"I've been thinking of writing Mum. Would you like to help me draft the letter?" Percy asked his younger sister.

Ginny looked up at him in surprise. The question should have been casual, but he was looking at her rather intently, as though he'd asked her something of unusual importance. "Alright," she finally replied and moved her book bag so that her older brother could sit down.

"What would you like to say to her?" Percy asked, and again, the question didn't seem as casual as it should have been.

"Er... Hello, I suppose," Ginny answered.

"Naturally, that's the place to start," Percy agreed, " but would you like me to add anything else? I suppose you've already told her about you classes and such, in your own letters?"

"Of course," Ginny lied. She didn't want to admit that she hadn't written any letters home recently.

"Shall I just tell her that you miss her?" Percy asked.

Ginny shrugged.

"It's perfectly natural to miss Mum, you know. There's no reason to be embarrassed. Everyone gets homesick their first year. I still miss Mum sometimes, myself. I'm sure Fred and George and Ron miss her too. Why, I'd bet even Charlie and Bill miss her, so its certainly alright if you do."

"I know that," Ginny scowled.

...

"Ginny!" Percy caught up with his sister in the corridor, "I was hoping to catch you alone."

"What is it Percy?" Ginny asked, annoyed. She'd gotten lost on the way to History of Magic again. If she told Percy that, he'd probably insist on walking her to all of her classes. The last thing she needed was her stuffed shirt older brother hanging about. Her roommates already wanted nothing to do with her. At least she had Tom.

Percy lowered his voice, "I just wanted to ask if you brought Mr. Snuffles with you to Hogwarts."

Ginny stopped in her tracks and turned beet red, "What!"

"Did you bring Mr. Snuffles to school?" Percy repeated.

"Of course not," Ginny snapped. What kind of baby did Percy think she was?

"Eh... well, I thought you seemed kind of glum. I suppose you miss him?"

"Percy, I haven't played with Mr. Snuffles for three years," Ginny conveniently ignored the fact that she still occasionally slept with the stuffed gryphon. Bill had given it to her as a baby.

"I see," Percy frowned slightly, "if you change your mind, I'm sure Mum would be happy to owl him to you. Or I could ask her to owl him to me if you don't want your dorm mates to know about it.

"No!"

...

"Ah, Ginny, there you are," Percy interrupted his sister as she scribbled in some sort of notebook. "Would you mind coming for a bit of a walk with me? I've been meaning to have a talk with you."

Ginny obediently gathered her things and followed her brother out the portrait hole. She grew more nervous as he continued to lead he down unfamiliar corridors until they came to an empty classroom. Percy closed the door and then opened his mouth, only to close that too, without speaking. He turned red.

Ginny looked at Percy, baffled, as he cleared his throat ant turned even redder.

"I don't suppose you and Mum had any special chats before we left home?" he finally asked.

"Special chats?" Ginny couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him so uncomfortable. Maybe when the twins had treated all of his pants with itching powder.

"Er.. a special girl chat, perhaps," Percy suggested awkwardly. Ginny just waited for him to continue and Percy shuffled his feet before adding, "about what happens to girls as they... mature?"

Ginny's eyes widened with horror as it finally dawned on her what her brother was driving at, "Are you seriously trying to ask me if I'm on the rag? I'm eleven!"

Percy blinked and started babbling, "Is the problem that you're not on the rag? I mean to say are the other girls in your dorm on it already? Do you feel left out? I'm sure you've nothing to worry about. Everyone develops at their own pace and you are only eleven. Plenty of time for that nonsense later. Really, I'm sure you're not missing out on anything. Penny always complains something awful when it's her time."

Ginny didn't wait for him to say anything else. She let out an inarticulate squeal of frustration and stormed off. It did not occur to her until much later to wonder who Penny was and why she would be complaining to Percy about such things.

...

"I'm not on drugs and I've never abused potions," Ginny snapped angrily.

Percy blinked in surprise. He hadn't even said anything yet. He'd still been trying to decide on how to broach the subject. He'd still been trying to decide if he would broach the subject. Honestly, he hadn't even said hello to his sister yet, he'd only just walked up to her.

