responses to any inquiries on last chapter:
FairyRave: "Two girls are fighting over Percy, I wonder what he would think of that." i don't think he'd believe it until he sees it himself! i love that we're 55 chapters in, and tbh, he still has no clue that Penelope even likes him in that manner.
Phoenixx Rising: i love reading your comments. you're so Team Percy it's ridiculously great. and i'm happy that Arthur finally did something you approve of! poor Arthur. i think i butchered his character in this fanfic. and probably in the next ones to come. poor, poor Arthur. it's just i always feel the need to have Percy have a tense relationship with one of his parents, and it's definitely not going to be Molly!
Chapter Fifty-Five
"I'm going to kill him," a furious seventeen-year-old Ginny had decided, grabbing her coat and draping it over her petite frame. "I'm going to find him and then I'm going to kill him."
"Ginevra," Arthur called out, reaching over to place a hand on his daughter's shoulder. She did not seem to calm down. Instead, she looked even angrier. "Where are you going off to?"
"I don't know," she mumbled, her eyes on the ground. "I'm going to find him."
Arthur would never have guessed Ginny would have such a reaction to finding out that Percy had left them again, just like he did when they were children. "Come on now," he tried to reason with her, placing a hand on her freckled cheek and stroking it. She pushed away. "Where would you even look?"
Ron was rolling his eyes. "She'd just go to every library in Europe," he mumbled. "She'll probably find him wedged between encyclopaedia volumes."
"Everywhere... I'll look everywhere!" Ginny said. Her long dark red hair was flying in all directions.
"Just leave the git alone," Ron was obviously not impressed. Arthur supposed that it was a bit tiring having Percy come in and out of their lives like this. It felt like the minute they got hold of him, he slipped away like Floo powder at the palm of Arthur's hand. "If he wants to come home, he'll come home."
Ginny didn't look like she fancied giving Percy a whack anymore with how murderously she was staring over at Ron. Her expression was so cold that it made Arthur shudder.
"Fine," Ginny said to Ron, her voice lacing with venom. "You sit here and whine about something Percy did ten years ago, and I'm going to look for our missing brother."
Ron bit back. "Come on, Gin! You've probably bonded more with Malfoy than you did with Percy! You probably talked to him three times since he's come back from the hospital! I'm sure one of those times was just you telling him to come down to dinner."
"And you can't tell me that you don't care at all about the fact that he's gone? Again?" Ginny spat out.
"This is the third time he's gone off to somewhere. When are you going to stop caring? He's done this enough times, Gin! He's a bloody drama queen!" Ron reminded her. "Just because Perfect Prefect Percy left out of his own will, you're ready to tear down Europe to find him!"
Ginny's shoulders dropped, but her face remained stern. Her eyes turned to Arthur. "And what do you think? You're the reason Percy was in the hospital in the first place!"
Arthur was surprised at this. He didn't know that Ginny had felt this way about him. Hearing that his only daughter thought that he'd just let Percy rot in the ward made something coil in his abdomen. "I was under the Imperius! I couldn't stop it from happening."
"And we couldn't do anything about it for six years?" Ginny retorted.
Ron stared over at her like she was mad. "Well, there was the fact that Voldemort had risen again and we had a war happen in the time that he was chained to his hospital cot, moaning about the ward's filing systems and substandard hospital food."
A lump formed in Arthur's throat. He didn't quite know how to tell Ron that there were definitely no hospital cots in that ward. He was also sure that if there was a filing system, Percy wouldn't be able to find out much about it given that it was pitch black in there.
"Yes, and they've treated him so well when he's been there," Ginny spat back. "That's why he came back looking like he'd been hung in Voldemort's dungeon for the past six years!"
Arthur had no idea what to say, or if he could even contribute to this conversation at all.
"Look at what that bastard did to mum and his girlfriend!" Ron pointed towards a crying Audrey, whom was being held by an upset looking Molly. Sitting on an old chair that would collapse any day now was a pale Penelope. "His pregnant girlfriend!"
"Who did what to his pregnant girlfriend?" Percy stated. He was standing by the doorway with a parcel tucked underneath his arm. The minute that Ginny saw him, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him so tightly that Arthur was sure that she'd broken one of his ribs. "I could hear crying all the way down the Lovegood household! Dear Merlin, I go into Diagon Alley for an hour and suddenly, the whole house's fallen apart and everyone's having a go at each other!"
