Chapter Text
Percy Weasley is the third brother of seven children. It was an undeniable fact. It was a fact similar to how he knew Bill and Charlie were never going to stay at home and subject themselves to Molly Weasley's nagging. It was a fact similar to how he knew Ginevra Weasley hated being treated like a girl, even though she was one. It was a fact similar to how he knew Frederick and George, though were very intelligent, were never going to be what their mother wanted them to be. It was also similar to how he knew Ronald Weasley was like him in his ambitions but wasn't going to go down the same road.
How Percy Weasley came to see those things was a mystery to him. They always just seemed like facts that everyone knew, except Mum and Dad that is. For Percy it was as easy as breathing most days. He knew when he woke up in the morning The Burrow was going to be full of sunshine, almost like it was alive. He knew when he went to bed in the evening that his mother was in the kitchen enjoying the quiet that was rarely afforded to her with seven children. He knew on his Da's lunch breaks he could be found in his shed tinkering with a car that he was definitely not supposed to be doing things to.
The things that Percy Weasley knew changed one autumn afternoon when he was 10 years old. The twins were once again trying very hard to be quiet, which was a worrisome act for them, it meant trouble. The last time the twins were quiet they stole Mum's wand and turned something into a spider to prank Ron. Percy decided that he should make himself scarce for when something inevitably blew up, so he went into the backyard.
Reading one of Charlie's old Transfiguration text books was an enjoyable past time for Percy. He loved learning and enjoying how one could turn objects or animals into other things. Though for the record, changing an animal into a teacup never would sit well with him. He should have known that the quiet was too good to be true. He loved sitting in his mother's herb garden underneath a tree in the shade. His brothers knew this.They used it to their advantage whenever they could. Whether it was hiding in the branches and jumping down to scare him, or waiting for him to fall asleep in a light dose before tying him to the tree, the tree was now part of him.
Fred and George sometimes bribed their younger siblings into helping them with a prank or as a diversion. That particular day was one. Reading was a way for Percy to calm his mind and he got rather annoyed when he was interrupted. Ron, who loved to be included in any way, joined in the plan.
" Percy."
Percy found a stopping point, somewhere between the way magic interacted with the things that made up an object, when he looked up to see Ron. He was smiling big and had his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.
"Hello Ron. Can I help you with something?"
"Mum is making biscuits!"
Percy smiled because when Ron was excited about something he would smile and a gap in his tooth was obvious.
"Is she? Did you get to pick this time?"
"Yes! I picked choc chip!"
"That does sound yummy!"
Percy, who was not a big fan of sugary things, loved his mum's choc chip biscuits. In fact, he's pretty sure he's biased, his mum's cooking was very good.
"Did she say when they would be done?"
Ron frowned in thought, trying to remember what she said.
"She said ten!"
He held both his hands out, extending all of his fingers to count to ten.
"That's terrific! Shall we go walk inside then? Maybe we can get some before everyone else!"
Ron's eyes went wide and he shook his head no. Percy remembered, looking back at it now, that he thought it was odd because Ron never said no to food. It was another fact he knew like breathing.
"No! Mum said I could stay out here if someone stayed with me. Percy, please?"
Percy sighed. Sometimes, Percy forgot that he wanted to be friends with his siblings when they were annoying.
"Fine, but only for a few minutes. I really want some of those biscuits before the Twins and Bill and Charlie eat them all, okay?"
Ron smiled big. Percy's resolve melted a little bit. He would really miss him when he went off to Hogwarts in fall. His birthday, which was after Ginny's (who turned 6 eleven days before him) and barely celebrated after his youngest sibiling, was coming up in a couple of days. He was excited to be turning 11 because it meant he could go and learn!
"Do you want to sit with me? I could read to you. It might be boring for a 7 year old but you might learn something!"
Ron looked like swallowed a bad flavor of Bertie Bott's Beans. He shook his head hard and his face settled into something that looked like determination but to Percy looked like was trying melt his mind.
"I want to climb the tree."
"What?"
Ron pointed to the tree Percy was leaning against.
"I want to climb that tree with you Percy! It's gonna be fun! Only you have to climb it first and pull me up to the first branch. I'm not tall enough yet."
Percy would normally have told him no, he wasn't ever an active child, but today something told him he had to. He couldn't put a finger on it but something was nudging him to accept.
"Okay but we have to be careful. I don't want Mum to yell at me for you getting hurt."
Surprise flickered onto Ron's face. He was expecting him to say no. Before he could tell Percy not to climb the tree, Percy had already started to pull himself up on to the first branch.
