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Chapter Text

In a big family like the Weasleys', with many kids of many different ages, it is not easy to treat all of these children the same. Some would say it is not possible at all. People outside the family, who are familiar with them, might have a special understanding of the family, depending on who they think of first, when they hear the name.

Most witches and wizards over the ripe age of 40, ministry officials and mothers and fathers of their kids' friends, would first picture Arthur and Molly. The power couple who manage to have and raise 7 children, while having barely enough money to do so.

Other people might associate the family with the oldest son William. Bill was well known at Hogwarts for being incredibly friendly, getting Outstanding on all 12 O.W.L.s, and having married the beautiful Fleur Delacour.

There's also those, who knew Charlie in school. During his time, he was Gryffindor's seeker, as well as Gryffindor's quidditch team captain. He was less popular amongst the majority of the school's students compared to his older brother. He didn't lack the academic knowledge nor the social skills in his circle, however. And even some who have never heard of him back then, now know the Weasley brother who studies dragons in Romania.

Of course, there are also Fred and George. The pranksters of the school. Whenever you found your dinner floating around the Great Hall, you could be sure to know the culprit.

Then, there's Ron. Not only an excellent keeper at quidditch, but most have heard of him due to his close friendship to the boy who lived. He is not only his best friend, but also has he helped him through the darkest of times. Ron is seen as a hero in many people's minds.

Last but not least, there is the youngest Weasley, the only daughter. Ginny has been under the blinding lights since she started dating Harry Potter. Other then that there is obviously the association to quidditch, as she, as well as almost all of the Weasley siblings, did outstandingly at the sport. She is also the only one, who joined a professional quidditch team and is currently still on the pitch.

The family is so big that one tends to forget about one of them, but that's alright. It's hard not to forget about one in nine names.

But why is it, that people always forget about Percy?

Nobody ever thinks about Percy Weasley first, right?

During his time at Hogwarts, most students thought of him as a stuck-up teachers-pet, who thought he was something better than the others just because he was a prefect and later head-boy. He had very few friends back then.

There was Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw from his year, who was just as obsessed with her studies as him. There have been dating rumors about them since sixth year which both of them denied. Percy was being picked on nonetheless. It was either both of them who were made fun of, or there were those, who saw the beauty of the girl and instead decided to start joking about him being to ugly for her. In reality they have only ever been friends.

The other person he regularly spent time with, was Oliver Wood. The attractive boy who had been made quidditch captain by his brother when he had graduated. He was also Percy's roommate. Not to be mistaken, there had been more Gryffindor boys in their year, but Percy never got an answer as to why it was only the two of them sharing a dorm, while all of his brothers slept in rooms of three or four at least. Oliver never seemed bothered by this arrangement.

He was always nice to Percy, even after all of the jokes he had heard his friends make about the boy. He never agreed or even answered when students (sometimes even Percy's own brothers) spoke him their condolences about his roommate. Percy started considering him a friend around the end of fifth year. Nobody ever really knew about how close the two really were.

At the Burrow, things were different. Obviously, it is difficult for two parents to notice and comment every move, each of their seven children made. So what Percy had learned in his early childhood, was to be an easy child. He had tried to keep his younger siblings in line and not to cause any trouble himself. He wanted to make his parents proud of him and in very few occasions, he succeeded at that.

The act of trying to take care of his siblings, is probably what got him the nasty reputation with his brothers. In their teen years they were barely better than some students at Hogwarts. They constantly bickered with him, making jokes and playing pranks on him just to see 'perfect Percy' get mad.

But that's pretty much everything that was about him at home. He understood. His parents had to care more about the younger ones than the oldest. Charlie and Bill were out of the house, one of them even married, Fred and George were not to be kept in control and Ron was getting himself nearly killed every second day, for over seven years. Ginny got her share of the attention just for being the only girl.

But Percy was overlooked. And it was okay that way. His siblings only saw what they wanted to see and that was a wanna-be control freak whose only friends were his pseudo girlfriend and his books. In his parent's eyes, he was the easy one. He did what he was supposed to, he didn't argue and he was always quiet and polite.

His family was the most important thing in his life. Sometimes he just thought that maybe, he wasn't the most important thing for his family.

Luckily, they are all out of school now. Even Ginny had graduated last year. The twins had opened their own joke shop and though one might think, that that means they have not changed a single bit, you would be mistaken. Percy assumed the same at the beginning. 

Especially because, at the time, he didn't know any better. See, after he had graduated, he took his report card with the same 12 O.W.L.s as his oldest brother had gotten, and applied at the ministry. 

It had always been Percy's dream to work at the ministry and possibly, later in life, be voted as minister. He moved into a nice flat as soon as he got his first paycheck and for too long a time, he barely stayed in touch with his family.

Long story short, he made a whole bunch of mistakes during this time and was left utterly unhappy with his position at the ministry. It seemed not everybody viewed him to be fit for a high-ranked leading position. So he quit. He quit and he apologised to his family. 

He was forgiven and he was welcomed back with the open arms of his mother. He had spent a long time after that adjusting back into the family and dealing with his guilt for leaving and abandoning them for a job.

At first it was obvious that his brothers, especially the twins, didn't forget about all of it as quickly as their mother. But they came along. Everybody did eventually. Now, Percy lives in his childhood bedroom again, and is desperately searching for another job.

As mentioned, his two younger brothers opened a shop in Diagon Alley. Percy felt a bit behind, because he didn't even pay his parents a galleon of rent, due to his non-existent income, while his brothers, two whole years younger than him, have their own flat above the shop. 

Percy had visited the shop several times and though it isn't his area of expertise, he had been impressed and extremely proud of his brothers. It was going well for them. They wouldn't become rich, but they did present a decent competitor to Zonko's. What made him most happy of course, was to see his brothers work their dream job and have fun with their very own business. 

Over the past year, he had gotten much colser to his siblings, the twins specifically. He was glad to finally build a steady and lasting relationship with his family.

Not to forget the others. He had watched his sister win quidditch games for Holyhead Harpies and read multiple articles about Ron's great work as an auror. His brothers abroad, had visited a few times and were more than happy to see their brother again.

Life was going well for Percy right now, if only he didn't have to look for a job.

His mom told him to take his time, that she had fed him for 17 years and that she could do it now too, but obviously he wanted to take some weight of his parent's shoulders. He was living there and he insisted on paying them a little bit of money.

If only he could find a career he liked....

Chapter Text

The next day, Percy did his usual routine.

Get out of bed

Help mum with breakfast

Scan the newspaper for job advertisements

Do chores

Help prepare lunch

Go on a walk because Molly wants him out of the house sometime

Usually when he came back from his walks, he would have gone to take a shower. This time, when he entered through the creaking front door, he heard his mum talking to someone in the living room.

He would have suspected it to be Ron or Ginny being home early, since those two still officially lived there. But his intuition was wrong. He walked into the big room and the tall figures standing there, instantly turned to look at him.

"Percy! Glad to see you." Charlie came up to him and wrapped him in a warm hug. And oh, was he not used to his family and their physical affection. He tried his best to hug his brother back properly.

They soon let go again and with a grin, Bill also strode toward him to throw one arm across his shoulders. "Long time no see, Percy."

"It's good to see you too." Over his brother's shoulder he saw his mother's big smile. He pulled away again and looked between his brothers. "What are you doing here?", he asked.

"We're both off this week, and there's no better place to spend your holidays than at home, right?", Bill answered.

Molly interrupted the brothers, "Well, you three do your catching up, I'll go and look after the food." When she reached the doorway to the kitchen, she came to a halt once more and turned around, "-and before I forget, Freddie, Georgie as well as Ron and Ginny will also come home sometime in the afternoon, so it's gonna be the entire family for the evening!" Percy couldn't help but smile at his mother's enthusiasm.

Molly turned around again and Percy sat down on the small sofa with Bill and Charlie.

"Are you guys staying the entire week?", he asked his brothers. They both nodded and Charlie explained that they had made plans to take a week of vacation at the same time, specifically so that the family could be together again. 

Percy felt more comfortable around his family than he had ever before and at least Charlie seemed to notice the difference. Every time Percy asked them questions and he did so with a steady voice and taking up more space in the conversation, he raised his eyebrows ever so subtly, a bit surprised at his brothers newly gained confidence.

"Well, I think we talked enough about us. What has been going on for you recently? Found a job yet?", Bill asked.

"No, I'm still looking. I'm starting to feel like nobody is hiring people in administrative jobs anymore. I've applied for like, ten positions in the past weeks and I only ever hear the same response. 'I'm really sorry, but we have enough staff in our administration at the moment.' Other than that, I haven't really been doing much."

Bill reached out to give him a light pat on the shoulder. "You'll find something, I'm sure." He slightly leaned in his direction to loudly whisper, " -and if you don't, there are always a bunch of dragons in Romania that need supervising."

Percy chuckled and just then a light punch landed on Bill's upper arm. Percy had already prepared for them to playfully fight just like Weasley siblings always used to do, but the two men just laughed it off.

It was still weird to him that they were all grown up now. Though none of them had changed drastically, the slight change to his siblings witt was more than enough of a difference. Of course, Percy found it rather comforting that he wouldn't have to worry about his siblings picking on him anymore.

When their mother called them to the table the four of them sat down to eat. Lunches during his childhood had been loud and sometimes even overwhelming. This time, there was one single conversation going and every person at the table could participate in it. 

As much as he enjoys a calm atmosphere, he had gotten so used to the noise and the full house that he often misses having all of his family members there. 

That made him even more excited for the upcoming evening.

Just two hours later, the fireplace erupted in bright green flames. Ginny stepped out into the room, her eyes wide and her jaw dropping as she sees the unexpected visitors.

She ran across the room and threw herself at Charlie, quickly let go and ran into Bill with the same pace.

They give her the same explanation as they had Percy, earlier. Ginny tells her brothers about her day and the birthday party she was invited to. One thing Percy notices, is how she doesn't only speak in the direction of Charlie and Bill, but she also turnes to speak in Percy's direction. She's telling all three of them.

The next time the fireplace goes up in flames, it's the twins stepping out. With this addition, the house starts to feel more and more like home.

Ron and Arthur also arrive at the same time, both coming back from the ministry. The surprise on people's faces everytime they see Charlie and Bill in the living room makes Percy smile widely.

The whole family finally together, sit down on the sofa, some chairs pulled from the dining table and Ron gets comfortable on the floor. 

It was everything Percy had grown to detest as a child and a teenager. The twins speaking at the same time or finishing each other's sentences, Ron being confused and not understanding the topic or just everybody wanting to tell something simultaneously. 

Today, he found it perfect. The overlapping stories and the many different voices. Because today, whenever he wanted to speak, he could and he was asked many questions about his day too.

Truly, it couldn't have been better. 

The twins still made just as many jokes, but now they weren't full of spite or actual intentionally hurtful comments. 

He wondered if he had ever felt so comfortable in his own home before. And he was pretty sure he could answer that question with a no. But that's OK. Because he did now.

Chapter Text

After a long and delicious dinner, Molly and Arthur had gone off to bed. Not much later, did Ginny and Ron do the same. That left the five oldest brothers alone in the living room. 

It had been long since the last time they sat like this. It must've been, because Percy isn't sure he remembers them ever having sat together in this exact constellation. 

"She didn't find it funny at all-", George smiled uncomfortably,"-I have to admit, it was so stupid. Honestly, I deserved the cold shoulder I got after that." 

If Percy had payed attention, he would know what his brother had just told them. Purely based on context clues and Bill pinching the bridge of his nose, his best guess was that he had played a prank on his girlfriend Angelina. An unsuccessful prank at that.

"Merlin.... I wonder how that girl hasn't left you yet. How does she put up with that?", Charlie added.

"No idea, can't do it myself most of the time", Fred said with fake disappointment in his voice and his expression. 

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side. You're my other half. Other halfs say encouraging stuff, not drag them in front if their siblings." And with that, they were both out of their seats and running across the room. 

Maybe not all of them had matured equally.

The maniacs disappeared into the kitchen and Charlie cleared his throat. "So-, anything else that happened? Maybe something that doesn't make me want to fake disinheritage papers."

Bill rolled his eyes with a smile and started talking about a small house in the countryside, that he and Fleur were thinking of moving into. "Apart from it just being beautiful, it's also bigger than our current flat and it's closer to the Burrow. It would be really nice not to live so far away." 

"Yeah that would be nice." Percy looked at his brother with a warm smile. With a soft voice he continued, "Whenever I move out again, I hope not to live too far either. But that might take another year anyways, so..." He shrugged.

Because of their conversation, Percy hadn't payed attention to how the footsteps in the next room, not only slowed, but apparently even stopped for a while. The twins approached the door and as they reached the doorframe, the other three men were already looking in the right direction.

With a smug grin Fred leaned against the hard wood and held up a bottle. "Which one of you was smart enough to hide two bottles of firewhiskey under the sink and in between the soaps?"

"Thinking we wouldn't find it, huh?", George shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Hiding alcohol from our poor mother."

"That was my doing for once. Technically, I only wanted to store it until I left, but since you two found it already-", the twins looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for him to finish his sentence. "-we might as well open one of them."

"I knew we could count on you Charlie. Everyone want a glass? Perce?", Fred looked at him. For a second he thought about it. He wasn't very keen on the idea of alcohol, but it was only his brothers around and he was at home,...

"Sure, give me one as well." 

"You got it Percy!" The twins brought five glasses to the living room and set them down on the small coffee table. 

After the first burning sip, Charlie laughed. "Ah, this reminds me of the good old times, partying in the common room after every single quidditch game we won." 

For the first time this night, Percy didn't have much to say. He had never been to any of those parties and that wasn't just due to his general disliking towards the sport, but more because he didn't feel comfortable around those people. 

While the others talked about their favourite parties and discussing exactly what they liked about every single game that had been the cause for said party, Percy's thoughts trailed back to his special moments on those days.

During his first four years at Hogwarts, he used his roommate's absence to study in the otherwise empty dorm. The noise from the common room was a tad annoying, but nothing ever kept him from his work as the distraction in the following years.

When Gryffindor won the first game of the fifth year against Hufflepuff, Oliver didn't stay downstairs at the party for long, before he rushed up to the dorm, just to ask if Percy wanted to join the celebration.

Of course, the redhead had disagreed back then, told his friend he wasn't one for partying. Even though Percy was convinced Oliver wasn't quite sober anymore, he clearly remembers the other boy's expression falter. 

That didn't stop the boy from asking him to join the party, everytime they won, every single year after that.

After one more glass of whiskey, Fred had come to the conclusion, that now was the perfect time to talk about his failed relationships. "She was nice and all, but no matter what I did, she always managed to turn the conversation back to quidditch. It's not like I don't boast of my skills myself, but she only ever wanted to talk about what quidditch career I could strive for."

"Oh yeah, the quidditch fame. Such an inconvenience to life, really", Charlie said sarcastically. "Why did you even go out with so many girls, if you knew that most of them were only interested in you because you were on the team?" 

"Now tell me one thing you grand mastermind, how was I supposed to know if they only like me because I'm a quidditch player?", Fred answered.

Bill nudged his brother with his elbow to signal him that there would be no end to this discussion. Charlie leaned back in the sofa, turning his gaze from the twins over to Percy.

He hesitated before speaking, but obviously decided to simply go for it. "Perce, now that we're already talking about girls, you never actually told us about yourself dating anyone." 

Percy knew what he wanted to ask but Fred intervened, "Oh, Charlie. You missed the best of Hogwarts' gossip about our dear brother right here."

