Chapter 7: Christmas but make it better: Halloween!!

Thursday, 22nd of October, 1987

Feels like a night to carry a tune

I've been carrying yours since you wrecked my room

And I've got nothing to do and neither do you

So we chase jack with love

And waste away the whole afternoon

-kilby girl

“So what-”, Percy started to say, before he got interrupted by Oliver.

“Shhh!!”, he whispered a bit too loudly to be a mere whisper.

Andrew, Sam, Oliver, and Percy were all seated in Oliver’s bed in the middle of the night, curtains closed around them as if Oliver was planning something very much illegal - which, now that Percy thought about it, explained the secrecy. Wood had spent two days talking about that “meeting”, how important it was, how every and each of them had to join - that last part was added to Percy, who indeed planned to not attend whatever bullshit Wood was planning. However, he had failed to mention what the meeting was about, so now there they were, four boys in one bed that didn’t fit them very well - that was partially Percy’s fault since he had gotten there first, he believed he deserved more space for his punctuality and stretched his legs - three of them very excited, though Percy, thinking about what he could do to save their asses when whatever they wanted to do send them to detention.

It was all really dramatic, really. From the way Oliver was talking to the way Mistbone and Sam were looking at him, taking the whole thing seriously. Sometimes, Percy asked himself if he was the only sane one. Only sometimes, though, because most of the time he didn’t need to ask himself that, he knew it for a fact.

“Why?”, Percy asked, truly confused.

“I didn’t cast the silencing spell yet, could you just wait a moment?”

“Why in Merlin’s name would we need a silencing spell? All four of us are here! There isn’t anyone else in the room”, Percy fairly pointed out.

“That you know of”, said Andrew, getting a nod from Oliver.

"What? That doesn't… who would spy a room of four eleven-years old?”, Sam honestly asked, making Percy glad to have someone who thought like him at least once.

“Dumbledore, perhaps?”, Oliver offered.

Andrew shook his head, “Nah, he really doesn’t care about us, mate. Perhaps Minerva, though”

“Oh my God, Minerva totally would!”, said Oliver, a bit more excitedly than he should be by that possibility.

“This is insane. This is just-”, Percy, however, stopped the sentence there, not sure what other word would fit the situation.

“Better safe than sorry”, said Oliver.

“Mate, that is not… There isn’t anyone else here… I…” Oliver looked at him skeptically as Percy shook his head “Fine. Just do it quickly, we have classes tomorrow, this meeting needs to end soon”, he said, even though he knew damn well Oliver could not care less about classes.

“Boring!”, Andrew and Oliver shouted. Percy rolled his eyes at them, trying his best not to hit both of them. Perhaps he wasn't in the best mood ever, but in his defense, he had had a very bad day. Or perhaps simply a boring one.

The classes had been the same as usual, which shouldn't bother him, Percy quite liked going to class and learning new things, but somehow it all seemed utterly annoying that day, though he couldn't point out the reason.

If he really thought about it, though, he would realize it was probably because Oliver has spent all day exchanging excited whispers with Mistbone, not with Percy, as usually happened. Percy went to every and each class of the day getting more and more annoyed, bored, and, honestly, a bit mad. Without Oliver murmuring stupid things in his ears, Snape's class was unbearable - more than it normally was, which Percy hadn't thought possible until that very moment.

Whittles, however, didn't seem bothered by the other two boys' proximity at all. He was the same as always, smiling quietly at Percy every time he looked over at him, which, much to his dismay, he ended up doing a lot.

Now, he still found himself watching Sam while Oliver and Andrew discussed something in hurried phrases, ones Percy didn’t try to understand.

A silencing spell and a lot of curses later, Oliver started to talk.

“So… What is the best holiday ever?”, he asked, immediately catching the others' attention. If you wanted those boys to listen to you, you should just put holidays or chocolate in a sentence.

“Christmas”, Percy promptly said, because, really, what else could be the right answer?

“Easter”, said Sam, proving the chocolate theory.

“Your birthday?”, tried Andrew.

“No”, Oliver said, replying to Percy, “No, but a good one”, he said to Sam, “and actually, yes! Lemme rephrase my question, then. What’s the second-best holiday?”

“Did you just call your birthday a holiday?”, Percy asked, Sam, laughing hysterically beside him.

“Yeah?”

