Ron and Hermione arrived home early on a Tuesday morning, a few days after Kingsley had received Percy's notice.
"Hello?" Ron gently pushed the door open. "Where is everyone?"
"Time difference." Hermione said. "We're still jetlagged. It's only seven in the morning here." Her parents had been brought safely back home and were staying at a hotel until they could figure out new housing. They'd sold their old house when they thought they were Wendell and Monica Wilkins and were not happy with their Wilkins selves for having done that, but they would be all right.
"Would you stop screaming like that, please!" A voice echoed from the couch.
Hermione lit her wand. "Who's there?"
George sat up, his hands in the air. His face looked pale and drawn. "I said stop screaming, please. It hurts my ears. And put out that light!"
"Are you ok?" Hermione asked.
"He's probably hungover." Ron muttered. "George, what's going on? Where's Mum and Dad?"
George looked like he was about to be sick. "Percy quit his job."
"He what?" Hermione sat down on the chair opposite him. "So you have had contact with him! We heard about the missing person report and assumed the worst."
George groaned. "We filed the report last week and Kingsley sent out a whole team of people to search for him. He finally caught up with him on Sunday, and apparently Percy freaked out, said something about quitting his job, and ran away before Kingsley could get a patronus to Mum. Then he sent Kingsley this letter, yesterday, explaining that he was quitting his job and that Kingsley shouldn't contact him again. He also said to quit it with the whole missing person thing because he was an adult knew exactly where he was."
"So he's just gone?" Hermione asked.
George nodded. "Said he didn't want to work a wizard job anymore, apparently. Anyway, Kingsley came over and told Mum and Dad what had happened, and they got into a huge fight. I mean, I've never seen them that angry at each other before. I think Dad slept in his shed last night. I haven't seen either of them since last night."
Hermione sighed and sat down on the couch.
"You got all the patronuses and letters we sent, right?" George asked. "Because I really don't want to have to explain it all again."
"We got them." Hermione said quietly. "You don't have to explain it if you don't want to. I heard everything, I just . . . I can't believe it."
"It's all my fault." George muttered. "I started it all; Dad never would've said that if we hadn't pissed him off. I keep remembering it. Hence why I'm hungover. The alcohol works almost as well as a dreamless sleep potion."
"You and Dad said what we were all thinking." Ron muttered. "We love Fred. Percy sold us all out for a promotion at work, then only came crawling back when things got really, really bad. I think maybe we would, in fact, be better off with you and Fred intact and Percy out of the picture entirely."
In a flash George was on his feet and he slammed Ron against a wall. "Don't say that! Don't you ever say that, do you hear me? I know Percy's done a lot of fucked up things in his life, but he was making a real effort to be better! He took me out on walks when the rest of the family was too scared to even approach me. And for the record, his death would've destroyed the family too. You should see how Mum's been completely beside herself! And don't say we should swap Percy for Fred. None of us should've died! None of us had to die!"
There were pounding footsteps on the stairs and Ginny came in, wearing pajamas with her wand at the ready. "Stop fighting! Stop fighting, or I'll bat-bogey hex you both so hard you won't know which way is up!"
George grimaced, but he let Ron go and stepped away.
"Hello to you too, Ginny." Ron muttered. "Away for a month and all I get is a threat of bat-bogey hexing."
"You can't fight, either of you." Ginny said. "I don't care who upset who. You can't fight like that. You're not kids anymore, and you're threatening to destroy what little family we've got left."
George glared at Ron. "Don't you ever say that again. Saying one brother's life is worth more than another's is how we got into this mess."
"Well shouldn't we just let him go?" Ron asked. "Let's face the facts. We had a horrible row with him and he walked out on us, again. He's quit his job and no one's heard from him in a while. Think about it—he seems like he doesn't want us, and it would save us a lot of heartache."
"Ron, we can't think like that." George said. "Imagine if you were in Dad's shoes, or mine. Imagine that you'd fucked up in the worst way imaginable. You'd want a chance to apologize, so that you don't go insane. Besides, we can't let him go. He's probably throwing himself a giant pity party right now, moaning and crying about how nobody loves him. If we let him go, we confirm that for him. We have to keep looking."
Ron grumbled something under his breath, but he backed away from George. "What was Mum and Dad's fight about?"
