Infinite Magic (Male Reader x Harry Potter)

Percy Overshares

We had only gone a few paces outside when Hermione's bandy-legged ginger cat, Crookshanks, came pelting out of the garden, bottlebrush tail held high in the air, chasing what looked like a muddy potato on legs.  I recognized it instantly as a gnome.  Barely ten inches high, its horny little feet pattered very fast as it sprinted across the yard and dove headlong into one of the Wellington boots that lay scattered around the door.  I could hear the gnome giggling madly as Crookshanks inserted a paw into the boot, trying to reach it.  Meanwhile, a very loud crashing noise was coming from the other side of the house.  The source of the commotion was revealed as they entered the garden, and saw that Bill and Charlie both had their wands out, and were making two battered old tables fly high above the lawn, smashing into each other, each attempting to knock the other's out of the air.  Fred, George, and Ava were cheering, Ginny was laughing, and Hermione was hovering near the hedge, apparently torn between amusement and anxiety.  Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocked one of its legs off.  There was a clatter from overhead, and they all looked up to see Percy's head poking out of a window on the second floor.

Percy: Will you keep it down?

Bill grinned.

Bill: Sorry, Perce.  How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?

Percy: Very badly!

He slammed the window shut.  Ava and I burst out laughing.  Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattached the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere.  By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, Ava, and I were settling ourselves down to eat beneath a clear blue sky.  At the far end of the table, Percy was telling his father all about his report on cauldron bottoms.

Percy: I've told Mr Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday.  That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things.  I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup.  We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports.  Ludo Bagman-

Arthur: I like Ludo.  He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup.  I did him a bit of a favor.  His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble, a lawnmower with unnatural powers, I smoothed the whole thing over.

Percy: Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course, but how he ever got to be Head of Department... when I compare him to Mr Crouch!  I can't see Mr Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them.  You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now?  Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?

Arthur: Yes, I was asking Ludo about that.  He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now.  Though I must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried...

Percy: Oh Bertha's hopeless, all right.  I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth... but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her.  Mr Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr Crouch was quite fond of her... but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania.  However...

I zoned out after this, until Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked down toward the end of the table where Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ava, and I were sitting.

Percy: We have that other event to plan after the World Cup.  You know the one I'm talking about, Father.

He raised his voice slightly.

Percy: The top-secret one.

Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to us.

Ron: He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work.  Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons.

YN: What're the odds he wants us to ask so he can say "oh, that's only for those in the know".

I did my best percy impression and my friends burst out laughing.  In the middle of the table, Mrs. Weasley was arguing with Bill about his earring, which seemed to be a recent acquisition.

Molly: Really, Bill, what do they say at the bank?

Bill: Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure.

Molly: And your hair's getting silly, dear.  I wish you'd let me give it a trim...

Ginny: I like it.

YN: Me too, it looks badass.  I wish I could pull off a ponytail.

Ava: I'm sure you could.

She squeezed my hand under the table.  I grinned at her, but nobody seemed to notice.

Bill: You're so old fashioned, Mum.  Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's...

Next to Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Charlie were all talking spiritedly about the World Cup.

Charlie: It's got to be Ireland.  They flattened Peru in the semifinals.

Fred: Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though.

CHarlie: Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven.  I wish England had got through.  That was embarrassing, that was.

Harry: What happened?

Charlie: Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten.  Shocking performance.  And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg.

Harry had been on the Gryffindor House Quidditch team ever since his first year at Hogwarts and owned one of the best racing brooms in the world, a Firebolt.  Flying came more naturally to Harry than anything else in the magical world, and he played in the position of Seeker on the Gryffindor House team.  Mr Weasley conjured up candles to light the darkening garden before we had homemade strawberry ice cream.  By the time we had finished, moths were fluttering low over the table, and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle.  I was feeling extremely well fed and at peace with the world as we watched several gnomes sprinting through the rosebushes, laughing madly and closely pursued by Crookshanks.  Ron looked carefully up the table to check that the rest of the family were all busy talking, then he said very quietly to Harry.

Ron: So, have you heard from Sirius lately?

Harry: Yeah, twice.  He sounds okay.  I wrote to him yesterday.  He might write back while I'm here.

Molly: Look at the time.  You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you.  You'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup.  Harry, Yn, Ava, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley.  I'm getting everyone else's.  There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time.

Harry: Wow, I hope it does this time!

Ava: I don't.  I like sleep, thank you.

I laughed as we began to clear our plates.

Percy: Well, I certainly don't.  I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days.

Fred: Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?

Percy: That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!  It was nothing personal!

Fred and George turned to us as Percy went inside.

Fred: It was.

George: We sent it.