“I only want you.”

“You lied to me…”

“I fucking loved you.”

“Why didn’t we work?”

“I can’t keep doing this.”

“Fuck you. I trusted you.”

“I fucking fought for you.”

“I hate that I need you.”

“Please don’t leave me.”

“Just leave, okay? Just go.”

“You can’t fix it this time.”

“I wish I could let you go.”

“Are you sure about this? Us?”

“Will you ever trust me again?”

“Why wasn’t I enough for you?”

“How could you do that to me?”

“You’re not what I want anymore.”

“I love you, but the timing is wrong.”

“I’m not ready to throw us away yet.”

“I guess we’re done for good, then?”

“They’ll never love you the way I did.”

“You hurt me. I hope you know that.”

“I really wanna kiss you right now.”

“You never loved me the way I loved you.”

“I just wish you felt the same way about me.”

“We’ll never be able to make this work.”

“I wanna forget you, but I fucking can’t.”

“Do you even regret what you did to me?”

“You never gave a fuck about me, did you?”

“Please stop pretending like you care about me.”

“If you’re trying to make me jealous, it’s working.”

“Stop trying to talk to me. I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Do you ever think about me? About us? About what we had?”

“Just say you don’t care about me, and I’ll leave you alone for good.”

 I have a problem with this, and it really goes beyond Arthur himself.

On the one hand Arthur is, like all Weasley males but one, allergic to his own emotions in that stubborn way where he is just not going to acknowledge them no matter how much pain the denial causes him or anyone else. But the fact that he and Percy never speak during the estrangement, not even when Percy comes to the house with Scrimgeour in HBP, is A Big Deal. We don’t know much about Percy’s emotional response to this silence–that he doesn’t come to the hospital after Arthur’s attack is not proof that he doesn’t feel anything–but not only does Arthur not talk to him, he doesn’t talk about him and other members of his family are afraid to mention Percy in his presence

This silence even encompasses the fight that led to Percy’s estrangement. We know that Arthur shouted at Percy, but we don’t know what he said because the purpose of Ron and the twins’ story is to villify Percy, not to be accurate.  This silence, and the remaining family members’ acquiesence to it, not only protects Arthur from his own feelings but from other people’s judgement, including the readers.’ And it is never broken.

It bothers me because Percy has to break his silence to apologize to Arthur, but Arthur gets to maintain his even as he, supposedly, forgives Percy. I want to be swept up in the beneficence and grace of that scene, but it’s a bit hard when I’m also thinking, “Cat got your tongue, Arthur?” Even Fred and George are trying new ways of relating to Percy after he admits he was wrong! I don’t even mean that Arthur needs to apologize too, but after years of complete and devastating silence he can’t even put forth the effort to say anything? 

               “Voldemort.” Regulus sighed. “That cock.”