Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the related characters. No profit is being made

Summary: Percy isn't like the rest of the Weasley family. He's not fond of loud noise and boisterous energy, preferring things to have an order about them. Oliver doesn't mind, though, and somehow that makes everything better.

Chapter One

Ever since he could remember, Percy had structured his life around two things: routine and rules.

Routine was the set way to do things. A time and place for everything, a solid foundation to build upon when other events or people intruded. Wake up when the rooster crowed, wash, go downstairs for breakfast, where the whole family ate together. Then free time or helping Mother with housework, Lunch at noon, where sometimes Father would Floo home from work and sometimes he wouldn't. After lunch was lessons, when he was a child and before he started school, and shopping once a week. There might be variations here and there, when family or friends visited, during special occasions or holidays, but the essentials were the same.

Rules, Percy knew, were there for a reason. They made sense, even when nothing else about social interaction did. Rules were in place because bad things happened when they weren't.

Like when Bill fell out of the tree that he wasn't supposed to be climbing after Mother told him not to, and broke his leg. Like the incident with the Salamander that Charlie brought home as a pet, and that nearly set the kitchen on fire in a panic when Mother found it under the kettle and screamed. Like the twins playing around with potions and leaving them unattended, and the blinding flash of light when Percy came to fetch them for dinner the year before he started Hogwarts and spent a week unable to see.
He had spent most of that week terrified that he would be permanently blind, when he overheard his parents whispering about the expense of medical bills and the glasses that Percy would need, perhaps for the rest of his life.

Bill and Charlie had pitched in to pay for treatment, even though Charlie was only a first-year apprentice on a dragon reservation at the time, and Bill having only just finished his Curse Breaker training. They contributed to pay for school supplies, too, and that formed the third Tennant of Percy's existence: Older children were supposed to guide and look after younger ones, and try to show them the right way.

Percy had already been doing that to some extent. He was clever, and had taken over lessons when the twins were learning to read and write before Primary school, and when Mother was recovering from Ginny's birth, what with having her and Ron so close together.

He knew that the Twins didn't appreciate his efforts, that Ron felt babied and that Ginny thought that she was different because she was a girl, but he did his best anyway. Perhaps if he kept trying long enough, one day they would understand that he was just trying to be a good big brother.

Hogwarts was lonely, at first.

Charlie had graduated two years earlier, and Bill three years before that. Percy had no-one to show him how things were supposed to be, and the crowd and noise of the Gryffindor Common Room were often overwhelming.
He knew the names of his year-mates, though, and got along reasonably well with them, even if they weren't close. The Library was quiet, and the Ravenclaws who clustered there welcomed him into their study groups.
That was where he met Penelope Clearwater, who was pretty and liked rules and said that she wanted to be a Prefect and Head Girl one day. Penelope was the first person Percy had met whose goals aligned so clearly with his own.
Perhaps he would ask her to Hogsmeade in Third Year, which was apparently the year that everyone started to get girlfriends or boyfriends. That or waiting until fifth or sixth year. Percy wasn't sure why this was, but if those were the prescribed time slots, then so be it.

Well, Percy had two years to relax and find his way before the Twins joined him and banished any semblance of peace in the Castle. He would enjoy it.

Mother had always praised Percy's adherence to rules, and how intelligent and responsible he was. So did the Professors, and even moreso once Fred and George arrived at the castle, and the teachers realised that after four years free of Weasley-induced trouble, the Twins were here to make up for lost time.

Percy was always pleased when they spoke well of him. Mother had raised seven children, surely she knew what she was talking about when she said he caused the least problems. The Professors were at the top of their respective fields, to be teaching at such a prestigious institute as Hogwarts. (Percy might have a few doubts about Snape's teaching style, but Potions could be dangerous, and surely it was better that the students dared not misbehave in the first place.)

If they praised him, surely he was doing the right thing.

