"Hugo, you can't just sit there all day and expect to have a good time," Uncle Percy said, sitting next to his nephew on the grass behind Shell Cottage.
"I am having a good time," Hugo said, sitting up. He winced as his skin, burned from exposure to the sun all day, stretched and pinched. It's what he got for being a Weasley and refusing to wear a shirt. Uncle Percy stretched out on the ground and stared at the stars.
"Yeah?"
"Yep."
His Uncle Percy was one of Hugo's favorites. Hugo, Al, and he would always get in arguments over a certain policy of the Wizarding Confederation or an idea being supported by the Wizengamot. Percy was as stubborn as a donkey, but he was much more knowledgeable about such things than Al's father, and easier to yell at than Hugo's mum. Half the time it ended in a wrestling match between Hugo and Percy, but it was all in good fun.
"Sometimes, I think you remind me too much of myself," Uncle Percy said, staring at Hugo down the bridge of his nose.
"Yeah?" Hugo laid down next to his uncle, relishing in the cool grass against his red back.
"I'm not even sure how you ended up in Ravenclaw, to be honest. You've too much Weasley in you to be a Ravenclaw."
"I'm perfectly fitted to Ravenclaw," Hugo said docilely. "You know that as well as I do."
"I know…I know…but sometimes I wonder. I mean, you're doing the same things I was doing at your age. I couldn't wait to get out of the shadow of my father, and his shabby, second-rate reputation. It seemed like wherever I went, whatever I did, the fact that I was a Weasley always got in the way. My first girlfriend dumped me because she thought I would never be able to climb out of the hole my family had dug for me. I know it's a bit different for you. You have a different kind of hole. Both your parents are war heroes. That isn't something you can live lightly with. One of them is a reformer, the other a partner in one of the most successful joke shops of all time."
"You know I don't really care about that," Hugo said.
"Don't make me laugh; every time you even suggest that I can tell you're lying. You may be a genius, but you're still a Weasley."
Hugo rolled over and punched him. Percy walloped him back.
"It's true, Hugo," Percy said. "No matter what you do, you always feel like you're competing with your parents. But I have something to tell you, kid. No matter what you do, if you do it good enough, then people will forget that you're a Weasley, that you're Ron and Hermione's son, and even that you're a Ravenclaw. I couldn't even tell you the house of twelve people in my office. And with your intelligence, I doubt that you're going to live in the shadow of your parents for much longer."
Hugo watched the moon, silent. He hated it when his uncle was right. And of all the uncles to ever be right, it's always Percy. He hated Percy.
"Just do what you want to do. Don't let trying to break the mold effect what you do. I've made that mistake, and luckily I managed to fix it. But I've seen people – some of my friends, in fact, make the mistake and are unable to fix it. I got lucky. That's all there is to it."
"Hugo! Percy! You want to light the fire?" Teddy yelled from the edge of the beach.
Percy and Hugo exchanged glances. Without a word, the pair of them jumped to their feet and raced to the fire pit, the first one there earning the honor of putting something on fire.
3
"Ronald," Professor Flitwick said, opening a file in front of him. "I hear you've had a change of heart?"
"Yes, professor."
"You're a lucky man. Anyone less intelligent than you might have quite a snag figuring out what courses they can take with the O.W.L.s they got. They might not be able to change their path, you know."
"I know."
"So you'd like to work at the ministry, then?"
"Yes, sir."
"A fine choice, a very fine choice."
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AN: Thank you for reading and your reviews (junebride, Mistymist, teacher123, Ramzes, Maria Weasley, Queen Nightingale). I'll be watchful for some of the stuff mentioned in future stuffz. D