Disclaimer: I just own the plot, oh and Druscilla Thornfield.
Review Responses:
Muses9 – Chapter eleven was your favourite? Oh well, I was worried about it a bit so I'm glad people like it! I'm afraid there's not much left of Bill and Percy in this one but you never know what'll happen in the sequel (hell, I'm writing it and half the time I don't know!). Thanks for the review!
Rsegovia – Happy New Year to you too! Glad you liked Thornfield, I've become rather fond of her and she's important to the sequel. Thanks for reviewing!
Susie – Glad you liked my portrayal of Percy, thanks for the review!
moonruins – Yes, Thornfield is an OC, the first main original character in anything that I've posted so I'm glad people like her! She'll be back in the sequel, quite a lot actually! I'm glad you like The Blind Fight The Blind. Thank you for the review!
RealityIntrovert – Glad you liked it so much! Thanks for the review!
halfblood princess – thanks for the review, here's the update!
db – Gah! I thought I'd said what job he had but you're right I forgot to! Hmm, I may have to fiddle with this chapter before it goes up! Thanks for the review and thank you so much for bringing that up!
PWeatherby – The Weasley's were always portrayed as the perfect family but having read the fifth book I started re-examining things and realised there are moments when you start to see through this and really the events of the fifth book involving Percy shouldn't have been such a surprise. They are essentially a loving and well-meaning family though so they're getting past their differences. Oh and the other two of the three main characters will be back in the sequel (well they're here in this chapter anyway but it's not for long here). Thanks for the review!
insanechildfanfic - Thank you for the kind review!
Queen of Useless Info - I like to portray Slytherins as being more than lackeys or just plain evil. I love them! Thank for the review and your compliments on my taste in music!
hydraspit - Last chapter is a sad event but the sequel's actually starting to come on rather well. Thanks for the review!
Cassiopeia Potter - Sorry for the wait, thanks for reviewing!
Cooldot - I loved having Percy finally stand up to the evils of Fudge and I needed his brothers to see how cool he really is. Glad you liked all that. As to connecting with Slytherins, well I have always felt Percy's got a fairly Slytherin side to him and for a Gryffindor he's more the kind of person Slytherins can get on with. Thanks for reviewing!
Dark-Lady-Devinity - Wow, thanks for the very complimentary review! I love Snape too and Savage Garden are just fantastic! (Favourite band - it might show a bit:o) Sorry for the delay in updating!
Rutu - Wow, I'm always complimented that things can get to people enough to make them cry. Sorry about the cursing but I try not to go overboard, if it looks gratuitous it gets cut out before I post. Glad it hasn't put you off. Thanks for reviewing!
JMM - Gah! How did I miss that logic mes before I posted! Ok, solution, the aurur is one of the ones who work with Kingsley and know what's going on with the Order and can be trusted. Yeah, so that one was a really daft error. Thanks for pointing it out, I'm going to proof read more carefully in future, it's because the plot around that bitchanged after it was written in the first draft and I obviously missed it in the rewrite! Thanks!
What You Left BehindA/N: Oh dear, this is way beyond late! I'm so sorry but I've been quite unwell and had a lot of work besides! This updating thing will get better eventually just bear with me if youy can. Anyway, this is the last chapter and the sequel will be along as soon as I can manage. Enjoy!
Chapter 12: Family
"I believe that family is worth more than money or gold."
The rest of summer passed peacefully enough at Grimmauld Place, even Bill, Fred and George seemed pleased to have Percy home from hospital. He had returned to work after a weeks rest and was slowly settling in to his new job.
It had shocked both him and his family when Thornfield had offered him the position as head of department for International Magical Cooperation, even with her proviso that she would be overseeing much of what he did. This time however his family seemed genuinely proud of his new position at the ministry.
Percy had been so busy that it was with some shock that he realised it was the end of August and that his youngest brother and sister would be returning to Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione were still with them and the last evening after dinner was nigh on pandemonium for a while as Hermione yelled at Harry for not being packed and Molly ran around looking desperately for Ginny's wand which Fred and George knew quite well was sticking out of Ginny's back pocket but no one else, Ginny included, had noticed.
Percy was sat downstairs with Ron, who had decided that as his mother would re-pack his trunk anyway no matter how neatly he did it he should just let her do it her way to start with. He was looking thoughtful and leafing idly through one of Charlie's quidditch magazines.
"Percy?" Ron asked suddenly, "How did you ask Penelope out?"
