Christmas time
“Are you saying what I reckon you're saying?!” Oliver asked, jumping on Percy's bed in a snowy morning, invading his space more than he would usually allow. They were inching closer and closer to the greatly awaited Christmas holiday and Percy was shocked to find out how much energy Oliver still had in him every morning. Laziness consumed every single hallway of Hogwarts, students all around hoping for the end of classes and, most importantly, the end of the exams, while Oliver seemed unbothered by it all, jumping from one class to another - never bothering to study too long for anything, some would think the melancholic weather would be enough to calm him down, but it only fueled his fire, leaving Percy to find him flying in the most ungodly hours of the night, coming back to their room in the earliest hours of the morning with snow slowly melting in his disheveled hair. Even Percy himself could be found spending less and less time at the library, choosing to lazy around in the Gryffindor’s common rooms, with his lousy friends and pleasant heat.
Many nights, Oliver would stay out - and would even get detention when he was caught out of bed after hours -, doing whatever one did at those times of the night. Percy would wake up from his restless sleep whenever Wood got back, and they would smile at each other before Weasley could finally pass out. He wasn’t about to ask Oliver about it, and Wood never willingly offered the information, so Percy kept his unconfirmed knowledge of Oliver’s nighttime flights, unaware of the reason behind it.
To no one’s surprise, Oliver wasn’t inclined to “waste any of his precious energy or time in something as insipid as studying.” Percy was too appalled by how he had formulated such a sentence to even question it.
“Judging by the tone of your voice and the happiness on your face, I will say… no? I don't reckon you understood what I'm saying at all.” He really tried to pretend to push Oliver away from him but wasn’t very convincing. His main problem was how much Wood didn’t bother him in the least. You could even say he enjoyed his presence. Perhaps you could even say he needed it on his worst days. How things had changed. His brothers, who would always push his buttons, getting into his space and getting scowled for it, would have a field day making fun of Percy’s newfound adoration of close contact. Well, when it came from Oliver anyway.
Oliver was, undoubtedly, clingy, in a way only an only child could be. On the other side, you had Percy, the complete opposite until very recently. Demanding attention was never something Percy could even do in his household. He had too many siblings and his parents had too much to worry about and honestly, you were never alone in the Weasley household. So Percy had learned to enjoy the quiet it came with, and so when Wood’s presence became more than something he tolerated, he knew there was no chance he would ever get rid of the idiot. Perhaps that was the precise reason behind his acceptance of Wood’s clinginess, finally someone interested in him, only him, needing to be as close as possible at all times. It was something new, being needed like that.
Percy had searched for it his whole life.
“You're telling me you'll help me with all the homework before the holidays!” The euphoria in his tone was unprecedented when talking about homework, so Percy squinted his eyes, a bit taken aback.
“See, no, that wasn't what I said.”
“But-” Oliver put his finger up, in a show of trying to argue something he knew to have no chance of convincing Percy of. It was merely for entertainment's sake, as most things were with Wood. Percy couldn’t say he minded.
“No buts!”
“Why no buts? I like buts!” Mistbone interjected from the other side of the room, still wrapped around a scary amount of blankets - you would think the dorm wasn’t heated by magic by the way he and Whittles walked around, tripping over blankets and their long-ass pajama pants and multiple socks.
“Really not talking to you, Andrew,” Percy mumbled, not in the mood to get into those conversations they could easily fall back into, a precise and unique kind of aggressive discussion laced with affection. It was super weird and fairly tiring - although, even Percy had to admit, it was impressive.
“Rude.” Came from the other side of the room.
“Nor you, Sam.”
And then, there they were. Oliver already had that small glint in his eyes, more than ready to get into whatever they were about to go down. Percy would endure it merely because he wasn’t sure he could even stop it at that point.
“Whatever mate.” He didn’t sound much upset about any of it.
“I really second that,” Andrew said in a valiant voice as if exposing his biggest fear with a straight face. Percy had to admit that it was a risky intermission, it could backfire quite easily, in the very least it would bring back Sam’s favorite sentence back to daily use and he wasn’t sure he was ready for that. If he never heard the phrase ‘I second that’ for the rest of his life it would be too soon. Whittles truly had abused it for too long. It was revolting and endearing, and it didn’t surprise him in the least - they were exactly that, revolting and endearing.
“Thank you, Drew.”
A horrified answer came right after, and Percy wasn’t disappointed in the least by it. “Ew, don't call me that.”
