The Golden Son

And So It Begins!

While I'd been expecting another huge fight when I got home, that's not what I got.

When I finally got home Percy had changed his clothes and was sitting on the couch, with his head in his hands, crying.

I knew I'd fucked up, Percy was never supposed to even know about the bets at all, and he definitely wasn't supposed to know I'd been a part of it.

While I'd said 'I'm sorry boys, I'm with Bill on this', I'd instantly regretted it and begged the twins to never let Percy find out about that list or about the bets!

Slowly walking towards opposite side of the couch, I sat down and reached my hand out towards him. I knew forgiveness wasn't going to be immediate but I was hoping I could at least comfort him.

He didn't take my hand but it did get his attention.

"Did you really bet on whether or not I'd reconcile with my family?" He asked, not bothering to look up at me

"Yes, and I regretted it almost immediately." I answered

"When did they even start asking people to bet on this?"

"The Order meeting after your fight with your dad"

"And you just agreed to this?"

"No, it wasn't like that. The twins were asking around the table after dinner that night, after the meeting, and when they asked Bill I nodded and said I agreed with him when he gave them his answer. You were adamant about them apologizing at the time, I didn't realize they were writing down the answers everyone gave until after I'd agreed with Bill. When they'd gone around the whole table and asked all of your siblings, and your dad, George said 'ok, whoever's closest gets 10 galleons from each of us, if Bill and Y/N win they both split it and get 40 each.'"

"At least dad gets 80 galleons I guess" he replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes

Percy distanced himself from his family again, going back to having absolutely no contact with them whatsoever.

He also didn't talk to me for about a week after the incident at the Burrow, only sarcastically asking me whether or not I'd paid his father yet, to which I told him the statement his father had given me when I tried to.

'You don't owe me anything Y/N, Fred and George might have put your name on the list when you nodded and agreed when Bill answered them but you never agreed to be part of the bet.'

I was thankful Arthur seemed to understand what I was going through, he'd looked almost as upset as I had been when I tried to give him the 10 galleons.

Harry told me later that Molly and Arthur both chastised the twins for even considering putting my name on the list when I'd begged them not to, Molly had apparently gone as far as to ask them if they thought about the fact they could've ruined their brother's marriage before it even began before Fred started listing off names.

He said the twins seemed remorseful but couldn't guarantee they'd actually apologize for it, they didn't want to reach out and take a chance on making things worse.

It was around January, when I started sending out the wedding invitations, that the entire Weasley family finally realized why I'd been refusing to talk to Molly about the wedding.

It didn't help the situation that Sirius's invitation had arrived at Grimmauld Place while they were there!

Molly was heartbroken, and while she cried more often than usual when I showed up for the meetings, everyone assured me that she wasn't blaming me for their lack of invites. She knew it was Percy and that just made it hurt more.