Momentarily thrown by the sudden question, his brother was quiet for a moment before answering. "I didn't, she asked me. Penny didn't really hold with the idea of waiting for a guy to say something," Percy chuckled remembering how very much a modern woman Penelope had been.
"Oh." Ron turned back to the magazine.
"Why?"
Ron refused to look up from the magazine but his ears were tuning slightly red, "No reason, just curious."
Percy smiled, "This wouldn't have anything to do with Hermione would it?"
"No!" Ron snapped his head up at that remark.
Percy held out his hands in surrender, "Ok. But if it did…"
"It doesn't!" Ron insisted turning an even deeper shade of scarlet.
"Well I'm not a good person to come to for advice with regards to girls."
"I'm not asking for advice!" Ron groaned and sank his head into his hands. Percy could tell he was still blushing because his ears had gone more red than ever.
Taking pity on his brother, Percy said, "I remember at your age I thought girls were some alien species put on this planet to torment us."
Ron gave a snort of laughter. "What makes you think they're not?"
"Oh they are, you just learn to live with it in time!"
"Why is it they can never just tell you what they want?" Ron asked frustratedly.
"Probably because it's much more fun for them to watch us fall over ourselves trying to work it out!" Percy laughed. "Ron it's obvious what Hermione wants, she wants you."
"What!" Ron squawked, "No she doesn't! And I don't want her to!"
"Of course not," Percy rolled his eyes.
"I don't see Hermione as anything but a friend!"
A voice came from the doorway, "Hermione? The bushy haired girl?"
"Her hair isn't bushy, it's curly!" Ron couldn't prevent himself saying.
Charlie laughed and leaned against the doorframe, "Yeah, you're not interested in her at all!"
"I'm not! Stop laughing at me!"
Seeing his brother start to grow angry Percy stopped laughing, "We're sorry Ron, we were just trying to help."
"No you weren't, you were just looking for something to laugh at!" He stood and stormed from the room, brushing roughly past Charlie.
"Ron!" Charlie called after him.
"Let him go." Percy sighed, "I shouldn't have said anything."
"I'm sure you were just trying to help."
"I was, but I should have known better. I'll let him cool off for a while then go and try and talk to him."
"That might be a good idea." Charlie sat down with him on the sofa, "But talking of romance, what happened to you and Penny?"
Percy gave a small smile, "We broke up, it was too difficult with her still being in school and me being busy with at the ministry. I saw her at the triwizard tournament, she was seeing someone else; we talked for a while. I don't think she'd have stood for my behaviour in recent times anyway."
Charlie clapped him on the back, "Oh well, I'm sure you'll soon be fending the girls off with a stick when they hear about your heroics."
"I'd rather they didn't hear about that, I'd rather forget it."
"Well I don't think Fred and George will forget it in a hurry. You coming to see them all off at the train tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll be there. My new boss doesn't seem to care when I turn up to work as long as I get there eventually so she won't mind me taking the morning off."
"You finding her ok to work for?"
"Yes, she's a little outspoken but at least you always know where you stand with her."
"I bet the look on Fudge's face when he heard she'd hired you was priceless!" Charlie laughed.
"I bet it was," Percy agreed, "Unfortunately I didn't get to see it, she told him before I got there, but he's been pretty civil since I got back."
"Well, that's something." Charlie got to his feet, "Bill and I were heading out for a drink with some friends, do you want to join us, Perce?"
"No. Thanks, Charlie, but I've got to speak to Ron. You go out and have fun."
"Well, if I can't persuade you. See you tomorrow."
"Goodnight Charlie."
After Charlie left Percy waited only a minute before seeking out his youngest brother. Ron was in his room throwing things into his school trunk, which it looked like Molly Weasley had refused to pack for him after all, and it didn't look like he'd cooled off much.
"Ron, I wasn't trying to embarrass you, I was trying to help. I'm sorry, it was none of my business."
"Yeah, you got that right!" Ron growled.
"I'm sorry, but I genuinely wasn't trying to make fun of you. I know how much that hurts," Percy said sincerely.
Ron's anger calmed a little as he remembered all the times he had laughed at Percy because of the twins. "Sorry, I'm feeling a bit on edge at the moment."
"Well with everything that's been going on that's hardly surprising. Do you want to talk about it?"
Ron shrugged noncommittally. Percy sat down on the small space left on the bed that wasn't covered in Ron's school things and waited for his brother to speak.
