alright. confession time. there's a lot of things in here that i had not planned on writing before. it was sort of eerily spontaneous.

another thing i wanted to note was that i hope that this doesn't seem highly dissociated in any format. i do know i tend to weave through and not notice small grammar and spelling errors and what not. there's about... well, you know, i've written 25 chapters, then i went back to chapter 12, tweaked it around so that you could see the masterpiece of a chapter that i've created last time where Percy was a lot more of an arsehole, and started entirely a new fresh chapter for chapter 15, i'm continuing with the new plotline. that makes about 45,000+ words unusable right about now because there was something else that i wanted to post that would make Arthur instantly unlikable. i'm debating whether or not to post it, but i've stumbled upon a newer, fresher idea i could use that wouldn't make Arthur possibly out-of-character or too violent. actually, the fresher idea includes him being more likable instead of not. i still want to end up with the same conclusion. either way, all warnings that were posted on previous chapters stand still. they are still applicable. just later on that i'd originally planned. all those warnings were supposedly applicable from 15 and onwards, but not anymore. i'll let you know when we do dive into them...

hopefully, this isn't too choppy. problem is i can't remember what i've posted, what i've written and planned to post, what i've re-written and what i have not. i can't keep on re-reading the chapters i've put up and not either. this was from the original draft, and nothing "new" yet. i should count my lucky stars that i've been formatting and re-formatting and so far, at least, i think it all flows together instead of being an absolute mess of a thing. i've re-written this story about two different times and some chapters multiple times. there are still some scenes that i am not pleased with (the main one being the scene where Fred and George are in the hospital with Percy, though it was one of my favourite scenes to write. another one was Percy's first seizure scene. i felt like it didn't impact as much as i'd hoped for.)

i did not mention this before but this whole story is very POV-based and thus, biased. Percy's point of view is biased, so is Molly's, so is Arthur's and so on and so forth. that's why in Percy's point of view, he'd said he'd never been in trouble and that the twins never get in trouble. take that with a pinch of salt. every person is justifying their own actions, e.g. Fred trying to make himself a victim in his point of view because he's justifying his own actions, Penelope calling Percy idiotic, and later on, Oliver doing anything to take the piss out of Percy. i just try to add in as many points of view as i can to prevent it from being too biased around Percy's end, and another reason for last chapter. i don't want to make it seem like Percy is entirely angelic and that everyone around him is fair or justifiable to him or don't care about him as he tends to think. though i felt like i've subtly proved that, i wanted something a little bit more exaggerated to drive my point back home.

Phoenixx Rising: maybe i'll refrain from using that chapter. it's seriously potent. i don't know what to think about it. i keep on re-reading it and it's the kind of potent that i want to post but should deliberate, hence the "newer, fresher" idea. i don't want to make Arthur completely and utterly unlikable. or seriously abusive for no reason. i think every single fanfic i've read where Arthur ended up being abusive made him look wayyy too OOC for it to be potent. maybe i'll instead, use it to redeem him instead. i think i'd like that better. poor Arthur. i've made him an arsehole in this story for no real reason. i love how team Percy you are when it comes to this fanfic. it's so cute.

WolfSpirit1992: "Poor Percy. Man, how much more anguish can this boy take? At the same time, I wonder what or who can put him back together..." i chuckled because i remembered the very, very first original draft of this fanfic involved him being successful in running away, then having a relationship with Oliver, then somehow ended up going absolutely batshit insane and ended up marrying Ginny (?) after obliviating his entire family. i had a friend read the ending and she thought it was spectacular but apparently, i refuse to believe it. it's not a question of how much anguish i could throw at him, more of a question of how i can do this without this looking oddly like a retell of Oedipus Rex or the classic gothic novel. as for what or who will put him back together, i'd be interested in finding out myself! i think i'm to the point where the characters write themselves. it's really brilliant.

Spirits in the Sky: i honestly don't know how much of Penelope we'll see. we'll see her sometimes. i honestly plan on putting more of her all the time, but she sort of just flitters by here and there.

Chemical Violets: i had to laugh at the silence defiance bit. yes, he is being a little arse, isn't he? he'll get better as time goes. i think. i do have a lot planned for him... anyways, fingers crossed!

