Knock, knock, knock, three knocks exactly three taps in between them, that meant his mum. “Percy dear, may I come in?” He lightly ran his fingers against his wooded desk, he really needed to get his work done. “Please Percy?” He sighed and stood slowly opened his door placing his hands in the pockets his trousers. “Well done on becoming a Prefect.” She smiled as she handed over an envelope with the Hogwarts Crest on it, “the book list came too.” He smiled as his hands fiddled in his pockets happily. He grabbed the books list and the letter confirming him as a Prefect and turned to return to his work but Molly grabbed his hand. Her wand flickered over his bitten fingernails and she sighed, “you have to stop Percy, they could get infected.” Percy scowled and yanked his hand back turning towards his desk as his mother called, “dinner is in half an hour Percy.” He nodded as he pulled out his essay on potions and began to detail the affects of moonstone on the draught of living death. Another knock at his door rap-rap-rap that meant Ginny. “Dinner’s on the table Percy.” She called and he sighed and screwed the ink bottle onto shut and placed his pen down, locking his bedroom door shut.
Quickly he walked downstairs and the painful assault of noise hit him, Fred and George laughing and a prank they’d done a few years previously Ron talking loudly to Bill, who must be back from Egypt. Next to Bill sat Charlie hands covered in callouses and a few burn scars on the otherwise of Charlie sat his youngest brothers other friends, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Rigel Black, Harry’s adopted brother who was in Fred and George’s age but in Harry’s year. The only spare space was next to Rigel, which wasn’t right, he was meant to sit next to dad but that’s were Rigel was sitting. The boy smiled, “Is this your space?” Cautiously Percy nodded and the boy stood from his seat and moved to the other side of Arthur. Harry Potter smiled, “well done on getting Prefect, Percy,” Rigel nodded from the other side of the tables and Percy looked at him properly, then at Harry. Discounting the eyes and hair they looked very similar, Harry had high cheekbones, that looked softer than they were because of his hair with was messy and uncared for. Rigel had the same royal-born face though his dark purply-blue eyes made them stand out more, his hair was longer that Bill’s and was kept in place by being plaited down the middle. He couldn’t help but stare, not in the boy’s eyes of course but Rigel was rather beautiful. Molly placed the large pot of soup down on the table and the rest of the children cheered, Percy flinched away from the noise and he started to pick at his nails again, itching his hands relentlessly, breaking though the charm his mum had but on them. The soup was ladled into bowls and the Weasleys and all their guests descended onto their food.
It got too much, far too quickly.
Fred and George played a few tricks with their finished fireworks which did have very impressive potions and spell work but he just wished the twins would focus their brilliant brains on their studies. Ron called the attention of the table to him as he loudly regaled them with an edited tale of the Philosophers Stone.
BANG! One of the fireworks exploded right next to Percy in a flurry of sparks and he ran, pushing back his chair, he raced up the stairs to his bedroom and locked the door behind him, shaking violently. He heard someone else hurry up the stairs then a retch and someone being sick, downstairs he heard Molly shouting loudly at the twins and Harry saying, “I’ll go see Rigel and Percy.” Percy gasped, trying not to feel as electric like pain raced though his body as he curled into a ball and cried. So overwhelmed he didn’t feel the locking charm he placed on his door break until two pairs of feet crossed the floor and sat down in front of him. “Harry, could you go and get the headphones and our blanket?” He didn’t hear what was said after that or one of the siblings leaving, his senses fizzing too much to be able to think. Slowly he registered a heavy weight on his shoulders and slowly moved his hand across to stroke he fabric, the woven lines felt wonderful against his sparking nerves and he smiled slightly. He opened his mouth to say thank you but no sound came out, he frowned and tried again then scowled frustratedly at the floor. “You’re nonverbal, it’s what happens when things get too much, too quickly. Which is what happened isn’t it, the firework and Ron shouting.” Slowly Percy nodded and the brother he now recognised as Rigel held something out, “put the headphones on, they’re noise cancelling.” Too tired to move he nodded and Harry slipped them over his head and around his ears. The background noise faded away and he felt his senses slowly calm down. Not long after that he properly opened his eyes and say both boys staring at him, Rigel was trembling slightly and occasionally cast glances at the door, “I silenced the room, and the bathroom,” explained Harry, “No one needs to hear Rigel be sick cause of his anxiety or you have a panic attack. It wouldn’t help much.” Percy nodded and crawled onto his knees wobbling as he made his way to his desk, “I feel like a baby, I shouldn’t be crying because of noise, but it felt like electricity.” Rigel sighed, “we’ll leave you be, we both have work to do, and you will find it will calm you down.” The pair left and Percy slumped at his desk, now they were gone the tears fell thick and fast. Why aren’t I like them? Why am I so broken? Many thoughts like these had plagued his mind before but as he sat at his desk the surrounded him completely until he was started from his thoughts by the sound of something falling off his desk. He turned and saw his Hogwarts letter and book stack in a messy pile on the floor. Oh no no, no, no, they’re all messy now, that’s not good. Quickly he scrambled to his knees struggling to get the heavy books in the right order as he pulled them onto his desk. “Percy?” He swung around and saw his mother watching him worriedly from the door, “Harry came back down and said you and Rigel needed rest. Are you okay?” He shrugged and she sighed, waving her wand to neatly stack his books in the right order as she pointed him towards his bed. “Sleep,” she said in a voice that brooked no refusal and he climbed into bed pulling the blanket that Rigel had given him over his shoulders and quickly fell asleep.