"Ginevra, please," Percy was shifting uncomfortably into her arms. "What in Helga's name has happened when I was away? What have I missed?"
Ginny moved away from him, beaming at him. "Percy, you're a git."
Percy rolled his eyes. "Thank—"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT'S HAPPENED?!" Penelope shrieked in a shrill voice, jumping up from the chair she was sitting on and practically stomping towards him. "Next time you spontaneously decide to leave the shed, it'll be nice to let someone know! Even if you aren't exactly in the most talkative mood, you should've at least written a note and pinned it somewhere—"
Percy raised an eyebrow. "You mean like the one I stuck on the wall before I—"
He didn't get to finish that sentence because Audrey, whom Arthur hadn't been paying much attention to, suddenly wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his shoulder, still sobbing recklessly. Arthur could see his wife's face wash over with immediate relief.
"W..." Penelope's cheeks coloured in deeply. "What?"
"You..." Percy looked down at his crying girlfriend, whom was probably in danger of breaking one of Percy's blood vessels from how tightly she was holding onto him. "You were under the incorrect impression that I've ran away from home."
"Well, we didn't exactly..." Penelope tried to argue, crossing her arms over her chest.
Percy had the most vacant expression on his face. "Without a wand, food or money."
Arthur realised why Percy found this so comical. Even when he'd ran away when he was ten, he'd somehow managed to procure a wand, had a rucksack bursting with food and the few bits of silver that he'd managed to save up over the years.
Ginny's cheeks coloured in and Ron was laughing.
Percy shook his head in disbelief. "At twenty-two years old and—"
"Come on, Percival," Penelope was obviously embarrassed she'd made anyone else feel like that was what indeed had happened. "You've done more nonsensical things."
"I'm sure I have," Percy seemed so incredibly amused. He looked down at Audrey. His facial expression changed completely, and his eyes softened up dramatically. Percy went back to wiping away those tears from her face and then ran his hand through her hair in a delicate manner. "Come on. Let's get your tears wiped off, alright? Come on," he placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and pulled her towards the bathroom.
AFTER a quick wash of her face, Audrey turned to have a proper look at Percy. He was sitting at the edge of the tub just like she had only a few hours ago. He didn't seem angry at her for saying the deplorable things that she'd said. In fact, he was doing that bloody thing that she hated: fiddling about with his sleeve whilst she was having a complete mental breakdown. The nerve of him. She was going to leave him if he kept on doing this rubbish when she was upset... oh, how she missed him! Audrey was just really glad that the tosser hadn't actually left them. She was fully prepared to hunt him down—well, she was going to do so after she'd depleted all of her body's water content through her endless sobbing. The worst thing was Audrey couldn't even have a go at him for frightening them! Because he did pin a note to the wall... the considerate bastard!
"Can we start this all over again?" Percy asked in a weak tone of voice as he stood up, wrapping his arms around Audrey. He pressed his head against her shoulder.
"I threatened to leave you," Audrey reminded him—as if the bastard could forget.
Percy had a look of confusion on his face as he turned to look at her. "When?" he asked with a smile on his face as he poked her stomach. Godric, she was going to saw off his hand next time he did that. "I can't quite recall such an incident. I do remember that my mum was whining on about me and insisted that she had to deal with me, but I can't quite recall you being in the picture, madam. I assure you if such a thing happened; I would remember it now, wouldn't I?"
"Percy!" Audrey was frustrated at him. "Can you be serious for just one minute?"
Percy raised an eyebrow. "I'm always serious, Audrey," he tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear.
"Right now, you're not!" Audrey protested.
"No, I really am quite serious, Audrey. Deadly so," Percy replied in the tone he normally reserved for his younger siblings. "In fact, I was going to mention that I would like to go back to the flat with you. I want us to try to have some semblance of a normal relationship because I truly believe that we can make this work out if we give it another chance... a proper chance that is."
What a bastard. She threatened to leave him and now, he wanted to move in with her!