At the beginning of Third Year, Percy was hiding from his brothers in the library, looking up the Hogwarts procedure for how One became a Prefect. There were two ways; where a student expressed interest and had several meetings with the Heads of House to determine suitability, a code of conduct, a certain standard of behaviour and grades that had to be maintained… but that was the usual way. It was only in cases where no-one applied to be a prefect that the Heads of House chose Unilaterally.
In the second case, the Headmaster could over-rule the Head of House if they felt another was better suited. In the first instance, the Headmaster had ample opportunity to step in at the beginning of the process, so the Head of House's decision was final. The first way seemed so much more secure and less inclined to chance, so Percy went looking for the application forms.

That was when he started to get to know Oliver Wood.

Oliver was in the same year as him, on the Quidditch team since second year… and suddenly found himself as Captain when the rest of the team graduated, and in one case, did something that got them in enough trouble that they transferred to another school as an alternative to being expelled. The details were kept quiet, but rumour ran around Hogwarts faster than Peeves, and while Percy discounted the wilder claims, some facts could be verified.

Oliver was in over his head, desperately studying every Quidditch book he could find after a disastrous first match with Players who were even newer than he was, and a Seeker barely worth the name. (Percy could have done a better job as seeker, having had the benefit of watching Charlie practice, but he didn't like flying as a sport, and training would have taken up too much of his time)
Oliver wasn't his brother, but he was a Gryffindor, and Professor McGonagall had said that their House was supposed to be like their family. Oliver was a month younger than Percy. Percy decided that the Big Brother Rule could apply, at least temporarily.

Percy sat down. "There's a copy of "Quidditch Questing: above and beyond the game" just before you hit the restricted section. Have you read that one yet?"

Oliver glanced up, exhaustion clear on his aesthetically good looking face. "No, have you?"

Percy nodded. "There's a listing of all the rules, even the obscure ones, and the ways to get around them. It's considered the primer for new Captains."

Oliver brightened, putting down the latest edition of Quidditch Through The Ages, which Percy had seen him reading several times already. "Thanks."

Percy doesn't blush, for once, but he feels warm all over, and not even returning to the tower to find the Twins have 'borrowed' his favourite quill for a potions experiment can ruin his mood.

(Honestly, hadn't they been paying attention when Professor Snape told them about contaminants? Of course you can't use a feather that has been used as a quill! It would be tainted by Ink, saliva if the quill belonged to someone who sucked their quills when thinking, or miniscule dried skin flakes if you ran your quill through your fingers, tapped it on desks or otherwise fiddled with it as a means of focus like Percy did. Anyone with even basic knowledge could have told the twins that using a quill feather would result in the potion blowing up.)

Percy wasn't a Quidditch enthusiast, as a rule, but he thought it would be nice to see Oliver relax enough to smile again. So, he went to the next match, (Slytherin and Ravenclaw), armed with a notebook and quill, and he watched. Oliver was there, too, subdued and not paying much attention, but focussed on the game, muttering about strengths and weaknesses.

Percy admired that, but felt that focussing on the individual players without also taking note of team dynamics and strategy was a flaw. Players could be switched out, and most Quidditch teams had a full set of reserves, and then you had to recalculate your entire play.
All players trained in the same strategy, however, and that was where Percy trained his focus.

Ravenclaw had also clearly made a study of "Quidditch Questing", and made use of it. Their overall plays, however, were straight out of a textbook, with no deviation that Percy could see.

Slytherin, under Marcus Flint, relied on intimidation and fouling anyone who got close to the goals. Their matches were the ones Percy found most boring; it all came down to who had the better Seeker.

Hufflepuff, in the next match, played defensively, their teamwork impeccable, but their reactions were slow when that teamwork was disrupted, and they lacked aggression. Again, it came down to the Seekers.

When the game was over, the players off to shower and the majority of students drifting away to other pursuits, Percy followed Oliver to the Great Hall, currently empty until dinner. Normally, they met in the library, but Oliver was passionate about Quidditch, and Percy didn't want to get banned by Madam Pince for being too noisy.