"Yeah, the whispers said that Percy was snogging Clearwater behind the bookshelves of the library. Denied it a hundred times of course. Makes the situation even more suspicious, if you ask me." George continued.

"So, tell us now, what actually happened between you two?"

"The one-time fling?"

"The most gut-wrenching heartbreak, because dear ol' Percy was rejected by the girl of his dreams?"

"Perhaps a still ongoing long-distance relationship?"

"I'm intrigued now, which one of those incredible plots has gotten the honour of a story to tell?"

"Oh, Merlin." Bill looked just as annoyed as Percy felt. He had to admit that they were right about one thing: Denying it as often as he did, really didn't help his case. 

"Her and I were friends. We never dated or anything", he said as calm as possible.

"Now that's disappointing. I already had the entire story written out in my head. The title was 'Percy Weasley and his secret love affair'. You're destroying the entire thing." Fred pat his twins shoulder in support of his 'disappointment'.

"But did you ever date anyone at school, or had a crush on somebody?", Bill asked.

The attention of all of his brothers was on him again and since he didn't answer right away, the twins shared a triumphant look.

"Oh, there was! I might only have to change a name in my story", George exclaimed.

"No, there was nobody. I never dated anyone at school. I told you a million times." He was probably as red as a tomato, according to the fact that even Bill was now grinning with malicious joy.

"So, no girlfriend but a crush. Stop fighting it Perce, we can read you like a book. Who was it?", George wiggled his eyebrows.

Percy covered his face with his hands and groaned. How could he get out of this situation without revealing anything else?

"Come on Percy, we've all had our first crushes, there's no shame in it", Charlie tried the slower approach.  

"There is no one." He stated once more.

"We've switched to present tense, interesting", Fred commented. For the remarkable observation he got a high-five from George.

George then continued, "Let's do this strategically then. Who could Percy like? If we think about people very similar to our brother, the only person who could do, is Clearwater. And we've ruled that out."

"Genius thinking, George", Fred praised.

"So if we instead consider the proverb 'opposites attract', who would Percy's greatest opposite be?"

Even Bill was impressed by his brother's conclusion. And though Percy tried not to react in any obvious way again, he knew that they were on the right path.

"Could we please not?" He was completely ignored. 

"The quidditch players! Of course!", Charlie said. "Fred, George, who was on the team after I left?" 

"How did I not think of this? Well, we have Angelina-but I doubt Percy would be a home-wrecker. Maybe Katie Bell?", George regarded his brother and waited for an answer.

"No, why would I like her? She was so arrogant", Percy said.

"Who else do we have...? Alicia!"

His brother quickly took notice of his grimace as he heard the name and before Percy could even open his mouth to respond, George had already started speaking again. "That's all of the girls though."

After a moment of silence and four brothers thinking of other possible options, Bill's eyes flickered up to his brother's face again.

"What about the boys on the team?" Bill spoke with a steady voice and no matter how much Percy searched for judgement or perhaps even disgust in his tone, he didn't find it. 

The twins looked confused for a second, because Bill had just introduced the unexpected possibility, that their brother might not be straight. 

Just as Percy wanted to start panicking in fear of them reacting unaccapting towards him, Charlie continued the list of names. "I made Oliver Wood captain, so he would be one. Wasn't he also your roommate, Perce?" 

"Well, I mean-" 

The twins gasped and all four brothers looked at him with smug grins, as they successfully figured out Percy's crush.

"You have to tell us Percy. When did you suddenly get the idea you wanted to snogg our captain?" Fred chuckled. 

Again, Percy hid his face in his hands. When he looked back at the others however, their smiles had turned much more genuine and Percy felt a little overwhelmed by the fact that he had basically just come out to half of his family and they were fine with it.

Their acceptance gave him the last bit of confidence he needed to tell them the rest of the story too.

He took a deep breath. "I didn't actually realise that I liked him like-, that, until we left Hogwarts. But that doesn't matter now anyways. I didn't know it back then, he's not into guys and I haven't even seen him since then. So, it's not like I still have a crush on him, really. I liked him back then and realised it too late." 

"So, no snogging our captain in the changing room? I already replaced Clearwater's name with his in my head." Fred emptied his glass again with an exaggerated sad frown.

"No, that was years ago. And as I said he only ever dated girls, so...", Percy stated the obvious.

"I wouldn't assume anything based on that. Just because he likes girls doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't like boys too", Bill added.

"Be realistic. How high are the chances? But it doesn't matter to me anymore. Let's talk about something different, please." 

And for once, his siblings actually let it go when he asked them to. The evening came to an end an hour later, when they all decided to head off to bed.

Even though Percy knew he should be a bit embarrassed about his brothers now knowing one of his biggest secrets, he couldn't help but be happy. 

He is finally getting closer to his family. 

Chapter Text

                                          Fred

Contrary to the twins' original plan, they ended up in their old bedroom after the previous evening. When Fred woke up that morning, he had chosen to let his brother sleep in and headed downstairs.

He was greeted by the sunlight illuminating the living space through multiple windows. Following an alluring smell and quiet sounds into the kitchen, he found Ginny and Bill standing by the stove. They were supervising two pans over the fire and cooking water for some tea at the same time. 

"Lovely morning, isn't it?", Bill said as soon as he caught sight of him. After an appropriate answer and a subsequent question about everyone else's current occupation, Bill continued. "Mum's headed off for some groceries, Ron and dad just left for work and the rest is apparently still asleep."

"How long did you stay up last night? Usually Charlie and Percy would be the first ones up", Ginny chuckled. 

"Those credits go to the empty bottle of firewhiskey that is since hidden under my bed." Fred winked at his sister who let out an exaggerated gasp before laughing.

"So that's what you all do when you have an evening to yourselves? Did Percy drink some too?", the girl asked.

"Oh yeah, sure, 'told us some of his deepest secrets. If only you'd been there to hear...", he said, his words dripping sarcasm. But, well, if only she'd been there to hear.

She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the bacon frying in the pan. "I'm sure he did. If you wanna be useful Fred, could you take some mugs from the cupboard?"

He did as asked and Bill poured the hot water in the cups and added tea-bags. He looked back at his sister who was flipping the bacon. "Gins, you mentioned a birthday yesterday. Who's birthday is it?"

She put the utensil down and grabbed three plates. "It's Zola's birthday on Saturday." She turned to look at two questioning expressions and further explained, "She's one of my teammates. And she's got quite the thing for one of Montrose Magpies' players and sice they'll be playing at the charity event on Saturday, that's where we'll be going."

Fred frowned and asked, "What? Where is a quidditch charity event, that I don't know about?" He took one plate and one cup of tea and carried it to the dining table. His siblings followed closely behind.

"Well, it's not a stadium they're playing at, but more like an improvised pitch. I can't remember the village's name, but it's not that far from here. The tickets are actually rather affordable because it's supposed to attract as many people as possible. The players also stay longer after the game and give out autographs for the same purpose. The event itself is made of much more though, other than quidditch", she nodded at her words, "I imagine it will be quite nice."

"Ah, alright. Who are the Magpies playing against?", he asked while chewing his first bite of breakfast.

Not like him, Ginny chewed and swallowed her food before speaking again. "Puddlemere United."

Fred nodded his head. He did so, until the moment he suddenly stopped and sat up straight in his chair.

His brother gave him a concerned glare and his sister regarded him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Bill, tell me- which one of our past-and previously mentioned-aquaintances plays for Puddlemere United?" He must have stared at his brother like he had gone mad. 

A bit terrified by Fred's behaviour he answered, "I don't-", he stopped. Ginny looked in between the men, like not being in on a joke. Bill's face lit up. "Indeed I do know who's on that team."

For a second the two just beamed at each other, Ginny slowly giving up on understanding. When a set of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, Fred turned back to his sister and with a quiet voice he asked, "You wouldn't mind if the rest of the family also went to that event, would you?"

She shook her head with a confused smile, just before Percy entered the kitchen. 

"Perfect", he said with a grin, and then greeted his older brother.

When George and Charlie had finally woken up, they couldn't immediately let them in on the information because Percy was still around. They had to wait all the way until afternoon to gather the right people at one spot.

Ginny had left for training and just when Molly had left the living room, the brothers were discussing the idea.

Charlie and George were on board before even hearing all of the details. 

The plan had been made: They would tell the entire family about the event and invite them all to spend some kind of family day together. Most will love the idea just because they will be able to watch two professional quidditch teams play for a pretty cheap price.

When it came to Percy, quidditch has never been a topic which could lure him to do something or go somewhere. But the words 'family day' and 'charity' would convince him too.

Additionally, due to too many factors that could make their plan fail, they would have to tell Ginny and Ron about the set-up, with the twist of not outing him in the process. 

They themselves, would act like the event coordinators didn't give out any information on which teams would compete. They would tell their parents to do the same, because 'they want to surprise Percy with meeting his old roommate and friend'.

As mentioned they would have to tell their little siblings something else. Those two were actually the biggest threat to the plan. The chances of one of them messing up and accidentally saying the names of the teams, were pretty high.

Ginny could get too excited about the birthday party and tell the tale about her friend's crush. Ron was the one who would start rambling about quidditch until he can't hold back on the names.

They had to feed them some story, the two would believe and find important enough to keep quiet for.

Of course, the brothers found just the right solution to this problem:

They would make Ginny and Ron believe that Percy got drunk enough the last evening, that he accidentally told them about having a crush on a Puddlemere United player. The prick wouldn't say which one it was though. 

And because a Weasley's best trait is nosiness, they would drag him there to find out who his crush is.

You can call them geniuses at this point.

With a plan in mind, they waited patiently for dinner. All family members united again, they introduced the idea.

For the dramatics, Fred grabbed his glass in the middle of the meal and started clicking his spoon against it. "Dear family, my brother and I had an idea."

George took over. "Gins told us about a birthday party she was invited to, which is actually a quidditch charity event", he could see his parents' eyes going wide, "and since the tickets are so cheap-"

Fred interrupted and looked at Percy "- and sold for a good purpose-"

George continued again, "we wanted to ask, if everyone would be free on Saturday for a little family day?"

The responses were just as expected. Bill and Charlie faked their excitement to fit their cheering family's. Percy was not as emotional about it, but he agreed to go 'solemnly for the good purpose'.

After dinner they dealt with the next steps of the plan. Fred and George had to act fast, however. They would need to go home that day, as they had to open the shop the next.

When most people left the table and went upstairs, only Percy stayed behind to help their mum with the dishes. George just put a hand on his brother's shoulder and told him, "You help mum everyday, now that we're home, we can do it for once."

Percy looked like he had seen a unicorn dance with a goblin in front of his own eyes. The twins were a bit disappointed at his low expectations.

When it was save to say that Percy was up in his room, they rushed their father from the sofa to the kitchen and while actually scrubbing the dishes, they told them just what they had thought of.

Their parents bought it easily.

Molly and Arthur seemed happy to hear about Percy's friendship. No one in this house has heard much from Percy about his friends back in school, so it was kinda understandable.

Continuing with their siblings was more simple. Ron and Ginny both had rooms to themselves, so they just paid them a goodbye visit and they might have mentioned something secret before leaving to go home.

Ron reacted a little annoyed at having to watch what he said on a day he can never seem shut up. Ginny was excited about the idea and told them she was now nervous to find out who it was.

So after a long day and way too much thinking having been done, Fred and George flooed back to their flat and went to sleep, feeling proud of yet another brilliant idea.

Chapter Text

Saturday had arrived quicker than Percy would've liked it to. Not that he was dreading a day out with his family, but the last time he had actively gone outside to a place full of people that had nothing to do with his work, well, it had been some time.

His motivation faded even further as the Burrow was buzzing with movement. Every family member getting ready to leave and packing whatever they could possibly need for the next few hours.

Mum had packed a basket with some emergency lunchboxes and water, while their dad had counted and recounted the tickets multiple times, making sure they hadn't lost one of them. Ginny had asked all of her brothers if her hair looked good from the back as she had done it herself and couldn't see all angles. 

When Percy told her it looked just fine, (so did every other brother apparently) she still didn't believe him and went to pester mum. 

Percy himself, didn't run about too much. He paced his own room, not to bother anyone else, trying to find the emotional strength in him to survive this day. Much to his disappointment, his thoughts couldn't bring him the peace he was looking for.

He left his room again to reassure his dad that they had all of the tickets, tell his mum that they won't die of dehydration because they all have money to buy something at the event and he even made an approach to tell Ron he was excited to see the game. Weirdly enough, Ron wasn't as talkative as usual.

When they finally assembled all people in the living room, dad explained the quickest route to the location. Everyone would floo to Diagon Alley and the rest of the way they would have to apparate. 

They followed his instructions on who would go first, so mum started off, followed by Charlie, then Bill, Ginny, the twins, and after most of the waiting, it was finally Percy's turn.

As third to last, he stood in the fireplace, took a handful of floo powder and spoke "Diagon Alley". He blinked once and right when he opened his eyes again he stood in a different room. A room stuffed with his family at that.

They waited for Ron and Arthur and the latter began explaining the exact spot they should all apparate to. Percy turned to the twins who clearly weren't listening, so he gave George a light bump with his elbow.

"Alright, everyone got it?", his dad asked with a bright smile.

They all answered accordingly and Percy gathered all of his concentration to imagine the right place in his mind.

Not to brag or anything, but once more Percy landed right at the desired location. He had always been a good wizard with a knack for perfectionism, so his eyes now seeing the same picture he had in mind, made him fond of the skills he had acquired after hard and long training.

Looking around him, he was pretty sure that everyone else had not done that bad of a job either. He found his mum, his dad, his sister and exactly four of his brothers.

And that would've meant that everyone had actually done well, if it wasn't for the fact that Percy had five brothers. It didn't take him as long to realise who was missing. It was Ron. He took a glance at his watch, only to see that they were right on time. They wanted to be there at 3 p.m. and they had actually made it.

But Percy didn't have the time to congratulate his family on their great time management, because he was already busy trying to track his younger brother's location.

It actually didn't take as long as expected. Ron had just messed up by a few meters and landed in between some trees, which hid him away from the rest of them. 

They were finally able to enter the event grounds.

They actually had a little bit of time to spare, as there weren't that many people around, so getting to the stands wouldn't take much time. It was only then, that Percy noticed he didn't now which teams were even playing.

The only logical decision was to ask one of the twins. They planned the entire trip so surely they would know.

"Fred, you never mentioned which teams would be playing today", he looked over at his brother.

Fred shrugged, "Didn't say. Prolly wanted people to think it's the big ones, to get more people to attend. You can't blame them for that though, it's charity after all."

Of course Percy knew he was right. It was a bit odd that Fred, of all people, was trying to lecture him on why this was the only reasonable option. He nodded at his brother and looked around the rest of their group to try and read their opinions on this. Nobody gave away anything other than fond smiles. Obviously Percy was the only one that had been left in the dark about this fact.

As they walked around the event, they made out multiple spots to get food and drinks, as well as some little shops that sold donated products. There was also a little ice cream parlour, which only made sense regarding the hot weather. 

At said parlour, Ginny found the birthday party she was attending. She waved a quick goodbye to her family and rushed off to the group of girls.

"I think we should slowly make our way to the pitch. Is anyone in need of a last-minute snack?" The twins smiled brightly at their father and Bill also stated that he could use some chips. "Everybody else, go with mum please and you three come with me."

While Percy followed his mum, he thought about how they might look to people on the outside. A big family made entirely of adults, and the parents still managing everyone and giving commands like they did when their children were still small and and in need of directions.

He found it sweet how their parents treat all of them. He definitely found it annoying as a kid, especially because no one would follow their parents' instructions, but now it made him quite happy to be part of this big and slightly more controllable hoard.

