The Mother Who Cried Werewolf

Chapter Five

Horrific Quidditch Outing Anyone?

Percy was not used to walking around so to speak. He was out of breath within minutes of them reaching the Quidditch pitch. Fred still couldn't believe that their dad practically rewarded Percy for being a liar. He had admitted to everyone that he was making himself sick! And now, Arthur was acting like Percy should be handled with kid gloves and was pissed whenever anyone spoke badly to him. So far, they've done everything that Percy wanted on their outing. On their way to play Quidditch, they'd been into Flourish and Blotts. He'd been to the Owl Emporium. Percy fed the owls there and had a long look around. They ate ice cream at Fortescue's and stopped by for a cup of tea and about three dozen pastries. All Percy did was eateateat since it became apparent that he could.

By the time that they'd gotten to the public park they'd been using to play Quidditch, nobody really wanted to play. The only person that was in the mood for anything was Percy. He was in the best mood, having been spoiled rotten by their dad. He was sitting on their picnic blanket, eating a bag of crisp after crisp without even tasting it.

"Pig," Ron turned his nose up. Even he was a little disgusted at how much Percy ate all day. Fred knew that they were growing boys but with the way that Percy was packing it away, he'd be growing out soon enough. If Percy had an eating disorder, it certainly was a binge eating disorder.

Fred saw Percy wincing and it was enough to put down the crisps that he was eating.

Percy gave them a hard look. "What is wrong with you?"

"Funny, Perce, I could've asked you the same question," Fred mumbled.

"I didn't do anything to you," Percy said, his shoulders rounded, and his head hung low.

"You haven't done anything to us?" Fred reiterated incredulously.

"I don't know what you've done but you've made dad fawn over you too," George couldn't believe it. The whole family, he thought that at least their dad was on their side. Did Percy know that they had practically lost their childhood because he wanted to play Hospital? "Dad wants to leave mum because of you."

"Dad is leaving mum?" the only person that could ever sound ecstatic about the news was Percy.

"Are you mental? Did you even hear that right?" George looked shocked at how happy Percy looked.

"Dad is leaving mum!" Fred repeated crossly.

"Really?" Percy didn't seem to get that they thought that he was a sick bastard for being happy about them divorcing.

"Yes, really," Ron mocked Percy's voice, which sounded mechanical from the tracheostomy. Percy flushed. Good. He should be embarrassed. "Why are you so bloody happy about it? Mum spent all her time with you! She took care of you like you were all of us! And it looks like it still isn't enough for Poor Perfect Percy."

"You couldn't stop at mum. You had to take dad too," George added on.

"Nobody is around for us, but you don't care about that now, do you, Perce?" Fred clenched his hand into a fist and waved it around as he spoke. "As long as everyone is running after you."

"This isn't just your family," Ginny mumbled. "It's ours too."

"Do you know how long it's been since dad took us out?" George asked. "I don't know why he had to bring you too. You don't even know how to play Quidditch. And we didn't have to make two dozen stops on our way here."

Percy pressed his lips into a tight line. "Well fine, then I'll just leave."

"I wish you would," Ron challenged.

From where they were sitting on the pink-and-red checkered picnic blanket, they could see their dad talking to a vendor about renting out their Quidditch equipment. Bill and Charlie were standing behind him, chatting animatedly. Fred was hoping that their brooms wouldn't be too dusty and gross. The last time they played, the Bludger they used suddenly exploded mid-game. It would've been fine if not for the fact that Fred had actually wet himself. Arthur was livid too because he had to shell out the cost of that ancient monstrosity and they'd definitely overcharged him.

"We're all set," Arthur announced. Bill and Charlie were carrying all the broomsticks and balls they needed. It looked like they had to make do quickly. They'd had to wait an hour for the last lads to pack up their brooms and leave.

"Percy, we got you a broom too," Bill gestured towards the battered Cleansweep in his hand.

"Is that even safe?" Percy frowned. "Or sanitary?"

"It's plenty safe, Perce," Ron mumbled under his breath. "But if it's not, then it's another hospital admission for you, so I don't see how you could lose."

"There's no need to talk to your brother like that," Arthur gave Ron a look that he had never given him before. It was enough for Ron to lose the attitude. Fred couldn't believe how Percy did that. "Here you go, Percy," he handed Percy the nicest, sturdiest broom of the batch. Percy didn't look comfortable holding it into his hands.

"It's everyone! Everyone except Harry that is," George yelled enthusiastically as he noticed Angelina, Oliver, Alicia and Katie picking out Quidditch equipment. "Dad, let them play with us! We can use double the slot then."

"Dad, can we?" Ron looked excited to play with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. "Maybe they'll put me on the team then. I can play Keeper to Oliver Wood's Keeper."

"Yeah, I'm not going to be on your team, mate," Fred decided to let him know.

Arthur watched Fred and George run to their mates. Oliver beamed immediately upon seeing them. "It's good to know you actually practice on the holidays too," he said.

"Is that a picnic blanket?" Angelina pulled her hands up in horror. "I can't feel my toes! How are you eating sandwiches off the floor?" then she made them all out. "Is that your sister?"

"Aye, she's going to kick your arse," George said affectionately. "Bloody good Chaser."

"Who's the lad with the…?" Oliver gestured towards his throat. Percy's tracheostomy tube.

"That's our 'sick' brother," Fred put into air quotes.

"The one that's faking sick?" Alicia didn't look convinced.

"You're right. He looks perfectly healthy," Oliver said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "His legs are twice the size of the rest of him. Not that there is a lot of him to begin with."

Fred hadn't noticed that about Percy, but Oliver was right. Even from afar, you could see that Percy's legs were puffy and swollen. What had the bloody arsehole done to his legs now? Was he pretending to be up the duff now or something?