Ginny scowled at him anyway. "I heard you talking to Penny about me yesterday," she snarled.

Percy felt his heart sink.

"I don't even know what drugs are exactly." Ginny continued, "and the only potions I've ever had were given to me by you or Mum." She paused, "Or snuck to me by the twins as some sort of prank."

Percy opened his mouth. He wasn't sure if he was going to apologize, ask questions, or demand Ginny go to the Hospital Wing for a check-up. He didn't get a chance to decide. Ginny stormed off.

...

Percy waited at the entrance to the girls' dormitory. The cold and flu season had been unusually bad this year. So the head boy and girl had worked out an arrangement with Madam Pompfry. The prefects would bring her lists of which students were ill each morning and collect doses of pepper-up potion to distribute. They only sent the youngest students directly to her if their symptoms were unusual, severe, or persisted more than a few days.

The female Gryffindor prefects took turns and divided the task evenly. The seventh year male prefect assigned the entire task to Percy with a quip about how many younger siblings he'd probably already nursed through colds. Percy was torn between being proud that he was the only one trusted with the younger students' health and anger at the suspicion that he was really being saddled with a task no one else wanted. In the end, he agreed because it allowed him to implement his new plan.

Percy smiled and thanked Alicia for the list of six ill Gryffindor girls. Then he strode off to the hospital wing. There was no sense in them both going. He could bring all the doses back and Alicia could distribute the girls'. As soon as Percy was in an empty stretch of corridor, he paused. He glanced over his shoulder. Then he added Ginny's name to Alicia's list, doing his best to mimic her handwriting, before continuing to the hospital wing at a rapid pace.

Percy returned to Gryffindor tower with fourteen doses of pepper-up potion. He handed off six of them to Alicia, before starting to distribute the boys'. He handed the second-to-last to his roommate Oliver and, after a moments hesitation, went in search of Ginny.

Ginny's hatred of pepper-up potion was legendary in the Weasley household. The screaming fits she'd thrown whenever Molly tried to force some on her had been enough to drive the attic ghoul into hiding, and would have been enough to convince an average mother that if she was well enough to scream that loudly, she was well enough not to need the potion.

Percy cornered Ginny, vial in hand. It was time to take the direct approach. Ginny looked form the vial back to Percy.

"I'm not sick," she insisted.

"You look unwell. You're pale. You haven't been eating. You spend most of your time in your bed and you've been entirely too quiet lately."

"I'm not sick," Ginny repeated.

"Then tell me what's wrong. Tell me why you aren't yourself."

"Nothing's wrong," Ginny scowled, "and maybe I've always been like this and you just don't remember because the only time your home is in the summer and you shut yourself up in your room."

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose as he fought the urge to start yelling. He spoke slowly, quietly, and calmly, "I know you well enough to know that this isn't you. You have changed since coming to school. At first I thought you were just homesick or maybe a bit overwhelmed with how large and confusing Hogwarts can be, but things haven't gotten any better. In fact, I think they've gotten worse. I don't know what's wrong but I know that something's wrong. Ginny, I need you to tell me what it is."

"Nothing's wrong and I'm not sick," Ginny glared up at Percy stubbornly.

Percy could feel his frustration getting the better of him. His voice raised against his will, "You have two options here. Either you are sick, in which case you will drink this pepper-up, or something is wrong and you will tell me what it is."

Percy's eye's widened in astonishment when, quick as a flash, Ginny snatched the potion from him. She downed it and ran off with smoke pouring from her ears. Percy looked around the room at all of the faces staring at him. He flushed and exited through the portrait hole with as much dignity as he could muster.

Once he was alone, he slumped against a stone wall. Ginny hadn't shouted back at him. She hadn't called him every nasty name ever uttered by the twins. She hadn't hexed him or thrown the potion in his face. She'd actually taken the potion with nary a word of complaint and run off. What was wrong with his sister?

...

