The Wonderful Weasleys are all JK Rowlings.

Percy's Day

Percy woke up with a small foot in his face. How Ron managed to turn 180 degrees in the middle of the night and pull all the blankets onto the floor, he would never understand. For a little kid, he sure did take up a lot of space and he could sleep through a banshee wail. Percy rolled out of bed and slipped his feet into the slippers he had placed neatly beside the bed. Today was the end of being kicked and pushed all night long, the end of stepping over baby toys and finding his things torn or broken. Mum and Dad had taken Charlie to King's Cross yesterday for his first day at Hogwarts. Today Percy would get to move into his very own room!

Percy could smell bacon as he ran down the stairs. His mum was in the kitchen and two year-old Ginny was pulling pots and pans out the cupboard at her feet. "Oh Percy, I'm so glad your up. Go wake up your brothers. Breakfast is almost ready."

"Mum, can I move into Charlie's room today?"

"Yes dear, I think we can manage that, but not until after lunch. You have lessons to begin today." Percy wondered what his mum would think up for him to do today. She always made lessons fun. He started back up the stairs trying to take two at a time but giving up at the halfway point.

"Fred, George, get up." Percy banged on the door and walked cautiously through the toy-strewn room. He removed a half eaten apple from the windowsill as he pulled the shade up. Bright sunshine flooded the room, but neither boy moved. "Get up I said. Mum's got breakfast ready." The two boys continued to snore. Percy went over and gave George (at least he thought it was George) a poke in the ribs. A devilish grin twitched at the corner of the boy's mouth. "Your not asleep," said Percy.

"Yes we are," said little George, his eyes were still closed but a grin was spreading over his face.

"No, you're not! Get up, both of you!" Percy was yelling now.

"Hey, hey what's going on here?" Arthur Weasley poked his head in the door as he was pulling on his work robes.

"Mum said to get them up, but they won't get out of bed." Percy pointed at the twins.

"We'll see about that," said Arthur. He began to tickle and wrestle the twins until peals of laughter were coming from the room. Percy rolled his eyes and moved on to wake up Ron. When he poked his head in the door again the small boy in the bed was sitting up and rubbing his eyes. 'You ready to get up?" Percy smiled "Come on mate, everybody's up but you." Ron nodded silently and tumbled out of bed. He clutched his stuffed bear as he started toward the steep stairs but hesitated at the top, reaching for Percy's hand as they started down together.

Arthur stood from the breakfast table and addressed the table full of red heads. "Well Weasleys, I'm off. Let's try to leave the Burrow standing for one more day." He gave Molly a quick peck and then as an afterthought bent down to Percy. "Son, now that Charlie's gone, your Mum will depend on your help even more. While I'm at work, you're the man of the house."

Percy swelled with pride. "Don't worry Dad. I can handle it." Arthur smiled, "I'm sure you can, son." His eyes met his wife's, "Good luck," he said with a grin and he was gone.

Molly had set up a table in the garden for Percy to do his work. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny could play in the yard while Percy worked on his lessons. Today he had writing and arithmetic. His mum had placed different piles of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts in piles across the table and he had to add up the total amount of money for each separate pile and write it down on his scroll. It was like a game really and he didn't mind it at all. Fred and George were chasing each other across the yard on their toy broomsticks. The brooms had been a present from Uncle Oscar and the twins' names were scrolled across the handles in shiny red paint. They rode them dragging their toes through the dirt outside the barn and pulling up big clouds of dust. Molly had placed Ginny close by her in the grass as she worked on laundry. She was sending magical soap bubbles into the air that Ginny chased in circles. Ron was just running. Running from Fred to his Mum to Percy.

"What ya doin'?"

"Counting money," Percy answered as he scratched out numbers and added in his head. Ron reached up to touch one of the neatly stacked piles of coins. "Don't touch that!!" Percy almost yelled. Ron's eyes grew wide and his lip began to tremble. "I'm sorry," Percy said, suddenly feeling very guilty. "It's just you can't mess up my stacks. Mum won't be able to grade my work and we can't lose any of these, either. Why don't you go see if Fred or George will give you a go on the broomstick?" Ron turned and stamped his feet as he headed toward the barn.

After lunch Percy asked his Mum again about moving into the new room. Molly smiled, "You need to do a little reading today and I need to get Ron and Ginny down for a nap. Why don't you go up to Charlie's room and pick out a book to read. Once they are asleep we'll move your things to your new room." This seemed like an agreeable arrangement. Charlie and Bill had shelves and shelves of books that they had left behind. Now they would be Percy's. It would be fun to go and explore Charlie's, no his, room all by himself.

Percy scanned the shelves for something that was not too hard to read. Here was something good, a story about a boy and his pet dragon. It had lots of pictures. The pet dragon giggled and skipped across the pages as he flipped through. This was too easy. Here was another book, it didn't have very many pictures but the one on the front showed a boy wizard with glasses and a pile of books around him. He was looking at Percy through a magnifying glass, his enlarged eye blinking. Percy opened the book to the first page. It was a story about a boy detective who solved magical mysteries because he was really smart. Percy flopped across the bed. This was interesting. A little longer than he was used to, but still really good. Downstairs he could hear the screen door slam as Fred and George headed back out to the yard and his mother's voice was humming a lullaby to Ginny and Ron from a bedroom down the hall.

