Thick and dark stratocumulus clouds formed overhead; the booming of thunder violently shook the structure down below, accompanied by the crackling of lightning that blitzed throughout the sky. Perched on the crown of the hill of a nearby graveyard, a giant mausoleum loomed, offending and imposing from a distance. It was a structure that would decide one of two fates or possibly even doom the both of them. Inside of it, Percy Weasley stood no more than ten feet away from Hermione Granger. The two of them had their eyes locked on one another while their fingers inched closer and closer to their wands. It seemed as if they both were waiting for the other to make the first move.

The mausoleum was about to become their own personal arena, and the souls of the dead would be the spectators.

When lightning struck again, it was horrendously closer with a mighty crash of thunder, the duel began. Percy snatched his wand from his right pocket and fired a curse at the last of the golden trio. Hermione dodged and pulled out her own wand just as a flash of green light narrowly missed her head. It was at that moment did Hermione fully understand what kind of duel this was going to be, whether she wanted it this way for not. This was going to be a fight to the death.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted back.

"Protego!" Percy casted, dodging the disarming spell.

"Stupefy!"

Percy evaded, then shot a stunning spell of his own that Hermione blocked.

"Inconscientus!" Percy casted but was deflected once more.

"Langlock!"

"Imperio!" Percy stumbled forward as he had tripped on his own feet, giving Hermione a brief opening of attack. "Obscuro!" Hermione shouted. Percy was suddenly blinded which caused him to start yelling and swearing in such a way, that under drastically different times, Percy's younger brothers would have been proud of. Focusing on his other senses, Percy bellowed out;

"Crucio!"

A smirk appeared on Percy's face as the high pitch screams of his opponent was then heard as she collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain for a few moments. "You won't win this, Hermione! I have come too far to let that happen!" Percy snarled. He then took off the unforgiveable curse in order to disassemble the spell that was blinding him.

"It was you!" Hermione screamed back, as she struggled to get back up to her feet. Luckily, she had felt the full force of the torture curse for only a brief few moments. "You did this! You killed all of them, didn't you!?"

Percy didn't even bother denying it.

"If it's any consolation, you're about to be reunited." His voice lacked any and all emotion.

"How could you do this!?" She demanded. "To your family!? To your parents!?"

"I don't owe you an explanation." Percy snapped before sending another curse her way. "I don't owe anyone a damn thing."

"Locomotor Mortis!" Hermione yelled as he tried to get closer to her.

"Levicorpus!"

Again, the next series of spells were blocked as the two seemed to be evenly matched in the knowledge of spells. Percy quickly sent out two more stunners in quick succession. The second stunner broke through Hermione's shield and pushed her back a little. Hermione managed to move out of the way, but she was losing energy, and fast. It had been months since she had used magic like this, and she was all alone now, while Percy seemed to be driven by an unrelenting force. Hermione ducked behind a corner as she concentrated on slow, deep breathing for a minute before reengaging the fight.

Back and forth, Percy and Hermione continued firing and blocking multiple different spells. Each deflected spell that bounced off the walls caused the interior to crack, the inside of the building becoming a complete mess. The floor was littered with bits and pieces of hard granite and orichalcum.

She pointed her wand at Percy.

"Reducto!" Hermione screamed.

After Percy blocked the spell, he shot back with;"Confringo!"

Throwing herself out of the way, Hermione pointed her wand at him and yelled; "Petrificus Totalus!"

Percy deflected the spell and cursed out;

"Tri Oplo!"

Hermione gasped as three yellow orbs were sent out of Percy's wand and came straight at her. She ducked and fell to the floor just as the orbs quickly zoomed past her head and she quickly put up a shield. Hermione scooted backwards until her back was up against the wall. The orbs continued to batter her shield which was slowly beginning to shatter.

Her quest to bring justice for the Weasley's was beginning to slip away...

XXXXXXX

Six Weeks Earlier...

The one good thing about going three to four days with no sleep is when the body finally decides that sleep was no longer optional, it's mandatory. After coming home from busy day at the Ministry that Friday night, Percy collapsed in his bed. He slept through the whole night, waking up feeling truly rested and refreshed. He turned his head and smiled at his owl Hermes, who was sitting on his desk watching him. Percy got up and through his robe on, shoved his feet into a pair of slippers and gave the top of Hermes' head a stroke before heading down the stairs, greeted to the aroma of breakfast being cooked.

Each day was an adjustment to the way things were now, to the way Percy had made it. Everything was going so well at home, and at work. Life was easier...simpler...better.

Then that damn doorbell rang.

He walked into the kitchen and greeted his mother good morning. Molly had just placed a couple of strips of bacon in the frying pan. "I wonder who that could be at this early hour?" She asked. Molly walked to the screen door to find an official looking man standing outside. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, ma'am. My name is David Lyons. I'm a private investigator working for the Delacour family." Upon hearing that, Percy froze. "Mrs. Weasley, I would like to ask you some questions if I could, about your son, Bill."

"I'm sorry, you must be mistaken." Molly shook her head, looking confused. "My son's name is Percy."

Now it was time for the investigator to look confused. Just then, Percy made the heat on the stove much hotter than need be.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm aware you also have a son named Percy." He spoke slower. "I'm talking about your son Bill. Your oldest one who was at St. Mungos when he di-"

"Mother, the bacon is burning!" Percy exclaimed as he quickly rushed over.

"Oh, oh my!" Molly shouted as she rushed to put the fire out.

"Excuse me, I can take it from here." Percy said to the investigator as he stepped out from the screen door. "What can I do for you?"

