A/N: For the Big/Lil' Sis Team Prompt Comp (Prompts: 'You never loved me anyway', Percy/Oliver, Dust Bowl Dance by Mumford and Sons, Too many to count. For the Song Fic Boot Camp (Song: Dust Bowl Dance, Prompt: Together forever). Also for the Quidditch League Round 3: Captain: Write about a rare pairing of 2 Gryffindors. And for Camp Potter: First Aid (Prompts: Broken Strings, Wishing Well, 'It's over, isn't it?')

Inspired by Mumford and Sons' song Dust Bowl Dance, particularly the lines: I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill / And now I am sure my heart can never be still, so collect your courage

This is for Laura, who convinced me to end this the way I did, and because we all need a little more Percy-love.

xox

You were in the sitting room at the Burrow, Percy at your side with your arm around his shoulder. It had been three days since the battle ended. You'd been staying at the Burrow since then. Percy had hardly gotten any sleep, you could see dark circles under his eyes. Next to George, Percy seemed to be the most distressed about the Weasleys' loss. You knew he blamed himself for what happened. He hadn't spent time with his family when he'd gotten the chance, and you knew that this was his biggest regret.

Percy was quiet, not that it was unusual lately. The previous night, he had cried himself to sleep in your arms. His repeated mumbles of 'It was all my fault' were not squashed down by your replies of 'No, Perce. Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault.' The tears kept falling, even through your attempts of kissing each one away.

Now, Percy's face was dry. You weren't sure whether he was doing better emotionally, or if he had simply run out of tears to cry. Sadly, the latter seemed more probable. Your heart ached for Percy, and the rest of the Weasley family.

Suddenly, Percy moved to brush your arm off his shoulder and stood up. You leapt to your feet to follow him, assuming he was headed upstairs to his room again. He turned the opposite way, towards the back door. You glanced nervously around at the others in the room—Molly and Arthur had their eyes closed, heads resting on each other's shoulders; Ron and Ginny were upstairs; George was staring blankly into the fireplace, poking the blaze with a metal rod. No one noticed Percy going out the back door. You followed him, running to catch up.

Percy kept on walking, apparently unaware of you behind him. He slowed his pace slightly from fatigue, but he was still far ahead of you. You continued to run after him, clutching a stitch in your side as you began to trail him up a hill.

Finally, it seemed, you reached the top, panting and more nervous than ever before. Rounding a corner, you caught sight of Percy standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the water.

"Percy!" you shouted, darting forward to stop him from doing what you were so very afraid of.

"I'm coming, Freddy," he whispered to himself as he began to take a step forward.

You reached him just in time, wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him back. You turned him around carefully, taking both of his cold, sweaty hands in your own.

"Percy Weasley, what the hell do you think you're doing?" you yelled, your heart now pounding furiously against your ribcage.

Percy didn't respond, he only shook his head slowly as he stared painfully into your eyes. "Come here," you said, pulling him away from the edge of the cliff and onto a safer spot.

"Percy, what are you doing here? You—you can't just…" you said, breaking off weakly, praying that he'll continue.

"Oliver, why'd you follow me? What are you even doing here?" Percy's face was a mixture of shock and embarrassment.

"I didn't know where you were headed, I couldn't just let you go, you've been acting— different— lately. I didn't know what you were going to or where you were going, but I sure as hell didn't expect this. What's gotten into you, Perce?" You were out of breath, still trying to even out your breathing as you waited impatiently for his answer.

"I—It's all my fault, Ol. Don't you realize? None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me. I should've—I…"

"Why'd you come here, Perce?" you asked, your patience masking your fury.

Percy took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. "We used to come here, when we were kids. All of us, all seven. This was our safe place, it was our place to play when Mum wanted some quiet time. It's one of the places I grew up. Back when we were all whole and unaffected by the stupid war."

You said nothing, still listening patiently.

"I've come here too many times to count. It was one of my favourite places to be as a child, and I guess that never wore off. I knew I needed to get away tonight, and I came here without thinking about it. I remembered how much everyone laughed here. Bill and Charlie, we came here and they had already started at Hogwarts. They would try to teach us some spells they'd learnt. And then—then Fred and George, they would climb up in that tree. That one there, see it? They'd just sit up there for hours and talk. No one ever knew what they were talking about, but when they came down, they would help us pull pranks on Ron. And Ginny would pick wildflowers…" Percy continued, the light of nostalgia gleaming in his eyes. "It was a simpler time, then.

"But then everything changed. After I left for Hogwarts for the first time, everything was different. It was like I couldn't go back to being a kid, like I'd used up all my childhood time and now it was time to grow up, to move on. I could never move on, not really. But coming back here, it's like going back to that time. I'd placed all my secrets, all my trust, at the foot of this hill. We shared secrets and told each other tales of Hogwarts secrets and it was a safe place."

Percy seemed to be steeling himself, ready to move on to a newer, more difficult part to his story.

"Then I met you, at Hogwarts. I'd watched you in the corridors, in classes. I'd always looked up to you, Ol. The way you played Quidditch like I never could—I grew to love you, Oliver. But of course you never realized that. You never loved me, anyway. I was just stuck dreaming.

But you and I, that wasn't much different than anything else I've gone through. It was like I kept wishing, kept throwing coin after coin into the wishing well, but none of my wishes came true."

"Percy, what are you talking about? You—I… I never knew you loved me. If I did, I would've said something. I thought that surely you couldn't love me, especially after I saw you and Penelope. I thought that there was no way someone like you could ever love someone like me." Your mouth hung agape, looking fondly at Percy, the way you had looked at him for all those years without him noticing anything.

"You… you do? You love me, too? I never knew…" he started.

"Well obviously we both missed the signs." You cracked a smile for the first time all night.

"But I never said anything. I've been hurt too many times to count, I didn't want you to become another could-have-been, especially not after we became friends. I couldn't jeopardize that friendship." Percy looked hopeful. You hadn't seen him looking like this in who knows how long. It was a pleasant change.

"But then I decided I wasn't cut out for love. I already had to piece together the broken strings of my heart, I didn't want to miss out on love again, Oliver.

"I was so surprised when I was sorted in Gryffindor. I was never brave enough. I'm still not. If I was brave enough, had enough courage for Gryffindor, I would've been able to tell you how I felt long ago. I wouldn't have been such a prat towards my family for so long. I missed so many opportunities to make things better, but instead, I ended up making them so much worse." Percy looked as though he had forgotten Oliver was still there.

"Sometimes… sometimes I worry that the war's not over yet. Sometimes, I'm afraid that we'll all be in the false sense of security just like last time. It is over, isn't it?"

You nodded to Percy, taking his face gently in your hands. "Yes," you whispered, kissing him softly on the lips.

"Oliver, I—" he mumbled against your lips.

"Shush, Percy. Don't worry. You're fine, everything's just fine."

You hadn't realized until that moment, as you sat beneath Fred and George's tree on top of the hill overlooking the lake, that maybe you and Percy were meant to be together.

"Ol, will you… I mean, can't we just… be together. Forever?" he asked softly, hands on the back of your neck.

"Yes," you breathed, grinning and pulling him closer. "Together forever, Perce."

xox

A/N: I hope you liked this. Thanks to Liza and Laura who helped me out with this and convinced me that happy endings are a good thing. I love you both :)

Please leave a review on your way out, it'll make my day!