Percy Weasley was known for his purposeful stride. He was, after all, a purposeful young man with a fine job at the Ministry of Magic, one who had fixed his gaze firmly upon his own future and made his own way to get there, even when this included turning away from his own family. At one time, their odd behavior had threatened his goals.
A man finds himself lonely in time, though. A man finds himself thinking longingly of the brothers he was raised with, wishing they were there to approve of his success. A man finds himself missing his sister, and wishing he was there protect and advise her. A man finds himself wishing he had not estranged himself from his parents as he pauses between two choices in life.
That day, Percy Weasley’s purposeful stride did not take him down the corridors of the Ministry of Magic. It took him down the overly-white hallways of St. Mungo’s, to the ward where the badly-injured, yet lucid, Harry Potter lay unable to speak, but very able to think.
“Excuse me, sir, but only family and close friends...” a Trainee Healer called out as Percy spotted the door with the name “Potter, H.” beside it.
“I’m one of the Weasleys,” Percy said quietly. “And I have a feeling Harry will want to talk to me today.”
“I’ve never seen you here before...”
“No, you haven’t.” Percy made sure his voice was loud enough to carry, made sure he faced Harry’s door. “But I think Harry will want to talk to me today, of all days, because...” Percy faltered to a halt. He could not just blurt this out before a stranger. What he had to say, he had to say first to Harry.
The Trainee Healer, looking doubtful, disappeared into Harry’s room, but he came back out within seconds, clearly puzzled. “All right, then. He seems to want to see you.”
Percy entered Harry Potter’s hospital room knowing every eye from the healer’s desks on that ward followed his progress. And he also knew that the healers out there in the station would try to listen in, so they could know what this maverick Weasley wanted to say to Harry Potter, whom he had not spoken directly to for years.
But Percy had grown up with Fred and George, and he had learned a few tricks of his own. He’d had to. He cast a quick Imperturbable Charm to keep anyone from hearing what he would say to Harry. He felt the silence fall around him and the young man lying on the bed before him.
“Harry,” Percy said seriously, “I’m not going to waste any time with niceties. I have been disagreeable to you and your friends, but you must believe me when I tell you this.” Percy went to Harry’s bedside and looked directly into the war hero’s green eyes. “This morning, there was an article in the Daily Prophet. I don’t know if you heard anything about it, but...”
Something in Harry’s eyes bespoke of knowledge of the article, and Percy plunged on. “I care about her as much as if she were my sister, and I know what Ron...” But here Percy’s courage failed him. If Harry did not know what Ron had done in the past, did not realize what Ron was still doing, Harry would not support him in what he had to do.
But Harry’s green eyes never left Percy’s face.
“All right. I assume one blink is yes, and two blinks are no.” Percy took a shaky breath. “Do you know what Ron did when he was still at Hogwarts? This would be while he was going with Lavender Brown.”
Harry blinked yes.
“And do you know what he... no, I’m saying this wrong.” Percy felt his stomach and his shoulders tighten. “Harry, are you a Legilimens?”
Again, Harry blinked yes.
“And did you catch any of what Ron has done since he’s been an Auror...” Percy floundered for words to describe what he knew. “Because when Ron was in France...”
Harry stared hard at Percy, then blinked a slow yes.
Percy nodded. “Have you been able to talk to her?” he asked. “Alone? Without Ron?” There was no need to identify the “her.” Harry knew.
Harry stare hard at Percy before giving two distinct blinks.
“Ron was with her every time?”
Harry blinked an emphatic yes.
Percy took a trembling breath. “Harry, I went to Thailand on Ministry business, and while I was there...”
Harry’s very green eyes bored straight into Percy, and quite suddenly, Percy was there again, on that squalid street, staring at the garishly-painted orange and gold door, and watching the door open of its own accord. Percy heard his own gasp of dismay.
Then Percy was back in the hospital room at St. Mungo’s, clinging to the rail on Harry’s bed, tears streaming down his face. Yes, Harry was indeed a Legilimens, and a powerful, skilled one at that.
“Harry, I wanted to talk to you before I went. I’m not invited.” Percy determinedly wiped his tears away. “They’d bar me outright if they knew I was coming, and they’d throw me out if they knew what I intend to do. But do you understand why I have to speak out?”
Harry blinked yet another slow, emphatic yes.