“Rude.” It appeared that he hadn’t had to worry about Sam’s short vocabulary, he had found another word to use every day in every context possible.
“Now, I second that” No one could blame him for the way he kicked Wood’s ribs, who squealed like a little girl and jumped back into his own bed. Percy tried to pretend to be satisfied but was immediately assaulted by the cold temperature of the room without Oliver’s heat to warm him up.
“Thanks, Ollie.” You could hear Whittles' malicious cackles from far away, Percy was sure of it, and was almost expecting Silverblood to march into their room to demand what was happening and why wasn’t she part of the mischief - everyone now knew that, although she liked to believe herself to be a fair and dramaless person, Angie was an agent of chaos. It only made Percy admire her more and be a bit fonder of her than he had first intended to.
Hogwarts was proving to be a place with good people and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet.
“Stop it. Now.” But Wood was still smiling. Weasley would sometimes wonder how he could smile so much without looking pretentious, but then quickly decided that Oliver did look pretentious. Pretentiously annoying.
“Fine,” Sam growled, making the lot chuckle.
“Oliver, I'm not helping you with your homework, I'm simply telling you that I’m spending this weekend with the girls at the library intending to finish all the homework before going home. Oh, and don’t look at me like that, I swear I will smother you without thinking twice.”
Wood scrunched his nose at him, “C’mon, Perce, it’s holiday homework. Let’s do it during the holidays. Preferably at the last possible moment”
“You were literally celebrating the fact that we were about to go do some work five seconds ago!” But as he was saying it, he had already realized his mistake, allowing Oliver the perfect snarky response.
“That was when I thought you were gonna do it for me. You know, because I believed us to be friends. Nay, more than that, I believe us to be best friends! Soulmates even, some would call us.” Oliver didn’t waste a second, jumping on top of Percy and snuggling close, pretending to dry away his imagined tears on Percy’s clothes. He even fake sobbed for the purpose of good theater.
“Absolutely no one has ever called you that.” Andrew helpfully pointed it out.
“But some had called you annoying gits,” Sam added.
“And,” Andrew continued, “by some he indeed meant us.”
“And Angie!” Sam sounded astonished that Mistbone had dared to forget the most impressive force of nature anyone had ever met, almost as if she was hiding under his covers and would jump out to scold them for forgetting her.
“Yes. And Angie.”
Doing his best to ignore whatever that had been, he said towards Oliver, in some failed attempt to stop the other two from overhearing other people’s business. It wouldn’t work, Andrew and Sam were too fond of good gossip and Oliver and Percy’s relationship was top one on that for the two of them.
“I’m not doing your homework, Wood, forget it. And you really should stop leaving it all for the last minute, you look like a lunatic trying to finish it all before getting to class.”
“Yes, well, hear me out. If you leave it for the last minute, it will only take a minute.”
Andrew barked a laugh, and Sam made the sound of someone who had heard the most intelligent sentence ever. Percy wanted to throw himself out of the window. Hopefully, the snow wouldn’t stop him from finding peace.
“You know, I gotta say it. That’s smart, Wood. Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I will be obliged to second that.”
Groaning, Percy finally left the cocooning of his blankets and got ready to face what would hopefully be a very productive day. Without Oliver. His eyebrows pinched, he hadn’t liked the twinge of discontentment his heart gave at that thought. “Well, I do not in fact second that-”
“-He never seconds anything!-” Said Sam, annoyed.
“He’s just a boring git, Sammy, don’t take it too harshly please,” Reassured Andrew.
“- and I do have to go. So, enjoy your day flying, just please be sure that McGonagall doesn’t find you with that broom after she made me promise I wouldn’t let you get into one until our second year.”
“Firstly, I never made any promises to anyone, so I cannot affirm that I will be cautious. Second-”
“As in, I second that?” Andrew threw something at Whittle's head before Percy could do the same.
“-of all,” continued Oliver, as if he hadn’t heard the interruption, “I don’t get why you can’t come with me. Study at home, when you can no longer spend time with your favorite person.”
“It is shamefully obvious that you don’t have any siblings, mate. Besides, I will be spending time with my favorite person, Angie will meet me downstairs.” He left the room while Oliver shouted outraged curses at him, a laugh bubbling out.
Angie did meet him downstairs, wrapped around a thick layer of clothes. She had a bit of difficulty getting up from the chair in front of the magic-induced fire. She didn’t even try to hide her irritation, “What took you so long, Weasley? What is this, an experiment to see how long it takes before I freeze to death? Did Oliver put you up for this?”