Their mum led them around a lot of corners and through big groups of people until they stood in line at the ticket check. After a short minute of queueing, they continued to find their seats on the improvised stands.

Percy got comfortable and soon after, the others arrived as well. The four men carried paper plates filled with chips. Dad had brought two, of which he hel out one to mum. She was reluctant to take it at first, as she had stated earlier that she didn't want anything to eat. Eventually she accepted her husband's nice gesture.

The game was set to begin in about 15 minutes and so most people started to gather on the stands.

Percy looked around in search of his sister and her friends. He did in fact spot a group of girls around the size of Ginny's party, though he couldn't make out if it was actually them from afar.

After a few more minutes had passed, the volume of the crowd grew with the increasing excitement. He understood, the suspense was not for the weak. He wasn't even that into quidditch and he could feel the effects of the upcoming surprise.

His family was a clear indicator for the described atmosphere. They were buzzing in their seats. He tried to push down the smile that was forming on his own face, he was just happy to see his family be completely in their element.

The only one who alerted Percy, was Ron. Contrary to the rest of the Weasleys, he seemed to be in a good mood, but something was clearly bothering him. He was accustomed to being a complete and helpless victim to his brother's quidditch rants before every game.

Usually Ron would analyse the wind, talk about his favourite players and who was most likely to win the game. Even if Percy connected his behaviour to the fact that they didn't know who was playing, he expected more words coming from Ron.

He checked the time again and as he lifted his gaze, a man standing on a special platform in between the stands lifted a magical megaphone to his mouth: "Hello, and welcome everybody to this amazing game today!"

The crowd erupted into cheers. "We are very grateful that such an enormous amount of witches and wizards have found their way to this pitch to watch two incredible quidditch teams compete, to support our local shelter for magical creatures. We gathered here to raise not only the necessary funds to help preserve species and prevent their extinction, but so general awareness of the importance of this issue."

Percy was listening attentively. He has always had a soft spot in his heart for magical creatures after having read a certain famous book about them. This was probably the most obvious quality he shared with his older brother. Only that he would never go as far as to leave to the other side of the continent to study some of them.

"I feel very honored to have been given the chance to host this special game in which two of our most beloved teams fight tor the win." The man held his hand to his heart. The redhead didn't know if he should be aware of the man's identity, but he didn't seem very familiar and his speech didn't suggest otherwise.

Percy guessed that the game would begin then but the man intervened. "Before the players can fly out and steer all of your attention away from me-" he laughed "-I want to remind you that all of the players will be staying around the grounds for a little longer, to give all of you a chance to get an autograph from your favourite player." 

The audience applauded in anticipation. Percy was almost as eager as the other people on the stands now. The commentator had really laid it on thick. 

He was excited to see which teams thay have managed to to book for this occasion. Would the guy really put on such a show, only to then disappoint everyone by welcoming teams onto the pitch that nobody knows? Surely he wouldn't.

"Without futher ado, please welcome: The Montrose Magpies and Puddlemere United!"

What?

He must be joking. What the fuck.

But as the stalls opened and the players flew out, Percy saw that he was indeed not joking.

Puddlemere United.

Oliver.

What the fuck.

Chapter Text

The teams were flying circles around the pitch, making sure to give the audience an adequate show. They looked tiny from his perspective, but no distance could make Percy miss the light brunette hair that he had been especially fond of, since the first time he ruffled through it, its strands sliding through his fingers, the soft feeling staying behind.

He could also never mistake the muscular build of the same man he had seen undressing at least halfway in their shared dormitory for many years in school. Those broad shoulders he used to pat to provide comfort when Gryffindor had lost a game, and the same long legs Percy knew to be able to carry the man for multiple laps around the pitch. The only difference to the man's physical appearance was that all of the features he just described, looked more-, let's say improved..., maybe more prominent, Oliver was a grown man now after all.

None of these observations calmed the panic that has risen inside of him, however.

Percy glanced in both directions and checked the others' reactions. Their eyes were neatly trained on the pitch, captured by their passion and not paying attention to the internal breakdown he was having right next to them. Mum noticed his searching glares and looked at him for a short second. She gave him the brightest and warmest smile before turning back to the pitch where the players had settled in their positions.

Ron was looking better too. The pre-game nerves seemed to have left and the excitement has fully taken over. The one thing Percy couldn't find in their expressions was surprise. He searched for it so desperately, especially since the amount of surprise and shock he felt himself was almost unbearable. Maybe they hid it well, but they just didn't look excited about the reveal.

He wanted to say something to either of his older brothers, but no set of eyes ever found his. They should have heard the name and realised what was bound to happen. What Percy was going through right then. Not a singular one of them made an approach to react to his gaze that had to burn holes in their skulls.

He tried to redirect his attention to the action in front of him. He couldn't help but to feel lost in the situation. His mind was rattling with thoughts, words rushing through his head, but before a coherent thought was able to form, everything went blank.

The quaffle was thrown into the air and the game officially began.

It was everything he didn't need. The noise around him that would make his ears ring for the next few days, the speed of the people flashing across the sky and then there was Oliver.

His eyes found the keeper just where he was supposed to be. The man was hovering near the hoops, guarding them from any attempt the Magpies would make to score. Percy regarded him for an uncertain amount of time, he simply couldn't look away.

What made it even more infuriating was the fact that as long as the other team doesn't come near one's own hoops, the keeper didn't really have much of a job to do. That made it easier for Percy to get lost watching the familiar man on his broomstick.

The longer he stared and squinted his eyes, the more he could catch the remaining details. He was well past the point of caring if any of his family members would catch him staring at the man, even as the crowd cheered after Puddlemere had scored their first 10 points, he could only look at Oliver.

The thrill didn't last long since the Magpies were already on their way to even out the score so Oliver had to prepare, but Percy was already swayed when he saw that Oliver kept up his old habits. Back at Hogwarts, whenever his chasers scored, he used to fix his posture, sit up a little straighter and subtly curl his fingers into a fist with a proud smile. He still did that apparently, and it still fazed Percy in the same way apparently.

He should really be watching the rest of the game, analyse the other players’ strategy, first of all he should finally take note which players were even present. He should estimate how much the wind and the sun, the temperature in general, influenced the game. He should try to predict a player's next move or how the match would end. Just like he did, when his family was unaware of his theoretical interest in the sport. Just like he used to do with Oliver when watching the other houses compete, to take notes of their tactics.

Pained, he tore his eyes off the man and gathered up all of the missing information. The commentator wasn't wrong, the day was truly beautiful and the wind was not strong enough to affect the game in any way worth mentioning. The sun was quite strong, but it worked in Puddlemere's favour since the Magpies had to fly right in its direction.

He didn't know many of the other players and he wasn't interested in learning their names. He was trained to detect a player's talent and skills in the shortest amount of time, he didn't need to be prepared when he was the viewer.

The credits for his incredible skills definitely go to Oliver. The boy was the only reason Percy ever showed up to any game and even if nothing in the name of Merlin could make him ride a broom and play himself, he did quite develop a liking to the sports theoretical part. He did owe that to Oliver.

His attention jumped between watching the game and watching Oliver. The redhead wasn't able to calm down as much as would probably be for the best but he could contain himself.

Percy watched the game with interest. Every time Puddlemere scored he cheered along with the crowd as well as his family and every time the opposite happened and one of the Magpie's chasers managed to trick Oliver, he sat and hoped the other wouldn't be too disappointed.

To say it the muggle way, he felt like he was on a rollercoaster of feelings. His obviously still existent crush on the even more gorgeous Oliver Wood, the fury he felt toward his brothers for not even meeting his eyes when it started and the thrill of seeing the game.

Over the two hours it took for Puddlemere's seeker to catch the snitch, Percy had come to the realisation that Oliver didn't only become better looking, but he has also become a better keeper. Not that he had expected otherwise, but knowing the talented Hogwarts student, he couldn't imagine him improving his skills further when going professional.

Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe that he ever doubted Oliver's ambition in any way.

The game had ended with the score 270:140 for Puddlemere. The crowd went mad of course. Some in a cheerful and happy way and some in a slightly disappointed and almost sad kind of way.

However, Percy couldn't properly focus on Puddlemere's success, when all of his thoughts were occupied by a certain issue.

To his left Ron stood up from his seat and on his other side his mum did the same. He went along and helped gathering all of their stuff to finally leave the stands again.

On the way down the wonky stairs, while his dad shared his opinions with his children, Percy took the opportunity to get an idea of how he ought to bring this up to his brothers.

It was difficult. How should he even explain what this confrontation is about? Was he supposed to be angry at his brothers for not being sorry? But that wouldn't be right either. All they knew about his relationship with Oliver was that he had a crush on him in the past. He had made sure to emphasise the fact that he didn't feel like that towards the man anymore.

So what should his brothers even be sorry for? Not knowing that he was going to be there? And Percy isn't sure what he had expected them to do. None of them were obligated to play the knight in shining armour and drag him away from the pitch so he wouldn't have to face his past crush.

Honestly, he felt stupid now. What was he blaming them for? They came to watch a game of quidditch and none of them could've known that he was gonna play.

The entire situation made his head hurt.

He had obviously been very deep in thought, as he didn't notice that his oldest brother had settled into a slower speed and was walking beside him. Back in reality, he looked over at Bill who was smiling at him with the same understanding and comforting gaze that never held judgement.

Bill spoke first. "That was certainly a surprise, wasn't it." He chuckled lightly under his breath.

Percy only nodded in response. He didn't really know what else to say so he let a moment of silence happen.

"Only question left is: was it a good or a bad surprise?" And for a second Percy thought about it. After a deep breath and still no useful result, he sighed and shrugged. "It's okay if you don't know that yet, I understand that that was probably a weird way of seeing him again after such a long time."

Percy felt a question rise and he almost spoke it out loud before containing himself. That only resulted in a whole stream of more and more questions he wanted to ask Bill. He didn't let a single one slip out of his mouth.

He nodded absentmindedly and they fell into a comfortable silence again. He searched for the right words to tell his brother what he was thinking, and saying that the crush he had declared as forgotten and moved on from was suddenly all he could think of, wasn’t gonna cut it.

“Were you-…, I don’t know, surprised? When you heard that Puddlemere played, I mean. None of you really reacted in any obvious way and compared to you lot, I was so utterly shocked and perplex-“he chuckled, “-at first I wasn’t sure if you might’ve forgotten about what I told you.”

“I’m so sorry Perce, I didn’t want to make you feel that way and surely the others didn’t mean to either.” His serious face slowly shifted back to a smile. “That really was quite a coincidence, wasn’t it?”

Percy started rambling like he had waited for his brother to say this. “If only you would know just how lost I felt”, he actually laughed now. “How is it, that right after I talked about liking someone for the first time in my life, he randomly appears ‘first chance he gets.”

His laughter was definitely louder than his normal talking voice because Fred seemed to have caught that last part he had said. He turned around rapidly, “Are we talking about Percy’s lover again?”

Fred’s statement travelled even further to the front of their group and Molly stepped in. “Freddie, don’t you make fun of your brother, I swear-!”

And though Percy was grateful for his mother’s concern and support, he couldn’t help but laugh at his younger brother’s remark.

“He’s not teasing me mum, it’s alright.”

His mom’s following look was pure confusion. She saw his bright smile and those of his brothers and without any other words she turned back around to talk to her husband.

Percy and Fred started giggling and they giggled like crazy. It only earned them more glances of confusion, but he didn’t really care about that right now. After having felt left out of jokes for his whole life, it made him feel truly incredible to be part of the reason for his family’s entertainment.

The evening was far from over, however. The sun was still up high and from what he heard his father say, the man didn’t see a reason to leave the event before the sun had set.

Percy wasn’t opposed to the idea, he had felt considerably more calm and relaxed since his little emotional combust.

Arthur led them all inside one of the big tents on the grounds and since the sign on the outside had said “The Bewitched Bite” he knew what to expect.

Once again, this time the entire family, they had found their way to the food vendors for something to eat. They sat down at the biggest table they saw and ordered food.

While Charlie and the twins ordered the most absurd and dubious sounding thing on the menu, Percy stuck to his comfort dish: mashed potatoes with meat balls. It tasted amazing nonetheless.

Percy finished his food in a normal amount of time and since his brothers were still picking at, rather than eating the bright blue fish they were served, he decided that he would have enough time to go to the loo before everybody would’ve finished their food.

When he told them that he would search for the toilets and be right back, his brothers got oddly quiet. He left the table along with the weird silence and followed a few signs which led him to the toilet stalls.

It shouldn’t have taken him too long to get back to his family but when he arrived at the table there were no traces left of the silence from before.

He wasn’t quite close enough yet to understand what his older brother was murmuring in a low voice and at the point where he finally would’ve been able to listen in on whatever they were discussing, Charlie ended his sentence and it was over.

His brothers were acting even more strange than usual.

Percy chose to ignore his siblings’ behaviour and sat down next to George again. The younger one’s plate was finally empty and the glowing fish was gone. Though, based on his face, the last bits of the fish weren’t any better than those he ate when Percy was present.

“Alright kids-, Percy, you didn’t hear yet, so: Your brothers decided that they wanted to go about the event to pass by some vendors and Charlie wanted to go to the organizer’s tent. We wanted to know if there’s anything else you wanted to do, dear?”, Molly told him.

“Oh, the organizer as in the animal shelter? I would love to go there. The rest sounds good too, what are you and dad going to do then?”, he answered.

Arthur chuckled a bit, “Ah, those old limbs aren’t doing as good a job as yours, son. We’re gonna sit down at that ice cream parlour your sister was at earlier and have some ice cream and coffee. What I have to ask all of you though, is that if you come across one of Puddlemere’s players, you ask for an autograph for me too.”

Fred laughed and rose from the bench. “Sure we will, dad. Come on then guys, no time like the present.”

Bill payed what they owed and the others followed the twins out of the tent.

“Where do you want to go first? I don’t want to be biased but I vote the shelter.” Charlie smiled from ear to ear. Unfortunately, as they were now only six people left, voting wasn’t really the most efficient way to make decisions.

The three oldest brothers wanted to see the magical creatures first and the youngest ones wanted to begin with looking around the mini-shops.

“Honestly, why can’t we just go around and look for the quidditch players? That’s what we’re all here for anyways.” Ron was slightly annoyed at them, or at least that’s what it sounded like.

Obviously, Ron couldn’t know why Percy wouldn’t exactly want to do that and he wasn’t going to tell him now of all times.

Percy was just about to retreat his vote from the discussion as he got the feeling that arguing would lead to a fight, but then Charlie whispered something to Fred who’s face immediately lit up. The latter nodded to whatever idea his older brother had proposed and Charlie turned back to face the rest of the group.

“Bill, Percy, would it be okay for you if we just split up into two groups, so we can go to the magical creature shelter without being rushed by certain someones-”, he faked a cough and George hit him with his elbow, “-and Fred, George and Ron can go around to pray on the quidditch players on their own.”

Percy smiled at the wording. “I don’t mind that idea. Just, how are we going to find each other again before we leave?”

“Oh, yeah you weren’t there for that. Mum said that we all meet again at the entrance at about half past nine”, Charlie clasped his hands together. “Now, before everyone heads off: Fred, George, could I have a moment?”

The twins looked surprisingly relaxed as they stepped aside with Charlie. Percy definitely would be more taken aback when being asked such thing. It didn’t sound like the twins were in trouble or anything, but maybe not causing any unnecessary trouble was exactly what Charlie was talking about with them.

While the three of them were discussing something very intensely, Bill tried to engage in some conversation with Ron and him.