“You do know it’s not an actual holiday, right? Like, the world doesn’t celebrate you on your birthday. We have classes. It’s a normal day”, he tried to explain not too harshly.

“It is not! How dare you say my birthday is a normal day, Weasley!”

“But it is”, Sam jumped in, trying to help.

“No, it isn’t! And if it’s not a holiday, it should be! People should celebrate with me. Not only on my birthday but, like, every day. I do understand, however, that not every day can be a holiday, so I am willing to accept people celebrating me officially only on my birthday.” Oliver said, only to brush it all off with a hand gesture, saying, “But that’s not important right now.”

“Care to enlighten us of that, then?”, Percy asked.

“What?”

“Explain”, he… well, explained.

“Oh, sure. So. Halloween.” Oliver said, proceeding to just watch Percy. When he noticed he wasn’t getting a reaction, he helpfully added, “Am I right?”

“Yeah! Man, I love Halloween”, Mistbone said.

“So, wait. No. Sorry. Wait a second.”, Percy said, not really sure he understood it right, “Are you telling me the best - sorry, second best - holiday of the year is Halloween. What about Christmas?!”, he asked, shocked.

“See, Weasley, there’s the problem with you. You don’t go big! You know that American saying, right?”

“Actually, no.”

“GO BIG OR GO HOME!”, Oliver yelled, happily.

“Can you actually make a whole sentence for once, and explain your line of thought, because I don’t follow”

“Okay. So. Christmas, but make it better: Halloween!”, Oliver tried, making Percy smile despite himself.

He couldn’t believe they were actually having that discussion, which didn’t make sense, the four of them usually engaged in stupid topics of conversation for hours. That shouldn’t be a surprise.

“I’m not going to discuss that with you, Wood, so please go straight to the matter and explain what is this all about”, Percy said, sighing to prove his point.

“First of all”, Oliver started, “you don’t want to discuss it because, deep down, you know I’m right”, Percy opened his mouth to disagree and start the discussion he promised himself he wouldn’t start, but Oliver kept going, “Second of all, I already said it, Halloween!”

Mistbone shook his head in clear agreement, “He has a point, Weasley”

“He can’t have a point when all he said was a word!”, said Percy, a bit too firmly.

“I can when the word is Halloween”, Oliver clarified, the other two agreeing as if all of that made sense.

“He’s got you there, man”, Sam said, leaving Percy with no hope. If even Whittles had given up on him and sided with Wood, the argument was lost.

“Fine. Just explain”

Oliver sat up, seeming way too excited to mean something good. Percy didn’t like the face he was doing at all, it clearly meant trouble. “So… Hallow…”

“I swear that if you say ‘Halloween, am I right?’ again, I will get up and leave”, Percy said, making Oliver laugh.

“I wasn’t going to say that”, he lied, “Anyway. So, Halloween, huh?” Percy groaned, pretending to get up, “No! Wait. I was kidding. I’ll explain. C’mon, Perce, let me explain it! Okay, so it’s almost Halloween, as you all have probably noticed. You know what Halloween means, right?”

“Candies!”, Mistbone yelled.

“Fun!”

“Detention, apparently”, Percy finished.

“Yes, yes, and yeah, probably. Not the point though, Weasley. Do you know what it also means? Party!”

“It does not!”, Percy observed.

“Yes it does, it is the witches' birthdays!”, Oliver said, sounding surprised with Percy’s lack of culture.

“Do you know anything at all about any holiday?”, Percy honestly asked, Oliver, cringing at his comment.

“I do, and I am right. Look it up, Halloween means the day of the witches, everyone knows that when it’s someone’s day it’s their birthday!”, Oliver said.

Percy, at that point, was laughing hysterically at Wood’s stupidity, who didn’t think any of it was funny at all. Somehow, he managed to recompose himself to say, “We are witches, wizards, whatever. And it can’t be our birthday. It isn’t. Let’s work with facts here, none of this makes sense”

“It doesn’t have to make sense! Percy, c’mon. Party?”, Oliver tried.

“Nope.”

“Please?”

“No way. I’m not dressing up for a stupid Halloween party”

“Merlin, what an amazing idea!”, Oliver shouted. “We should dress up for Halloween!”

“You said that word so much, I don’t think it makes sense anymore”, Sam muttered, as Percy blamed himself for the dressing up idea.

“What word?”, Oliver asked.

