Author: Pyro
Pairings: none
Warning: Sad, Angsty, Percy view.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned them. The boy-o's belong to J.K.Rowling.
Percy Weasley sighed
as he finished up the last bit of paper work on his desk. He really
didn't want to go home tonight. Home where a roaring fire would chase away
the chill of the night and the rain that was beginning to fall. All the
rooms in the Burough would be warm and inviting. All, he bitterly reflected,
except for his own. It wasn't for lack of trying. But his rooms, like him,
just never really seemed to warm up. And they were always so terribly lonely.
Percy idly wondered if he could crawl in bed with any of his brothers.
He then imagined their looks of complete shock. Prim, prissy, proper Percy
would NEVER do that. Percy snorted. Yah, right. He only wished. Percy sighed
again and closed up his office. 'Last to leave again, Weasley', he thought
to himself. Even later than his father. Father. He never had called Arthur
Weasley Dad, or anything less than Father. It was sad, really. But then
again, Percy was the only one of them without a pet name. Mother was 'Mom'
or 'Darling', Ron was 'Ronnie', Ginny was "Angel'. Percy continued
to mentally run through everyone's names. The twins were Gred and Forge,
Charlie was 'Lizzard', and Bill was "Sherlock'. Hell, he thought, even
Harry and Hermione have received pet names. Hermione was 'Herms' or 'Books',
depending. Harry, he was 'Rabbit'. But Percy, he was just Percy. "The Prick'
when the twins were being nice.
The twins. Percy sighed
again. It must be nice to be that close to someone. A sibling who was an
extension of yourself. Who you could trust not to laugh at you for every
little thing. Whose bed you could crawl into when the nightmares in the
closet got too scary, or your room got too cold. Percy grumbled at the
thought. He hated being cold. Then he looked at the clock. Ten fifteen.
Shit. He'd missed dinner, again. Mother would be worried. Or maybe not,
she hadn't sent anyone for him. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or
disappointed. Would anyone notice if he never came home? He doubted it.
Stepping from the fireplace,
he shook his robes clear of the floo powder dust. No one was around
when he arrived, and as he made his way up to his room, the stairs were
empty. Not so odd for a Friday night. Every one would be sleeping
in tomorrow, since school was out for the midterm holidays. Perhaps he
could find a warm corner and sleep in it. Percy grinned at the thought.
Gaining his room, he quickly shucked off his robes and hurried to the shower.
As the scalding water washed over him, he wondered where everyone
was, then shrugged it off as unimportant. If they had wanted him to come
along, they would have said something. Stepping out in a cloud of steam,
Percy shivered as he hurriedly climbed into his pajamas. The old flannel
was soft and comforting, like the hugs Mother used to give him when he
was younger. Percy closed his eyes at the memory.
" Come Percy, watch the twins. That's
a good boy. Mother needs to tend Ronnie. Gred, Forge, mind Percy for Mummy."
Mother squeezed a six year old Percy in a quick hug and rushed off to another
part of the house. Identical pairs of blue green eyes looked up into Percy's
golden hazel ones. At three years of age, the twins were already terrors,
but they behaved for Percy.
"Perce, can we play wif the blocks?"
"Will you build us a castle?" And Percy
would do what ever they wished. And at night, when nightmares chased their
dreams, the twins would come and pile into Percy's bed, their hair smelling
of shampoo and little boys. This lasted until the twins turned seven and
went to school.
Percy wandered into
the kitchen where the twins were sitting having milk and cookies with Jamie,
a friend form school.
" Who's that?" Jamie had asked. Fred
had snorted and replied, "That's just Percy. Old Prissy Percy. Hurry up
Jamie. You have to see this cool joke."
That was the beginning of the twins
animosity towards Percy.
Percy came to
with a start. He hadn't meant to drift off like that. Memories were dangerous
things. Especially his memories. His Father's voice in the hall drew his
attention.
"Wonderful joke! Why I couldn't have done
better myself!"
So they were back, and the twins had pulled
off another spectacular joke. Percy snorted. The twins were spectacular
at anything. So were Ron, Ginny, Bill, and Charlie. Percy was merely "very
good".