“Not really, but it was his fault I was late. He wouldn’t stop complaining about my plans for the day.”
“Are you really that surprised? I mean, I’m sure he will leave it all for the last second and then look like a lunatic when trying to write on his parchment against the dungeon’s walls before Snape gets there.”
Shaking his head in delighted agreement, he said, “I told him that! But he won’t listen to any of it, and in all honesty, it’s not really my problem… yet. When he’s desperate enough to ignore his ego and beg for my help, then it’ll be my problem.”
“Why do you do that to yourself?”
They were already approaching the library, and so Percy turned down his voice as much as he could while answering, “Because, believe it or not, he is my best friend and I’m rather keen on him.”
Penelope was already for them at a table closer to the back of the library, with books upon books spread around her and a puzzled expression on her pretty face. Her full lips were pursed and her eyes were squinting at the words she was reading.
“What is that face for?” Politely asked Percy. Lately, he had been spending quite a considerable amount of time with Penny and Angie and has learned how to properly talk to her without sounding like an incredibly stupid arsehole.
“Professor Snape.” Penelope was probably the only person he knew outside of the other Hogwarts teachers who addressed Snape as Professor Snape, most likely because any other soul who was forced to take his classes had lost all sense of respect for him - and happiness in general - in the very first week. Oliver had recently gotten the habit of calling Snape Pompous Dickhead Potion Drinker - PDPD for short, evidently, or simply PD if you were really in a hurry - in a condescending voice that took everything in Percy not to dissolve in giggles every time.
He found it charming Penelope’s sense of politeness when addressing any teacher at all. But he also found Oliver ridiculously funny when making fun of Snape, so perhaps he was simply pleased and that was all.
Angie snorted, disgusted, but cleverly didn’t say whatever she thought of PD aloud. Naturally, she had never addressed him as such, because to do so would be to enter one of Wood’s jokes and she would certainly prefer to chew her own tongue off, but she didn’t have to with all the foul things she would say about him every time he dared to take a point from Gryffindor without any justified reason. You know, people would assume he was the one with the dirtier mouth of the two, but Silverblood really made the competition a fair one.
“Please, Percy, tell me you already began your introduction in Transfiguration.” She said instead, winking at him behind Penny’s back. He didn’t fully understand it, agreeing slightly with his head and passing her his parchment.
He made his way to her side of the table, but Angie forcefully put her bags down on the chair beside her. “Penny needs help with Potions, Weasley. You’re good at Potions.” She stared at him expectantly.
“Alright?”
“Bloody hell, Percy!” Angie showed signs of strong shock. “You were supposed to be the smart one. Go help her, idiot!”
Finally understanding what she was trying to do, Percy genuinely tried not to blush too furiously at the implication and finally sat down beside Penny.
.
It was past lunchtime when Oliver was convinced by a very tired and cold Andrew to go inside and search for Percy, and to leave - please, you can live without it, Wood, it’s not like it’s one of your limbs, Andrew had pointed out, followed by Sam, and if it is one of your limbs, I would strongly advise amputation! - his broom - alright, so his was a bit too strong, it was more like the broom he had borrowed/stolen from Filch - behind.
They were leaving for the holidays in two days and honestly Wood couldn’t wait to be back already. He was happy to see his parents, perhaps when face to face he would be embraced by the feeling of adoration and love that had accompanied him throughout his whole childhood when thinking of his family, but he already missed so much of the castle it was startling.
For one, Percy. He would miss Percy dearly and was even willing to do something he never did if could be avoided; write. Oliver Wood would write to Percy Weasley every day and he didn’t much care if he would like that or not. They were best friends and now Percy would have to just accept it and move the fuck on.
Also, flying. He would spend two weeks without flying, not even a little bit. His mother couldn’t even dream of it, so he had no intention of telling her any of it after the scare he had given his parents when slipping out of his broom. Unlike what Percy thought, Oliver didn’t like to bother people. Just Weasley. That he couldn’t deny not even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t, so everything was fine.
Oliver hadn't spent even a full school year at Hogwarts and yet it already felt so much like home. His house, with his parents and all, was now a nostalgic memory of a childhood he believed to have left behind, and Hogwarts had taken the place of extreme comfort in his mind. It was where he was supposed to be, where he wanted to be, all the time, marching down corridors with Percy by his side, with Mistbone saying something outraging while Whittles laughed hard and Silverblood pretended to be disgusted. It was hard to even imagine going home now and to mean a place where none of them would be close by.