Audrey didn't know whether or not to believe him. It wasn't his fault that he was like this, and it wasn't her fault that she couldn't handle it. She just stared at his big, begging blue eyes. Godric, how she hated him. Percy seemed to be quite serious about the whole affair and more than anything, she wanted to give him a chance. She knew that she shouldn't, because what were the chances of anything changing? It wasn't as if Percy would wake up one day and forget how it was like to swallow a tarantula.
"This is it?" Audrey stared over at him. "That's it? Things are going to change now?"
Percy nodded his head again. "Everything is going to change now."
Audrey nodded her head, not leaving his eyes for a moment. "And if it doesn't?"
"Well," Percy offered a watery smile. Wasn't there a point where she was going to throw herself and ask for his forgiveness? Why did it feel like the other way around right about now? This didn't feel right. "Well, if nothing changes, then we can sit down and discuss the details of our separation."
A pang of pain suddenly walloped Audrey over the head. "Oh..." her voice was soft. "Alright."
"Alright?" Percy reiterated.
Audrey nodded her head. Of course, it wasn't alright. She didn't want them to separate. Godric, she didn't know what she wanted. She just didn't want him to look so bloody sad all the time.
"Alright," she repeated.
IT wasn't until Arthur caught Percy walking into the kitchen that he'd decided that now might be a good time to join and attempt to make some form of light conversation with him.
The last time that he'd tried to talk to Percy was only a few hours ago. It was not a very light-hearted chat that they've had. The lad started to scratch his mouth and Arthur, being startled by this, had left—only for him to discover later on that Percy had actually been attempting to pull out an invisible spider from his mouth based on a vivid memory that had happened in the ward. Arthur had felt so guilty for leaving him that he was actually nearly glad Percy had snapped his wand. It lessened the tugging feeling at his stomach, just like looking at the scars he had on his hand made him feel more at ease with the whole debacle. They had become very prominent scars, and were as a result of a fifteen-year-old Percy biting his hand six years ago.
According to Ginny, this situation was probably Arthur's fault for allowing Percy to be there in the first place. Now, he looked like he'd been tortured in You-Know-Who's dungeons.
According to Ron, Percy was chained to a hospital cot, moaning about the fact that he was supposed to be Head Boy now and returned back home traumatised from the lack of good literature.
"I am so sorry that you have to witness this massacre," Percy's voice had pulled Arthur out of his thoughts.
Arthur didn't know what Percy was implying or referring to until he pulled out a knife from the drawer. Arthur's heart did a jolt and he was just about to call Molly because he was almost certain that Percy was going to slash some body part... Percy did use the word massacre after all.
Percy placed down the knife on the table, and Arthur grabbed it because the opportunity was there.
The last thing he wanted Percy to do was hack himself in their kitchen.
He raised an eyebrow when he saw Percy turn to open the fridge and pull out Molly's mostly eaten sea salt cake—there was probably only really one and a half substantial slices in there. Bollocks. Why did he have to use the word massacre? Now, Arthur had a knife behind his back because he thought his child was going to slit himself silly and a perplexed Percy was sat there wondering where his knife had gone.
Percy turned to pick up another knife from the drawer. He watched Percy cut a thin piece of cake and then shove it into his mouth in a very Ron-like manner.
"I'm extremely sorry you have to see me like this," Percy reiterated, staring down at his black button-down, which was now covered in icing sugar and sprinkles. In fact, all of Percy was covered in icing sugar and sprinkles. "Father, what in Merlin's name are you doing with that knife?"
"Err, I was..." Arthur did not have a good answer for this. He was not in Ravenclaw after all. The only answer that came to his mind was that he needed to use it for a shave. "I just thought to hold it for you."
Percy nodded his head. He didn't believe him one bit. "I'm sure."
Arthur stiffened in his position and put the knife down. Godric. He needed to have a proper tutorial about when to expect Percy to do something violet and disturbing to avoid putting himself in a scenario like this!
"Father?" Percy called out. It was odd talking to Percy and seeing his face still stern but at the same time, there were pink and blue sprinkles dotting his nose.
Arthur cleared his throat. "Yes?"
Percy ate another bit of cake. "I do not tend to harm myself in front of other people."
Arthur felt the heat rushing to his cheeks. He opened his mouth, but he still had not come up with a better excuse for why he had taken Percy's knife. He couldn't even say that he wanted a slice of the cake himself; because this cake was the vilest thing that Molly insisted on making and Percy knew that Arthur loathed it nearly just as much as he loathed Malfoy (well, this and her Christmas pudding.)