Oliver was studying his own notes, barely noticing Percy until the redhead slid his own notebook on top of Wood's. "What's this?"

Percy smiled proudly, "I was analysing the overall strategies each team uses. May I make a suggestion?"

Oliver nodded. "You can't make us do worse than the last game, at any rate."

It wasn't exactly a vote of confidence, but it wasn't a rejection, either. Percy forged ahead. "With Slytherin, focus on your Chasers and Beaters. Train the Chasers in Penalty shots, speed and accuracy so that they can get to the goals and score before the Keeper gets back. Slytherin relies too much on Fouls to stop their opponents from scoring, than on actually scoring themselves. Their goal shooting is competent, but nothing extraordinary."

It was a little disconcerting to find himself the focus of Oliver's undivided attention, but it wasn't unpleasant.

In fourth year, the Twins joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and Percy found Oliver coming to him in desperation for advice on how to deal with the twins when they were bent on causing trouble.

Percy had never quite managed to work it out himself, but suggested that Oliver find a way to redirect them. If they were intent on mischief, remind them how much better the expressions on the opposing team's faces would be when they were blindsided by the new tactic that they were supposed to be learning.

Oliver was Percy's age, but people were starting to respect him, especially after they defeated Slytherin by forty points, even though Slytherin eventually caught the snitch. Oliver understood how much of a trial the twins could be, and Percy admired and respected the other boy's intelligence and driven focus, so like Percy's own, albeit in a different direction.

They are still talking when the other students trickle in, and dinner appears on the table. Years of dinnertime at the Burrow have honed Percy's reflexes enough to save their notebooks from disappearing into a large tureen of pea and ham soup. "Hufflepuff are unrivalled as far as Teamwork goes, but if you figure out enough disruptive tactics, you should be able to level the playing field."

Oliver ladles out two bowls of soup and passes one to Percy. "What about Ravenclaw? They know every trick in the book, literally!"

Percy smiles, sly and smug, and doesn't notice how Oliver's eyes widen and his cheeks flush slightly. "And they never deviate from it. Take the textbook plays, and combine them into something new. Twist your plays just enough that the textbook reaction is exactly the wrong one. Ravenclaw isn't as adaptable as they like to think."

Percy isn't sure why Oliver looks dazed, and is about to suggest a visit to Madam Pomfrey, but Oliver recovers, and suddenly health precautions seem less important than sitting together and talking quietly over soup.

The final match of the year rolls around, Gryffindor Vs Ravenclaw, and while Ravenclaw win by getting the Snitch, it's only by 20 points, after a long, drawn-out game that went into the night.
Slytherin still win the Cup, thanks to wins in all games that weren't against Gryffindor and high point scores across the board, but that matters a lot less when Oliver leaves the party to find Percy in their dorm, attempting to finish an essay.
Oliver is still running high on adrenaline, nearly wild with glee, and pulls Percy to his feet, kissing him before Percy can react.

His glasses are askew, and Percy adjusts them before smiling softly. Oliver shuffles his feet. "Thanks for the advice on Quidditch tactics. You're much better at the game than anyone gives you credit for."

Coming from Oliver, the praise means a lot. "Perhaps next year, we can discuss it over drinks in Hogsmeade?"

Oliver claps him on the shoulder, firmly but gently, and for the first time in a long while, Percy doesn't stiffen at the unexpected contact. Oliver is one of the few people sharp enough to notice and broadcast his movements around Percy. Oliver grins, broad and happy and blinding. "It's a date."

.

.

.

.

A/N: I've had this posted on AO3 for a while, since that's where I spend most of my time these days, and finally got around to cross-posting here. I don't promise to post quickly, though, and my original work is taking up most of my very limited free time, so subscribe to me there, under the pen-name Natasja, if you want more and faster updates.

As ever, questions, comments and critiques can be sent via the review box! Keep it civil, we're all mature teens and adults here.

Thanks,

Nat