Scattered

"Ron, get up!" Hermione yelled from across the room.

He burrowed further under the covers. "It's too early, 'Mione. Come back to bed."

"I told you, the games start early, and I promised your mother and Auntie Susannah I'd help get everything ready. You said you'd help me."

He groaned. A moment later he felt the bed dip at his side and her warmth beside him. He cracked open an eye and saw her curled up next to him, above the covers, her lips curving in a smile. He grinned back and reached for her.

"No, no you don't," she said, scooting away. "Just because I can't stay mad at you when you're lying there all naked and adorable, that doesn't mean you're getting me to stay." She swooped in and kissed him briefly. "But fine, I'll let you sleep in. Just don't be too late. It's going to be fun."

He mumbled a response, already drifting off again. He was completely asleep by the time she left the room.

* * * * *

"Damn it!" he yelled, hopping over to the sofa, throwing his boots ahead of him. He collapsed and rubbed his big toe uselessly. Merlin, that had hurt. Big clumsy feet, always knocking into things...

He'd had a right lovely lie-in that morning, drifting off with Hermione's kiss on his lips and the sunlight streaming in through the windows. He'd been trying to convince her for years, really, that late morning and early afternoon were the best times of all for sleeping. There was something wonderful about the mid-day nap: stirring awake and finding yourself lying there under a pile of covers, the room all bright and the little noises of the day going on all around you, and yet to just be able to roll over and sigh, perfectly content, and drift off to sleep again.... pure bliss. Hermione would never agree. Oh, he'd had some success recently convincing her to climb into bed in the middle of the day, but not for sleeping.

But he was several hours late, now, and Hermione was sure to be hacked off at him. The McFustys had invited everyone at the castle to this crazy Muggle... Scottish Muggle... bit of nonsense. Highland games, they called them. Hermione said they had this whole huge history behind them, been holding them for hundreds of years, Kings of Scotland, tests of strength, blah blah blah. No magic, that's all he'd really caught, and he'd stopped paying attention entirely when she'd started mentioning centuries and historic figures.

Charlie had seemed excited about these games, though; he'd said they were pretty impressive to see and that he planned on competing in a few himself. Ron would cheer his brother on, of course, whatever the crazy Muggle sport entailed. Truthfully, though, he was only attending because his mother had promised there'd be food, and because Hermione had promised there wouldn't be some other things, at other times, if he didn't stop being a grouch and just go.

Ron smiled ruefully. One night on the sofa had taught him his lesson.

He finally finished with his boots and Apparated downstairs, hoping to find Hermione still in the castle somewhere. He poked his head into the brewing room, but found only Penny and Percy.

"Looking for Hermione?" Penny asked, grinning. "You're awfully late and she's long gone."

Ron groaned. "Great. Alright, thanks."

"Wait, we'll walk over with you," Percy offered. "You're finished here, right, Pen?"

She nodded. "Let's go. Ron, maybe she won't be too hacked off that you're late if you're with us."

"The presence of an audience has never stopped Hermione before. But, let's just Apparate over," Ron suggested.

Percy shook his head. "Penny's in her third trimester now," he said. Ron gave him a blank look.

"I can't Apparate now, because of the baby," Penny explained. "But if you and Percy want to go ahead..."

"Nah, don't be silly," Ron said, and gestured for them to proceed him from the room. "It's a nice day for a walk."

It was. It was December, and it certainly wasn't tropical, but the wind was not too brisk and the sun was bright. Ron was wearing the thick sweater Hermione had left laying out for him and heavy boots; he felt fine. Percy was dressed much the same, and Penny had on an extra layer.

As they walked, Ron watched his brother out of the corner of his eye, still amazed at the change in him. Percy had always been so uptight, so tense, so worried. So disapproving, Ron couldn't help thinking. But then again, Percy had been followed by the twins, and they'd hardly given him a moment's peace, growing up. Only when he, Ron, had gotten old enough had he taken some of the heat off their next-oldest brother. Percy, so easy to tease, so difficult to make laugh. That's how Ron had always thought of him.

What had changed? Was it just... Penny? She seemed like a good person, sure. Hermione thought the world of her, and in Ron's book, that was all that needed to be said; Hermione didn't give her praise or loyalty lightly, or to anyone unworthy. But had just marrying Penny really turned Percy into such a different person?

"Do I have a spot on my nose, Ron?" Percy asked suddenly, squinting at him inquisitively.