"What if I can't protect them? Harry and Hermione I mean. Everything just seems so serious all of a sudden and I'm worried about everyone. All those times I was with Harry, even when we were fighting Death Eaters at the end of last year, it never really felt like this. Now it feels like we're really at war not just fighting for our lives but fighting for something more, I don't know like we're fighting for everything we care for because they want to destroy us and they don't seem to care how they do it," he sounded quite distraught.
"We won't let them, Ron," Percy insisted, "We're going to keep fighting no matter what."
"I know." Ron grinned at his brother, "I was really proud of you when I heard what had happened you know."
Percy smiled, "I was proud of you when I heard what had happened at the end of last year, and all the other times you and Harry and Hermione held back the Dark Lord's return. You rescued Ginny while I sat around feeling sorry for myself."
"No you didn't." Ron's grin faded, "And I didn't rescue Ginny, Harry did. He's the one you should be proud of, everyone else is. I don't know how he does it, he just keeps going and I get into a mess trying to juggle prefect meetings and quidditch practices. Not that practice seemed to make a whole lot of difference to my quidditch abilities, as the twins were only too eager to point out."
Percy frowned, "How far do you really think Harry would get without you? He needs you Ron, you make the difference, you make sure he gets through everything. Don't ever let anyone tell you you're not important because you are and damn quidditch and Fred and George and everything else, you're worth far more than you think. You're not standing in Harry's shadow, you're the one holding him up."
Ron blushed and muttered something Percy couldn't hear, but he looked pleased. Percy stayed while Ron continued to pack, removing items such as shirts then repacking them himself after folding them properly. Ron didn't seem to see the point, "The house elves will iron them anyway!" but allowed his brother to continue.
After a while Ron put his head on one side thoughtfully and turned to his brother, "Do you remember the first war, Perce?"
Percy was silent for a moment, remembering the strange feeling of fear without understanding that he had so often felt as a young child. "Bits of it. I wasn't very old. Not old enough to understand what was really going on anyway. Everyone was so scared and I didn't know why. I didn't want it to happen again, didn't want it to be true, refused to believe it could be. It shouldn't be…" Percy trailed off.
Ron looked at his brother and bit his lip, "Idiotic as you refusing to believe HE was back was, I think I can see why you did it. It sounds like you were a kid at the worst possible time."
Percy shrugged, "I survived, a lot of others didn't."
Ron looked uncomfortable, "Percy, I was reading the Daily Prophet the other day, about that attack on St Mungo's. Neville's parents' names were on the casualty list. I hope he's going to be ok."
Percy frowned. "Yes, I read that too. I think Neville's in for a difficult time of things, half the world's going to be asking him how he is and I would imagine that that's the last thing he needs!"
"I'm sure most of the Gryffindors will have more sense!"
"I hope so." Percy shook his head, "All those lives, it just keeps getting worse."
Ron found himself slightly scared by the defeated tone in his brother's voice. "Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better."
Percy looked up at him and smiled, "Yes and the only way to win is to keep fighting and that's always going to result in losses on both sides but we can hardly just lie down and give in. Try not to worry about it, just enjoy your teenage years while you can."
"This from the person who was born middle aged!" Ron snorted.
"Well who better to know that you'll regret wasting those years than someone who probably did?"
Ron looked up at his brother quickly, "You didn't waste them Perce, you just had a bit of a strange idea of fun."
Percy laughed, "Thanks. I wonder what's keeping dad, he's normally back by now."
"He's probably found some fascinating new muggle gadget to play with." As Ron spoke the front door was heard crashing open, "There you go, that'll be him. Wonder why he's banging about, he must be in a bad mood."
The two walked quietly to the top of the stairs and peered over the banister to see Arthur and Moody being greeted by Molly. They couldn't hear what was being said but no one looked happy, eventually Ron pulled a pair of extendable ears from his pocket and offered one to Percy who looked disapproving but accepted it anyway.
"…how many?" They heard their mother ask.
"We're still not sure, it looks like several muggle borns and known opposition to Voldemort were targeted, including those we mentioned from Hogwarts." Moody answered her.
"Oh those poor children!" Molly looked upset, "Were there any survivors?"
"Not that were there at the time but Lavender's parents were out so they're alright. However she had a couple of friends over, muggles she knew from her school before Hogwarts, and they're dead as well. They found her wand in her hand, it looks like she tried to defend them."
Molly's hand flew to her mouth at her husband's words and Percy and Ron turned to each other in horror. "What's going on?" Ron whispered.
