Madeline Redveil had determination. Voldermort had always said that she underestimated him.

Yet now, it would seem that he had been the one who underestimated her.

Yes, Voldermort had had a strong will to live, but so did she.

So now, as she stood staring at herself in the mirror, she knew that the lengths she had gone to stay alive had been enough to rival her master's. She spoke to the owl perching on the window sill. "I must say, I think my old human body was more attractive." She said. "Although, at least I no longer have fur and live in a cage." With another look at her features, she scowled. "This red hair is doing nothing for me."

There was a knock at the door. "Percy, can I come in?"

"Yes, come in." She replied, pleased with her ability to talk exactly like the boy she had captured.

A young girl, who she immediately recognised, entered the room. It was the girlfriend of Harry Potter. So surely that must mean...?

"I just wanted to apologise for earlier."

Madeline forced a smile. She had no idea what this girl had to apologise for, but she figured that Percy might be a forgiving kind of person. "Say no more about it."

There was a pause before Ginny spoke again and changed the subject. "Harry is using the Floo network to talk to Ron. He and Hermione are having a great time in Australia; they found her parents and put their memories right." She said. "They were a bit shocked to find that they had sold their house and moved over there, but now they've gotten used to the idea, they're thinking of staying on a little longer."

"Harry Potter is here!" Madeline bit down on her tongue, mentally cursing herself for sounding so surprised. "I mean ... uh, I thought he went out. Yes, that's it. I thought he said that he was going out for the day...when I saw him earlier."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're alright? George said you were acting weird after you were bitten by a Pygmy Puff." She walked over to who she thought was her brother and felt his forehead. "You don't seem to have a temperature, but maybe we should take you to St Mungo's and let a healer look at you."

Madeline shook Percy's head. "No, no need for that. After all, it was just a Pygmy Puff, those things are tiny, right?"

Ginny nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.

Oh Damn. Madeline thought. Why the hell is this girl crying? Was this Percy the kind of person to comfort her? She reached out and patted Ginny on the shoulder. "Something I said?" She asked, finally deciding to speak.

"Oh, Percy." Now she was fully sobbing, her head rested on Percy's shoulder and clinging to his waist, as if she never wanted to let him go again.

Madeline wanted to push her off, but she knew she had to play along. She uneasily shifted Percy's arms and pulled Ginny in. "Its okay." She offered. Madeline hoped to Merlin that Percy wasn't the kind to make emotional speeches, because that was a department she was seriously lacking in.

"It's not okay, Percy. It's far from okay." Ginny sobbed harder into his shoulder. "I just miss him so much, so, so much."

Who did she miss? Was this girl talking about a beloved family pet, a family member? "Well, yes, I get that. I mean, when he left, it was just awful."

Ginny sniffed and looked up into her brother's eyes, little knowing that he wouldn't be looking back. "Tell me what happened."

"What happened when?"

"When he died, Percy. You were there, you saw it happen." She took a deep breath. "I know that none of us have dared ask, but I really need to know, was it painless or did he suffer?"

Madeline couldn't help but feel panicked. "Oh yes, yes that happened."

"Which one was it, Percy?" Suddenly Ginny's voice had gone from heartbroken to irritated. "I'm not a little girl, I can take it."

A voice, over by the door, that wasn't Madeline's or Percy's answered her question. "He wouldn't have felt a thing." The voice continued. "He was still smiling when we pulled him out of the rubble. It happened so fast, I doubt he even realised what was happening."

Harry Potter.

The boy who lived... No, the boy who killed her master, the boy that tore away the greatest wizard she had ever known, and here he was, stood boldly before her.

Now that she had seen him, she stood frozen, transfixed on him. Her fury was so great that it had rendered her paralysed. Madeline watched as the young girl collapsed into his arms; he stroked her hair and whispered words that Madeline couldn't quite hear. After a while, Harry looked over in her direction and addressed Percy. "I understand, you know, when I think back to that night, the grief is crushing, we lost Tonks; Remus, Fred and so many others. Sometimes I get so angry about it all and others I just feel guilty... so damn guilty."