Ron started, not realizing he had been staring. "No, it's nothing."

"Okay," Percy said amicably, accepting his answer.

That's another difference, Ron thought. Percy was always so nervous about everything, he never let anything go, he always got offended right away.

"Were you really angry at us?" Ron heard himself asking, the words leaving his mouth before he thought better of it. "Back when, you know, you weren't around?"

"Angry at you? At who, you and Mum and Dad, all the rest?" Percy asked.

"Well, yeah."

Penny gave Ron a thoughtful look but said nothing, simply taking her husband's hand and swinging it lightly between them as they walked.

"I guess I was," Percy answered easily enough.

"Why?"

Percy laughed a little. "Oh, I didn't have very good reasons. I was angry because Bill and Charlie were gone. I was angry because you never listened to my advice. I was angry because Fred and George drove me crazy, and Mum never cracked down on them hard enough. I was angry because Dad never seemed to have time to talk to me, and I was angry because I wasn't Ginny's favorite brother -- you were." He laughed again at Ron's expression. "As I said, they weren't very good reasons."

"I think they were perfectly understandable reasons," Penny said softly. "Good or bad isn't the issue."

"I suppose," Percy conceded. "I'm sure I couldn't have explained them all so clearly at the time. I just felt angry and wanted to get out and do something of my own for awhile, without always feeling like someone was judging me."

Ron nodded. He could sort of understand that. Sometimes he felt locked in, in a way. His brothers. Harry. His teammates All these people whose opinions mattered, and whose expectations he had to live up to. People he was never quite sure thought he made the grade.

"But I'm not angry anymore," Percy continued. "I feel a lot less worried about those kinds of things now."

Ron smiled at his sister-in-law. "Well, you've got a lot to feel good about, these days," he said pointedly.

Penny smiled back. "You can say that because you're not getting kicked in the stomach right now, and you've still got ankles. But in general, yes, we do."

"So that's why, then?" Ron asked, gesturing towards them. Percy had his arm around Penny now. "You know, why you're not angry and why you came back?"

They'd reached the top of a low hill and Ron glanced over the small crowd below. Most people were gathered around a handful of men wearing kilts. As he watched, one stepped away from the rest, turned in an ever-increasingly fast circle, and threw something. The onlookers cheered. Off to one side he saw tables and chairs and beyond that, a wooden platform. He looked around again but didn't spot Hermione.

Percy and Penny paused at his side; Penny gave her husband and his brother a thoughtful look. "I'm going to head down and find Molly," she said finally, and moved off towards the others.

Ron and Percy watched her go. There were shouts from the field as several men brought out an impossibly huge, long pole, so tall that it stood a good two stories high. Minerva McGonagall was yelling out encouragement to the next athlete. He lifted the pole by its base and, with a mighty heave, tossed it so that it fell end over end. The crowd cheered again. Ron shook his head, completely baffled at the whole scene.

"Why don't we sit here for a second?" Percy said, dropping down to the grass.

Ron scanned the group of people below again. "I really should--"

"Don't worry, Penny will tell Hermione we're having a chat," Percy told him. "She won't mind."

He shrugged and sat down beside his brother. The grass was dry and it did feel good to sit outside for a bit. The strange spectacle below didn't look particularly inviting, anyhow, and he wasn't in any real hurry to get there.

"I really liked working at the Ministry, you know," Percy said conversationally. "There seemed to be so many possibilities. I know you all made fun of me--don't argue, I know you did--but it felt like being Head Boy again. Having people respect me. Minister Fudge asked my opinion about things. My opinion! And I had a secretary, and people working under me... I felt... important. And that's something I never felt at home."

Ron didn't say anything, but again, he couldn't help understand a little. He knew what it was like to feel unimportant, that was for sure. He'd struggled for years to accept being the youngest boy, the best friend of the Boy Who Lived, never first in line for anything or anyone. He'd learned to be okay with it, eventually, because there wasn't much choice. And because for the past half a year he'd come first with Hermione, and that made a big difference.

"Penny and I would go out with other young Ministry employees," Percy was saying. "We'd go to restaurants; we'd talk about things, things that mattered. Laws and regulations and the state of the Wizarding world, here and abroad. It was amazing. I felt like I was part of something, and not just part--I felt like I was a leader for those people. They were impressed with my ideas, my projects and suggestions. Impressed by how close I was to the Minister. They were all Fudge supporters, and we used to sit there and talk for hours about the direction the Ministry needed to take, and how to handle Dumbledore and the misinformation coming out of Hogwarts..." Ron bristled, and Percy gave him an apologetic smile. "At the time, I believed Fudge," he said simply. "The man was my mentor. He said Harry and Dumbledore were lying, and I believed him. Why wouldn't I?

