comment replies to any inquiries made regarding this fanfic:

Ward Vermassen: aye. i see your point. i can assure that it's going somewhere, albeit very slowly (i'd rather i'd go very slow with the plot than too quickly). i think i'm at somewhere around Chapter 22 (but i have to re-write some things and fill in gaps. so it's really just this chapter that i'm semi-pleased with) and all i can say is that it does have a main plot and there is a lot of things that were mentioned that weren't random so to speak. specifically in the earlier chapters. however, i think the angst level doesn't tone down much even though there are lighter scenes than say - the beginning where practically all the scenes were heavy and serious. there will be a lot of subplots that seem complete unrelated and some that are completely relevant. as for the settings, i'm assuming that Miles, Marcus, Terence and Adrian are around Percy's age so that they are all first years.

Chapter Sixteen

Molly's head was spinning as she read the owl that Severus Snape sent her, mentioning how Percy had somehow blown up the Slytherin common room within a few days of him being in his house due to another convulsion that he had. She sat there, feeling numb as she sat down by her chair, rereading the owl so many times that the words had to be etched in her skull. She traced them with her fingers after she burned her tongue on a milky cuppa. Molly stared at the letter for so long that she seemed to have forgotten herself until Fred gained her attention by tugging at her sleeves, muttering nonsense about them tricking Ron into doing something foolish.

Molly nodded her head, and stood up, placing the letter aside as she picked up her wand.

If Percy really was in Slytherin, it would explain why he wasn't answering any of her owls. All she kept on mentioning to him was to go to McGonagall if he needed the help and to tell him when he needed warmer clothing so she could send him scarves, gloves and blankets that she'd knit herself at home. She also needed to send him some chocolates since Bill had seemed to be getting a lot of sweeties from this lass that liked him, and he'd been sending them to the Burrow because "there's no place in my ruddy apartment for this." George and Ginny had been eating themselves silly off walnut whips, but Molly kept some aside to send to Charlie and Percy soon.

Slytherin. Her son was in Slytherin...

Molly could recall how he'd been telling Arthur worriedly that he'd get into a house that wasn't Gryffindor. Arthur brushed away his fears with comforting gestures, and an insistence that he will end up in Gryffindor. Molly believed it too. She just didn't think that any other house would be a possibility. She didn't feel any kind of contempt for Percy for where he was sorted at. Molly was just stunned that it was a possibility, considering that of the Weasley family had always been sorted into Gryffindor. It would just be something strange to have to him talk about his Slytherin friends (did Percy have any friends yet?) and have him wear those green-and-grey colours that the rest of them did not approve of. It would be something strange indeed.

But not impossible, Molly decided. Not impossible at all.

Molly sighed when she saw that Ron's hair seemed to be in various shades of pink and his robes seemed to be ten times smaller than he was and corrected the twins' little prank in no time, only to shoot the twins glares and give them a stern talking to. Fred and George looked guilty for about five seconds, but it dissolved almost immediately and they were back to causing ruckus. At least, this time, poor Ronald wasn't involved. Molly lovingly ran her hand through his vibrant red hair, and took him to the kitchen to give him one of the biscuits that she'd made yesterday along with a cuppa.

Whilst Ron was drinking, she found herself processing what the letter was actually telling her.

Percy did WHAT to the Slytherin common room?!

CHARLIE's head was spinning as he stared at the Slytherin commons room with a gaping expression.

"That brother of yours is really something," a third year Gryffindor decided to tell Charlie, jabbing him at his side and Charlie resisted the urge to snap the skinny third year's arm like the bloody twig it was. "You know, if any one of us made a gaping hole in the Slytherin commons, we'd be expelled but he gets away with it because he's on Snape's good side for being a ruddy nosy brat."

"Charlie? Are you alive?" another one called out.

Merlin. Percy did this? Percy whom couldn't open his own walnuts (even with a wand) did this?

