Unexpected | Bill Weasley

~40~ Percy

The next morning, I woke up to Sirius literally dragging me off of Bill.

"What the fuck-?"

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" yelled Sirius.

"AND YOU'RE THIRTY-SIX! STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD!" I yelled back.

That didn't stop Sirius from throwing me a gift. Straight at my face.

Bill woke up. "Wassgoingon?"

"Sirius is a five year old." I replied, tearing open my gift to reveal a drawing of me.

"You drew this?" I asked Sirius.

He nodded. "I've always liked drawing, it's not very good though."

I looked at the drawing. "What are you talking about? It's amazing!"

Sirius grinned, and his grin grew wider when he opened my gift, which was a black leather jacket, matching one that I had.

"Now we can be matching!" I said excitedly.

"And you call me  the five year old?" he joked.

At lunch, everyone was wearing sweaters from Mrs. Weasley, except for Mrs. Weasley herself. She was wearing a brand-new midnight blue witch's hat glittering with what looked like tiny star-like diamonds, and a spectacular golden necklace.

"Fred and George gave them to me! Aren't they beautiful?"

"Well, we find we appreciate you more and more, Mum, now that we're washing our own socks," said George, waving an airy hand. "Parsnips, Remus?"

"I invited Tonks over, but she wouldn't come. Have you spoken to her lately, Remus?" Mrs. Weasley asked Remus.

"No, I haven't been in contact with anybody very much," said Remus. "But Tonks has got her own family to go to, hasn't she?"

I had a sense it had something to do with the fact that, even though Remus and Tonks loved each other, he was avoiding her.

"Hmmm," said Mrs. Weasley, giving Remus an annoyed look. "Maybe. I got the impression she was planning to spend Christmas alone, actually."

Bill had just passed me the bowl of mashed potatoes when Mrs. Weasley suddenly cried out "Arthur! Arthur — it's Percy!"

"What?"

Mr. Weasley looked around. Everybody looked quickly at the window; Ginny stood up for a better look. There, sure enough, was Percy Weasley, striding across the snowy yard, his horn-rimmed glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was not, however, alone.

"Arthur, he's — he's with the Minister!"

And sure enough, the Minister was following along in Percy's wake, limping slightly, his mane of graying hair and his black cloak flecked with snow.

Bill and I glanced at each other.

The backdoor opened and there stood Percy. After a long and painful silence, Percy said stiffly "Merry Christmas Mother."

"Oh Percy!" said Mrs. Weasley, throwing her arms around Percy's neck.

Rufus Scrimgeour paused in the doorway, leaning on his walking stick and smiling as he observed this affecting scene.

"You must forgive this intrusion," he said, when Mrs. Weasley looked around at him, beaming and wiping her eyes. "Percy and I were in the vicinity — working, you know — and he couldn't resist dropping in and seeing you all."

But Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the rest of the family. He stood, poker-straight and awkward-looking, and stared over everybody else's heads. Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George were all observing him, stony-faced.