Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
The sun wasn't even out yet; the plains were covered in slowly lightening darkness. The boy whistled cheerfully as he jumped over the fence, careful to keep the two pails balancing on the pole over his shoulders from spilling. His boots kicked up well-trodden dust that circled around his jean-covered legs before settling back down again as he walked farther away from the beaten path and closer towards the small grassy pen in the middle of the field, where the horses were already out and about grazing. A tall girl was already out and riding the horses, yelling commands left and right as she tried to force the strong-willed stallion into doing what she wanted.
The boy continued whistling as he came closer and closer before he arrived at the fence keeping him out. He hopped onto the fence and balanced for a moment, making sure that he hadn't spilled anything, before carefully plunking down on the old wood.
"Katie! Whatcha doin' out here at this time of day? You never get up before mid-morning."
The girl seemed startled before she waved her hand in greeting. Katie nudged the horse over to the brown haired boy, and greeted him with a smile.
"Ollie!" She ignored the grimace he gave her at the unappreciated nickname. "Just tryin' out the new horse for Mama. She told me to get up early because this one's a bucker." As if on cue the stallion bucked and tried to throw her off, but Katie stubbornly held on and kicked her heels into its sides, the horse neighing at the unwanted friction. "Down boy-o!" she managed to calm him down. "Mama was right. This one's gotta bunch of fire in 'em. He'd make a good racin' horse. I'll ask Mama if we could train 'em to participate in the Derby."
Oliver moved his pails out of the way as the stallion tried to nose his way into the chickens' food. "No, boy." He shook his head and looked back at Katie. "He's that good?"
The brown haired girl bobbed her head. "Aye. You'd have fun with this one, if, ya know…"
Oliver waved away her concerns. "It ain't no problem, Katie. I can still tell ya when you've got everythin' wrong. Don't worry about little old me."
Katie hesitated for a moment, before she nodded again. "Well, alright then." The rest of Oliver's words sunk into her at that moment. "Oi! Whaddaya mean I do wrong!? I clearly remember that I beat ya at every race we did!"
"I let ya win!" Oliver laughed, jumping off of the fence so he stood a good distance away from the fuming girl.
"Why you little-!"
Oliver's laughter could be heard echoing all over the grassy plains.
Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
"A new boy?"
The teens looked up at Mama (who wasn't their real Mama, but all the stable hands called her that since before they could remember, so it really didn't matter much to them) and then at each other.
"But don't we have enough people?"
There were four workers altogether: Oliver, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. There used to be more of them- Charlie Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Ritchie, Cormac, but they all drifted on or left because of family reasons or the like. This was perfectly fine by the others; each of the workers took control of the Ranch. Katie trained the horses, Angelina ran the barn, Alicia cooked and cleaned the house, and Oliver did most of the plotting and planting so they could grow their own food. Everything was run orderly by the four of them, and Mama took care of the business side. Thus they were very confused about why they needed another hand around the Ranch.
Mama just smiled and pushed around the eggs in the frying pan. "Yes, a new boy. He is another Weasley-"
"Another one?" Angelina asked, humorously exasperated.
"You're forgettin', dearest cousin, that the Weasleys breed like rabbits," Alicia pointed out while she took out the plates from the pantry.
"Maa, maa," Katie held up her hands. "You don't got no reason to be insultin' the rabbits."
"Oh hush, you three." Mama shook her head as she split the eggs between the five of them and poured them onto the waiting plates. "But yes, a new boy. His name is Percy-"
"What a fancy 'ol name." Angelina twirled the eggs on her fork before shoving them in her mouth.
"You've got nothin' to talk about," Oliver pointed out. The black haired girl just huffed and shoveled another spoonful of eggs into her mouth.
"-and he is going to be staying with us for a few weeks since Molly needs to calm down the house with her oldest marrying."
Katie looked startled. "Bill's finally tyin' the knot?" She looked horrified at the thought.
Alicia laughed and swung her arm around Katie's shoulders, "Haha, what, ya jealous Katie?"
Katie blushed and shook her head. "No, not that! It's just that-"
"-Dearest lovin' Katie over here thought that Charlie would marry first and she know owes me a twenty dollar." Oliver looked extremely smug at this development.
Mama sighed. "Darlings, what have I told you about gambling?"
"Not too…"
The woman nodded as she sat down at the table. "Now dig in, dears, we have no time to waste. Katie, that horse needs to be spotless and tamed by next week. We have a client coming-"
Oliver zoned out for a bit as Mama prattled on about their jobs, which they went over every meal time. He wondered what the other boy would be like – it would be nice having another male on the Ranch too.
How often at night where the heavens are bright
With the light of the glittering stars
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours
Oliver was out with Katie on the fields on one of the following mornings when Alicia ran up to them.