“Halloween.”

“Oh. Halloween. Right. Well, it’s because it is Halloween”

Sam groaned, “Stop. It’s annoying”, which, of course, he should have said, because Oliver then decided he would include word in every sentence he could until the end of the conversation.

For too many hours, Sam, Andrew, and Oliver chatted excitedly about how everything would work out. It was only hours later that Percy managed to escape back to his bed, immediately falling asleep.

______________________

Monday, 26th of October, 1987

Oliver threw himself out of the way a second before a book hit the wall where his head would be. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’, then”, he concluded, hearing Percy chuckle beside him, not even bothering to hide his contentment.

“Will you, now? Because you’ve said that before and, still, here we are, Wood”, Angie said, her smile nothing but a warning. “Still, you keep bothering me, wasting my time with such bullshit!”

“I would stop, if you just admitted you want to go, Silverblood”, he shot back, his smile as sharp as hers. If Percy wasn’t having the time of his life, he would have thought it prudent to intervene, not letting them kill each other.

“I don’t waste my time lying in such stupid business, you know?”, she said, sounding as sweet as Oliver’s tea usually was - meaning, really, really sweet. Warnings were flashing in Percy’s brain, still, he simply stood there, watching the scene develop.

“So you don’t want to go?”

“No! I said it like, a million times!”, Angie sounded exasperated.

“Oh, don’t be all hyperbolical!”, said Oliver, now clearly a bit mad and offended.

“How surprising”, she said, looking at Percy, “He knows what hyperbole is!”

Percy didn’t dare to say anything, he had already learned not to take sides.

“I’m not stupid, Silverblood!”, Oliver shouted.

“That’s surprising too!”, she shouted back at him. Percy thought it smart to end that conversation there.

“Angie. Come if you want, you’re invited either way. I would like you there”, he smiled at her. Surprisingly, she smiled back, now a genuine smile, a bit mischievous and not at all saccharine.

“I’ll think about it”, Angie said, looking very clearly at Percy, making it obvious he was the only reason she may attend Oliver’s Halloween party.

“Thanks. Now, Wood, weren’t we supposed to finish the Potions homework?”, Percy asked, not giving Oliver time to answer as he pushed him upstairs to their room.

When they were both sitting at Oliver’s bed, the door firmly closed, Oliver said, “She’ll think about it? Really? She’s dying to go! She’s so arrogant! How can you like her?”

“Oh shut it, Wood. You’re such an asshole sometimes!”, Percy said, Oliver, scoffing at that.

“And she’s not?”

“Oh, no. Angie is the worst, but so are you. You are, actually, very similar. That’s probably why you can’t stand each other.”

“Okay, Freud. What are you going to tell me now, that we are made for each other and should marry? This is such bullshit, Weasley. I’m not inviting her anymore!”

“Who’s Fred?”, Percy asked, only to add a second later, not giving Oliver the chance to answer, “And I didn’t say that. I don’t think you should marry, I think you should keep your distance.”

“It’s Freud, not Fred, you idiot. Have you no knowledge of the muggle world altogether?”, asked Oliver, seeming shocked.

“Do you?”

The look Oliver gave him was enough to answer, or at least Wood seem to think so because he didn’t even bother to reply as he changed the subject.

“I don’t like her”, he said, not needing to explain who he was talking about.

“No shit. Hadn’t notice”, Percy said, lying down, staring at the ceiling. Beside him, Oliver sighed.

“Can’t we both hate her?”

At that, Percy laughed. “Nope.”

Oliver didn’t agree with that answer since he pushed Percy out of the bed, the boy hitting the floor with a thud quickly followed by Oliver’s bark of laughter.

“I despise you”, Percy said, not bothering to withhold the small laugh that escaped his lips.

_________________________________

Tuesday, 27th of October, 1987

It bothered him. Oh, it bothered him so much. He wanted to get up, walk over to them, take that damn book off their hands and throw it at Silverblood’s face.

They were all in Griffyndoor’s common room, the sun had already set and dinner had been served an hour earlier. Oliver wanted nothing but to go to bed, somehow finding random people he kinda sympathized with to invite to his Halloween party was more tiring than he had expected, still, there he was, watching Percy very obviously lean closer to Angie Silverblood as she said something terribly mean.

