“Remus said he might stop by,” Mrs. Weasley’s voice was heard to say as she approached the door. Susan thought her hand might fall off. The door opened.
“Percy?” Susan could see Mrs. Weasley’s lips form the words, but no sound came out. Through the open door, she could hear Harry saying, “So that’s one step closer to defeating Voldemort. It’s the best Christmas present I can think of.”
“Molly? What’s wrong?” Mr. Weasley came to the door, where his wife was standing stock still, staring at her son. He saw who was on the doorstep and his jaw dropped. “Percy!”
The room beyond hushed instantly. Susan was embarrassed because, unlike his wife, Mr. Weasley seemed more interested in her than in Percy. “Can we come in?” she said shyly.
“Oh! Oh, yes, please do come in!” Mrs. Weasley snapped out of her shock. “Everyone, Percy’s come home again!”
Susan hadn’t expected cheers, but the stony silence made her very uncomfortable. Everyone was staring at her to avoid looking at her companion.
“Is that Susan Bones?” she heard Ron mutter to Hermione, whose hair was much shorter than Susan remembered and rather looked as if it had been singed.
“Mother, I’d like you to meet Susan Bones,” Percy said belatedly. “I made her come with me.”
Susan blushed as everyone’s attention on her sharpened. Stop being so stiff! she wanted to shout. She resorted to quick flick of the hand he held. Percy glanced at her and she made an expressive face at him.
“I, er, made her come with me because I have something important to say,” he said, making an effort to look at all of his family members in the eye. He really did have a lot of brothers, Susan noted, and none of them were looking very friendly.
“Well, say it,” said one of the twins roughly. “We were having a bit of a celebration before you decided to barge in.”
Susan hadn’t thought she could blush more, but she felt heat flooding her face. “Maybe we should’ve waited until tomorrow,” she whispered to Percy.
“You’re not engaged, are you?” Mrs. Weasley said in a very shocked tone.
“No!” Percy said, and let go of Susan’s hand. She rubbed it “ it was white and bloodless. “I wanted to apologize!” he blurted. “I was wrong, I’ve been wrong, and I need to make it right.”
There was another silence, but this one was less unfriendly. Then Mrs. Weasley rushed at Percy with a sob and everyone surged up toward them. Percy was caught in several conversations at once, and Susan was happy to stand by and watch as he hugged his brothers where he would have preferred to shake their hands, trying to reply to all of them at once.
“You know, with all the pain you put your mother through, you’ll have to do a lot of penance. All sorts of cleaning, scrubbing, dusting, cooking “ without magic, of course.”
“How do we know you’re really back this time? Remember last Christmas...”
“I’ve half a mind to scar you to look like me.” (“Bill!” Fleur said disapprovingly.)
“I always hoped you’d come back sometime, son, and this is as good a time as any.”
“Is that all the apology we get? I was looking forward to some groveling.”
“Susan, did you make him come?” This from Ginny, who had sidled up to her unnoticed. “I know he said he made you come, but I can’t help but wonder if it was the other way around.”
“Um, I helped a little,” Susan said. “He was ready, he just needed a little convincing.”
Hermione came up to the two of them, gesturing for Ginny to go talk to Harry, who was hanging back from the crush of Weasleys. “How do you even know Percy, Susan?” she asked. “He’s a bit older than you and I wouldn’t have expected to see you two together.” She narrowed her eyes.
“Well, we met at the Ministry,” Susan said. “He wanted my help on something “ you can probably guess what, knowing him.”
“Inside information,” Hermione said, nodding. “What else?”
“After it became clear that I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted, we gained in mutual understanding, and...” Susan blushed. She thought the fact that Percy had been holding her hand was fairly explanatory of the way their relationship was heading.
“Right,” Hermione said, satisfied. She grabbed Ron, who was still reminding everyone what happened last Christmas, and dragged him away to discuss with him why he should accept Percy back a little less grudgingly.
Finally the crowd around Percy lessened and he approached Susan, happy in a way she’d never seen him.
“Look at you,” she said admiringly. “You did it. Although apparently there’s still a lot of work to do, if I heard Charlie correctly. What with all the scrubbing, dusting, and cleaning as penance.”
“I deserve it,” he said frankly, sliding his arm around her. “Come on, I’d like you to meet my family.”
Before they could do anything more, though, Mrs. Weasley began with a loud voice, “A few minutes ago, Harry was talking about defeating Voldemort, and how that’s the best Christmas present. I’d have to disagree.” She smiled, teary-eyed, at Percy, who smiled back with eyes that also glistened. “I’d have to say that having all seven of my children together again has to be the best Christmas present anyone could ever give me.”
“Hear, hear,” said Mr. Weasley, and all the Weasleys clapped “ a little less enthusisastically than they might have, to be sure, but they still clapped.
Susan felt her own eyes begin to water. This was so much better than she could have imagined it and she was so glad to be a part of it.
“Come along, ally,” Percy said suddenly, pulling her toward the door.
“I thought I was going to meet your family,” Susan said hesitantly.
“That can wait for a few minutes. I want to have a little talk with you.”
“What about?”
“Oh, perception of color and the meaning of life,” Percy said airily, leading her into the garden and looking back to make sure they were well away from the house. “Actually, I wanted to get you away from my family so I could do this.”
He kissed her.
When he finally pulled away “ Susan wasn’t sure she ever wanted it to end “ he smirked.
“You didn’t think you’d get out of this evening without that, did you?” he said, twirling a strand of her hair.
“Well, I don’t mind,” Susan said. “Except for when you’re trying to use it as a distraction.”
“Clearly, I can’t fool you,” Percy said heavily, as if the thought made him depressed.
“Nope, you really can’t,” Susan said. “Can I come meet your family now?”
“They can wait a few more minutes,” Percy replied, leaning forward again. This time, Susan didn’t complain that he was stalling.