He felt like eating honeyed sugar covered in golden syrup would be less sweet.
"Believe it or not," Percy continued, breaking off a piece from the slice that he had in his hand. There were crumbles everywhere, and it really did look like a massacre in Percy's defence. A cake massacre. "I do have this shard of dignity and sanity that tends to stop me from chopping off body parts in front of other people."
"Yes, of course," Arthur replied in a somewhat less certain voice.
Arthur's eyes were locked onto the patches of visible skin. Percy's shirt sleeves were rolled up and his shirt had ridden up. Godric, he could see what Ginny was getting at now that he had his time to actually look at Percy. It didn't help that every flesh wound seemed accentuated by Percy's withered frame.
"Father?" Percy hadn't even looked up from his plate.
Arthur stiffened. "Yes?"
"I would prefer it if you not stare at my cuts," Percy said, pulling down the sleeves of his shirt, which he'd probably just noticed had rolled up. He grabbed a tissue and wiped away the mess from his face and his shirt. It took him approximately three seconds to look like himself again.
Arthur's cheeks coloured in again. "Alright, Percy."
Arthur let a very awkward silence wash over them. Percy cleaned up the last bit of invisible dirt from his hand before Percy diverted his attention back to the sugar cake—oh, Arthur meant to say sea salt cake.
"Penelope said that all your books went missing," Arthur decided to finally mention what was really on his mind... other than the fact that he had no idea how volatile Percy was and was frightened he'd muck up twice within one day. "I suppose you somehow managed to take all these books with you?"
Percy nodded his head. "Yes, I've given them all to a second hand shop."
Arthur stared at Percy as if he just told Arthur that he wanted to do swimsuit modelling as a career. To him, this was just about the equivalent of Ron giving away all his Chudley Canon merchandise for a few spares sickles. "You've done what?"
"Well, fine, you've caught me," Percy said. It was impressive how only a minute ago Percy was eating, talking and making a mess. Just a few moments ago, Arthur felt like he'd had that drink that Ayden was always offering him and now, they were back to this. "I did keep my copy of Prefects Who Gained Power."
"Percy," Arthur was trying not to make any sudden movements, or say anything that might be even mildly upsetting. He kept his tone as neutral and calm as he possibly could. "Why did you decide to sell all your books? How many were there really? Four thousand something?"
"Four thousand, two hundred and fifty-two," Percy recalled with ease. "Yes, I've sold all of them. That is, excluding my copy of Prefects Who Gained Power."
This direction of this conversation made his whole stomach churn.
"I was under the understanding that these books are in my possession," Percy was trying to clarify. Arthur still didn't understand why. "Thus, I can do whatever I want with them."
"They are," Arthur swallowed the lump on your throat. Quick change of topic. He'd warm Percy up to it. "How did you even manage to get all those books out of the shed?"
"I had Lovegood's help with that," Percy explained. No wonder he was mentioning that he'd heard crying all the way down to the Lovegood household. "They're the ones that took me to Diagon Alley. Luna dropped by to have a quick check up on Harry. He's invited her for supper? And she'd offered to take me to Diagon Alley. Luna is a very... eccentric person she is. She has very remarkable beliefs and seems to have very odd ideas about what was going on in the hospital ward."
Arthur chuckled. He could decipher that very easily. Their beliefs were all rubbish and I was attempting not to spew out fact after fact in my attempts at being polite was what Percy really wanted to say.
"How much did you get for them?" Arthur suddenly asked. He was curious to say the least.
Percy's ears had gone red. "Well... um... there were quite a few books in there that were extremely valuable finds that mum has underestimated the value of greatly, and others that were just bits of rubbish but all in all," he looked down at his feet. "About fifteen thousand Galleons. Give or take a few hundred. That's... about nearly four Galleons a book. It averages out to around that, but in reality, quite a bit of these books were barely worth a Knut and others were worth hundreds or sometimes thousands of Sickles..."
Percy turned to take measured mouthfuls of the slice into his hand. He wiped away the most microscopic bit of icing between chews. "Father, why are you staring at me in that manner?"
