Fall For You

Secondhand Serenade


According to Percy's master plan, this is the night he'll fall in love. So why the hell won't Hermione Granger leave him to find his true love?


The best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting

Inside of the next seven and a half hours, Percy Weasley was supposed to find and fall in love with his soulmate.

Now, if only Hermione Granger would leave him alone, he'd be more than happy to find the love of his life.

Unfortunately it was a work party and she was his partner and the only person in the building who could outrank him if she chose to. So, if she chose to hang around him all day, there really wasn't much he could do about it.

Could it be that we have been this way before

Percy and Penelope broke up his final year of school and Percy gave himself exactly five years and six months to get over her and move into the next love of his life.

And here it was, five years and six months, to the day.

Moreover, everything else in his life had played out the way he expected it to. He worked at the Ministry for two years. Then he went off on his own and started his own firm to deal with legal issues that couldn't be resolved with traditional magical means.

I know you don't think that I am trying

And somehow, Hermione Granger became part of the equation. At the time it seemed strange but now it felt like the most natural thing. She was a Muggleborn and arguing came natural to her. She could remember everything she read. She was a quick study.

And she was single.

He wasn't sure why that was such a factor right now, other than the fact that apparently she was the only single girl he was allowed to talk to at the moment, aside from his sister.

I know you're wearing thin down to the core

It was a New Years' Party. The entire family was there plus a few of the more familiar clients and Neville and of course, his siblings' dates. Luna and Ron were arguing about something. They didn't argue the way Ron had with Hermione but rather they argued like two people who agreed about the main principles but differ on the finer points.

Fred was with his long term girlfriend Angelina and George with his wife Daphne. Charlie and his wife Rose and their son Dexter were in the corner, talking babies with Bill and Fleur while Dexter played with Victoria and Teddy.

Ginny was flaunting her free and unattached status while Harry and Neville looked on as if confused and sad. Unsurprisingly, Ginny was turning into a heartbreaker. After the war she had not fallen right back into Harry's arms, much as everyone thought she would.

But hold your breath

Then there were some clients but Percy would never fall for them. He knew them too well.

There were others at the party, including a pretty blonde who kept giving him the eye. But Hermione wouldn't leave him alone.

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

He looked up as she appeared at his side again with two glasses of red wine.

"Wouldn't have pegged you for a red wine kind of girl," he said. He took the wine glass. She still had her glasses on. She didn't need corrective vision but she did have a pair that offered blue light filtering and since they both used the computers quite frequently they both used the glasses whenever they were working.

"You're still wearing your glasses," he said.

She flushed and pushed them up and into her unruly hair.

Over again

"Thanks," she said. "And I picked out the wines, remember?"

"Right, cause everything has to be your way."

"No," she said then seemed to think about it. "I just have a better taste for wine than you do."

"I have a more refined palate than my brothers," he pointed out and took a sip of the wine. It was good.

"Can we afford this?" he asked, holding the glass up to the light.

Don't make me change my mind

"We'll manage," she said.

"That doesn't sound convincing," he returned.

"The wines weren't that expensive," she said. "Besides, we got a good settlement with the Farbinger case and Ivan paid for the wines."

"That was generous of him."

Or I won't live to see another day

"Am I keeping you from something?" she asked a minute or so later.

He realized he'd been watching the blonde again.

"Uh, sorry," he said.

"She's cute," Hermione said.

"You know her?"

"Lorena Asbergs. She's Dylan Krest's cousin. She's single."

I swear it's true

Because a girl like you is impossible to find

"I don't care," he said.

"Yeah, you do," she said. She looked upset about something but in typical Hermione fashion, she didn't elaborate, just walked off to join Ginny by the buffet table.

"Don't even try to understand her," Ron said, coming over.

"What are you talking about?"

"Hermione," Ron said. "She's always been..."

"Inscrutable?"

"I have no idea what that means," Ron said with a perfectly straight face.

"Figure it out from the context."

You're impossible to find

"Look, if you want to, just go for it. I'm over her," Ron said.

"I didn't know you had a thing for Lorena Asbergs," he said.

Ron shook his head. "Merlin. And I thought I was dense."

Percy watched his brother walk away and wondered what he was talking about. "I'm just surrounded by them today," he muttered.

This is not what I intended

"Hi," Percy said, about three minutes and a glass of wine later. Lorena looked up from her own glass and smiled at him.

"Hi. It's Percy, isn't it?"

"Yeah. And you're Lorena."

"Dylan has told me so much about you and Hermione. I feel like I already know you both. I think it's wonderful what the two of you do."