Percy shook his head, "I don't know, but it sounds pretty bad." He suddenly felt his extendable ear slip from his grasp as Moody grabbed the other end and pulled it from his fingers, doing the same to Ron's.
"Mr Weasley, did you forget that as a member of the order you don't need to eavesdrop, you will be informed of what's going on?" Moody seemed grimly amused.
Percy blushed, he had forgotten. Being back at home had the habit of making him feel like a young child again.
"Ron!" Molly scolded, though her voice was trembling slightly, "What have I told you about those extendable ears! And you shouldn't be encouraging him, Percy!"
Percy hardly heard his mother's reprimand; he was too busy looking at the serious and sad expression on his father's face. "Dad, what's happened?"
"Come downstairs, Percy," Arthur said gravely, "I don't want to be shouting this across the house."
Ron made to follow his brother, "No Ron, you go back to your room and finish your packing!" Molly insisted.
"Mum!" Ron protested indignantly.
"Molly, he's going to find out anyway," Arthur pointed out gently.
"Oh, alright then, but come downstairs before anyone else starts on about wanting to know!"
Ron ran down the stairs to stand with Percy and his father who gestured him into a sitting room looking grave.
"Sit down, boys."
The two brothers did as they were told without question.
"There's been a number of attacks this afternoon on muggle borns and their families and on those known to stand against Voldemort. Some of whom you know. Lavender Brown, I'm very sorry to say, is dead."
Ron gaped in shock, Lavender had sat in his classes for five years, shared the same common room, the same friends, had been dating one of his dorm mates. He suddenly thought of Seamus and wondered if he knew yet. He tried to imagine how it would feel to be him but he couldn't, the idea was too strange and disturbing.
"Ron?" he felt Percy's hand on his arm, "Are you alright, you've gone awfully pale."
"I'm fine, I just can't quite believe…" he paused to gather his thoughts, "Who were the others we know?"
"The Abbotts, I think their daughter Hannah was in your year group at school?"
"Yes," Ron nodded absently, Hannah had been a member of the DA the previous year, aside from that he'd hardly known her but the fact that he now never would only increased the odd, numb feeling growing inside him."
"The only other one you might know was the son of the Burgess family. I believe he was due to start his seventh year at Hogwarts, a Slytherin, Professor Snape was looking extremely angry when I saw him. His family were, like the Abbotts known to oppose Voldemort and they've paid the price for that."
Percy felt a chill run through him, his mind worked to process the information, he had known Tobey Burgess by sight, and he remembered Lavender well, the name Hannah Abbott meant little to him beyond a vague knowledge of the family but the fact that these were people they knew, however insignificantly, made it seem somehow worse than a list consisting of hundreds of names he couldn't put faces to. This, added to the death of Neville Longbottom's parents, served to bring the war suddenly a lot closer to home.
"Percy, Thornfield wants you in work as soon as you've seen Ron and Ginny of at the platform tomorrow. She says she knows you're owed the day off but she needs you in the office." His father's voice broke in on his thoughts.
Percy nodded, "Right, I'll be there. Shouldn't somebody tell Ginny and Harry and Hermione before they hear it on the train tomorrow?"
"I'm going to go up and tell them now, the rest of the Order already know apart from Fred and George so I'll tell them all together. You can come with me if you want, Ron."
Ron nodded in silence. He couldn't claim to have known Lavender very well and he'd barely spoken to Hannah, let alone the Slytherin boy who he thought he could picture but certainly had never exchanged even the briefest of words with but these were still people he had known and would, he realised with a small and unpleasant shock, never see again. He would never again sit in divination and roll his eyes at Lavender and Pavarti sucking up to Trewlawny, logically of course he would not have done that anyway as he had dropped divination like every other sane person in his year group but that didn't make the thought any less troubling. This time it had been no one closer than a classmate he knew a little; next time it could be anyone. Even, he thought with a thrill of horror, Hermione. After all, a muggle born, best friends with Harry Potter, known for opposing Voldemort in a practical way at Harry's side, was hardly someone the Death Eaters would go out of their way to spare.
Arthur placed a reassuring hand on Ron's shoulder and guided him out the room leaving Percy staring at the floor and wondering vaguely exactly how much worse things were going to have to get before they took a turn for the better.
XXXXXXX
It was a sombre party who set of for Kings Cross the next morning. They arrived at the station in plenty of time for once, mostly due to Percy and Molly organising the whole thing with military precision and the fact that the twins had chosen to remain at Grimmauld Place and have a lie in and Bill had had to work.