Oliver couldn’t actually hear what she was saying, but he was pretty sure it was cruel. Wicked, even. It was enough for a second, it made him feel better. Until she said something that made Weasley laugh loudly.

Unbelievable.

They fancied each other. Obviously.

Why Silverblood, though? Percy was all intelligent, funny, and bright, and she was all… wicked, mean, and cruel!

Couldn’t Percy fall for someone else? Anyone else!

Oliver looked around, trying to imagine someone, anyone, better for Percy to fancy. Really, anyone would work!

Minutes passed and he made no progress whatsoever. After a couple more minutes, he gave up, simply skulling, leaving to go to his room.

Stupid Angie Silverblood. He hoped she fell down the stairs and got ugly. Both things weren’t precisely related, but he didn’t care.

“Dude!”, Percy said, an hour later, when Oliver kept ignoring his attempts to start a conversation, “This better not be because of Silverblood.”, Percy said as he sat beside Wood in his bed.

“‘Tis not”, Oliver murmured.

“So what happened?”, Percy tried again.

“Don’t wanna talk about it”, Oliver said, not even looking in Percy’s direction.

“Let’s talk about something else, then”

“Nope. Tired.”

Percy sighed, “Whatever, Wood. It’s not like you don’t have a chance anyway”

“What?” Percy finally managed to catch Oliver’s attention with that last bit, Oliver quickly sat, looking at him.

“Ah. So now you wanna talk?”

“Don’t be a bitch, Weasley. What were you talking about?”

“Angie. You’re jealous, it’s clear. If you like her, mate, just go talk to her. There’s nothing between us anyway, I already told you so, but you keep sculling at us when we’re together. So quit being bloody annoying and go bloody talk to her!”

Oliver immediately broke down laughing. “What? You think I fancy Silverblood?!”

“It’s obvious you do”

Oliver kept laughing. “Oh, Merlin. How can you be so wrong? I thought you were ‘Mr. Always Right’?”

“I am right, you git.”

As Oliver kept hysterically laughing, Percy got more and more confused. If Oliver didn’t fancy Angie, why would her presence bother him that much?

He shrugged, laying down, ignoring Oliver’s laughs - which was a bit harder when he started kicking. “Whatever, man. Just stop moving, I’m tired”, he said, as if these two things went together.

“You’re in my bed!” Percy stretched himself as Oliver grimaced, finally sobering up.

“So I’ve been told”

Percy closed his eyes, the last badly slept nights rushing through him.

“You sure this is a good idea?”, he asked, eyes still closed. Percy felt Oliver lie beside him and then: “Nah, pretty sure it’s stupid. But I’m sure it’ll be a fun time.”

“It better be the time of my life, Wood”

“You’re faithless, Weasley. Of course, it will be! And, who knows, you might find someone you fancy there.” Perhaps it was Percy's imagination, but Oliver’s voice was a bit too loud in that last part of the sentence.

“Shut it, Wood. Don’t be annoying”, he said, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t smiling.

“What? I’m never annoying. Like, ever. I actually think that if you opened a dictionary right now, right where it’s supposed to be written the antonym to annoying is my name. Really. You can check it”

Percy laughed, “You’re so full of shit”

“You love it”, Oliver noticed, ignoring Percy’s attempts to deny it, “You love me”, by the way, Oliver said that last bit, he was seconds from falling asleep, and soon after that, Percy felt his breathing even.

Only then does he dare to whisper to the silent room, “Yeah, I do”

________________________________

Friday, 30th of October, 1987

As Halloween approached, Percy found himself growing more and more annoyed by it. Going to bed after midnight every single day was showing its effects, it was almost like Percy's head slowed down from time to time. Sometimes he was so tired his head zoomed out on everything the teachers said, his eyes slowly closing for just one second, just so he could wake up startled by the end of the class, all students getting up and quickly leaving the classroom. Oliver’s witty smile every time Percy looked at him didn’t help him feel the least better about any of that.

The truth was that Percy didn’t like Halloween. Never had, and if it kept going that way he never would. It was a pointless holiday with annoying traditions that had never made him feel anything but left out. His brothers loved it, of course, Charlie and Billy dressed up, not caring a bit about how Molly disagreed with the whole thing, they went out, chasing sweets, always an amazing time. They would be back really late, talking loudly, throwing a surprising variety of candy into their mouths, laughing, smiling. It didn’t matter how many times Percy had asked to come along, had even imagined what he would wear, the other boys never bothered to invite him. So Percy ceased to ask.

