Chapter 21: Burrow Morning Crisis
Percy awoke exactly as his alarm clock struck six, bolting out of bed like a banshee. Though he never would admit it to his father, he did find the Muggle device quite useful. After making his bed, he then rushed off to the bathroom to freshen up. Swiftly following the meticulous affair, only staying in the bathroom for exactly 16 minutes, he rushed down to the kitchen. It was his morning to be in charge of breakfast, and he would make it exactly to his standard.
"All right, so I need three cups of flour per batch. One and a half eggs. A cup of both blueberries and strawberries. I can't forget that. Lock up the chocolate chips so the twins can't get them…" Percy rattled off to himself, before sniffing the air. "Why is bacon being made? It's sausage day."
Rushing into the kitchen, Percy looked frantically around the room for the culprit. To his shock and horror, however, it was a bright and early Harry working on eggs and bacon. He even had the ingredients for the pancakes out. All the wrong ingredients, but ingredients none the less. Percy's mind soon was going a mile a minute as Harry turned to see Percy standing in the doorway.
"Morning, Percy. You're up early." Harry said chipperly as he flipped some scrambled eggs in a skillet.
"What are you doing up? Why are you making bacon? What is all this!?" Percy asked frantically.
"I figured I'd help you with breakfast this morning. You've been doing so many chores lately; I wanted to help lighten the load." Harry answered politely.
Percy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Merlin, give me patience." He grumbled.
"Don't you mean give you strength?" Harry asked, confused.
"If Merlin gave me strength, you'd be dead." Percy scowled.
Harry cocked his head to the side a bit. "You have Disney here?" He asked.
"You bring up that wizarding slander one more time and I will Leviosa you into the next shire." Percy growled, a vein popping in his forehead.
"Seems a bit violent if you ask me." Harry remarked.
Percy took a deep breath, as clearly this was getting him nowhere, before rolling up his sleeves. "Move over. I've got this." He grumbled.
Harry backed out of the way as Percy stormed into the kitchen. Grabbing the skillet, he threw all the food Potter made out into the garden before starting from scratch. This caught the young man off guard as Percy worked at a feverish pace to make up for lost time. Soon new eggs were simmering in the skillet alongside sausages, and soon pancakes were cooking on a large griddle.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to throw that food into the garden?" Harry asked.
"Of course, I'm sure. Why wouldn't it be?" Percy snarled as he kept up his feverish pace. "Besides, you're a guest here, remember? You wouldn't want Ron and the rest of them to know you've been working yourself to the bone again?"
Harry, flinching at the comment, then went and sat down at the table. As Percy worked, the rest of the family began to shuffle in. Finally, Molly and Arthur Weasley joined everyone as Percy began to serve breakfast. Yet, as the two went to the head of the table, Molly stopped and noticed something. A chunk of scrambled egg hung over the edge of the kitchen window closest to the stove. With a huff, she marched over to the window and picked up, displaying it to the entire group.
"WHO THE BLOODY HELL WASTED THIS FOOD BY THROWING IT OUT!?!?" Molly roared with the fury of a demon from the jaws of hell.
"Percy threw it out after he stopped me from cooking breakfast." Harry replied, causing a host of heads to look at Percy.
"What?" Percy asked in confusion after plating up food for Arthur.
"Perc, that was a waste of good food." Fred told his brother.
"Yeah, Prissy Percy. Harry was just trying to help." George added.
"You all kept on him about doing too much, so when I try to help with that, I'm the bad guy now?" Percy groaned.
"Harry asked me if he could help you this morning. He felt bad about how much work you were putting in and wanted to lighten your load to thank us all, so I allowed it." Molly explained.
"Why did no one tell me?" Percy asked.
"Would that have changed anything?" Arthur asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"I would have been more willing to let him help, but only if he did it my way." Percy explained.
"So burnt breakfast?" Mafalda dryly comments.
"No sausage for you." Percy replied, taking the sausage off Mafalda's plate before setting her plate in front of her.
"I like bacon better. Harry had the right idea for Sundays." Mafalda replied wryly before drinking her orange juice.
"Potter, I apologize for not asking you why you were helping. If I had known you had permission, I would have included you." Percy reluctantly told Harry before placing the Boy Who Lived's plate in front of him.
"Apology accepted." Harry replied simply.
"You're too good to him, Harry." Ron chipped in.
"Let this be a lesson for you, Percival Weasley. Do not jump to conclusions or let frustration control your actions." Molly lectured Percy.
Percy flinched a bit, before finally sitting down with his own plate of food. "Yes, mother…" He said with a slight groan.
Harry looked down at his plate with a smile. "To be fair, this does look good. You can tell that he took meticulous care to prepare every scrap of food to perfection." He mentioned before taking a bite.
"Don't patronize me." Percy scowled, before grabbing the ketchup bottle, just beating Mafalda to it.
This confused Harry as he chewed before swallowing the bite of food. "I'm not. This looks better than my aunt Petunia's cooking." He replied honestly.
"They treat you horribly! Don't compliment them!" Ron snapped, looking at his friend in disbelief.
"Even if they do, they do have their good points. Aunt Petunia is an incredible cook, Uncle Vernon is a hardworking and successful businessman, and Dudley, despite being a fat dobber, is good in a dust up. Not to mention that Damien is the only legitimately nice one among them, even if he's… odd…" Harry explained.