Whatever was so important that they took over five minutes whispering about, had finally come to an end and the two groups split up in different directions.

The shelter was really interesting. It was well managed regarding the tiny space it was given. It was obviously too small to keep many animals in, but they did have quite a few to see.

Those creatures, that could not be kept in captivity for even a day, were still present over magical pictures, to show the visitors what they looked like or what and how they ate or in some cases even some special things they did.

Percy was positively stunned when he was shown a moving picture of a mooncalf dance.

The three Weasleys were able to pet a kneazle as well as a niffler, though Percy made sure he took his watch off before he went near the niffler. Scattered all over the place, were flying information cards which Percy read attentively.

They also talked to one of the people working there, an elderly man, who told them about the work at the actual shelter and what he has experienced in the past.

They were told what the funds from the event were going to be used for and how one could always come to the shelter for a visit or to help out some time.

Many people might find things like that boring. Reading and learning new information, going around and listening to peoples’ opinions or experiences…. Percy loved those things. It’s what made Percy the person he is today.

Maybe he is just a nerd who likes to read, but now it doesn’t bother him anymore.

He couldn’t possibly estimate the time correctly, which they had spent inside the shelter’s tent, but he would guess something like an hour and a half

It was twenty to nine when they left to go around outside for the last bit of time that they had left. After a while of walking around, the only thing that one of them bought was a stuffed animal. Of course it was Charlie, who had seen the little dragon, identified it as a Hungarian horntail and could not leave it behind.

Percy was looking around and randomly spotted three familiar redheads at a shabby-looking table, drinking butterbeer.

“Hey guys, Ron and the twins are sitting over there, should we sit down with them?”, he asked.

“Yeah, sure, why not. Might be a tad easier to have them back at the entrance on time, when we all just go together. We’ll probably save ourselves the searching later”, Bill answered with a grin.

He must’ve been reading his mind, Percy thought. It was not uncommon for one of the other three to show up late when asked to be somewhere at a specific time, but also just never showing up whenever it’s ‘inconvenient’, would not be anything new.

Percy was walking behind his brothers which meant that he was also the last one to pull one of the chairs back in order to sit down. He never actually got to do that because Fred stopped him.

“Perce, since you’re still standing, might grab some more butterbeers for the three of you, would you?”

“Uhm, sure-“, he looked at Bill and Charlie “-do you both want butterbeers or something else?” But both had decided on the suggested beverage.

The bar to order the drinks was just around the corner and while he made his way over there, he crammed in his pockets for the few galleons he had on him.

Obviously, he had not thought to look up while searching for his money.

He came to regret that, when he lifted his head again and looked straight at Oliver.

Standing just two mere meters in front of him, he was leaning against the wooden surface with his right arm and handing over some money with his other hand. He was casually talking with the guy who made his drink and even if Percy hadn’t been listening, he could imagine that Oliver had just said goodbye to him.

He wasn’t ready for what was about to happen next.

Oliver was about to walk away when he stopped in his track. He looked directly at Percy and finally, Percy thought, it was Oliver’s turn to be completely shocked.

For a moment Percy was scared that the situation would become insanely awkward. But what was he thinking? It was Oliver Wood standing in front of him, one of the nicest people he knew.

And oh, from up close he looked even more beautiful than he had in the air.

“Percy! I can’t believe it-! It’s so good to see you.” The man quickly put his drink down at the bar again and strode towards Percy to wrap him in a hug.

Percy tried to be normal about it, but it was clear that he was failing miserably. He could properly feel bis face go bright red as he tried to lift his own arms and hug him back. At the same time, he wanted to respond to Oliver’s words, but when he opened his mouth, he just started stuttering.

Oliver chuckled and let go of him again. When Percy could see his face again the man was smiling widely at him and the redhead attempted to speak again.

He sighed a bit at his own stupidity, but he beamed when he spoke, “Hi Oliver, it’s great to see you too.”

Oliver’s face didn’t falter and Percy felt it had been way too long since he had seen his friend smile with such joy. He could still call him a friend after all, right?

“You’re here with your brothers, right?” Percy nodded. “I was talking to them for the past half an hour or so, but none of them mentioned that you were here as well. Getting a butterbeer I suppose?”

“I was at the shelter’s booth with Bill and Charlie until now. We just saw them here, so we wanted to sit down with them.”

“That sounds nice.” And obviously, Oliver still knew his brothers as well as he did back at Hogwarts. He quickly looked back to the man at the bar. “Could we have three more butterbeers actually, Ludwig?”

“Sure thing”, the man answered and took the money Oliver handed him. Percy wanted to protest. After growing up with a moderate amount of money, one develops a disliking towards other people wanting to pay for you.

He shot Oliver a glance that he knew to explain exactly what he wanted to express, and Oliver smiled his gorgeous smile at him. With this, he seems to have declared the silent discussion as over and continued.

“You don’t mind if I squeeze myself in between the lot of you at the table, do ya’? Technically, I only planned to stay for one drink, but as long as I’m welcome I think I’m gonna stay a little longer.” Oliver smiled at him again with that smile.

Percy wasn’t going to be the one sending him away.

“I don’t mind.”

They held a sort of conversation which one could compare to small talk but without the weird vibes and the standard questions. When the man, apparently Ludwig, was done pouring the remaining drinks, they were able to go back to the rest of the Weasleys.

Oliver essentially told him about when he had run across his brothers. According to him, they met at the small quidditch vendor and after an extensive post-game talk, Oliver invited them to some butterbeers.

The redhead had to think about one day in sixth year, when he was being picked on overly much, Oliver had come to his rescue and after threatening the twins with more intense training sessions for the rest of the year, they had left their brother alone for the next two months.

That day, after Percy expressed his admiration for the other’s skills in handling his siblings, Oliver had told him that he basically felt like an ‘honorary Weasley’. It was true in a way. The brunette knew all of his siblings and because of quidditch he had become quite close to most of them.

Even though Percy wasn’t sure if the man himself would recall ever having said that, how he approached the group of siblings now, did prove this statement.

Oliver said that he already talked to the twins, as well as Ron, before, so naturally he only went up to the oldest two, set down the drinks he carried and gave them both a lose hug.

Percy noted the way he hugged them compared to the way he had Percy. It was quite different to say the least.

Percy sat down on the same chair he had pulled away a few minutes ago and Oliver walked towards another table to drag an additional chair over. He set it down right next to Percy.

The redhead was sure that if the deep blush on his face from before had faded, it would come back at that point. Lucky or unlucky him, the color was still as prominent as it had been at the bar so nobody would notice him blushing now, specifically.

Having six Weasleys sat at one table, chances were high that one of them would start talking about quidditch, but when you add Oliver Wood and the current circumstances, there was basically no other option.It was not surprising that his brothers wrapped his friend up in a steaming conversation about quidditch. Percy didn’t participate in the conversation as he didn’t have much to say, but he made sure to listen closely for whatever Oliver answered.

In his usual environment, at home, Percy would just zone out for a bit until the conversation changed to a different topic. However, this time he was just fine with listening to whatever the man next to him had to say.

He watched Oliver smile with pride when Ron asked him about how he liked playing for Puddlemere. Percy noticed just how much Oliver loved to talk about his job, but also how he would subtly steer the conversation in a different direction so that everyone of them would tell something about themselves too and it wasn’t just Oliver in the centre of attention.

He was nervous to say the least. Earlier, on the stands Percy had been straight up scared to see his friend again and he felt the same kind of rush now. His hands were shaking a bit and he hoped that the last of sunlight that still shone, would make his blush less noticeable.

Merlin help him, he was in love.

After all the time that had passed, Percy thought, nothing really changed that much, did it?

Percy continued to drink his butterbeer and after quite some time spent with genius jokes and loud laughs, every glass had been emptied and the sun had hidden behind a hill.

Bill checked the time and announced that it was time to go.

Slowly and without anticipation, they all got up to leave and say their goodbyes. One after another went up to Oliver to hug him and to say goodbye. When it was time for Percy to step up to his friend, Oliver directed his gaze to the table and then back to Percy.

“Actually, Perce-, could you help me bring those back real quick? ‘Wouldn’t want to give Ludwig more work.”

Of course it had to be him. Again, he wasn’t sure if he had run out of luck or if this was all he ever whished for.

He chose not to give it too much thought. “Yeah, sure. Uhm-“, he turned to his brothers and was met with knowing expressions. Why could they never be subtle?

Bill was obviously the only one with enough composure to answer appropriately. “If that okay with you, we’ll go ahead and whenever you two are done, just come to the entrance as well. You can find the way back?”

Of course he could, he was well enough trained at reading maps and instructions-, “I’d be glad to walk him back. Bye you guys”, Oliver interrupted his thoughts.

“See you later, Percy”, George said and winked at him, and with a bunch of matching grins the group left the two of them behind.

Percy looked over at Oliver who shook his head with a small smile. “We better bring these back then”, he said and started to take as many of the glasses he could carry, the rest of them were swept up by his friend.

Neither of them said anything as they walked the short distance to the wizard behind the bar and put down the glasses. Oliver thanked the man again and when he turned around Percy followed him.

Percy felt the silence weigh him down more, because he knew that now would be the time he also had to say goodbye again and go home as if nothing happened.

Before he could open his mouth Oliver looked at him with a look that Percy knew too well. He was trying to form a question but couldn’t find the proper words.

“What is it?”

After a deep breath the brunette asked, “When do you have to be at the gates?”

Percy was a bit confused and looked at his watch as he answered, “It’s currently a quarter past nine and at about half past nine I should be back, though a few minutes off won’t matter, I suppose.” He looked back at Oliver, who’s eyes caught on his own. “Why?”

“Just enough time for a little detour I’d say”

Oliver’s so called ‘detour’ led them around the grounds, and though there was nothing too special to see or anything, Percy thought that it was really nice.

This time, as they were now completely alone, they didn’t talk about quidditch.

“By the way, where do you live right now? I think half a year ago, I looked up the address to your flat, but I was told that it was unoccupied.” Oliver looked at him from the side with an interested gaze.

Percy had almost forgotten how much he adored Oliver’s Scottish accent when he spoke in that soft and quiet voice he barely used. It made him smile pathetically.

“I moved back to the Burrow when I quit at the ministry, so-, it’s been almost an entire year now.” He was embarrassed about the fact that he had been unemployed for such a long time, but telling Oliver felt surprisingly easy.

The man beside him nodded understandingly, which gave him this weird urge to tell him more. He was sure he would listen to him.

“I tried to find another job since then, but nobody really wants to employ people who worked for the ministry. Now, of course, I understand-”, he chuckled. He looked over to face Oliver who smiled. “Joining the ministry wasn’t my smartest choice.”

“You’ll find something you truly like, I’m sure of it. You’ve got a bunch of people around, who love you and will help you to find something. It’s gonna work out eventually”, Oliver reassured him.

Percy nodded and stared straight ahead again.

It is truly insane how much two old friends can talk about during just one 15-minute walk.

It felt like no time had ever passed. They talked about their time at Hogwarts and Oliver had this habit of touching his arm, whenever the funny part of a story came up.

Percy felt the swarm of butterflies in his stomach come back to live and he has never appreciated the feeling more.

He started to notice familiar landmarks around them and he knew that the gates were not far anymore. Just a minute later the Weasley family came into sight.

Before they were close enough for them to hear their words, they stopped and looked at each other. While Percy tried to keep the big smile that had formed in a somewhat normal extent, Oliver let his own joy be on full display.

“It was really nice to see you again Percy.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Now that I know where you’re staying-, I’ll write to you, alright? And maybe we can meet up sometime again?”, Oliver looked at him expectantly.

The stubborn smile fought its way through Percy’s self-control, “I’d really like that. You’ll have to write your own address into the very first letter though, so I know where to send mine to.”

Oliver’s eyes widened. “Oh. Yeah, right. Of course.” He started searching all of his pockets, “maybe I could write it down now, so I don’t forget, but I only have, … this.” He pulled out a card picturing himself in his quidditch robes.

Percy erupted in laughter as he realised that it was a picture to sign for fans. Oliver joined him and they were loud enough to make his family finally notice them.

Oliver turned to wave at them and then pulled the quill from the chest pocket of the flannel Percy was wearing. He watched his friend quickly scribble down his address on the back of the card and the hand it over to him alongside the quill.

Percy was quicker this time and pulled Oliver into a tight hug, smiling into the man’s shoulder. “Bye, Ollie.”

“See you soon, Perce.”

They pulled apart and with the biggest smile Percy walked towards their audience. Everyone was smiling at him brightly for a quiet moment and before the situation had the chance to become uncomfortable, his mum clapped her hands together once and spoke. “Well, now that everyone’s here, let’s get back home.”

Arthur led the group away to the same spot they had apparated to before the game.

Molly let herself fall behind and joined Percy in the back.

“Did you have a good day, dear?”, she smiled at him so brightly and with such honesty that Percy thought he could see tears forming in the corners her eyes.

“Yeah mum, I did.” His fingers tighten on the card he was holding.

What a day.

Chapter Text

Percy could barely get any sleep that night. He lay wide awake in his bed, staring at the wooden ceiling and remembering every place on his body Oliver had touched that day.

His skin was tickling, feeling like he had been hit by lightning in the best way possible. Though Percy was very fond of his hygiene, he thought about those extreme quidditch fans who stated that they would never wash their hands again after having shaken their favourite sportsman’s. He could relate to the feeling a little better now.

That night, Percy let himself dream while awake. He knew that he shouldn’t interpret Oliver’s behaviour in a way that couldn’t have been further from reality, but all the words Oliver had used and the honest smile he had said them with….

How could he not imagine what it would be like if he could hear him say such things more often, maybe on a regular basis.

Percy thought about what he would say to Oliver, how he would confess his feelings for him, if only he had the bravery for it. He thought about how it would feel, if Oliver would speak to him again in that reassuring voice and how he would tell him sweet nothings.

For just this one night he let his mind wander to Oliver, and how he might actually stand a chance at love for the first time.

When the sun had finally made its way over the horizon, Percy slipped out of the covers and got ready to start his daily tasks.

He took his time getting dressed, and went downstairs to be greeted by a familiar smell coming from the kitchen. Ginny seems to have developed a new habit of making breakfast, though this time Molly was by her side.

“Morning mum, morning Ginny, need any help there?”

Molly stopped the chopping and looked at him. “Good morning, Percy. Thanks for the offer, but I think we’re set”, she smiled and nodded at him. Just as she wanted to return to the carrots in front of her, she obviously remembered something. “But-, could you be so nice and open the window, dear? That bird’s been pecking at it forever.”

“Yes, of course mum.” Percy left the kitchen and walked into the living space. It was not hard to find the window she meant, as the owl was still pecking harshly at the glass.

He opened the window to let in the strange animal. He doesn’t remember having ever seen it before. The ministry owls usually had a tag on one of their feet, which this one didn’t, and their mail arrived via their own family owl.

The brown bird dropped exactly one letter on the windowsill and after further investigation he didn’t need to ask any more questions.

To: The Burrow

     Percy Weasley

From: Oliver Wood

He let the owl fly back to its owner again, he would take some more time to answer the letter and would send Hermes with his response later.

He shoved the piece of parchment into his pocket.

Though breakfast smelled amazing already, he couldn’t wait for it to be over again.

Dear Percy,

I hope this letter finds you well and that the following grammar mistakes don’t cause you a fatal headache. I feel like the moment I came home today, there were a million more questions I wanted to ask you but didn’t have the chance.