Chapter Thirteen

It was eight in the evening, and Percy had spent his afternoon trying to walk. The wound was healing better, but it was still painful to walk. The healers said he may always have a limp. It was frightening being locked in a room. He hated the thought of him being disobedient enough that they had to do this. The twins spent all their life ridiculing him, and he was the one that was being punished. He didn't even steal anything! He had just been indulging his curiosity and now, here he was – locked in this awful room that had nothing.

That morning, Arthur had taken away the book that laid in the corner, Percy's parchment, ink and quills.

Percy heard the sound of the door snapping open and his mum standing there with a soft expression on her face. She was holding a tray of food for him, and he just refused to look at her.

Traitor! Siding with his father when she didn't even know what happened!

"Here you go," Molly said as she sat down and pushed the tray to him. He looked down to see that despite the fact that he was being punished, his mum had decided to load his plate. He didn't even know where it began or ended as it was so full of potatoes, roast beef, Yorkshire puds, and vegetables. She'd even cut him a slice of cake that probably weighed more than six-year-old Ginny did.

Percy instinctively pushed it away, even though he normally would eat his meals – just not as much as he used to eat in the same circumstances.

Molly frowned and placed a hand on his knee. "Percy, look at me."

"Go away," Percy called out instinctively.

He had made a fool out of himself by trying to escape his own family, and now, he was back home where he was being punished for knowing that they wanted to replace him! What nonsense!

She wrapped his arm around him rather softly, placing a hand on his knee. He could see the disappointment in her eyes. "Percival, what did you try to take? You know that your father could end up in Azkaban if those files go missing. They're that important… you don't want your father to end up in Azkaban over a few missing files now, do you?"

Percy turned his body away from his mum. "I didn't take anything."

"Don't lie to me, Percival," Molly demanded, pushing the tray towards him.

He wanted to spit in that tray in front of his mother just so that she could be appalled at his behaviour as Percy was already in big trouble! Why not add more to it?

In that moment, Arthur also walked into the room. He looked absolutely shattered from the long day at work. Arthur stared down at his son with a flat expression on his face. He sighed, as he opened up his briefcase and offered Percy his book, parchment, quills and ink back. The redhead didn't feel happy. He felt ashamed, almost as if his things did not belong to him anymore.

"Percival, come on now," the man commented, staring down at his son's full plate. "Eat your dinner."

Arthur laughed, his voice lighter as he also added on, "It's no use starving yourself for breaking a few rules. You know your mum and I did this so that you could learn your lesson is all! We still love you very much, and want you to be happy—"

Percy jumped up from where he sat, shooting daggers over at his father. "Love me?" he repeated maliciously.

"You were going to replace me!" Percy exclaimed, stomping onto the ground like an irritated child that wouldn't get his way. "Bill told me! Bill told me! Bill told me! I saw him! I saw all about my substitute! I know, I know, I know – you're lying to me! You're lying and I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Molly looked discombobulated. She obviously didn't look like she knew what he was going on about.

Arthur placed his hands on Percy's shoulders.

"Is that what you were looking for?" Arthur asked softly.

Percy nodded his head. His eyes were hard.

"No, no, it's not like that at all Percival," Arthur said, shaking his head as he chuckled. "Oliver was not supposed to be a replacement, no. I…he was just someone I was looking into is all. A friend mentioned the orphanage to me and I was only considering the idea. I did tell it to Bill, but I didn't think that he'd ever tell you. I needed some advice. That file was the only file I ever brought home and I was going to bring it back when we got you back. I didn't even meet with Oliver. We arranged a meeting, but I cancelled it recently, because we don't need him. We have you after all. What would we need him for?"

Yes, you're right. I was going to replace you shortly after I thought you were dead was all that Percy could hear from the speech that Arthur had just given now.

"Arthur!" Molly sounded appalled.

The man looked back at his wife, and flushed deeply. His hands were still on Percy's shoulder. "It's nothing important really. It's just—you seemed so sad when you thought that Percy died that when the idea was mentioned to me previously, it seemed like a viable option. I wasn't intending on replacing Percy. It wasn't supposed to be that way, it's just—"

Percy's heart was beating quickly, knowing that he was right made him feel queasy. "You punished me for knowing that I am going to be replaced! I hate you! I hate all of you!"

He couldn't believe that his parents would use his biggest fear against him. He hated the thought of getting into trouble. He used to not be able to sleep at the thought of one day, disrespecting his parents and landing himself into a big mess of trouble. It was one of the reasons he had not attempted to run away before. Now, he had been punished and nobody cared. Everyone expected him to be okay with it, but he wasn't and it hurt.