If he was honest with himself - which Oliver wasn’t a fan of, he liked living in his safe space without allowing any pessimist thoughts to enter -, his relationship with his parents those last months had taken a toll. He didn’t write as much as he should, it was almost unbearable to do so, he was incapable of writing a single word without remembering the one boy they had told him about. He was scared to face them because he was now aware of their very real capacity to be wrong - to even be bad people sometimes. And to Oliver, someone who had worshiped his parents his whole life, the mere idea of disagreeing with them on something so big was terrifying.
He was avoiding thinking about the Hogwarts Express leaving in less than 48 hours, too focused on absolutely anything else at the moment to give the tragedy he was about to face the time of day.
So when he was faced with the image of a Percy Weasley cozying up with Penelope Clearwater, it should’ve come as a welcome distraction to the turmoil taking form in his belly, but it served only to make nausea overtake him fully.
Whittles was giggling beside him, Mistbone was whistling, and Angie was throwing daggers with her eyes at them both. Oliver didn’t see any of it though, his eyes were focused on their hands very close together and Percy’s blush spreading through his whole face. It was a disturbing situation. Oliver wanted to hide his face. Or just hide. Disappear. Just run away.
Needless to say, Oliver put on his brightest smile and laughed at Percy, hoping the millisecond it took him to fix his expression was lost to him in all the embarrassment. “Sorry to interrupt, Perce dear, we are already leaving. We only came by to ask if you wanted to go outside for a snow fight but well.”
“Yes, he’s busy.” Said Angie, although without the usual snappy note. She had a small and sad smile on her face and the sight of it freaked him out a little bit. It was just wrong. “Skedaddle now.”
And so they did, Oliver had the impression he couldn’t leave fast enough. When Whittles and Mistbone made their way out of the castle, he came up with a random excuse to just run up to the common room. Perhaps it was time to pack.
.
Oliver wouldn’t look at him. Although everything else was as normal as it could be, he simply refused to meet Percy’s eyes, it didn’t matter how much he tried to. He had called out to Wood, made fun of the disorganized room, and even threw something at him. And nothing. He had accomplished nothing.
Something was wrong, his gut was telling him. So the smile on Wood’s face was fake, his jokes were forced, and the mischief and affection that usually made his eyes their home when looking at any of his friends was gone. Percy wasn’t sure the other boys had noticed, with all the excitement to go home for a while, but he had. He had noticed it the second he had stepped foot in the room to find two happy boys scolding Oliver for not participating in their snow fight as was expected of him. For a moment, Percy supposed he had gone out to fly around again - he knew how much Oliver would miss it in the weeks they would be away from Hogwarts and it only made sense for him to go enjoy it while he could -, but he was missing the cheerfulness that was glued on him for at least a couple of hours after he had flown.
And so it begged the question; what had happened to him?
Percy couldn’t ask him in front of everyone. And the boys, encouraged by the fear of missing their friends too dearly while away, didn’t leave their side for a second until Sunday night. The Hogwarts Express would be leaving in the morning, just a handful of hours away, and neither he nor Oliver were capable of sleeping.
Wood was pretending to. It bothered Percy. He didn’t need to pretend near him, didn’t he know that by now? Whatever Oliver needed to throw at him, he could take it. He would take it, willingly, happily.
Tired of that strange behavior, he finally broke the ice. “Wood. Oi. What’s going on?”
The answer didn’t take long at all to come, and Percy breathed out a small sigh of relief. “Now? Well, Weasley, I would say that you are waking me up to ask stupid questions. Might’ve just been my impression though.”
“Wanna know my impression?”
“Not precisely.”
Percy scoffed. “I reckon you’re acting weird because you’ll miss me way too much and don't know how to say that.” He had caught Oliver’s attention now, seeing as he had fully turned towards him, displaying an amused smile - a real one now.
“Oh, but I do know. I know how to say it.” A second later, Wood’s familiar weight was over him, a laughing giggly bomb on top of Percy, invading his personal space and he couldn’t be happier. Getting too close for comfort, Oliver whispered, “I will desperately miss you, Weasley.” A beat later, “You’ll miss me too. I’ll write, don’t worry.”
And just like that, he was gone.
Percy finally fell asleep.
.