Of course, I have to start off really basic by asking how your day has been until now. I have to admit that I didn’t do the math on when my owl would arrive at yours, but I’m just gonna guess that you’ve already had lunch. How are Molly and Arthur, by the way? I haven’t seen them for quite some time and I forgot to talk to them yesterday! What a horrible third impression that must’ve been. Please apologize to your mother in my name.

Further, I would like to invite you to a small café near my flat. They serve the best coffee you will have ever tasted in your life, I promise you will love it Perce. Whenever you respond to this letter, please let me know if you would be up to that, then we can talk about the ‘when’.

I wish you a wonderful rest of your day and I’m really looking forward to your response.

-your Oliver

Ps: I know you wont talk to your parents about my truly horrendous behaviour last night, I guess I’ll have to do that myself next time I see them.

Dear Oliver,

Whenever have you developed a liking for writing centered? I am positively surprised by how your style of writing has improved since Hogwarts, I would almost go as far as to state that I am proud of your new manner.

Regarding how my day has been, I can not tell you anything worthy of mentioning. The reason behind this being that another one of your scholarly skills is in desperate need of reviewing. How little faith in your owl do you have, that you are under the impression that it would need over half a day to travel to England?

My parents are just fine, thanks for asking. My dad has actually been learning about technology in the past months and he is downright obsessed with it. You know how all of that works, right? He is thinking about acquiring a ‘compter’? He is fascinated by whatever this thing might be capable of. For your information, no, I have not apologized for your horrible way with your friends’ parents. I did tell them you said hello, however. They say hello back.

As for getting some coffee together, you must not have asked me, you know just how much I love coffee and biscuits. Just tell me a da date and I will be wherever I am supposed be, my schedule is rather empty since I am unemployed.

I, as well, hope that you have, or according to my mathematical skills, had an enjoyable day and that Hermes finds your flat quickly and does not leave as many scratches on your window as your owl did on ours.

-Percy

Ps: I strongly advise you not to go and seek my parents, as my dad might corrupt you into teaching him how to use a ‘compter’. Also, who said that you will see them again so soon?

Dear Perce,

I am very disappointed to see that you have such low expectations when it comes to my manners and my skills in writing letters. If I’m honest though, I have to admit that the only reason why I got used to writing centered, is that I have to write an endless amount of formal letters since joining Puddlemere. Yes, quidditch players also have to be educated.

I also don’t appreciate that you have the audacity to insult my miscalculation, after I specifically expressed that I did not try to get it right. Really, Percy?

I’m happy to hear that your family is doing great and that your dad is still on to learn about the best things life has to offer. I personally don’t own a ‘computer’(spelled correctly), but my mum has one at home. If your dad ever needs a proper computer training, I would be more than happy to do that.

How does the 25th sound? That’s next Thursday, if that’s relevant to you. I would have liked to set the date a little bit earlier (can’t wait to see you again), but unfortunately, I’m in Ireland with Puddlemere until Wednesday. I thought about asking you whether you would prefer to go to the café for breakfast or dinner, but then I remembered that you used to complain you couldn’t sleep after having caffein in the evening, so, as long as that hasn’t changed, I suggest that you come around at 8 a.m..

What are your plans for this week? I can’t imagine it to be as boring as said it to be when you are at THE Burrow. Now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever been there, have I? I guess we must meet more often then, so you can finally invite me there. :) Sounds like I will get my chance at a good third impression anyway.

Exited to see you.

-your Oliver

Ps: I’m sorry about the scratches, she’s a beast, I know, I promise she’s lovely when she doesn’t do that. I gave Hermes a pat, he’s really cute as well.

Dear Oliver,

You have a strong tendency of asking me to tell my parents things, that I can guarantee I don’t tell them for your own good. Bill once told my parents about a date he had gone on with Fleur and he accidentally mentioned that it was a muggle restaurant they went to. He then got in a rather unfortunate situation which I think you would call ‘double trouble’.

Next Thursday sounds wonderful, I will make sure to be on time and I sincerely hope that you will be too.

I do not have many things coming up this week. However, I did get invited to the twins’ joke shop, because apparently they want to hear my opinion on some of the new items they have in stock. I do not know if it is a good idea to go there, as I can not imagine that, what they have told me is the entire truth. I suppose I will find out what they have planned tomorrow.

When do you leave for Ireland? It certainly sounds really intriguing. Have you ever been there before? Which countries have you visited yet in general?

I wish you the best of luck and that you have fun during your stay. When you are in Ireland, please make sure to give Hermes some water and biscuits before you send him off to me again, otherwise he will turn comparably manic as your owl. We need to invest more time in training our birds.

If you so desperately want to mee see my parents again and throw yourself into the chaos of the Burrow, I think we can arrange further get-togethers.

I am not too opposed of seeing you again either.

-y your Percy

Ps: The second paragraph is supposed to sound slightly sarcastic, I am unsure if I got that across.

Pps: We are heavily overusing postscript.

My dearest Percival,

I came up with a genius idea. I could invite your parents to dinner at my mom’s. That way, I can do two things at once and have my long-awaited, flashing third impression AND I can show your dad how computers work. Remind me to do that. (Naturally, you’re invited as well.)

Wonderful, the address is attached to the letter. :)

I think that you shouldn’t worry too much about your visit to the shop. The twins seem to have changed quite a lot thinking of how they used to act around you in school. Of course, I can’t be the judge of that, if you are not sure what to expect with them, I’m sure it is justified. Tell me what happened whenever you can.

1. I leave tomorrow morning, so I’m currently packing.

2. Yes, I’ve been to Ireland twice before, every time for quidditch.

3. I have been to a few countries in the past. With Puddlemere, I’ve been to Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Norway and I’ve even been to Bulgaria once. Otherwise, I have never been the type to go on holiday to other countries and since I travel with the team now anyways, I don’t do it much in my free time now. The only holiday abroad I’ve been to, was as a child in Spain with mum.

Thanks for the nice words, I truly appreciate your wishes. Don’t worry I will give Hermes the best of treats I can find over in Ireland, so that he’ll spare poor Percy.

I suppose it's settled then. We can discuss whenever we can meet again, on Thursday. I’m glad to hear that you are just as excited as me to get together more frequently.

Also, you being sarcastic has always been one of my favourite things. You could have let that statement slide without the explanation though, it is true at the end of the day.

-yours, Oliver

Ps: ‘Overuse’ he says, while using it a second time in the same letter. Tsk-…

Honoured Oliver Wood,

Do not address me with that name. Ever.

No.

Dinner at your mom’s sounds amazing, she is a lovely woman. Just leave my parents out of your plans, as I mentioned, you do not know what you are getting yourself into.

About my visit to the shop, I have not left yet. They told me to be there at 5 p.m. and when I send this letter to you, I will floo to them. I am slightly calmer than before, and I have to admit that you are most probably right. I do not know how much you have heard of my life during the past, estimated, two years, but after all that has happened, they have been really wonderful towards me. The next letter that hopefully finds its way to you in Ireland will contain the details of this evening.

I am not sure why I was so surprised by your list of holiday destinations, but you’ve certainly made some incredible experiences. I would like to hear more about your travels when we meet, if you are willing to tell me.

Additionally, I would like to learn more about your team, as you mentioned it. Do you have to be present at any important gathering or event after we have our coffee? I fear we have so much to talk about, it will require more time than anticipated.

-your Percy. I. Weasley

Chapter Text

Percy handed the folded parchment to the waiting animal and opened his bedroom window to let the owl fly away.

After a long sigh and an internal prayer to Merlin, he got downstairs. “Mum, I’m leaving!”, he yelled somewhere in the direction of the living room.

He grabbed a handful of floo powder as his mom came in through the front door. “Leaving already, dear? Will you be back for dinner”

“They wanted to show me some new products, so I really can’t be sure how long it will take.”

“Oh, of course. If you can’t make it on time, make sure to eat something at your brothers’ or pick something up in Diagon Alley, alright? Have fun at the shop, Percy.” She smiled at him and stepped out of the house. Just before he was able to throw the powder to the floor, she yelled again. “-And don’t let them do anything stupid!”

He almost laughed while he said, ‘Fred and George Weasley’s flat’. The flames lit up around him and when they vanished, he stood in a different but familiar fireplace. Percy took a few steps inside the room and looked around him. He was surprised to find nobody around and judging by a lack of sound, he figured that they were still down at the shop.

He knew their flat well enough to find the stairs which led to the back of the shop. When he passed through the door to the storage area, he still found nobody, so he went even further, through one more door to the shop.

Finally, lingering near the entrance, he saw the twins talking in low voices. Another thing that he almost couldn’t believe was possible.

Fred caught sight of him, and he turned to Percy with a wide grin. “Hello, Percy!”, George followed his brother’s gaze and continued.

“Sorry for leaving you upstairs, we thought you’d come through the front, after a little stroll through Diagon Alley.”

“No, I didn’t have the time for that today, I was occupied otherwise.” The words were out of is mouth before he could actually think about what he had just said. When he saw the twins smirking and sharing a knowing look, he rolled his eyes at himself and sighed.

“Occupied doing what exactly?”, George asked as the other twin dramatically winked at Percy.

“We must know, Percy. You cannot hide any more secret affairs from us.”

“Yeah, totally.”

If Percy hadn’t known his brothers so well, he would say that they were acting extremely annoying and sticking their noses in someone else’s business again. But, as mentioned, he knew what they used to be like in school, so, this was nothing unusual.

“Not that this ought to be of any interest to you, but I was writing to someone about a rather urgent matter.”

“Sure, …. Believe that if you will, I do not.” Fred crossed his arms with a frown. “I suppose asking who this incredibly important person is, won’t get me an answer, right?”

“Right.” Percy could only imagine what he’d have to listen to, if he told them. “It’s also not the reason as to why I am here, so hopefully, as long as you guys didn’t lie to me, there are new items you wanted to ‘show’ me.”

He regarded their expressions as they turned into this bored look, which he knew all to well by now. “Would we ever lie to you, Perce?” He answered George’s question with a more than appropriate look.

“Well then-, might as well get started.”

Percy followed his little brothers to the back again. The storage truly wasn’t meant to hold the amount of boxes it did. The room was rather small and stuffed with as many shelves as it fit. Sweeping shouldn’t be a difficult task, considering the use of magic, but it didn’t look like the twins had bothered doing it for a while now.

To sum it up, it was Percy’s biggest nightmare.

“You really need to start organising in here, this is horrible.” He let his gaze wander across the walls, barely visible behind the stacked containers. The words used to label these boxes, were smeared and hardly readable anymore.

Because of his short inspection of the room, Percy missed another wide-eyed look from the twins.

“That’s not what we’re here for today.” Fred gave the word to his brother.

“So don’t wreck your ginormous head over this, we already have an idea how we can fix this mess.” George ended his sentence and disappeared in the chaos.

When he came back into sight, he was holding something interesting looking, but at the same time he was already speaking again. “For now, instead, you can focus on our most genius new inventions.”

“Did he mention that we came up with them.” Fred pointed between the two of them and smiled smugly.

“Yes, the term ‘our inventions’ implies that they were, for a fact, your ideas.” Percy returned the facial expression.

Fred chuckled quietly at his answer. He wasn’t annoyed?

The package in front of George was now free of all wrapping, and the man reached inside to take one of the items.

He pulled out a bag of sweets that looked normal enough. Of course, there had to be some sort of twist to it.

“These, my beloved brother, are delicious sweets. There’s pear, red apple, lime, orange and cherry, -obviously.” He opened the bag and extended his hand towards Percy.” Try one.”

What followed was a long, silent glare and no approach at all, to take one of the wrapped sweets.

George rolled his eyes and took one of them out of the plastic bag himself, and then he turned to Fred who followed suit.

Percy was visibly confused. Obviously, these sweets weren’t just simple, harmless, teeth-rotting products for sale, right? After a lot of internal contemplating and against his best judgement, he gave in and grabbed one as well.

He watched their every move unwrapping the sweets to make sure they definitely couldn’t exchange them. When Fred was done, he popped it into his mouth and waited for the others to do the same.

Percy was really close to letting his regrets vanish, as the apple flavour spread across his tongue. It tasted really good.

And for a whole minute he was actually able to enjoy the sugary flavour.

He truly liked it, until he noticed Fred turning a bit blue. Percy was close to panicking. His brother had probably swallowed the thing and was quietly choking and running out of breath!

George started laughing as he, himself, turned pink.

Well, it was certainly calming to see that he did not have to magically reanimate his brother on a random Tuesday, but what didn’t help was the fact that the two of them also started laughing at him.

The twins had reached an extremely high complexity of colour, that left no doubt regarding what Percy probably looked like right now.

When he looked down at his hand, he learned that he has turned green.

He had the strong urge to react, immediately. He could’ve stormed out of the room in rage, screamed at the two-, Merlin, he could’ve burst out in tears, because he should have known that something of the sort would happen eventually!

Percy didn’t even fully realise it himself, but when he didn’t get mad at his brothers, something clicked. The twins’ oh so contagious laugh had never caught onto him, it had infuriated him at the very last.

But today, today Percy started laughing with them. And he felt wonderful, because today he was fairly sure that it wouldn’t be the last time this would happen.

They all laughed even harder, pointing at their miscoloured features, comparing each other to absurd things until they slowly calmed again.

Percy wiped a tear from his eye, still smiling and catching his breath. “How long does it take to wear off again? I would prefer not to give mum a heart-attack.”

Fred shrugged. “Last time we tried them, I was back to normal within a few hours, George on the other hand, looked like a lemon for half a week.”

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. What? Half a week? There was a chance that Percy had to walk around being green for half a week?

“Don’t worry Perce, I think the colour suits your curls rather well.” George said with a grin.

Though his brother’s statement was little reassurance, Percy let his worries be pushed to the back of his mind. He would see to this issue later.

The twins showed him two more things. The first one was a potion one could put into food, which made the consumer’s ears grow five times their original size. First and foremost, it had the purpose of a good laugh, but apparently the person with the giant ears could also hear better.

Luckily, they did not plan on any more visual presentation.

The last product a rather simple set of cleverly hexed dice, that would always provide the desired number. The three products were of good quality, and they blended in well with the others on the shelves.

As it was getting closer to seven p.m., the three of them knew that it was already too late for dinner at the Burrow. The twins were kind enough to invite Percy to some toast and tea.

The day had been good, against all of his expectations. He wasn’t quite sure how helpful his reviews and opinions on their new products were, but they did thank him for all of his feedback.

At the table the conversation got a bit more bland, which was very unusual with the twins being there, but Percy figured that they were probably just tired.

They had settled into a peaceful quiet and ate their toasts, when Fred cleared his throat.

“Uhhh- Percy? We wanted to talk to you about one more thing, today.”

“Sure,” he looked in between the two of them, as they looked kind of nervous? Should he be worried? “What is it?” He kept his voice as steady as possible.

George looked at him, holding his tea with both of his hands. “You know how everything at the shop is very chaotic and all…, and we have tried our best to keep everything organized, but you know us.” He chuckled. “And-, oh don’t even get me started about book-keeping!”

Fred intervened, “Oh yeah, not even with the help of magic does that make any sense to us! And you would think that magic would do the job.”

Yes, of course Percy knew how complicated book-keeping could get and how magic was basically useless in this field. That was what Percy knew, that was what Percy was good at.

“I can help you with that, if that’s what you’re asking. I can teach you how to do all that.” He nodded, but Fred squinted his eyes a little.

“That’s not really what we want to ask you. Much rather, we wanted to ask you to help at the shop, in the way of… working here? With payment and the sort”, he said.

Percy blinked once, twice and even after the third time it was hard for him to believe that this was not just a fever-dream. They just asked him to work with them!

