Quilting Appreciation - OliverPercy

Insane House - 364. Word- Beleaguer

Writing Club

CYB - (dialogue) "I can't take this anymore.", (character) Oliver Wood

Restriction of the Month - (emotion) doubt

A Year in Entertainment - Book: Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - (word) Dust

The dust settles. It is the boy with horn-rimmed glasses and the brokenhearted expression that catches his eyes.

Percy Weasley. The boy who betrayed his family for the Death Eater-infiltrated Ministry, who finally discovered where he truly belonged: with his family, only to have one of them ripped away. The boy who is smart, levelheaded, but sometimes irrational.

The Great Hall is teeming with survivors, whether students or teachers, giants or Hogsmeade's inhabitants. But he has eyes for only one.

He's aching, he's beleaguered. He wants nothing more than to collapse into bed, which he knows is probably destroyed. He has to console the mourning, honor the dead.

But wearily, he trots towards Percy and his grieving family, all of which are crowded around Fred's corpse.

"It'll be okay," he murmurs in his ear. "You'll be okay."

But even he doesn't believe those empty words.

Percy doesn't know what happiness is. It died along with Fred.

And then Oliver's there, during the ceasefire, to comfort him and give him meaningless consolation. Nothing can take away this pain. Nothing.

He wants to lash out, he wants to tell him you have no idea what I'm going through. But that's not true. Everyone is suffering from something. Everyone has a dead loved one. The gravity of it is overwhelming.

And then Oliver whispers, "Come with me."

"I can't take this anymore!" Percy bursts out as soon as they leave the hall. "Fred's dead, Harry's dead, everyone's dying. When will this be over?"

Oliver has nothing to say. He wants to sympathize with Percy. He can. Colin is dead, he had to carry his body, and the weight still hasn't left his arms, even though Colin's body lies back in the Hall.

"We're going to lose," he finishes miserably. "Even though we have the numbers, no one has any spirit left. It's all lost, Oliver."

His brown eyes glimmer with sadness, and that's when Oliver speaks.

"Shame on you," he says coldly and Percy looks up, shock flashing in his eyes. "We're still in this. We haven't lost. Harry isn't dead. He's a fighter, and he won't die unless it's necessary. And there's always something to fight for. Look around you."

Percy looks around.

"See the destruction? What about the parents of future generations of magical children? What about the people who still call it home? They have something to fight for. The teachers, the students, everyone has a reason to fight, even if it isn't personal: they want to protect this school."

Percy stares at him for a few moments. Oliver is confident his pep talk worked, and that is proven as Percy grabs the collar of his shirt and hauls him in for a fierce kiss.

"This is why I'm glad you're my boyfriend," he murmurs into his mouth.

468 words