“All right. I’m going. No doubt you’ll hear of this.” Percy squared his shoulders, smiled bitterly at the immobilized man on the bed, and waved his wand to lift the silencing charm. Then he spun on his heel and strode back out of the room. He’d have to get to an Apparation point quickly, or he’d be late. There was no more time to lose. He’d already lost one chance with his foolish attitude in the past. He could not lose another, for this was the last chance he’d have.
***
The wedding was being held in a church, Percy noted as he checked the address. How ironic. A church. Crowds milled around the entrance, greeting each other, shaking hands, hugging, exclaiming over dress robes. He checked his own garb carefully. He wore his best sober-colored dress robes; they couldn’t object to how he looked, anyway, only to what he was going to do.
Well, he’d have to face them sometime. He’d have to find out if they’d let him in. Percy walked toward the door quietly, on his toes, as if he were sneaking up on a boardroom to hear what was being said within, or as if he were a cat readying an ambush on an unsuspecting prey.
Ginny saw Percy first. Her bright brown eyes narrowed swiftly as soon as she saw him.
“Hello, Ginny.”
“What are you doing here? You’re not invited.”
“Yes, I know. I’m inviting myself.” Percy forced himself to breath normally. “I see everybody is being seated.” Indeed, the scores of people outside had worn down to a mere dozen, and already, Percy spotted Bill and Fleur standing near the church door, ready to be seated.
“You can’t sit with us,” Ginny said flatly. “You weren’t invited, and there’s no room for you.”
Ugh. This would be harder if he couldn’t sit with the family. “All right. I’ll sit elsewhere.” On second thought, he might accomplish his task better from the bride’s side.
Next, of course, came his oldest brother, Bill, looking quite grim. “What are you doing here?” he asked bluntly.
“You know very well I’m attending the wedding.”
“What? Lowering yourself to our level?” Bill’s eyes did not warm at all.
“People change over time, Bill. I regret insulting my parents and alienating myself from my family more than you could know.”
Bill said no more. He merely shook his head and held out his arm for his wife. Fleur, for her part, threw Percy a polite, and even slightly sympathetic look. Her sympathy would no doubt flee once he did what he had to do, but he would remember the kindness anyway.
The next family member to notice Percy was Fred, but he didn’t even bother to speak to his long-estranged brother. He merely glared at Percy, held out his arm for Ginny, and escorted her into the church itself. The chill from Fred’s glare made the skin on Percy’s neck feel shriveled.
Yes, sitting on the bride’s side would be preferable.
As Percy paused in the foyer, he realized that there were fewer people seated on the bride’s side, anyway. He wouldn’t be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. The bride’s side would be better all around.
Before he reached the side entrance of the sanctuary, he felt a firm tap on his shoulder. Wearily he turned around, knowing who it would be.
“So, why are you here?” George asked, his eyes almost palpably radiating suspicion and hostility.
“George, why do you think I’m here? Yes, I’m aware I was not invited. Yes, I know none of you want to see me. But I have a reason to be here, and if you’re seating Mum, you’d better get over there before you mess up the timing of the processional.” Percy nodded respectfully to his mother, who stared at him from across the foyer.
George sighed, turned, and crossed the foyer to where their mother waited for him. Of Charlie, or of his father Arthur, of course, there was no sign. Nor would there ever be. A team of Aurors had finally located Arthur Weasley’s body a month ago and the family had buried him in the same plot where they had buried Charlie directly after the war.
Percy sat about two-thirds of the way back on the bride’s side, the first empty seat he could find on the outside aisle. He saw mostly strangers here, though he did recognize a few familiar faces close to the front“Neville Longbottom as he turned to speak to the girl next to him, and Lavender Brown a few rows behind Neville.
Percy felt tears rise in his eyes as the music began and George escorted their mother Molly Weasley slowly down the center aisle, at a pace decorous enough for the solemn occasion and slow enough that here prosthetic leg could work well. She smiled brightly around her, and even cast one slightly watery smile at Percy, which Percy returned. Well, he’d treasure that smile, because it was the first he’d gotten from anybody in his family since he’d foolishly alienated them, and it might be the last.
Next came a woman dressed in a pretty Muggle dress, who had to be the mother of the bride. Her smile was less bright than Molly Weasley’s, but then again, her child was not in the sanctuary yet.
Then in came a priest“and Ron, looking sharply-dressed in black dress robes with a crisp white collar visible at the neck. Remus Lupin, strangely enough, came in behind Ron and took a position near the piano.