“Like a job?”

George nodded hastily. “Yeah, exactly that. Only if that’s something you would want to do, of course. It’s nothing compared to the job you did at the ministry and the salary cannot compare either, but…, if you would consider it perhaps, that would be awesome.”

Once again, Percy was at a loss for words. Obviously, he had always wanted to work at some big place, doing something important and make a name for himself. But, if he was honest with himself right now, working alongside his little brothers, at the business that they had worked very hard for, ….

It sounded better than he would’ve ever thought.

He always liked doing administrative stuff, but at the shop it would not be quite as boring as it had been at the ministry.

Deep in thought, he forgot paying attention to the other red-heads sitting in front of him.

“You can say no, that’s okay with us, don’t feel pressured to do this just because it’s your brothers who asked.”

Percy looked at George wide-eyed. “No! -I mean, no. It’s not that I don’t want to do it, I’m just not completely sure about it yet, either.” He couldn’t and shouldn’t make any important decisions this fast. “Is it okay, if I owl you in a week or so? This is not a clear no, however.”

The twins were visibly glad to hear this answer and so was Percy. This was definitely something he should think about well, but at this moment, there were barely any things he could think of, that would’ve been indicators to reject their offer.

The siblings stayed at the table a little longer, talking about what exactly Percy would do, if he took the job.

The evening came to an end and Percy left the twins’ flat with a bright smile.

When he arrived at the Burrow via the floo-network, he had already forgotten about his special appearance. He was quickly reminded when he heard his mother gasp out of shock, so he made sure to explain the situation before she was able to set foot into the fireplace herself.

She wasn’t too pleased with his new looks, but when even Percy can laugh something off, it can’t have been that deep.

Percy went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Lying in his bed, his last thoughts before falling asleep were about how, in the morning, he could send his next letter to Oliver, telling him about the strange but good day he had had.

Sleep took over and Percy dreamed the sweetest of dreams that night.

Chapter Text

Wednesday was a quiet and comfortable day. The biggest highlights were of course the moments in which he read Oliver’s new letter, and the time he wrote his own response, retelling the events of the past day.

One thing Percy had to acknowledge, was the fact that Oliver had obviously found pleasure in making up new names to address Percy with.

The letter which had arrived Wednesday morning had been addressed to ‘Perzilla’, which he later in the letter explained to be a mix of his name and some giant lizard muggles watch films about.

The only other mildly interesting thing that happened, was when he stood before the most difficult task of telling his parents where he was going Thursday morning.

He was nervous about telling them.

After the quidditch game back at the charity event, he saw his mother’s bright smile and he knew that she was not opposed to their friendship, but something in his gut told him to say something else anyway, make up a lie, so he didn’t have to tell them the difficult truth.

He didn’t make a choice just then.

He knew that his time had nearly run out at the dinner table. He ate a spoonful of soup and stared at the bowl.

The table felt really empty around him. Ginny was spending the night at Harry’s and Ron was working a night shift. The quiet was too loud to form any helpful thoughts, so he just lifted his gaze, swallowed his food and turned towards his parents.

Molly and Arthur looked at him instantly. Since there was nothing else to do other than reading the newspaper they noticed the sudden movement, and they patiently waited for him to speak.

He wasn’t a smooth bloke when it came to stuff like that. When he turns to tell you something in the way he did, you always knew how serious the topic was, and just how much he struggled to speak it out loud.

His mother’s brows slowly furrowed as she got more worried by the second. She didn’t have to, of course, but he understood why she did so.

But how do start a sentence so basic, after having made such a dramatic start?

You just blurt it out.

-or…, at least that’s what Percy did.

“I’m having coffee with Oliver tomorrow.”

Molly’s forehead relaxed again. Okay-, this definitely needs more of an explanation.

“-so, uhmm, I won’t be having breakfast with you in the morning.”

He nodded at his statement and turned his view back to the table. What a nice wood grain, I never noticed.

He didn’t want to look in his parents’ eyes, when they exchanged looks, contemplating whether this was something to be happy or worried about.

It should be something that came naturally to parents, and for a long time it had been. He couldn’t blame them though, for taking their time, maybe still being a little more careful with him than they had to. In the past they had to be careful. Too careful.

Something in his stomach twisted in an uncomfortable way, it almost made him feel sick. He continued to stare at the table, his hand moving the spoon around in the soup absentmindedly. He could feel his own heart beating in his chest like a clock counting the seconds that were passing by and continuing to pass by.

With no word from either of his parents.

Was it really this difficult? They should just say that that’s okay with them. They could just acknowledge his statement in some form. He was way past caring what they said or how they said it. He simply needed them to say something.

He hadn’t had any issues like this in the past months or so. Why would this most normal thing be a problem in their minds.

Was it because of Oliver?

Had he misunderstood his mother’s gestures? She had always liked him good enough when Fred or George or sometimes even Ron had talked about him. They had even met him twice.

Percy couldn’t figure out what his parent’s silence might mean, but the tears in his eyes made him combust.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”, he basically whispered and you could be sure that his voice broke somewhere in between the words. His gaze was still fixed on the table and with those tears on the verge of escaping, he preferred to keep it this way.

His father had sat near him, so he knew who’s chair was scraping over the floor, a few mere inches closer to his, and he knew who’s hand it was that he felt settle on his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Percy. We were just caught off guard a little, there’s no need to worry,” his father leaned down to take a glimpse at Percy’s face, “-nor to cry, son. You’re alright.”

The hand on his shoulder moved subtly back and forth in a comforting way. Even though Percy didn’t quite know what to do with his father’s attempt to comfort him, he tried to calm down again and didn’t shrug away the hand.

He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve and finally gathered the courage to look up at his parents. His dad moved his hand to the other side of his neck and set it down to pat the other shoulder.

Percy looked between the two sets of eyes filled with pure concern.

“Feel a bit better?”, his mum asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

It was okay after that. His dad explained that they were happy he was meeting with a friend. Somewhere along those lines, both of their faces managed to regain their smiles.

The evening was confusing and enlightening at the same time. He hadn’t had such a surprisingly pleasant talk with them in a whole lot of time. They shook off the careful behaviour and Percy was actually grateful to hear them talk about why they had reacted that way. He could sleep peacefully, after he heard their concerns and their surprise, the reasons behind those and eventually, their happiness for him.

So, yes, after a long and quiet night, Thursday morning was finally there.

He felt giddy, almost like when he was a teenager and obliviously crushing on his roommate. The same roommate, he was supposed to meet in less than an hour at a cute little café two hundred miles from home.

It was just a café and just a casual coffee with a casual biscuit with his very casual friend who was also casually his crush. Back at Hogwarts as well as now, apparently.

So obviously, his only choice was to dress accordingly. A nice pair of blue jeans that fit neither too lose nor too tight, and a black button-down, that did fit rather snugly around his torso.

Penny had begged him to go shopping with her last Christmas and this had been his gift from her. The style had not been his idea, as one may guess. At least back then, he had found it to accentuate his figure way too much, but Penny had insisted that he looked hot and sweeping in it and he had agreed to put it on for his next date.

If this even was a date. He still didn’t know, did he?

He took his time styling his hair, vanishing the product again, trying anew, flicking his wand for rescue once more, and decided that styling one’s hair was overrated. He took the small amount of money he had and rushed downstairs to the fireplace to make it on time.

Which was, of course, entirely unnecessary, but in Percy’s head, being punctual meant being five minutes early. Molly stopped him right on his way through the living room to sneak him a bit of muggle money. No amount of refusal helps with that woman, so he accepted it.

When the flames around him had died down, he left the hidden fireplace and was greeted with a beautiful scenery. A long street with little shops and everything was decorated like crazy. Flowers blooming at every windowsill and people walking and riding bikes and it was just wonderful.

He walked down the street and checked every sign and house number. The feeling in his stomach appearing and getting more intense with each house he passed. With each step that brought him closer to Oliver.

He could read the name on the sign before he was able to see the address. On a small round table in front of the coffee shop, he sat.

Oliver had seen him before Percy had.

Percy had appreciated the unwashed, still slightly sweaty hair that he stared at last Saturday, but Oliver looked even more breathtaking like this.

A plain white t-shirt and some dark blue jeans that hung just a little loose around his legs. His defined and muscled arms on full display. His short hair looking less flat on his forehead and more fluffy this time. How was the man this gorgeous? It was seriously unfair.

“Hi, Percy.” The man was already on his feet and strode toward Percy with what felt like even more enthusiasm than the last time. Just in time, the redhead opened his arms to catch the embrace.

“Hello, Oliver.”

He didn’t try to hide his smile and neither did Oliver when he finally pulled back again to speak. “I’m so happy to see you, Perce." He stepped out of the way and beside him. "Come on, sit down” Oliver guided him to the table with his hand still lightly on Percy’s shoulder blade.

Percy chuckled at the excitement of the other man and let himself follow along.

“You really weren’t lying. This place is stunning.” Percy sat on a chair as Oliver did the same opposite him. He let his gaze wander over the other buildings and the people walking around.

“Did you doubt my word?”, he smiled. “And all of the other shops here are just as amazing. I could spend my entire time here.”

“How do you now of it?” Percy looked back at him. “It isn’t exactly in your neighbourhood, if I dare say.”

A wide smile spread over the brunette’s face. “No, its not. ‘Few hundred miles from home, but my mum always took me here as a child. My aunt owns a flower shop a bit further up the street. It’s really nice here.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Just for a second the two of them just looked at each other, biting back smiles that could not be hidden and smiles that still spoke as many words as they had years ago. Percy felt at ease around Oliver. Even if it didn’t quite make sense. He should be nervous about being so obviously smitten, but Oliver returned the quiet signs and made every worry feel unimportant.

Oliver was so easy to be around, even for Percy. Even for the outsider who seemed to do all the wrong things.

The man in front of him broke the eye contact first to grab a hold of the menu-card. “You have to look at the pies and pasties and biscuits they offer." He paused for a second to put the card down on the table and push it in Percy's direction. "It doesn’t matter what you order in the end, I promise it will taste amazing.”

Percy took the card from him. “Well, if you know the menu this thoroughly, might the gourmet give me a recommendation?” Percy grinned at him.

As long as Percy wasn’t already hallucinating, he thought he could see Oliver flush at his request. Oliver hesitated for a moment, then he spoke in his quiet and soft voice, “I think you would like their blueberry muffins and the lemon pie.”

If you think that that was exactly what Percy ordered when the waitress arrived at their table, you would be correct. They each ordered a blueberry muffin, Percy also ordered a slice of lemon pie as well as a latte and Oliver added a cappuccino and some type of biscuits Percy had never heard of.

When the waitress left the table again Percy remembered what he had written in one of his letters.

“How was Ireland, by the way?”

“Rainy.”, Oliver smiled. “No, but honestly? It was really good. We didn’t win much, but it was great practise. It’s usually really nice to be over there, you know?”

“Usually?”

Oliver nodded without hesitation this time and said, “Well, this time I was also rather thrilled to get back.”

Oh.

They talked about Melin knows what was just on their minds. They got their coffee and pastry and Percy was positively swept off his feet. Everything tasted ten times as good as at any ordinary bakery or coffee shop.

Oliver insisted he try the biscuits he got and somehow they ended up sharing basically everything on their table. At some point Oliver had also complimented his outfit. He emphasized that he thought Percy looked quite good in the button- down.

Thank you, Penelope.

They finished their drinks and food over some relaxed chatter. Percy asked all of his questions about Oliver’s time at Puddlemere and their team. Oliver answered gladly, told him about the people he got along with the most and those he had some problems with at first.

Though Percy didn’t usually care for all of the quidditch players, he listened to Oliver’s stories with honest interest and suddenly, names weren’t that hard to remember anymore.

When, in return, Oliver asked for the full story about his visit to the joke shop, Percy told him about the twins’ offer.

“I know, not that much time has passed yet, but do you think you’ll take it?”

Percy shrugged. He had thought about it already, but he could never seem to get closer to an answer. “I don’t know…. What do you think?”

Oliver was quiet for a moment. “For what it’s worth, I think that it would be very different to work there, compared to what you had always anticipated to do, but that doesn’t mean that it would be a bad choice.” He looked at Percy with a soft but more serious expression. “What I think might be important is that you consider if, what you always wanted to do - work for the ministry, do something big and important - is still what you want to do with your live.”

Percy took in what he said and he thought he understood what Oliver was telling him. He had similar thoughts in the past.

“It’s just that-, you’ve always been so sure about that. You made your decision very early and after all those years, you never reconsidered.”

“Yeah, no, I know what you mean.”

Oliver smiled again. “That doesn’t mean that working with your brothers is automatically a good idea-,” he chuckled. “I just want you to think about it in a way that doesn’t have to do with what you once planned to do.”

Percy was quiet for a while and let his mind be wrapped up by his words. He looked back up at Oliver and smiled as well. The same soft smile his friend had showed him just then.

“Thank you, Oliver.”

They got their bill and this time, Percy could only blame himself for not having seen it coming. Oliver payed before Percy could even search for his money. Sly git.

Time had passed way too fast and even though Percy should have probably headed home after they got up and left the café, he couldn’t resist when Oliver asked if he would let him take him to a book shop nearby.

Obviously, Percy wanted to go to the book shop.

They found themselves in another small and cozy store and Percy thought that he must be dreaming. They had collectors editions of some of his favourite books and he couldn't help but notice, that he had never before seen a book shop or a library with such organized shelves.

In the end, Percy left with two new books and the same amount of money in his pocket as he had right after his mum had given him some extra money.

Oliver had assured him that he wanted to pay. At least in a similar wording….

Who’s the one reminding me in every letter that he has all the time in the world, because he doesn’t work? -And, apart from that, I earn enough money to pay for stuff for the people I care about.

That last sentence quite literally almost knocked Percy off his feet.

Oliver walked Percy back to the hidden fireplace and when it was time to split, neither of them made a move to say goodbye.

Oliver did start talking, just not exactly saying goodbye just yet.

“How about you come around to mine sometime? Or we could do something else, we established quite the list over our letters”, he chuckled. “We can do whatever you like.”

Percy could melt from the way Oliver looked at him and he smiled right back at the beautiful man. Were his hopes really as unjustified as he had told himself?

Oliver reached out and carefully grabbed Percy’s free hand. Percy noticed the way he watched for his reaction while he did it, so he made sure to smile just a bit wider in response.

“Obviously, I’d really like to meet again, as well. Maybe I can think of something this time around?”

Oliver took this as his sign and held Percy’s hand properly.

“Sure, sounds good. Owl me when you know?”

“Owl me your schedule first so I know when you’re even free”, Percy mocked him, but laughed.

Oliver joined his laughter and they finally said their goodbyes.

Still looking into the most entrancing brown eyes, he threw the floo powder to the ground and vanished.

The next second he was back in the Burrow and not long after, his mother came from the kitchen and stood in front of him with an uncertain look.

He knew that he returned a bit later that he had announced he would the day before, but she wasn’t angry with him. Obviously, he was a grown man.

She seemed like-, …she didn’t really now what to think about it.

“How was your coffee, dear?”

He nearly laughed. He just started chuckling as his mum’s expression grew more and more confused.

He held up his new books and said, “It was good, mum”, still beaming with joy.

Chapter Text

„Hey, Percy. You haven’t seen Oliver recently, have you?”

Well, that felt very targeting.

Percy sat  on the floor of the little office at the joke shop along with Fred. They were trying to work through some papers and files together, and even though the question was pretty random, Percy wasn’t daft.

“I don’t see how that has anything to do with your expenses”, he said without looking up from the stack in his hands.