Arthur was, for the thousandth time in his life, shocked to know that a few bits of paper could cost so much.
"What do you need the money for?" Arthur was still trying to come back to reality. His head was fixed on numbers and calculations. There was a circle of floating knuts dancing before his eyes.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "For Audrey," he answered that bit easily. "Well, given the fact that I shamefully do not have a job and probably would be lucky to even acquire one in the next few years, that is selling subpar newspapers to the public... given my ample qualifications. This is attributed to two things. Firstly, I did not complete my Hogwarts' education. I actually have less O.W.L's than anyone else in this family because I've not done the blasted tests. Secondly, there is also the fact that I am branded as more dangerous than a manticore due to my epilepsy, despite it being treated by Ministerial standards, and it will be mentioned in any form of documentation I would ever hand in for a job and... well; I just don't foresee any brightness to my future. Realistically speaking."
Arthur was glad that this conversation wasn't as depressing as he thought it would be (yes, that was sarcasm). Thus far, he'd been with Percy for fifteen minutes, only to discover that Percy had sold all his books to pay for his baby's expenses and had accepted the fact that he'd apparently never amount to anything in his life. He had gone as far as to say that he would be lucky to sell copies of The Quibbler, a job that small schoolboys did to get a few sickles to buy themselves an ice-cream.
Another moment of silence passed. This one didn't last more than two minutes before Arthur tried to mention another topic. "Percy, have you eaten anything other than this today?"
"I'm not quite sure... I don't believe I have but perhaps, I did," Percy sounded uncertain. He'd stood up, cocking his head to one side as he tried to think of this. "No, I'm sorry. I just simply cannot remember."
That was a brilliant sign of how things were going along.
"Father, did you all really think that I was going to leave my girlfriend, Lucy and my unborn child?" Percy didn't seem to find the situation very amusing anymore. He was poking at the last bit of the cake with his fork, not very interested in it. It was a habit that Molly loathed.
"Well, um..." Arthur still hadn't fully digested that Percy was going to have a child of his own really. There was nothing remotely fatherly about Percy. He was cold and hard around the edges. He was difficult to speak to and there was just too much of a chance that Arthur would bring up a sore subject.
"Percy?" Arthur stared at Percy with a softened expression.
"Yes?" Percy turned around, raising his eyebrows at Arthur.
"Um... I want to say that... what I hope to..." Arthur was stammering.
Percy was just staring back at him with a confused and somewhat irritated expression.
Arthur immediately pulled Percy into a hug, tightening his hold around him almost immediately. He placed his hand against Percy's head, as if supporting a newborn. Arthur didn't know what he expected. He didn't quite expect anything... Percy suddenly just collapsed into Arthur's arms, wrapping his long arms around Arthur's waist and clinging onto him for his dear life.
"I don't want mum to have to deal with me anymore," Percy said in a small voice.
PERCY had never envisioned having this encounter turn out like this before. It was extremely late at night. It was just about one in the morning and Percy was trudging about into the woods. This time, he'd pinned his note at the door to make sure that people did not overreact. Merlin, they wanted him to be out and about just about the minute he was out of the ward. Now that he was actually outside the house for once, everyone was making quite a fuss out of it! Really? They thought that he'd left them! And Audrey had lost all hope in him completely. Audrey was absolutely certain that he'd be mad for the rest of his life, so much so that she needed the fallback plan of separating them just in case he didn't straighten himself out...
As for him, he had his hands in his pocket and was trudging about this muck.
"You know for a bloke that has a dodgy leg, you sure are hard to keep up with!" Ginny's voice pulled Percy out of his reverie. He saw Ginny walking, with Arthur and Molly trailing behind her and a resentful Ron and cross Oliver. Hermione looked to be disapproving of Ron's attitude and Harry seemed mildly confused.
Did the whole family literally follow him into the woods? Godric.
"I can second that," a voice made Percy nearly jump out of his skin. He turned to look down at Audrey, whom had her arms crossed over her chest.
"I would like to take the time to remind everyone that if I fall, I cannot get up anymore due to my dodgy leg," Percy mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "So nobody does any of their surprises—and by Helga Hufflepuff's imposing name, what am I saying? What are you doing here? Why am I being stalked?"
