The following morning, on what should have been Bill and Fleur's wedding day, the Weasleys were instead preparing to visit Percy in hospital. Some participants were more willing than others.
"I don't see why we've got to visit that git." Ron complained as he pulled his socks.
"Ron." Molly's voice was cold. "Not at a time like this, please."
"I mean, what has he done for us?"
"Ronald." This time it was Arthur. "Ron, your brother saved my life yesterday."
"Oh." Ron muttered sheepishly.
"And Harry, Hermione, you'll be all right at home?" Molly asked. Harry needed to stay hidden, and Hermione had agreed to stay home to protect him and to keep him from running off. Fleur was also staying at the Burrow with her family, who were trying to adjust their plans to stay in Britain as long as possible.
"We'll be all right, Mrs. Weasley, thank you." said Hermione.
"All right. There's tea and biscuits in the kitchen if you need it. Come on Ron, Ginny, we have to go."
Molly and Arthur shuffled all their offspring outside the Burrow's wards. "We're apparating into St. Mungo's." Arthur called over the wind. "Nobody splinch yourselves please. Ginny, you're coming side-along with me." With a faint pop, all eight members of their party disappeared and reappeared in the lobby of St. Mungo's, then squeezed into a lift and headed for the spell damage ward.
Percy was about the same as yesterday. If anything, his skin had taken on even more of a greenish tinge. Healer Perkins was with him, adjusting the bandage around his torso. "Ah. Mr and Mrs. Weasley!" She straightened up. "No change since yesterday. Please don't panic; that's not enough time to see if the potion's taking effect. Did we bring the whole family in?"
Arthur nodded. "The rest of my kids, uh, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George, Ron, and Ginny." The family fanned out around Percy's bed and an awkward silence fell. Bill and Charlie were talking in undertones about the morning's Prophet, while Fred, George, and Ginny glared daggers at Percy and Molly tried not to burst into tears again.
"Bill and Fleur were supposed to get married today." Ginny said, breaking the silence. "We all know Percy wouldn't have bothered to show up. We could've just held the wedding anyway."
"Ginny, that was Fleur's and my decision not to have the wedding today." Bill said.
"What exactly happened to Percy anyway?" George asked. "He got hit with a curse? I got hit with a curse too; you don't see me going around canceling family weddings."
"George, we were very lucky that you were ok." said Arthur. "Percy took a direct hit. I know we were all worked up last night so I'll explain again. Percy and I both saw the attack and were there. I was trying to fight off death eaters but ended up dueling Yaxley. He was about to get the upper hand when Percy dived in front of me and took a curse straight to the chest. There's a potion for it, but it's not a hundred percent effective. We have to wait and see if it'll take effect."
"Oh." Fred, George, and Ginny were suddenly very interested in their fingernails.
"It's like I told Dad last night," Bill said, "this means Percy's heart is in the right place. If he was willing to die to protect Dad, I think his heart's in the right place. We can talk things out as a family when he does wake up."
"If he wakes up." Charlie said.
"Charlie, please don't go upsetting your mother like that." Arthur said as Molly started tearing up again.
"If he wakes up, we might get the chance to patch things up as a family," Charlie plugged on, ignoring his father. "But if he doesn't, well, we'll never have the chance to get closure." Molly burst into loud sobs at this.
"What does it mean?" Ginny asked Ron in an undertone. "What does it all mean? Percy insults the lot of us, then tries to be noble and protect Dad. Bloody hypocrite."
Ron shrugged. "I dunno. I'd like to think Percy's had a change of heart, but I think that's about as likely as Harry not complaining about his scar hurting. Which is to say not likely at all. Eh. We'll hear all about it from the git when he wakes up. Bloody stupid git trying to be all noble and ruining our fun."
Ginny's eyes widened as a realization hit her. "We call Harry a noble prat all the time. If he were the one here instead, you and I would be beside ourselves with admiration. I don't know, I think we should try to withhold judgement until he wakes up."
Ron snorted.
"And then if he wakes up and continues being a git, we'll give him a brutal tongue-lashing, all right?"
Charlie, who had been listening to them, broke in. "You do know that if Percy hadn't been a noble prat, we'd be huddled around Dad's sickbed instead?" When they both nodded, he continued. "And I don't think any of us wanted that. As weird as this situation is, it means Percy will have to talk to us when he wakes up and he can't slink off to his flat again. I really think this is the best-case scenario."
Ginny sighed. "But the wedding. I can tell Harry's mad about having to stay here so much longer than he planned. Do you really think this is the best-case scenario?"
"This is war." Charlie said. "I remember the first war, and this is how things were then too. We're just lucky no one's dead."
Percy had started tossing and turning in bed and they all turned around at the noise. Molly ran back to his side and grabbed his hand. "Percy? Percy, can you hear me? Are you all right?"
"Ooh." Healer Perkins came running. "Nightmares are a common side effect of the potion. In some cases the patients may convulse or talk in their sleep too. I'll call for another draught of dreamless sleep." She hurried away.
As if on cue, Percy moaned someone's name: "Trevor,"
"He had a flatmate named Trevor," Molly supplied, "when he first left the family he lived with a bloke named Trevor."
"Trevor, stop it." Percy groaned. "You're hotboxing the damn flat, Trevor! Marijuana isn't even legal in this country!"
George raised an eyebrow. "Even in his nightmares Percy's still a stickler for the rules."
Fred nodded. "That's our dear Percy."
"Mrs. Wiggenbottom, official ministry communications are sent on heavyweight card stock in eggshell white, not ecru white." Percy mumbled.
"Oh bloody hell." Ron muttered. "Are we all going to have to sit here and listen to Percy talk about his job in his sleep? I can honestly say I'd rather deal with death eaters."
"Ron, shh." Molly had taken a small notebook and pen out of her purse and was writing down the things Percy had said. "Just until Healer Perkins comes back with the potion." The others looked at each other. They all knew their Mum was desperate for any kind of information about what Percy had been up to the last few years.
"If the cauldron's less than half a centimeter on the bottom, it's a no-go." Percy mumbled. "Bloody shoddy products flooding the market. Mr. Crouch will never stand for it. We need to establish a cauldron-bottom commission."
"Mum, can we go home?" Ron asked. "I can't sit here and listen to that git sleep-talk about cauldron bottoms."
"M-hm." Molly barely looked up from her notebook. "You're all adults. You can go home if you want, now that you've seen Percy."
"The ministry needs to set guidelines for the appropriate use of protective enchantments." Percy mumbled. "Mum, tell Ron to stop poking me."
"This is getting weird." Ron muttered. "Come on, let's go." He, Ginny, and the twins left just as Healer Perkins returned with the potion.
"What if Percy does die?" Ginny said as they left. "I don't like him, but I don't really want him to die. Plus Mum would be sad."
"Really sad." Ron nodded.
"I do believe Gred and I would celebrate." Fred said. "But then Mum would be sad, and we couldn't do that to her."
"It's like Charlie said," Ginny continued, "if he dies right now and we never get to talk to him again, it would be awful."
"I'm not holding out hope for it." Ron snorted. "Have we ever known Percy to apologize for anything?"
"I'm not holding out hope either, but Mum is." Ginny said. "We really ought to stop saying mean things about Percy. Just for the time being, for Mum's sake! If he wakes up and he's still a prat, then we'll go back to insults. Deal?"
Fred and George nodded in unison. "Deal."