Chapter Text
Percy stared warily at the deceptively simple note that he had just been owled from his older brother.
We need to talk. ~Bill
Percy had never been a fan of cryptic. He liked to see the punches coming.
Did Bill want to berate him for airing private family business in public or did he want to make sure Percy was alright and maybe even to offer some measure of support?
That last seemed like too much to ask. Unprompted familial aid was very rare, in Percy’s experience; recent olive branch extended by his younger twin brothers notwithstanding.
Bill had always been the template Percy had been measured against; they’d never been close.
Still, Percy decided that it would be better to know where he stood with the family’s future patriarch so could make his plans accordingly.
Grabbing his cloak, Percy clocked out for an early lunch and flooed over to Gringotts. Better to get this over with now before anything could be intercepted or anyone ambushed.
Better to do this before he talked himself out of it.
“Bill Weasley, please,” he said curtly to a goblin at the front desk while patting down his pockets to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything in his distracted haste.
Like his wand.
He half expected Molly to jump out from every shadow to accost him, even though he knew rationally that the goblins would never stand for such a disturbance on their property.
“Percy,” Bill said as he rounded the corner from the bank's back rooms with so much relief in his voice that it rattled Percy almost as much as his initial discovery had done. “Come in, come in. We have to talk.”
“So your note said,” Percy said sardonically, glancing around as he was ushered behind the front desk area. “Does Molly know that you reached out?”
“Not here,” Bill said softly, guiding Percy briskly through a maze of desks and teetering stacks of paper with a hand on his back.
Percy swallowed, his fists clenching at his sides. As neutral as the goblins prided themselves on staying through wizarding matters, Gringotts was both a fortress and a maze.
If this was an ambush, Percy would have a hell of a time escaping, in one piece or otherwise.
Bill ushered Percy into what had to be his private office and shut the door behind him.
And locked it, with both wizarding and goblin wards.
Percy’s mouth went try as he desperately tried to stay calm.
And then Bill was crushing him in a hug unlike anything he’d received since he was five. “You stubborn, brave idiot. I love you. Are you alright? Has anyone threatened you or attacked you?”
Percy shook his head silently before he realized was still too close to see him. “I’m okay. I didn’t know what else to do, but I had to do something.”
He braced himself for the criticism that was sure to follow. He should have come to Bill directly. He should have asked Molly for her side of the story. He should have kept his big mouth shut.
“You managed better than I did,” Bill said, taking a seat behind his desk and offering Percy a seat with a distracted wave. “Apparently one of the goblins here tried to tip me off to that contract a while ago, without outright breaking his neutrality. According to him, I was voracious in tracking down the facts, enraged when I left work that day, and then the next time I came back, I acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I have no memory of any of this.”
“Merlin. You think Dumbledore obliviated you?”
“No,” Bill replied pointedly, looking Percy straight in the eye. “I think Mum did.”
Percy felt himself sag in relief. No one ever believed him when he pointed our Molly’s faults. He’d given up trying to gain an ally against her ages ago. Merlin, he was being selfish and rude. No wonder everyone preferred Bill and Charlie over him. They were always naturally able to put other people first and to empathize. “I’m sorry. That must be creepy, not knowing what all happened. Are you okay?”
Bill laughed raggedly, reaching out to give his hand a short, firm squeeze. Percy tried not to cringe away from the contact. His family had always been better at physical affection than he was. It was stupid; he had been craving a sign of familial support just an hour ago and had been so relieved when Bill had hugged him tightly, but already such signs of easy acceptance felt like too much. “I’m just happy to know I’m not alone in this. You’ve made yourself the public target, little bro, but I’ve got your back.”
“I… think the twins already knew,” Percy admitted softly. “They put me onto the contract, in their own obscure, obnoxious way. I haven’t dared trying to contact them since, while they’re at Hogwarts.”
“Good. They can take care of themselves and can keep Ginny safe while they’re at it. Figuring out what they know and how would be useful, but it isn’t worth exposing them. If we play this wrong, it could ruin all of us.”
A knock at the door made both Percy and Bill flinch. “Come in,” Bill said blandly, as if he and his estranged brother had just been discussing the weather.
A goblin with a crooked grin walked in and bowed to them both.
Bill inclined his head respectfully in return. “Leylock, this is my younger brother Percival. Percy, allow me to introduce you to the indomitable Leylock the Bonecrusher. What can I do for you, Leylock?”
With a lazy swipe of his hand, Leylock the Bonecrusher relocked the door behind himself. “How unexpectedly fortuitous to find you both here, together. This concerns both of you.”
Bill’s eyebrows rose as he shifted forward in his chair. “You have my attention.”
Both of them? Percy could not help but wonder if this was the goblin that had attempted to tip Bill off. Nothing else made sense.
“As it happens, I have been put in control of a clandestine account belonging to someone who wishes to remain anonymous.”
Percy’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean...?”
Leylock flashed his teeth at Percy in a manic, almost predatory smile. “Within my client’s role as young Harry Potter’s new magical guardian, he has authorized me to offer both of you a discreet line of communication to himself. I am sure you can imagine how difficult it has been to find trustworthy allies, given recent revelations and the general state of your world. You have both passed the first stage of his vigorous vetting process and would like to communicate with both of you directly.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
Who was Potter’s mysterious guardian, really? What did he want with The Boy Who Lived? Why was he bothering with someone like Percy? It all made him incredibly uneasy.
“So long as he respects that my loyalty will always be to my siblings first and Harry second, I am willing to talk,” Bill said, all business.
Collecting himself, Percy nodded. “I will do whatever it takes to keep my siblings safe, but I’m not afraid to go against anyone’s wishes to see that done, if needed. I am assuming this line of communication is to remain a secret?”
“Indeed,” Leylock said, producing two thin leather-bound journals from seemingly thin air. “These journals will allow you to write to Harry Potter’s guardian directly. They have been warded to self-destruct if any attempt is made to reverse-engineer them or to attempt to trace their magic back to my client. Explosively. Each is divided into two sections, one that can be accessed by one of you and my client only, and the other will facilitate a three-way communication between all of you. No one else will be able to read anything that has been written down. They will require a drop of your blood on the cover to activate them for the first time.”
“Does your client have a title or a name he wishes to go by for the purposes of these talks?” Bill asked, accepting the gift with all the care and wary respect of a seasoned curse breaker.
In one of the most terrifying displays that Percy had ever seen, Leylock the Bonecrusher smirked. “You may call him Godric.”