The week after the final battle had been very surreal for the World of Wizardry. Although there was great joy over finally defeating Voldemort and his Death Eaters, there was tremendous sorrow for all of their losses. Every single day of that week multiple funerals had taken place. Of course, Percy had to go to the funeral of Harry Potter along with his mother and father. Harry was buried on the grounds of Hogwarts in a similar fashion to that of former headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Over several hundred had people showed up to pay their respects to 'The Boy Who Saved Us', the new title he was now being referred to. Percy had also gone to the funeral of Remus Lupin and Tonks. He hadn't known that the two of them had a baby together named Teddy.
Percy watched the infant's grandmother; Andromeda hold him while crying her eyes out the entire time. Percy had to make sure to keep his parents away from this funeral as he didn't want his mother running into Andromeda. Percy arranged for Ron to be quietly buried at a small cemetery. He also got word that Ron's girlfriend Hermione had traveled to Australia to be with her parents.
For her sake, she'd better stay there.
It was on Saturday when Percy received a letter from Penelope. He was embarrassed to admit that he had forgotten all about her because he had been so caught up in everything. She asked Percy to meet her at the park just outside the Ministry building. It was a way to be out in the open of the fresh air and still have a private conversation. Penelope was standing by a giant water fountain as Percy approached her. He looked up at a couple of kids playing a game of Quidditch while another group were playing exploding snap. While Percy's eyes were wandering the surroundings, Penelope's focus was solely on him.
"Hey Penelope." Percy began once he reached her . "Sorry that I haven't written or seen you lately, but-"
"That's close enough, Percy." She sharply stated. Percy stopped coming forward. He then looked down at the wand in Penelope's hand that she was holding down by her thigh. He looked back up at...right into her eyes.
"You don't need that." Percy assured. "I'm not going to hurt you, Penelope."
Penelope could have scoffed at that statement, but she just wanted to get this over with. "I know what you've done."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about." Penelope snapped. "I know because you told me what you were going to do."
However, it meant nothing.
It didn't matter what Penelope knew, it was what she could prove, and she couldn't prove anything. Bill and Charlie's murders were pinned on Fleur Delacour. The explosion at Fred and George's shop was deemed an accident, some kind of experiment of a new product that had gone horribly wrong. It was believed that Ron was killed at the Battle of Hogwarts by a Death Eater and Ginny had been deemed a runaway. Penelope shuttered at the thought of what Percy did with her.
Taking a deep breath, Percy looked up at the sky for a moment before back at his girlfriend.
"Penelope...it's over now. They're all gone. Everything is going to be okay from now on. You and I can-"
"Do you hear yourself?" Penelope cut him off as she could feel herself start to tremble. She couldn't believe that this was really Percy standing in front of her. She then remembered something. "You were in my home. I introduced you to my mom and dad, we threw a party for you, I trusted you with my cousin's kids, we...we built that snowman together." Penelope voice broke after saying that last part. "And you did something like this and just expect us to go back to way things were?"
Percy lowered his head and stared at the ground as Penelope waited impatiently for a response. She wanted to scream at him, shake him, slap him, anything to get him to realize the gravity of the situation.
Finally, Percy met her eyes.
"Penelope...it's still me."
That caused Penelope to cover her mouth as she turned her back to him, tears finally pouring from her eyes. Slowly and carefully, Percy approached her and gently put his hands on either side of Penelope's arms. She roughly pulled away from his touch and spun back around to glare at him.
"Don't touch me." She snapped. "Don't ever try to touch me again."
Percy backed away.
"This...was something...that I had to do, Penelope." He slowly spoke.
"No, no you didn't. " She gaped at him. "Percy, do you even realize what it is that you've done?" Even if his parents were happy, Percy had taken away such precious memories from Arthur and Molly. They were living in a fantasy world where their other children never existed. It was cruel and it was selfish.
"I really don't want to lose you." Percy could only say in response, afraid of where this was heading.
"I won't tell anyone, for your mom and dad's sake." Penelope stated and right then, Percy knew this conversation was over. He knew they were over. "But you know you'll have to answer for it someday. If not in this life, then in the next. And in the next, they'll be waiting for you."
Percy raised his chin. "I don't believe in multiple lives."
Once again, Penelope could only shake her head.
"I'll never understand why you did this."
"I know that." Percy responded. She never could. She was born an only child, she didn't have any brothers or sisters in her life to deal with. "But I understand why I did it. And that's enough."