"Wait Percy, maybe this is a bad idea. You're right Mum would kill us!"
Percy huffed partly in annoyance and part determination.
"No Ron, I told we would so we are."
By the time Percy sat his bottom on the branch, Ron was already backing away from the tree. He was frantically looking around for someone, anyone, to stop what was about to happen.
Percy knew, when he lifted his head and felt something move behind him that it had been a mistake. When he lifted his eyes to the branch opposite of him and saw something moving toward him fast that it had definitely been a mistake. When the (what he knew now to be a quaffle) round mass hit him in the face and he fell from the tree, he knew it had definitely been a mistake. When he hit the ground and his head fell backwards and hit something hard (he knew now too that it had been one of his mother's garden rocks) he knew it had been a mistake. When his eyes closed he knew his mother would be rightfully angry and he'd never hear the end of it.
If anyone asked Percy Weasley if he remembered anything from the time he was unconscious he would tell them he didn't remember anything. He didn't remember screaming or fire, didn't remember what it felt like to fire a curse from his wand, and definitely didn't remember wearing black robes in The Ministry of Magic.
If anyone asked Molly Weasley what she remembered of that day, she would tell them it all happened too fast. She would tell them she hear Ron screaming for her and her dropping the biscuit ladened pan to the floor in her hurry to go outside. She would remember Ron screaming and bawling his eyes out and pointing to his older brother. Percival was laying still in the parsley and basil (and how she would shake herself silly for remembering what herbs he was laying in) and her running towards him. She would tell them she saw blood and all it took everything in her to remain calm enough to carry Percy through the house to the floo.
Molly Weasley ordered Bill to watch their brothers and sister and Charlie to floo Arthur at work. She floo to St. Mungo's and hurried through the entry hall to the front desk. She wouldn't be able to tell anyone what she said or how long it took for mediwitches and wizards to come take Percy away to a room to be healed. She couldn't tell anyone how she got the cup of tea in her hands as she sat in the waiting room for word on how her son was doing. She definitely wouldn't be able to tell them when her husband got there and who told him what happened.
Molly Weasley only knew (later she would be told it was a form of disassociation from previous war trauma) that it felt like she was floating in an abyss and her hand in Arthur's was keeping her grounded.
If anyone asked Arthur Weasley what happened that day he could tell them exactly what happened. He would be able to tell them because he heard everything after the fact. He was at work going through paperwork when it happened. He would be able to tell them his son Charlie floo'd him at work and told him Percy had an accident. He would tell them that Bill pushed Charlie out of the floo to chime in that their mum had taken him to St. Mungo's.
If anyone asked Arthur what happened, he would tell them he calmly told his boss he had a family emergency and had to leave. He would tell them that he had to take the elevators down to the atrium in the Ministry to floo to St. Mungo's because his department was never approved for floo travel just calls. He would tell them when he got to St. Mungo's and asked for Percy Weasley he was directed to a waiting room on the head trauma ward floor. He couldn't remember how he got there but when he did he saw his wife sitting in a chair staring blankly at a cup of tea.
When he asked his wife what happened she didn't answer for a moment.
"The doctor said when he fell out of the tree he must have hit his head on a rock when he landed."
Arthur could only stare at his wife.
"Our son Percival Weasley was in a tree?"
Molly smiled just a little, a little thing that turned the left corner of her mouth up a smidge.
"Yes, Arthur. He was in a tree. The one he likes to read under in the herb garden."
"What was he doing in the bloody tree?"
"I imagine, Mr. Weasley that he was climbing it."
They looked up and saw a Healer standing before them. He had a clipboard in his hands and a small gentle smile on his face but his eys looked tired and sad.
"What's wrong with my little boy? Is he okay?"
The healer's smile fell off his face and he pulled up a chair to still in front of them.
"When young Percy fell out of the tree he did, in fact, hit his head. We've healed the damage and he's not bleeding anymore nor internally. He's done very well."
Molly and Arthur breathe a size of relief and start smiling.
"However..."
Molly immediately pounced on that word.
"However what?"
The healer took a breath.
"After we healed him we gave him pain potions and a very small dose of calming draught. He started screaming like his nerve endings were on fire. We did a systematic check of his body and came to the conclusion that, though he was not in any pain, his brain was still firing off the signal that it was. Thus the calming draught. We think he had a reaction to the combination of the pain potion and calming draught because after it was administered he calmed down but he was crying silently.
"As his current healer, I recommend that you don't give Percy both at the same time just as a precaution. It is unlikely that he will need both at the same again in his young life, but seeing as he did fall from a tree he climbed I'm taking the initiative on this just in case."
