Percy laughed. "You mean, did I ever protest? Did I ever try to explain that I was doing what I thought was best, that I lectured you and instructed you because I had nothing else to offer and I thought it was the best way I could be your big brother? Yes, Fred. I did. And you dismissed me as being a know-it-all and walked away laughing. Every time."
His entire body went tense with Fred's next words, and he felt his hand fisting at his side. He wasn't usually demonstrative of the Weasley temper, but he had it.
"Dad earned his guilt, and mum took absolutely no move away from what he said to me. She was there, she stood by him as he said it and wrung her hands and told us to stop fighting. But she didn't disagree with him. Not once." And that was the worst thing, really. Percy could convince himself everyone else earned his silence, but he couldn't entirely convince himself about his mum. But she hadn't protested dad's words, so he couldn't bring himself to apologise to her either.
He could have argued with Fred about not feeling anything about George. He could have argued, again, about Bill recovering better without him and the tension he would bring being there. Instead he simply swallowed and looked away from Fred.
"You think because you show every feeling right on the surface, that everyone else must to. You think because I don't weep in front of you I don't hurt about any of this? You're blind, Fred. And you're happy to stay blind, so at least we agree on that last point. It's better if I stay away. And better if you just go on pretending there are only six siblings in your family."
He wanted to walk away, to turn and leave and hope Fred for once let him have the last word and left him a shred of something like dignity. But in the next breath something Fred said clicked in his head, and he hesitated.
"There was nothing in the auror records about someone stopping the killing curse from..." He knew it wouldn't make a difference, sadly enough. George wouldn't have wanted him there whether he almost died or not. "I didn't know George had come so close. I didn't know that."