So the professor was standing up for Ron. Odd.
At that moment, Percy’s eyes fell upon the back of a head he’d not thought to see there. Black hair streaked with gray, very straight, looking almost oily“it had to be Severus Snape. Yes, he’d gotten out of Azkaban with Harry’s painstakingly slowly-given testimony, but seeing him here was strange, to say the least. Yet there he sat close to the front, on the bride’s side.
Next down the aisle came a bridesmaid, a serenely smiling girl wearing a set of sky-blue robes, with long blondish hair that curled at the ends.
Then everybody struggled to his or her feet, and Percy belatedly did too, seeing Snape’s profile as he turned toward the sanctuary entrance. Snape looked as forbidding as ever. Percy glanced toward the altar to see Ron grinning broadly. On the groom’s side of the church, Ginny gripped Fred’s arm and made a face as her leg, or perhaps her back, pained her badly.
Then a vision of loveliness wearing a white dress robe appeared at the door of the sanctuary.
Her captivating smile was all for Ron. She walked slowly, but with an air that bespoke eagerly reaching her intended groom. Her hair cascaded down her back in a lovely jumble of nut-brown curls. She was beautiful; she positively exuded joy.
As she reached the front of the church and took Ron’s hands, and as the wedding guests sat down again, Percy hated himself for the pain he was about to cause Hermione Granger on the day she intended to wed Ron Weasley.
The beginning of the service went on as wedding ceremonies generally did, with the priest speaking words of welcome to the guests, the bride and groom, and invoking the presence of God. Percy felt nausea wash over him.
Then the priest beamed around the sanctuary at the assembled guests and asked the age-old question. “Does anyone present have any reason why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony?”
Percy felt his knees shake violently as he stood up. “I have a reason these two shouldn’t be joined. And all those assembled need to know what that reason is.”
There had been times in his life when Percy had wished he could have commanded the attention of every eye in a room. Well, this was a lesson in real life, because this time, he’d certainly captured the attention of every person, from the priest who stood with a half-smile still stuck on his face and shock in his eyes, to a young child sitting one row in front of Percy. He had both Hermione and Ron’s attention. In his imagination, Percy had thought this would bring him a feeling of power. In reality, it was sickening.
Not only did he have Ron’s attention, but Ron grasped his wand. Percy cast a shield spell silently, knowing that Ron would not be able to get around it without moving from the front of the sanctuary.
“Sir, this is not...” the priest looked, aghast, around the room, then back at Percy. “This is very... one doesn’t just...”
“I’m not doing this for my own enjoyment, believe me. I’m sorry, Mum, Hermione. But I tried to reach you earlier, Hermione, and I couldn’t...” Harry’s distressed green eyes came vividly to mind, the two “no” blinks after Percy had asked him if he’d been able to talk to her alone...
“Get out!” Ron shouted. “Get out! You’re not coming to my wedding! Bill, get him out! Fred!’
Percy had made himself heard at too many board meetings and “shoot ‘em down” public meetings to be silenced by his younger brother Ron. “Not until I say what I have come to say,” Percy said stridently. He counted on somebody to speak up, to let him have his say, before his angry brothers descended upon him in a group and ushered him out.
Unexpectedly, it was the priest who came to Percy’s rescue. “All right then, young man, have your say. But you must not expect anything to change, and I must ask you to leave the ceremony when you are through, for you have upset the bride.”
Ron whirled around to stare at the priest, but he couldn’t stop the man now. The words were said. Now Percy had to say what he’d come to this place to say. Then he would take the priest’s advice“and he would leave.
“I object to this marriage on the grounds that Ron Weasley has misrepresented himself to Hermione Granger, and has lied to her. Yesterday, the Daily Prophet published an article titled ‘The New Marital Fidelity,’ in which an interview with war-hero and Auror Ron Weasley played a large part. In addition, the article states that Ron Weasley has assured his fiancee, Hermione Granger...”
“Get out!” Ron fairly screamed, his face now pale with red blotches.
“... that he’s saved himself for her, and has never had any kind of physical relationship with anyone. This article caused me to go this morning, before this wedding, to see Harry Potter at St. Mungo’s. Harry agrees with me that what Ron has said is a blatant lie. I have seen my brother Ron enter...”
