Work Text:
Oliver groaned when he woke up. Whatever he had the night before, he vowed to never drink it again.
It was already bright outside. Which meant a lot, considering that it was just past Christmas. The sun wouldn’t be up before 9 am.
He vaguely remembered which day it was and groaned again when he also remembered that he had promised the Weasleys to attend their annual Christmas quidditch game.
He had been out celebrating Christmas with his quidditch team of Puddlemere United last night.
For a short second he cursed his love for quidditch. It had quickly consumed every part of his life. Not for the first time he had wished for something that could counteract his obsession. Something that would make him think of other things. Remind him that quidditch wasn’t everything.
For a moment the image of a redhead filled his mind.
In his time in Hogwarts had Percy always been the voice of reason. He was the one to tell him to do his homework, to eat properly and to rest. He had always made sure that Oliver wouldn’t run himself into the ground.
No. Oliver scolded himself. Percy did that because of his duty as a prefect. And because he was used to doing this to his siblings.
Bleary he got up. He needed a shower to wake up properly.
The hot water was soothing as it ran over his body.
Next he needed something to eat to feel almost human again. Unfortunately, he barely had anything left in his fridge. Some bread with jam had to do.
When he finally finished dressing with putting on his watch he almost got a shock. It said 14:17 already!
The Quidditch game had started at 14!
Oliver left his apartment quickly to find a dark alley for apparation. He hesitated a moment. His hangover had come with a big headache and he was out of hangover-potion. That wasn't the best condition to apparate but he had to get there quickly and unfortunately he hadn’t a fireplace for the floo network.
He concentrated and a moment later he was on the field next to the burrow. Everything was covered in snow. He shuddered for a moment. Somehow the countryside was always colder than the city.
He looked to the place where they normally would play quidditch and it was still empty. Maybe they were waiting for him inside? Or something else was delaying the game.
So he marched directly to the burrow. It amazed him that such a house wouldn’t fall apart. It solely was held together by magic; he was sure of it.
Oliver didn’t bother to knock and just opened the door. Often it was too loud inside to hear any knocking.
But when Oliver stepped inside he was met with silence. He stood there for a moment and wondered if he had become deaf. It never was this quiet in here. He would have also wondered if he got the right house hadn’t the design not been this unique. He was definitely in the burrow.
Then he heard some noise from the kitchen.
He closed the door behind him and started to open his cloak. It was comfortably warm in the house. They had a fireplace after all.
“Hello?” He shouted into the void of the house.
“Hello?” Came an echo from the kitchen. A very familiar voice and Oliver had to smile at the sound of it.
“Percy!” He greeted his former dorm mate when he came into the kitchen.
“Oliver?” The redhead asked rather confused. “What are you doing here?”
“The annual Christmas quidditch match? Isn’t that today?” Oliver frowned. Had he gotten the date wrong?
“Sure. But not until 14.” Percy told him.
“Yeah, and it is...” Oliver lifted his wrist to look at his watch. “... still 14:17?”
What? Not even with apparating had he been that fast!
Oliver looked up when Percy chuckled. “It’s barely 10.”
Oliver liked Percy’s soft chuckle. Altogether seemed Percy really relaxed. He wore his dark blue Weasley sweater (no doubt this year’s) with sleeves that were rolled up to his elbows and a pale blue apron over it. Oliver looked around the kitchen and saw baking utensils all over the counter.
Only then he registered what Percy had actually said.
“What do you mean it is just 10 am?” Oliver asked so Percy pointed at a watch on the wall. Then Oliver held his watch to his ear. There was no ticking noise. “Huh. It’s broken.”
“Let me see.” Percy said and held his hand open. Oliver handed it over. “Had it been broken before?”
“Yes, but so far it was always back to normal with a reparo . At least the glass.”
Percy well-versed spelled it to open up to see all the gears inside.
“The mechanics of a wizard watch is far too complicated for just a reparo .” Percy told him. He fixed it with one spell after another and soon put it back together. He handed it back to Oliver properly timed. “You shouldn’t wear it during quidditch.”
“Thanks.” Oliver said as he put it back on. “How do you know?”
Percy smiled at that. “It’s an easy bet considering it’s you we are talking about.”
“True.” Oliver blushed. Then out of nowhere grumbled his stomach. His sparse breakfast wasn’t enough. “Sorry. I was in a haste due to the wrong time. I guess the hangover and headache isn’t helping reading the time either.”
“I’ll make something.” Percy said and waved his wand.
“That’s not...” Oliver barely got a word out when there were already sausages flying into a frying pan and eggs started to crack themselves open into a bowl. “...necessary.”
“Tea or coffee?” Percy asked with the back to him ignoring his protest.
“Tea...” Oliver said fascinated how Percy worked around the kitchen.
