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When Percy is four and half, he learns that his mother is going to have yet another child. The rest of them - except for Ron, who’s too little to understand - are expected to be excited, which Percy doesn’t understand. More siblings means less attention from his parents, and even if this new baby is the girl that he knows his mother so desperately wants, that’s never going to change. He already gets forgotten about plenty - he knows that his parents don’t mean to, but he’s able to do enough things independently and doesn’t cause any trouble, so he tends to fall through the cracks.
This starts happening more and more frequently as his mother’s pregnancy progresses. The new baby - thankfully a girl is born in early August. Eleven days later, Percy learns just how much he falls through the cracks as it’s obvious that his parents - still overwhelmed and flustered from Ginevra’s birth - only remembered that today is Percy’s birthday because Bill reminded them. That is when Percy makes up his mind. He’s tired of being ignored and he doubts that anyone besides his eldest brother will even know that he’s gone. He pretends to sleep until he hears his parents retire to their bedroom and then he sneaks downstairs and uses the floo to transport himself to Diagon Alley. Fortunately, the late hour means that it’s isolated and no one notices the young boy slipping off into Muggle London.
Percy manages to sneak about and scavenge in Muggle London for three days undetected before a police constable notices him. Percy knows that he looks the a bit ragged as he hasn’t had a bath and is still in the pajamas he wore when he snuck out, but he fears that he doesn’t look ragged enough to pass himself off as a street orphan, which was his plan. If the muggle police believe that he has no family, they won’t look for one and then he can get a new family that will pay attention to him and remember his birthday without prompting.
Nearly six years later, Percy - or Nigel as he is now known - is thriving. He was adopted by a muggle couple that desperately wanted a family, but were unable to have children of their own. He earns top marks at the muggle school that he attends and his adoptive parents are looking into sending him to an elite high school to help his university prospects. But then he returns home from school and finds the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts in the sitting room.
The look that she gives him when they’re introduced tells Percy that she knows who he really is, and his heart sinks. He had hoped that the truth would never come out, but if it ever had to, this is definitely not how he wanted it to happen. Much to his surprise, Professor McGonagall continues to act as though he’s an ordinary muggle-born wizard. When she requests to speak with him alone, he knows the other shoe is about to drop.
“How much trouble will I be in when you take me back,” he asks, resigning himself to his fate.
“I’m doing no such thing, Mr. Bancroft,” McGonagall assures him, using the name of his adoptive parents. “No one can deny that you’re where you belong. Not even the angry teenager that has never forgiven his parents over the fact that you ran away.”
“I don’t understand,” Percy says with a frown.
“Do you remember the family clock in the kitchen?” McGonagall asks gently.
“I do,” Percy admits. In his anger as a small child, he had forgotten all about the clock that would tell his whereabouts to his family. The fact that they didn’t come looking hurts more than he thought it would, even with the new life that he built for himself.
“When Molly started to prepare breakfast the morning after your fifth birthday and saw that the clock said you were missing, she was distraught,” McGonagall behinds. “There was a frantic search to find you for month. And then the clock changed. It said you were home.”
“But I never returned to the Burrow,” Percy says, confused.
“The day the clock changed is the day you started living here,” McGonagall says simply.
“Oh,” Percy says, when he connects the dots. “Bill was the first to notice the clock, wasn’t he?”
“He was elated that you’d been found,” McGonagall says. “Which shifted to anger when he realized the clock was saying that you’d found a new home.“
“What happened?” Percy asks, as it’s obvious that isn’t where the story ends.
“Bill had trouble controlling his magic in his anger. He spent some time at St. Mungo’s until he could learn that control,” McGonagall admits. “It was also determined that it would be best for his recovery that he not return to the Burrow until he could forgive Arthur and Molly. We’re still waiting.”
Percy can’t help the tear that falls. Leaving Bill behind was always his one regret as he was the only member of the family that never made Percy feel ignored or forgotten. “Where does he live then?” he asks, clearly emotional.
“None of this is your fault, dear boy,” McGonagall assures him, though Percy doesn’t believe her. “When school isn’t in session, he stays with the family of one of his friends. Molly and Arthur have been instructed not to interfere with either of you.”
“There was a new baby and they almost forgot my birthday and I decided that they wouldn’t even notice I was gone,” Percy admits, quietly. “If I’d known…”
“None of that, young man,” McGongall says, scoldingly. “I assume that you’ll be wanting to attend Hogwarts under your current name,” she says, changing the subject.
“Is that allowed?” Percy asks.
“Of course it is,” McGonagall says warmly. “I can’t promise that people won’t figure out on their own that Nigel Bancroft and Percy Weasley are the same individual, but it won’t come from any of the staff.”
“Thank you Professor,” Percy says gratefully. “What about Charlie?” he asks.
“He and Bill are cordial, but not close,” McGonagall admits. “They’re both going to be happy to see you,” she assures Percy.
Percy has so many more questions about the past six years, but knows if Professor McGonagall stays any longer, it will lead to questions from his adoptive parents that he’s not ready to answer.
When the day comes to leave for Hogwarts, he finds himself incredibly nervous. He hugs his adoptive parents goodbye and steps through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4, where he nearly collides with someone that he immediately knows to be be Bill, even though the time has passed.
The older boy’s face lights up in recognition and he immediately hugs the younger. “What am I supposed to call you?” Bill asks emotionally.
“The name I go by is Nigel, but you can still call me Percy in private,” Percy responds, equally emotional.
Bill wraps an arm around Percy as he takes him to meet his friends, neither of them noticing the wistful look that Molly Weasley sends their direction. Bill insists on the two having a compartment to themselves on the train, and starts asking questions about Percy’s life in the muggle world. When Charlie finds their compartment there’s a tense moment where he and Bill simply stare at each other before Charlie finally says “he’s my brother too.” Bill steps aside to let Charlie enter, but eyes him warily until he envelopes Percy in a hug. “I wish things could have been different, but I’m glad you’re happy,” he murmurs. The three brothers catch each other up on their lives the rest of the train ride. While their relationship will never be what it could have been if they’d all been raised together, it’s a good first step.