Assignment 11: Herbology: Task 2: Write about someone who doesn't like to go outside.
Cedric is born with bruises on his knees, and that's how his father knows his soulmate is older.
And rambunctious, because the bruises don't fade. They turn into scrapes around his ankles and up and down his arms
Cedric is five years old when a bruise wells up on his arm and the skin looks torn up and Amos realizes that Cedric's soulmate has a broken arm.
Cedric cries, at first because he doesn't understand, and then because he does.
…
Percy is six years old and watching blood that is and isn't his turn his skin dark.
He asks his mother what the point is of knowing his soulmate has a broken arm when he can't even help them.
"Maybe it's to help you find them," she says.
"Well, then how are they going to find me?"
It's a fair question.
Percy is her careful child — always neat and tidy, skin rarely marred. He wouldn't give a soulmate much to go on.
"I think, in the end, it'll happen how it's meant to."
Percy looks unsatisfied with that response.
…
Oliver is six years old and climbing a tree on the wood farm. It's a gorgeous maple tree, excellent for broom wood and he just wants one of the branches near the top.
But then his foot slips and a branch cracks and he's falling, falling.
The bone breaks and at first, he can't feel it but then he gets a good look at the jagged, crimson coated bone protruding through the skin of his arm and then he's screaming.
He screams but the house is too far for anyone to hear him and in the end he has to force himself to his feet and stumble closer, until his mum hears him calling out.
She takes him to Saint Mungo's and his arm is healed in seconds but he can't forget the sight of that pale white bone.
…
Percy gets a lot of bruises — knees, ankles, hips, biceps — but he doesn't give a lot of them. His mother calls him her cautious child. While his brothers like to fly and run and roughhouse, Percy likes to read. He likes to drink tea with his mother. He doesn't like to get dirty.
His mother looks at the number of scrapes and bruises he accumulates and she knows that his soulmate is going to be wildfire. It should be good for Percy, she thinks.
…
Oliver starts school and is sorted into Gryffindor. He looks around for anyone who shares his marks, but the robes don't help because everything is covered.
His roommate in Gryffindor is a boy who keeps his long sleeves buttoned and his tie done even during recreation hours. He says his name is Percy Weasley. He likes books. He doesn't like Quidditch.
Oliver doesn't suspect they'll get on.
…
Halfway through his first year, Oliver gets distinctive marks from falling — his knees and elbows are a riot of scrapes, mottled black and blue.
He asks Madam Hooch if anyone's fallen off a broom lately. He even asks all of the Quidditch captains.
They all say no.
…
Cedric doesn't mean to fall off his broom, but it's February and he left it outside and the wood gets iced over. He slips and lands on his hands and knees, bruising them on the frozen dirt.
He cries, but his mother kisses his knees and reminds him that his soulmate is out there thinking about him.
…
Percy doesn't like it when his knees and elbows go black and blue. It hurts, and it makes him think of his hurting soulmate out there somewhere, and he doesn't like it.
It's doesn't mean he doesn't notice his roommate has the same marks.
He also notices Oliver asking questions, trying to figure out where they've come from.
Which doesn't make any sense. Because if they aren't Percy's marks, and they aren't Olivers, then who are they coming from? And why do they both have them?
He's not sure why he doesn't say anything to Oliver. But he doesn't.
…
Cedric is in his first year at Hogwarts and he's so proud to be a Hufflepuff like his mother.
The first Quidditch match of the season is Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.
Cedric is excited, bouncing in his seat, but less than two minutes into the game the Gryffindor Keeper takes a Bludger to the back of the head and Cedric is gripping his head, which is on fire.
And Cedric knows.
Oliver Wood is his soulmate.
…
Percy is sitting in the library, avoiding the Quidditch pitch and the outside world in general, when suddenly the world goes dark, and then bright with stars — he feels the shock of pain, like the world's worst migraine with an instantaneous onset.
He wants to scream but at the same time it feels like that would make it worse, so he just clutches his head and waits for the pain to fade.
It takes long enough that he knows his soulmate isn't near a Healer — they have to be moved. But then the pain fades out, leaving a large bruise and a sizeable area of swelling. He's hoping his soulmate has bruise cream.