Molly and Arthur sat there quietly staring at the healer. Arthur's hand was going slightly numb from the grip his wife had on it and he swallowed.
"But he's alright now?"
The healer smiled brightly at them.
"Yes. Percy can go home as soon as he wakes up. It is recommended that he doesn't fall asleep for he next 12 hours, but if he does he should be woken up off and on throughout the night and asked a series of basic questions. Like his name, his siblings names, etc. Just in case the concussion is still there, though I think we did heal it, it's best to be on the safe side when it comes to the brain, don't you think?"
Arthur and Molly smile brightly. Breathing sighs of relief, they both sag a little from the released tension that had been coursing through them. Molly leaned against her husband closed her eyes.
"Can we go see him now, Healer-?"
"Johnson. I'm Healer Timothy Johnson. And yes you may. He's in room 5 down the hallway there. I recommend you stay quiet and keep lights down low in case he has any lingering pain in his eyes."
"Thank you so much, Healer Johnson."
"You are most welcome."
If anyone asked Bill and Charlie what happened, they wouldn't be able to tell you. They were in their respective rooms trying to hurry through the last of their summer homework and reading. They loved to put it off until the end of the summer so they can have as much fun as possible. Bill, 16, in particular, was old enough to go to friends houses by himself and Charlie, 14, never liked being inside for very long. Bill had been on his last line of a Potion's essay and Charlie was reading his Care of Magical Creatures book when they heard the screams.
They remember rushing down the stairs, almost slipping in Charlie's case, and landing in the living room to see their mother carrying a bleeding Percy to the floo. Ron was following her bawling his eyes out and Ginny was standing in the kitchen doorway crying. The twins were coming in through the backdoor after Ron with eyes wide.
"Bill watch the children. Charlie floo your da and tell him we're at St. Mungo's. He's going to be fine! Be good."
And with a a flourish of green flames as a punctuation to her orders she was gone. It was silent for a minute, except for Ron and Ginny's crying.
"Hop to it Charlie. Go floo Da. You remember how to do it, right?"
It was a testament to how rattled they all were that Charlie did not snap back at Bill for treating him like anything but 14 years old. Bill turned to his four youngest siblings and paused. He didn't know what to do but before he could do anything he heard Charlie stumbling over his words talking to dad.
He pushed Charlie aside because he was babbling at their da and told him they were at St. Mungo's before cutting the connection. Turning back to his brothers and sister, he went for Ronald first and enveloped him in a hug and started to rock him a little. He sat down on their mother's knitting chair and looked at Ginny. He motioned for her to join them and he found himself in a cuddle. He turned to Fred and George and saw them looking guilty, but before he could say anything to them Charlie cleared his throat.
"What exactly happened to Percy?"
Ron snuffled against Bill's chest before he looked up. His eyes red and nose dripping.
"I asked Percy to climb the tree with me. I thought he'd say no but he did it!"
Bill looked at the top of Ron's head and then looked back at the twins.
"Is this what happened Fred, George?"
The 8 year old twins kept looking at their feet.
"We didn't mean for him to get hurt like that."
Everyone looked at George, who had mumbled towards his feet.
"He wasn't even supposed to climb the tree! We just wanted to scare him honest! The quaffle-"
"- was supposed to fall out of the tree next to him on the ground. He climbed the tree-"
"so fast that we couldn't stop it even if we wanted to. It was just supposed to scare him a little bit. We're sorry."
Bill took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. If anyone asked Bill what happened next he would tell them he didn't say anything. Charlie did.
"You idiots! Just wait until Mum and Dad find out. You'd better hope Percy is okay!"
If anyone asked Charlie what happened, he would tell them he yelled at the twin and then went into the kitchen to clean up the mess that was left by their mum in her mad dash to Percy. The biscuits could be saved, not all of them, but some. It looks like dinner was still going (his mum's magic was awesome) so he left that be.
If anyone asked Charlie what happened, he would tell them he cleaned everything by hand because he wasn't allowed to use wands out of school but he didn't. He used his mum's wand to clean. He went out into the garden and saw the blood on the rock.
"Scourgify."
The blood disappeared and Charlie stared at the rock, a little numb before he decided to best get rid of the whole thing.
"Evanesco."
If anyone asked Ginny what happened she wouldn't be able to tell them a thing. She was in the kitchen with their mum. All she saw was blood and heard screaming.
If anyone asked Fred and George what happened they would tell them they blanked it all out. After they told their mum and dad of course. They were grounded the whole summer and never got sweets after dinner. If they treated everyone a little bit differently after that that was a whole different matter. A whole other story.