wand selling business.

Percy sighed knowing he had already agreed to help them in whatever they needed when he had decided to meet them. The idea that it was just dry form filling in relieved him as much as he didn't anticipate the evening of completing the forms in question. He summoned the ink and quills and picked up the first folder indicating they should start.

The conversation stayed for the most part in the safe zones of his brother's wand business. It was some two hours later disheartened by the futility of what the twins were expected to do Percy made a decision. He had enough contacts within the Ministry. Perhaps instead of just acting against Mr Malfoy, he could use that network to help his brothers.

"If," Percy said, drawing Fred and George's attention. "What I mean is, that if you like, if it would help. I can advise you on the newest legislation coming from the Ministry, and help you fill in the correct forms, to make sure you don't build up such a backlog again. Obviously, I can only tell you what has passed into law. Speculation on my part, of anything being discussed at higher levels would be a flagrant disregard of my responsibilities and oaths as a member of the Ministry."

The twins greeted this offer with eager acceptance, and Percy felt a flush of pleasure sweep through him. He had been uncertain if this would be a onetime thing.

Percy summoned the courage to ask after the rest of the family and Fred, and George quickly ran through the family offering insights into the last they knew of them. It was only when Percy cautiously inquired after Harry and Hermione did the old resentments flare up again, and Percy had to bite his tongue to stop the angry words that clogged the back of his throat.

Fred and George exchanged a speaking look and what must have been a silent agreement to change the subject passed between them.

The next words however caught Percy off guard and he felt himself suck a lungful of air in as if there simply wasn't going to be any more in the room other than what he could hold inside himself.

"So, who's the bird?"

Percy couldn't form words.

The picture," his brother pointed to the bookcase. "Who is she?"

"Audrey," Percy replied eventually. "We met shortly after I moved in here."

"What's she like?" Fred asked encouragingly. "Would Mum approve?"

"I, she," Percy shook himself, gathering himself together. The turn in the conversation and the realisation that his brothers would, of course, notice the picture and certainly be interested in who she was, sinking in. Percy wasn't ready for this conversation, he hadn't ever expected to have it in truth. "I would rather that you didn't tell Mum and Dad, especially Dad if you don't mind."

"Eh? Why not? Mum will be thrilled. You know she's desperate to marry us all off."

"Yeah, I see your point there Percy. Best keep it to yourself. Don't want Mum scaring her off."

"No, you don't understand, you see…" Percy trailed off suddenly nervous despite everything. He knew the twins, he knew his family were considered blood traitors but acknowledging muggle-borns was one thing. What he had done, what he was doing, was something entirely different.

"What? Is she a bit posh? Don't worry, we wore Fleur down. Your Audrey will be no match for our charm,"

"I, she. She's a muggle!" Percy blurted, snapping his mouth closed as the last syllable left his lips. He closed his eyes. He knew that if he ever fixed what was broken between him and his family he would have to tell them about Audrey, about her being a muggle. This was not how he had imagined it happening, though.

"Does she know about cinema?"

Percy snapped his eyes open his face a picture of shock, gaping at his brother.

"Oh please! Tell me she can get you Chinese food. Can you get it here?" his other brother said eagerly.

"I, umm. Yes, she knows about cinema. But, she's a muggle, I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that but..." Percy answered reeling at the horror of what he had told them and their confusing reactions. How did Fred and George know about cinema and why would they want Chinese food?

"But what? You didn't think we were going to run screaming, did you? Denounce you for not dating some lovely young witch from the Department of So-Boring-I-Can't-Remember, did you?"

"I, err, well. Yes?" Percy confessed.

"Pfft, she's a muggle Percy, not an alien. Can we meet her? Does she know about us? Not the magic bit of course, but you know, your family?"

"She doesn't think I was born from an egg no," Percy replied drily.

Fred and George seemed delighted that he was dating a muggle and Percy couldn't fathom it. Weasleys don't discriminate. He hadn't been flippant when he said that to Mills, but he had never considered that Weasleys wouldn't discriminate against Muggles as well as Muggle-born.

Their entreaties to meet Audrey had Percy wavering. It would be a relief to have at least a small measure of contact with his family. It would make him feel less utterly alone, but the risk of the twins slipping up and exposing Audrey to magic was not to be disregarded. They were eager puppies anxiously waiting his answer and Percy didn't have the heart to crush their fledgling peace talks with his refusal. He would have to speak to Audrey, and he had no idea of what he would say or how he would explain.

Percy directed them back to the forms giving himself time to get his thoughts together. When they were complete, he offered to send them out to the relevant departments in the morning and herded his brothers out of the door.

The evening had taken a toll on Percy, and he wished for nothing more than quiet solitude to get his thoughts straight. Fred and George knew about Audrey, knew that he was dating a Muggle. Fred and George, his younger brothers. He had spent years looking out for the pair, keeping them from getting into more trouble than they could handle. He had just given them the means to destroy him. One word in the wrong place and Percy knew that losing his job was possibly the best-case scenario.