He hauls himself out of his seat, packs up his books, and makes his way to the Hospital Wing.
When he gets there, he pauses inside the doorway to find Madam Pomfrey at the side of Oliver's bed. His roommate looks pale and drawn, his broom propped up next to his bed. Next to the bed is a first year in a Hufflepuff scarf, clutching at Oliver's hand and staring at him with stars in his eyes.
Percy understands.
He understands that Oliver has found a soulmate — it must be the one who gave them bruised knees last year.
He thinks about walking in, introducing himself to the Hufflepuff, telling them that their two are three.
In the end, he turns and walks away.
…
Oliver wakes up staring at a Hufflepuff first year, propped on his side in a Hospital Wing bed.
"Erm. Hi?"
"Hi," says the Hufflepuff. "I'm Cedric. I think we're soulmates."
Oliver blinks at him in shock, and then his grin grows, slowly but surely.
"Nice to meet you, Cedric. Wish it were under better circumstances."
"I think if the circumstances were better we wouldn't be meeting," Cedric points out.
Oliver laughs, noting the throb at the back of his head as he does so. "Fair enough."
Madam Pomfrey comes back at that point, handing Oliver and Cedric each a container of bruise balm.
"Here. It's more effective if both of you use it. Twice a day, morning and night. I've done what I can otherwise, and the balm will cut the pain as well, but it's really best to let these things heal naturally when you can."
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Oliver says.
She smiles at him, softly. "Try to stay out of my Hospital Wing, darling."
…
Cedric finds himself with a new best friend.
Oliver is charming and he smiles easily. He's a great flier, and he loves to do laps with Cedric or even chase the Snitch.
He'll help Cedric with his Defense homework because Defense is his best subject, but he laughs when Cedric asks about anything else.
"You'd need my roommate for that."
He doesn't talk about Percy much but when he does his voice is exasperated and also weirdly kind of fond.
He talks about his mum and dad back in Scotland and he asks Cedric about his life back home and they bond over being the only child in the family.
…
Oliver didn't expect for his best friend to be a Hufflepuff. But his roommate is a recluse who never leaves the castle and Oliver was born to be outdoors. To feel the wind on his skin.
Cedric loves Quidditch, and he loves to talk. Sometimes it seems like he never stops talking. But despite this, he's calm and steady and he makes Oliver feel anchored.
He thinks that being soulmates means they're supposed to fall in love someday, but for now he's content with being best friends.
…
Percy doesn't know why he doesn't say anything.
He watches Oliver and Cedric bond and he knows they probably have no idea that they have a third.
But they don't seem to need one. Oliver and Cedric are well suited, and far more similar than he is to either of them.
They clearly don't need him.
So he says nothing, and he is more careful than ever not to let his skin get marked.
…
Oliver is fourteen years old the first time he figures out Percy can make jokes.
It's such a small thing, too. Oliver is pacing the floor of their dorm before a match. He turns to Percy and says, "Percy, I'm nervous."
Percy, who is sitting on his bed with a book on his knees, doesn't even look up.
"Ah, really? And here I thought we were doing something new today," he says, voice perfectly deadpan.
Oliver is so shocked he completely forgets his nerves. He stops. He stares. And then he laughs so hard he winds up sprawled in the middle of their dorm floor.
It's more than the joke deserves, but he's just so surprised.
Percy looks up at him when he falls, and smiles softly.
That moment seems to break down something that they'd built between them from the start. After that, Oliver starts joining Percy in the library sometimes and Percy will join he and Cedric when they're trying to study. Cedric begins swearing up and down that Percy is the only reason he's passing History of Magic.
On cloudy, windblown days with no hint of sun, Cedric and Oliver can coax Percy out of the castle, where he'll sit in the stands with a book while they chase down a Snitch or toss around a Quaffle.
It never felt like something was missing, but somehow with Percy there, it feels more complete. More right.
…
Percy doesn't exactly mean to become friends with Oliver and Cedric. Oliver is a force of nature, though, and when he decides they're going to be friends, Percy can't do anything but concede.
Percy's never really had friends before.
It's nice. But it's also terrifying, because what happens when they find out that he's still the same introverted nerd he's always been, and go back to socializing without him?
So he still doesn't tell them.