The train was bitterly cold, Oliver felt the biting temperature in every one of his bones, a chilling sensation that had nothing to do with the cozy Christmas spirit that had set over their cabin.
The boys talked one upon the other, fearful of the time the train would come to a full stop and they would be forced to keep those questionable thoughts to themselves for torturous weeks.
Oliver also worried about it, just not in the mundane way they did, he worried about the darker turns his mind was already taking. What if their parents insisted on mentioning that boy again? Could Oliver pretend it didn't bother him? Should he do so? How much of who his parents were reflected upon him? And why was that suddenly such a big problem?
Hours went by, and yet he was unable to silence those intrusive snippets to enjoy the last moments in Percy's presence. Naturally, his quietness hadn't scared Weasley in the least, who sat so close to him their whole bodies were flushed against each other, Oliver couldn't find it in him to be bothered in the least.
Andrew and Sam were too focused on their own holiday plans - which did not include any homework till the last minute, and Oliver had to hide his amused grin from Percy, who stared at them unimpressed. - to notice Percy's hand on Oliver's back, scratching slightly.
He couldn't even begin to guess how Percy had known he did that to bring himself back to the present conversation and not to be owned by his growing anxiety, and so he was lost for words to express how thankful he was. How helpful Percy was. How lovely he was. How well they fit together.
By the time the Hogwarts Express had begun to slow down, Oliver was astounded to find his skin to be perfectly fine and not the reddish it would usually be if he was the one scratching it. Percy had been doing it with his fingertips then.
For some reason, he was blushing a bit. Must have been from the cold.
Andrew and Sam quickly said their goodbyes, but Weasley didn’t let him leave the wagon, pushing him firmly by his clothes.
“Oi, Perce!” He complained although it missed its usual force.
“Here. Have it. I'll get another one anyway,” and taking his precious P sweater off, he offered it to Oliver. “P for Pretentious Arse, see.”
Oliver laughed, feeling himself relax a bit. “Yeah, alright.” He relented, “Cheers, mate.” They left the train close together. Yet, perhaps Wood had wished for him to be a bit closer. He pressed the jumper to his chest, warming his hands on Percy's warmth.
It shouldn't have been a surprise, but Oliver wasn't expecting Percy to grab his hand and lead him to his family, a ginger woman holding too many sons smiling brightly at him.
“Mom, this is Oliver. We're best friends now.”
The woman, who Oliver had correctly assumed to be Mrs. Weasley, nodded solemnly as if Percy had announced something serious indeed. Then, turning his blinding smile at him, she said, “It's a pleasure to meet you, Oliver.”
“A pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Weasley,” He said, feeling the slightest bit awkward.
She batted his hands at him, “Nonsense. Call me Molly. Any friend of Percy's a friend of ours.”
Charlie Weasley winked at him. “Wood.” With a serious nod in his direction that was interrupted by his charming smile, he waved and turned to his mother, taking the ginger twins from his mother's grasp and passing another to a tall ginger boy Oliver had seen with Charlie more than once and now felt stupid not to have put two and two together. That was Bill Weasley, in his last year at Hogwarts, even with the tiredness clear in his face, holding all the luggage he could.
“Well, boys - and Ginny -” She added to the smallest of them all, a redheaded - of course - girl with freckles all over her face that stared bright-eyed at a joking Charlie making faces behind his mother's head just for her, “your father had business at the Ministry, so we shall make the journey back just us this time. Oliver” looking at him, she said, “I'm sure Percy will send you an owl inviting you to spend a bit of the holiday with us with all the details you need, but let me assure you now that the invitation is coming from me and Arthur as well. You would be more than welcome, dear.” Appearing to have finished saying what needed to be said before departing, she turned to her older boys and said, “Now. Billy, please leave Fred with Charlie, and just bother with the luggage. Ron, hold your sister's hand, please. No, Ginny, you're with Ron, Charlie has to manage the twins. Yes, I know, Ron, just don't let go of Ginny's hand. Nor mine! Percy, please just carry your luggage and follow me, love. Alright. We shall go now. Bye Oliver, dear, it was nice to meet you.”
Running towards the brick wall, Percy threw a last-minute glance at Oliver, who still observed the peculiar family with a growing sense of fondness. He really hoped to be able to spend at least some days with them, not only to see Percy but to feel the rush of adoration that the redheaded family had caused in him.
Perhaps it was foolish, but Oliver felt like he fit right in.