No sooner had George slunk back up the stairs than he ran into Charlie and Ginny, both of whom were staring at him with their arms folded. "What?"

"We need to talk." Ginny said. "You and Dad seem to be in cahoots about this whole Percy thing, and there's something you're not telling Mum."

"Well, yeah . . ."

"And you're probably not telling Mum because she'll blow up about it, whatever it is? And you're lying to her to protect her feelings?"

"Yeah." George muttered. "When did you get so perceptive?"

"I fought in a war." Ginny snapped. "When we were Dumbledore's Army this past school year, we had to learn to read people. It was a survival skill. Now, we need to talk about this."

"Not here." George said. "Not where Mum can hear us." Ginny sighed and dragged George and Charlie into her room and cast a silencing charm. "Wait, you're not seventeen yet, are you?" George said. Her birthday wasn't for two more weeks.

"Like I said, I fought in a war. I have bigger problems than the ministry coming after me. Now, spill."

"Ok." George muttered. "Well, it all started yesterday when Percy and I went for a walk."

Ginny nodded. "Charlie and I call those his granny walks."

"Right. Well, we were talking about stuff. Then he asked me when I was going to reopen the joke shop, and I said I didn't know. He kept pushing, saying it would be good for me, and I snapped. I told him he had no idea what I was going through. That must've struck a nerve, because then he started shouting at me about how Fred was his brother too. I told him to lay off me and stop making me participate in his hare-brained schemes. Then he told me he didn't want me to end up like Dad—"

"I'll kill him!" Ginny said. "That's just what he said three years ago—that he didn't want to end up like Dad, because Dad had no ambition! He hasn't changed at all! Why are we all so worried about him? Let him go if he hates us that much."

"It's ot like that." George said. "He was worried that I was going down the wrong path, becoming an alcoholic like Dad. He was worried I was going to just become a shell of my former self and never go back to work.

"Hmph." Ginny folded her arms, clearly unconvinced.

"No, he had a point." George muttered. "He was concerned for me. He didn't phrase it very kindly, but he was genuinely concerned. And we all know Dad's been struggling lately. After that, I punched him in the face."

"Oh, geez." Charlie said.

"And then—and then—I told I wished he'd died instead of Fred, that we all did." The words were coming out in a rush now and George kept his head down so we wouldn't have to look his siblings in the eye. "Percy asked if that was really true. And then Dad stood up, yelled at us to be quiet, and told Percy—he told Percy that he'd be lying if he didn't think things would be easier if Percy died instead of Fred. After that Percy left. Cussed out Dad on his way out."

"Merlin's beard." Charlie said quietly. "No wonder you didn't want to tell Mum. I mean, Percy and I weren't on speaking terms, but I never would've said that to his face."

"That reminds me," George said, "didn't you tell Percy he was a family punching bag? Or implied it?"

"No." Charlie said. "No, what I told him was that we were taking out our anger on him right now because he's the closest person available to do that to. I asked him to be understanding because we were grieving, and to help keep the peace until the family was more stable. And for the record, I never used the phrase 'family punching bag' with him, he came up with that himself. I never said we were gonna use him as a family punching bag!"

"Well, that's how he felt!" George said.

"It must've been a miscommunication!"

"You know what? He told me yesterday that he didn't have to put up with anybody treating him like crap, even if it was family. No wonder he wasn't on speaking terms with a brother who implied that he was an appropriate person for us to take out our anger on!"

"George—"

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Ginny shouted. She'd been crying silently this whole time, tears streaking down her face. Now she looked up at them, her brown eyes wide and flat. "We . . . we're never gonna come back from this, are we? As a family. We're never going to fix this. Two different people told him things would be better if he was dead. I mean, we can kind of make an excuse for George, but there's no excusing what Dad said. If it were me, I don't think I'd come back."

"No." George muttered. "No, he'll come back. He has to. Don't talk like that, Ginny, please. If we can get ahold of him, apologize, then he'll come back. We won't even have to tell Mum. We just have to find him before Mum starts suspecting that the argument was worse than what we told her."

"And how do you intend to do that, Genius Boy?" Charlie asked. "Go into London and start knocking on doors?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Ginny said. "We'll search the logical places he might be. Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Leaky Cauldron, his old flat. He's bound to be hiding in one of those. We can start looking today."

"We can split up." George said. "I'm not going back to Diagon Alley. It's too soon. I'll take Hogsmeade. One of you can take his old neighborhood, and one of you can take Diagon Alley."

"I'll do Diagon Alley." Charlie said immediately. "Ginny shouldn't go there alone. Too many unsavory types around."

"Excuse me? I am almost seventeen years old, I fought in a fucking war—"

"Shut it!" George snapped. "No, it really would be ideal to have multiple people searching Diagon Alley. That place is massive."

After a beat Charlie asked, "Should we loop Bill in about this?"

George nodded. "That's probably for the best."

"I'll send him a patronus." Charlie said. "How is it that we're down to just three of us making decisions?"

"Fred's gone." George said hollowly. "Percy is who knows where. Ron's still in Australia. Bill's been avoiding the lot of us."

"Can we ask Ron to come home now?" Ginny asked. "It doesn't feel right having him so far away while the family's falling apart."