But now he feels a little guilty about it.
…
Oliver is sixteen the first time he kisses Cedric.
Cedric is fifteen and handsome and kinder than anyone Oliver has ever known. They're sitting in the grass by the lake, just the two of them because Percy physically recoils from the sun. It's warm and the way the sunlight filters through the trees and plays on Cedric's face is entrancing.
And Oliver can't stop staring, can't stop watching.
"What?" says Cedric.
"Can I kiss you?" says Oliver in return.
And Cedric is nodding and Oliver is leaning forward and they are kissing. It doesn't feel like sparks or fireworks. It feels like soft sun-warmth and the low heat of a banked fire and coming home.
…
Oliver and Cedric start dating.
This is fine.
Percy is fine.
Completely fine. Obviously.
…
Their first date to Hogsmeade feels awkward, at first, because it's usually the three of them and now it's just him and Oliver, and there's no one filling in the gaps.
But then they leave the Three Broomsticks and there is more kissing, which is nice, and there is Oliver's hand in his, sweaty and nervous, which is… kind of nice and kind of weird.
And when Oliver smiles at him, Cedric doesn't have any doubts.
…
Oliver comes back from their date and finds Percy in their dorm, at his desk, fixedly staring down at a piece of parchment and writing nothing.
"Perce?"
Percy snaps his head up to look at him.
"Oliver. How was… How was your date?"
Oliver beams. "It was amazing."
He can't help but notice the way Percy's face seems to fall, the way his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.
But he doesn't know how to ask without making it worse, so he doesn't.
…
Percy is fine.
…
Oliver does his best to balance his new and budding relationship with Cedric with their joint friendship with Percy.
It's not easy.
There are days when his friendship with Percy feels like it's falling to the wayside in face of things that are new and scary and so exhilarating. Oliver has always been a fan of adrenaline and the newness of it all has him buzzing.
But some days he comes back from a date or a dinner and he finds Percy sitting alone, trying to hide the loneliness in his eyes and Oliver aches for him.
He knows that Percy doesn't have a lot of friends. He never has. It's because he comes off as standoffish at first and never knows how to get that first impression to go away.
But he's clever and he's funny when he wants to be and Oliver thinks he deserves the world.
…
It's Cedric's idea to introduce Percy to Penelope.
He doesn't anticipate how well it's going to work.
He ignores the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when Percy tells them he's going to date Penelope. It feels like jealousy, but it can't be.
This is what he wanted, right?
…
Percy knows Penelope isn't his soulmate. Penelope knows Percy isn't hers.
It's doesn't matter. She's soft and sweet, but she's also fierce about the things she loves, and she's clever as hell.
He likes her.
He really, really does.
So what if it doesn't make the ache at seeing Cedric and Oliver go away?
He's happy with Penny, even if he knows it's not going to last.
…
Oliver thinks he should be happy for Percy.
And he is, sort of.
But there's also something inside of him, that says Percy shouldn't be with her and he doesn't understand.
He wants Percy to be happy. He does.
But seeing them together makes him feel unreasonably angry.
…
Percy's right.
It doesn't last with Penelope.
It doesn't last because she finds her soulmate and she comes to him with apologies in her eyes and on the tip of her tongue and he just shakes his head.
"It's fine," he says.
"I understand," he says.
He's not sure how true it is.
He wonders if everyone will leave him, eventually.
…
And so it goes.
Percy and Oliver graduate and get an apartment together, because Cedric's still in school and Oliver is too extroverted to live alone. He joins Puddlemere United as a Reserve and he loves it.
Percy goes to work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and he loves it.
The three of them meet up at the Quidditch World Cup, which is bliss until it isn't. Because everything goes wrong, and everyone is screaming and Oliver can't find Percy or Cedric and the campground is burning.
Oliver is running, sprinting for the forest and trying to find any sign of Percy or Cedric and this, this is what panic is.
The forest is dark and it's impossible to recognize anyone until they're basically on top of each other. He can't find them.
He can't find them.
…
Percy makes his way back to their apartment after dealing with the aftermath, dealing with a distraught Crouch, to find Oliver pacing back and forth. As soon as the door opens, Oliver throws himself at Percy, hugging him tightly.
