Summer 1991
Percy Weasley
Percy felt his stomach roll in summersaults of worry and dread. He had never seen Ron look so upset, even the night he had received Charlie's old wand.
It had taken him far too long to cross the great hall and far longer to reach the stairs. He had seen only a glimpse of a robe heading upwards but it was enough for him to follow. He only hoped Ron would know to avoid the third floor.
Ron's sorting was still a mystery to Percy, he had seen ambition behind his brother's eyes but never more than he had seen with Fred or George. So, he ventured to guess that something else had changed about Ron, something that none of them knew. It was like a puzzle in the back of his mind that was so far from being completed but also impossible to stop thinking about. He had seen Ron's new wand and knew it had a snake carved into its surface which might not have been a coincidence. When Ron had asked for his help learning magic, it seemed like something Percy should have thought of. He even wished he had asked the same of Bill or Charlie when he was Ron's age. But now, he wondered if it too was a sign that something was wrong. The doubts in his mind made his heart flutter.
He came to the first landing and looked down the hall. There were a dozen doors and beyond them, another dozen, all of them were here.
He quickly ascended the next flight and came to the next landing where two other corridors intersected. There were doors along the walls but archways too and Percy had no idea if Ron might have gone down one of them. He bit his lip and considered what to do. Ron was a Slytherin and so Percy wasn't sure if his brother even knew the layout of the school beyond the areas with active classrooms. It had only been a day and there hadn't been much time to explore. Percy took his bet and decided to continue upwards.
The third-floor door was locked like it had been since the night before. It sent a small rush of relief through Percy's head and let him take a moment's breath. He had no idea what was behind the door that could result in certain death but was glad that Ron was smart enough to avoid it. It wasn't something he wanted to be caught up in.
I should work out more,he thought. He pushed himself quickly up another set of stairs and then another and another. When he had reached the top he could only frown and wonder where exactly Ron had disappeared. It was odd enough that a Slytherin wanted to ascend into the higher parts of the castle where both Ravenclaws and Gryffindors tended to roam but even stranger that he had taken one of the corridors deeper into the labyrinth of rooms. It left Percy feeling a little shaken and wondering if he had missed something glaringly important.
He had decided to return to the great hall and was near the seventh-floor landing when he accidentally stumbled upon his brother.
"Ron!?" He caught his attention just as he stepped down the stairs.
His brother turned to him, a confused look on his red-beaten face. "Perce?"
He quickly closed the distance between them until he was standing only a few feet away. "You ran out of the great hall and I came to find you."
"Oh, right," Ron frowned. "I didn't want anyone to see me get upset."
"Upset?" Percy asked and he felt worry swirling in his stomach. "Are your housemates being mean to you?"
"No," Ron looked down towards his feet. "I got a letter from home."
Suddenly Percy felt as if he was standing in the kitchen again as his brother told him about his owl. Shame started its way up his body and into his neck and he wondered what his parents could have possibly done now.
"A bad one?" Percy asked softly, but he already knew the answer.
Ron nodded and handed him a piece of crumpled paper. He straightened it as best he could and felt his body tense as he read the could they?They wouldn't?
"I don't know what to say," he said, his mind rushing with thoughts. "You're not evil Ron."
"I'm going to prove her wrong. I'm going to be a Slytherin, and she's going to hate it but I'm going to be good."
"Right," Percy said. "I'm sorry about this, I really am. You don't deserve this and I'm going to write home. I'm going to tell them that it's not okay and that they shouldn't be ashamed. There were Slytherin headmasters, and there are some Slytherins who work in the ministry too."
"You're not ashamed?" Ron asked and Percy felt like he had been hit with a ? For being who you are?
"No," he stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Ron. It was an awkward hug, the only kind he knew how to give, but it was for his brother's sake and not his.
Percy watched as tears filled Ron's eyes and spilt out over his cheeks. Percy flushed red with anger towards his parents. It was one thing for them to play favourites with rewards and hand-me-downs but it was another entirely for them to make his brother feel unwanted. He had promised himself before that he wouldn't live in his parent's shadow and now he was even more convinced that he had to branch out. He would forge a new reputation for the Weasley name and just maybe Ron would too.
"I have to tell you something," he said. It was a secret he held close to his heart, he had never told anyone before. "The hat wanted to place me in a different house."
Ron looked up to him. "Really?"
He nodded. "The hat thought that I would do well in Slytherin, it offered me the choice. I had already made up my mind."
Ron's eyes widened. "You're not lying."
He wished he was, maybe then it wouldn't have eaten so many of his thoughts during first year. He saw a bit of himself in Ron, only that Percy had done a far better job of burying his feelings in school work and accomplishments.
"No, I kept it a secret and didn't tell anyone. I didn't want anyone to know that I was so close to being different. I wanted to be Charlie and Bill so badly that I forced myself to follow them. I thought it was the only way."
"I know how you felt," Ron said. "I didn't want to be a Slytherin and until this letter, I would have done anything to be a Gryffindor… not now."