Ginny took hold of his hand and clutched it tightly. "You have nothing to feel guilty about, Harry. You set us free from him that night." She blinked away the stray tears and nuzzled into his neck. "You were so brave that night."

"And what about all the others? They were brave too, they all deserved to live! None of them deserved to die like that, not for me and not for anything or anyone else."

"They died for the good of Wizardkind. The future generations will live without the fear that we had. Years from now, our children can grow up safe and happy." Ginny placed a tender hand on his cheek. "When that time comes, we will honour each and every one of them."

Madeline shoved her clenched fists into Percy's pocket and felt the smooth wood that was his wand. She furled her fingers around it. She wondered if it would obey her. Would it perform Avada Kerdava and Crucio like her old wand did?

How dare they talk about her master's death like it was a good thing?

She wanted to fire curses at them until they begged her for death, but even then, she felt like it would never be enough. Nothing ever seemed enough when it came to avenging her master. Madeline took deep breaths. Not now, she told herself. She would wait until the moment was right and then Harry Potter would pay the highest price for his crime.

There was a light knock on the door; however, unlike the young girl, they waited for no invitation to be let in. George looked around the room. "Oh Gin, have you been crying again?"

"Where have you been?" She said, ignoring his questions.

He gestured to Errol, who he was carrying on his shoulder. "The owls need feeding, don't they?" He held up the small bag of feed he had been holding.

Harry looked down at his shoes.

"Thinking of Hedwig?" Ginny asked.

"I still expect her to fly in through the window." Harry sighed. "Did you realise it's been a month today, since the battle?"

Madeline winced, realising that she had spent a month of her life trapped in the body of Fluffy the Pygmy Puff. She thought about her master, knowing, that he himself, wouldn't have been afraid to have done something like that.

George spoke in Ginny's place "And soon it will be two months and then three months. We still lost the people we lost that night. How is counting the days, weeks and months going to make it any easier?"

Harry swallowed back the lump that had formed in the back of his throat. "I just..." He thought for a moment, it wasn't often he was lost for words. "I just need to..." He found himself interrupted by Ginny.

"I understand." She reassured, before shooting a look of warning at George. "Even if he doesn't." Her voice had a cold edge to it.

George held his hands up. "I'm not trying to upset anyone."

"Well, you have."

Harry painted on a false smile, attempting to salvage the situation. "Listen, I'm fine. George is right."

"I'm not trying to make this any harder for you, mate."George said. "We all miss them."

Madeline nodded, thinking about her master laying dead. "Some deaths were just worse than others."

Ginny reached over and took hold of Percy's hand. Madeline resisted the urge to snatch it away. "Somebody needed to say it, Perce." She looked over at George and Harry. "We can grieve for the others, but Percy is right, it was losing Fred that's making us feel this way."

Madeline wanted to crush Ginny's hand in a vice like grip. "Yes, Fred's death really hurt." The words were like a bitter poison in her mouth.

A crash was heard from downstairs.

"Looks like Dad finally found out how to turn on that Muggle artefact." Ginny almost smiled, almost but not quite.

Harry took this as a cue to leave."C'mon, we'll help him clean up whatever mess there is." He held the door open .

"Are you two going to be alright?" She asked her brothers.

"Don't worry about us." George said. "We'll take care of ourselves, isn't that right, Perce?"

Madeline nodded. "That's us, if there's one thing we're good at, it's being alright." She twisted Percy's mouth into what she hoped was a convincing smile.

Reassured, Ginny left to follow Harry.

George remained where he was stood, his eyes fixed on Percy. "I was thinking, you should probably feed Hermes." He made a point of stroking Errol and passed over the bag of owl feed.

"Oh, I'm sure that you would be much better..."

George quickly interrupted. "Go on, feed Hermes."

Madeline stuck an uneasy hand into the bag and seized a handful of the food. Percy Weasley had probably done this countless times. She needed to be exactly like him. "Come here, Hermes. I've got some food for you." She placed the food under Errol's beak and he began to eat.

George narrowed his eyes. "I said, feed Hermes." He pointed to the owl, who was perched on the window. "Now, surely, after owning that owl for the amount of years that you have, you would be able to tell him apart from other owls." George was suspicious. He couldn't ignore what Percy had said in the shop.

