Love, Percy | Perciver

I Messed Up So You Can Do Better

Percy usually loved Christmas time at Hogwarts, but now he really hates it.

It was hard enough avoiding Oliver. They share a room, but he convinced Ron and Harry to let him bunk with them. No, the awkward part had been retrieving his stuff from his room. He had to work out a time when Oliver wasn't in there and since there's no practice he couldn't exactly rely on that time anymore and-

Everything was all around bad.

At least, it was. While Percy was casually reading a newspaper in the common room one morning, praying that Oliver wouldn't come down the stairs, he heard a familiar sound. The sound of someone's voice. Yet, he knew that voice.

When he heard it again, he stood up and rapidly turned around. "Charlie?"

Charlie came out of his hiding spot from behind a grandfather clock. "Totally knew I had a rebellious side to me."

"Charlie!" Percy yelled, launching himself into his brother's arms for a hug. He was so happy to see his brother, his best friend. This made up for almost about everything that had happened this winter break. Almost.

Percy saw a figure at the top of the stairs, and he knew exactly who it was, but it wasn't going to ruin this moment for him. Not when he had Charlie back after going through this year alone. One year alone and look at the mess he's made.

"Dumbledore is the only one who allowed me in here, and is therefore the only one that knows. I had to sneak in. You have to tell me everything that's happened this year," Charlie sat Percy down on the couch. "Every single detail, and I'll be asking Ginny to make sure you're not leaving anything out."

Oliver was still at the stairs, so he felt a little uncomfortable. He didn't want to explain to his brother that he'd had a fake boyfriend to convince Charlie's ex that he wasn't in love with him. That tiny fib can wait. "So I've actually gone places other than my room."

"That's actually a huge accomplishment," Charlie congratulated. "You were always holed up in your room, never doing anything. I was scared that me graduating was going to make that worse. I'm glad to see you're faring fine."

Percy laughed. "Yeah, I guess I really am."

"So," Charlie put on a shit eating grin. "Anyone is particular that made you suddenly start socializing with people? I know you didn't go out on your own. Plus, you stopped sending letters so I'm not sure where you've been."

Oliver was still at the stairs, except now he sat down at the top step. He was staring at him intensely with that stupid look on his face. Percy felt himself shrinking under his gaze. When Oliver is looking at him like that, it's unpredictable what he'll do. "Something like that," he finally answered.

"I heard something else too." Charlie started laughing before he even said what was so funny. "What's with the assassination of Ron?"

Oh, that. "That's a story for another time, trust me." He couldn't even remember if he had told Oliver about the reasoning behind Ron's death. How does he not remember? He thought he knew Oliver better than that. Why is breaking up with a fake boyfriend so difficult?

"What about this person who somehow managed to get you away from your room and up and at it?" Charlie pressed again.

He made eye contact with Oliver on top of the stairs. There was a sad smile that the both of them exchanged. How had they gone from over the moon to having to look at each other from atop of stairs? He caught himself thinking a lot about forgetting Oliver's true motives because he missed him that much, but that's something he can't come back from.