He could feel how his brother rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t, but we’ve been wondering what happed there after that quidditch game we went to. You know, with your guys’ little backstory and all. I wanted to ask if you’re friends again. Like, talking?” The tone in which he said it, clearly suggested that he only really wanted to hear a confession from Percy. He already knew the answer.

Now, he did lift his head to look at Fred. “Would you believe me if I said that I haven’t seen him since?”

“Not in a million years. You hugged to say goodbye after having met for the first time in years! That’s not how you would act with a roommate that got on your nerves in Hogwarts, whom you were happy to get rid of again.”

Percy frowned a bit embarrassed at the thought of his entire family having seen him be so friendly with Oliver. “Alright, I met him once since then. Why does it matter to you this deeply, anyway?”

“No reason”, Fred answered without hesitation. “Just glad you still get along, is all.”

If that didn’t sound concerning, Percy wasn’t sure what did.

“Sure.” He forced his eyes back to the papers in his hands. He couldn’t properly concentrate anymore, though. Fred was getting too involved in this and he was afraid that whatever his brother’s intentions were, it wouldn’t give him the peace he aspired.

So, that was pretty much how Percy’s ‘first day’ went by. For context: He didn’t agree fully to work for them just yet. The twins had suggested for him to try it for a few days or weeks and then he could still decide for good.

His job wasn’t difficult. It wasn’t as logical as his job at the ministry, however. He didn’t need to standardise or correct as many things to get them to conform to the most irrelevant laws.

It had some fun surprises every now and then. Said surprises being deals, free of all sense, or systems meant to help organize stuff, which made it even more confusing as to where everything is.

It was challenging in its own way.

Percy really enjoyed the environment, though. The small office has been left mostly untouched by the twins (for whatever reason), so it was easy for him to get comfortable there.

At the same time, he wasn’t obligated to stay at that desk the entire day. He could always help out in the shop itself, help restocking or check for possible problems.

The twins were also checking on him sometime. One of them would come around the office, ask him if everything’s fine, offer him coffee and crack a joke before leaving again.

If he was being honest, he’s already made his choice.

There was just one problem with all of those amazing events that have occurred in the last weeks, and don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t complaining.

Every letter he exchanged with Oliver made his heart race and his cheeks flush. He almost felt dedicated to make the other man feel something at least similar to him. Percy lay in his bed, wide awake, every night thinking of where he could take Oliver and what he would wear to the ‘date’ and he couldn’t help but smile to himself until eventually sleep would take over.

This one meeting with him made everything in Percy turn and as much as he was used to hiding these feelings away and ignoring them, he fell victim to Oliver’s charm.

So much had happened and changed in just a few mere weeks and Percy was desperate to talk about it with someone. Someone who would understand his helplessness, someone he could confide in.

For a second he considered telling his parents, or his mom specifically. Hopefully it doesn’t need any explaining, why he trashed that thought as quick as it came.

Then, he considered writing to Bill. His oldest brother with whom he had always had the best relationship of his siblings. He would understand him the best of all.

But what would he write?

Dear Bill,

You remember what I have told you about Oliver, right? Well, over the past weeks we have exchanged about a hundred letters which made me blush every time.

He invited me to a little café where his mum had taken him as a child. Is that not basically a love confession already? We shared our pastry and he bought me BOOKS. He even reached for my hand when we said goodbye. And now, I will plan our next ‘date’.

Oh, and- by the way, I work at the joke shop now and Fred has started asking questions, which is absolutely terrifying.

So, yes. You all have been right. I am still desperately and pathetically in love with this quidditch maniac and now I am delusional as well. I have hope, can you believe that?

Please call me insane

-yours, Percy

…

He decided against that idea as well.

But who else was left he could talk to?

It felt like the bags in his hands became heavier with every step he took, the handles burning lines into his fingers. “How about we go to Florean Fortescue’s and hang out there for a while?”

“Yes! There you can tell me all about that date. I can’t believe that he saw you in that outfit and you still woke up in your own bed”, Penny stated. Percy’s face felt hot again, but he was smiling like an idiot.

They’ve been strolling through Diagon Alley for a while now, stopping every now and then to go in every shop Penny wanted to go to. All throughout that, he told her everything.

Penny ordered ice cream for the both of them and found a quiet corner for them to take a break and eat. At least it seemed quiet enough, ignoring that every passing person could listen to their conversation, but that’s beside the point. “So, tell me everything!”

The blonde girl had shown nothing but support and excitement when Percy told her about Oliver and she didn’t even bat an eye when he asked her to wait for him at the twin’s shop. She had always been an amazing friend.

Percy wasn’t even surprised when he told her about his crush on Oliver when they were still teenagers, which he had been completely oblivious to.

She knew.

It sounded really pathetic, to be honest, that someone else knew you had a crush on somebody before you did so yourself. But it should have been obvious that she knew. She was the smartest girl Percy knew and she knew him better then anyone else ever did.

She might as well hear the details to the story.

“Well, I flooed over to where he told me to and it was this beautiful muggle shopping street somewhere near Leeds. I walked around for a while, searching for the address and before I even properly realised that I was there, he got up from the table, came up to me and hugged me.”

Penelope smiled proudly and clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “Aww, how sweet.”

Percy chuckled. “We sat down and he told me that he knew the place because his mom took him there as a child, and we ordered pastries and coffee.” He rolled his eyes at himself and continued, “-and I know it sounds really cliché,” Penny’s smile grew into a smirk, “ but he recommended me some muffins and cake and when we got our food he asked me if I wanted to try the biscuits he had -and I did- and then we basically shared everything we ordered and he was so sweet the entire time.”

He looked down while he said that last part, embarrassed at how red he must be, but when he turned back to her, her wide grin broke into a laugh.

When she calmed a bit she took a deep breath and searched for the right words. “Wow.” The girl raised her eyebrows and took a slow and deliberate bite from her ice cream. “You’ve got it bad for him.”

“You tell me that, he even bought me two books after we left the café. And he insisted on paying for everything.”, he answered while licking off some drops of the ice cream, that had started running down the cone. “And I told him that I would plan something we could do the next time we meet.”

Penny sighed sarcastically and leaned against his arm, “Books? Are you sure that wasn’t a hidden proposal?”, she raised an eyebrow. “Well, you better think of something good for that second date. You’ve found yourself quite the gentleman.” She blew out a breath and looked at him impressed. “Have an idea yet?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t even know why I said that I would plan something, I have no such talent”, he pouted.

“Lucky you, that you have a best friend who is all about those things”, she looked at him, her smile more genuine now. “We’ll find something that he’s going to love, I promise.”

And Penny’s taste has never disappointed.

Chapter Text

Percy was really good when it came to being up-to-date with things. There was just one tiny thing he lost track for after he quit his job, and that was time.

When you asked him for the date, he would be no more help than a clock would be, and that is exactly why Percy completely missed the fact that it was already the 21^st of August.

Which meant that tomorrow was his birthday.

Percy had mixed feelings about his birthday. As a little kid, back when the twins were the youngest and still practically babies, he loved that day. It was the most amazing time of the year, because he was the centre of attention for once and everyone enjoyed themselves while celebrating with him.

Later, that changed. When Ron and finally Ginny had been born, he was even more excited to have one singular day where he was the most important from all the people in his family. Unfortunately, his siblings saw that differently.

He had already gained the third name ‘boring’ in his brothers’ vocabulary and when he expected them to have enough decency to give him a nice and thoughtful gift at the dinner table, the wrapped package exploded in his face.

The part that made him even more sad was, that while four of his brothers laughed at his tears, his parents didn’t even intervene, because they were too preoccupied with calming down a crying Ron and Ginny.

He didn’t celebrate since then and when asked, told his mum and dad that he didn’t like the concept of birthdays, so that they wouldn’t make an effort for a day that would go to ruins, anyway.

So, after about ten failed attempts from Penny to make him celebrate again, he has still never done it again. And-, by the way, he does think that the concept of birthdays is really dumb. However, he doesn’t mind it as much as he always says he does.

Life had to go on though. He ignored the feeling in his stomach when he looked at the calendar and tried to forget about his little past tragedy. Breakfast it was.

He changed into a burgundy sweater and his most comfortable pair of jeans and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. It was quiet in the kitchen when he arrived. The only thing out of the ordinary in their organized chaos, was a single plate of untouched toast with jam on it.

His mother left a note next to it, labelling it as his and telling him that she’s out for groceries. It was delicious, of course.

Percy sat at the table alone and ate in silence. He had to think about the following day again.

Last week, Percy had written a letter to Oliver stating that he had an idea where they could go to and asked if he was free on the 22^nd. Obviously, he didn’t mention why he chose that date, but it didn’t matter since Oliver had declined to go that day. He was busy with his quidditch mates.

It wasn’t like Percy was disappointed by it. He wasn’t planning to tell Oliver that it was his birthday and that that was the reason why he wanted to spend the day with him.

Of course, he would’ve done exactly that, just without telling the other man. Percy really did want to spend his birthday with his friend.

The only other thing Oliver had added was that he would reach out to him again when he knew his schedule for the following weeks and he made sure to tell Percy that he was looking forward to whatever he planned for them.

He even added a smiley after that last part.

Percy didn’t feel too smiley about it.

He finished his breakfast in silence and immediately flooed to the twins’ flat. Again, when he made it there, his brothers seemed to be downstairs regarding the empty and much too quiet flat.

He went downstairs, still not finding Fred and George anywhere, so he simply went to his office and sat down to get started. He had established a promising timetable to get a bit more rhythm in his day, so he just followed that.

There were some strange things that happened after that. The first being that he barely saw his brothers around, even when he specifically sought them out. And the other thing was their behaviour.

They almost didn’t exchange a word with him, quieted down when he walked past them, gave him instructions to do the most random tasks as far away from them as possible. They basically got no work done the entire day.

When Percy approached them again and asked them directly if anything was wrong, George told him that they ‘were thinking about something’ and that he shouldn’t worry.

Still, he got a bad feeling.

He tried to ignore it as well as he could and ended his work day in confusion and total silence.

Back at the Burrow, things started to get even worse. The kitchen was filled to the brim with groceries that could feed them for a month. Why has his mother bought so much?

After he took a warm shower, the questioning began.

“Oh, Percy! Are you working tomorrow, dear?”

“Will the twins be in?”

“You know, I just want to know what my kids are doing all the time.”

“How long are you working tomorrow?”

He gratefully fell into bed that night, to end this weird day and wait for the next to get better.

Guess what.

It didn’t.

Everything started the same way it had yesterday. Fred and George looked even more stressed out than they had before and ran around the shop like crazy. His mother he hadn’t even seen in the morning. She was just gone.

He retorted to his office again, it had become his little safe space apart from the Burrow. There wasn’t much to do in there so he switched it up to the storage after a while. The storage was still pretty messy, so it was in need of some more attention anyway.

Percy was right in the middle of exchanging an old damaged box with a new container, when his brothers actually barged into the room.

“Percy! Oh, there you are. Would you mind taking over out in the shop? And perhaps stay a bit longer than you usually do? There are some problems with delivery and we have to pick up something.” The twins looked at Percy, who still hasn’t moved from his position.

He thought for a moment, a bit hesitant at the sudden request. “Yeah, of course. I can do that.”

“Thank you!”, and they stormed through the threshold, slamming the door behind them.

He slowly moved from his frozen stand and gently put the new container in its place. Then, he confusedly made his way to the main part of the shop and started assisting customers.

The next hour went by a little stressfully. It made quite the difference if it was three people running the shop or just one single person who also still wasn’t the most well-trained employee.

He managed.

The other question that came up was what the twins had meant when they asked him to stay a little longer. He usually left shortly after the last witch or wizard left the shop, so were they asking him to do some extra work?

Sure, …. There was always something he could find.

When a nice older lady left the shop with a gift for her grandson, he locked the door with the clock striking six p.m..

Percy figured that he should go back to the storage to exchange some other damaged things with new ones. He left his place at the check-out and followed that plan.

He levitated a few boxes to the ground at the same time and opened the new sturdier ones. One after the other he packed them together and got rid of all the torn and ripped cardboard.

Searching for another thing to do, the cleaning utensils in the corner basically screamed his name. Obviously, he didn’t use them. It was way more fun to light the spider webs on fire and vanish the dust before his feet.

There was a knock on the door, or at least Percy thought that it was. He couldn’t really hear, seeing as he was too far away, but he was certain that he had heard correctly.

Technically, it was still light outside, but every other additional light in the shop had been put out by him, so when he left the storage, he couldn’t properly look through the distant windows.

There was another knock.

This time Percy knew that it came form the front door. Was he going to be robbed? Why would someone try to steal from a joke shop? Nothing in there was of enough worth for that.

No matter, Percy drew his wand and slowly approached the door.

His shaking hand lifted the wand in front of him. There was no plan or idea in his mind this time. How should he have been prepared for such thing?

There was a big possibility that he would have to defend himself and the shop from an unknowingly strong wizard and there was no one there to help him.

He stood in front of the door now, considering just not opening it and acting as if nobody was there, but someone who was keen on robbing him wouldn’t be stopped by a locked door.

He quietly put the key in the lock and turned it until it clicked.

The person on the other side didn’t press the handle, which was strange. He had expected them to pull the door out of its hinges and jump at him.

His wand was still high up and directed at the door. Carefully, he pressed the handle down and opened-

…

?!

“Oliver, what are you doing here?”

Chapter Text

Oliver could only smile in response, the corners of his mouth going up as far as Percy hadn’t seen them do since Hogwarts.

“Picking you up, of course.”

And Percy should’ve asked about a hundred more questions, really. But when the person he was in love with extended his hand in his direction, he dumbly reached for it and let himself be pulled down the doorstep.

Oliver pushed the door closed and Percy took the clue to lock it. It didn’t need much more than their still enclosed hands and an approving look, and Oliver apparated them away.

Percy didn’t bother looking around to see where he had brought them. The second his feet stood securely on the ground he looked up at the most stunning set of eyes and he already knew the only place where they could be.

There was also no more question about what was happening or why Oliver came to pick him up when he had said that he didn’t have time today. Percy thought that for the first time in his life, he didn’t hate the surprise that was about to come upon him.

Oliver looked down at their hands and back up at Percy with an asking expression. When Percy followed his movement, he nodded in response and was rewarded with that small boyish smile to appear on Oliver’s face again.

No painting or picture or words or text could ever capture what that look did to him.

His brown hair tousled in the front from the breeze that blew past them. In that moment, he reminded Percy of the quidditch player he used to watch regularly. Always a bit messy and never entirely put together, but that’s just how he liked him most.

The redhead tried to hold back on his own smile, his face betraying him mercilessly. “We should go inside, I don’t want to know what happens when you keep the entire Weasley family waiting, but I do know that I don’t want to find out today”, Oliver joked.

Percy chuckled. He searched for a response, but his head was completely out of thoughts. He still felt incredibly overwhelmed by everything that was happening, the scare from before lingering in the back of his mind.

He managed to hum in response and led the way toward the Burrow.

They entered the house together, letting go of each other’s hands when the door flew open, though it wasn’t in a negative or hiding kind of way. There also wasn’t too much time to think about it, as his entire family lunged to hug him and wish him a happy birthday, not even letting them reach the living room.

He finally got half a look at the entrance-area, and his heart began to beat in a faster pace when he saw that everyone was there. He wasn’t surprised at the fact that his younger siblings had made the effort to be home at the right day and time, a lot more was he surprised to see Bill and Chalie back again so soon. Bill even brought Fleur along.

After a lot more hugs from his red-haired lot, he finally got to see his own favourite blonde girl.

