"So bloody French . . . it's exhausting."
"They're trying to be nice."
"I know, but . . ."
Percy heard voices somewhere above him. He couldn't for the life of him figure out who they were or what they were talking about. He wanted to tell them to be quiet, but his voice didn't seem to be working. His limbs felt heavy, his head pounded, and there was a searing pain in his chest. Being hit by the Knight Bus probably would've been less painful.
"And another ball through the kitchen window . . . it was a bludger this time . . . who gave Gabrielle a bludger?"
Percy had no idea who Gabrielle was and really wished these voices shut up. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a muffled, "Mmph!"
"Percy?" A voice asked. "Percy, can you hear us?"
Percy opened his eyes. "Yes, I could hear you." He began fumbling for his glasses. "And I'd appreciate it if you would shut up! I am trying to sleep!" He put his glasses on and saw Bill and Charlie standing over him. "Oh. Wait, where am I?"
"You're in the hospital." Bill said. "How much do you remember?"
"There was an attack on the minister's office." Percy pressed a hand to his forehead. "Yaxley grabbed me and slammed me into a wall and told me if I left and kept quiet I could keep my job. But then people started fighting and I couldn't just leave, so I joined in. I saw Yaxley about to do something horrible to Dad, so I jumped in the way. That's the last thing I remember. Then I woke up here."
Bill sat down in the chair next to the bed. "Well, Perce, you're lucky to be alive."
"I'd worked that out for myself."
"You got hit with a putrificus curse, and the potion for that only has a 50% chance of taking. You've been unconscious for five days."
"Five days? I have to go back to work I—I—I've never missed a day before. Bill, imagine the state of my in-tray!"
"Glad to see a near-death experience hasn't changed you at all." Charlie said drily.
"Perce." Bill sounded like he was trying not to laugh. "Friendly reminder that you protected Dad, a well-known blood traitor and Harry Potter sympathizer, during the attack. You're probably out of a job."
"Oh." Percy shrugged. "Ah well. I'd been looking for a way out of that job anyway. I didn't exactly fancy working for an evil regime and they didn't pay me for overtime."
Bill grinned broadly. "That's more like it, Perce."
"Are Mum and Dad here?" Percy hated how childish he suddenly sounded. "Or were you the only ones who could stand to see stupid pompous Percy? Wait, Bill, aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon?"
"Mum and Dad are here. They've actually been here with you as much as they could, but this morning they looked pretty ragged so I sent them up to the tea room and told them I'd stay with you. Mum's been crying on and off since the attack. I think Dad's pretty torn up too. He feels guilty about it—says he should have been protecting you, not the other way around."
"I don't deserve Dad's protection." Percy said.
"You and Dad can talk about everything in a minute. Do you want me to go get him?"
Percy shook his head. "Not just yet. You didn't answer my question about your honeymoon."
"We postponed the wedding. You got hurt the day before it was supposed to happen, remember?"
"Were you even going to come to the wedding?" Charlie asked.
Percy shook his head. "No. I wanted to, but—but after the mashed parsnips incident at Christmas, I thought it would be better if I didn't come. I didn't want to make a scene."
"Look, Ginny and the twins were the ones who instigated the parsnip-throwing." Bill said. "I had words with them afterwards. A lot of words, some of which were swears. You cause enough drama in the family without them starting more drama."
"I'm sorry." Percy muttered. "I'm sorry I ruined your wedding."
"Percy, it's not your fault. It's you-know-who's fault. Look, honestly, Fleur and I were pretty lucky to be hosting the wedding even before you got hurt. It's been a rough couple of months for the family—I got attacked by Fenrir Greyback the night Dumbledore died. George lost an ear recently in a fight with death eaters. If it wasn't you here in the hospital, it would probably be Dad."
"I'd been wondering about the scars but didn't want to ask." Percy said. "When you say you were attacked by Greyback, do you mean . . ."
Bill shook his head. "I'm not a full werewolf, since I wasn't attacked on the full moon. Remus Lupin said I might have a few wolfish characteristics, but really the only thing that's changed is I like my steaks a lot rarer. Fleur likes this development as she thinks the English overcook their meat."
Percy nodded. "And George . . ."
"The night we moved Harry from his aunt and uncle's house, we had six people take poly juice and pretend to be Harry. George was with Remus Lupin. We were attacked by death eaters almost immediately and George lost an ear in the fighting. He's all right and seems to be in good spirits. He keeps joking that he's holey now."
Percy grimaced but didn't reply.
"Can we go get Mum and Dad now?" Charlie asked.
