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Percy was a man changed after the war.
Long gone were the days where he prided himself on his accomplishments, his vast academic knowledge, and his high Ministry position. He was foolish back then, and too prideful, too full of himself. Nowadays, Percy Weasley was laying low, quietly working in the same department as his father. He learned to appreciate the Muggle ways, and started digging deeper in how everything worked. Most importantly, he made connections in various departments within the Ministry.
One could say that Percy was a man with connections stemming from his days as a man in higher positions, but the redhead considered those of little use. For he was on a very important and significant mission, one he swore to fulfill by any means. Percy was disheartened that aside from him, no one seemed to care, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Who actually killed Fred Weasley?
Everyone wrote it off as a Second Wizarding War casualty, one of the many. George took it upon himself to brood and grieve; going off to marry Angelina, who used to date Fred, trying to convince everyone it was all for Fred. Percy wholeheartedly disagreed and pitied Alicia, who had not only lost a friend in Fred, but also lost George as a lover.
Mum and Dad lived in oblivious bliss, pretending Fred had simply gone abroad, bound to return home some day. They made it so that his hand on the Family Clock would always be stuck on ‘Travelling’ and always made sure to keep his things and bed in good shape. Percy found it unsettling, and visited home only on Christmas, out of necessity, staying only for dinner.
Ron had immersed himself in his Auror career, so he didn’t give himself time to grieve the loss of their family member. It seemed he buried it deep inside and moved on. Percy thought Ron as oblivious to the world as he always had been. A lost cause, really.
Hermione stepped up as a new Minister for Magic and that solidified her and Ron’s break-up, tearing all ties away from the Weasleys. Rumor had it she was dating Blaise Zabini nowadays, but with her one never knew. Percy was indifferent about Minister Granger.
As for Ginny, she was happily married to Harry and they seemed to be enjoying an easy life at Grimmauld Place. Percy thought it irresponsible of the war hero, The Boy Who Lived, to move on so quickly and not try to hunt down the culprits of the casualties of the War.
Percy had been fighting alongside Fred during the war.
They had each other’s backs and fought furiously for one another, protecting one of the secret passages into Hogwarts, while George and Lee Jordan did the same at another hidden entrance. It’s when the twins got separated that things had gone rapidly downhill. The synergy was lost, no matter how hard Percy tried to compensate for it. He was battling with Minister Thicknesse and just before the unexpected explosion hit them, he was even joking about leaving the Ministry.
Percy never joked.
He vowed to leave the damned place, no matter how changed it was after the war, as a promise to Fred. However, the redhead needed to find the culprit behind his brother’s untimely death before he left. He knew it was one of the Death Eaters, and it was up to him to figure out which one it was.
He cultivated his connections with people of different fields, backgrounds, and status, slowly gaining their trust, and learning the rumors and gossip. Step by step, Percy was able to draw out sophisticated diagrams of the Final Battle, who was where and what time, and what curses they'd cast. He transcribed the events from everyone’s statements, cataloguing all the information in separate rolls of parchment, even putting together Muggle archives for it all.
Percy was determined.
Did it matter that it was close to impossible to pinpoint the real culprit?
Did it matter that it might take him his whole life to actually come even a little closer to the perpetrator in question?
Did it matter that he felt guilty for his own past betrayals, and no truth or good deed could ever redeem him to himself?
No.
Percy Weasley made it his life goal to ensure the name of the culprit was made known to the public.
Percy would allow himself to die only when the answer was out there, plain and clear on the front page of Daily Prophet and even The Quibbler.
Afterall, Percy was a man of his word.
Even if it meant never figuring it out.