"Charles, what is this? Didn't I tell you to send a letter to St Mungo's to get that epileptic brothers of yours under control before he decides to kill us all?" a stern, female voice called out from behind him. Oh, not her. Charlie knew Bludgers that were nicer than her.

Charlie shook his head, coming back to reality. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a squeak.

He would let himself faint, if not for the fact that he would have to come to terms that he had to talk to Percy about making a hole the size of the Burrow in the common room. He couldn't believe this. He could barely fathom any of this. He half felt like crying, but also felt like laughing because this cannot be happening. Percy had only been in Hogwarts for three days.

Blimey... Bill was frolicking around in pyramids in Egypt and Charlie had to deal with this?

SEEING Percy absent from the Slytherin breakfast table had prompted Penelope Clearwater to ask one of the Slytherins about Percy. When she heard him mention Pomfrey and Snape said something about a convulsion when Adrian Pucey asked came to view within the conversation, she had immediately hurried over to Filius Flitwick to discuss the possibility of Percy being diagnosed as an epileptic. The man didn't seem very happy about telling her that the chances against him were higher than they were in favour of him.

She had locked herself in a bathroom stall and cried pitifully to herself.

Percy was a hero! He didn't deserve to be an epileptic for the rest of his life. He had saved her life, and now, he was hurt because of a doxy infection. She couldn't help but feel like it was her fault, even though she knew it wasn't. He was just trying to get away from that family that doubted his bravery… even the Sorting Hat did, because it put him into Slytherin!

A few hours later, a sad Penelope found herself wandering to the infirmary carrying goodies into her bag.

She paused when she had seen that Percy already had visitors, and not the kind that she wanted to encounter—Marcus Flint was laughing lewdly about something that was probably unimportant. Terence Higgs were gesturing towards something with his fingers. Percy was resting on the hospital cot. His usually untamed curls were now straightened to a point where Percy looked even duller than usual (quite a claim for someone whose hair was brighter than the bleeding sun).

"What happened to his hair?" Penelope called out in horror.

Percy just looked away from Penelope's facial expression for a moment. "Leave us," he said to his friends, whom just seemed to playfully punch Percy's shoulder and said ludicrous things about Percy getting it on with a Ravenclaw. Penelope huffed towards them as she watched them leave, wondering how the Sorting Hat ever believed that an astounding individual like Percy could ever be in the same house as these vandals!

A moment of silence suddenly filled the room when they had left. Percy seemed to curl up in his bed. Out of the corner of Penelope's eyes, she just noticed the abundance of books he had beside him as well as a few scrolls. How could he not have ended up in Ravenclaw?

"I prefer it this way," Percy suddenly announced. It took a few moments for Penelope to remember that they had just been talking about his hair. "It's tidy instead of unkempt. A girl Miles Bletchley fancies taught me how to straighten it up with my wand just a while ago."

Penelope nodded her head slowly, and then asked, "How many people visited you?"

"From Slytherin?" he raised an eyebrow, and she shook her head.

Penelope felt herself fill with some form of warmth. She just loved hearing him talk. His voice made her spine tingle like no other. "From other houses, silly! I don't care about Slytherins."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Just you."

Penelope was appalled. "What about Charlie?" she suddenly asked, absolutely enthralled—and then they wondered why Percy ran away from his home?

The redhead continued to shake his head. "I'm afraid not."

"I can't believe Charlie didn't visit you! He's your brother, and you just had a seizure. You shouldn't be punished because you're a hero, Percy. You saved my life! I would be dead without you," Penelope said in a serious manner. "This is a joke. I feel like only you and I know about it…oh, and your brothers aren't a help either. They saw the manticore and they lied about the encounter."

Penelope sat down on a chair that was plopped in front of him. She cracked open her bag, and produced a large container filled with nutty brownies. She took out him a big, almond-studded one, and offered to him. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. It made her feel cold knowing that he refused her offer for dessert. She picked up one of the walnut ones, and chewed angrily. Bits of fudgy brownie flew from her mouth, landing everywhere. When she was done eating that brownie, she had picked up another one in record speed and ate it just as quickly.

