CHAPTER FOUR: Percy and Charlie
Percy woke up with a start. He had a nightmare and it was the worst thing he'd ever experienced. He dreamt about Ginny blaming him for losing the money she worked hard for which then resulted in their family starving. The entire family dies of Spattergoit because they don't have the money to pay for St. Mungos or buy the necessary potions to stop the spread of the disease. Spattergoit, after all, is very contagious and in a house such as theirs, catching it is inevitable. Then there's a moment when the Ghoul in the attic walked by him in his dreams and hit his head with a pipe. It was then that he woke up, gasping for breath.
What a nasty dream that was.
It was still dark out. He heard the front door close. He knew his mom had just left for Sunday grocery shopping. He decided a ten-minute meditation would calm him down enough to go back to sleep.
He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.
All is well.
The minutes passed by and he really has no idea if it's been ten minutes but he suddenly needed to relieve himself in the toilet. He got up and head to the bathroom when he heard the front door open. He frowned.
"Mom?" Percy called out. There was no answer. Starting to feel, nervous, he heads to the toilet and made quick work of nature's calling.
"Mom?" Percy called out as he descends the stairs. He grabbed one of his father's muggle contraband lying around as he traversed the first floor. There was no one.
Someone went out.
He left the house and looked around the Burrow. When he saw no one, he gathered enough courage that will land him in Gryffindor and started surveying the fields. That's when he heard the voices. There were two. Both of them familiar. A couple of yards away were his older brother Charlie and their little sister Ginny.
His eyes narrowed at the picture they made. Charlie was teaching Ginny to ride a malfunctioning broom. He heard him telling Ginny tales of his Quidditch matches at Hogwarts with Ginny bucking up and down on the Shooting Star that Percy can currently argue as sentient and it's one purpose is to throw off its rider. Percy never thought of Charlie as stupid but right then, he would've wrung his neck if he didn't manage to calm himself enough and walk away instead. He corners Charlie when no one's around later.
Later that day in the shed…
Charlie was busy cleaning the broom closet when he noticed Percy standing by the door with a disapproving gaze pinned on him. Obviously, Percy has something to say.
"I'm going to tell mom you're teaching our little sister Quidditch," Percy said flatly.
Charlie's shoulder dropped.
"But since I'm not really a tattle-tale, I'm giving you the chance to stop the lessons yourself and once you do, I'll forget what I saw," Percy told him, eyes cold.
Charlie knew that Percy would go on with his threat. He's that stern sibling who is a stickler to the rules. He'd never disliked anyone in the family but at that moment, Charlie knew Percy suddenly became his least likable family member.
"Why don't you just mind your own business, Perce?" asked Charlie. He couldn't just tell Ginny that she can't fly after all. She'll be heart-broken. "Ginny likes to fly."
"Yeah?" Percy snapped. "You are endangering her life! She's just six! If she falls and breaks her neck, what then? Will my 'I told you so' bring her back to life?"
"Don't jinx it!" Charlie hissed at him, his fists curling. "I'm watching her closely. She will not get hurt with me there."
"And when you're not there and she decides to fly anyway?" asked Percy. "Will you insist it's not your fault then?"
Charlie gulped. Percy has a point and Charlie hates it.
"Don't be stupid, Charlie," said Percy. "Ginny's happy at the things she's doing right now. We have plans. It's safer and more worth-while than this Quidditch thing you're roping her into."
Charlie scoffed. "That's what this is, isn't it?"
Percy frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Let's be honest here, Perce," Charlie closed the distance between them. "You think of Ginny as your best pal, what, with you two the only siblings always hanging out with each other aside from Fred and George. Now that I'm spending time with our sister, you suddenly feel like I'm taking her away from you, don't you?"
"You think I'm jealous?" Percy asked in disbelief.
"Well, you sure look like it!" Charlie yelled.
"She has more important things to deal with than endanger her life in something as flighty as flying a broom!" Percy yelled back.
Charlie shoved him back when Percy stepped a threatening foot forward. "So, you want Ginny working on those crops to earn money than let her have fun like the child she is? Merlin, Percy! Are you treating our sister like some kind of slave?!"
"Ginny knows the state our family is in, more than you ever will, Charlie," Percy shoved him back. "And if you're not as stupid as you seem to be acting lately, you will stop teaching Ginny to fly that cursed broom and think more about the welfare of the family!"
Charlie threw the first punch and then, the second punch. "Fight back, you ponce!"
Percy simply scoffed, both his arms covering his face. "I won't."
Charlie punched him again and then again. Bill had been close enough to hear the argument ran inside the shed and lifted him off from Percy who's by then sporting a rapid forming black eye and a bleeding nose.
"What the bloody hell are you two doing?!" Bill growled the words out as he threw Charlie away from Percy.
Percy sat up wiping the blood with the back of his hand.
"Charlie's giving Ginny flying lessons before dawn, every Sunday just after Mom leaves for grocery shopping," Percy told Bill while giving Charlie a glare to remember.
"Percy wants Ginny to continue working herself out to earn money for the family. Like a slave!"
Bill stood there, frozen. He didn't know what to say.
Charlie and Percy suddenly chorused, "She's six!"
Charlie kicked an empty bucket and sent it flying against the wall. "She should be having fun not working her bum out to feed the family! We have parents who are responsible for that!"
Percy scoffed. "Just to inform you, Charlie. Ginny and I have had this same conversation a year ago and we both agree that this responsibility is ought to be shared especially with a family like ours. And I doubt you even get what I mean by that. All you think about is Quidditch, look at this shed, you didn't even clean it properly!"
"Percy, Charlie, enough," Bill pushed them away when they started closing on each other again. "You both have a point, alright? Charlie, Percy has a point. It's dangerous for Ginny to fly on a Shooting Star especially at her age. If she is to be taught how to fly a broom, she should be trying the brooms which are made solely for beginner flyers."
"But we can't afford those and Ginny said, she always wanted to join us whenever she sees us flying in the pitch."
Silence.
"It's just sad," Charlie continued his eyes on the ground. "That we see her on the ground watering her veggies when we're up in the sky having fun."
"She likes taking care of them," Percy argued weakly but all three of them knew what Charlie's saying. They have thought of the same thing once or maybe twice.
Charlie turned to look at Bill. "If you two made me stop teaching, Ginny, I will tell her you made me do it."
Charlie then walked out of the shed leaving Bill and Percy behind.
"Perce," Bill started hauling Percy from whatever thought he's drowning himself into. "You're just concerned about Ginny's safety, right?"
Percy nodded. "I have half a mind to destroy those brooms over there right now."
"Will it make you feel better if, together with Charlie, I supervise Ginny's lessons from now on?" Bill asked.
Percy stared at his eldest brother for a long while and said, "Not really."
Bill watched Percy walk out of the shed albeit in a more relaxed stride than Charlie did.
