Questions
The fallout from his family is damn impressive, Percy will give them that.
It starts, of course, with Charlie going completely no-contact. He stops showing up for their game nights at Percy’s house. He doesn’t respond to Percy’s owls. The one-time Percy called Charlie, it went straight to voicemail.
Percy stopped trying after that.
His mum is the opposite- she calls him everyday even though she hasn’t a clue about the muggle telephone and often ends up shouting in his ear. His dad writes letters to, asking him to move to the Burrow with the girls.
George and Angelina are suddenly very interested in his life when they hadn’t before. They keep inviting him and the girls around, but George made it clear that Audrey wouldn’t be welcomed, which meant that Percy wouldn’t go.
Bill and Fleur also take that same approach, inviting Percy or the girls over, but never Audrey. Percy even misses their daughter’s birthday, since Audrey hadn’t been included. He had asked her about going anyway without her and she’d begged him not to. She said that his family had a vendetta against her. Which Percy was sure they did.
He keeps getting muggle domestic violence brochures slipped under his office door with little notes of support attached. They’re never signed, but he’s fairly certain Hermione’s the one who’s doing it. Ron writes him, but it feels awkward and forced, especially because he and Percy had never really written to one another in the first place.
Out of all people, Ginny and Harry are surprisingly the only ones who remain any sort of normal, Harry especially. He and Percy end up getting lunch together more often than not, since Percy is now well and fully avoiding Penelope. Anytime he sees anyone with blonde hair he ducks into the nearest corridor.
Ginny, too, is somehow acting almost normal. She tells Percy that she’s taking a break from Quidditch in order to stay closer to home, even though that’s never been a problem before.
It comes to a head during his and Harry’s weekly lunches. Percy’s feeling a bit irritable – Lucy despite being almost eleven had thrown a massive tantrum that morning regarding the brand of bread he had used to make her toast, then he and Audrey had once again argued about taking her to see a mind healer or a muggle councilor. Audrey didn’t want Lucy to feel ‘othered’, but Percy was certain that she had some kind of developmental delay or mental issue. What kid throws chairs when their routine is off?
So he’s already grumpy when Harry shows up to their usual spot in the park across the Ministry of Magic with his sister in tow.
“Hullo Percy.” She greets, not giving an explanation as to why she’s there. She slides herself next to Percy on the park bench and immediately steals one of his grapes.
“Ginny.” He says, watching her eat the stolen food. He cuts his brother-in-law a sharp look. His sister was being too casual about things for him to feel comfortable. Was this another ill-fated intervention of some sort? Audrey hadn’t so much as laid on hand on him since he was at St. Mungo’s.
“Er, Percy.” Harry says a bit awkwardly. “Gin and I have something to tell you.”
“And ask you.” Ginny adds, taking another grape. Percy sighs and just gives her the small bowl of grapes he had prepared for his lunch, which she accepts readily.
Percy can hear his heartbeat in his ears. Had something happened, maybe? He wasn’t on the best terms with his family right now- he had been out of the loop of things.
“We, ah,” Harry stumbles over his own words.
“I’m pregnant.” Ginny says, munching on Percy’s grapes.
Percy stares at her and Harry in disbelief.
“I- you’re what?”
“Knocked up, yeah.” Ginny says. Harry goes a bit pink. Percy looks between the two of them a few times, trying to see If this is some kind of joke, but Harry looks embarrassed and Ginny looks bored and he’s pretty sure it’s not.
“T-tat’s wonderful. It’s- I mean, are you happy or…”
“Very happy!” Harry says quickly. “We were trying for a bit.”
Percy tries not think about how they tried, but he’s thrilled for them. Ginny would be a great mother, and Harry no doubt a doting father.
“Anyway Perce,” Ginny goes on, like she hadn’t just shook-up Percy’s world. Merlin, his little sister was having a child.
“We’ve been thinking about something since we found out and well… we want you to be the godfather of our baby."
The world seems to tilt on its axis a bit. Percy has never been asked to be a godparent. For anyone- not when Ron and Hermione had their kids, or when George did, and Circe knows he wasn’t on good terms with his family when Bill had his first child…
Ginny smiled warmly as she squeezed Harry's hand. Percy blinked in surprise, and for a moment, his face remained expressionless. He opened his mouth as though to speak but then paused, looking from Harry to Ginny and back again, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Wait… what?" Percy finally asks, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"You’re the one we want," Ginny says, surprisingly gently. "We couldn’t think of anyone better."
Percy’s mouth goes dry as the weight of their words sank in. Being the godfather of their child—a Weasley child, one of his many nieces or nephews—was a huge honor. But it was beyond what he’d imagined.
"I—" Percy starts clearing his throat. "I don’t know what to say. I’m… flattered. I mean, really flattered."