"When I thought about it later, I realized Penny must have hated those dinners. She never said much, and I was too busy talking for both of us to notice she might be uncomfortable. I asked her, last spring, and she admitted she hadn't enjoyed them at all... she always believed Harry and Dumbledore, actually... but that she'd been there because she knew how much it meant to me."

Ron frowned a little. "So, she didn't try to talk you into changing your mind?"

Percy shook his head. "No. Penny always tried to get me to talk to Mum and Dad--and she was right about that, all along, and I wish I'd listened to her sooner--but she didn't talk politics with me. I sometimes wish she had," he said ruefully, "I might have wised up sooner. But I think she knew that it was more likely it would have caused a rift between us, and she chose to bide her time instead. She's like that."

"Hermione isn't," Ron said, snorting a little. "I don't think she's ever bided her time about anything."

"But neither have you," Percy said, with an answering laugh.

Ron grinned, having to concede the point. "I suppose."

"No, it wasn't Penny that made me realize how misguided I'd been," Percy continued. "It was Narcissa Malfoy."

"What?!" Ron exclaimed, half-rising to a crouch. "She what? She's not--"

"Calm down, Ron."

"But... Narcissa Malfoy... why would she do anything to help you? Why would she... why would you even..." Ron sputtered uselessly.

"She approached me." Percy met his eyes steadily. "She asked me to join their side. To serve Lord Voldemort, she said. Become a Death Eater."

Ron sank back down on the grass, stunned. "Why?" he said finally. "Why would she..."

"We are purebloods, Ron," Percy said, grimacing as if he was uncomfortable voicing such a distinction anymore. "There are only so many of us out there, and we're the only people Voldemort was interested in recruiting."

"Why would she think you would even consider... you're a Weasley!"

Percy smiled sadly. "But I was an estranged Weasley. One who wasn't even speaking to his blood-traitor parents. Who knows? I might have welcomed the invitation, for all they knew. So they sent Narcissa Malfoy to the Ministry one day, to talk to me. She was plain as day about it, even with her husband sitting in prison at the time, I might add. She didn't blink. That's what I remember thinking, the whole time she was talking," he mused. "She never blinked. Anyhow, I stammered and told her I was loyal to the Ministry, and she just smiled and said that wouldn't be a conflict of interest much longer. Then I told her... I told her I was loyal to my family. And as I said it, I finally knew it was true. All the frustration, the anger, the feelings of being pushed aside and being unimportant -- they didn't really matter, in the end. Oh, they were still there, but I realized then that every family has issues; every family has dissension. The thing is, you deal with it within the family. Not outside of it, and never against it. That's when everything changed, because I guess that's when I really grew up."

"What did Narcissa say?" Ron asked.

"She had some dire warnings about standing against the Dark Lord, some words of advice about my career, and some rather petty remarks about our family in general. It was rather pathetic, really," Percy said.

Ron reached over and gripped his brother's shoulder, hard. "No one ever doubted you, you know," he said plainly. "We never thought you would, you know, turn against us. We worried you'd get into something too deep before you realized what was going on, that's all. That you wouldn't get out in time. But no one doubted you."

Percy smiled. "Well, of course not. I'm a Weasley, after all." He stood and offered Ron a hand up. "Let's go watch these ridiculous games they're all so excited about, and eat."

Laughing, they moved down the hill together. Ron scanned the crowd yet again for Hermione. She wasn't watching the kilted men throw bales of hay in the air, he saw. She didn't seem to be eating; he saw his mum and Penny at a table, but no sign of Hermione. He was glancing quickly over at the wooden platform, thinking she might have gone back to the castle for something, when he finally spotted her.

There were couples dancing on the platform now, swirling around to the sound of whirling pipes. Ron didn't have the faintest idea what kind of dance it was; it was rather vibrant, with lots of turning and quick steps, the women's skirts twirling out behind them constantly. People were clapping along with the music and laughing; all of the dancers were smiling, but none as broadly as Hermione, dancing with Jamie McFusty.