Ginny allowed Percy to cast a warming charm on her and then watched as he started to unpack the picnic lunch he'd put together. This was not what she'd expected when her brother asked her to have lunch with him. He was trying to act casual. Percy was not a very good actor. She was obviously about to be subjected to another one of his inquisitions. The fact that it was so cold out that they were the only two out by the lake did nothing to dissuade her from that conclusion.

Ginny was torn between wishing he'd leave her alone and wishing she could just tell him the truth so that he could fix everything. Then she thought of Penny in the hospital wing and realized she could never tell Percy, not now.

Percy cast a couple of cushioning charms and gestured for her to sit down. Ginny sat, but did her best to avoid looking at her older brother as he handed her a plate. She filled it to keep her hands busy. She wasn't hungry, not when she was certain her brother would see the guilt emanating from her any minute, and not when she thought of how devastated Percy had been when he found out about Penelope.

"Rather lovely to get a bit of fresh air, isn't it?" Percy asked with forced cheer.

Ginny bit her lip. Percy had never shown an interest in fresh air before, and really, he oughtn't be out here. He caught cold too easily.

"How are your classes going?" Percy tried again.

"Alright," Ginny answered. They weren't though. She was doing terribly in all of her classes. She was fairly sure she might even fail them. It wouldn't do to tell Percy that though. He'd insist on helping her study and right now she didn't think she could bear that. Worse still, he'd keep a sharper eye on her and then what would happen?

Percy was clearly not very comfortable with the silence because he began babbling, when she failed to elaborate. He talked about his own classes and what he remembered of his first year classes. Ginny tuned him out. She was certain his first year had been nothing like hers. He'd never get into the sort of trouble she was in. She wished he'd just get to the point so that she could go back inside to the girls' dorm. At least she didn't have to worry about her brothers bothering her there.

After what seemed like an eternity, Percy's babble stuttered to a stop. Ginny looked at her plate, only to realize that she'd actually eaten everything on it. It was true that the lunch had consisted entirely of her favorite foods, but she hadn't even tasted it.

"I heard that Lockhart kept you after class the other day," Percy stated as he fiddled with his fork. Ginny observed that his plate looked as though he'd been playing with his food, rather than eating it. Then what he'd said registered and she felt a shiver of panic. He knew about her grades. She was in so much trouble.

"What did he keep you after class for?" Percy persisted.

Ginny looked at him oddly. Percy was now the one looking at his plate and avoiding eye contact. In fact, Ginny was now certain that Percy hadn't eaten a single bite and Ginny knew how he felt about wasting food. What was going on? This couldn't be about her grades. Percy was behaving too strangely. Where was the lecture? Where were the color-coded study charts? Why had he fixed her lunch? None of his other inquisitions had been this elaborate.

"Ginny?" Percy prompted as he caught her gaze. She realized she really ought to say something.

"Er... he just wanted to talk to me about my exam results," Ginny replied. She was taken aback by the trepidation in her brother's eyes, as he continued to look at her.

Much to Ginny's surprise, Percy didn't show any interest in her exam results. Instead he peered intently at her through his spectacles and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure?" Ginny repeated dumbly, "am I sure about what?"

"Are you sure that's all he kept you after class for?" Percy asked.

""Yes, I'm sure," Ginny answered, "what else would he keep me after class for?"

Percy's eyes returned to his plate where his food was rapidly becoming unrecognizable as such due to the attentions of his fork. "What I mean to say... That is... Er... Well, he didn't do anything inappropriate did he?"

"Inappropriate?" Ginny was baffled. What could a professor possibly do that Percy would construe as 'inappropriate'?

"He didn't touch you, did he?" Percy asked and Ginny saw a faint blush cross his face. He seemed every bit as uncomfortable as he had been when he'd asked her if she had 'girl problems.'

"No, he didn't touch me," Ginny replied. She still didn't understand why Percy was behaving so oddly. Professor Lockhart stood way up in front of the class and she sat in the back and never volunteered for any of his demonstrations. It wasn't very likely that they'd be bumping into one another was it? And why would Percy care if they had?

"So you haven't had any problems with him?" Percy asked.