"It's about your older brother, Bill."

Percy turned his head to look back at his mother who was putting out the fire on the burning pan.

"Why don't we take a walk?" He suggested.

"Is she alright?" David asked. "She didn't seem to know who I was talking about."

"She takes a lot of calming droughts." Percy explained as the two of them began walking, Percy leading the investigator away from the Burrow. "I think she may be getting hooked on them."

"I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm truly sorry for your losses. I can't imagine what you and your parents must be going through."

"We're not going through anything." Percy wanted to snap back but held his tongue and simply nodded.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be. You see, the Delacour family has hired me to reexamine the case of their daughter's death. They simply don't believe that Fleur murdered your two older brothers, then committed suicide."

"I'm sure it's a difficult thing for them to have to accept, but I'm afraid the evidence against Fleur Delacour was overwhelming."

"On its face, that seems to be the case. However, Fleur could not have been the one who murdered Charlie Weasley."

"And why is that?" Percy asked before looking behind him. The Burrow was starting to become a good distance away.

"Because on the night of Charlie's death, she with her parents. Her and Bill both were at the Delacour residence eating dinner. The two of them also stayed overnight." The investigator informed him.

"I see." Percy slowly responded. It had never even occurred to him that Fleur might have an alibi for Charlie's death. "That's only if you believe her parents are telling the truth."

"Why would they lie about such a thing?"

"What parent would want to admit that their child is a murderer?"

The investigator didn't respond as he pulled out a little notebook from his pocket.

"I see that on that date you had taken a sick day. Officials at the Ministry found it peculiar as you had never taken a day off before."

Cocking his head, Percy narrowed his eyes at the older man.

"Just what are you getting at? Am I a suspect? Are you accusing me of something?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just trying to gather all the facts." David assured. "Out of respect, I have been putting off talking to you and your mother, but I'm afraid I cannot any longer. Do you recall your whereabouts?"

In silence, the pair walked towards a large pond that was less than a mile away from the Burrow. "I had too much to drink." Percy finally admitted. That part was true. "I just stayed home all day and slept it off."

"I see." David responded and began writing something down as Percy continued watching him.

"Have you talked to my father?" He asked. Percy then took out his wand and carefully held it against his side, out of view.

"No. Not yet. I was going to get a statement from him afterwards. Is he at work-"

"Do you see that?" Percy then suddenly asked, pointing at the raft the rested on the water, tied to the makeshift dock, throwing off the investigators question. "We made it the summer before my youngest brother Ron's first year at Hogwarts." It was the five of them. Him, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny helped when she could. It was the last thing the five of them ever did together. It seemed like that had happened in an entirely different life. "Little things like this are what I remember now."

"It's the little things that mean a lot." David shrugged. "It's the little things that are important. It's the little things...that can get you caught."

Quickly spinning on his heels, Percy pointed his wand at the investigator.

"Imperio!"

David was frozen after being hit with the of the most powerful dark curses on the planet. Percy then conjured a knife and placed it in the older man's free hand. "Slit your throat." Percy demanded, whispering into the investigator's mind. David's arm shook with tremors, as if he was trying to fight off the order. "Slit your throat. Now!" Percy commanded again.

In a rapid motion, David used the knife to slash his jugular. Blood poured all his over expensive suit and spilled onto the ground below before the investigator collapsed in a heap. Being careful not to get any blood on him, Percy leaned down and snatched the notebook out of David's other hand. Thinking quickly, Percy ran over to his father's shed and grabbed the wheelbarrow, rushing back over to dump David's body into. Percy grunted as he loaded him in, he was heavier than he looked. He grabbed the knife and threw it in there with him before pushing back over and into the shed, out of view.

Once his breathing steadied, Percy headed back to the Burrow. Walking in, Percy saw his mother setting the table and she smiled once she saw him.

"It's just about ready. Is that man gone, Percy?" She asked.

"Yes."

"What on earth was he talking about? Your father and I having another son...Bill, did he say it was?"

"Don't worry about him, mother." Percy shook his head. "I think that man was high."

Molly's eyebrows raised.

"High?"

Percy nodded.

"Very unprofessional. Excuse me for a moment." Percy then ran up the stairs to his room. Pulling open his dresser drawer, he snatched out the invisibility cloak that he had paid a small, obscene fortune for. He then quickly changed his clothes before rushing back down the stairs, getting ready to head out the door.

"Percy?" His mother's voice stopped him in his tracks. "Breakfast is ready. Where are you running off to?"

"I had something I needed to do at work."

"It's your day off. You haven't even eaten yet."

His gaze then traveled to the plethora of food that his mother had cooked. It was far too much, but it was all for him and that caused Percy to smile. There was no way he would deny her. He took a seat at the table and placed some scrambled eggs on his plate, along with some sausage and toast.

"You're just determined to fatten me up, aren't you?" He asked.

"Guilty as charged." Molly laughed. "You're far too thin for a man your height."

She took poured him a glass of orange juice before taking a seat across from him. As the two began to eat, Percy took the investigator's notebook out and began skimming the pages, coming across two different names. Apolline Delacour, Monsieur Delacour. What kind of names were these?

"This thing you need to do, it's nothing serious, is it?" Molly asked.

Percy then flipped to a page that had the name Gabrielle Delacour with the word 'sister' in parentheses next to it.

"A little." Percy admitted as he took a sip of juice. At the moment his thoughts were completely on the Delacour family. They were not going to stop asking questions, and the death of their investigator was only going to make them even more suspicious. "I just have a few loose ends that I need to take care of."