Still, there he was, desperately trying to stay awake as McGonagall talked in a monotone voice. Has this class always been this boring?

With a yawn, he thanked all gods he knew that classes were over for the week as he followed Oliver down the hall. That seemed to be something he did a lot lately, follow Oliver around, with Sam by his side, always smiling at his annoyed grimaces. Mistbone, to no one’s surprise really, appeared to be glued at Wood’s side, the shared excitement about the not-party the next day seeming to bring them even closer. Percy wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“We have to find chocolate! We can’t throw a Halloween party without chocolate!”Andrew fairly pointed out as Oliver made a mental note - that’s what he called it - about the things they still have to solve before the party.

“It’s not a party!”, he said, almost ignoring what Mistbone said.

The not-party comment was due to a conversation Oliver and Percy had had some days before when Percy said that he refused to throw a party when they knew damn well it was against the regulations. Oliver then proceeded to say it wasn’t exactly a party - even though that’s what he called it most of the time -, but they both knew that was bullshit. As usual, Percy let himself be convinced by Wood, not really caring if they didn’t get caught, and Oliver had promised him he wouldn’t let that happen. It was just a small group of people anyway since they had all to fit in their dorm - Percy had refused to let them throw the not party at the Gryffindor’s common room, he saw it as a complete waste of time to organize it all. It also meant more people would be able to come, meaning more chance of getting caught. Oliver might like to play with fire, but Percy refused to get burned for such a stupid reason.

He was sure that story wouldn't end well, he didn't care though, not if he was able to properly sleep. Now that he was thinking about it, it was a terrible idea. All of it. They would get caught and then Percy would have to spend another night cleaning really gross bathroom floors, meaning he would do much sleep.

Oh, how he despised Oliver Wood at that moment. He could a hundred percent hit the shit out of him. How dare he do this to Percy! Oh, it would end up badly and he would never forget it, he would use it against Wood forever and…

Wood stopped walking for a second for Percy to catch up with him, a smile on his lips as he excitedly talked to him. He couldn't help but smile.

It was like that with Wood, sometimes. Percy thought he would be able to hate him, or even be truly mad at him, and then… then Wood smiled, saying some really stupid shit that made him laugh, even when he didn't want to. Then he didn't hate him anymore. Didn't even care about whatever Oliver did to piss him off.

"I hate you." Oliver smiled as Percy tried the words out.

"You don't", Oliver said, annoyingly sure of himself.

"I do a bit", Percy tried, even when both of them knew it wasn't the truth.

"Whatever, Weasley. Keep saying that to yourself if it makes you feel better", turning to the other boys, he said, "So. Mistbone, you were saying…"

"Chocolate"

"Chocolate, yes. I would say us…", the conversation kept going. Percy couldn't help but trade a secret smile with Whittles about the seriousness Andrew and Oliver employed when talking about the preparations.

He couldn't quite wait for it to be done, but it was clear Oliver couldn't wait to be in the middle of a lot of people, laughing, stuffing himself with an absurd quantity of candy, dancing, having the fun he always claimed to love. And that made Percy happy for a second. He might hate the whole situation, but he could bear it for some hours if it meant Oliver's smile wouldn't leave his face.

Percy never actually knew what it meant to love someone. He loved his family, of course, but sometimes it felt like he loved them because he had to, he loved them because they were his family. It didn’t make it any less true or powerful, but now that he knew Oliver… well, he finally understood what it was like to love someone else because you couldn’t help but love them. There was a difference. A huge difference, even if Percy couldn’t yet point out why.

As that week went by, it was painfully obvious to him how much he adored Wood. He wasn’t sure what had changed, or how could he be so sure after meeting him only two months earlier, still, it was simply an undeniable truth.

So he loved Oliver Wood. He loved him enough to do stupid shit when he asked, to throw a non-party to a holiday that meant nothing but bad things to him. He didn’t need to understand it more deeply than that, not at that moment.

He loved Oliver Wood, it was that simple. He loved Oliver because they were friends, they were best friends and best friends did all they could for each other, best friends loved each other so much it hurt sometimes. Best friends would kill and die for each other, would give their happiness to the other person. And Oliver and he were the best of friends.

So it made sense. It all made sense.