"No," Ginny was starting to doubt Percy's sanity. If all he wanted to know was whether or not she liked her teachers, than why was he so uncomfortable? It was different than before too. Percy was uncomfortable, but he didn't seem as embarrassed as before. He seemed sad. Why was he sad?

"Have you had problems with any of your other teachers?" Percy continued with the interrogation.

"No," Ginny answered honestly. Her teachers weren't the problem.

Percy looked up at her again, "Are you sure? You could tell me, you know. If you're having a problem with one of them, I mean. I promise I'd believe you."

"I don't have any problems with my teachers," Ginny insisted firmly.

Percy frowned, " What about Mr. Filch or Mr. Hagrid? Have they done anything to upset you?"

"No," Ginny stated simply.

"What about the headmaster?" Percy persisted.

Ginny, shocked that Percy would suggest that the headmaster was fallible, spluttered, "I haven't even met him!" Then she added for good measure, "Or Mr. Hagrid, or Mr. Filch."

Percy looked down at his plate and fiddled with his food again for a while before looking back up at her. "What about the boys at school?" he asked.

"Which boys?" Ginny replied.

"Any of the boys," Percy gestured vaguely with his fork. "Have any of the boys at school bothered you? Have they teased you or crowded you? Maybe asked you to do things you didn't want to do? Have any of them said or done anything that made you uncomfortable or confused?"

"Percy," Ginny stated in exasperation, "the only one confusing me is you."

Percy sighed and set his plate down. He cleared it with a wave of his wand and then renewed the warming charm he'd cast on Ginny earlier.

"Never mind," he stated as he packed everything back up. "Just promise me... just promise me that if someone's hurting you or you need help of any sort you'll tell me."

Percy stood and offered his little sister a hand. Ginny did the only thing she could think of. She took it, let him pull her to her feet, and they wrapped her arms around his middle.

"I promise." She squeezed him a little extra since she didn't mean it. She would never tell him about Tom and the diary.

Percy didn't look like he believed her, but he tugged her towards the castle, "Come on. We're already 40 minutes late for class."

...

Ginny was possessed by an evil diary. Percy only has second and third hand accounts, portions of accounts really, and he finds himself utterly bewildered. Ginny was possessed by an evil diary. It sounds preposterous, like something out of a bad ghost story.

Ginny was possessed by an evil diary. "Really, she was," the twins had maintained when Percy had firmly (desperately) insisted that the situation was nothing to joke about. They weren't joking. Percy hadn't really thought they were. Percy knew the twins better than anyone (although all three would deny it). He could tell when they were serious.

Ginny had been possessed by an evil diary, and now she wasn't talking. She wasn't talking about what happened at any rate, not to any of them. She wasn't talking to Percy at all.

There was no formal explanation for what happened. There was just, "Your sister's been kidnapped by the Heir of Slytherin," followed far too quickly by his youngest brother disappearing as well. Then suddenly, miraculously, they're both back. They're alive and more or less well.

Percy would really like to know what happened to his baby sister. Ron knows. Ron is talking, not to Percy of course, but Ron is talking. Percy tried to ask Ron what happened, but Ron just sneered at him about spending to much time on his prefect duties and never noticing anything important. So the twins are really Percy's only source of information.

The twins, however, can only tell Percy what Ron's told them, and Ron can be... unreliable... as a storyteller. It's not that he'd lie, but he is occasionally prone to exaggeration. And occasionally he gets facts muddled, or explains things poorly. He tends to leave things out or add bits that seem utterly unrelated to the topic. He describes things out of sequence, going back and forth in the timeline to add things he's only just remembered are important. He omits thing to keep himself and his friends out of trouble. The end result is that sometimes his stories don't make much sense.

So the version Percy gets from the twins may or may not approximate the truth. Although, he is certain its as accurate as his brothers can manage. This is why, when Percy finds the twins huddled outside their parents' door eavesdropping on their first night back in the Burro, he doesn't chase them away. Instead he casts a spell on the door to make it easier to hear them, makes a quiet gesture to let the twins know the sound amplification works both ways, and joins them.