Work Text
"Do you know why I've kept you behind, Weasley?"
Fred sighed, he knew, really, that he wasn't himself today. Maybe the others forgot what today was, be he hadn't. The date had been burned into his brain all year.
"No, sir." He wasn't usually so dull and dreary, today just wasn't a good day.
"Sit down, boy, talk to me."
Fred eyes wandered to the ceiling, trying to stave off the wave of emotions. Crying wasn't on the cards for him, it never had been. Not until last year. He sat down on the desk nearest Moody, chairs be damned.
"What's got you walking around with a face like a slapped arse?"
Usually, Fred found that saying hilarious, it didn't even register today. He sighed, deep and heavy, before looking out the window.
"My brother died today- last year."
"Oh?""I just don't understand how the rest of them are so- how they can just carry on today like they normally do." He ranted.
After George, Percy had been his favourite brother. Sure, Bill and Charlie were the cool older brothers with stories to tell from their jobs but Percy- Percy always had time for them. No matter how many times they pranked him or how loud and boisterous they got, Percy never turned them away when they needed, hell, when they wanted him.
"I remember, his first year at Hogwarts, he spent so long hugging me he almost missed the train and now-" his eyes welled up with tears.
Moody placed a box of tissues and a mug in front of him and at that, Fred lost his composure.
"Tell me about him, your brother."
Fred let out a broken hiccup before he continued.
"He was always so tall, Percy, he- we used to measure ourselves against him when we were younger and we always looked down to make sure he wasn't on his tiptoes. It stopped when George and I turned fourteen."
Moody looked at him, opening the room up for more conversation."I used to get really bad nightmares, when I was little and I couldn't go to Bill or Charlie because they were too grown up to have their little brother in bed with them but Percy, he- he never complained or chased me out. He'd just pull his covers up to let me under."
Moody nodded, he looked almost sad.
"What was he like?""He was so different from us. That's what made him so special."
"Different how?"
Fred smiled as memories of his brother passed through his head.
"He remembered the war, he was just old enough to remember it but just young enough to be kept home with us a Mum. Bill and Charlie got sent to live with our uncle. He was quiet, shy. I mean, have you ever heard of a shy weasley? When people came over, he used to hide behind dad's legs until they left, unless he didn't trust them, then he wouldn't leave any of us siblings alone."
Percy had always been protective, not in a I'll-knock-your-teeth-out kind of sense, Percy didn't like violence but in a quiet I'm-here-I-won't-let-anything-hurt-you kind of sense.
"A shy Weasley? I'd have never imagined."
Fred swiped at his eyes, he couldn't let the tears fall now or he'd never stop crying.
"He always had this low self-esteem. I tried to convince him it was all in his head but he just couldn't get over it. He couldn't escape the bullying. People in his year were so cruel and it trickled down the years ya know. Even people in older years had a try at him. He didn't deserve it, he just didn't know how to talk to people."
"He was bullied?""Yeah, people don't realise just how much they can hurt someone with a whisper I guess."
Moody took a swig from his hip flask. He looked pensive, like he was remembering something.
"It was like every year he came home from Hogwarts was just sadder. Mum didn't really notice, seven kids plus Harry and Hermione, he just kind of, I dunno, slipped through the cracks. And Dad was always working, he tried to make time for us all but he needed to feed us."
Fred hugged himself, he didn't realise how often he did it when it was just him and someone else.
"It was the dementors in the end.""The dementors killed your brother?""Not exactly, no. He just couldn't escape them, the thoughts and memories they dragged up."
"What happened to your brother, Fredrick?"
Fred sighed, stuttering as he pulled in his breath. Looking at the floor, then at the ceiling."He killed himself. When I found- when I found him I couldn't breathe. It was stupid but when I saw him I had to make sure he wasn't on his tippy toes. I saw what he'd done but I just had to make sure he wasn't messing, that he wasn't on his tippy toes. Ya know he'd always joked that no matter what, he'd always be the tallest of us. I guess he was right, when it came down to it."
Fred let the tears roll down his face. He'd been the one to find Percy. It wasn't fair.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like that. He was head boy- he was going to be someone. He promised me that no matter what he'd be there for me."
Fred hugged his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms as he cried.
"I really, really hate January."
He knew George was looking for him, he knew Lee and Alicia and Angelina were looking for him.
He sat on Percy's old bed, it hadn't been assigned to anyone else yet. He hadn't told anyone, especially not his Mum and Dad, he'd kept Percy's wand and badges. He polished them every day when everyone had gone to sleep. He'd even kept his glasses, tucked away in the bottom of his trunk, wrapped in clothes so they didn't break.
He wasn't allowed to see Percy today, he had to wait until the weekend to floo to Ottery St Catchpole and back.
He looked up, the beams running across the ceiling still had friction burns from where Percy had- from where his brother had been.
He hadn't stopped crying, barking at people to leave him alone after he'd left Moody's classroom. Poor Harry had only wanted to see if he was okay.
He knew his Mum was going to go absolutely mental when she found out, his dad too probably. After all he had lied about his age- and George. They weren't completely identical anymore. A piercing was one thing, you could take it out and let it heal over. This- this was permanent. He itched over his sleeve before pulling it up.
There, just underneath the crook of his elbow was a tiny tattoo, he couldn't afford anything bigger. Two pairs of old shoes on their tip toes stared back at him.
He missed his brother.