Percy turned around to leave, but Arthur had caught him rather easily and pulled him back. Arthur placed his arms around Percy's frame and pulled him into a tight embrace. The man slowly ran his fingers through his son's wine red curls before saying, "I'm sorry."

The redhead dissolved into his father's embrace. He wanted to forgive him and at the same time, he didn't. Arthur let go of the son and pulled Percy's chin up so that he'd look up at him.

"Listen to me," Arthur said in a soft voice. "I mean what I said. Oliver was not meant to be a replacement. He just seemed like a viable option at that time… we were shocked, Percival. You were our son and were likely to be dead, so much so that we thought that you were dead. You left a gap in our hearts that I felt like we had to bring someone else to fill it, Percival. That's how much you mean to me, to your mother…"

Percy's heart started to pound into his chest and he felt tears threatening to spill.

Arthur turned to hugging him again, running his hand down Percy's back with a touch so light and soft that it made the younger boy melt. "You believe me, don't you?"

Percy sniffed, not allowing himself to cry and nodded his head.

"Eat your dinner, Percival," the man instructed. "And go to bed. You've a long day tomorrow! The first day of Hogwarts, aren't you excited?"

Percy slowly nodded his head.

Percy sat down by his bed and stared down at the huge plate. He saw a ghost of a smile appear on Arthur's face. The eleven-year-old started off with the cake, as per usual. He was not very interested in vegetables, and had never been. For the first time in a very long time, he had let himself enjoy what he was eating. He could look back at his room and felt like it was his and nobody else's. After he ate and finished every scrap and bit on his plate (he had been hungry after not eating for the rest of the day), he turned to pick out his robes for tomorrow and had assembled his things in a very concise manner. He fell asleep at a reasonable time and woke up at a reasonable time.

It was the day that he was going to Hogwarts, and he actually found himself feeling excited for it too!

MOLLY Weasley was not happy. When Percy starting going on about being replaced, she had no idea what he was talking about. When Arthur admitted that he did, she felt herself bubble with anger. Did Arthur really plan this? Did he plan to bring in another child to take in Percy's place? She was fuming. She did not say anything when Percy and Arthur had their exchange. The man managed to somehow quell Percy's fears in a few statements and somehow, her young child seemed to go back to how he used to be before he ran off. He bounced down and started to eat his dinner, fanatical about having to go down to King's Cross the next morning (as she discovered when she went in his room that morn). The poor thing even finished his plate to appease her, but that did nothing to quell Molly's rage towards her husband.

She had been cleaning dishes and thinking to herself about it. She felt like Arthur had just conned Percy into thinking that it was not a big matter, but it was.

Molly was beside herself. She had agreed with Arthur when she woke up that night and saw that Percy was in their room. She agreed to punish that child, even though he looked obviously terrified of it. The whole household knew how much Percy hated the thought of getting into trouble and yet she just let her husband punish him without hearing a quiver or a moan from Percy. She never punished any of her children before – yet she agreed to punishing Percy, a few days after he left the bloody hospital for an injury that could've killed him! What kind of a mother would dare to do that?

Fine. Percy had been making the whole house absolutely miserable ever since he'd come back but still!

It was a blessing that their son was alive, and all she did was laugh at it somehow. It was all they did. Her and Arthur should be cherishing and spoiling him rotten to make him feel loved, and yet they did none of that. It had gotten to Molly in ways she couldn't even explain… she nearly felt like she abused this child by taking away so much of his life. Percy thought it was an obligation for him to watch the twins now, even though she had told him not to several times now. She even demanded that he do something else, but he refused.

All he did was look up at her face and ask her: if not I, then who is going to take care of them?

Percy was settling for far less than he deserved. All Arthur did was throw around a few words, and whilst Molly knew that he meant them, it didn't change the fact that they were just words. They didn't change the fact that Arthur contemplating replacing Percy was ludicrous and unforgiveable! Molly couldn't describe how sick she felt when she heard Percy scream out: you punished me for knowing I am going to be replaced I hate you! I hate all of you!

Somehow, she remembered the seizure that sent him to the hospital, and the memories that he had been reiterating. She felt herself grow grim with every thought that entered her mind. There was no justification for her actions, or her husband's actions. They had wronged their son multiple times now. The thoughts weighed heavy in her mind that night. They didn't leave her alone as she made breakfast that morning. Arthur gave her a kiss on the cheek, when she was sautéing mushrooms and she only looked back at him with a dark expression on her face as she ordered, "You don't get to go to work today."