Percy took a dark bottle out of a cupboard together with a shot glass. The kettle was already boiling water. He filled the shot glass with the liquid in the bottle. It had the significant colour of hangover potion. And put in front of Oliver. “It’s a fresh batch I made just yesterday. It is always needed during festivities in a house full of adult Weasleys.” Percy chuckled again.
“Thanks.” Oliver took the shot glass to his lips and threw his head back to empty it in one go. As helpful as hangover potion was it did not taste good.
By the time he was done had Percy shoved a huge plate filled with sausages, eggs and toast in front of him as well as a steaming cup of tea next to it.
The nasty taste of the potion was immediately forgotten when he smelled the food. His mouth actually watered.
He started eating without another word. Percy watched him with an amused smile while he ate. “Good?”
Oliver only nodded because he didn’t dare to speak with a full mouth. Even the tea was just how he liked it and it made his heart beat a little faster at the thought that Percy remembered even years after Hogwarts.
Percy slowly started his original task again and Oliver got to watch him baking.
“Thank you. That was live saving.” Oliver told him when he had finished and drank the rest of his tea.
“House rule. No one goes hungry.” Percy told him with a smile.
“You are surprisingly good at those household spells.” Oliver blurted and blushed. “I mean I know that you are good at everything. I just never imagined you using magic in the kitchen.”
“Thanks?” Percy said a bit confused. There was a moment of silence until Oliver broke it with a cough.
“Where is everyone anyway?” Oliver said nervously. “Shouldn’t the house be filled with Weasleys?”
Oliver didn’t know why he was nervous exactly. He had spent seven years in a dorm with Percy without getting nervous for Merlin’s sake!
“They were here until after breakfast. Then they had all been gone to visit some friends and Mum and Dad went to run some errands.” Percy told him when he rolled out some dough. “I have volunteered to bake. There will be lots of people later on for the match.”
“Do you need any help?” Oliver asked. He didn’t want to think about the match.
Percy stopped in his motion but didn’t look up. “You don’t have to stay. It’s still more than three hours until the match. I am sure you have lots of things to do, people to see.”
“Not really.” Oliver told him truthfully. “It was a few stressful days. I think staying with you in this quiet house is exactly what I need right now.”
Percy finally looked up and mustered Oliver for a few seconds. “Okay.” Then he shoved a box with cookie cutters over the counter to Oliver and turned away to start another batch of dough.
“And why are you not at the ministry?” Oliver couldn’t help asking when he rummaged through the box. He heard Percy sigh.
“The Ministry is closed until after new year, so Mom insisted that I would stay here for the full holiday.”
“You don’t sound happy about it.” Oliver commented.
“I don’t know.” Percy said after a while. He had turned back to Oliver. “It’s still weird being back here. I was gone for so long. It feels as if I don’t fit in anymore.”
Oliver watched Percy closely.
“Then again I might have never really fit in.” Percy shrugged.
“Don’t say that.” Oliver told him.
“Well, you have seen them all at Hogwarts. All I have ever been was the annoying brother.”
Oliver huffed. “I call that caring. And it is not your fault when they are too stupid to appreciate that!”
Percy looked surprised at Oliver. He turned a bit red and Oliver could have sworn he had seen a little smirk before he turned back to continue with the dough.
After that they worked to bake cookies and shortbread and treacle tart as well as cauldron cake.
They had agreed on a bit of music and had turned on the radio.
Two hours later Molly came back through the floo in the living room but none of them noticed as Oliver retold something happening during their fourth year which made Percy laugh loudly.
She stood in the doorway for a moment wondering when she had heard Percy laugh for the last time. She couldn’t remember. Not even from his childhood.
She could clearly hear the laughter of the twins. Of Bill and Charlie, Ron and Ginny. But Percy?
It was some odd realisation but in the same way reassuring. These two had shared a dorm at Hogwarts. Molly hoped they already had that friendship back then.
She went back into the living room deciding to leave them be. Nonetheless did she call for her son when she went back for the fireplace to make it look as if she had just arrived.
“Mom.” Her son greeted her when he came looking. “Oliver is already here.” He told her.
“Oh that’s nice!” She told him and gave him some packages to be sorted in the kitchen. “I am afraid; I have forgotten something. Would you mind starting the cooking shouldn’t I be back in time?”
“Of course.” He told her and then she grabbed a handful of floo powder. And then she was off to see a friend of hers for a chat. That would give Percy and Oliver more time to share stories.
Percy heaved the packages with groceries on the counter next to all the baking goods.
“That was Mom. She had to go again. Forgotten something.”
“I see.” Oliver said. He wasn't unhappy about that.