"Thank god," he says. "Thank god. Is Cedric all right? Did you see him? Is your family okay?"
Percy smiles faintly and hugs him back. "They're fine. They're all fine; I saw Cedric this morning — he's back at his dad's and he said we could visit at some point today, assuming you want to see him. I'm going to need to sleep first, though."
Percy goes to bed and crashes for about twelve hours. When he wakes up, he finds Oliver and Cedric both in his living room.
Cedric hugs him tightly.
Percy knows then that he cannot lose either of them.
He tried to make himself removable, tried to make it so that he could lift out of this relationship when Oliver and Cedric got serious.
Clearly he failed.
If he loses them now, it's going to hurt.
…
Going back to school without Oliver and Percy is weird for Cedric. He's so used to always having them there outside of classes, to spending time in the library instead of the common room because they weren't in the same house.
But then the Triwizard Tournament is announced and he wants them there more than ever. He wants them by his side. He wants them to be proud of him when his name comes out of the Goblet.
He writes them letters but it's not the same.
Then the first task comes and he walks out onto that field to see them sitting in the stands, and he smiles, and he straightens his back, and he faces the dragon head on.
…
When he was helping with the logistics of the Triwizard Tournament, Percy never thought it would be Cedric facing down these tasks.
It's a thousand times scarier this way.
Especially when they call him to judge and it's Oliver down in the Black Lake.
Oliver, who is Percy's boyfriend.
It makes everything twice as nerve wracking, but when Cedric comes up with Oliver in his arms just after the hour is up, Percy experiences relief stronger than he's ever felt before.
…
Oliver makes sure he has the date of the final task free from any responsibilities. He and Percy are going to support Cedric.
Except that the task starts and they can't see anything except the hedge.
Which seems poorly planned.
Fleur comes out first. She comes out crying. Oliver can't tell if it's because she lost or because the maze is that bad.
Krum comes out next. He comes out on a stretcher.
It takes Oliver too long to figure out he's only stunned.
Then it's just Cedric and Harry in the maze for a long time. It feels like too long.
Something's wrong. Several professors disappear into the maze and come out looking perplexed.
Something is wrong.
Percy mutters under his breath, "This isn't right."
Oliver reaches out, grips a hand around his wrist.
Then the cup reappears on the grounds in front of the stage and Harry is clutching it, gasping for breath and hanging onto Cedric.
Cedric, who isn't moving.
He's stunned, he's only stunned, like Viktor.
Except then Cedric's mum is there, wailing. A murmur goes through the crowd, gaining volume and panic as it does. "Diggory's dead! Cedric Diggory is dead."
Oliver goes cold.
This can't be happening.
It can't be real.
…
Percy didn't think it would happen like this.
He didn't realize that there was still a part of him that thought that may one day he'd tell them that he was their soulmate and that they would smile and welcome him and the three of them would be happy.
There's no chance of that.
Not anymore.
Now Cedric is gone and it's all Percy can do to make sure Oliver holds himself together.
Oliver spends three days in bed. He doesn't eat. He doesn't move.
Percy doesn't know how to fix this.
He doesn't know.
So he peels Oliver out of bed and forces him to shower for the funeral. He hopes it's the right thing to do.
Oliver glares at him, but he moves without complaint.
He puts on his best dress robes and he combs his hair. Percy clasps his shoulder tightly, and Oliver turns and hugs him tightly.
"He was my soulmate," he says quietly. "What am I supposed to do without him?"
Percy hugs him tightly and wonders if now is the time to tell him he's not alone.
It doesn't feel right, though. So instead, he holds Oliver tight and hopes that can help.
…
Oliver never expected to be nineteen years old and burying his soulmate in the ground.
He takes in a shaky breath and tries not to cry but the tears are already falling. He sits in the seat, Percy beside him, and he cries.
He remembers the young Hufflepuff showing up at his bedside when he was twelve years old and clobbered by a bludger. He remembers Cedric's soft sweet smile and core of steel. He remembers Hogsmeade trips and study nights and flights together.
He remembers the first time they kissed, sitting in the sunlight by the Black Lake. He remembers the softness of Cedric's lips and the calluses on his hands as they ran down his sides. He remembers bringing Cedric home to see the tree farm and watching his face light up as they explored the broom wood trees.
