Assignment 9 Mythology: 11: Write a Drapple. Alt: Write about someone who feels like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

love you violently (all through the night)

The room is quiet.

Percy has never seen his home so quiet.

It's been a week and yet they are all still so dazed, still so wounded.

There's still something so big missing.

Percy feels so guilty.

Because the truth is, it's his fault.

It's his fault that Fred is gone.

Fred died because of him.

Fred died because Percy distracted him.

And then on top of everything else, he's been gone for so long.

He abandoned them.

His family, and he abandoned them.

In the end, he regrets so many things.

So he takes the weight of it all. He takes the weight of everything he can. He helps his mother with the meals and all of her baking and seven batches of cookies, and he brings her glasses of water and make sure she's comfortable as best as he can when she finally sits down. He helps Charlie pack to go back to Romania and he helps Ginny when she wants to talk about Harry and how she loves him and also how she hates him and he helps Ron deal with his guilt about leaving and he helps and he helps and he helps until he feels like he has nothing left because what else can he do?

He's so tired. He used to be so confident, but now all he feels is tired. And broken.

But he doesn't have time to take a break, because he has to hold everyone up.

Because he left them behind.

George hasn't left his room since the funeral. Percy isn't sure what he can do about that, so he leaves meals outside George's door and picks them up uneaten and he wishes there was more that he could do.

The doorbell rings.

Percy jumps up immediately. His mother smiles at him fondly but it doesn't reach her eyes. Percy wonders how long it will be until it does.

He opens the door.

Oliver and Cedric are standing on the front porch.

Oliver blinks at him. Cedric says, "Percy, have you slept in the last week?"

Percy considers this.

He's slept… a bit? He thinks about the nights, about staying up with Ginny sobbing into his shoulder until she falls asleep on the couch. He thinks about getting up early with his mother to start baking, because it soothes her, and it's better if she's not alone. He thinks about waking up in the middle of the night and checking on George, usually finding him awake and staring out the window.

He knows the bags under his eyes are approaching a dark violet colour.

Oliver says, "I'll take your blank look as an answer. Look, you need to sleep."

"I have to help mum make dinner—"

Cedric shakes his head.

"You need to sleep, hun. You can't help anyone if you don't sleep."

Percy rubs his face. "I…"

He doesn't get to finish the sentence. Oliver shoves him in the door, Cedric hot on his heels.

Oliver smiles charmingly at his mum while Cedric shakes his father's hand. They offer their condolences, and then Oliver says, "We're taking Percy upstairs to get some sleep, Mrs. Weasley."

She smiles at them. "You boys are so sweet."

Oliver ushers him upstairs while Cedric asks his mum if there's anything that he can help with. He doesn't hear her response, but it must be a no, because Cedric follows them up the stairs.

Oliver shoves him into a seated position and eases off his socks, gently followed by his pants. It's a weird contrast of forceful and soft, something only Oliver has ever been able to achieve. He pulls back the neatly made red covers.

Percy feels a bit like a child, but he's also too exhausted to care.

It's all crashing in on him right now. He's thinking about Fred. He's thinking about how long it's going to take for them to feel okay again.

In the end, he slides up to the headboard and curls on his side, facing the wall. After a moment, Oliver slides in next to him and curls up against his back. Oliver is several inches shorter than him and his face rests in the small of Percy's back, an arm curled around his waist. Cedric curls in behind Oliver, one arm wrapped over Oliver and a hand resting on Percy's hip.

The bed isn't really big enough for the three of them but Percy doesn't care. It's warm, cushioned in their arms. Compared to the weight that's been bearing down on him, it feels magnificent.

"Perce?" Oliver says softly.

Percy hums.

"Your brain is still buzzing isn't it?"

Percy nods. He knows Oliver can feel the motion.

Oliver knows him too well. Oliver has known him since they were eleven, and always understood him in a way that no one else did — until Cedric.

At first, it was just Percy and Oliver, and Percy didn't believe that anything could get any better.

But then Oliver fell in love.

It took him three months to tell Percy, and he looked so guilty and ashamed.

And Percy… Percy couldn't claim to understand, but he never wanted Oliver to feel bad for loving too much.

In an attempt to understand what had made Oliver fall in love with him, Percy started spending time with Cedric as well.

Soon, he understood.

He understood all too well.

In the end, after months of both of them pining and stupid over Cedric, they'd finally talked to him about it. And it was glorious.

At first, it had felt weird. It had been awkward and stilted and difficult, trying to navigate three people in a relationship that the world told them was meant for two.

But they'd tried.

They'd tried, and eventually, it had settled into something warm and comfortable and somehow even more than when it had just been the two of them.

Cedric was something that they hadn't known they were missing.

He has the same enthusiasm for Quidditch as Oliver and the same strict moral code as Percy and he bridges the contrasts between them in ways they hadn't known they needed.

And now, he curls up behind Oliver and he rests a hand on Percy's hip and he makes both of them feel warm and safe, and because he knows Percy's head is buzzing with everything he could be doing, he starts talking.

So while Oliver squeezes him tightly and grounds him, Cedric starts telling them about his first Quidditch match, twelve years old and light and nimble on a broom. He gives a play by play of each score, his voice low and soothing.

Together they are a panacea for all that aches inside of him.

And the low cadence of Cedric's voice worms its way into Percy's skin, and the warmth of Oliver's arms surrounds him, making him feel warm and safe, making the buzzing in his brain drop off to a simple wave current, lapping at the shores.

Slowly, and then all at once, he drops off to sleep.

Writing Month:1170

Moresome May: action: sleeping. Word count:1170

Character Appreciation: 8. Word: first

Shannon's Showcase:5. Belarus: Word: Magnificent; Theme: Love

Showtime: 9. Fantine's Death - (relationship) Mother

Days: Brothers Day - Write about brothers

Buttons: W3: glorious

Lyric Alley: 4. I threw my arms around her legs

Angel's Arcade:Mario: (Character) Harry Potter; (Color) red; (Pairing) Harry/Ginny

Film Festival: 20. Emotion: Guilty

Photography Month: 10. Lifestyle Photography: Write about a 'slice of life'.

Cooking: Chocolate Chips: Food: Cookies

Pokemon: Word: Confident; Relationship: Mother/Son; Colour: Violet

Debate: OT3, Lyric: "Home is such a lonely place without you." - Blink 182

Insane House: word: Panacea