A red jet sped from Ron’s wand and hit the shield Percy had conjured with a heavy thud. Around Percy, guests gasped and scurried away from him.
“... a brothel in France. And there is no doubt the place is a brothel. In addition to this, I have spoken to three women who have had physical relationships with Ron...”
Ron launched himself straight at Percy with a scream of fury, running into a guest in the second row. Remus Lupin, looking as grim as Percy had ever seen him, grasped Ron by the back of his dress robes and jerked him back, and Severus Snape quietly slipped out of the pew he was in and made his way down the side aisle to the front of the church where Remus held onto Ron’s robes while Ron panted and glared at Percy.
“... in Germany, Romania, and Japan,” Percy continued. “I have their names, and they are willing to answer questions, because all three feel that...”
“That’s enough,” Bill’s voice, though quiet, cut through clearly. “Whatever else you have to say can be said somewhere else.”
Percy looked directly into Bill’s eyes across the room. Bill didn’t believe him. Fred, too, looked furious, and the idea that Percy was no more than a vengeful liar lay topmost in his mind.
But George looked doubtful. And though horror over the ruined wedding was foremost in Ginny’s mind, she was not so sure Percy was lying. Fleur, her eyes thoughtful, pulled Bill back down beside her.
As Percy turned once again to face Ron, he caught a different set of eyes“the very dark, emotionless eyes of the former Potions master of Hogwarts. For an instant, that horrible orange-and-gold door reappeared in Percy’s mind. Percy pulled away. He would not look at that memory, not here, not in public, no matter if Snape did want to see it.
Without looking at Hermione, without looking at his mother, Percy turned, slipped into the side aisle, and made his way toward the back of the sanctuary, toward the foyer, toward the freedom of the open city of London, where he could be away from this. His task was done. Whether or not Hermione took his warning, he had done what he’d needed to do, what Harry would have done himself, much earlier, had he only been able to speak.
Percy wasn’t surprised to hear Ron’s scream of anger, nor to feel a spell hit his shoulder hard enough to knock him flat onto the floor. He clearly heard Remus Lupin’s voice as he cast a shield spell.
Percy dragged himself upright and walked with as much dignity as he could muster into the foyer, where he leaned closed his eyes and against the wall, shaken. Not only had he ruined an entire wedding, but Ron’s spell had knocked the wind out of him. He had to leave. Somebody was bound to come to the foyer to make sure he was really gone.
When Percy opened his eyes, it was to find Severus Snape standing directly in front of him.
And in a moment, Percy could breathe normally again.
“I assume you have a good reason to do this,” Snape said very quietly.
“Yes,” Percy answered. “I do.”
Snape’s very black eyes bored into Percy’s again, sifting through surface memories until again, he found that door, that awful door with its orange paint and suggestive gold decorations...
“What were you doing there?” Snape asked.
“Following him to make sure he wasn’t going to lose his Auror job by making a stupid mistake,” Percy murmured, realizing that he’d lost his balance, and Snape had pinned him against the foyer wall to keep him on his feet. “I thought he didn’t know what kind of a place it was. But when I looked inside...”
Snape frowned. But he’d seen it in Percy’s own memory.
“Your family will hate you. You know that.”
“Yes.” Percy almost laughed at the obviousness of the statement. “Yes, I know that. But I couldn’t let Hermione marry Ron thinking he was some innocent, honest...” The words fell flat.
Snape raised one black eyebrow. “You are so concerned about your youngest brother’s lack of virginity?”
“No. I’m concerned about his lack of honesty to Hermione. What kind of a marriage could she have, with Ron lying and telling her she’s the only one, and every time he’s away, he’s in search of another orange-and-gold door?”
Snape continued to look emotionlessly into Percy’s eyes. “You think Hermione cannot handle Ron?”
“She has the right to know what he has been doing. It’s only right she knows he’s living a lie. I just wish I had known before, so I wouldn’t have had to come here...” Percy felt sick at the thought of the pain he had undoubtedly caused Hermione. But he’d done it only so she could avoid worse pain later.
Snape’s dark eyes narrowed slightly. Then he nodded curtly. “You had best leave now.”
“I’ll leave. But check with Harry, Professor. Check with Harry. I did. He’s a Legilimens. He knows what Ron’s been doing. I only found out in Thailand. But Harry would have seen all those growing indiscretions every time Ron came by to visit him. It wasn’t until I found out...the article about...”