A thirteen year
old Percy babbles happily to his semi- attentive Father.
"And if my grades stay as high as they
are, Headmaster Dumbledore says I have a good chance of being head-boy!
And Oliver says there will be extra spaces on the Quidditch team next year
and I should try out because I'm good at flying! And.."
"Pappa, Pappa!"
"Hello there, you two! How was your
first year?"
"It was great!"
"Yeah, and Ollie says we can try out
for the Quidditch team next year!"
"Wonderful. I'm sure you'll be great!"
A twin in each hand, Arthur Weasley
walked off to luggage check. Looking back he spoke, "Come on Percy. Come
help your brothers with their trunks."
"Yes, Father." Percy's soft, sad voice
replied.
"Bye Percy! See you next year!" Oliver
Wood's happy voice called.
"Bye Oliver!" Percy smiled. Oliver
was always nice to him.
Percy smiled at the
memory. Oliver had been his roommate all through Hogwarts. The first three
years he had been a wonderful friend. Until fourth year. When Percy had
actually tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Along with the twins.
Who had enchanted his broom so he couldn't fly straight. Everyone had laughed,
even Oliver. Percy frowned. He had spent the entire summer practicing.
Maybe if he was on the Quidditch team Father would be proud of him. But
he never made the team. Fred and George saw to that. And Oliver had laughed
for days. Percy had been the first Weasley since Bill started Hogwarts
to not make the Quidditch team. He never tried out again.
"What's with all the
memories tonight, Weasley?" Percy asked himself. At ninteen, he was the
youngest Ministry Assistant currently there. He had wanted to be an Auror.
They didn't want him.
The representative
looked him over and said, "I'm sorry Mr. Weasley. Yes, your grades are
top notch, but you just don't have that creative spark we look for in Aurors.
You are too much of a 'by the books' type. We like our Aurors a bit wild,
if you get my meaning. Like your brothers. The twins, or even your youngest
brother, They have ingenuity. You don't. I am sorry."
How ironic. If you
break all the rules, you can become an Auror,or be a favorite. But if you
are a good boy, you become a Ministry Assistant. Percy sighed and switched
off the lamp, closing his small diary in which he had written those last
thoughts. How many of those small books did he have, filled to the brim
with his hopes and dreams? One for every year since he started primary
school. So many. He laughed. Percy doubted anyone ever had read them. No
one really wanted to know what he thought. Percy drifted off to sleep,
curled in a nest of blankets to ward off the cold, but physical and emotional.
It was two in the morning
when something woke him. Percy braved the chill to poke around the house
in an age old ritual of the restless sleeper. He padded down the hall to
Bill and Charlie's room, and peeked in. They slept in their beds, snores
signaling the depth of their dreams. Pulling the door closed, he next looked
in on Ginny and Hermiony, who had stayed the night. As Ginny's room only
had one bed, the girls were curled up in that, buried under the coverlet.
Then it was down the hall to Ron's room, where the boy who lived was attempting
to make his brother into a body pillow. Percy smiled at the sight. A quick
glance in his parents room assured him and he headed up the stairs to the
twins domain. There he did more than just peek in. Fred and George lay
flopped together like puppies, arms and legs entwined. Percy smiled.
'They pushed the beds together again.'
He knew the twins hated sleeping alone. They had kicked the covers to the
foot of the bed. Percy crept in and gently covered them up again. Placing
a soft kiss on each head, he wispered a soft, wistful " Dream well" and
crept back out, pulling the door shut behind him. As he headed back to
his room, Percy snagged the cover on the couch in the living room. He paused
for a moment at his window and glanced out at the stars.
"I wish I knew what it was like to have
what the twins have. Just for a day. To have Father praise me, to have
all that love and happiness. And siblings who didn't despise me. Just for
one day. I wouldn't ask for anything else. Because maybe if I knew how
they made people like them, I could get people to like me, too." And having
made his wish, Percy crawled back into his bed, hugging his pillow.
And outside, the stars
twinkled. "Just one wish," they sang, "then I'll be happy." And in the
Burrough, Percy's wish came true.
