Bill's POV:

I sat at the kitchen table that evening with the Head Boy badge sitting in front of me. Over by the window my new owl, Lighting, was perched next to Errol, the family owl. I was so happy that I had gotten the badge. Ever since I had been made a Prefect, becoming Head Boy my seventh year had been my goal. It was nice to know all that hard work had payed off. I was now the first Hogwarts Headboy in my family!

An explosion of some kind came from upstairs but no one in my family jumped. We were use to it by now. It was just my ten-year-old twin brothers goofing off in their room. As it was not followed by any yells or shrieks, we knew nobody had been hurt.

"Maybe I shouldn't let Ginny stay up there with them," I heard Mom mutter through the pins in here hands. She was busy trying to get some of my old robes to fit my brother Percy. This was going to be Percy's first year at Hogwarts but he hadn't seemed all that excited about it.

Percy always had been the quiet one of the family but since getting our Hogwarts letters he had seemed quieter than usual. I was wondering if he was feeling nervous about going away from home. I knew Mom was having a harder time letting him go than she had Charlie and I but then she always had been protective of Percy. I figured it was partially because he was more timid than the rest of us and probably got teased more than any of the rest of us. The twins especially liked to tease him. Percy was also small, even for his age, which made Mom trying to fit him to my old robes kind of comical. Even though they were my first set of robes, they were still way too big and made Percy look smaller than he really was.

My other two brothers were sitting at the table with me. Seven-year-old Ron, who was a year older than Ginny, the baby of the family, sat at the end of the table. He had Percy's pet rat, Scabbers, out and was playing with him. Charlie, my sixteen-year-old brother, sat across from me. His head was buried in a book, and had been since we had gotten back from Diagon Alley, which was unusual. Percy was the bookworm of the family. I didn't ever remember seeing Charlie read anything voluntarily. Ducking my head, I tried to figure out what it was he was reading.

Quidditch Tactics and Coaching Techniques, the cover of the book read.

I shook my head. I should've known. Ever since he was little, Charlie had lived and breathed Quidditch. He had made the Gryffindor team as a Chaser in his second year the same year I had made the team as a beater. The only reason I had even tried out was because of Charlie. I liked Quidditch but it wasn't the most important thing in my life. In his fourth year, Charlie became the team's seeker as the old one had graduated. Last year, his fifth year, he had not only made Prefect but had also been named Quidditch Captain. I think the title Quidditch Captain had meant more to Charlie than being made a Prefect, much to our mother's disappointment. I was happy for him, even though it had meant I had to listen to all the jokes about my younger brother being Captain of the team.

Gryffindor hadn't loss a game since Charlie had joined the team. That was a four year winning streak. Needless to say, hopes were high. I was starting to think Charlie was feeling the pressure.

"Quidditch practice doesn't start until October," I reminded him.

"What?" Charlie said looking up from the book.

"You've got a month to prepare for the upcoming season. What's with the cramming all of a sudden."

"Because I just realized that with the exception of you, me and Derek Finnigan we've got to recruit a whole new team this year. That's four new people and everyone's expecting us to win again."

"Technically you've got to recruit new people, and its really only three. Rob Wood's a good Chaser. He's done a great job when he's played filled in for an injured player. He definitely should be on the team."

"Yeah, well that still leaves me a Beater and two Chasers to find before the start of the season not to mention getting us working as a team. A month seems too short."

"Relax will you. This is our last evening of freedom before going back to school. Enjoy it."

"But he doesn't have a Head Boy badge to admire all night," Fred said as he and George came down the steps. Evidently whatever they had been doing in their room had lost their interest. Ginny, my six-year-old sister, was slowly coming down the steps behind them. When she wasn't with Percy, she could usually be found hanging out with the twins. Mom worried they would have a bad influence on her especially with Percy going away to school.

"You two will be lucky to even make it into Hogwarts," I shot back at them.

"If they took Percy, they'll take us," Fred said. "Where is Percy anyway?" he said looking around the room like he hadn't seen Percy standing on the stool in front of Mom.

"There he is, Fred," George said pointing to him, as he went along with Fred's joke.

"Oh sorry. Didn't see you there. Those robes just swallow you."

Percy's face went pink. He always had been sensitive about his size, and the twins knew it.

"Yeah, I think they'd fit a house elf better," George piped in.

Percy stepped off the stool and started after the twins. Mom grabbed for him but missed him. The twins tore off upstairs, laughing. Percy started chasing after him, got up three steps, tripped on the front of the robes, which Mom hadn't gotten around to pinning yet, and fell.

The twins stopped at the top of the stairs, turned and kept laughing. Ron and Ginny were laughing as was Charlie who had looked up from his book. I was struggling not to laugh myself. Percy was sitting up on the stairs, his chin scrapped up from where he fell. I could see tears glistening in his eyes and the urge to laugh disappeared. I kicked Charlie under the table to get him to quit.

"Percy, are you okay" Mom said rushing over to him.

"Are you too short to make it up the stairs," Fred called down from where he stood.

"CUT IT OUT YOU TWO AND GO TO YOUR ROOM."

Knowing what Mom was like when she got angry, the twins hightailed it out of sight.

"AND YOU THREE QUIT LAUGHING," she yelled turning to look at Charlie, Ron and Ginny.

Ron and Ginny quit right away. Charlie tried, started again and hid his face in his book, probably hoping Mom wouldn't notice.

"Let me see how bad it is," Mom said turning back to Percy. She cupped his chin in her hand and tilted his head up so she could see better.

"Mom, I'm fine," Percy told her as she pressed a handkerchief to his bleeding chin.