"Stalk?" it was adorable how his father actually found an excuse this time. It was probably just as awful as the other excuses he had in his arsenal. "We were just going for a walk!"
"That happens to be in the exact same trail that I've decided to take a walk in?" Percy mumbled. "I—"
Molly crushed Percy into a hug in a way that made him feel like he probably had some kind of long-term undiagnosed asthma. "How dare you tell your father that you were upset about the fact that I told Audrey that I had to deal with you? You know that I didn't mean it that way! I love you, Percival Ignatius Weasley, and do not forget that for a second."
"Mum!" Percy exclaimed, attempting to wiggle out of her hold. He fell back into Audrey's arms. Splendid... just brilliant! Cosmic! And absolutely typical!
Percy stood up and stormed off. The others took this as a clue to follow him.
"Where are we going to, dear?" Molly asked, walking as close to Percy as possible. "You know, if you wanted to have a picnic at one in the morning, you really should've told us something."
"I am not having a picnic all by myself at one in the morning," even Percy wasn't that depressing! Well, at least not since he was fourteen anyway. At the memory of his older picnics, he'd blushed deeply. He remembered taking Scabbers with him down the trail and setting a picnic just for them. Godric, most of his happy memories when he was young was with that little rat. "Ronald? Was Scabbers really a Death Eater?"
"I thought you didn't know anything about the war!" Ron looked suspicious.
Percy rolled his eyes. "Ares told me quite a bit about the war itself... such as the fact that father got attacked by a giant snake, or the fact that Ginny had fallen prey to Tom Riddle's diary. He did emphasise quite a lot one about a veil—or was it the veil...?"
"What about the veil?" Harry suddenly moved close to Percy, staring up at him with attentive green eyes.
Percy had shrugged. "I'm sorry, Harry. I genuinely cannot recall," he pursed his lips together. He did not understand why Harry was so interested about this fabled veil. "Ares was talking about a dog... I believe. I don't see why or how important it is, but I'll be sure to ask about it again during our confrontation."
Harry nodded his head. "You can't remember anything at all?"
Percy shook his head and turned to look properly over at the mucky fields. Percy had seen what he thought to be a flick of a shimmer of something. He moved closer and realised that indeed, the moonlight was just bouncing off Marcus' black hair, making it gleam. Penelope seemed to fuming, probably due to the fact that Marcus had probably ruined Penelope's robes by taking her here. Meanwhile, a gurgling Avis was chewing on rocks, whilst he was pushing around a few other stones with a stick. "Marcus!"
Percy was never good at figuring out which rocks were best to eat. It wasn't a skill he wanted to attain either.
"We're here to see Flint?" Ron groaned. Audrey did not look amused either.
"What do you want?" Marcus looked up at him. His stony eyes were particularly translucent today.
"I just... wanted to apologise for attempting to subconsciously attempting to murder you. I thought we were doing this privately but I suppose that this is what we've bubbled down to," Percy said in an indifferent tone of voice. Oh for Dumbledore's sake... he didn't mean to sound like a tosser. He just was one. "Though in my defence, I wouldn't have fantasised about you drowning into a lake—and thus, subsequently being subjected to an extremely low temperature—if I wasn't sure that you couldn't swim."
Marcus stared at Percy with a truly amused look. "I do know how to swim."
"Do you?" Percy's cheeks were colouring in deeply. He was always under the impression that virtually nobody he knew could swim. He might have to do a reassessment now that Ron and Ginny had grown up and that the rest of them may have attained the ability to swim. "Well, err... I've heard that you and Penelope are insisting on going round the world. That would be a good experience I'm sure."
"Well, it was my idea!" Oliver exclaimed hotly. "She stole it from me! I was supposed to be going with him!"
"Shut up, Oliver," Penelope mumbled.
Marcus picked up a rock and offered it to Avis, whom took in into her hands and happily crunched. This was supposed to be an endearing moment, but Percy thought it was absolutely terrifying.
Percy slouched. "Err..." he received no reply from Marcus, whom seemed to be more invested in poking Avis' stomach to make her laugh. He would attempt to do the same with Audrey, but she'd snap off his arm. "I believe I have about seven months to prepare for my final confrontation with Ares and..."
"Good load of preparing you're doing," Ron mumbled.