"Gryffindor's not that great, it has good moments but bad too. Honestly, I know students in every house and none of them are the best, every house hides rule-breakers. There is no winning, Ron. Hogwarts is a stepping stone to a really big world and your time here is entirely what you make it. I'm not a Ravenclaw but I do very well in class, and I know brave Hufflepuffs too. Don't let a letter from Mum or the colour of your tie determine who you are." It was the advice he wished he had gotten when he turned eleven. "Just focus on your school work and get good grades. That way you can do whatever you want when you leave."
"There's something else," Ron looked anxiously at the stairs. "Someone confunded the post and, well, the twins weren't at supper. I think they did this."
A fresh wave of anger marked Percy's skin. There was only one reason that the twins would want the mail to come early, they had to have known about the letter. They wanted to hurt Ron, to punish him for being a Slytherin and it made Percy feel sick. He looked down at the badge that adorned his chest. If that was the game they wanted to play then they were going to .
"I'll deal with them," he said. Ron gave him a questioning look but said nothing and just followed his gaze to the red prefect badge.
"You're going to get them in trouble?" Ron asked. "I don't want them to hate me even more, Perce."
"They don't hate you, they're just idiots who think that all the Slytherins are terrible. I befriended Adrian Pucey last year and George decided to turn his hair orange for an entire week. It's time that someone taught them a lesson, and now I have the power to do that."
It took a few more minutes before Ron finally agreed to Percy's plan. It was rather more childish than he would have liked but he knew that it had to be something they wouldn't expect. If he only told one of the professors about what they had done then they might have known it was him who ratted on them. If he sought revenge instead then there were a countless number of prank victims who wanted a piece of the twins. Even in Gryffindor where they were well-liked, they had earned a reputation among some of the older students as being just a pair of shameless gits. It was only their quidditch performance that stopped someone like Kenneth Towler from throwing a hex.
Percy made sure that Ron was feeling better and walked him down a few more flights of stairs. It would take a long time for his brother to get over what had happened but for the most part he seemed to be handling himself about as well as he could. He had a drive that Percy admired, he was proud that Ron wanted to be better than what his parents expected and Percy knew had been wrong about Ron's sorting. He could still imagine Ron as a Gryffindor but now he had seen what he was missing, and the puzzle in his mind felt complete. Ron was ambitious and he knew his brother was cunning too given that he had almost mastered wizarding chess. He had no idea how the hat always seemed to know where students belonged but he was glad for it, Ron would be a better wizard in Slytherin. Percy knew it would make him stronger and bring him closer to realizing what Percy already had; if they wanted the Weasleys to be anything more than the poor redheaded family then they had to work hard.
Once Percy had made sure Ron went down towards the dungeons, he quickly ascended the stairs again and this time he went directly to Gryffindor Tower.
The common room was nearly empty, a few older students stayed around the fringes and worked on some homework that had already been assigned. Although it wasn't exactly allowed or disallowed, Percy knew that the house elves would make deliveries to the tower if anyone wanted to skip a meal. He had made use of their generosity when he had written his exams last year and even though he was a prefect now he wouldn't stop anyone from doing the same; grades were important after all.
Percy made his way into the boy's dormitories and walked up the stairs until he found the room he was looking for. He peered in first through the keyhole to make sure the room was empty before using his wand to unlock the door. Once inside he went directly to the two matching beds with quilted red blankets.
You want to play with fire? Fine.
Percy waved his wand and both Fed and George's trunks burst open. They had been rigged with traps to stop anyone from getting inside and two blue sparkling blobs splashed against the wall with a quick strike of electricity. Percy was smart enough to stand clear, he knew the twins far too well. The trap made his anger rise a little higher, if anyone had opened either of their trunks accidentally then there might have been a serious injury.
He went to Fred's trunk first and turned all of the clothing pink. It was a simple spell that would be easily undone, but it served more as a warning and he knew the twins would never suspect him. He wanted them to know they were being watched but not by who. For every time they attacked someone this year, Percy promised he would find some way to strike them back. Although, he wouldn't stoop to such childish means again, next time he would get them into real grand trouble. He hoped that the twins would apologize before he was forced to go that far.
Next, Percy turned to George's trunk and shortened the length of each of the robes' arms by a few random inches. It would be far harder to fix but not as noticeable to anyone but the wearer. It was exactly the kind of stupid thing the twins would have done when they were younger before they had developed such a sense of showmanship.
Percy could have done more but he didn't want to take things too far. He considered vanishing their collection of pranking products and ending their antics for a good few months but he knew that it was far too cruel. The twins had spent good money on all of their junk and while he was angry with them for what they had done, he would not yet stoop to their level. Instead, he picked up one of their pillows and stuck it to the centre of the floor with a highly advanced sticking charm. He wondered if they would leave it there for the entire year or convince a professor to help them.
Write a letter about that,he thought.
Percy made his way out of the tower and returned to the great hall. Things were far calmer than they had been, the conversations around the room only reached a dull roar and weren't quite as frantic. Students gossiped about the latest news in the Prophet and Witch Weekly, but none of the specifics caught Percy's ear. He headed straight for the head table where the Professors spoke over goblets of wine.
"Professor Snape, sir?"
The pale man turned to him and frowned. "What is it, Weasley?"
I hope you two like cauldrons.
"I know who confunded the post system."