"I wish you never looked into that mirror." Penelope's eyes refilled with tears. She knew that Percy wasn't always like this, that he had turned into this. The Mirror of Erised had brought out this almost disturbing obsession he had with his parents. She walked closer to him and roughly put something wrapped in tissue paper in Percy's right hand.
"Goodbye, Percy."
He nodded, accepting her decision.
"Goodbye, Penelope."
With that, Penelope turned and walked away from the man who she honestly could have seen herself building a life with. She needed to see him for closure, but also for another reason. Penelope felt so guilty because she remembered that night, she remembered the talk the two of them had.
"I want to be an only child." Percy said.
Gently, Penelope put a hand on Percy's shoulder. She knew about her boyfriend's family problems. She never brought it up as she knew it was a sore subject for him but she didn't know things had gotten this bad. "I'm sorry Percy, but as long you have five brothers and one sister breathing in and out, that's never going to happen."
After taking another shot of vodka; Percy shrugged.
"Well...perhaps it's time they stopped breathing in and out."
Did she plant the idea in Percy's mind?
Penelope had thought that to herself over and over as she continued to walk, forcing herself not to look back at Percy. She knew that she had to stop thinking that way. Penelope had to believe that Percy's fate was sealed the moment he looked into that mirror. After that, no one could save him. Not Penelope, not any of his friends, not his family. He had become sick or evil, or both.
Back at the fountain, Percy looked down at his hand and unwrapped whatever it was Penelope had just given him. He frowned when he saw what it was. Shoving it into his pocket, he began to walk towards the lake that was across from the park. As he did, Percy couldn't help but think about the relationships he had with his younger siblings, how each one slowly dissolved.
When they were little, Percy knew what to do, he knew how to be a big brother. He was responsible, he enforced the rules. He looked out for them, read to them, played with them, comforted them when they were scared. It was once they started getting older that Percy didn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't relate to them like he once did. When he felt the disconnect starting to happen, Percy just doubled down on what had worked when were young, but that only seemed to make things worse.
They just seemed annoyed by him now.
They began to say that he was too uptight, workaholic, pompous, and so on and so forth. It did bother Percy but he didn't know how to tell anyone, so whenever he needed to take his mind off of things, Percy just buried himself further into work.
Bill and Charlie were so much older than Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny, so it was Percy who they looked to when they had some sort of a problem. He liked it at first, but it slowly started becoming exhausting. Of course, no one ever asked. The twins claimed that Percy abandoned them, but they all had abandoned Percy as well. None of them ever really paid much attention to Percy's problems, they just took it for granted that he didn't have any.
'Perfect Prefect Percy' couldn't possibly have a problem, could he?
The Mirror of Erised had awakened these feelings buried deep down inside of Percy. Of how it was possible that you could both love someone and hate them at the same time. Going forward in his life, Percy would have to share his parents with siblings that he no longer cared for, no longer wanted to be around, and no longer had anything in common with. The alternative was to never come home. In doing so, he would lose his mother and father forever. He would have been miserable for the rest of his life because of it, no mattered how much he accomplished at the Ministry.
That's why the mirror showed Percy what it did.
You only have one set of parents in life, and Percy would be damned if he lost them to anyone else. Even his own brothers and sister. Percy took no joy in what he had done, but it was what he had to do.
Once he reached the lake, Percy took a seat on a bench and just gazed at the water. As much as he didn't want it, his thoughts were on Penelope. He reached down, picked up a stone and skipped it into the water, watching the ripples echo out. Picking up another stone, he skipped it out on the water, randomly remembering how he used to do that as a child. It skipped six times.
Percy then reached into his pocket and pulled out what Penelope gave him. He pulled back the tissue paper and frowned when he saw what it was. It was the gift he had given her this Christmas. A gold bracelet emblazoned with a diamond-encrusted 'P.C', her initials.
He remembered her telling him that she had wanted one of these ever since she was a little girl. Penelope was happy to have finally gotten one. That was the moment that Percy was sure that the two of them would be married one day and start a family together. He moved the bracelet around in his fingers for a few moments before skipping it into the lake. However, the bracelet didn't skip. It just sank right away down to the depths below. Right then, Percy felt empty.
Percy wished he could have told Penelope one last thing. He would have said;
'Please remember me as a good guy, remember our good times. Don't remember me as something painful that ended up here. Please.'
