Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling; various publishers including, but not limited to, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books; and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: This particular cut scene belongs at the end of Harry's first year at Hogwarts/beginning of the summer before second year. It was cut because, at the time, I felt that the story had dealt with other POV's quite enough, but I loved the scene enough to share it with all of you.
The Scent of a Burned Roast can be a Dangerous Thing
Arthur Weasley was home on time, for a change. As he stepped into the kitchen, the acrid smell of something burned hit his nose. Arthur winced, The twins must have botched one of their experiments. He greeted Molly, who seemed rather distracted, and sat down at the kitchen table. "Everyone's rather quiet this evening," he said while pulling a bowl of mashed potatoes to his plate. As he scooped out a spoonful, he was looking to his children, and didn't notice that the potatoes were lumpier than normal. "What is the matter?" He could see that Ron was grinning at his plate, the twins were looking at Percy like they didn't know him, and Ginny was wrinkling her nose at her dinner whilst poking it with her fork. Percy, for his part, had an odd, little smile on his face and Molly was methodically scrubbing the same spot of counter over and over again.
Arthur was more than a little confused, especially when all four of his sons still staying at home exchanged small glances and began laughing. Arthur replaced the bowl of potatoes and picked up the platter of roast slices. As he preferred the rarer cuts of a roast, he picked through the slices, knowing that when his boys got over their fit, one – or more – of them would answer his question. To Arthur's surprise, there were no rare cuts of roast available; the center cuts were just as dry, though not quite as charred, as the outer slices.
Arthur frowned as his pulse rate picked up speed, No. Not possible… The last time Molly had so completely ruined dinner had been the same day they'd found out about the impending addition of Ginny to the Weasley family. The boys were still laughing, and so he turned a rather panicked, pleading expression on his daughter. Ginny snickered; she knew precisely what her father was thinking – Bill had told her the story several times when she was little. Smirking somewhat, Ginny replied to her dad, "Calm down. Mum's just had a bit of a shock this afternoon is all."
His daughter's words did nothing to alleviate the anxiety that had taken hold of him. He swallowed rather hard, trying to get his dry throat and mouth to cooperate with his brain. "What about?" he asked, dreading the answer.
Ginny snickered again, "Percy broke some rules at school is all."
Arthur blinked, convinced his heart to start beating once more, and then blinked again. "Percy broke…" he stopped suddenly as the meaning of what Ginny had said managed to sink in. "Percy? Our Percy?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Our Percy broke school rules?" Ginny began giggling at her dad's expression; it was alternating rapidly between relief and astonishment. "Our Percy?"
"Yes, Dad."
Arthur took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Thank Merlin," he muttered. He then smiled and looked up at Percy. "Congratulations, son."
Percy looked confused, "For what?"
"For finally learning how to act your age. You'll make a damn fine Weasley if you keep this up."
That seemed to snap Molly out of her daze. "Arthur!"
A/N2: This particular omake hasn't been beta'd, so any mistakes are mine and mine alone. Thanks for sticking with me!