"A rehash of their last fight." Ginny said. "Mum went off on Dad again for being cruel, and Dad said he needed to find Percy so that they could have a chance to fix things. Then he said Mum was being too hard on him, and Mum she wasn't being hard enough. Mum went upstairs crying and Dad went to his shed, probably to go get drunk about it."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "Isn't there some statistic about how couples are more likely to divorce if they lose a child? Fred's death was bad enough, and then you throw in this . . ." there was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well thanks for putting that fear in my head." Ginny muttered.
"That's why it's all the more important that we find Percy and iron this all out." George said. "Ginny's right. If we continue fighting amongst ourselves, we're gonna break the family into a bunch of small pieces."
Ginny was staring over George's shoulder out the window. As if in a daze, she walked past him and went to open the window. "Hermes?" She glanced back at the others. "Hermes. That's Percy's owl, right? Hermes?" The others hurried toward the window, crowding in to get a view of the owl gliding down towards them.
"That is Hermes!" George flung the window open wide and Hermes landed on the sill. "Hermes, old boy! What do you have from us?" He grabbed the parcel from Hermes's outstretched foot and ripped it open.
"What's it say?" Ginny asked.
"Let me read it!" George ripped open the letter, leaving the vial of potion wrapped in paper on the counter. "Do not try to find me." he read aloud. "I have taken steps to ensure that any search of yours will be fruitless. In the parcel is what's called an indicator potion. It will be the milky white color for as long as I am alive. When I die, it will turn black." Hermione took the potion and unwrapped it all the way, holding up the white vial for all to see. There was a long silence.
"We're screwed." Ginny muttered.
"No we're not." Hermione said. "I got Harry and Ron through school, cracked Snape's logic puzzle, figured out the basilisk, earned twelve O.W.L.s, and kept Harry and Ron safely hidden while we were on the run from Voldemort. I can probably figure out what he's done. I just need time."
"Percy also has twelve N.E.W.T.s, and you haven't finished school yet." George reminded her.
"No one's better than Hermione!" Ron said. "We found her parents in a huge, desolate country! She'll probably have this figured out by Friday!"
"Thanks, Ron, but you don't need to butter me up." Hermione blushed. "It'll probably take me longer than that. I mean, we can reasonably assume he's using concealment charms. I know of one that obscures your location, so that things like tracking charms or your family's clock can't find him . . . now if he's using things like salvio hexia or fidelius, that's another matter entirely . . ."
"We're still screwed." Ginny muttered. "How do we explain this to Mum and Dad?" The others froze. "How do we explain this?"
"We have Hermione." Ron quavered.
"Hermione's not a miracle-worker." Ginny said. "Sorry, Hermione, no offense. Percy's just told us, straight-up, that he doesn't want us to come find him. How on earth do we explain this to Mum?"
As if on cue, Molly Weasley entered the room. Her face was blotchy and her eyes were swollen, her hair unbrushed. She wore a stained housecoat over her nightgown and was missing a slipper. Still, her face brightened when she saw Ron and Hermione. "Ron! Hermione! I'm so glad you made it back safely." She hugged them both, then stepped back. "Now what do we need to explain to Mum?"
George sighed and held out the letter. Molly took it and skimmed its contents. "How did this get here? Did an owl deliver it?"
"Hermes did." George said.
"Well, where is he? Grab him and maybe we can send a reply!"
George wheeled around, but the owl was gone. "He flew off." He pointed his wand out the window and shouted, "Accio Hermes!" Nothing.
As the summoning charm failed to return results, Molly Weasley sank to the ground sobbing incoherently. They all reached down to ask her what was wrong and try to help her up, and in the end it was Ginny who managed to get through to her. With a few gentle words, she managed to get Molly up the stairs and into bed. She came back down a few minutes later, shaking her head.
"I've never seen Mum like this. It's like she's just—shut down."
"It might be shock." Hermione said. "I don't know. I'm not an expert. But maybe she's just unable to process what happened today."
George nodded. "I'm barely able to process, as is. Last time Percy left, he never explicitly told us not to contact him like that. We tried, of course, and it didn't really solve things, did it?"
"He knows we'll try again." Ginny said. "And I guess he doesn't want it."
"But we have Hermione." Ron said again. "She'll find him. She can do anything."
