The Building Is About to Collapse!

"I can't believe I'm seeing you all here, like this. I can hardly breathe." Molly fumbled a linen pouch out of her wizarding robes, intending to give the children the Portkey inside.

"Especially you, Percy! You graduated this year. You're an adult now! Oh, Merlin's beard!"

Percy looked awkwardly at his mother. He had graduated with top marks in all twelve subjects, an achievement that ranked him among Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's finest graduates. Everyone had high hopes for him.

But...

He had to admit that his performance just now had been terrible.

Everything had happened too fast. All he could do was try to protect his youngest sister, Ginny. The wand in his hand had been about as useful as a little stick.

He had seen George and Fred use a Repelling Charm to drive a massive explosion away. Yet when a chunk of concrete came flying at him, he had barely managed to dodge it by dragging Ginny to the ground.

The thought filled him with shame.

Fortunately, no one had noticed him.

Unfortunately, everyone else was fighting, while he was holding them back.

All right, he felt utterly awful.

He was terrified his mother would say, "Oh, Percy, I'm so disappointed in you." If she did, he would want the ground to swallow him up.

But...

He had spotted something deeply unsettling!

Aurors stood at the pinnacle of combat in the Wizarding World—well, if you excluded the masters of magic. They were certainly its backbone. After graduating near the top of their respective magic schools, they underwent three more years of training and spent years gaining experience against Dark Wizards.

Yet George and the others had taken these Aurors down with ease?

Percy wasn't about to conclude that the Aurors were worthless just because students