Chapter Text
Oliver Wood was sitting on his bed reading Quidditch Through the Ages for certainly the hundredth time when Percy finally came back into their dormitory. He seemed to be moving slowly and in a slight daze.
“Hey,” Oliver greeted.
“Hello,” Percy replied.
“You OK?” Oliver asked as he watched Percy sit on his own bed and begin to carefully remove his shoes.
“Fine,” Percy said, “Just tired.”
“All right,” Oliver said, still not entirely convinced. He put his book aside. “Thanks for hosting that study session tonight. It really helped.”
Percy looked up and smiled softly at him. “Thank you. I’m glad someone appreciated it.” He got up and started collecting his shower supplies. “I’m going to shower.”
“Have fun,” Oliver said as he picked up his book again. ‘Have fun? What on earth is your problem, Wood?’ he mentally kicked himself.
Seventh year didn’t stop his crush on Percy. In fact, it probably made it worse. He got to watch Percy be more protective of his family and other students. Sometimes Percy was more buttoned-up, which was cute, but other times the stress of everything made Percy forget his decorum and that was even better. He’d forget to get his hair trimmed, so his beautiful curls were more prominent. He was more likely to slip into one of his oversized sweaters as a comfort. During an argument or a class or private discussion, his passions would occasionally slip through and Oliver would see that spark in his eye that people rarely saw. He liked how much Percy earnestly believed the government’s purpose was to help everyone. Percy would also help him get through the tough moments in Quidditch, especially their hard loss to Hufflepuff. Like normal, he’d force Oliver to eat on game days; Oliver would do the same to him on big exam days or days of intense studying when Percy would forget to eat.
Percy came back about 10 minutes later, freshly showered and already wearing pajama bottoms. Oliver tried not to stare at his bare chest. Percy usually stayed fairly covered up, so any extra skin he saw was a rarity.
“Remind me to talk to Felicity about getting a hair cut soon,” Percy said as he grabbed an undershirt to wear, “You should probably get one too. Your hair is starting to get into your eyes.” For either a Galleon or a favor of her choice, Felicity- whose father was a Muggle barber- starting cutting their hair in third year after a botched charm on a magical pair of scissors gave them patchy, lopsided haircuts.
Percy sat on his bed. Oliver watched as a thought clearly crossed his face. “That reminds me, guess what Felicity just told me?” he said.
Oliver decided to play along. He knew it would probably be something boring, but he enjoyed joking with Percy too much. “She somehow has tickets to the Quidditch World Cup and is so kindly bringing us along this summer?” Oliver said.
“Nice guess,” Percy deadpanned. “Try again.”
“Snape has finally discovered shampoo?”
“That day will happen when the gnomes in the garden learn to fly. One more try.”
“Sprout and Pomfrey have been secretly married for the last five years?”
“No. She told me she has a crush on Audrey.”
‘Percy Weasley participating in gossip? How unlike him’. “That would be a true Hogwarts power couple,” Oliver said, “You and Penny better watch out.”
Percy paled. Well, as much as he could, given his already pale as snow skin. “We actually broke up a few week ago,” he said.
Oliver couldn’t tell if he was confused or elated. Probably a mix of both. “Wait, what?” Oliver asked. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Percy shrugged. “We kind of grew apart. She said I was distant, which maybe I was with the whole Sirius Black…issue. And there were just little things that proved that we weren’t meant to be romantically. She’s one of those ‘organized mess’ people and I can’t deal with that. Amongst other things” Oliver could understand that about Percy. Their dorm room was spotless. In fact, most people who enter were alarmed by the cleanliness. What two teenage boys lived in an organized room? Occasionally, sneakers would be thrown on the ground and the beds wouldn’t be made, but that was about it. Everyone assumed that as a sportsman, Oliver would be disorganized, but that wasn’t the case. He took too much care in his belongs to let them sit on the floor for hours.
“Huh,” Oliver said, “I guess that makes sense. Sorry mate.”
“It’s fine, but thank you.”
“Why didn’t tell me though?”
“I don’t know,” Percy sighed. “You never exactly seemed interested in my relationship with Penny, I guess? It slipped my mind with the other things happening?”
“I’m sorry if I made you feel that way,” Oliver said. “I don’t want to be a bad friend.”
“No, it’s fine,” Percy waved him off. “I never offered the information anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” Percy looked down at his feet for a moment and then looked up. Oliver noticed he looked almost vulnerable. “Can I tell you a secret?”
‘What secret could Percy have?’ Oliver wondered. He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring and said, “Sure.”
Percy walked over to Oliver’s bed and sat down next to him, but didn’t look at him. They sat in silence for a moment. Oliver wasn’t going to push Percy. Then, Percy took a breath and looked up.
“I think I…I think I like men,” Percy said, then added, “In addition to women.”
Oliver’s heart stopped beating for a moment. He didn’t know what to say, but he was so happy. Percy was like him. That meant he stood a chance- however small- with him.