"His last letter said he and Hermione were still looking." Charlie said. "It's a big country."

"We can't ask him to come home early." George said. "He loves Hermione too much to cut their search short. No, we need to loop Bill back in."

Ginny nodded firmly. "He doesn't get to bury his head in the sand at his cute little beach cottage while we solve all the family's problems. He's always been the ringleader and we'll need his help to find Percy. Should I write to Harry?"

George nodded. "You can. But this isn't his responsibility. He's done enough for our family and he deserves a break. This is our mess and we're going to solve it."

Charlie shot off a patronus to Bill and they slunk downstairs to await his arrival. Their mother was in London already and their father was nowhere to be found, probably having gone somewhere more private to wallow in his guilt.

Bill arrived ten minutes later, looking rather harried. "What is it? This had better be good. I had to ask for a half-day off for whatever this is, and they're not real keen on giving people time off right now!"

The three remaining siblings looked at each other, then at George. "Fine." George muttered. "Percy's missing." He quickly explained the rest of it: the argument, Kingsley's floo call, Molly going to look for him, and the siblings' agreement to search for him.

"Merlin's beard." Bill muttered. "What on earth. Does Mum know?"

Charlie shook his head. "George and Dad keep beating around the bush. We're hoping that if we can find him in the next day or two, then we can sweep all this nasty business under the rug and Mum will never need to know. Come on, Bill, you've seen Mum these days. She'll go to pieces if she finds out."

"Ok." Bill said. "Ok, ok. We'll look for him." He took the list George had hastily written up of search locations and who would go where. "Ok. Ginny, Fleur, and I can start by combing Diagon Alley."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Over the next three days the Weasley siblings fanned out around London. Molly spent a day checking Percy's old neighborhood, then when her efforts were fruitless, sank onto the couch sobbing. George searched Hogsmeade, Bill and Ginny combed The Leaky Cauldron and Dragon Alley, and Charlie went around knocking on doors in Percy's old neighborhood. The neighbors had already been bothered by Molly and did not take kindly to being bothered again about the weird red-haired bloke who used to live on the fourth floor. Some told him to alert the police, but most just slammed the door in his face. On Wednesday evening they reconvened at the Burrow in Ginny's sound-proofed room, forced to admit that their efforts had been fruitless.

"I told you," Ginny muttered, "he's not coming back."

"He has to." George muttered. They'd each been parroting those lines over the last few days with increasing panic.

"Where is he, then?" Ginny snapped. "We've spent three days combing all the places we know! Bill and Fleur and I spent six hours in the Leaky Cauldron yesterday watching people go in and out! You've checked every establishment in Hogsmeade, and poor Charlie's spent three days knocking on doors and getting shouted at by muggles! Where is he?"

"It is quite strange." Bill said. He spoke quietly, but as the oldest sibling his words carried weight. Ginny and George stopped arguing and turned to face him. "The last time Percy walked out on us, we were able to track him down, remember? Mum went up to his flat and he slammed the door in her face. We haven't been able to find him in three days. He doesn't want to be found. This is serious."

"I told you." Ginny muttered. "I told you, I told you. We're never gonna come back from this."

"Would you stop talking like that!" George clamped his hands over his ears. "We need to keep looking!"

"Look yourself, then!" Ginny said. "It's hopeless! There's only so many hours I can spend walking around Knockturn Alley in the heat, trying to ignore all the creepy men catcalling me! If he doesn't want to be found, let him go!"

"No! Ginny, he told me he wanted to make an effort to be better! He has to come back, or we have to drag him back, not sure which it'll be—"

"You told us that Percy doesn't want to be treated like crap anymore, even when the people treating him like crap are his own family! Face it, George, he doesn't want to come back after how you treated him. And if it were me, I don't think I'd ever speak to you again!"

"Ginny!" George looked genuinely hurt.

"Shut UP!" Fleur shouted. She'd been folded into the search party too and had sat cross-legged on the rug in Ginny's room listening to Ginny and George argue. Now, though, the Weasleys all looked at her. "Arguing at a time like zis does not help anyone. Bill, what do you suggest we do?"

"We need to come clean to Mum." Bill said. Their mother, after being unable to find Percy, had spent the last three days in her bedroom crying. She'd cried alone, for Arthur had been too scared to face her and the children had all been out looking for Percy. "We need to get Dad, and he needs to admit to what he said. We thought maybe Percy would come back and this whole thing would blow over, but that's clearly not the case. Mum needs to know what's going on. After that, I think we need to consider filing a missing person report with the ministry." The rest of them gulped.

"So you do think he's coming back?" Ginny said.

"He may not come back without a fight," Bill said, "but we need to fight for him. We need to show him that he matters to us."

"I don't want to file a missing person report." Charlie said.

"I'll make the report." Bill said. "That's what oldest siblings are for. And I'll write to Ron again. But that can wait until tomorrow. We've all been lying to Mum, and we need to come clean now. It's only eight o'clock. We can grab Dad and have him talk to her tonight."

Ginny went to the window, which overlooked their father's work shed. Yellow light spilled from its windows. "He's in there now. We should go and get him."