Half an hour before one they started with the cooking for lunch. Oliver helped by cutting vegetables and other ingredients. It reminded him stark of potion class. Even though he had dropped it after owls because of Snape. It was a riddle to him how Percy managed to keep going there for his newts. He knew Percy was the only Gryffindor that year to continue potions.
Close to one the house filled again with people. Siblings and partners came in and started to slack off in the living room once they had greeted Oliver. Percy prepared a pot of coffee on the side for them but no one offered to help them.
With the arrival of his family, Percy’s mood somehow changed. Alone with Oliver he was very relaxed but he seemed to close up more and more.
“You can go sit with them.” Percy told Oliver at some point. “I am sure they want to hear what you have been up to.” He handed Oliver the tablet with the coffee.
Oliver wanted to just deliver the coffee and then go back to the kitchen but he was pulled into a debate over broomsticks. Also had Molly arrived too and she would surely release Percy from his duty so he could join them as well, right?
No. A few minutes after Molly made it to the kitchen Oliver saw Percy shuffling upstairs through an open door.
Oliver hesitated. He wanted to follow Percy. Wanted to drag him back so he could join everyone as well. On the other side did he probably went upstairs for privacy and Oliver didn’t wanted to overstep some boundaries. They might have spent seven years in the same dorm but this was his home. He also didn’t know which room was Percy’s.
When he was about to ask one of his siblings where Percy’s room was, a bell through the house accompanied with an “Lunch is ready!” from Molly.
Everyone got up and filled into the kitchen. It shouldn’t be possible to fit everyone in there but it worked. Of course was there not enough seats so some went back into the living room. Oliver stayed in the kitchen so he could sit with Percy again but he somehow didn’t come back down.
“Molly, where is Percy?” He asked her at last when he didn’t turn up ten minutes in.
“He already took something upstairs with him.” She told him in a slightly concerned voice. “Said something about not having enough seats.”
“He wanted to have one meal where he wouldn’t be pelted with mashed potatoes.” George snickered next to Oliver. Oliver stared at him for a moment.
“You are kind of an arse.” Oliver told him.
George gaped at him and before he could retort something Oliver left to sit in the living room.
A quarter before two everyone got up and outside to prepare the field for quidditch. Oliver lingered around until they all had left. By now was Percy back in the kitchen. The used plates idly washed themselves in the sink.
“Are you coming, Oliver?” Fred called him from the door.
Percy only now noticed that he was still there. He looked at him with surprise.
“I will be out in a moment.” Oliver called back to Fred.
It was just the two of them again. Even Molly was gone.
“I have missed this.” Oliver told him.
Percy smiled a little. “How? We have never baked together before.”
“I missed spending time with you. I missed you.”
Percy’s smile fell and he blushed instead.
“Cheer for me at the play?” Oliver asked him.
“Oh, I... have still a few things to... bake.” Percy stuttered.
Oliver stepped closer to him and took Percy’s hand. “Please.”
Percy didn’t look up and fiddled with something on the table. Oliver waited until Percy nodded in agreement. Then he gave his hand a squeeze and let go.
Oliver walked out with one last look back at Percy.
"So that's it for today." Oliver said as he shrugged on his coat. It was a delightful day. He had reconnected with Percy, had an amazing breakfast and lunch and had played a game of quidditch which he had won with his team. Somehow the two professional quidditch players ended up in the same team. The other team had no chance at all.
All the other guests had already left and he was the last Non-Weasley or significant other of a Weasley. Yet.
"Mhm." Percy hummed with an amused smile standing close by to see him off. "At least one of us can leave." He handed Oliver a basket with leftover food on which Molly had insisted him to take with him after Percy had mentioned that he had nothing in his fridge anymore.
Percy's captivity in his childhood home had become a little running gag between the two of them in the last few hours.
"I am sure she would let you leave, as long as it is not for work." Oliver told him. Close by was the rest of the Weasley clan relaxing in the evening, almost falling asleep but somehow Oliver was sure that half of them were listening.
“Would you like to spend some time with me tomorrow?” Oliver asked.
Percy had barely time to open his mouth. “He would love to!” Molly answered for Percy from her place on the couch.
Percy scowled at her and Oliver had difficulties to suppress a smile. “Does he?” he asked again a bit quieter to Percy.
“He does.” Percy finally managed to say with a confused glance at his mother.
“Great! Let’s meet at the Leaky by 3pm?” Oliver came up with. When Percy nodded in agreement he said his goodbye to everyone and left the warmth of the burrow.
“I am off then.” Percy told his family on his way to the front door a few minutes before 3pm the next day.
“Wait wait wait.” His mother hurried after him. “Are you sure you want to go like this?”
His mother inspected Percy in his dark slacks, white button down and a jacket matching to the slacks.
“Yes?” Percy told her, slightly confused. He didn’t know there was a dress code to meet up with friends?
“This doesn’t look casual at all.” Bill joined the conversation as well.