Before he knew it he had read several chapters. His reading was suddenly interrupted by a piercing scream outside his window. "HELP, MUMMY, HELP." Percy ran to the window. Fred was sitting outside his window on the branch of an oak tree, his arms clutching the trunk as he looked down at the ground in terror.

"Don't move Fred." Percy yelled.

"PERCY HELP ME!" Percy took off at a run.

"Mum" he called. "Fred's in the tree again!!"

Within the blink of an eye, Molly Weasley was at the base of the tree, her wand extended. "It's OK Fred. I've got you," she called "Let go of the tree." As Molly pointed her wand at Fred, he was lifted safely out of the tree and floated down to the ground.

"That was fun, can we do it again?" Fred laughed.

"Absolutely not. Do it again and I might just leave you there."

All the commotion had woken Ron from his nap. He stood in the door clutching his bear. Molly sighed. "Ronniekins, you didn't get enough nap dear."

"Not sleepy" Ron answered and headed after Fred and George, dragging the stuffed bear through the dirt behind him.

His mother shrugged, "I give up then. Percy, if you'll watch the boys for me, I'll go move your room."

"OK, just one minute." Percy raced upstairs for the book and then tromped back down to the barn. He climbed up on the stone wall and settled himself to read.

George and Fred had grown tired of the brooms and had left them deserted on the ground preferring to find balls and bats scattered across the yard. "Hey Perce, come throw us some Bludgers." George called. "Throw 'em yourself," he answered.

Percy's book was very good. This boy detective was incredibly smart. He was telling the law enforcement wizards how to solve the crimes. How would a kid know all that stuff? Percy thought to himself. Ron had taken up the brooms and was attempting to place his bear on one broom and ride the other.

Fred and George came running when they heard the crash. Ron rushed to collect his bear that had fallen when the broom hit the side of the barn. "Bear crash." He cried.

Percy knelt to look at the pieces of the little broom. The tail had come off. He was pretty sure his Dad could fix this. His dad could fix most anything, but Fred was frantic and close to hysterical. "He broke my broom. He broke my broom."

"Shut it Fred," Percy said.

"No! He's a stupid baby and he broke my broom." Fred lunged at Ron, his eyes furious. Before Percy could intervene, Ron's bear had transformed with a pop. Now instead of a cuddly toy, the little boy was tightly clutching an enormous spider. Ron froze in panic as the hairy creature crawled up his chest, and over his shoulder. Percy knocked the spider to the ground and it scurried off towards the woods. Ron did not move. He had turned completely white and his eyes stared out straight ahead without blinking. Suddenly Fred and George began to laugh. "Did you see what I did?" Fred boasted. Percy visualized Fred back up in the tree, but he quickly shook off his urge saying only, "You're in trouble Fred Weasley. I'm going to tell Mum." At this Fred stopped laughing and stooped to pick up the broken pieces on the ground. "He broke my broom," he muttered as he and George started back toward the house. Percy turned to Ron who still had not moved. "Come on, Ron, let's go." Ron looked wildly at Percy and suddenly burst into an ear-piercing scream. It was not going to be easy, but there was nothing else to do. Percy picked Ron up and carried him back to the Burrow, the smaller boy screaming the entire way.

Percy bathed quickly that night and settled in his pajamas in front of the fire. "Percy, would you watch Ginny while your father and I bathe the boys. Goodness knows they're filthy." Percy remembered the book about the boy and the dragon and he brought it downstairs and sat with Ginny on the sofa reading and pointing at the pictures of the happy, waving dragon.

It was nice to have a little sister. She smelt of powder and lotion and her warm little body made him feel sleepy and relaxed. He could not remember the twins being born at all. He remembered Ron, but nothing much happened when Ron was born, his grandmother came and that was all. But when Ginny was born.he would never forget that. They had such a party. All his aunts and uncles came. There were presents, not just for Ginny but for all of them and they had danced and laughed and played until late at night. His dad had said there were two miracles, the Weasley's had had a girl and "You Know Who" had disappeared. Percy had crawled up beside his mum and asked, "Who is You Know Who?"

"He was a very bad wizard, dear, who hurt a lot of people. But he has gone away and he won't hurt anyone now."

"Did he go away because of Ginny?" Percy had asked.

"No darling, he went away because of another baby. A baby boy." And then his mother had started to cry and his Aunt Colleen had picked him up. He really didn't understand at all, but it had been a wonderful party."

Finally, Percy landed in bed. He didn't protest bedtime because he had a plan. He only had two more chapters of his book and with a Lumos stick under the covers he could finish it all alone in his new room! He gently pushed Scabbers to the foot, snuggled into the tent of blankets, and prepared to lose himself with the brilliant boy detective. Suddenly, he heard the soft pat, pat of little feet across the floor. He looked out from under his tent to see a freckled face and soft red curls standing beside him. "Go back to bed Ron," he ordered. But Ron didn't move. They stared at each other for what seemed like a long time.

At last Percy ended the staring match with a small smile, "OK mate. but just for tonight. Tomorrow you've got to sleep in your own bed."

Ron crawled in deep under the covers. He was quiet for a minute before he said, "Bear gone."

"I know," said Percy softly. "Don't worry, I won't let anything get you."

"OK," Ron said as his eyelids drooped. "Night Percy."

Percy folded down the corner of the page on his book. It would have to wait until tomorrow.

"Goodnight Ron."

THE END