He remembers waking up at the Quidditch World Cup to see Cedric beside him in the tent, eyes soft and sleepy.
He doesn't want to do this.
He wasn't ready to lose him.
He wonders if anyone is ever ready to lose their soulmate.
He cries, and he lets the words of the funeral wash over him, and he wonders how anyone heals from this.
…
Percy has always hated going outside but now Oliver does too. He takes two weeks off of work and doesn't leave the house once. Percy comes home from long days at the Ministry and falls asleep on the couch. Some nights, he wakes up to find Oliver asleep on the couch beside him, when Percy knows he wasn't there when he fell asleep.
Percy spends his days at the Ministry while his boss denies Cedric's death was anything but an accident and his nights trying to comfort Cedric's boyfriend and he feels like he's falling apart.
He doesn't know what to believe.
Harry says Voldemort is back and everyone at the Ministry says that Harry is insane and his family believes in Harry and Oliver doesn't care who caused his death because Cedric is dead.
And in the end maybe it's easier for Percy to believe that this wasn't on purpose. Because Cedric was kind and brave and he can't believe that someone actively wanted him dead.
Except that he's grieving and Oliver's grieving and he says a lot of things he doesn't mean and he walks away from his family.
He walks away from some of the few people who still love him and he's too proud to go back.
Oliver finds him crying on the couch less than a week later.
"Have I made the wrong choice?" Percy asks him.
Oliver just shakes his head. Percy doesn't know if that means no, or if it just means that Oliver doesn't have an answer.
…
Eventually, Oliver gets himself out of bed and goes back to work. He takes to the skies, and he tries not to let them remind him of Cedric.
He watches Percy tear himself in two, trying to do what is right. He doesn't know how to help.
He doesn't know what is right here. He's never known Harry to be a liar but to acknowledge that Voldemort killed his boyfriend, his soulmate, the one who bore his wounds… it is intolerable.
He doesn't want to believe it.
So he plays for Puddlemere and he keeps himself out of it.
Until he can't.
Because a year after Cedric's death, Voldemort storms the Ministry and the war can no longer hide in the shadows.
Oliver doesn't know what to do.
He's not an Auror, he's not trained for this. He's not like Potter, running for his life. He's a halfblood. He's not a target.
He can slip under the radar.
But he's not sure if that's right.
Percy works for a Ministry that is increasingly run by Death Eaters because he can't figure out how to leave without endangering his family, painting an even bigger target on their back.
It's all Oliver can do to be there for him on the nights he comes home and wonders again if he's doing the right thing.
He doesn't know how to fight this war when it's a war they all know is happening but it's happening in the shadows. It's happening in growing storm clouds and fog rolling in and dementors exploring closer and closer to London.
It's happening in unexplained disappearances where it's impossible to tell whether they ran or were taken.
It's happening in politics and secrecy and nothing they can fight.
…
Percy doesn't want to do this. Percy doesn't want to do this.
The Ministry is run by Death Eaters and they are giving his orders and this is not what he fought for.
This is not what he wants.
But if he leaves, his family is a target.
He has to protect them.
He has to.
Because if they die because of him, that would be… intolerable.
…
And then the end comes.
Then Katie is there telling him that it's time and if he wants to fight he needs to do it now.
He wants to find Percy but Percy's at work and Katie won't wait.
Someone will send him a message.
He'll find out.
Somehow.
So Oliver makes his way to Hogwarts and stumbles into the Room of Requirement and then they flood the castle and they're fighting for their lives.
And if feels good to finally be doing something.
…
Percy stumbles into the Room of Requirement urgently hoping he's not too late.
His family is there, his mum and his dad and Fred and George and Ron and Ginny, and Percy is falling apart and his mum is hugging him tightly.
He has so many regrets. But his family is ready to welcome him home without hesitation and Percy is so, so grateful for them.
He doesn't have time to explain all of his choices so instead he just squeezes his mum tight and then follows them out into the castle.
Everyone is screaming and spells are flying and then there's Thicknese and Percy is joking about resigning.
And then Fred is laughing and Percy is so proud to have made his little brother laugh and then the ceiling is falling and Percy is screaming and Fred is dead.
