Mrs. Weasley's sobs echoed in the ward. Harry felt as if his feet were nailed to the floor, unable to move, his throat tight, his gaze erratically landing on the bedside cabinet.
At this moment, he felt someone gently tug at his arm.
Vid gave him a look and quickly pulled Harry away from this suffocating space.
As they gently closed the door, they heard Sirius's confused voice coming from behind:
"...What's going on now? Why did Percy return his Christmas gifts?"
"That bastard!"
A voice suddenly rang out from outside the door!
Fred and George were holding a bulging brown paper bag filled with sandwiches and pies. They were just about to enter the ward when they saw Vid and Harry leaving, and before greeting them, they heard Sirius's words.
Fred flew into a rage, ready to rush inside, but was suddenly stopped by George, who locked his arm around Fred's neck to prevent him from entering.
"Don't pull me, George!" Fred said angrily: "I want to see what that guy said now!"
"Calm down." George said, suppressing his anger: "Mom's already upset enough."
Broken sobs came from inside the room, Fred's face was red with anger, his fists clenched tightly, yet he didn't lift his foot again.
Soon after, the ward door was pushed open once more, and Ron and Ginny also came out.
Ron's expression was no different from Fred's, and as soon as he stepped out, he grabbed Ginny's arm and said:
"Did you have to say it like that? Couldn't you... be more subtle?"
"Subtle?" Ginny abruptly shook off his hand, sharply retorting: "Subtle for what? To excuse Percy? While mom cries over a sweater?"
Tears welled up in her eyes too, but her face bore a scorching anger: "No, Ron, there's no need to play dumb and deceive her! Facts are facts, ugly facts are also facts!"
Ron was left speechless.
"What's actually happening?" Vid asked, "Percy had a falling out with the family?"
He remembered that at this time in the original story, Percy had indeed split with the Weasley Family. But that was because Cornelius Fudge refused to believe that Voldemort had returned and was vigorously smearing Harry and Dumbledore.
Percy's ambition blinded him, fully believing the Minister of Magic's statement as fact, convinced Dumbledore was a lunatic and Harry a liar.
Yet his family couldn't see this, so for the sake of his career, Percy also cut ties with his "troublesome" family.
But currently in charge is Sinclaire, who is a thorough moderate, and since taking office has never had any conflict with Dumbledore, maintaining a non-interfering attitude towards Hogwarts.
What reason does Percy have to go this far?
With Vid's words, the corridor fell silent for a moment, and the Weasleys all showed a difficult-to-speak expression.
Moments later, it was Ginny who first spoke.
She viciously wiped her eyes and said:
"There's nothing we can't say... It's our great brother, the new star of the Ministry of Magic, Percy Ignatius Weasley, who thinks our family no longer matches his esteemed position!"
"That hypocrite! That sanctimonious scumbag!" Fred squeezed out his words through clenched teeth: "Dad is lying here, nearly dying! He didn't even ask once! Not a single time! Now he's returning the sweater mom knitted... how can he be so cruel?"
"Talking like this, how can Vid and Harry understand?"
George sighed and said: "Don't just stand here. There's a tearoom on the sixth floor, let's go there and sit down to talk slowly."
As they went upstairs, the Weasleys spoke one after another, finally letting Vid and Harry understand Percy's dramatic life changes in recent months.
Last summer, both Voldemort and Grindelwald appeared during a competition, causing Fudge to think that the British Magic World had become the battlefield of choice for these Dark Wizards. Fearfully, he quickly resigned from his position as Minister overnight, afraid that a delay of even one second would turn him into a targeted prey.
Before that, Percy had been mixing around with Fudge as his assistant.
Even though Minister Fudge didn't even remember his name, in the eyes of others, he counted as a confidant of the former minister.
So when Sinclaire was elected to the position, without needing him to say a word, naturally someone tacitly relegated Percy to an unnoticed idle position, out of sight, out of mind.
But subsequently, during a seemingly insignificant field assignment, Percy appeared as though kissed on the forehead by the Goddess of Fortune, unexpectedly achieving an unbelievable great feat.
"He captured Peter Pettigrew, who had escaped from Azkaban and was on the run until now." George looked at Harry and said: "You should remember that, too."
Harry nodded, his voice low, saying: "Of course, Sirius and Remus took me to see the trial."
He still vividly remembers the man slumped on the trial bench awaiting judgment.
He seemed as ratlike as ever, dirty and disheveled, utterly wretched, his eyes lacking even the light of struggle for survival, only dim and vacant.
At that moment, Harry even felt sympathy for this enemy, then rebuked himself for thinking this way.
Peter Pettigrew killed his parents, everything he suffered now was deserved!
At the same time, Harry's fondness for Percy reached its pinnacle, not minding the boasting remarks or veiled schooling in Percy's letters, instead feeling that's how he ought to be.