"Odd… how?" Ron asked, caught off guard by Harry's explanation.
"Well, for one thing, he's the only one in that house who doesn't care about being 'normal' and is legitimately nice to me. Not to mention that, in broad daylight, there are times where his hair looks light brown and others where it looks black." Harry added.
'Maybe that means he's a Metamorphmagus? Or it could just be the light.' Percy thought but kept it to himself. Potter's caused him enough trouble for one day for him to try to help him. Even if he did appreciate the compliment.
As soon as Percy put down the ketchup, Harry swiftly grabbed it. Then he poured the red sauce over his eggs in a spiral fashion. Percy flinched a bit at his eggs being sullied by it. He only ever would use ketchup for the sausages, which is proper. However, before he could try to move on from this indignity, he saw Ron, Molly and Mafalda copying their guest's Muggle heathen technique. As Percy's scowl began to deepen, it drew the attention of his mother, and she swiftly made her displeasure of Percy's behavior quite known.
"Percival. Let Harry eat his breakfast his way." Molly sternly told Percy.
"Starting to think bringing him here was a mistake." Percy muttered to himself.
"What was that, Percy dear?" Molly asked with the most disgustingly, sickly sweet tone with a smile on her face that said, 'Choose your words carefully, boy.'
"Merely that this tastes like steak." Percy corrected, motioning to a forkful of sausage in his hand.
'I thought so." Molly replied with satisfaction before digging in as well.
After that, Percy remained eerily silent for the rest of the morning meal. It was a merciful relief for everyone else, who quickly filled the vacuum with more chipper and merriful conversation. Finally, once everyone was finished with their meal and the dishes were done, Molly began giving out the daily chores. Starting with Percy.
"Percy, you will be degnoming the garden. Ron, you'll be helping clean the kitchen. Ginny, clean the living room. Fred, George, clean upstairs." Molly told them all.
Percy scowled at hearing that. "Mother, you had me on degnoming three times last week." He grumbled.
"And you will be doing it today. Do you have any objections, Percival?" Molly told him, giving him a stern look.
However, the third Weasley boy took a step forward out of the line. "Yes. I do." Percy replied, causing the rest of the Weasley's to get nervous. Rare was it for anyone to object to their mother like that.
"I can help Percy out. I actually enjoy degnoming." Harry offered, trying to defuse the tension.
"Out of the question, Harry. You're our guest. You shouldn't be doing such hard, physical labor." Molly sternly replied to Harry.
"He asked to help, mother. Shouldn't we oblige him if he wishes for permission to of his own free will to repay our kindness?" Percy told her tensely.
"Oh really, Percival? Like how you threw out Harry's food earlier when he offered to help you with breakfast earlier?" Molly asked him sternly.
The two Weasley's then locked eyes with each other. No one else dared to speak as the room quickly got thick with tension. Though the silence only lasted for two minutes before George finally spoke up.
"I think this is a record. No one has ever stared down Mum for this long…" George muttered.
"May Merlin have mercy on his poor soul." Fred chipped in. "He's got one hell of a story to tell Death in the afterlife."
Finally, after a staggering five minutes, Percy backed down and went to get his wand. That was until he stopped in front of Harry and turned to address him.
"I appreciate the offer, Potter. But Mother is right. You deserve some rest after I ruined your attempt at breakfast." He said before heading off to his room.
As soon as he left to go up the stairs, Ron, Molly, and Mafalda's jaws dropped in utter shock. They blinked once, twice, and a third time before finally one of them spoke up.
"... Did Prissy Percy just express gratitude!?" Mafalda called out in disbelief.
"I'm just as surprised, but I'll take it." Molly said with a sigh. "Now then. Any further questions on chores today?"
"... Can I please help someone with their chores?" Harry asked meekly.
"Of course, dear. You can help Ron in the kitchen." Molly explained with a small smile.
"Looks like we're cleaning the kitchen together, mate." Ron replied with a smile, happy to finally get to spend time alone with his best friend.
Harry smiled happily at that as everyone got to work. Yet, as they split up, Ginny noticed Percy come back down with not just his wand, but gloves and a face mask.
"Um… Percy? Why are you wearing that?" Ginny asked.
"It's for degnoming." Percy blankly replied.
"... You do realize that there are going to be more of them because of the food you threw out, right?" Ginny pointed out questioningly.
A small sigh escaped Percy's lips at that. "Oh, I know. I know…" He replied dejectedly before heading off into the garden.
As he walked out, Molly and Arthur watched him. Arthur took a sip of his tea before speaking to his wife.
"I thought it was the twins' turn to degnome today." Arthur pointed out in confusion.
"Oh, I know. I have altered the schedule. Pray I do not alter it further." Molly replied, before turning to give him a pointed look that screamed, 'Do you want to be out there degnoming too?'
Arthur flinched at that look, before pouring himself some more tea. Then he stood up and began to walk out of the kitchen.
"I'll be in the garage." He said nervously.
"Yes. Yes, you will." Molly replied in satisfaction.
Yet as soon as Arthur left, the whole house began to hear loud shrieks coming from the garden. Pitching and wailing at the exact volume and tone to make one's blood run cold. Yet no one dared to look outside at what Percy was doing. After the morning they all had, and Percy's mood, everyone left him to it. Yet, even then, it blanketed the Burrow in a somber mood for the rest of the day. As Percy took out his frustration upon the poor creatures. To what extent, no one to this day knows…