Harry smiles at him. "You’ve always been there for us, Percy. We know we can count on you. And you’re going to be an amazing godfather. We want someone who can teach our child the value of doing the right thing. You’re the perfect fit, Percy."
Percy thinks about, of all things, his appearance at the Battle of Hogwarts. No one in his family had expected him to be there, fighting by their side. He almost hadn’t made it- if not for Aberforth’s Patronus he’d have missed it. His family had all though he’d just changed his mind then.
Did they know, somehow, of his role as a spy during the war? Is that what they were talking about? He scans Harry and Ginny’s faces, looking for any sign that they were implying they knew what he did.
“Is this about what I did during the war?’ he finds himself asking because he can’t keep his damn mouth shut.
Harry’s brows furrow slightly in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing.” Percy says quickly. They didn’t know anything, and he’d like to keep it that way. For his sake and theirs. If they found out his role… he can only imagine how awful they’d feel that they thought he was a traitor when he hadn’t been.
"I’d be honored," Percy adds, his voice cracking a bit. "I promise I’ll do my best to be there for them, for both of you. I won't let you down."
Harry and Ginny exchange a smile, and Ginny leans to the side, giving Percy a hug. He awkwardly but warmly returns it. Harry claps him on the back.
When they’re done with the celebratory motions, Harry leans back on his heels, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Listen, Percy. We haven’t told anyone yet-,”
Percy waves him away. “I’m good at keeping secrets. I won’t tell anyone.”
He feels his sister tense up at that slightly next to him, but she quickly relaxes again and goes back to eating at Percy’s grapes. She holds one up to show him.
“Our baby is about the size of this, you know.”
Percy blinks at her. “You’re nine weeks?”
Ginny’s jaw drops open. “How do you know that?” Harry chuckles and starts to talk to his wife about fruit sizes and babies, and Percy feels at ease for the first time in a long time.
Percy meets with Oliver again the weekend after Ginny and Harry asked him to be their child’s godfather. Audrey hadn’t liked it when we mentioned seeing Oliver again, but her mother wanted to see the girls so it all worked out in the end. Percy was free in the afternoon on Saturday with them gone.
They end up in a coffee shop in muggle London. It’s a nice change of pace from Percy, who since the big argument with Audrey has been basically keeping away from his family and his best friend.
He misses Penelope terribly. He hasn’t gone this long without talking to er since the terrifying Chamber of Secrets incident, and it was putting a burden on his heart. He was really just looking forward to when Audrey had worked out her feelings enough for Percy to start talking to Penny.
He’s mentioning this to Oliver in sort of vague tones and suggestions; he doesn’t quite give the reason why Audrey asked him to no longer speak to Penny, but he’s sure Oliver has gotten the gist of it.
Oliver, for his part, stays surpassingly quiet and present while Percy complains about his wife’s request to no longer see Penny. He waits until Percy is done ranting about how difficult it was to avoid her in the office.
“That doesn’t really sound fair, Percy,” Oliver says casually. “I’m sure she has male friends.”
Percy shrugs. “It’s just easier to do this.”
Oliver raises an eyebrow. “You just spent the past fifteen minutes telling me in detail how you jumped into a bush to avoid Penelope.”
Percy flushes pink. “It’s still easier. Audrey can be… difficult.”
Oliver peers at him questioningly. “How so?”
“She... she gets angry. Sometimes at things that don’t even make sense. I—I don’t know how to make her stop. It’s like walking on eggshells all the time. I just try to keep the peace, but it’s never enough."
“What do you mean?’ Oliver asks, tone still casual. Percy relaxes a little.
“Like the other day, she just flipped out on the way I was cutting the carrots for lunch. She kept complaining about how the chunks were too big, even though I’ve been cutting them like that for who-knows how long and she’s never complained once. It’s like… little things. She’s keeps telling me I’m useless like that.”
“Percy,” Oliver says carefully. “"Does it bother you when she does that?"
Percy scoffs and takes a sip of his Earl grey. “Of course it bothers me.”
"I'm not surprised to hear that you feel that way, given everything you're going through." Oliver pauses for a moment, cup almost to his lips.
“I’m not going through anything.” Percy says quickly. Surely, Oliver didn’t know about St. Mungo’s.
"You're allowed to be upset, you know.”
“It’s not that bad.”
"You say it's not that bad, but everything you've been sharing with me would make me feel really scared and upset.”
Percy sighs. “Who told you?”
Oliver winces guilty. “George. She put you in the hospital, mate.”
Percy really doesn’t want to be having this conversation, so he sets down some muggle money on the table.
“Percy,” Oliver says, so quietly he almost missed it. Warm, calloused fingers wrap around Percy’s wrist firmly, but not tight.
"It scares me. It sounds like she really hurt you. I worry you'll get hurt again."
Percy’s smile is more of a grimace.
“I’ll be okay, Oliver.”