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Angelina tapped her wand against her thigh, watching as sparks flew out in a pattern. Blue, purple, pink, blue, purple, pink.
“—gelina. Angelina!”
She looked up at the sound of her name, remembering suddenly where she was. She was in the Gryffindor common room along with Katie and Alicia, sitting around Oliver, listening to his plans for the next game.
Or, at least, they were supposed to be listening. Angelina knew she wasn’t and she was fairly certain the others weren’t either. Oliver seemed to have caught onto this, and was looking expectantly at her.
“Uh… what was that?” She asked.
Oliver scowled. “Did you practice the maneuver I showed you?” He enunciated.
Angelina blinked. “Yes.” She lied. “On Tuesday.”
Oliver nodded. “Good, good. Then you can do it at practice tomorrow with Katie.”
“Yeah…” Angelina said, making a mental note to practice the maneuver sometime before tomorrow's practice.
Oliver continued speaking, and Angelina zoned out once more, changing the colors of the sparks from her wand.
“—and even if I light them on fire for three minutes I still won’t be able to wear the clown nose alright I know you’re not listening.”
Angelina looked up again at Oliver’s harsh tone. She traded a sheepish look with Katie. Oliver sighed, looking around at them. “What’s going on?” He asked. “We have a game next week.”
Angelina licked her lips, glancing between Alicia and Katie. Both of them raised an eyebrow at her, instructing her to speak. This silent communication had become almost second nature to them as they dealt more and more with Oliver.
“Alright, fine.” Angelina finally said. “Fred and George are having a party down on the fourth floor, and we really want to go.”
Oliver blinked slowly. “So you’re not paying attention to me…” he said slowly. “Because you’d rather be at a party?”
“Well, yes.” Katie admitted. “But when you put it like that—“
“Oliver!”
While they’d been talking, Percy Weasley had approached them, and was now facing Oliver, his hands on his hips.
Oliver looked up, the defeat on his face fading momentairily. “Yes?”
“Have you seen Fred and George?” he asked. “I heard they’re throwing a party, but I don’t know where.”
“Why do you want to know?” Angelina asked defensively. “So you can go break it up? Tell them it’s against the rules?”
Percy’s face soured. “Well, it’s not actually against the rules for them to hold a gathering.” He admitted. His tone said that he very much wished this weren’t true. “But I want to go and make sure that no one gets hurt, and they’re not giving any alcohol to the younger students.”
Angelina sat back slightly. “Oh.” she said, a little sheepish. “Well, it’s on the fourth floor. Across from the old muggle studies room.”
Percy nodded, and Angelina saw him mentally catalogue this data.
“Thank you.” He said to Angelina curtly. She gave him a nod in response, turning back to Oliver. Oliver, who was dejectedly fiddling with the sleeve of his jumper, staring at the ground.
“Doing alright, Oliver?” Percy asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Oliver nodded, not looking up.
“Yes, I’m fine.” he said unconvincingly. “Angelina, Katie, Alicia, you can go to the party if you’d like.”
“The party?” Percy asked. “Don’t you have your chasers meeting for another half hour?”
Oliver’s shoulders drooped, and he nodded. “Yes, but we’re wrapping up early today so they can go to the party.”
“But you were up so late planning!” Percy protested. “You can’t have presented everything so quickly?”
“They don’t want to hear it, okay?” Oliver snapped, finally looking up at Percy. “They just want to go to the party instead!”
Percy blinked slowly, moving his hand from Oliver’s shoulder.
Instantly, regret filled Oliver’s face. “Sorry, Perce. I didn’t mean to yell, I—“
Percy interrupted with a wave of his hand. “It’s alright.” He tilted his head so he was looking at Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. They all felt it cackling in the air, like the calm before the storm.
A Percy lecture was approaching.
He drew himself up, crossing his arms over his chest. “Am I to understand that the three of you plan to skip the meeting that has been scheduled for months, a week before the next game, in order to go to a party?” He demanded. “That’s completely immature, not to mention irresponsible! When you joined the team, you made a commitment, and part of that means attending meetings and practices, even if you don’t want to. Oliver works very hard on these meetings so that you can be a better team and you’re being completely unsympathetic to his feelings in favor of your own. Why, I know for a fact that he stayed up until three working on this meeting, not to mention all the other times he’s sacrificed his nights and weekends in order to be a better captain. I’m sure that the party will be fun, but you are mistaken if you believe that it is an excuse to throw away all the hard work that Oliver has done! I’m appalled that any Gryffindor would act so selfishly, let alone you three!”
Unlike many of the Percy lectures of the past that Angelina had tuned out, this one actually made sense. Shame burned through her chest, hot and stifling. She saw Katie and Alicia experiencing similar feelings, avoiding Percy‘s gaze.
Angrily, Angelina lashed out. “Well, why do you care so much about Oliver anyway?” she asked, trying to mask her shame.
Percy’s cheeks colored. “I—I don’t! This isn’t about Oliver! This is about… about justice. And integrity! The, the lack of integrity that you are displaying right now.”
