I've Got You // Perciver

Chapter 1: The Platform, The Picture, and The Promise

Percy Weasley had heard many things about Hogwarts.

He'd heard that there were secret passageways and hidden rooms, a forest filled with man-eating spiders and werewolves, and even a giant squid in the Black Lake that had supposedly been smuggled in by a group of boys in the 70s.

The night before he left for Hogwarts, Percy had made sure that his trunk, which had all been packed-except for his clothes-for over a week, was organized and everything was where it should be; all his clothes were folded perfectly and on the lefthand side, while all his books and school materials were stacked neatly on the righthand side.

Scabbers sat in his cage, curled up and taking a nap while Percy triple checked the list he'd made to make sure he had everything. He had packed Scabbers' rat cubes earlier and asked his dad to cast a protection charm on the cage so that Scabbers wouldn't get hurt on the way to Hogwarts.

Everything was going according to plan, just like he knew it would.

The same could not, however, be said for the following morning.

Everything was going fine; the twins were being well-behaved, his mother had made scrambled eggs (which was the only way Percy ate eggs), and even Ron-who had previously been curled up under the table with his quilt-was now sat down and eating.

This didn't last long.

As their mother was trying to shepherd all 7 of them out the door, everything seemed to go wrong.

Bill had forgotten his wand and misplaced his boots; Charlie wanted to bring his book on dragons so he could show it to Hagrid, the grounds keeper at Hogwarts, so they had to wait for him to go get it; their mother realized they'd left Ginny behind so they (again!) had to turn back around to get her; then Ron had started crying and refused to leave.

Percy knew he had everything so he ignored the fact that his mother had forgotten to check with him. He stifled the panic that arose in him at the thought of being late and missing the train to Hogwarts. It was his first year; it wouldn't make a very good impression if he was late.

By the time they'd made it to the platform, they only had a few minutes to spare before they needed to board the train.

The Hogwarts Express is a 4-6-0 Hall Class steam locomotive model number GWR 5900: something which Percy delighted in telling his family. He shoved away the tendrils of shame and hurt in his stomach as they ignored him (like usual) and busied himself with checking (again) to make sure he had everything; not that it would do him much good now to have forgotten something.

The longer they stood there, the more Percy swayed slightly and fidgeted with his fingers.

The loud clamor of the platform normally made it hard for anyone to understand each other-often times having to raise their voices just to be heard-and his already limited hearing ability made it near impossible. Charlie and Bill looked to have no trouble hearing her so Percy wisely didn't mention it and just focused on trying to read her lips. Their mother was checking them over and cooing at them as if they were toddlers, which made all three of them flush red in embarrassment.

She finally let them go just to start tearing up, demanding they stand still so she could get a picture of them.

"Squeeze in tight, boys!"

Bill and Charlie wrapped an arm around Percy as they all looked at their mother as the camera flashed. (Percy had no idea where the camera had even come from.) Their mother looked at it and started crying as she pulled them into a hug. Percy wasn't quite sure what she said once she let them go but he thinks it was something about putting the picture somewhere-probably on the mantle at home, if he had to guess.