Madeline let out a laugh. "Now, surely after being raised in a pure blood family, you would be able to perform a simple spell to save your brother's life." She continued. "How does it feel? You're a squib now!"

George shrugged his shoulder and Errol flew away. "Do you want to say that again?"

"Are you threatening me, squib?" Madeline was quickly gaining the upper hand. "Your poor brother, lying defenceless on the floor and you could have helped him, but your powers failed you." She laughed again, taunting him. "You should've heard yourself, how many times do you think you said Stupefy before you had to use that stool?"

"What's happened to you?" He walked closer and seized hold of Percy's shoulders.

"I think the questions here is, what's happened to you?" She held his gaze, unafraid. "What can you do now? There's no place in the wizard world for squibs like you, you might as well go and live with the Muggles."

Rage built up inside of George. He raised his fist and slammed it against his brother's jaw, sending him to the ground. "What have you done to my brother?" George threw himself down on top of Madeline and seized hold of her. "C'mon then, what is this?"

Madeline looked over George's shoulder and then she was grinning. A devilish smile, that looked horribly out of place on Percy's face.

This only served to anger George further and he began to shake her. "What the bloody hell have you done to my brother?"

"Mum, make him stop." Madeline said, talking over George's shoulder. "I don't know what's wrong with him, he just came at me."

George quickly turned his head and found Molly stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and a scolding look on her face.

"And what do you think you're doing to your brother?" Her tone was sharp.

"Mum, there's something not quite right with him." George began, desperately trying to explain.

"I will not have one son, attack another." She shouted out, louder than what she initially intended.

"It was only yesterday that you carried him back here and now look at you."

"He's not himself! In the shop, after he was bitten, he was saying all these things and his eyes they were..." He paused and looked into Percy's eyes, hopelessly looking for any signs to prove his theory.

Molly was no longer listening. She moved around George and wrapped her arms around who she thought to be her son. "There you go, Percy." She inspected the area where George had hit out. "You'll be fine, I can't promise you won't be left without a bruise though."

Madeline rose to her feet. "Don't worry, Mum. I know George didn't mean it."

"Did you hear that? He called you Mum." George exclaimed. "He never calls you Mum, it's always Mother."

Molly was no longer interested. Her limit had been well and truly tested."Oh do be quiet, you've caused enough trouble for one day, young man."

"But..."

She raised her hand. "No buts... Go now, to your room."

"You can't tell me to go to my room anymore." George argued back. "I won't be going anywhere, until I found out what has happened to Percy."

Madeline altered Percy's expression to show a wounded look. "Why is he talking like that?" She looked at Molly. "He's been acting weird since we got home, accusing me of being someone I'm not."

Before Molly could reply, George interrupted in an explosive rage. "And what about all the things you just said?" He looked back to his mother. "He called me a squib, said I should go and live with the Muggles!"

"Percy, is this true?" She asked, in clear disbelief.

Madeline merely shook her head.

Molly roughly took hold of George's sleeve and pulled him towards the door. "That's it, young man. You've had your chance." She pushed him out the door, closed it behind him and locked it with her wand. Ignoring George's furious knocking, she focused her attention on Percy. "I need to know what happened, Percy. I'm worried about him." Her voice was barely a whisper.

The knocking became increasingly louder. "Get out from there, Mum. You can't be alone with him!"

Molly turned. "Just go downstairs and we'll talk when you're thinking more clearly."

Madeline leant in closer. "Mum, I think you should be seriously worried about him." She paused for a moment. "I couldn't help but notice he'd lost his magical ability, maybe we should..." She stopped, shook her head. "No, forget I said anything."

"No, go on, say it." Molly prompted.

"Maybe you should consider checking him in at St Mungo's, after all it's the best place for wizards who have gone... well I needn't say it."

Molly glanced back at the door, a horrified look on her face. "No, I couldn't possibly." She said, keeping her voice as low as she could manage.

"I don't want to either, but under the circumstances, maybe it would do him good."