Percy looked concerned. “Forget it. I shouldn’t have-“
“I like men too!” Oliver blurted out.
Percy stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
That sat in silence for a moment, unsure about how to continue. Oliver wondered if he should mention his crush. Or should he keep quiet about that? It probably wouldn’t be the best idea… Should he ask about Percy’s type? Does Percy even have a type?
Percy broke the silence. “How lo-“
A loud rapping at the door interrupted Percy. Both boys stood up alert. Sirius Black still hadn’t been caught yet.
“Percy! Percy! Percy! Open up!” the unmistakable voice of Ron Weasley came from behind the door.
Percy quickly ran over to the door and opened it, wand at the ready. Oliver tensed up, ready to help at a moment’s notice.
Instead of any emergency behind the door, there were five very disgruntled third year boys with long, vibrant-colored beards. Percy calmly lowered his wand and Oliver relaxed.
“What on Earth happened?” Percy asked.
“Fred and George did something!” Ron said.
“I think he figured as much,” Harry quipped.
Dean seemed more willing to give an actual explanation. “Seamus shared some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans with us and the next thing we knew, we were all growing these weird beards.”
“You have to help us Perce!” Ron complained.
“My ma will kill me if she sees this,” Seamus muttered to Neville.
Oliver watched as Percy pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I should have asked what they were doing,” he muttered, mainly to himself. He then straightened back to Head Boy mode. “All right, gentlemen, let’s see if we can solve this problem.” He ushered the five boys down the stairs, but still gave Oliver a wistful look over his shoulder.
Once they were gone, Oliver flopped onto his bed and groaned. He was screwed.
Leave it to Fred and George to ruin a moment.
Percy wondered what he did to have his brothers constantly making a mess of his life. While he loved them, there were times where he considered a good hex to make a point.
Fortunately, the beard issue was solved rather quickly. Well, rather quickly after Percy threatened to make sure that got a detention during the final Quidditch match of the season. It was a bluff. Percy knew Oliver would kill him if he actually did it and Percy wanted a win as much as anyone else in Gryffindor. Fred and George tried to call him on his bluff, claiming that McGonagall would never let him do that, but Percy nonchalantly threatened them with detention with Pince in the library. That one actually worked. No one wanted detention with Pince; she was more exacting in her orders than Snape, Filch, or McGonagall. They handed over the antidote jelly beans.
When he got back, Oliver greeted him cheerfully, but didn’t return to their conversation. The moment was officially lost. Percy wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted. Would anything have happened? He doubted he would have admitted his attraction so soon, but he didn’t know what Oliver would have said. Could Oliver even be attracted to Percy? While he highly doubted it, Percy knew stranger things had happened- his sister being controlled by the dark lord, for example.
Things went back to “normal” after that. Well, their normal. If you asked around Hogwarts, most students would consider Oliver and Percy’s obsessive study routines odd. Percy focused on NEWTs while Oliver mainly focused on the Quidditch finals. He seemed to believe that he could study for NEWTs after the cup was done. Occasionally, Percy forced him to actually study his schoolwork, lest the rest of the Quidditch team collapse from exhaustion or turn on Oliver and kill him. Both of those options seemed equally likely because Oliver made them practice every spare moment they had. Even Fred and George seemed too exhausted to joke around.
The only different thing about Percy and Oliver’s relationship was that Oliver would occasionally mention men he found attractive or ask Percy his opinions. Percy did not know what to fully make of it. He assumed that Oliver felt liberated to talk about things he hadn’t been given the opportunity to talk about before. There was definitely something freeing about that.
Percy didn’t have the opportunity to discuss his thoughts with anyone else until dinner one night. Percy, Oliver, Felicity, and Audrey sat together at the Gryffindor table with no one else around them, whether because it was still early or because no one wanted to sit with a bunch of stressed-out seventh years was debatable.
At one point early on in the conversation, Felicity groaned and hid her face in her hands. “I can’t talk about classes any longer,” she mumbled, “Someone please bring up anything else.”
“Did anyone hear about Apollo Whisp of Stardance?” Audrey asked. Stardance was a wizarding pop band that was popular with young wizards not into the rock music that The Weird Sisters offered. They were often glamorous and danceable, but had deep, poetry-like lyrics. It comprised of three people: siblings Apollo and Artemis Whisp and their cousin Flynn Morningstar. Percy and Oliver often listened to them in their room.
“What about him?” Oliver asked.
“Rumor has it, he’s dating Thor Plumpton of the Pride of Portree. It was in Magical Music Monthly.”
“Really?” Felicity asked.
“I can’t tell who I’m more jealous of. Probably Thor.” Oliver joked. He turned to Percy and smiled at him. “Perce, who would you want to date more: Apollo or Thor?”
“Oh, um, I guess Thor is more my type,” Percy said, “He’s attractive.”
“Huh,” Oliver said with a shy smile. He looked at his watch and stood up. “I have to go to practice, see you guys later.”
As soon as Oliver was out of earshot, Felicity turned to Percy. “You’re an idiot,” she said.
