12 weeks after the Final Battle

Fred was finally released from St. Mungo's on an evening near the end of July. Percy arrived at St. Mungo's after work on the day of his discharge, to help pack up the room.

Mum and Dad were already there, as was George. Fred was seated in a chair, pulling clothing out of his small wardrobe, folding each piece deliberately, and placing them into a box.

"Hello, everyone," Percy greeted. He realized a little too late that George and Mum were in the middle of a disagreement.

"What do you mean, Fred will be going home to the Burrow? He lives in Diagon, with me! We've been living there for 2 years now!" George crossed his arms.

"George, your flat is on the second floor of a building with a crooked, narrow staircase. We've already got the guest room on the first floor all set up for him at home, and we had Percy's friend Penny come over to help us install the handrails in the bathroom,"

"But Fred doesn't want to go to the Burrow," George pushed, "His home is with me, above our shop. I've a meeting scheduled for the two of us tomorrow with a vendor out of Cardiff,"

"Fred has physical therapy tomorrow morning, and he will have some sort of therapy almost every day for the next few months at least. You know that, George," Mum pleaded.

George clenched his jaw.

"Fred belongs with me. He's my twin. I can be there for him and run the shop at the same time. Verity and Angelina are both going to be in tomorrow, Alicia's been a godsend, we're nearly caught up on all of our Ministry paperwork. I'll have time to slip out long enough to take Fred to therapy,"

"George, dear, of course we want Fred to live with you, when he's ready. But the therapists and his healers have all agreed that Fred's not good enough on the stairs and with his activities of daily living yet. His left side is still weak, and his balance is still so shaky,"

"Forge." Fred said, standing up. He had a walker nearby, but he took three slow, very shaky steps over to George without it, "I need to be safe."

"Of course you do, Gred," George said, "You'll be safe with me,"

"Not yet. The healers want me to. Stairs. Practice. Get strong." Fred took hold of George's arm, to steady himself. "Our apartment isn't ready for me. Yet."

George melted under Fred's gaze.

"You're right, Freddie. But I'll come see you at the Burrow, as often as I can. And we've got to get you down to the shop. You'll love what we've done with the place,"

13 Weeks after the final battle

Bill and Fleur hosted family dinner the following week. They'd finally managed to convince Mum to rotate who was in charge of preparing the family meal. Everyone always looked forward to Fleur's hors d'oeuvres, and Bill's werewolf injury gave him the uncanny ability to cook burgers to the perfect rare.

After the meal, they sat around, chatting and enjoying the balmy evening.

"Okay, you lot, we've got an announcement to make," Bill clinked his wand against his glass. Percy grinned instantly, knowing what was coming. Everyone else watched with puzzled expressions.

"Bill and I are expecting a baby," Fleur smiled.

Naturally, the room devolved into congratulations and hugs and kisses on the cheek. Mum had begun to cry, of course. George dug around for a corkscrew and a bottle of sparkling cider to pour a toast.

Fleur was exactly 13 weeks along, which made way for some good natured sibling teasing directed at Bill about "victory celebrations."

14 Weeks After The Final Battle

"Oh, Percy, thank you so much for doing this," Mum and Fred appeared in Percy's floo. He'd taken the morning off of work to escort Fred to therapy. Mum and Dad were headed out on a short vacation for their anniversary, and all of the other siblings were busy. Ginny would be free after lunch, but it was a recently formed, unspoken yet always followed rule by the Weasleys that Fred not be left alone for too long. Percy had volunteered for what had been affectionately dubbed as "Fred-sitting."

"Of course, mum. What is family for? Now go! Dad's waiting for you at home," Percy finally shooed his mother back to the floo, but only after she'd reminded Percy 3 times of the time and place of the therapy appointment and hugged Fred twice.

"Mum, go. Go. Enjoy your time at Christmas. No. Your holiday," Fred insisted, and she finally left.

Therapy with Fred was interesting. Percy watched as the therapist slipped a small elastic band around Fred's hand, to help him grip his wand. Together, they practiced simple spell movements. Lumos. Aguamenti. Expelliarmus. Wingardium Leviosa. Fred seemed to struggle with spells that required specific wand waving patterns, so that was what they practiced. Afterwards, a different therapist had Fred working on how to shower safely. They had a mock shower, with a shower chair, different railings at different heights, and Fred went through the motions of practicing all of the motions required to get in and out of the shower, reach for soap, scrub, and dry off.

After therapy was over, Fred was grinning, but sweaty. Percy escorted him home and helped him change into a clean t-shirt.

"How's about soup and cheese toasties for lunch?" Fred's favorite. Percy was halfway through making their lunch when the Floo glowed green, and Draco stepped in.

"Forgot my lunch at home," Draco nodded to Fred, "Hello, Fred. How are you?"

"Good, Malfoy," Fred replied. The two had interacted a few times at family gatherings in the last few weeks, but Draco always seemed a little hesitant around Fred, as did many people who weren't used to Fred's slightly stunted speech pattern and the walker and cane he used interchangably, "Joining us for Dinner? No. Lunch?" Fred corrected himself.

The invitation surprised Percy, and Draco, by the look at the man's face.

"Sure, if you don't mind," Draco glanced at Percy, who nodded. Three sandwiches were just as easy to make as two.