"He's fine," Fred insisted. "Probably already putting on weight from all the rubbish he eats."

"Just yesterday, he couldn't eat at all," George mumbled. "Because of his feeding tube. And now, he's suddenly packing it away like he'd never had a problem with it before," he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not comfortable with you talking about him like that," Oliver finally said. "He doesn't look alright."

"Not you too," Fred complained. "Everyone is always giving him a free pass. Trust us."

"Trust you?" Angelina echoed. "The last time you told me to trust you two, I ended up being a bird."

"This is different," George said seriously. "Percy is not sick."

"Stop picking on him," Alicia crossed her arms. "He looks harmless to me. You've made it sound like he was a picture of perfect health when you talked about him. He looks like a gust of wind could kill him. And what is that thing on his neck? It looks like it's supposed to help him breathe. How is that normal?"

"That's when he really was sick," Fred said quietly. "He was in the hospital for ages in intensive care."

"Shocking," Angelina mumbled.

They were going to ask their mates to play with them, but Fred suddenly wasn't in the mood to play. They just didn't know Percy like they did. They took one look at him, and them, their mates for years, just took his side immediately.

"Let's go," Fred told George, who seemed to feel the same way about him. They didn't even want to play Quidditch anymore. When they got back, they shook their head and said that their mates wanted to wait and play a game on their own.

Arthur sighed in relief. Now that Fred was up close, he did notice that Percy's legs were uncharacteristically larger than the rest of him. He was so thin that you could see his ribs through his shirt, but his legs looked like that of someone that was at least three stones bigger than him.

Fred's heart wasn't in the game when they played. Nobody was. It was cold and Fred was tired from everything that had happened in the last few days. And Fred could tell he wasn't interested because Ron had won the game. And he only gloated for about an hour when he realised nobody cared.

Arthur took them down to a pub to eat their dinner. Fred's arse was frozen stiff, and he was so cold that he didn't know if he even wanted to eat as much as he just wanted to be somewhere with a fireplace. Fortunately, the pub was warm inside. Bill and Charlie were outside, drinking a pint of something alcoholic so that the twins didn't try and have their first sips of firewhiskey before they at least passed an O.W.L. Just as Arthur went to the lavatory for a leak, a couple of lads approached them. They had to be around seventh years. "What are you? A woman or a boy?"

"I could say the same thing about you," Ginny mumbled, seeing how tight their jeans were. "Don't you have anything down there?"

"You should leave before this turns into an unnecessary fight," Percy told them.

Sometimes, Fred forgot that technically, Percy was their older brother. And right now, he was actually watching over them. It was an uncanny thing, considering he did nothing at home.

Ron whistled. The lads looked irritated and were just about to fire back when one of them caught sight of Percy. "What are you supposed to be? A freak of nature?" Fred watched Percy turn red. "And why do you sound like that? Some evil witch cast a spell on you to make you sound like a wanker all the time?"

"I could say the same thing about you," Percy answered back; a response to which Ginny grinned.

"Funny," one of the lads came closer to him. "What's this thing on top? It looks like a fizzy drink cap."

Percy huffed. "Just leave me alone, why don't you?"

"Gross. Don't touch that. Maybe it spills—I don't know—throat stuff."

One of them reached out and stole the top of Percy's tracheostomy tube. Percy reached out and placed a hand on his tube. He looked furious and he was screaming rather wildly at them, but no sound was coming from his throat.

"That's hilarious!" one of the lads laughed. "He can't talk anymore."

"Hey, give it back, arsehole!" Fred yelled.

They tossed the speech valve back to Percy when they saw Arthur coming out of the lavatory. Percy annoyingly stuffed it back into his tracheostomy site. Charlie and Bill came in, cheeks flushed from the cold, all in good spirits.

"They were dicks," George mumbled.

"Who were?" Bill asked. His eyes darted to Percy, who looked like he was in a foul mood.

"Language, dear Georgie," Fred mockingly chided. "But yeah, some plonkers came around and told Percy that he was a freak of nature."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you didn't join along," he said stoically.

"We wouldn't have," Fred looked almost affronted. But then again, he wasn't sure why he was. Percy did have a point. It wasn't like they made it obvious that Percy was family—especially not these days.

"You've said worse things to me just this morning!" Percy pointed out. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Dad, say something," Ginny begged.

"Your brother is right," Arthur sided with Percy, and for once, Fred didn't blame him. "You treat him like rubbish. How are we supposed to be a family if we divide ourselves against each other like this?"

Fred and George flinched. He supposed that they did. They tossed a guilty look at each other. They did know that they told Percy off here and there, but they didn't think that it was that bad. But now that Fred was thinking about it, he couldn't remember the last time that he and Percy ever talked. Or if they did talk. Percy didn't know about Ron failing most of his classes, Ginny being caught in the Chamber of Secrets, how much they compared them to superstars Bill and Charlie all the time. He didn't know because they'd never told him anything. And he didn't know what Percy did all day either.

"We don't hate you, Percy," even Ron was shuffling in his chair a little weirdly. "We just hate that mum spends so much time with you. But you don't have to pretend to be sick anymore. And dad is going to get you help, right, dad?"

When Fred looked up at Arthur, he could see how hesitant he was.

"Yes," he said, reaching out to hold Percy's shoulder. "And we are going to be a family again. I swear to that. But it looks like it's going to be a family without your mother." Fred didn't understand why their dad wanted to leave their mum so bad. Percy had admitted that he was making himself ill, and now, they were really going to stop treating him so bad. So, why was his dad still insisting on leaving their mum? "It's for the best for all of us."

"For you, you mean," Ron mumbled. "A family without mum. Who's going to do all the washing, cooking and cleaning anyway? Are you going to be doing it, dad?"

Arthur frowned. "I suppose that I am."