"Not just the two of us," he said.

I always swore to you I'd never fall apart

"Still, I hear it's mostly just you two. I can't believe how many reforms you two have made over the past two years."

"Well, most of that is Hermione," Percy said. He wasn't sure what to say next so he suddenly found himself talking about Hermione and her most recent work. They were planning to go down into Belgium later this year and work on equality. The country still didn't let female witches go to school without permission from their parents which was ridiculous since they could easily hurt themselves and others.

"You really seem to like her," Lorena said.

"I respect her," he said quickly. Hermione was a gifted witch and she fought for everything she believed in and she believed in equal rights for everyone, not just British witches and wizards.

You always thought that I was stronger

"But tell me about the work you two are doing on getting standardized teaching across the globe and the different types of magical norms."

"That's Hermione again," Percy said.

"I thought I read that it was your idea," Lorena pointed out.

"It was at the start," he replied. "But she took over it. We've been working on it and I'm great at the research part but as far as the practical application of everything we learn, there's no one quite as tenacious as her."

I may have failed

Percy enjoyed talking to Lorena. She asked good questions and the night bled by. They talked about whether he would try for a seat on the Ministry again now that he had some better success under his belt and he was surprised to find himself on the fence about it.

"I should get going," she said at about ten. "I promised my brother I'd have a drink with him for the new year."

"All right. Did you want to meet up later this week?"

She smiled a sweet but sad smile. "I'd love to."

"Then..."

"But I won't."

But I have loved you from the start

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't date guys who are in love with other people," she said.

"I'm not," he began.

"Yes, you are. We've been talking for two hours and all you've talked about is Hermione. Percy, I'm not a genius about these sorts of things, but you are in love with her or at least you can't like someone the way you like her because she's still going to be there."

"But I don't...I don't love her."

"That's great. But tell me that in a week and I'll go out with you."

Oh

She smiled again, kissed his cheek and walked out of the party. Percy stood there, feeling confused and conflicted.

"There you are," Ginny said, coming over.

"Hey, Ginny."

"So, you and Lorena seem to get along," she said, grabbing a glass of rose from the buffet and sipping it.

"Yeah."

But hold your breath

"You ask her out?"

For some reason, Percy could never lie to Ginny. He could tell Mum anything she wanted to hear and he could make his brothers believe anything. But Ginny could always see through him, ever since they were little.

"Yeah. She said no."

"That's rough. What about Hermione?"

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

"She's my partner."

"She's also all you ever talk about. Ron's like that with Luna. You think we haven't noticed?"

"Now look," he began.

She smiled at him, a deviously sweet smile. "Don't be churlish. We all love Hermione in our own way. So figure out how you feel about her because you're not going to get over her until you do."

"How do you love her?" Percy asked as she turned to walk off.

Over again

"I'm thinking about making her my lesbian lover," Ginny said and sauntered off as he choked on his own wine.

Don't make me change my mind

Percy stood against the buffet with his wine and watched Hermione walk around the party, talking and laughing with their clients and family. She looked so easy going and at ease. She was good with the clients which he appreciated. Still, she was without remorse and she never relented in the courtroom. Percy always was willing to talk compromise but he knew how much Hermione would be amendable to, where and how she would compromise.

But how did he feel about her? Really?

She looked up and caught his eye. She smiled and waved and he found himself waving back.

She came over, weaving through the small crowd.

Or I won't live to see another day

"Hey, enjoying holding up the wall?" she asked.

"I'm just in a funk," he said.

"Come on," she said. "Holidays are almost over and we can go back to being die hard work-a-holics."

"Do you think about dating?" he asked suddenly.

I swear it's true

She looked up at him. Her glasses were still up in her hair. Her honey brown eyes were bright in the light of the Christmas tree nearby.

He looked over at it because he found he couldn't keep looking at her. "We should take that down," he said.

"After the party," she said. "There'll be plenty of time for that."

Because a girl like you is impossible to find

"To answer your earlier question, I do think about dating," she said. "It's just so hard to find anyone we don't see on a professional basis."

"Then you're over Ron?"

"Not much to get over," she said with a laugh. "A little heavy petting and some kisses but that was about it."

It's impossible

"What about you?" she asked.

"There's someone I get along with really well," he said. "I guess I have to figure out how I feel about her first before I can make up my mind about anyone else."

"Who?" she asked.

"You," he said, surprising himself.

So breathe in so deep

She looked up at him in surprise. "Percy, I..."

"You don't have to say anything. We work together. We run the business together. And I'm not in love with you or anything. I just need to figure that out first."

"I understand," she said.