Harry, Ron and Hermione instantly went to find a carriage and Ginny ran across to talk to Dean Thomas, who was stood with a pale and slightly lost looking Seamus Finnegan, leaving Charlie, Percy and Arthur to deal with the trunks. Molly was following them at a leisurely pace, carrying Pigwidgeon's cage and trying not to wake the excitable little owl. She was already several metres away from the nearest of her family members when she noticed a handsome young woman with blond hair and straight-backed poise walking towards her. The woman addressed Molly while the others were still busy, "Excuse me? It's Molly, isn't it?" The woman smiled pleasantly and gestured to herself, "Narcissa Malfoy, I was wondering if I could have a word?"
"Oh, erm, alright," Molly replied, a little thrown by the woman's friendly attitude considering where her husband was and that his conviction and imprisonment had been partly due to Molly's family.
"Lovely!" the woman exclaimed, taking Molly's arm and steering her away with a surprisingly powerful grip. "I just wanted to talk about my son, last year on the train."
Molly glanced around at her family who had not noticed her absence. "I'm sorry, I don't follow you." She winced, "Could you let go of my arm, you're hurting me?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the woman smiled and gripped harder than ever, causing Molly to exclaim in pain but she was held in an iron grip and could not free herself.
"Do you know what happened on the Hogwarts Express at the end of last year?" Narcissa asked.
"Your son and his friends ambushed my son and his best friends," Molly frowned.
The attractive blonde raised an eyebrow, "That's one version of events. Not the version however that ends with me finding my son in a luggage rack, unrecognisable because of the nature of the curses cast on him, by opponents who greatly outnumbered him and his friends, and this was not the first instance that this occurred either. I let this go at the end of their fourth year thinking it was simply a mistake, a crime of passion if you will, by a demented youngster and his horribly misguided friends. However, it would seem I was wrong to do so, so I'm here to give you a warning." She finally released Molly's arm.
"Oh? And what's your warning?" Molly rubbed her upper arm, sure that it would be horribly bruised.
"If your children, or their ridiculous friends, hurt my son ever again I will turn that pain back on you one hundred fold. You do not mess with my family and get away with it. Do we have an understanding, Molly? You know, one mother to another. Just in case we don't, allow me to clarify, if one finger is laid on my son by any one in any way connected with you, you'll know what it feels like to see your child come out of an attack worse off, only you won't be able to revive them." The woman's tone had never changed and her sweet smile was fixed on her beautiful face.
"Molly, what's going on? Are you alright?" Molly could have sobbed in relief at her husband's sudden appearance at her side.
"Oh hello Arthur," the charming smile was turned on the man, "Molly and I were just having a mother's chat, weren't we, Molly?"
Molly was dumbfounded by the woman's attitude, "You were threatening my children!"
Narcissa nodded and smiled patronisingly, "That's right, you see I knew you were someone I could make understand me."
"I think you'd better leave before you do something that lands you in a cell with your husband," Arthur suggested quietly.
A flash of pain appeared in the icy grey eyes before the woman smirked, "Ooh, I'm scared! Quite apart from anything else, I don't do my own dirty work," she nodded over to where a group of other parents were stood watching intently, "But there are plenty who'll do it for me."
She turned and began to walk away before turning back and adding, "Remember what I said, Molly, I'm not a woman for idle threats."
Arthur went to go after her but Molly placed a shaky hand on his arm, "Let her go, what can you do?"
Arthur placed a gentle arm round his wife's shaking shoulders. "Molly, whatever she said to you, we won't let it happen."
"She said if Ron or Harry, or anyone else connected to them, hurt Draco she'd hurt our children, that she'd…" Molly broke off with a small sob and buried her face in her husband's shoulder. Arthur pulled her close and stared across at where Narcissa Malfoy was hugging Draco and laughing at something he'd said, she looked like all the other mothers on the platform and a chill went through him at how difficult it was to spot these people if they didn't want you to.
XXXXXXX
Percy looked around for his parents, more because he wanted an excuse to stop dragging the heavy trunk for a moment than because he was actually worried about them, to see his mother had refuge in his father's embrace and neither of them looked very happy. He nudged Charlie and nodded in their parents' direction.
Charlie frowned in concern, "What happened?"
Percy shook his head, "I don't know, we should go and see if everything's alright."
Charlie heaved the last trunk onto the train and told Ron, Harry and Hermione that they would be back in a moment before following his brother across the platform.