"This whole thing is a joke," Penelope suddenly spat out in anger, picking up another brownie and chewing so hard that she felt like she was breaking her teeth. "When you're in the Ministry, you should make them quarantine the forests out of these doxies! They're not helping anyone. All they do is bite at you and if they get anywhere near an open wound, then you're done for. Just look at what they did to you!"

She just realised how much of her inner thoughts she voiced out. Her cheeks coloured in. Penelope also hadn't noticed how much she was mindlessly shoving into her mouth as she ranted—a third of the brownie batch was gone… This was so humiliating! Percy didn't seem to be fazed by anything she had said. His gaze was towards the window.

Suddenly, she was aware of how pale he was. It was sickening.

"Do you think that Dumbledore can help?" Penelope said all of a sudden, her voice very soft. "People have to know what you did. It's important. You defeated a Death Eater for Merlin's sake."

"People already know what I've done, Penny…" Percy's voice was softer, "I've left my family."

Penelope's heart was racing. "Percy, you had to leave your family. They were treating you rotten. You deserve to be noticed! Don't let yourself shrink to accommodate what they think that you should be."

It broke her heart to see him like this. This wasn't like him. What had happened in their time apart?

Percy shrunk into the hospital cot. He wrapped his arms around himself, crying so hard all of a sudden that her heart stopped. "I can't do this, Penny. I can't do this anymore."

She reached out to wrap her arms around him. She had knocked off the container of brownies from his cot that she would clean up and throw away later, even though it was a rarity to have her mother make them. He cried into her shoulder, and as his sobs got louder, her blood boiled.

THE first thing that happened when Percy was told that he could get out of the infirmary was Percy being seized by these Slytherin first years that had insisted on carrying him on a throne. Yes, that was read correctly. It was the most abhorrent thing that Percy had ever thought of. Here he was trying not to draw attention to himself, and all of the first years were carrying him around like a prince! He did not know how they had gotten said throne, but he supposed that Marcus Flint and his lot had something to do with it, considering that Miles was trailing beside Percy, trying not to collapse into laughter. Percy also caught sight of an agitated-looking Terence, an ecstatic Adrian and an amused Marcus.

Brilliant. This was exactly the opposite of what he wanted.

Penelope and Holly seemed to be standing beside a couple of portraits, staring at Percy with wide blue eyes. Penelope flushed almost immediately and started to giggle as Holly fished out her cameras.

Miles took the time to mention that a photo was worth a Galleon. This ended up with Holly threatening to cut off whatever lived in his thick skull, but she did end up coughing up a few Galleons, so Percy supposed it was Miles that won this round. A few photos later and Percy found himself not only feeling completely and utterly ridiculous (especially when he was crowned. For Merlin's sake! Why was he crowned with Medusa's hair? He did not feel very powerful. He felt like a tosser... and this crown was giving him a headache).

"Is this the recognition that you wanted me to get, Penelope?" Percy chided, sounding drab.

Penelope giggled and nodded her head, cheeks rosy and rubicund as she and Holly walked alongside the Slytherin's. Where they were going to? Percy could only assume the scene of the crime.

"You know Snape is going to murder you," Penelope insisted.

Percy nodded his head, face completely lacklustre. At least he did not have any essays that he was missing out on whilst he was being paraded around the school on a throne. Merlin, how was he going to explain this to his mum? Dear mum, not only do I now have to sport green and grey underpants or the lads will make fun of me, but the first year Slytherin's have adopted me as their king for the time being. Also, I suspect Miles Bletchley has been looking through my underpants drawer since they'd been completely folded before I was sent to the infirmary but are now messier than a Fwooper's nest. Love you, Percy.

