Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Close Encounters (Percy Weasley)

You would not believe how many requests I got for Percy. It was actually very surprising, considering that I was under the impression that many of you hated the man. 

This was requested by mrscliffordthemickey who asked for Percy and the Slytherin OC winding up as the targets of some of the twin's hijinks. I hope you like it ~

I was already regretting my decision to accept the position of Head Girl. The amount of work involved was not worth the position. Planning patrol routes, planning patrol schedules, alleviating conflicts between the houses and conflicts between the prefects themselves – there was just too much for me to do. Especially with bloody N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year. But surely, it was too early for me to have come to that decision already? Besides, I wasn't the sort of person who gave things up so quickly.

Last night I had received a last-minute letter from my head of house where he reminded me of the first meeting that was always held on the train. Salazar, just thinking of him was scary enough to ensure that the prefects meeting was etched into my mind. And it was the thought of facing the consequences from Snape that had me turning up early to the prefect's carriage.

Of course, the carriage was empty as I sat waiting for my partner for the year to join me. There weren't many possible candidates for the position and one obvious person sprung to mind. I could only hope that Dumbledore had some sort of sense and the brilliant wizard definitely knew of the relationship I shared with Weasley; one built on mutual annoyance that sprung up simply at the sight of the other. Who cared if he had the highest scores out of all the boys in my year? If Weasley walked into the room with the dammed Head Boy badge pinned to his robes then I couldn't guarantee that he would make it through the year in one piece. And besides, if he was just a Prefect, I couldn't exactly pass up the chance to rub it in that I was now ranked higher than him, now could I?

Looking at the patrol schedules that I was supposed to plan out, I was so tempted to adjust it so I didn't end up with many late-night patrols. But unfortunately, according to Snape, the Head Boy and Head Girl tended to have the later shifts in order to 'check' things over. Glancing impatiently at my watch, I heard the door to the carriage opening. Rising to my feet to greet the Head Boy, I visibly faltered in my steps when I realised who it was. Of course, I'd have the most horrendous luck to be stuck with the most infuriating person as my partner. Merlin my head was already beginning to ache as I imagined just how many fights we were going to get into this year. Weasley didn't react any better; he actually paused in his steps as if not wanting to get any closer to me.

Sitting down again with a frown, I turned away from him and picked up the patrol schedules again. "Hurry up Weasley, we don't have all day for you to be standing there like an idiot."

I didn't need to look up at him to know that he was outright frowning at me. He sighed, crossing the carriage and sliding into the seat across from me. He peered down at the paper I was looking at and when he recognised it as the schedule, he started to help me allocate the slots. The surprise I felt at actually receiving his help was displayed so very obviously on my face, that he just rolled his eyes and knocked on the table to remind me to concentrate. The schedule was fixed within 10 minutes with us bouncing our ideas over one another and I was forced to rethink my previous words. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad – as long as we continued to work together like this, that was.

"Would you look at that," I murmured as I waved my wand to make multiple copies of the schedule and gathered them into one pile, "it looks like we actually make a good team."

"We'll see," he muttered glancing away from me as he gathered the quills and inkwell that we'd scattered across the table. "It'll depend on how you behave Schlank."