Fred is dead.
Fred is dead and Percy is sobbing and everything is falling apart, but he has to keep fighting. He has to keep moving.
…
The battle stops at Voldemort's voice and the dead are collected and Oliver is staring at Percy, his roommate, his best friend, his rock — Percy is sobbing over the body of his brother and all of the Weasleys look broken in a way that Oliver cannot comprehend.
And then Harry is dead and then they are fighting again because they don't need Harry — the fight is inside of all of them.
But then Harry is alive.
Harry is alive and Voldemort is dead and it's over.
It's over.
Oliver slumps in relief and gives himself a moment to collect himself and count his bruises and that's when he realizes he has twice as many as he remembers getting.
He shrugs and is ready to mark it down to the chaos of the battle until he touches his forehead and finds a bleeding scratch there.
It's in the same place that there's a scratch on Percy's face.
He takes a closer look at Percy. Percy is worn and drawn, but his sleeve is torn in the same place Oliver has a scratch on his arm and there's a bruise growing on his chin where Oliver has a tender spot.
Oliver doesn't understand.
How can this be possible?
Cedric was his soulmate. Cedric was his true love, his everything. And sure, Percy is amazing and Oliver loves him and has maybe thought about him, in a contemplative, if-there-were-no-soulmates kind of way.
But he had Cedric, always there, always by his side.
Until he didn't.
But… can soulmates change?
He didn't think that was possible.
But he can't deny that Percy's wounds seem to mirror his own.
He's not sure now is the time to ask. Not when Percy is sitting beside the corpse of his brother.
…
Percy never wanted to attend the funeral of his little brother. Fred was only twenty.
He floats through the week before Fred's funeral as though in a daze.
It was his fault.
He can't stop thinking about it.
It was his fault.
He tried to save them all but despite his best effort, he wound up killing Fred.
He distracted him.
And now Fred is dead.
His mum tells him it wasn't his fault but Percy can't stop seeing Fred's face, cast in laughter as he died.
He goes to the funeral and Oliver sits beside him and it feels familiar in the worst possible way. Percy thinks about Cedric's death, about losing the soulmate he never told, about the decisions he made afterward which led to the end of it all.
And he's done hiding. He's done making decisions out of fear.
So after the funeral, he asks Oliver to go to dinner with him.
They go to a Muggle restaurant near the Burrow and Percy waits until their food comes, and then he leans forward and says, "I'm sorry that I never told you this, but we're soulmates."
Oliver takes a deep breath. "I know," he says.
"You do?" Percy stares at him in shock.
Oliver shrugs. "We shared a few really obvious marks at the Battle."
In retrospect, that seems obvious, but Percy was a bit distracted at the time.
"Oh," he says.
"Have we always been?" Oliver asks.
Percy bites his lip, braces himself, and says, "Yes. And… I was soulmates with Cedric, too."
Oliver stares at him. He doesn't say anything.
Percy shifts uneasily.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Oliver finally asks.
"I…" Percy doesn't know how to explain that he was scared and convinced they didn't need him and always waiting for them to walk away, and by the time he was sure they weren't going to, Cedric was gone and the time never felt right. He sighs. "I'm sorry. It just… I didn't know how."
"You kept this from us," Oliver says, and his voice is wounded, and Percy wonders if he's ever going to stop hurting the people he loves.
"I'm sorry," he repeats.
"I don't… Cedric died. Without knowing."
And that… that may be Percy's biggest regret.
Oliver takes in a breath, holds it for a moment, and then says, "I need some time."
And then he's gone.
…
But he comes back.
He comes back less than a week later.
Percy watches him hesitantly.
Then Oliver opens his mouth and says, "I'm hurt. But… goddamn. We've lost so many people." He shakes his head. "It's not worth being angry. Not when I already love you. Not when I've loved you since we were kids. And sure, I never… I don't know. I never thought of you that way but I don't know if it matters because you're mine and I'm yours and we've already missed out on so many things."
Percy falls into the circle of his arms and hugs him tightly.
It doesn't mean the grief is over and it doesn't mean that everything between them is perfect.
But it means that they're not alone and it means that they have time and space to fall in love.
And that's all they need.
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