Being a Weasley

Percy

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My work has always been my first priority, my work before anything and everything else. My family doesn't understand that, and I've grown to accept it.

Work is my passion, and it grows each day. There has only been one person, one girl, who has stood in the way of my love for work. And that is Penelope Clearwater.

I fell in love with her back at Hogwarts; none of my family knew how much I loved her then, or even how much I love her now. I could even guess that they had no idea I almost dropped out of school for her.

I can just see the horrified looks on their faces now. 'Percy Weasley, drop out of school?! No, there must be a terrible mistake!' That would be my mom, always in denial. She doesn't understand anything about my life.

My father would chuckle when he would find out, but not in front of mum. No, in front of mum he'd look worried, and say something about it being 'a phase.' Even though he knows me better than that, and he knows I don't do things half-heartedly.

Fred, George and Ron would be bewildered. 'Percy, did what now? I didn't know he had it in him! Good on him.'

Charlie and Ginny would be horrified, 'But, Perce, you had so much potential. How could you waste all of it?'

And Bill, well he'd be the greatest reaction of all, he wouldn't talk to me for a week, and then when he did, he'd simply ask, 'Did you get her pregnant?'

That's my family for you, always in denial, always worried about me, always making assumptions. They hate me now, well, everyone but mum. And I hate them all as well, but I can't help but to love them in a weird sense, they are my family after all.

My love for Penelope is still everlasting, but sadly I must say, it's not what overwhelms my heart. Penelope is pregnant, and even the baby growing inside of her does not thrill me the way it should...

I feel awful about it, but when it's happening I forget everything. She works in my office and she's just as crazy about working at the Ministry as I am. Her name is Brianna Scott. And I love her.

If it came down to choices and I had to pick between the two loves of my life, I think it would be an easy choice, but it's never come down to two choices, so I've never forced myself to settle on one. It's wrong, and I know it.

I'm horrible, and I can't stand it. But my life is being torn up, and I'm just trying to keep it together for as long as I can.

Penelope and Brianna could find out any day about the other. I haven't been as discrete as I should have, and neither knows about the other. Penny could show up at my office, and Bri could very easily show up at my house to surprise me. And that's when everything would fall apart.

I can't do that to them, but I don't know how to break it off with either or them. How can I leave a baby behind? I've left a family behind before, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

I received a mission from the Ministry today, as my job as a spy for them. I'm to meet my associate who just so happens to be Brianna at a site in Godric's Hollow, because that's where Harry Potter was last seen visiting, and we have to keep tabs on the famous wizard, see what he's up to next.

Penny works for the Order, and she's my inside source to things, she just doesn't realize it. She thinks I'm still a part of the Order, but I'm not. I broke that off when I left my family.

I get ready to Apparate to the sight. My wand at the ready, just in case of an ambush, because you never know with these things.

I Apparate onto a large open field. It's dark, and very oddly, it's not empty. No, in fact it's filled with wizards fighting...And I realize what this is, but Brianna exclaims it before the thought can register in my head.

"They've put us into battle! Those Bastards!" she says appalled. "How could they? The ultimate Battle against You-Know-Who! I bet they knew exactly where they were sending us to."

And I'm sure they did, but her angry reaction makes me love her more.

"We'll be okay," I say to her, taking her hand in mine.

But as I turn to face the crowed, I see a face that I shouldn't see. She shouldn't be here because she's pregnant and endangering our child!

What am I saying? I only care that she's here, and she sees me with Brianna, and she looks like she going to rip daggers into me with her eyes.

I let go of Brianna's hands and now she's looking at me curiously as the Pregnant Penelope rushes up to me.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" she screams appalled.

"Me? You should be at home! The baby!" I say. I'm just waiting for Brianna to put the pieces together.

"The baby, I'll say Percy Weasley!" she sputters in anger. "And what was I supposed to do with the baby when you're out with your whore?! Who the bloody hell is she?!"

Brianna turns to me. "Whore? Excuse me? Who the bloody hell are you?"

The two girls face off for a moment, and then turn back to me as if knowing everything, as if hating every bit of me.

I was going to be killed and it wasn't even going to be by a Death Eater.

But I guess I know I deserve this. I deserve a lot of things for how I've been treating people. Maybe it's about time I realized who I am. Being a Weasley and all. I have a lot to live up to, a lot I've been trying to avoid. Clearly avoiding the issue is not the right way around this, and I have to make a decision. For family...or for something I could never really tie down.

"Penelope," I whisper. "Please, please, I'm sorry."

Brianna looks at me horrified, but I don't look at her, I can't.

"I'm so very sorry, I got caught up in everything. I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you."

"Fuck you," Penelope hisses at me. She takes up her wand and then turns away.

I start to rush after her, but I feel a large tug at the hood of my cloak.

"And just what do you think I am? Aren't you sorry to me as well? You never told me you had a wife!"

I don't turn my eyes on her, but I sigh deeply. I can turn now, and be with Brianna, but what I was abandoning in return was not worth it. "I'm sorry," I say to her, and then I rush after Penelope.

I was going to fix everything with my family, with my new family, and the old. But Penelope will not stop as I go after her. She will not listen to me. And I realize that some things that I have messed up, I do not deserve to have fixed. I glance over at my fellow Weasley's who are all fighting for their lives, and I know where my place is. I notice a struggling Bill fighting a too tall Death Eater, and I advance on him.

Maybe I can still make things right, and maybe I can't. But either way, I'm going to do what is supposed to be done, not what I wish to be done. Because my wishes tend to be opposite of my wants, and then I just end up in a huge mess like I am right now.

Maybe I'll never get Penelope back, maybe I'll never get my family back, but after this, at least I know where I belong, fighting side by side with the people who truly matter, my family.