"T-The new boy's here," she panted out, bending forward and resting on her knees. "A-At the house."
Oliver immediately jumped off of his perch on the top of the fence and bolted towards the house, ignoring both Alicia's call of "Wait up!" and Katie's yell of "Don't leave me, dammit!"
He was out of breath by the time the house came into view, and waited for a few moments as Alicia and Katie caught up. Katie was scowling good-naturedly, and Alicia looked like she was about to faint from the amount of running she had to do to keep up with the two. Oliver pitied her. Alicia was a very sweet girl, but because of her mother forcing her to always stay inside, she had a hard time doing anything that involved large amounts of exercise. That's why she helped Mama keep the house in order.
"Why were you runnin' so fast!?" Katie complained. "I can't just leave the horses unattended, ya know!"
Alicia was still so out of breath that she just held up a hand for them to wait for her as she caught her breath. Oliver and Katie did so impatiently, Oliver wincing slightly as he felt a pang coming from his side.
They walked much more slowly as they neared the house, where Oliver could make out a ratty automobile stalled outside the front door. It seemed like Weasleys' were just about to leave after dropping off the new boy.
The trio waved hello to Mr. Weasley, who was already going grey haired from his long hours spent pouring over the Weasley Ranch's bank account (with the turn of the Depression, everything was going south quite fast and the Weasleys had always been fairly low on income despite the fact that they grew the best potatoes and radishes on this side of the Mason-Dixon line) and headed inside where they could hear Mama's booming voice welcoming the lad, and Angelina's city slicker accent floating out from the doorway.
"Ah, and here are the rest of my helpers!" Mama clapped her hands together as she bustled over to the three teens. "This is Alicia, she helps me with cooking and cleaning. Katie takes care of the horses, and Oliver does all the other chores around the Ranch here. He is my errand boy." Mama winked at Oliver, but he wasn't paying much attention to her, instead staring interestedly at the boy in front of him.
Just like all the Weasleys, Percy had redhead and freckles that showed how much time he spent in the sun. He had a pair of glasses perched on his face, a book under one arm, and a suitcase laying down at his feet.
Oliver gave the boy a smile as he offered him his hand, and Percy took it with a small hesitation. The brown hair boy noticed that Percy was a few inches shorter then him, and his hands were surprisingly soft for someone who spent his days out in the fields.
"I'm Oliver." He shook Percy's hand. "Nice ta meet ya!"
Percy blinked at the other's enthusiasm, before he gave Oliver a shy smile. "Percy. Uh, you too."
Alicia and Katie pushed him out of the way to introduce themselves, and Percy shot a small terrified look at Oliver when Alicia started prodding at his ribs, complaining that he was 'too skinny and needed some meat on him'. The helper laughed behind his hand at the look and just waved his hand in reassurance, although it didn't seem to help very much.
It was going to be interesting with a new guy on the block.
Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
Oliver brought Percy on his rounds the next morning. Before dawn, he hurled a pillow at the figure curled up in the bed across the room, and was satisfied with the resounding yelp that emerged from under the covers. Percy, horrible bedhead and all, popped out from under the sheets and threw a glare at other boy.
Oliver just smiled cheekily as he laced up his boot. "Come on, get dressed. We need ta start before everyone else does, or else we'll be backlogged 'til ne't Tuesday."
The redhead rubbed his eyes tiredly before nodding, and grabbed his glasses that rested on the stand next to his bed. He quickly got dressed (much to Oliver's satisfaction, he wasn't going to wait around all day) and the two of them were out of the house in under ten minutes.
They first walked to the barn, which Angelina had left the key to hidden under a bale of hay. Oliver unlocked it quietly and shoved Percy into the barn, which most of the animals were squawking or blearily opening their eyes to look at the new comers.
Percy looked around interestedly at the large barn. Horses were on one side, pigs, sheep, chickens on the other, with lots of hay in piles all around. He let out a surprised 'oof!' when Oliver threw a pail at his stomach, and barely caught it after it fell towards the ground, nearly spilling out all of its contents.
"What was that for?" he glared at the other.
"Testin' your reflexes." Oliver replied as he swung his own pails over his shoulders. "You're gonna have ta get used to it."
Percy scowled. "I have good enough reflexes. I live with Fred and George."
Oliver snorted. "You've got a good point."
They left the barn and headed out to the fields next to the horse corral, where a moderate sized garden was. Oliver put the pails on the ground, with Percy following soon after.
"What are these?" Percy asked curiously, as sky grew pinkish his sight improved considerably.
Oliver didn't look at the redhead to know what he was talking about. "A mixture of seeds an' fertilizer. Helps th' crops grow faster."