"I'll be the judge of that," she told him helping him to his feet. "Go have a seat at the table so I can get you cleaned up," she told him ushering him toward the table.

Slowly Percy made his way to the chair next to me. He held the handkerchief with one hand and was holding the robes up with the other. As he sat down, I could already see a bruise forming both on his chin and the heel of the hand holding the handkerchief.

"Great, everybody is going to think we beat him up tomorrow," Charlie said looking over the top of his book. He had quit laughing but there was a huge grin on his face.

"Wish I didn't have to go."

The words were soft but I just barely caught them. I knew right then wasn't the time to press for an explanation but I wasn't going to just let it go. I knew for sure now that something was bothering my little brother.

"Of course Percy, telling the other kids your older brother's beat you up would be better than telling them you tripped on your robes going up the . . ."

"CHARLIE WEASLEY," Mom yelled, even as I kicked Charlie under the table again to try to get him to shut up.

"Sorry," Charlie muttered and went back to his book.

"Now let's get you cleaned up and finish pinning these robes," Mom said turning her attention to Percy.

Percy's POV:

I was reading when Mom came into the room. In her hands were the robes she had hemmed for me.

"Here you go dear," she said coming into the room. I put my book aside and stood up to take the robes from her. "Are you all packed?"

"I will be as soon as I put these away," I told her taking the robes from her and walking over to my school trunk. I opened it up and put it in with the rest of my school things. Everything was old and looked worn. Even the rat Mom and Dad had bought me looked like he had seen better days. Still, I knew they did the best they could so I didn't complain.

"Are you excited?"

"Yes, I can't wait," I told her trying hard to sound enthusiastic. Truth was I was dreading the next day. I didn't want to go away to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, it was what was expected of me. Since it had opened, almost all the members of my Dad's family had gone to Hogwarts. Even Dad's younger brother, who had graduated a few years ago, had made it through despite my Mom continually telling him that he was going to get expelled. Hogwarts was where my parents had met.

"Your going to learn so much there and have so much fun. My years at Hogwarts were some of the best years of my life," Mom gushed.

I simply nodded. It wasn't as if I hadn't heard all this before. Robes safely packed away, I shut and locked my trunk.

"How's your chin?" Mom asked changing subjects.

"I'm fine Mom," I told her even though she came closer and tilted my head toward the light so she could see for herself. I stuffed my hands in my pockets before she noticed the bruises on them to. She fussed over me enough. I didn't want to give her something else to worry about.

"It doesn't look too bad," She finally said releasing my chin. "Now don't stay up too late," she told me kissing the top of my head.

"I won't," I assured her walking back to my bed. Sitting down I went back to my book as she went to tuck my little brother Ron in. It wasn't long before she was leaving the room, shutting the door behind her.

A few moments later, I could hear her muffled voice coming from the twins' room. From the sound of it, she was yelling at them again. I took some satisfaction in that although I still wanted to get them back.

Not able to concentrate on the book anymore, I closed it and sat it down on the bedside table. I took off my glasses and placed them on top of the book and then reached up and turned off the lamp.

I listened as the rest of my family members got ready for bed. Before long, I heard two sets of feet head back downstairs. My parents. They always stayed up awhile after us kids were in bed. As their footsteps faded away though, the only sound that filled the room was Ron's soft snoring.

I laid awake staring up at the ceiling dreading the next day. I was leaving behind everything I had known and going to a place where a lot was expected of me. Bill and Charlie had done so well at Hogwarts, my parents were always going on about the achievements they had got. I knew my teachers would be comparing me to them. That my parents would be expecting as much if not more out of me as Bill and Charlie had accomplished. But what if I didn't do as well as they did? What if I ended up totally sucking at magic? I mean Charlie had already tried teaching me how to fly on a broomstick and it hadn't gone to well. After his first lesson I had given up. Charlie could already fly when he went to Hogwarts and me - I didn't even want to learn. I just knew that class wasn't going to go well.

I heard my bedroom door creak open. Looking over I saw someone peeking in.

"You still awake Perce?" my brother Bill asked.

I thought about ignoring him. About closing my eyes and pretending I was asleep.

"Yeah, I'm awake," I said instead.

Bill came all the way in, and then closed the door behind him. I turned the lamp back on and sat up on the side of the bed. Bill came and sat down next to me.

"I heard what you said earlier, about wishing you didn't have to go to Hogwarts," Bill told me. I instantly looked down at my hands. I hadn't meant for anyone to hear that. "Want to talk about it."

I shook my head.

"Look, Percy it's okay to be scared. Leaving home for the first time is a big deal."

"Charlie wasn't," I told him. Charlie had been so happy to be leaving for Hogwarts when it was his turn. Excited to see all the things that Bill had told us stories of over the years. Excited to be able to see Quidditch matches in person and even more excited about eventually being able to play the game on a real team.

"Yeah, well Charlie's crazy," Bill said. "He'd jump off a cliff just to be able to say he's done it. I was scared my first year. I wasn't sure what to expect even though Dad and Mom had told me about the school. Was so sure I was going to be the worse at everything but it turned out not to be so bad."

"What if I don't fit in? What if I let Mom and Dad down?"

"Just try your best, and Mom and Dad will be happy. As for fitting in, just be yourself."

"Like that works here," I muttered. Sometimes I wondered if my parents had adopted me. I seemed so different then the rest of my siblings. Ginny was the only one I really spent any time with and I think that was just because I was the only one who didn't tease her.

"You'll do fine, Percy," Bill said putting his arm around my shoulders. "And it's not like you're going alone. Charlie and I will be there with you."

Somehow that wasn't too reassuring, especially not after Charlie's comments earlier. I didn't mention that to Bill though.