Ron felt his face heat up as he watched Jamie pick Hermione up and spin her around effortlessly, his arms tightly wrapped around her body as he lifted her slightly but held her close against him. Hermione's hands were braced on his shoulders and she was laughing, smiling down at him. She tossed her head back and her hair flew out behind her. Jamie set her down finally and they danced over to the other side of the platform. Ron could still see them, though, spiraling around the other dancers; he could still hear Hermione's laugh above the music, and see the way Jamie was holding her...

"Nope, I'm not going to let you do it, little brother," Percy said, moving in front of him and cutting into his line of vision. "Stop it, right now."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ron said angrily, his face hot and his throat tight.

"Don't be a stupid prat."

"About what?" Ron shot back.

"About Hermione dancing with another man. Don't overreact."

Ron scowled. "It's no difference to me, who she dances with."

Percy shook his head. "That's ridiculous. Of course it matters to you. But that doesn't mean you're not overreacting."

"Just drop it, Perce," Ron mumbled. He sat abruptly at one of the wooden tables, crossing his arms over his chest. He felt stupid and idiotic and, most of all, embarrassed at behaving this way in front of his brother. At seventeen, Percy had been three times as mature and three times as responsible as Ron had ever been on his best day, and yet even Percy had talked about "growing up", years later. What hope did Ron have, when even though he knew better, he couldn't help reacting like a damn child just because Hermione was letting another man touch her, however innocently?

Percy sighed and sat down next to him. "Have you always been this hard on yourself, and I never noticed?" he asked. Ron shrugged. "You know, I went through this with Penny. Charlie still goes through it with every woman he dates. It's okay. You're crazy about her, you get jealous. It's alright. You just have to learn not to take it out on her and get past it."

"How do I do that?! Ron asked, frustrated. "Because I know it really hacks her off. She says if I trusted her, I wouldn't get jealous, but it's not about trust, I keep telling her."

"Of course it's not," Percy agreed. "It's about the fact that you still can't believe she really wants to be with you, and you're still afraid she'll change her mind."

Ron stared at his older brother and nodded. "That's... exactly it."

Percy looked over Ron's shoulder and smiled. Ron turned his head briefly and saw Penny sitting with his mum and Hermione strolling up to join them. She saw him sitting there and made to change direction towards him, but Penny stopped her and said something Ron couldn't hear over the pipes and the drums and the cheers from the people watching the games. Hermione listened carefully, though, and then gave him a gentle look and smiled, sitting down next to his mother.

"How do I get past feeling this way?" Ron asked again. "How did you?"

"I realized one day that I knew Penny in a way no one else did, and that was true because she'd let me know her that way. She'd given me that, let me in to be closer to her than anyone else had ever been. She wasn't going anywhere." Percy grinned. "I realized that I'm the luckiest guy alive, and that it is about trust, in a way. Penny chose me. She doesn't choose anything or anyone lightly, and I need to trust her judgment on this, just as I always have on everything else. When I understood that, I stopped being afraid all the time, that I'd lose her." He stood and cuffed Ron lightly on the shoulder. "You'll get there, little brother. Just give it time."

Ron nodded gratefully and watched Percy walk away towards the other table. Hermione rose then and crossed over to where Ron was still sitting.

Her cheeks were still flushed and her hair was pinned up neatly enough on top, but the curls were spilling over her shoulders in wild disarray. She smiled and moved close to him, standing in between his knees, her fingers curling around his neck.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

He nodded and reached up to touch her hair. "Sorry I'm late."

She shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You've missed a lot of the fun, though."

"I missed you," he said, and saw her skin turn warm, felt the hand at the nape of his neck burying itself in his hair. "Wanna dance?"

"Do you know how?" she asked, surprised.

"No. But Jamie taught you, right? So you can show me."

"I don't know..." she said hesitantly, her nose wrinkled in doubt.

"C'mon," he urged her. "Show me."

She smiled and slid onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body into his. Amidst the noise and the activity surrounding him, she kissed him deeply, her lips lingering over his as she said into his mouth, "I'll show you anything you want, you know that."

Ron laughed. "No, no you don't. Just because you're all cute and sweaty and sexy right now doesn't mean you're getting out of teaching me how to dance."

"Fine," she grumbled, rolling her eyes and trying to appear stern. "But after that we're Apparating right back to the castle."

"Absolutely," he agreed as she pulled him to his feet. "With the place all empty right now, it's the perfect time to finally christen the common room."