Percy looked down at the mixture before shrugging, and falling to his knees beside Oliver. "Now," the worker started. "Let me teach you how to farm the potatoes Mama's way. First you start by burying the mixture like this-"
They spent a good part of their day in the garden, intermittent between the barn, the corral (where Percy learned that Oliver had the best time teasing Katie), and the house to grab snacks. Then they fell back into bed to repeat the process again the next day.
It wasn't the most exciting life, but to Oliver and Percy, every small victory they did- Percy catching the pail on the fifth day there, Katie and Percy dumping a bucket of water on Oliver to wake him up- made it seem fulfilling.
How often at night when the heavens are bright
I see the light of those flickering stars
Have I laid there amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of love
It was on one of the Sundays following Percy's arrival that Oliver caught Percy with his nose in a book, out in the garden sitting under one of the trees that lined the edges of the property.
"Whatcha readin'?" Oliver questioned, as he plopped down beside the other boy.
Percy looked up, startled, before he realized who it was and sighed. "Ah, it's just nothing."
"Nothin'? Nothin' you read is nothin'." Oliver exclaimed as he grabbed the book out Percy's hands, much to the others distaste as he yelled at the other to give it back, and held it out of the redhead's reach as he looked at the page Percy was on.
"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" Oliver titled his head to the side before looking at Percy. "I didn't kno' you liked Shakespeare."
Percy scowled. "And I didn't know you could read. Give it back."
Oliver put a hand over his chest and gasped. "Percy, darlin'! You wound me with your words! Let me read you a poem, to show my immense skill in literature."
"You don't-"
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date-"
Oliver quickly recited the rest of the poem before shoving the book back into Percy's rams. "See? I can read perfectly well."
"Wow. How amazing?" Percy rolled his eyes as he opened his book back to the page, and Oliver sat back down next to the grumpy boy. He let out a content sigh and leaned back against the bark of the tree, and the two of them were silent for a few moments before he spoke again.
"Ya know, I've always wanted to fly."
Percy blinked, and looked at Oliver, but he was off in his own little world.
"I used ta race the horses with Katie. It was the only way to feel like I could fly. All the jumps, the leaps, the break neck speed… I loved it. But then, one day, I fell off the horse."
Percy's eyes widened.
"Over 60 milometers per hour, I let go accident'lly and fell down. The doctors said it was a miracle I lived. Mama banned me from ever gettin' on a horse ever again."
"Do you miss it?"
Oliver turned his head to the side to look at Percy. "Everyday. The freedom, the experience, I want to feel it again. I want to fly."
Percy hesitated for a moment, before he replied. "Charlie has a friend, in London, who is a pilot in one of the new airplanes. I bet- I bet maybe I could convince him to let you fly."
Oliver looked at Percy with wide, hopeful eyes. His smile was large and hopeful and he looked about ready to cheer. "W-What!? Really?"
Percy nodded.
"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Oliver launched himself at the other boy. Percy nearly fell over at the unexpected hug, but he awkwardly patted the boy on the back and smiled almost as large as Oliver did.
"I can never thank you enough," Oliver said when the two pulled away from each other.
"Convince Mama is how you repay me." Percy grinned.
Oliver let out a loud laugh as he got up and held up his hand for Percy to grab. "Deal!"
Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
"Ground Control to Unit 4207. Do you read, 4207."
"Copy."
"Passenger safely secured?"
"Affirmative."
"Take off in three, two, one."
Percy watched from the side of the large air field as the small rickety plane took off after a few seconds off slowly picking up speed. A large grin formed on his face as the airplane did loop-de-loops in the air and flew around the hills at breakneck speed.
He could hear Oliver's voice from the radio next to him.
"Percy, you should be here. It's amazing!"
Percy laughed as he pushed the button on the radio. "No thanks, I prefer to keep my feet firmly on the ground."
"It's beautiful! I'm touching the clouds. I've never felt more free before!"
"So you like flying?"
"Percy you idiot, I love it! I love you so much right now!"
A small pink blush formed on Percy's face before it was wiped clean as he watched the small figure up in the sky turn around before dropping nearly to the ground before pulling up again.
"I'm going to be a pilot one day! Just you watch!"
Written for the Quiditch league using prompts Oliver, Flying, Burying, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day?, and Friction.
This was written as a parody plot bunny that spiraled into a classic western tale of good hearts and horses and city slickers. Yes everyone is supposed to speak like that. Mama, Angelina, and Percy speak like the city slickers they were born and raised as and Oliver & the gang speak like the hill billys they were raised as.
I would sincerely like to thank Sam darlin' for betaing this for me. Love ya!
I don't own Harry Potter, y'all.