"What in Merlin's good name is this?" Charlie said, nearly dropping his toastie, which was, of course, ham and cheese. Percy was sure Charlie's dietary intake consisted only of ham and cheese toasties.

Oliver Wood was standing beside him, staring at Percy with an unreadable expression.

"Do you want to give praise to our prince?" Miles mentioned and Percy bit back the comment he had about how their 'prince' couldn't pay for a nice pair of socks. He was irritated by the number of holes in his mismatched socks (they were white and black) and the fact that his loafers had been hand down through so many generations that Percy believed that the original owner probably died in 1863.

Charlie looked close to laughing now. "Prince? You do realise that Snape will make sure you die a most perilous death when he catches sight of this, right?"

Percy just placed his hand on his cheek and leaned down against his throne. "I'm aware."

"Charge!" one of them seemed to call out and it was just then that the Slytherins that seemed to be carrying him seemed to be running so quickly that Percy felt his world turned to a blur of black and white. Percy was sure that the flapjack that he had for brunch seemed to be tossing around her stomach. A colicky pain started to form in Percy's abdomen.

By the time that he stopped, Percy seemed to fly from the throne at an impeccable acceleration.

Unfortunately, Professor Snape was there to cushion his fall, but not before he retched all over Snape's robes.

MOLLY watched as the rest of the children went off to play Exploding Snap whilst Arthur just sat down. He barely got his jacket off before Molly insisted that he sat down with her for a meal. Molly normally ate with the children, but she thought to eat with Arthur today. She'd kept on rereading the letter so many times. Another fit. Percy destroyed furniture. Percy broke a wall. Percy was in Slytherin. It reiterated through her head so many times throughout the day that she did not feel like a real person.

That afternoon, she took them all down to the shops and found herself feeling weird as she wandered towards the Slytherin robes section. She didn't know whose robes Percy was wearing since she'd packed him Gryffindor uniform and robes. Bill's old ones actually. She was aware that Hogwarts did have a specific section for students that did not have appropriate clothing for their houses specifically for instances like these, but Molly supposed that Percy had been wearing the same uniform and robes for the past few days now.

Molly felt somewhat ashamed of herself for glancing over at the shop when she picked up a pair of Slytherin ties to go with a standard uniform, and a pair of Slytherin robes, lined with green and grey piping. She did not know whether to buy him a size she knew might be too small on him, or to buy him something that would obvious be too big on him. She decided to go with the latter, because he could always grow into it later on like Charlie did with his Hogwarts clothing. When she went to pay, the cashier gave her a look that made Molly's blood grow cold. She felt like she was committing a heinous crime instead of just buying clothes for her child. She had to change this. She couldn't just act like Percy was different because he was sorted in a different house, a rival house.

Molly kept on piling on cottage pie onto Arthur's plate without really stopping because she felt highly worried about how this was all going to turnout.

"Love, that's enough," Arthur insisted, taking the plate from Molly and offering a smile.

"Professor Snape wrote to me," Molly suddenly called out, not sure why she started with that clever opening line. Arthur just offered her a raised eyebrow. "Percy hasn't been writing to me because he's been sorted into Slytherin and I've been telling him that McGonagall isn't that scary to talk to. I feel ruddy awful about it. I just went out into the shops to get him some robes and a uniform."

There was a stand still silence then.

Arthur sighed deeply and nodded his head. "I feel gutted," he admitted.

Molly supposed that this was better than she hoped. Normally, Arthur's Gryffindor-wired mind would barely be able to accept the idea of any of his children ending up in any other house that wasn't Gryffindor, much less a rival house like this one.

"We'll get used to it," Molly insisted. She at least hoped. She didn't want to act like this when Percy was around. She didn't want to make him feel like he stood out because he was a little different.

Arthur chuckled and shook his head. "I suppose I owe him an apology then. He's told me that he's always been worried about not ending up in Gryffindor after all, and I've told him that such a thing wouldn't even be possible. I mean... who'd have thought that Percival would be the one to break generations of what feels like tradition at this point?"