Arthur looked back at his wife, confused. "Molly, I—"

"Send in a notice," Molly suddenly said. "Owl them and tell them that you are ill. We are talking about what happened last night, and I will not wait until you come back from work to do it. We will talk about it now."

The man seemed to pale and nodded his head before he left the kitchen. He reappeared only a few moments after, and by then, Molly had set up the breakfast table like she did every morning. Today, she'd put in more effort than usual – eggs, bread rolls (unfortunately not homemade ones), crumpets, jam and butter, the fruit basket, sausages, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, onions, and broccoli, as well as boxes of cereal and milk.

Arthur seemed impressed by the spread and had chuckled at the sheer volume of food. It was amazing how she found a space for it all on the table. "Molly, I—"

"When were you going to tell me about the fact that you were planning on replacing Percival?" she asked in a cold and calculating manner.

Arthur's cheeks coloured in. "The boy I was looking into was not meant to be a replacement."

Molly raised an eyebrow. It surely sounded like a replacement.

"Percy's already forgotten all about this, Molly," Arthur immediately stated, trying to win over the argument before it even began. "This morning, I even checked his room. He seemed to be happily re-checking the things he's packed for King's Cross. He seems to be back to his normal self, so why is this such an issue?"

"Why is it such an issue?" Molly repeated acerbically. Her voice rose up an octave, and she tried to keep it down as not to wake up the others. "Arthur, I agreed to punish him for this! Everyone knows how frightened Percy is about getting into trouble, and yet, I let you punish him without another thought to it. This is the same child that just came home from the hospital a few days ago!"

"We are too ungrateful," she said, tears filling her eyes. "The child that I thought was dead isn't dead at all and what did I do with this knowledge? I chuck it straight out of the window. I don't want t any of our children to get less than what they deserve. Percy deserves more than this. If Percy running away taught me anything, it's just that! Of course, what have I done with that knowledge, Arthur? What have we done? We sat here when we didn't know where he was, thinking to ourselves that we'd do better if he was actually here; that things would change for the better. We haven't implemented one bit of that change and you're asking me why it's an issue!"

Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing. A moment of silence had filled the room, and she found herself standing up from where she was sitting and turning to find a spot juice for her growing children.

He watched her fill their glasses with orange juice and said nothing at all.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said, his voice soft. "Molly, I can't take back what I've done and I know this. You're right. We are giving him far less than he deserves. Things will change, and I swear on it. It's just he's so difficult these days... his misbehaviour is too much to bear most days. Your other children agree."

She huffed, without saying much of anything. She obviously didn't.

Molly went upstairs to call her children down for breakfast each individually. She was half-glad that Percy's room was the last in the corridor, as she wanted to talk to him a little before he left. As she slipped inside, she was surprised to find Percy bespectacled and standing by the trunk that he was using to put his books in. She was even more surprised to find that the book that she had bought him so long ago seemed to be sitting on top of his trunk and its spine seemed to be cracked. Last night, it was very obvious that he hadn't even touched the book!

Molly wrapped her arms around his frame. "Do you like the book? Where are you at, love?"

Percy's cheeks coloured in and then he said, "I…er, well, I finished it. It was a good book."

Molly blinked a few times. When on earth did he find the time to read the whole thing? She was going to ask him if he'd slept but had noticed that the dark circles that were under his eyes the past few days had miraculously vanished. He had slept well.

"Those are nice glasses," Molly said, staring over at his face. "Where did you get them?"

Percy's cheeks remained flushed, as he continued to say, "Well, er, I…father gave them to me."

Molly nodded her head. She knew Percy did not see as clearly as he should, so this kind gesture really warmed her heart. He had closed his trunk, and walked downstairs with her. Somehow, even with his very obvious limp, he was graceful in his movements.

"Has father not gone into work?" Percy asked the minute that they walked into the kitchen.

Molly shook her head, and rubbed his shoulder. "No, no, he didn't, darling," he raised an eyebrow at this. Just before he'd ask, she added on, "It's not important as to why. Come here, and just sit with us."

Percy nodded his head, and sat beside his father.