George began kicking the door. "I swear to Merlin, I will break this damn door down."

"That's hardly the behaviour of a rational person, is it?" Madeline said.

Without a word more, Molly pulled open the door.

George reached out and pulled her away from Madeline. "Just step away from him, Mum." He said. "We'll contact the ministry and tell them what has happened. They'll come over and..." He found himself cut off.

"We'll do no such thing!"

Desperate to be heard, George raised his voice even higher. "Mum, we need to help Percy."

Molly pointed to where Madeline was stood, who by this stage had painted on an extremely innocent but admittedly un - Percy like look. "Your brother is stood right there. Look at him, he's fine!" She could barely mask the exasperation in her voice.

George furiously shook his head. "You weren't there, Mum. You didn't see what I saw, one minute he was himself and then... he..."

"And then I what?" Madeline asked. "Go on, what happened."

"You know damn well what happened."

Molly placed her hand on George's cheek. "Georgie, you need to stop this. You need to stop it right now because you're really worrying me now." Tears glistened in her eyes. "I knew all along that you weren't coping, I should've done something sooner."

"No Mum, I'm not cracking up." George defended. "You know what it was like, you know what happened to people."

"It's all over now, Georgie. You hear me? It's over!"

George looked over at Madeline. "That's not my brother."

"Who am I then?" Madeline resisted the urge to laugh.

"You tell us!"

"C'mon now, George." Molly attempted to calm him down. "Let's take you downstairs, we'll get you a Fire- Whiskey and you can have time to think about how ridiculous this all sounds."

"Don't you give a damn about him? You've already lost one son and now you're standing back and letting it happen to another!"

"I would never let him come to harm." Her tone was firm. "Believe me, if there was anything wrong with Percy, I would be the first to know about it."

"But you are! Every second you stand here arguing, you're letting him come to harm."

Ignoring his statement, Molly guided him towards the stairs. "C'mon now, your brother has just been attacked, he doesn't need you shouting like this on top of all that."

George tugged his hand away. "Just let someone from the ministry look at him."

"I don't want to be paraded in front of some strangers, like I'm some sort of freak show." Madeline interjected, altering Percy's voice to one of insult.

"And that won't happen." Molly reassured. "Just close your door, Percy, and I'll take him downstairs."

"I'm not leaving him up here, alone" George said.

"Oh yes you will." She pointed to the staires. "Get down them."

Madeline pushed Percy's door closed and listened on for a minute or so as Molly and George argued. Eventually she heard the thudding of footsteps and she was alone upstairs.

She reached into Percy's pocket, pulled out his wand and looked over at Hermes. "It's actually not bad." She ran her hand along the smooth wood. "Of course, mine was far superior, but as wands go, this isn't half bad."

The owl glared at her.

"What's up with you?" Madeline began speaking in her own voice. "Missing Percy Wercy, are you?"

Hermes let out an angry hoot and flew at her.

Madeline ducked out the way of the furious owl. "Bad move, owl!" She lifted up Percy's wand. "I think I'll test this out. How about we start we start with my favourite spell?" She muttered the words; a jet of green light shot out of the wand and with that, Percy's wand became Madeline's.

oOo

Molly entered the kitchen with a reluctant George trailing behind. "Arthur, we need to talk about something." She turned back to her son. "All of us, we all need to talk."

George shook his head. "We don't need to talk, we need to act!"

Ginny, Harry and Arthur looked up from the table.

"Talk about what?" Arthur asked.

"We need to..." She trailed off and looked at what the trio had been working on. "Why is the clock off the wall?"

Harry tapped it with his wand. "It seems to be broken."

Molly shook her head. "That can't be possible, not once has it let me down."

"Well, we can say that Percy is definitely in his room." Ginny said. "The only way for it not to broken is if we go up there now and he isn't up there."

"I don't understand it myself." Like Harry had done, Arthur tapped his wand with it. "Like you said, this thing is never wrong."

Before anything more could be said, George pushed by them and made a grab for the clock. His mouth fell open in shock and he held it up for Molly to see. "Now do you believe me?" He pointed to Percy's hand. "Lost! He's lost, Mum."