"I know," Molly said, rubbing her shoulder. "It felt wrong buying him these clothes. I feel like it's all one big joke and the twins are going to walk in now, announcing that they're the masterminds behind it."

Arthur placed a mouthful of cottage pie in his mouth and slowly nodded his head.

Molly's cheeks coloured in. "There is one other thing that I have to mention..." a hesitant smile spread on her lips, and she felt exceptionally nervous in that very moment. "Percy might or might not have blown up the Slytherin commons' wall and destroyed some of their furniture."

Arthur seemed to choke on the bit of pie that he'd consumed. Laughter lines appeared on his face, as he tried to prevent himself from guffawing.

"Arthur, this isn't funny," Molly said in an utmost serious tone of voice but Arthur's laugh was so funny that she couldn't help but dissolve into soundless chortles. She brought the spoon to her face, clinging onto it tightly as to not alert the others that they were laughing about something. Normally, Fred and George would want to know what was so funny.

"Do we have to pay for it?" Arthur suddenly asked, still beaming with a smile and trying not to laugh.

Molly shook her head.

"Then I think it's very funny," Arthur dissolved back down to the same soundless chortles that Molly had.

Molly rolled her eyes, and just shook her head. For a few moments, she let the silence fill the room as they ate cottage pie and dinner rolls. The conversation went to what happened at work, and Arthur didn't seem to be nearly as animated about the newest muggle toy that had been bought to him, eyes still lively from the Slytherin commons' room explosion.

When they scraped their plates, Molly went to pour some tea, feeling any joyfulness in her heart disappear.

"Percy's had another fit," she admitted, her voice soft. "If he has another one—"

"He won't," all laughter was now drained from Arthur's face. "He won't have another fit. He can't have another fit. I won't let it happen."

If Percy had another fit and he was branded as an epileptic by Ministry standards, then he would have to endure hell to get back his status as a human being by the end of it. From what Molly knew, they just tossed epileptics away into wards until they were thought of as stable. Even then, Percy would never be allowed to have an apparition test. He would not be allowed to fly a broom. He wouldn't be allowed to live a normal life in the wizarding community without the universe scrutinising him for it.

"You can't promise me that," Molly insisted, looking back at Arthur with an expression as soft as her voice.

The sound of Ginny yelling at George about cheating seemed to interrupt the silence. Molly went to check up on them, and managed to subdue them with a suggestion of a game of chess. Ron immediately jumped to his feet to his chess board, whilst the others groaned and said something about how chess was boring compared to Exploding Snap. Molly surveyed them for any visible injuries. Content with her findings, Molly insisted that they play chess with Ron, especially after all the naughty pranks that the twins had been pulling on him ever since Percy had gone to Hogwarts. They gave in when Molly threw one of her characteristic glares and hurried back to the kitchen, where Arthur had pulled out Percy's Slytherin robes and had a good look at them.

"I feel angry," Arthur said, flipping the new robes, "And I shouldn't. They're just robes."

"I know," Molly insisted, sitting beside him. This really would get a lot of getting used to...

"I'M sorry for getting you in trouble, mate, but detection isn't so bad. I mean—scrubbing a few desks and alphabetising all the potions ingredients by hand isn't as bad as it could be," Miles insisted, putting a bottle of aconite on the shelf. "Look on the bright side—"

"Shut up, Bletchley," Adrian, Marcus, Terence and Percy said all at once, looking up from the potions ingredient listing that they were required to alphabetise in the following weeks. Unfortunately, said potions list was so large and extensive that Percy had calculated that it would take them approximately six months, three days, and twenty hours to do this by hand, given that all of them attended these detentions and that they worked for an hour and a half on them.

"One more thing," Percy said as he grabbed a bucket full of water and a scrub, "I'm not your mate."