Penny basically ran up to him, nearly tackling him to the floor. “Happy birthday, Percy!” He pulled a face in pain as she screamed in his ear.

When everyone was done congratulating him, they stood in a weird circle around him looking at his every move and analysing his reaction as if he wasn’t grinning from ear to ear.

It was clear that his family had put in a lot of work for this day. Looking past them, he could see decoration and confetti all over the place and a few party hats were sat on the windowsill, waiting to be worn.

His mother looked at him with a soft and careful expression. “Do you like your surprise, dear?” He could only shake his head at the unnecessary question and approached his mum once more.

“I love it, thank you.”

About a second later the entire room of people joined the hug. Maybe there was even a little tear that formed in Percy’s eye. It never left it though.

The impression from before, that the house was decorated so nicely, was barely anything compared to what he was confronted with when he walked into the living room. The usual chaos had been tidied away and there was not a piece of dust flying around. The wonky carpet under the coffee table was lying perfectly straight and every blanket on the couch has been folded up and stacked nicely.

That was the true present for his inner perfectionist.

The problem with that was that there were actual presents. A lot of them even. Placed on a side cabinet, he couldn’t help but stare at them and wonder how it was even possible that this was real.

Still frozen in shock, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, knowing that it belonged to his father. The man was already looking at him with his typical smile, “Come on, you haven’t even seen the real highlight yet.”, he leaned in slightly, “Your mother made cake.”

Percy turned around with his dad, “Must be the best day of my life then.”

“Oh, absolutely!”, answered his father laughing with him.

If the cake was anything, it was ginormous. It could probably feed a family of 20! (Not that they were missing too many people for that, but just imagine a birthday cake of that size!)

Apparently, Percy wasn’t the only one stunned by the size of the cake, because Oliver looked downright terrified by that thing. Not a big surprise, regarding the fact that he is an only child and his average birthday cake was probably a mug cake.

Bill brought plates and cutlery from the kitchen and set it down next to the cake. When Fred tried to get a hold of the big knife, Bill slapped his hand away and grabbed it himself.

“Definitely not. Percy gets the first piece”, he said.

Bill cut a piece from the cake, put it on a plate and handed it to Percy. After him, he continued to the right.

On either of Percy’s sides sat Penny and his mother, who had insisted she sits next to her ‘birthday boy’. Oliver was stuck in between Charlie and George, though he didn’t seem to mind it too much. He was still in comfortable distance right opposite of Percy.

The cake was absolutely delicious and according to his mum, Bill and Fleur had helped her bake it. Hearing that, sparked his interest to ask a few more question about how this party has been able to take place.

He didn’t address anyone in particular as he asked, “Who even planned this, by the way?”

For a second all of his family’s attention returned to him. It didn’t stay like that for long however, since their eyes quickly changed paths and landed on the culprits.

The twins each threw an arm around the other and proudly smirked at Percy, “Us, of course.”

“Who else do you has the brains for that?”, George added.

He could hear Penny laughing in disbelief right next to him, “Literally anyone in this room would be just as likely to plan a good birthday party for him.” She turned to face Percy, “I, for instance, decorated the place. Not that I want to brag or anything, but I think I did a pretty amazing job.”

Percy giggled at the gibe. Arthur interrupted the arguing friends with a parenting voice. “We all did our share to make the party as good as possible”

He smiled at his son and the voices in the background went quiet to appreciate the sweet moment that was happening. “It’s great, thank you.”

And it should’ve been a cringey thing to say, you know, the twins were supposed to laugh at the expression of his feelings or roll their eyes. Today, they sat there quietly with smiles on their faces and let their brother have a moment, without the urge ruin it.

After the first piece of cake, there were obviously seconds and not just because the cake was so big, but also because nobody could resist eating the delicious desert until their stomachs were hurting. At the same time, there were multiple conversations happening. Yes, right in front of him, in the direction of Oliver, Chalie and the twins, the conversation drifted back to quidditch quite a few times. Thanks to Oliver, it was stirred back to something different again whenever it got too one-dimensional.

They sat at that table for a long time, talking instead of eating efficiently, making some jokes or spoiling the presents on accident (definitely not Fleur and Bill).

Let’s say, having his mother sit right beside him, made her regular glances in Oliver’s direction pretty obvious. One time, when she saw that Percy had caught her looking, she just smiled back approvingly and gave him a light nudge with her elbow.

Now, Percy knew that he wasn’t the best at interpreting his parents’ behaviour, but it was obvious that his mum knew something. It wasn’t the most pleasant thought, seeing that he wasn’t officially outed to many people, and the fact that it was his mother doing this, made him nervous. He tried to give her a convincing smile without waiting to see her reaction.

Later, they gathered in the living room to open the presents. Molly was still busy with the dishes while the others got comfortable around the coffee table, where they had moved the gifts to, so when she saw that Percy was sitting at the far end of the sofa she practically lifted him by the shoulders to make him sit in the centre of the room.

When he landed kind of uncomfortably on his butt, from his mother shoving him back on the couch, he realised that he was now sitting in between two people: Bill and Oliver.

The latter smiled at him sweetly and made just enough space for him on the leather cushion, that their knees were still touching.

Arthur rose from his chair and cleared his throat, “So-, who wants to go first?”

Before anyone else had the opportunity to answer, Penny’s hand shot in the air, “Definitely me!” She got up and searched for her presents under the lot. In the end, she handed him three individually wrapped boxes.

Percy got a bit nervous with the things in hand. As mentioned before, he had never gotten this amount of gifts in his life and there had never been as many people watching him unpack them and how he reacts to them and everything.

He tried to ignore how crazy everything felt and looked down at what his hands were doing to distract himself.

The first one he opened turned out to be a perfume. He remembered it from one of their shopping trips, when he barely bought anything and blindly followed Penny around. He really liked how it smelled back then, but didn’t want to spend that amount of money on it, so he had left it.

He sighed defeatedly and looked over at the blonde. The smile on his face was clearly visible, “Thank you.”

Against his expectation she did not return one of those wholesome smiles they had seen before this evening, but instead she smirked at him and answered: “Don’t thank me yet”, which scared Percy to death.

At least the others found their interaction entertaining as the entire room was laughing their butts off. What followed, was even more laughter.

Let’s just get it over with- she got him handcuffs.

They were pink and fluffy, and the metal part was sparkly.

Penny, of course found his reaction more hilarious than anything else in the world and laughed hysterically while Percy wanted to drown in shame.

His face had probably adapted a deeper shade of red than his hair was, -but no one would see because he hid his face in his hands.

He lifted his head again to see even his mother shaking because of suppressed laughter. At the same time, he began to feel a hand rubbing slow, comforting circles on his back. Which wasn’t a risky move right in front of his family. at. all.

It wasn’t really in anybody’s direct view, seeing as how squished they were on the sofa and though Bill could’ve surely noticed, Percy let himself enjoy Oliver’s gesture.

The rest of the gifts were really nice as well. As you can imagine the biggest ones were from Oliver, who obviously earns too much money from his career.

From his family, he received mostly books or stationary items. Not that he was complaining, he liked every single thing he got, but he understood that that stuff was what they would aim for specifically.

At least he won’t need a new quill for around ten years now.

The hours passed by quickly and Percy was enjoying himself. He talked with every person present, watched his siblings act weird around Oliver and even worse with Penny.

His parents were his highlight, however. They barely knew the two of them and his dad was clearly in the dark about his crush on Oliver. He talked to Penelope as if it were a daughter-in-law-interview. The girl didn’t even try to act serious about it but Percy isn’t sure if his dad got the hint.

Molly did something similar. She stuck herself to Oliver’s side and asked the same questions in a sneakier way.

The woman was visibly delighted talking to the quidditch player. She might’ve thought that she had Oliver wrapped around her finger, while in reality she just fell victim to his charms as well.

Totally Oliver’s fault, the git did his best to impress her and that successfully. Even though he didn’t meet his parents for the first time, it felt similar to how it did back then. Not only did the times change, but so did Percy and Oliver and their relationship.

Something special made itself known in Percy’s guts when he watched the people he loved most interact with each other.

Everything around him was cozy and comfortable and so, so lovely. The air that smelled like the perfume everyone had to test-spray, a stack of books on the table and a record playing quietly in the background.

Percy met Fred’s eye, who mumbled a quick apology to Bill and Fleur to leave their conversation and instead joining him in his corner. He swung and arm around Percy with a smirk and didn’t hesitate to lean a bit closer to his older brother and drag his eyes across the room.

Percy found what he was looking at and did the same while listening to what Fred had to say.

“I just want to let you know,” Fred couldn’t help but take a dramatic breath, “-we told Oliver that we’d find him a place to stay overnight, and we didn’t.” He clapped harshly on Percy’s back and laughed. “That is officially your ‘problem’ now.’ Fred added the quotation marks with his fingers.

Yeah, Percy saw that answer coming.

“I hate you”, he whispered back at him with a pathetic smile plastered to his face.

“Yeah, right. We’re the best brothers you could’ve ever asked for.”

Percy rolled his eyes and chuckled as Fred left his side. His eyes found Oliver again and he wondered what he would do about that ‘problem’.

Just when the beautiful man noticed his gaze and smiled at him briefly, Percy had already forgotten about it.

There would be enough time to worry but now was not it.

Chapter Text

The party came to an end slowly. It started with Charlie leaving due to his long way back to Romania. After him, followed Bill and Fleur and eventually even Ginny left to go to Harry’s.

Percy should’ve been relieved, seeing as the noise was fading slowly and the crowd of people was thinning, but there was a sudden dullness when it came to these emotions.

Instead, he felt sad. It wasn’t a major sadness that would wring tears from his eyes, but it was a strange situation. Usually, he was happy to leave any function that contained more individuals than just Penny.

He looked around the room again and at all of the people who were left. A group had formed on and around the couch, made up by Arthur, the twins, Ron and Oliver.

He himself, was collecting a bit of confetti that lay on the table. He wasn’t really efficient in what he was doing and technically Penny was ‘helping’ him, but oh well....

They just stood there, picking up single pieces of sparkling paper, talking quietly about whatever came to mind while the quidditch geeks were concerned otherwise.

Don’t think he forgot.

Part of the reason he was so useless at his try to clean up, was that he was thinking about it.

He thought about it more than he did not.

It was a difficult matter, he thought. Oliver and him weren’t like a thing. All they’ve been doing since they got back in contact, was to send letters to each other, flirt and hold hands. And it hasn’t even been that long.

Whatever it may be that was forming between them, it wasn’t something that would give you permission to invite the other to stay over.

Stay for the night specifically.

How would he even adress the issue?

Hey, Oliver. Could I talk to you for a second? -and maybe in another room so that my nosey family doesn’t hear what I have to ask you? You know, Fred and George promised you a place to stay, and I kinda wanted to ask if you wanted to sleep with me-? NO! NOT LIKE THAT, I MEA-

Percy honestly had to stop with these imaginary conversations.

Lost in thought, he didn’t notice his best friend having moved to his side. She looked a little concerned at his stillness, but didn’t question it right away.

Percy didn’t explain what was so obviously wrong, so instead he let his gaze find him across the room again and made up his mind.

Bill had left, Penny was holding her purse in her hands and hadn’t sat down in the past 15 minutes. Charlie was putting on his shoes, talking about one of the dragons he watched frequently.

Arthur and Molly had gone to sleep half an hour ago and Percy waited patiently for his moment.

When Charlie had finished tying up his boots he hugged his brother as well as Oliver goodbye and left.

Oliver.

Now, all who were left were the three 24 year olds.

After just a second of awkward silence, Penny announced her own departure. “I guess I’ll see you soon.”

She looked between the men in front of her, knowing entirely well what situation she is leaving Percy in. But it was fine.

Though as a kid, Percy thought that his ‘cowardess’ should’ve put him in Slytherin instead of the same house as his family, today he would be what a Gryffindor was supposed to be.

After Penny had closed the door behind her, he turned to face Oliver.

He took a deep breath to start off, “Fred mentioned earlier that you needed a place to stay overnight....”

Oliver’s eyes widened and he pulled himself upright from where he was leaning against the wall. “-Oh, yeah. Uhmm, I guess he forgot”, he shook his head with a smile. “I’ll just floo home, that’s no problem.”

 Oliver started toward the living room, but before he got the chance, Percy took a step to block his way.

“Actually,-“, he hesitated for a moment to see his reaction and reached for the other man’s hand, holding it confidedently.

Oliver waited for Percy to finish another shaky breath.

You’re not a teenager anymore, you can do this.

“Actually”, he repeated, “I wanted to ask if you would want to stay over?”

The brunette’s expression was unreadable while he spoke. Then, Percy witnessed a rare moment, in which Oliver’s jaw fell slightly and his lips featured a shy smile.

The man cleared his throat, not quite meeting Percy’s eye, in order to gain control back over his face.

That was another thing Percy remembered him already doing back when they were roommates.

“Sure, yeah. -Totally! I mean-, ...yeah.”

Percy couldn’t hold back a laugh. Oliver’s cheeks turned red, but he rolled his eyes in irony. Usually it was him, making Percy stumble over his words.

“No, but I’d really like that.” Their eyes met again. “Thank you, Percy.”

The redhead turned and stalked into the living room himself, leaving the other behind. “Well, let’s get you settled then! I’m sure you want to stay in Fred and George’s room, since they’re not here.” He picked up Oliver’s stuff from the couch.

“I’ve always loved your sarcasm.”

And the man who stood in the doorway, was again the boy with the broom. Same stance, same accent and the same flirty catchphrases.

Up in Percy’s room, he realised that there was another issue. Where would they sleep?

His bed wasn’t made to fit two people comfortably and it sure as he’ll wouldn’t fit him plus a quidditch player.

Percy adressed this problem once they were both ready for bed.

He pointed Oliver toward the bed. “You can sleep in my bed, I’ll get another blanket and pillow for me.”

The other looked at him confused, “What, why?”

Percy was already halfway out the door when he answered, “I’ll sleep on the floor so you can have the bed.” He said it like it was an obvious fact.

Olivers face made it clear that he didn’t see it the same way, but Percy was already down the stairs again.

With an old pillow and blanket in hand, he re-entered his room to see Oliver sat on his bed waiting. “You can’t sleep on the floor”, he said.

“Yes, I can”, Percy whisper-laughed in response and dropped the fluffy things in a matter-of-fact way.

He sat down and pulled the thin blanket over his knees to where his pyjama shorts ended. Oliver just stared him down from where he was sitting.

To distract from the topic Percy started fiddling with the bedside lamp and rambled about the most irrelevant stuff he could think of.

The minutes passed and Oliver began to listen and talk to him. The chuckled quietly not to wake anyone and Percy almost got the impression that Oliver had dropped it.

Oliver told him about a friend of his whom he had met during his time at Puddlemere. In return Percy told Oliver about the last trip he took with Penelope last year.

It was late at night at that point. They both knew that they should go to sleep, so Percy suggested doing so.

You know what’s coming next.

Oliver extended his hand to him. “Get up here, Percy”, he whispered.

Percy sighed and considered to decline again.

He caved. He gave in and took Olivers hand and let himself be pulled up. Oliver scorched over to the wall to make as much space for him as was humanly possible in the small bed.

There weren’t too many words exchanged after that.

There was no need for words when hands and gazes spoke in the way theirs did.

They were forced to lay close together due to the missing space anyway, but their arms and legs found their way around each other.

"Goodnight birthday boy", Oliver whispered to him. In the dark, Percy thought he felt a kiss being pressed to his forehead. But he was already being absorbed in his sleep by that time.

Percy had the best night.