Seeing his sons approaching, Arthur handed his wife a handkerchief, "Now come on Molly, dry your eyes, we don't want to frighten the kids."
She sniffed and accepted the handkerchief. "Thank you."
Charlie approached at a run with Percy trailing behind him. "Is everything ok?"
Percy placed a hand on his mother's arm, "Mum, what's the matter?"
"Nothing dear, everything's fine." Molly managed a non-too convincing smile.
Arthur clarified, "She had a little run in with Mrs Malfoy, needless to say she's not best pleased with the incident on the train last year involving her son."
"Oh, mum!" Charlie hugged his mother while Percy took Pigwidgeon from her. "Don't listen to her, she can't do anything."
"Yes, she can," Molly said worriedly.
"Well, we won't let her," Percy tried to reassure his mother.
Molly sniffed and smiled determinedly, "I'm fine boys, let's go and find Ron and Ginny."
Ginny had joined Ron, Harry and Hermione in their carriage by the time they returned and Hermione was already in her robes, prefect's badge pinned prominently to them, causing Percy to hide a smile as he remembered his own pride in the office.
"Right, you four have a good year!" Molly smiled and hugged them all in turn. "But before you go listen to me, all of you. I want you to stay away from Draco Malfoy this year, don't pick fights with him, don't play jokes on him, just leave him alone. He's got some very dangerous people on his side and I don't want to see anything happen to any of you. Promise me!"
"Mum!" Ron protested, "He always starts it anyway!"
"I don't care what he starts, just ignore him. Please."
"Do as your mother says Ron, in fact all of you should do the same," Arthur said.
"You're not seriously worried about anything Malfoy could do are you, Mr Weasley?" Hermione asked sceptically.
"No, we're worried about what his mother and her friends could do and for that matter what Lucius Malfoy could do were he to escape Azkaban," Percy said in a deeply serious tone.
"Did she say something to you?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"No of course she didn't," Molly lied, "But she's a mother and that means that she'll probably go to any lengths to ensure Draco is not harmed in any way."
"Alright, we'll try to stay away from him." Ron agreed.
"Good," Molly gave her son a smile.
A whistle sounded and Molly, Arthur, Percy and Charlie hurriedly stepped off the train and closed the door behind them, speaking through the open window.
"Have a good year!"
"Don't get into trouble!"
"Don't worry too much about anything!"
Percy watched the train pull away with Ron and Ginny leaning out of the window and waving madly. He smiled and waved back but his smile was fixed and he had a cold feeling inside him that he couldn't explain without reference to his mother's encounter with Narcissa Malfoy. It wasn't just her threat specifically though, her threat had been nothing more than the latest incident in what was fast turning out to be a potentially disastrous war. As the train drew out of sight he saw his mother bury her head in his father's chest again, trying to hide tears from her sons.
As they walked slowly from the platform, Narcissa Malfoy swept past in a flurry of expensive robes and a slightly floral perfume. She didn't even give them a second glance before walking through the barrier.
Charlie glared after her and Arthur tightened his arm around Molly's waist but the woman was entirely uninterested in any of them anymore, it seemed that having made her point she wanted nothing more to do with them.
Percy drew nearer to his mother as they left and noticed Charlie doing the same, both instinctively trying to offer comfort in any way possible. They left quickly, as though eager to put some distance between themselves and Narcissa's threat. Despite their words to Molly though, Percy had caught his father's eye after that incident and knew that he was concerned as his wife was. He sighed and remembered suddenly that he had to go to work. Brilliant, another day of trying to clear up after the Death Eaters attacks; he just hoped he wasn't sent to deal with the muggles whose children had been involved, he didn't envy anyone that job. How could they explain that their child had been caught in the crossfire of a bitter war that the muggles didn't even know was being waged under their very noses? For the moment though Percy was just astonishingly grateful that things weren't any worse and that his own family, the family he had so nearly lost, were for time being at least safe and well. It was with this thought that he realised that however bad things got at least he'd done the right thing in coming home.
XXXXXXX
OK, that's it. I was beginning to wonder when exactly I'd ever get this whole thing updated but it seems I've finally done it. I know my updating's become quite erratic and I wish I could say it will get better but instead I'll have to simply say I'll try to make it get better! The sequel will be a couple of weeks yet but I'll try to post it soon, I might aim to give you a chapter of it every two weeks instead of every week (which believe it or not is my normnal aim for updates! That just hasn't exactly happened recently!) so that I can start to post it sooner than I would otherwise.
Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and please let me know what you thought of this last chapter. :o)