"Really? Or are you just saying that?"

Breathe me in

She swirled the wine in her glass. "When the war ended and Ron and I thought about getting together, I did the same thing with him. We gave it a good go but it just didn't work out and finally I had to face the idea that I didn't love him. I just liked him. Or maybe I still love him but it's not like husband and wife nor would it ever be. It was...like a brother."

"Maybe that's why I care about you," he said.

"You're saying you feel like we're siblings?"

"Maybe," he replied.

I'm yours to keep

It seemed like the end of it. It should have been the end of it.

Work returned to normal. Somehow there didn't seem to be any fallout from talking to her. It felt like the air had been cleared.

But...he couldn't stop thinking about her. He lost Lorena's number and never tried to get it back. He ignored all of the attempts by his brothers to hook him up. He worked hard at pet projects but not his own. He found he was obsessed with her projects. He was slipping into obsession and he couldn't explain it.

And hold onto your words

This was not the plan. It was so far off from the plan that he couldn't even see it anymore.

He shouldn't be obsessed with her. She was his partner, for Merlin's sake. No one should mix business and pleasure.

And yet...

Cause talk is cheap

It was late March before Percy finally broke. The two of them were in a meeting with a foreign minister, working on spanning the gap between Romanian folk magic and the standardized magic curriculum taught in schools like Hogwarts.

Percy couldn't seem to keep his mind on the minister's suggestions but kept slipping into thoughts of Hermione.

She was sitting across from him, chewing on the earpiece of her glasses and studying the minister's proposal.

"Mr. Weasley?"

And remember me tonight

Percy snapped back to focus and realized that the minister had asked him a question. He paused, unsure how to proceed. He smiled tersely at the minister. "I'm just wondering," he flubbed, stalling for time. "Wondering why you came to us," he went on.

"The two of you come very highly recommended."

"We're not diplomats," Hermione said, glancing at Percy.

"There are no diplomats for this sort of thing," the minister said. "Perhaps there should be."

When you're asleep

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Percy asked.

They talked for another hour and by the end of it, it was obvious what he was getting at. Percy was in a state of shock and excitement but it didn't seem to fully penetrate.

"Magical ambassadors," Percy mused once the minister was gone. "It's...more than I've ever expected."

"It's a great honor," Hermione said.

"You're thinking about it?"

"Of course," she replied. "Aren't you?"

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

"Of course," he echoed. "But it would probably mean a lot of time apart. And away from the firm."

"A lot of time away from each other," she repeated.

"That matters to me," he said.

He realized what he'd said seconds after it was out but much like a genie from a bottle, it was impossible to put it back.

He stared at her and she stared at him.

Over again

Then she was grinning. "It matters to me too."

"It does?"

"Of course. Percy, you don't know how happy this makes me."

"It does?"

Don't make me change my mind

"I've been...I've been wanting to ask you something for years now. I just didn't know how you would feel. I mean, we're partners. I didn't want you to think I liked you just because we work together. I know working partners can get attached but I wanted to make sure it wasn't just like that."

Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He felt like his thoughts of the past three months were being laid out for him.

"What will people say?" he asked.

"About what?"

"Us? Becoming...well...us."

Or I won't live to see another day

"Well, if that's your best pick up line, then you need to work on it," she said with an even bigger grin.

"I just..." he began but she just waved off his explanation.

"You don't have much experience," she said. "Don't worry. I don't have much practice either."

I swear it's true

"Besides," she went on. "They can say what they want to say. I just want to be with you."

"Really?"

"Well, I want to change the world too. But I want to do it with you," she said, coming around the conference table and taking his hand. She took a seat on the edge of the table. "I think we're good together. You balance me. You want things I never thought we could have but with you it seems possible."

"You take all of my ideas to the next level," he said, looking down at their entwined fingers. "You're relentless. You know so much about how to get what you want."

Because a girl like you is impossible to find

"You know, I always thought I had everything figured out," he said. "You just threw everything out of whack."

"Really?"

"I had everything planned down to when I was going to meet the love of my life."

"And when was that?"

"The new years' party."

Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

She laughed. "So that's why you were hanging all over Lorena."

"Well, she did help me figure out that I wanted to be with you."

"Then I owe her one. What's the next step in your plan?" she asked.

"Forget the plan," he said and leaned forward to kiss her. She met him in the middle.

Over again

He leaned into her and smiled through their kiss. Who knew that a plan could go so wrong and end up so right?

Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find


A/N: I got nothin'. I've been so busy lately. Sorry about all this. Anyways, hope everything is goin' well for all of you and stay safe from this virus.