Fred had special utensils to help make eating easier. A spoon with a large, soft handle. A bowl that gripped the table. Even so, Fred was a messy eater. Percy realized a little belatedly that tomato soup had not been the best choice for Fred's white t-shirt.

"You know, if you cast an impervious on your shirt, Fred, the soup wouldn't stain," Draco offered.

"Good idea. Do you mind?" Fred gestured. Draco flicked his wand twice; once to impervious the shirt, the second to remove the existing stains.

"How's that?"

"Thanks, Malfoy,"

Draco offered to clean up after lunch so Percy could get Fred ready to leave. Ginny was coming over to take Fred to Hogwarts. Some sections of the school were finished and would be open for public viewing until the fall. Percy helped Fred to apply sunscreen and tie his shoes.

Fred was much more relaxed about needing help with everyday tasks than Percy would have ever expected. The rest of the family had to get used to helping Fred dress, and supervising him in the shower and up and down the stairs, and cutting up food for him. But Fred had taken it in stride.

And he was doing so much better. His speech had improved a lot, and he'd been able to handle working on simple tasks at the shop with George for a few hours, a couple of days per week.

"Here," Draco said, reaching under the sofa and coming back up with a brightly colored muggle baseball cap, "I think it fell out of your bag," Draco tugged the hat over Fred's head. Fred grinned.

"Thanks, Malfoy. I've got to. Work hard. Keep my skin. As pearly as yours," Draco smirked back at Fred, and disappeared again down the hall.

"Hello! Sorry we're late!" Ginny stumbled through Percy's front door, Harry on her heels, "Harry's coming too, do you mind, Fred?"

"Course not. Alright, Harry"

"Hey, Fred,"

"Here, you can take this," Draco handed Fred's backpack to Harry. Fred stood and took his cane from where it was propped by the coffee table and began to make his way over to the door. Ginny hovered behind him, but Fred was getting steadier every day.

"We'll be back around to the Burrow around suppertime, Fred," Ginny said, "Might be a bit sooner, if you get tired,"

"You kidding? I've been waiting. All week for this. Vacation for Mum and Dad is a vacation for. Me too!" Fred pumped a fist in the air, overcorrected, and almost lost his balance. Ginny steadied him with a hand on his back.

"Have fun," Percy said to their backs as they ambled slowly down the walk to the apparition point. He and Draco made quick work of the last of the dishes, and popped back into work for the rest of the afternoon.

Hi Percy,

Good news! Mum is going to be able to go home at the end of the week! The healers are happy with her progress, it seems.

We're working on taking the first steps to getting my parents back to the UK. They both do want to go back, thankfully. But they'll have to sell their house here, and find a new house back home, and they'll have to sort out what they want to do for work, once they get back. Mum will likely have to retire from being a dentist, she just hasn't got the motor skills for it, anymore.

It might take us a while to sort out everything, but the Australian Ministry is going to allow me a dispensation to transport my parents by magical means, since it will be safer for Mum and more comfortable for their health overall. I'll keep you updated. We're hoping to have everything wrapped up in a month.

Give Juno and Crookshanks some extra scratches for me, will you?

All my love,

Hermione

A month? Percy sighed. She'd already been gone for almost two months already. He was selfish in his desire to have her back, when she was caring for her injured parents who she hadn't seen in a year.

But still. A month or more?

15 Weeks After The Final Battle.

"Draco, I've got news for you!" Tonks called out, apparating to the edge of 800 Weatherby Way's property line and hurrying towards them. It was a weekend, both men were at home. Draco had expressed interest in caring for Muriel's garden, and Percy tried to spend a bit of time each weekend harvesting and pulling weeds. Both men were sweating and dusty, with a small basket of late August vegetables and flowers between them.

"Do you?" Draco stood.

"We've got evidence! We intercepted a letter between Griffiths and Barnes, and the muggle forensics team finally got back to us. Fingerprints galore! We've got all 4 of them in your home!"

"Do you? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure! My department heads are arresting them as we speak!"

"Thank you!" Draco reached forward to shake Tonks hand.

"None of that formality, it's time to celebrate!" Tonks wrapped Draco in a hug, "Remus and I wanted to host you both for dinner tonight, if you're free,"

"We'll be there," Percy said.

"Excellent. 6 o'clock. Remus is grilling," Tonks looked at her watch, "I've got to get back to the ministry to process and fill out paperwork. I'll see you tonight!" Tonks took off at a jog back down the way, and disapparated.

"Congratulations, Draco. I'm glad we're finally coming to the end of this nonsense,"

"Yeah, we are," Draco frowned, "I've got a buyer who has been interested in my estate. We've been going back and forth for a few weeks, but I think he'll take it,"

"Great, that's good news,"

"Yeah," Draco knelt down again, "I'm still looking for a suitable place to live, in the meantime,"

"Alright. No rush, you know," Percy waited for Draco to look up again, "I'm not in a hurry to kick you out or anything. You're still welcome to keep living here as long as you need, even though you're no longer in danger,"

"Thank you. I appreciate that. It's been...refreshing, to have a roommate. Especially one with so many siblings as you do,"

Percy supposed that was as close as Draco would admit to saying that he had grown to like the Weasley family.