“What? Why?” Percy asked confused.
“Oliver likes you,” Audrey squealed.
“No…” Percy protested.
“That question he just asked you was a leading one,” Felicity explained. “He wanted to know if he was your type. He’s built more like Thor Plumpton than Apollo.”
“And he was looking at you all throughout dinner, especially when he asked that question,” Audrey said.
“Like a puppy,” Felicity added.
“Really?” Percy asked in disbelief. He had no reason not to believe either girl though.
“He’s been mooning after you for a while, I think,” Audrey said.
“Oh, yeah, I noticed last year. He sometimes looks at you like he looks at a Quidditch pitch or something,” Felicity said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Percy asked.
“It wasn’t my business,” Felicity said, “Besides, I don’t know if he was out. I definitely didn’t know for sure if you were even interested in men until like two weeks ago.”
Percy thought for a moment. “What should I do?” he asked.
“Do you like him?” Audrey asked.
Percy nodded.
“Then just tell him,” Audrey said.
“But how?”
“How did you ask out Penny?” Felicity asked.
“I just asked her after class,” Percy said simply.
“Oh my god,” Felicity groaned into her hands, “There’s your answer.”
“But there’s more riding on this,” Percy argued. While Penny was another prefect and somewhat of a friend before asking her out, Oliver was his best friend. He didn’t want to jeopardize that.
“That’s true,” Audrey conceded, “But aren’t you a Gryffindor? And you know he’s probably interested in you.”
“And we can drop some hints,” Felicity said.
“Fine. I’ll think about it,” Percy said, “Now can we stop talking about it?”
Felicity and Audrey looked at each other, then at Percy.
“No.”
It was finally the day of the big Quidditch game. Who would take home the cup: Gryffindor or Slytherin?
That morning, Percy sat on his bed, already fully dressed in Gryffindor attire, idly skimming the previous day’s Daily Prophet.
“I can’t believe it’s my last Quidditch match at Hogwarts,” Oliver said to Percy while getting dressed in his uniform. He was thrumming with energy. Percy couldn’t tell if he was excited, nervous, or sad. Probably a mix.
“You’ll do great,” Percy said looking up, giving his friend a reassuring smile. He sincerely meant it; Oliver was a great player. “But don’t forget to eat breakfast.”
“I’m too nervous to eat,” Oliver said.
“Food gives you energy and you’ll need all the energy you can get. You don’t want to pass out on your broom. Eat at least some porridge or something at breakfast.”
Oliver rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “All right, I’ll eat some porridge.”
Percy sat in silence while Oliver finished dressing. Eventually, Oliver turned to him.
“How do I look?” He did an awkward little turn. Percy appraised him silently. He looked handsome, of course. Something wrong caught his eye, however.
“Your left arm guard isn’t buckled right,” Percy said walking over to Oliver, “Here let me fix it.”
Oliver offered Percy his arm. As Percy gingerly fixed the buckle, Oliver held his breath, watching. Once Percy was done, he slid his right hand from Oliver’s forearm to hold his hand. Both men looked at their intertwined hands. Then they slowly looked up.
“Perce, I-“
Percy suddenly leaned further in and kissed Oliver’s cheek. “Good luck out there,” he said.
Oliver stared wide-eyed at Percy. His brain stopped working.
A worried look crossed Percy’s face. He tried to turn away from Oliver. “I’m sorry-“
Oliver wouldn’t let go. “Percy! It’s all right!” Percy stopped, unsure of what was happening, but didn’t turn back to look at Oliver. “I, um, I think I might have better luck if you kissed me again,” Oliver said softly.
Percy turned back to look at Oliver. He looked earnest with his big puppy dog eyes. He took the few steps to be back in Oliver’s space. They stared at each other for a moment before leaning in.
The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it meant everything for them. Percy was surprised how soft Oliver’s lips were. Oliver tried not to smile into the kiss, but he was definitely smiling when they separated. Percy was smiling too. He leaned his forehead on Oliver’s, making his glasses awkwardly bump into Oliver’s face.
“Do you feel luckier now?” Percy whispered.
Oliver gave a small breathless laugh. “A bit, yeah,” he said, “But I could use a little more.” He cupped Percy’s cheek with his left hand and gave him another small kiss. Percy was tempted to turn the chaste kiss into a proper snog, but knew they only had a short amount of time until the match.
“As much as I want to continue this,” Percy said, “You need to eat and get everyone ready for the game.”
Oliver blushed. “I guess you’re right,” he said teasingly. He gave Percy a kiss on the cheek. “But we are going to continue this,” he said, pointing a finger at Percy.
“You have to win first.”
Oliver barked out a laugh. “I’ll take that as an order.”
Percy jokingly rolled his eyes and stepped away to hand Oliver his broom.
“But seriously,” Oliver said, “Will you cheer for me?”
“I’ll be the loudest one,” Percy said.
A wide grin spread across Oliver’s face. He offered Percy his hand. “To the Great Hall?”
Percy took it and smiled. “To victory.”