The first thing he reached for was a crumpet, which made Molly raise an eyebrow. Percy didn't really like crumpets all that much. He didn't mind them, but they surely wouldn't be a first breakfast choice. A few minutes later, she found Arthur pulling his son against the counter and them sticking that crumpet in one of those muggle toast-erz. Nobody in the family liked toasted crumpets, or used that strange toast-erz to make anything at all. Percy seemed to like it upon first bite, and had spread some jam on top. Apricot jam.

This was strange as Percy didn't like apricots!

Arthur didn't seem to find anything suspicious, and perhaps, Molly had been reading too much into it.

Percy ate two toasted crumpets that he spread with jam, and then just spent the next hour watching his brother eat whilst he slowly chewed on an apple. She wasn't happy with the amount that her redheaded son was eating. It seemed so minimal.

"Nice glasses," Fred had commented after chewing on a bit of an egg yolk. Oh boy, here comes the row...

Percy rolled his eyes, as he picked off some of the white flesh of the apple he was chewing. "Do you want me to take them off? I must say that you looked better when they were off."

Fred's cheeks were red and George laughed.

"Why are you laughing about, dumb-dumb?" Fred announced coldly. "You look exactly the way I do!"

"I don't," George huffed, shaking his head. "I'm much better looking."

"Yes, you do!"

Percy seemed to be uninterested in their bickering, and seemed to look back at his plate every now and then. Molly kept her eyes on her middle son at all times and felt insanely worried. She hated that he was going into Hogwarts today; it was the same day that his personality seemed to flip one-eighty degrees. She didn't want to also admit to Arthur that yesterday had done him a bit of good, and he was back to being his perfect, pristine self overnight with no real explanation.

After breakfast, she and Arthur went to help him with his trunk. She made sure that he didn't forget anything, and Arthur tried not to mess up Percy's perfectly organised trunk. When they were sure that he had everything; that was when they had decided to leave.

When they were waiting for the train with the Weasley clan, she hadn't missed the look that Percy was shooting towards her. The twins were getting very annoying. Ginny and Ron were quite docile today apart from asking them why Arthur hadn't gone into work. He made up a nice excuse for it as well. Bill and Charlie were fused at the hip, of course. Bill continued to talk to Charlie about something related to Gringott's (Bill was starting work next Monday and would hopefully be too exhausted to talk about it!). There wasn't a lot of fighting today, which was nice. The past few days they'd been up to the walls with rows, threats and insults because of Percy's behaviour.

Molly watched Percy wait for the train. When it had come, he seemed a bit startled. When everyone else was boarding the train, Charlie sighed and gestured for the Percy to follow him but he didn't move at all for the first few minutes. He turned to his family, obviously waiting for some sort of a goodbye.

Molly moved to wrap her arms around Percy's frame, and hugged him so tightly that she felt like she'd probably made him feel sick. Arthur laughed but proceeded to do the same. Percy's glasses nearly slipped out of his face, but Arthur had managed to rescue them. His cheeks coloured slightly when Arthur gingerly placed them back onto Percy's face.

"I…I'm sorry," Percy mumbled under his breath, his voice soft. "I'm so sorry for running away and being absolutely childish about it all. I swear I will change it."

"Percy, I…" Arthur seemed surprised by this as well.

Percy hadn't stuck around long enough to figure out what Arthur would say, but Molly could take a guess. She watched Percy walk alongside Charlie, whom was handing both of their trunks. Molly couldn't help but notice that Percy's limp was getting worse.

Arthur watched them board the train. He didn't say another word for the rest of their journey back home.

CHARLIE was so tired of this bloody game. Percy seemed to become as docile as he usually was on the day of them leaving to Hogwarts, which Charlie hadn't decided was a good or bad thing yet.

Ginny and Ron were definitely confused, but they also seemed to hold a tiny grudge on the things that Percy had been saying to them ever since he'd been taken back home. The twins seemed to be fickle on how they feel about Percy, and Percy was just... unreadable at the moment. Bill was more than a little frustrated. The rows, fights and threats that had happened the past few days have been replaying themselves into Charlie's mind for days. He felt like he needed a summer from his summer.

September had come far too soon.

Honestly, he wanted to keep his distance away from Percy. The whole thing was such a shambles to him. He felt like their relationship had suffered such a strain. Besides the nightmares that he'd gotten when Percy left the hospital, he'd had many sleepless nights of playing Exploding Snap with an angry Bill that was about two seconds away from reopening Percy's stitches. Oh, and then the seizure that drove their mum stark mad?

Charlie closed his eyes as he fixed his prefect badge on his robes. This was far too much for him to handle.