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“You’d think they’d never been here before,” Oliver says, taking in the look of awe on their twins' faces as Percy taps the pattern on the bricks that will take them from muggle London to the Leaky Cauldron.
“Well we have always come by floo before this,” Percy points out. Even though they don’t have to count galleons like his parents did, Percy still prefers to buy as much clothing as possible in the muggle world where the exchange rate makes prices much more reasonable, so they had done that shopping before heading to Dragon Alley for school supplies.
“Can we visit Uncle Fred & Uncle George?” Fabian asks, a question that is echoed by his sister.
“After you have everything you need for Hogwarts,” Percy responds.
“Fine,” Gwendolyn says with a dramatic sigh. Oliver can’t help but laugh, but is able to camouflage it with a cough.
Percy shoots his husband a dirty look as they exit the Leaky and head to Gringott’s to withdraw the necessary funds. Because of Bill’s employment with them, the goblins do tend to be more welcoming to members of his family, something that Percy greatly appreciates. He and Oliver had previously decided on the divide and conquer approach - Oliver would take care of purchasing the actual supplies and Percy would take the twins to Madam Malkin’s and Olivander’s because, as Oliver put it, Percy’s side of the family is the reason they have twins. He gives Oliver another dirty look as they part ways, knowing that his husband has the easier, less time consuming task and will have time to spend a ridiculous amount of money at Quality Quidditch Supplies while waiting for them.
Percy decides that as Gwendolyn is the one more likely to fidget, she should get her robes taken care of first. Fortunately being fitted goes without incident, though she does manage to knock over a display of dragon-hide gloves while waiting for her brother to finish being fitted with his robes. When he pays he does add a few extra galleons to make up for the inconvenience of having to right the display before ushering his children to Olivander’s.
This time Fabian goes first as Percy does fear what chaos his daughter might cause if she gets bored in the wand shop after being in possession of her wand. There’s already been some interesting incidents with accidental magic, so Percy fears what her teachers - two of his brothers-in-law among them - are going to face in a few short weeks. Fabian’s wand chooses him on the second attempt, though of course there’s no such luck with Gwendolyn, where it takes eight wands before hers chooses her. He expected the twins to have similar wands, much like Fred and George, but instead their wands are as different as their personalities, which Percy does have to admit makes sense.
Knowing that their next stop is Weasleys’ Wizard Weezes, Fabian and Gwendolyn run ahead of their father, which Percy doesn’t scold them for this time, given that the shop is only two doors down. Oliver is waiting for them there, and Percy suspects that he’s already been there for sometime as he was in the middle of an animated discussion with Fred and George when the younger set of twins interrupts them. Percy watches his family fondly for a second before joining the conversation. While he and Oliver will still have three younger children at home, he’s not ready for their oldest to head off to Hogwarts.