“Marital fidelity, yes,” Snape said drily. “And your youngest brother’s glowing testimony did paint largely. This was when you found out about the wedding, then.”
“Yes. I didn’t even know they were engaged until I read it. I was too late to find Hermione and talk to her. I was nearly too late to talk briefly to Harry and still make it here before Hermione married Ron.”
“You realize that I will speak to Harry,” Snape said very quietly. “At length.”
“Yes. Thank you,” Percy answered before he realized that Snape had meant that to be a threat, and not the reassurance Percy had automatically taken it as. Funny, that, Percy thought as he shakily pulled the church’s front door open and wobbled through it. Honesty really was its own reward.
***
It was nearly a month later, on a Saturday in July, when Percy finally decided to make his peace, if he could, with the memory of Arthur Weasley. If the memory would not reconcile itself to Percy, then at least Percy could make peace with the ground where his body had been laid finally to rest. The morning was sunny and warm, and Percy had brought, not the cut flowers so easily bought from any stand this time of year, but ones he had picked himself from a field he knew of only a few miles from this lonely cemetery.
Percy had arranged his flowers as best he could, remembering how Ginny used to tease him, way back when he had still lived at home, about his “random flower arrangements.” How Ginny would have laughed at his attempt at a nice bouquet, he thought as he laid the flowers down near the newly-installed headstone.
When he looked up, there she stood, as if his thoughts of her had somehow summoned her.
“Ginny,” Percy exclaimed, rising. “I wasn’t expecting anybody.”
“Neither was I,” Ginny replied. “But I’m glad you’re here. I’ve wanted to talk to you, and I’ve tried. Why did you quit your Ministry job?”
“I have had...” Percy searched for the words to explain his sudden disgust with the backbiting, the climbing, and the lack of basic honesty, in the career he had so ardently pursued up until the wedding. “I changed my mind,” Percy finished simply. “I don’t like politics anymore.”
Ginny raised one eyebrow. “No? What are you going to do with your life, then?”
“I’ve been accepted into the neurological healing program at St. Mungo’s.”
Both Ginny’s eyebrows rose. “Healer? That’s quite a jump, from potential politician to Healer.”
“Yes, it is. I feel like I’ve gone from swimming in a sewer to swimming in a mountain lake. No more leftover warm shower water to keep things comfortable, but no... um...”
“Yeah, I get the idea.” Ginny gave Percy a smile. “Well, I hope you do well. But I wanted to talk to you about... well, Ron. And Hermione. And Harry.”
Percy braced himself. “All right.”
“Well, you know Ron’s furious.”
“Naturally.”
“He’s gone from saying that none of what you said is true, to some of it was true, but only from several years ago, to admitting that he might have had a problem, but he was going to discuss it with Hermione, and he was sure she’d understand.’
“Discuss it with her?” Percy was not able t o keep the disgust from his voice. “He was going to discuss his visits to the very worst houses of prostitution with Hermione, just as soon as he had her safely married to him?”
“Yes, well, he’s changed his story so many times, even Mum doesn’t believe him now. The only difference is, she thinks it’s some kind of addiction he’s fallen into by accident, and she’s offered to pay for him to go to treatment, if he’s willing.”
“Treatment?” Percy stared in shock at Ginny. “What kind of treatment is there for somebody who willingly goes looking for... for...”
“Yes, I know.” Ginny gave Percy a strained smile. “Bill and Remus had a long talk with Ron right after the wedding-that-did-not-happen, as we refer to it now. Ron accidentally let a few things slip, and Bill followed some of them, and Remus followed others, and they both came back from their searches very grim. Remus is angry with Ron, because Ron deceived him so deeply that he was willing to stand up for him as best man.”
Percy sighed. “I was rather shocked to see him there, truthfully. I’m glad he knew nothing of Ron’s... escapades.”
Ginny made a wry face. “Bill caught sight of something in Ron’s mind. He’d caught sight of the same thing in your mind, at the wedding. He told me and Fleur later what kind of a place it was, behind that orange door.”
“It’s a bad place,” Percy said shortly.
“Anyway, Ron’s in considerable trouble at work, because of course, he’s visited those places. But onward. Hermione has decided to continue with her plans, only without Ron. At first, she was going to wait a while and marry Ron anyway. Then Bill talked to her, and she decided to wait and see how Ron was after treatment. Yes, I know, but let me finish.” Ginny waved Percy to silence before he could do more than draw a breath. “Then Remus talked to her, and she finally realized how completely Ron had lied to her. Finally, she did what she should have done in the first place.”
