Chapter Text
It was Percy’s very first year. The first year he would follow his brothers Bill and Charlie through the portal to the Hogwarts express and leave his mother, father and little brothers behind. He had been looking forward to this very moment for the entire year, he read all the books he could get his hands on with the limited amount of money his family made. He wanted to learn and he was very excited to learn. He had great thing sin his little 11-year-old mind and he was convinced that Hogwarts would help him achieve the goals he had set for himself.
When his mother and father kissed him goodbye he was quick to run off through the portal, not quick enough to not hear his mother starting to cry, but he couldn’t care enough at the moment to stop. She cried when she had to say goodbye to Bill and Charlie too, she would get used to it eventually, she had four other children after all! He took a look around the station where the hogwarts express was basically waiting to drive them off to the school, so Percy hurried up to get inside, hoping he would get a good seat and wouldn’t have to talk too much. He picked out his favourite book that he wanted to reread on his way, taking his suitcase and rat cage and climbing inside, looking for an empty compartment.
He finally found an empty one, immediately going inside before anyone else could even consider to go in there, hoisting his suitcase up with a lot of difficulty, huffing and falling back into his seat when he finally did it, relieved. He looked at his rat scabbers that was sitting in his cage, looking back at him with his little eyes. Percy was glad to have Scabbers. He was super smart and did a lot of things. And he didn’t make too much noise either. Percy was glad that he found him back then and convinced his parents to keep him! They couldn’t afford a pet for him, so they probably felt bad, even if Molly hated rodents.
Percy got some bread crumbs out of his robes and put them inside the cage, giving Scabbers a quick scritch on the head, smiling. “I’m glad that you come with me to Hogwarts.” He could tell Scabbers everything. When his parents or brothers got annoyed with him, Scabbers always listened. It made him feel like he wasn’t wasting his time, like his studied were actually worth something. They were worth something, he knew it. The others just didn’t know any better!
Percy got his favourite book out, it was about the history of the wizarding world. It was a very long book, the pages basically extended the more you read, one would think you would never finish it, but Percy read through it three times already and it was always a treat. It was interesting to see about all the different plagues and tragedies that hit the wizarding world and what was done against them. Unlike his father, Percy showed no interest in muggles or their behaviour. No, quite the opposite. His father was barely making any money. He was working at the ministry, the ministry of all places, but they still had not even enough money to properly feed everyone. It made Percy angry. How could his father work at the ministry but barely make any money?! It wasn’t fair. And Percy would do better. He would graduate and work at the ministry too and he would be able to feed everyone! Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny. All of them.
“Hey!” Percy flinched when someone suddenly yelled into his ear, almost throwing the book he had been skimming through into the air. Those strange moments when you look at the words but don’t absorb them because you got distracted… Percy looked up to see a boy his age with short brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a robe similar to Percy’s, just less used and more tailored to his body, so it didn’t hang down his body like an oversized bathrobe, not that Percy felt self-conscious.
“There is no need to yell!” He defended himself, his voice still a little breathless and the other rolled his eyes. “It apparently was! I asked for 2 minutes but you just glared off into nothing! What did the window do to you?”
Percy cleared his throat, a bit embarrassed over his spacing out. “W-Well, you shouldn’t have yelled! It’s rude!” He tried to defend himself, though it was obvious how flustered he was, instead trying something else. “What...what were you saying anyway…?”
The boy sighed, pointing to the seat across from him: “If you were waiting for someone? Or could I sit there?”
Percy frowned. He didn’t want someone to sit with him in the same compartment. He wanted to sit by himself and with Scabbers. But he couldn’t just be rude for no apparent reason, he would look like a total twat before his first day at Hogwarts even began. He stammered a bit while he was pondering over what to say before finally getting out: “Sure...you can sit down...just don’t make too much noise, I try to read…”
“Sure…” The guy gave him a funny look, wedging his suitcase away and then immediately ignoring what Percy just said and trying to build up conversation. “I’m Oliver Wood! Is this your first year too?”
Percy looked up, already looking bothered, why was this guy, Oliver he corrected himself mentally, trying to talk with him? He just said that he shouldn’t make too much noise. Percy looked at his book. He had the feeling that he wouldn’t get to read it at all during the ride.
“Percy. I’m Percy Weasley. And yes, this is my first year too, you’re right…” He finally introduced himself properly, stretching out a hand to shake Oliver’s, who looked confused at first before returning the handshake with a smile.
“You’re a bit tense, aren’t you? Loosen up, we haven’t even left the station yet!” It was true, the train was currently in the process of starting, a loud whistling coming from the conductor as he was instructing everyone that stayed behind to take a step back. Percy always wondered why they still used a train to get to Hogwarts, there were much more efficient ways to get by. He always thought it was a tradition that the principal just couldn’t shake off.
“I’m not tense.” Percy simply responded, putting his book away. He might as well try to build up conversation. “Are there….any books you like to read?” Butter smooth Percy, good job. That almost sounded like a human being said that.
Oliver looked perplexed for a moment, before exclaiming: “Yeah! There’s a book I read all the time! It’s called Quidditch through the ages! I read it so many times already! I know it by heart by now! It’s so interesting to read how quidditch used to be and what wizards did to make it work and all the different techniques!”
While Oliver babbled on excitedly, Percy looked more and more uncomfortable, finally exclaiming: “Oh. You’re one of those people.”
Oliver was taken aback. The way Percy said ‘those people’, other wizards would say ‘convicted serial killer’. Looking at Percy, Oliver really should have expected that he wasn’t into sports. He was pretty small with curly red hair and more freckles than he would ever hope to count. He had light blue eyes, was as pale as a sheet and as scrawny as fishbones. He looked like a nerd.
“Not big on sports, huh? Just see! You’ll get into it eventually! I can read you from the book at some point if you’d like!” Oliver was really adamant about this, huh? Percy couldn’t say that he related, but his enthusiasm was admirable in a strange way.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Wood. There is a high chance we will never see each other again, so don’t get used to it.” Oliver pouted at that, punching Percy in the shoulder in a playful way. “C’mon! Lighten up! Don’t see everything so negative! Who knows? We might end up in the same house!”
Little did Oliver know that this was exactly what Percy was dreading. Oliver was loud and very enthusiastic. Percy himself preferred peace and quiet. Percy decided to not say that out loud though. He didn’t want to be rude, he should try to make some friends at school at least or his mother would worry about him being too introverted again.
“Which house do you think you’ll be sorted in?” Asked Percy, tilting his head like a confused puppy. Not gonna lie, he was actually curious about this answer.
“I don’t really care, i will join the quidditch team and lead it to victory in any way!” That was such a Gryffindor thing to say. Percy sighed. Seemed like they were gonna share a house after all.
“What about you?” Oliver looked at him again, Percy didn’t like that. Better answer quickly before something happens. “Most likely Gryffindor.”
Oliver’s eyebrows scrunched up, before exclaiming: “A nerd like you would never come to Gryffindor! You’re a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin or something!”
Percy did snort at the way Oliver said that, a challenging smile on his face. “How about we make a bet? 3 Galleons that I will make it to Gryffindor.”
Oliver looked self assured, shaking Percy’s hand as he exclaimed: “Alright! Deal!” Percy leaned back into his seat, conversing a bit more with Oliver, already looking forward to the three Galleons he could add to his name in a short while.