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Some regrets stay with you, haunt you and make you wish you had behaved differently. George Weasley knows this better than anyone.
It's the summer between fourth and fifth year and instead of focusing on his impending O.W.L. exams or even a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Egypt, he and Fred are busy teasing Percy for having a girlfriend.
Percy has always been an easy target. George and Fred make him the butt of so many jokes and pranks because they wouldn't dare go after Charlie or Bill the same way, and even Ron isn't as fun to wind up. Percy is stuffy and insufferable and watching him lose his composure is a form of entertainment unto itself.
"Oi, Percy," George says, knocking on his elder brother's bedroom door one afternoon in late July. "There's a letter here for you. It's from Penelope."
Fred snickers at his side. "Ooh, I wonder what she has to say, George. Do you reckon they fill their letters with talk of Prefect duties and rot like that?"
Before George can reply, Percy's door bangs open and he looms over them, tall and lanky. His mouth is pulled into a scowl and he glares at each twin in turn.
"Give it here," he snaps. George quickly presses a roll of parchment into his outstretched hand before dashing around the corner and collapsing into a fit of silent giggles. Fred isn't far behind.
"Oh, I wish we could see the look on his face," Fred says, gasping for air. George merely nods as he clutches at a stitch in his side. That letter took them the better part of the morning to write, and it is quite the masterpiece if he does say so himself.
Several minutes pass. George wipes away the tears that had begun to stream down his cheeks, looks at Fred and mouths, What's going on?
His twin shrugs. George tiptoes back towards Percy's door and listens. A faint sniffling sound reaches his ears, and he frowns.
"I think he might be crying," he reports back to Fred.
His twin barks out a laugh. "You mean he actually fell for it?"
"I—yeah, seems like he did." Shame takes up residence in George's stomach, hot and heavy. This wasn't supposed to happen. He hadn't planned for a scenario in which Percy believed the contents of the letter. The elder Weasley usually saw right through their attempts to prank him.
Fred claps George on the back and assures him that Percy will figure out what they've done in no time. George forces himself to smile, and readily agrees to his twin's suggestion that they squeeze in some flying before dinner.
***
At dinner, George immediately notices Percy's forlorn expression. His eyes are red and his face is splotchy as though he has been crying. On the rare occasion that he says something, his voice comes out as a hoarse croak. Their mother, worried about their upcoming trip to Egypt, asks if he is coming down with something, but no one else seems concerned.
George tries to focus on his roasted chicken, yet his eyes keep drifting back to Percy. Regret has replaced his earlier shame and it feels even worse. He goes through the motions of cutting up his meat, chewing, and swallowing, but it all feels so mechanical and pointless. He can't enjoy his food when his stomach is twisted into knots.
For the first time in a long while, George's plate isn't empty when Mrs. Weasley clears the table at the end of the meal.
"Want to go see if any of the gnomes have returned from Dad's de-gnoming this afternoon?" Fred asks. "Maybe we can sneak a few into our room."
"You go ahead. I have to ask Ginny something, but I'll be there in a few minutes," George says, trying to sound nonchalant. He is used to lying to his mother and even his other siblings, but lying to his twin feels a little bit like lying to himself.
Fred traipses outside while George follows Percy up the stairs.
"Hey, Percy, can I…talk to you?"
Percy wheels around and peers at him suspiciously. George arranges his features into what he hopes is a friendly, casual expression.
"I'm just a bit worried," he continues. "You, er, didn't seem like yourself at dinner. Did—did Penelope's letter have something to do with that?"
Percy flinches, and the tortured look on his face is one that will haunt George for years to come.
"I'm fine," he says, even though the lengthy pause before he spoke implies otherwise. "If you must know, Penny—Penelope—won't be writing to me anymore this summer. She's…too busy."
"Oh, I…I see." George hesitates for a moment before deciding that it is best to be straightforward with his brother. "Penelope didn't write that letter, Perce. Fred and I did."
"Don't be ridiculous," Percy says at once. "There's no way…"
George can practically see the wheels turning in his head and moments later, can practically see the comprehension dawn on his face, too.
"Bloody hell," Percy mutters. "I've been such an idiot. I wrote her back, and I may have—"
George gulps. "You wrote her back? Oh, Merlin, what did you say?"
"I…I said some rather nasty things," Percy finishes, sounding rueful. "I didn't realise—I thought she broke up with me for Roger Davies!"
He clutches at his hair while continuing to ramble about how he should have realised that he was being pranked.
"Look, we'll fix this, alright?" George says, holding out a hand as if that will be enough to physically stop Percy from having a meltdown. "Fred and I, we'll fix this. We'll intercept Hermes if we have to!"
And with that, George hurries off to find his twin.
***
In the end, George and Fred are unable to stop Hermes from delivering Percy's scathing letter. ("He's faster than old Errol!" George gripes.) However, they help Percy put together an apology package for Penelope, replete with some of their mother's best baked goods.
"If she doesn't take you back after this, then she's a nutter and she doesn't deserve you," George says.
Percy doesn't even crack a smile, not that George blames him.
"I'm sorry, Perce," he says quietly. "We went too far with our breakup letter prank. We shouldn't have done it."
"I appreciate the apology," Percy says with a sniff. He pushes his glasses up his nose and sighs. "I hope this works."
"I do too."
"If this does work…" Percy trails off. George looks at him expectantly, but doesn't push. Whatever Percy is about to say is making him nervous. He is fiddling with his glasses and looking anywhere but at George or Fred. "If this does work and we get back together, are you two going to keep taking the mickey out of me?"
George exchanges glances with Fred. "Well…"
"Because I'm hoping you will," Percy says quickly. "I know that sounds mad, but…given that we don't have much in common, the teasing is the only way I feel like I can connect with you."
"I thought you hated that!" Fred says. He presses a hand to his chest to illustrate his shock.
Percy shrugs. "I suppose I tend to play up my annoyance a little."
George is simultaneously impressed and touched by this. "Wow, Perce, you are full of surprises."
The tips of Percy's ears grow red and he mumbles his thanks before sidling away to his room to write an apology letter to Penelope.
Fred turns to George. "So…shall we go catch ourselves some gnomes now?"
"Sounds good," George says cheerfully. With one last look at the stairs up which Percy just disappeared, he turns and follows Fred into the garden.