“She talked with Harry.”
“Yes.” Ginny nodded gravely. “She talked with Harry. Nobody was there but the two of them. I was out in the corridor, and all I heard was Hermione crying now and then. When Hermione came out, she didn’t say anything. But the next day, she came to the Burrow and talked to me. She finally accepted that Ron had manipulated her into not being alone with Harry. She had gone along with Ron, to make him happy. And Harry had been trying to communicate with her, tell her what he’d seen in Ron’s mind. You know Harry is a powerful Legilimens.”
“Yes.” Percy remembered the grip those green eyes had taken on his mind. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“Hermione is going to continue on with her plans, only without Ron.” Ginny gave Percy a very crooked smile. “So prepare yourself for a hard time, dear brother. She’s in the neurological Healer’s program at St. Mungo’s. And she’s starting in two weeks.”
Hermione in the neurological healer’s program! Percy found himself gaping helplessly at Ginny. “Oh, no. Ginny, she’ll be...”
“Yes, she’ll be in your class. Shall I inform her so she’ll be able to prepare herself to meet you?”
“Yes.” Percy felt his stomach knot helplessly. “She’d be better off knowing I’ll be there. Oh, dear. This will be very uncomfortable.”
“I expect it will.” Ginny flashed Percy a mischievous smile. “Out of this whole sordid thing, that’s the only highlight of humor.”
“I don’t see anything humorous about it.” Humor, indeed!
“I didn’t think you would. But it is. Now,” Ginny gave Percy an appraising look, “tell me why you chose neurological healing.”
“Well, it’s a worthy cause.”
“All right. And you must have scored well on their tests in order to get in. But... why neurological healing? Why not major curse and hex healing of the abdominal organs? That’s a worthy branch of healing, too.’
“Well, it’s...” Percy floundered, then looked down at his sister. Maybe she’d understand. “Ginny, I went to talk to Harry that day. I hadn’t realized how imprisoned he was in his own body. He can’t even say one word, not even to his best friend Hermione to keep her from marrying somebody he knew had become perverted. I want to help, not only him, but others stuck in the same way.”
“Noble.”
Percy shrugged. “It’s a good sight better than appeasing endless politicians as they try to wrangle their way to the top. And...” Percy hesitated before he went on, “I rather thought... I had read after Harry defeated Voldemort that... that you and Harry had been... well, in love. And he seems right for you. But maybe I’m wrong, and you’re not thinking of Harry that way anymore.”
Ginny smiled. “Percy, you’re an adorable idiot at times. Of course I loved Harry. And I’m still in love with him. I’m sticking with him, even if all he’s ever able to do is look me in the eyes and blink. You’re so strange. Do you know, that’s why Hermione enrolled in neurological healing, too. You realize that there’s no quick and easy cure for what’s happened to Harry, even if there is any cure at all“which I’m sadly inclined to think there is not.”
“I realize that. But I feel as if I ought to try, Ginny. As you said, it’s... well, noble. And that’s something I can honestly say politics are not.”
“Oh, you. After all these years, I find out you actually are a Gryffindor. All right then. I’m arranging those flowers before we leave, and then you ought to come back to the Burrow with me. Mum will be happy to see you, and though Bill will act distant, he’s actually very glad you had the guts to come to the wedding.’
“You said you were going to tell me about Harry, too,” Percy said as he watched Ginny deftly arrange his wildflowers on their father’s grave.
Ginny looked over her shoulder at Percy, her eyes gentle in that glance. “Yes.”
“What of him? He’s not worse, is he?”
“No.” Ginny put one last purple flower in place, then rose in one graceful movement. “He wanted me to find you. He wanted me to tell you how much he thanked you for coming to him the day of the wedding. He asked me to tell you that he thanks you for saving Hermione. Now, let’s go home. Mum will have soup on, and you can stay for supper. George has a new daydream he got from somebody, and he wants me to try it out. It’ll be good for a laugh, if nothing else.”
Percy proffered his arm to his sister. “Let’s go home, then,” he agreed.
Percy's Choice by Spottedcat
Chapter Notes: I have put a warning of sexual situations for this story because it refers to a situation one of the characters was involved in before this story begins. There are no actual sexual acts described, but there are references to them.