George nodded. "We have to talk to him again. That'll make things right."
. . . . . . . . . . .
A week after Percy's letter came, Ginny's birthday rolled around. It was safe to say that she was going to celebrate the worst birthday of her life. In the week since Percy's letter had come, the house had completely unraveled. Molly had taken to her bed and rarely came down. She was eating very little and refused to talk to anyone. Arthur, meanwhile, had read Percy's letter and subsequently walked out of the house. No one was making much of an effort to find him, for they had other problems to worry about. Hermione was double-dipping, trying to help her parents readjust while also working on magic spells that could locate him. Ron did his best to support her, helping by tidying up the living room and fetching books and cups of tea for her.
George felt rather guilty for having ruined Ginny's birthday like this. He was certain no one else was going to plan any sort of celebration for her, so he stayed up the night before and baked her a cupcake, no magic. On rare occasions their Mum made food without magic, and he always swore it tasted better that way.
Early in the morning he took the cupcake, swathed in purple frosting, up to her room. George knocked on her door and, hearing no response, gently opened it. Ginny was sitting on her bed gazing at the wall, though her eyes were focused on nothing in particular. She looked up when George came in. "Happy birthday. Seventeen today." He smiled and held out the cupcake.
"Thanks." Ginny took it as George sat down on the bed next to her. "I'm not sure if everyone else forgot, or if they just don't feel like celebrating. Mum already wished me a happy birthday, but no one else has so far. She gave me a pair of earrings, said they used to belong to her mum. I don't normally wear earrings, but I'll make an exception for those."
"I don't think we're in the mood to be celebrating, unfortunately." George said. "When is Harry coming back? Is he going to be back in time for your birthday?"
Ginny nodded. "He's coming back this afternoon. I told him many times to not cut his trip short. He's done enough for the family, and Percy's disappearance isn't something he needs to be involved with. Then he's taking me somewhere nice for my birthday."
They sat in silence for a few moments. Ginny took a few bites of the cupcake, then paused to wipe purple frosting off her face. "I feel like I've lived a thousand lifetimes already. I've fought in a war, ran an underground resistance group, and lost two brothers. And I'm only just now turning seventeen? Technically I shouldn't have been using magic outside of school before today. I'd be dead if I'd followed that rule."
George thought back to his seventeenth birthday. It had been during the Triwizard Tournament. Cedric Diggory wasn't even dead yet. He and Fred had been busy opening betting pools on the outcome of the tournament and signing up first-years to test their products. The world had looked entirely different back then. "Are you excited to be going back to school?"
Ginny shook her head. "I know I should be. But I've been through all of this, and now I'm supposed to just go back to singing the sorting hat songs and practicing my transfiguration?"
"You're not dropping out, are you? I mean, I did and I turned out fine—"
Ginny scoffed. "No, I'm not dropping out. A diploma's a diploma. I'm not Harry; I can't just put 'savior of the wizarding world' on my resume. And as weird as it will be, I think I want that sense of normalcy."
"Ron's not going back. I overheard him telling Mum a few nights ago. I think a year ago she would've had a conniption, but she just silently accepted it. I guess he can put 'best friend of the savior of the wizarding world' on his resume."
"I'll have Hermione." Ginny's face brightened. "She'd rather die than not finish her education. She understands what it was like, too. Godric, I'd be lonely without her."
"And you'll have quidditch."
Ginny's face brightened some more. "That's true. Think McGonagall will make me captain?"
"I don't know anyone else more qualified for the job."
"I'll have to replace so many people." Ginny said. "I started playing seeker when Harry dropped out, but my heart really lies with chaser. I'll need a new seeker. Our keeper last year was shit, so we'll need one of those too, and then a chaser . . ."
"It won't be too terrible being back, will it?" George smirked.
Ginny shook her head. "It'll be weird, but there are worse places to be."
"And if it ever gets too weird, let me know and we'll—I'll—send you a case of decoy detonators and skiving snackboxes."
"What makes you think I can't handle myself at school?"
"I'm kidding!" George laughed. "I'm kidding! You'll be fine." Ginny smiled in response and flung her arms around him.
Author's note: this chapter is definitely not my best work but I had terrible writer's block with it and now it's longer than most of my other chapters.