“Of course it does.” Percy insisted. “No tie and the first two buttons are open.” He indicated to his neck.
“I will lend you my jacket. It will give you a cooler flair.”
“What? No-” Percy tried to call after his brother but he was already up the stairs.
“How about a pair of jeans?” Charlie suggested from his spot on the couch watching the scene intensely.
Percy blinked at that. “I don’t like jeans. I don’t even own jeans!” Has his family gone nuts? They may have never shared his sense of fashion but they never suggested things either.
“Here, try this.” Bill was back with his jacket out of dragon skin. Percy tried it on very reluctantly and only because Fred and George volunteered to help him in it.
He stood there very uncomfortable with his family looking him up and down. Percy sighed. “I don’t even have to look in a mirror to know that this doesn’t suit me!” He told them and then he pulled it off without anyone disagreeing. Their faces spoke volumes on that matter. It was a very cool jacket on Bill or someone like Bill. But certainly not on someone like Percy.
When he turned again to grab his own winter coat he felt something wet in his neck which startled him accompanied with a smell of some cologne. He looked behind him with big eyes to find Fleur with a little bottle in her hand.
“What the-?” He couldn’t even finish that sentence, so shocked was he. He immediately used a spell to undo the cologne. He didn’t like this kind of thing at all. She pouted at that but didn’t say anymore.
“Impossible.” He muttered.
“Forget about that, but take this.” Ginny told him and tried to stuff a magazine about brooms into his pocket. The whole day had she read him about brooms and their specifications from the magazine without him understanding what that was about and now she wanted him to take it with him?
“No, Ginny.” He said and pulled it out of his pocket again and threw it on the stack of mags next to the couch.
“Well, at least the hat looks casual.” Ron had decided to butt in as well. It was a dark blue beanie that matched his dark blue scarf.
“It covers my ears and is warm. We do have below freezing temperatures!” He told them. “Would you all stop fussing? It’s Oliver I am meeting.”
“We just want you to make the best impression possible.” His mother noted when she righted his collar that went askew when he had tried on Bill’s Jacket.
“Mom.” He pressed when he pried her hands off him. “Oliver knows me. Just like I know him. We’ve been in the same dorm for seven years. He has seen me throw up ten minutes in in our very first flying lesson. I have seen him bloodied and bruised over after his first match in the Gryffindor team. He has seen me being a nervous wreck when I have pulled an all-nighter study session fuel by only caffeine and pepper up. And I have seen him with purple tentacles covering his face after a duel with Flint.”
Percy huffed when he looked into the faces of his family. “He will know that the things I wear are my casual clothes. Because he knows I feel comfortable in them. And I already know the kind of things he will wear. A dark Jeans with a leather jacket and an accessory in Puddlemere United colours. Probably a scarf. And he will not need a hat whatsoever.”
“And he will probably worry at the moment because I am already ten minutes late thanks to you. And he knows I am never late!”
Percy bid them goodbye and was finally out of the house.
There was a moment of silence after their beloved brother had left until Charlie cleared his throat.
“I don’t know about you all but I wouldn’t say I knew my dorm mates that good back in Hogwarts.” He said.
“I would say that about Harry but not the others.” Ron agreed.
Oliver shuddered in the cold weather in front of the leaky. What had he been thinking? Let’s meet at the Leaky , he couldn’t have been vaguer! Like, would they meet inside? Outside? Wizard side or Muggle side?
Oliver had first waited inside like a normal person would do, he even was early! But somehow Percy wasn’t. And he also wasn’t on point, so once Percy was officially late, (he frantically checked his watch which was timed by Percy himself) Oliver wondered if Percy was maybe waiting elsewhere.
Or maybe Percy wouldn’t come at all? He felt like a nervous first year not knowing what to do. And he was cold. He cursed and pulled his scarf in Puddlemere United colours closer around his neck and pulled the hood from his hoodie underneath his leather jacket over his head.
Then there was a crack in the diagon alley and Oliver, like the fool he was, immediately turned into that direction. But it was just a witch that walked away from the Leaky.
“Oliver? What are you doing out here?” He swirled around to the entrance of the Leaky where Percy stood, holding the door open.
“Percy!” Oliver almost cried. “I wasn’t sure where exactly to meet.” He said and walked into the warmth of the pub.
“With such weather? Definitely inside.” Percy said when Oliver followed him inside. “I am sorry that I am late. Somehow my family decided to give me fashion tips.” Percy rolled his eyes and gave Oliver a crooked smile.
“You look good.” Oliver said immediately, looking Percy up and down. “I am glad you didn’t listen to them.”
That must have been the right thing to say because Percy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.
“You look good as well.” Percy noted when they reached an empty table. “I like the scarf.”
“Thanks.” Oliver said with a smile.