"Shut up, Ronald. It's a ploy of tactic that we have lined up and it is dependent on my mentality, which I am currently working on," Percy responded back. He couldn't help but feel his heart sinking into his chest. Oh was he exhausted. He did not want to do this.
Ron stared at Percy with a horrified expression. "So, if you're still bonkers seven months' time then it's like Harry, Hermione and I have not done a thing, and we're all going to die?"
"That sounds about right," Percy replied honestly. "If I am still bonkers a month before, I will give you, Ginny and the twins full permission to attempt to fix my head by whatever method that you may choose."
Ginny nodded her head. "I'm going to bash your head in with a Beater's bat!"
Percy sighed deeply. Why must his family insist on showing him their love in this ludicrous manner?
Marcus offered Avis a small rock. "I'll be there," he didn't really explain why.
"Marcus?" Percy wanted to ask him if he'd written that letter, but he already knew the answer to that just having a look over at Marcus.
Marcus looked up at him, and took his baby—err, child—whichever into his arms and carried her.
"I cannot believe I am saying this in front of others, but... you sent the letter. You attempted to save my life countless of times. I nearly ended yours," Percy summarised the past few years' events in only a few sentences. "And yet you do not loathe me and you are not exactly a close friend with me either. Your best friend probably dreams of murdering me. It's just... the predicament we are in is very confusing."
"I agree with the murder part," Oliver commented, placing his hand into his pockets.
"You forgot I knocked up your girlfriend," Marcus reminded him.
Percy was going to comment on the fact that he knew who Lucy's father was and he thought that that was probably the most poorly constructed joke before he realised what Marcus meant. "Penelope was never my girlfriend!" Penelope's cheeks burned up at his exclamation. What? It was the truth!
Marcus snorted in disbelief. "Aye and Adrian didn't put woodlice in my bed at night."
Percy crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, back to my original point, which I cannot believe I am saying in front of others and was supposed to be extremely serious and significant," he emphasised on the last part of his sentence. "Seeing you close to death has sobered me up quite a bit. I used to be ecstatic at the thought of death, but now, the thought of such abhorrent things brings a chill to my spine. When Audrey's just upset me, I've tried to revisit back the memories that used to... excite me. I've looked at my uncles' funeral pictures and pictures of our safe house from before. I felt an unexplainable, shameless terror towards them, where once before I've felt joy at the idea of the war. In short, I... I've come to realise that I am not the monster that Ares had insisted that I was. I did not know it then, but I have not realised that I had this capability to be just like everyone else. To be as human as others. Perhaps, one day, it'll be impossible to—"
"Uncle Fabian and Gideon's deaths used to excite you?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "As in...Excite you?"
Percy's cheeks coloured in. "I know what you're thinking about and yes, in both those senses, and can we agree not to talk about the other excitement that I know that you are referring to," the last thing he wanted was not only for his family to know that he wanked off to the thoughts of decaying, rotting flesh. "Back to my point—again," Percy cleared his throat, noticing how everyone was staring over at him like he was going to suddenly implode in some sort of way. Harry, Hermione and Ron had the best facial expressions of the bunch, looking like Percy had just decided to discard his clothing and in the nude. "I am very much like a Lestrange. I enjoy torture and blood, and I will attempt not to give into the urge to destroy the universe, but make no promises that I cannot deliver."
Percy was the six-year-old boy that slept with a nightlight (and the fifteen-year-old boy that slept with a nightlight), and not that twenty-year-old that sung lullabies with the darkness. He was the six-year-old boy that excitedly waited for his father to come home every day, not the eighteen-year-old boy that wished to stab his father when he first saw him... for he had built his 'I am a normal human being—albeit somewhat perfection-driven and dull' mask well. It covered all his flaws. It had become a part of him. It was him.
"Gee thanks, Perce," Ron mumbled. Percy found himself smiling—genuinely smiling. "This is just like you! Harry, Hermione and I save the world, just so you could destroy it!"
Marcus suddenly looked up, like he'd just realised something. "Weasley, have you ever... fantasised about Pucey? And not in the kinky way."
Percy nodded his head. "Yes, I believe that I fantasised about shoving a knife in his back," he cocked his head to one side. "Is this relevant?"
Marcus shrugged. "Thought to mention that you might want to pull Pucey out of a coma."