He stood awkwardly for a moment, then said—perhaps a tad louder than was necessary—“I’m going to the party now!”
They all gaped after him, even Oliver, who seemed to have forgotten his dejectedness.
“Well.” Alicia said after a moment. “That was strange.”
They nodded in agreement, and Angelina added (with some difficulty), “But he’s right. We’re acting like children.”
They all looked up at Oliver guilty. “We’re sorry.” Katie said. “Of course we’ll stay for the rest of the meeting. The party can wait.”
Oliver blinked, hope filling his features. “Really?”
Angelina nodded. “Of course, capitan.”
Oliver smiled, the last five minutes seemingly forgotten and launched right back into his speech, though this time with a fully engaged audience.
In the end, it wasn’t as if Oliver’s Quidditch meetings had somehow magically become more interesting, but as Angelina listened, she found herself feeling more prepared for the game next week, and thoughts of the party slipped from her mind.
~
Percy was standing against the wall, a cup of water in his hand, twirling his wand lazily in the other hand. “Finally ditched your meeting?” he asked coolly as Angelina approached.
Angelina shook her head. “No, we just finished actually. You were right. We were being inconsiderate. Oliver puts a lot of work into being captain.”
Percy nodded. “Well. That’s good, then. I hope you remember that in the future.”
She nodded. “We will.” She paused for a second, smiled, then said nonchalantly. “Oliver’s here too.”
Percy stiffened. She looked suspiciously pleased by this news. “Alright. I don’t care.”
He shook his head. “I mean. I don’t not care. Uhm. It’s fine. He can do what he likes, it’s not like I’m his boss or anything. I don’t care!”
By the time the entire statement had stumbled out of his mouth, Percy’s heart was about ready to beat right out of his chest, and his hands were so sweaty that he was in danger of dropping the cup of water he was holding.
Angelina was fully grinning now. “Riiiiiight. Well, I’ll leave you to it, then.” And she walked away, joining Katie and Alicia in dancing, slipping both her hands into theirs.
Percy released a breath. Even he didn’t really understand what was wrong with him, why he seemed to choke on his normally poised words when talking about Oliver Wood.
A voice in his head teased him, chuckling that he knew exactly what made Percy so nervous around Oliver, and that it had to do with his little crush—
“Alright, Percy?”
Percy jumped, water sloshing around in his cup. He’d been so light in thought that he hadn’t noticed the subject of his musings approach. Oliver was now leaning against the wall, most of his face obscured by the low lighting.
Except for his eyes. Those were shining brightly, as always.
Not that Percy had noticed.
Anyway!
“I’m doing alright.” he responded. “How did the rest of the meeting go?”
“Dandy, thanks to you, mate.” Oliver nudged Percy, sending a cascade of goosebumps down Percy’s arm. “That speech you gave was really inspiring.”
“Yeah… heh heh.” Percy said, unable to come up with something more coherent. Idiot. He thought to himself.
“You’d make a great writer.” Oliver added.
“Thanks. You too.” Percy said. As soon as the words left his mouth, the urge to curl up into a little ball and disappear overtook him. “Well, obviously not you too. Just thanks. Thank you.”
Oliver grinned widely, his teeth glinting in the darkness. “You’re welcome.”
Percy’s mouth suddenly felt very dry, and he took a large gulp of his water, finishing it off.
“What are you drinking?” Oliver asked.
“Just water.” Percy replied, his mouth somehow still dry.
“You want me to get you a refill?”
Percy could think of nothing else to say but, “Sure.”
Oliver took the cup from Percy (was it his imagination or did Oliver’s hand linger more than was strictly necessary?) and walked off.
Percy released a long, shaky breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, clenching and unclenching his fists. The small voice in his head was now a chorus, screaming at him, telling him what he’d already known deep down, that he had an embarrassingly large crush on Oliver.
“Here you are. Water.”
Percy was snapped from his thoughts as Oliver returned, standing very close to him as he handed Percy the water. “And if you want something stronger, you can always have a sip of mine.” Oliver whispered lowly into his ear, and Percy felt himself melting.
He took in a shaky breath. “Okay.”
Oliver nodded, returning to his spot beside Percy, though much closer this time. Their arms were pressed together, letting Percy feel Oliver’s warmth through his jumper.
Percy couldn’t move.
Oliver took a sip of his drink.
After a moment, he said calmly, “Percy?”
“Yes?”
“You like me.”
Percy couldn’t even deny it. “Yes.”
Oliver turned his body, facing Percy, though Percy couldn’t bring himself to look at Oliver. “Can I let you in on a little secret?” He murmured.
“Sure.” Percy said.
Oliver leaned in and whispers into Percy’s ear. “I like you too.”
Percy’s heart exploded, his eyes nearly filling with tears with the emotion of it all. “I see,” he said shakily.
“Now, what could we possibly do about it?” Oliver asked, his voice playful.
Percy swallowed. “What do you think… we should do about it?”
Oliver hummed thoughtfully. “Percy?”
“Yes?”
“Can I kiss you?”
“Yes.”