Percy shrugged. "I guess."
"What are you going to say to them?"
"I don't know."
His brothers seemed to close ranks, stepping closer together in his line of vision. "Think through that answer again, Perce." Bill said.
"I'm going to talk to them." Percy muttered. Charlie nodded and went to go find them.
"Was I really out for five days?" Percy asked as Charlie disappeared.
Bill nodded. "This is the first time you've been awake since the attack. This is also the most you've spoken to me in, well, a really long time."
The door opened and they both turned to see Molly and Arthur in the doorway, white-faced with shock. No one moved for a few seconds. Percy gulped nervously and the sound seemed to release his parents from their frozen position. They ran toward him, Molly outstripping Arthur and grabbing Percy in her arms.
Percy felt his head being slammed against his mother's shoulder as she grabbed him in one of her signature too-tight hugs. Her hair tickled his face and he could hear her sobs in his ear. The sound of her sobs seemed to knock something loose in his chest and he began crying too, surprising even himself. He wasn't an emotional person usually.
"Percy, love, what is it?" His mother pulled back a little bit to look him in the face. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
Percy took a deep breath and steadied his sobs. His mother was seated on the bed next to him, his father standing just behind her, and Bill and Charlie at the back of the room looking quite awkward. "I've screwed up everything." He said. "I mucked up everything and there's nothing I can do to fix it."
"Percy—"
"You're also hurting me. You're hugging me too tight."
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." She released him. "Now, what is it you're so upset about?"
"I screwed up everything! I—I ruined the family because I was so excited about my new promotion, I supported Umbridge when she tried to wreck Hogwarts all because I thought Dumbledore didn't care about child safety, I accompanied minister Scrimgeour on an ill-advised mission to wheedle information out of Harry, and I called Dad an idiot to his face! There's nothing I can do to fix this." He sniffled, then looked up at his father. "I'm sorry, Dad."
"Percy." Arthur sat down on the bed next to Molly. "Percy, your actions have spoken a lot louder than your words. You jumped in front of me to save me; you could have died. Look, you've definitely screwed up in the past, but your heart's in the right place. I'm sorry, Percy, it should have been me saving you. What kind of parent doesn't protect their child?"
"A parent whose child called them an ambition-less idiot to their face."
"Water under the bridge." Arthur said firmly. "Look, I think your mum and I owe you an apology too. We shouldn't have lost our tempers."
"Go on." Molly said. "Tell him what you told Audrey."
"Wait, Audrey was here?" Percy turned scarlet. He knew all about the potion you gave putrificus victims, and knew that Audrey had likely seen him convulsing and mumbling nonsense.
"Anyway, I should have tried a little harder to see your point of view, asinine though it was." Arthur continued. "I might have prevented all of this."
Percy shrugged. "Or not. I was such an ass back then."
"You were." Arthur said. "I love you, but you were a bit of an ass. So, you're awake. How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by the Knight Bus."
Arthur nodded. "You got hit by a dark curse. I think you're going to feel bad for a while. Merlin, to think you took a curse like that to protect me . . ."
"I didn't even think about it, really." Percy muttered. "Someone was about to kill my dad. It was the least I could do." An awkward silence fell until Percy doubled over in a coughing fit, his bony frame trembling, until he hacked up green phlegm. "That's new." He muttered drily.
"That's nasty." Charlie muttered.
"You rest up, dear." Molly forcefully shoved him down into his pillows. "Don't over-exert yourself. Now, would you be all right if we brought the rest of the family in later?"
Percy was pretty sure that seeing the rest of his family qualified as over-exertion, but he merely nodded as he sank into the pillows. As he did so, a healer came in.
"He's awake!"
"Yes he is, Healer Perkins." Molly said. "Percy, this is Healer Perkins. She's been your healer this whole time."
"Ah." Percy looked up at her. "I've just been coughing up green phlegm. Is that normal?"
"It is. It's just your body clearing some of the dark magic from your system. You'll still feel pretty awful for a few more days and need to rest up. In fact, I would recommend you sleep some more today, because your body does some of its best healing while you're asleep. The muggles figured that one out; they've done some truly wonderful research about the human body."
"They really have!" Arthur said excitedly. "Did you know that they inject themselves with a completely safe form of dead viruses to strengthen their immune systems?"
Percy shook his head as his father and Healer Perkins chatted about muggle medicine, and soon the hum of their voices was lulling him back to sleep. He still felt like he'd been run over by the Knight Bus, but his heart felt lighter than it had in years.