Percy stayed in his room for the rest of the week only leaving to go to the Bathroom and when Molly asked him too. Knock——Knock——knock. “I don’t want to go and play Quidditch thank you.” HIs voice still hadn’t properly recovered from being nonverbal so his voice was still scratchy. “Me either, but Harry has gone to play.” He turned and saw Rigel standing in the doorway, “I can I work here?” Percy nodded, “only if you’re quiet like actually quiet not what Fred and George call quiet.” Rigel nodded and lay on the floor, pulling out sheet of parchment from his pocket and many bottles of ink. Fascinated Percy watched as a scene began to form on the boy’s page, a boat sailing across the Black Lake at Hogwarts, manned by a boy steering it manually as he tacked towards the island. “Do you want it?” Percy jumped slightly, nearly knocking over his ink in surprise as Rigel spoke through the quiet. He blushed and nodded his head and the boy slid the painting over, “you put it where you want, I don’t want mess your room up.” Percy smiled slightly and Rigel began to draw again. A few hours later the door opened and Harry hurried in and curled on the floor. “Harry?” The boy shook his head and Rigel sighed, picked the weighted blanket off Percy’s bed and wrapped it around Harry’s shoulders. “They played in the river. So I had to take my jumper off, they asked about all of the scars. I ran.” Rigel sighed and glanced at Percy who turned back to his work. “Thanks for letting us hide here Percy.” The boy smiled then three knocks at the door signalled his mother. “Dinner boys.” None of them moved and Molly must have heard the silence because she pushed the door open stared at them. “Come down.” Her tone brooked no argument and Rigel groaned and moved like a sloth to the door and creeped downstairs with the others behind.
It was quiet as they sat down in their normal seats and they began to eat. No one spoke until Fred broke the silence, “we’re sorry about the fireworks Percy.” Percy didn’t look at him, he simply continued eating. Eventually the twins were annoyed at Percy’s continual silence and George burst out, “we apologised, aren’t you happy now!?” Percy glanced up at Rigel who pulled out his sketchbook, handing it to Percy. “I won’t feel happy, you don’t know what pain it felt like.” He flipped though the book until he found the page he was looking for, “it felt like this.” He showed the table the drawing that Rigel had expertly done. A boy silhouetted on a hill being continuously struck with lightning, the sparks travelling all around his body. The title was, it felt like Electricity. Fred scowled, “you’re just broken, noise isn’t that bad.” Wrong thing to say. Rigel stood up, “am I broken Weasley, is Harry?” Fred paused then shrugged, “you’re not our brother though are you.” He turned to the rest pf the red heads, “he’s not even like us. He studies too hard, stresses too often. It’s weird.” Ron nodded slightly and Harry glared at him, “he’s not you. Why should he act like you. Percy was meant to be Ravenclaw, do you know why he wasn’t?” He was met with silence and Harry flexed his hands slightly, “because you would bully him. It feels like this.” He grabbed Rigel’s book and showed a picture of a figure curled in a corner crying. Percy smiled, though there was no joy in his face, “sometimes it gets so bad you feel like this.” He waved his hand and the book flipped to a page where a figure lay limp in the air a noose tied around his neck. Molly gasped and Percy sighed, “that was before I met Rigel. He was the one that me.” “You’re not broken Percival, and you never will be. You just have to remember that.”