Title: You Needed Me - 21 July 1995
By: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG13

Disclaimer: Harry, Percy, Cornelius Fudge, the Ministry of Magic, Diagon Alley, and most associated things and people belong to J.K. Rowling. General Robert E. Lee belongs to history. My twisted chess book version belongs to me. Hecate McGonagall is also mine.

A/N: Thank you as always, to my reviewers: Ruka-Chan, padfoot lover, Creamy Mimi, Craww, Zortified, Erin LaCroix, jacks, Muggle and plumeria!

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Percy must really be rubbing off on me. Look at this, more than a month left in break, and I'm revising for my OWLs already. Harry thought as he looked up from his textbook. Of course, Percy certainly hasn't been his usual self lately. Three days and he still hasn't heard back from Fudge.

Sighing, he thought back to that morning, when Percy had been so distracted that he completely forgot to use the stypticus charm, and emerged from the bathroom with a fresh blood spot on his neck. Harry, who had just started shaving regularly, and whose mind was functioning at a slightly higher level, had to pull his friend aside and stop the bleeding before he could leave for work.

Poor Percy! He's just beside himself. I just wish Fudge'd get off his arse and make a decision. Even a disappointed Percy would be better than a distracted, irritable Percy. And with the week-end coming up and everything.

That's when he made his decision. Rather than one of Harry's usual thrown-together meals, Harry would arrange for a really *good* meal for dinner that night. He glanced at the clock, noticing that he still had four hours until Percy came home for the evening.

He knew most of Percy's favorite restaurants, all of which were on Diagon Alley. Straightening his robe, he stood and headed for the Diagon Alley staircase, and stepping out into the early-afternoon sunshine.

In the days he'd been staying with Percy, he'd never left the flat without Percy, and the street was full of wizards, witches and the occasional non-human being, making Harry cringe inwardly, fearful of their reaction to The Boy Who Let Cedric Diggory Die. He steeled himself. And thinking of Percy, Harry stepped out into the bustle of Diagon Alley.

Without Percy there to protect him from them, Harry was assaulted by his memories of the previous tragic year. He saw pictures of dragons, and ads for custom-designed enchanted hedge mazes. He saw ads for a book on ridding your koi pond of grindylows. It was the thought of Percy that gave him the strength to take each step, that kept him from running back to the flat. That kept him from hiding, again.

Finally, he made it to the restaurant, and placed his order, making arrangements for it to be delivered at half-past five, giving the delivery elves plenty of time before Percy got home from work. Then he returned, never even thinking about Cedric and his past problems, his only thoughts being for Percy, to the flat.

The three and a half hours before the delivery elves arrived dragged. Slowly. He tried to revise for his OWLs, but couldn't concentrate. He tried to read his novel, but had lost the knack for getting lost in the flow of the writer's words. Finally, he ended up placing a bowl on the floor on the opposite side of the tiny living area and trying to flip his deck of cards into them, one by one. He was getting pretty good at it, too, when the knock at the door came.

He collected his cards and stood, admitting the delivery elves into the flat. They hurried into action, and in a moment, a table stood in the middle of the living area, bearing fine china and flatware. The food was set aside with a small charm on it to keep it warm until Percy returned home.

After everything had been laid out, one delivery elf, who seemed to be in charge, approached him with a slip of paper. "Is everything to Mr. Potter's liking, sir?" He asked obsequiously.

Harry nodded. "Yes, very nice."

"Then, if Mr. Potter would sign here, please?" He held out the slip of paper.

Harry looked it over and saw that it was a listing of everything that the elves had delivered, with a big red X where he needed to sign. Harry quickly signed it and handed it back to the elf.

"When Mr. Potter is finished with the meal, if he would be sticking his wand out the window, the elves will be returning to clean up." The lead elf said as the elves took their leave, leading Harry to the conclusion that he was to signal out the window with his wand, and the elves would return and pick up the furniture and dishes. At least, he hoped that's what the elf meant.

"Thank you." Harry said sincerely, though he knew full well that the elves didn't need such things. It made him feel better.

The lead elf clearly was used to working with humans, for he answered, as if speaking from a script, "Mr. Potter is welcome." And then the elf left, closing the door behind himself.

Harry glanced at the clock. Percy was due home momentarily. He sat down on the couch and paged idly through his Charms book until he heard Percy's footfalls in the hallway outside. Percy opened the door, and Harry turned to see his reaction to his surprise.

Percy went utterly pale when he saw the well-appointed table that now dominated the living area. Harry could practically count his friend's freckles from across the room, and he feared he'd made a horrible mistake somehow.

Then Percy spoke. "Harry - How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That I got the job. I only just found out myself."

Before he knew what had happened, Harry was rocketing across the room, enveloping Percy in an enthusiastic hug. "You did? Oh, Perce! I'm so happy for you!"

Percy blushed slightly. "I guess so." He looked at the table.

"Oh, that. No. I just ordered that to, you know, make you feel better. You've been so out of sorts since Fudge hadn't told you whether you got the job or not."

He led Percy to one of the chairs and set to work dishing out the roast chicken and spiced potatoes. "So? How'd you find out?" Harry asked as he set Percy's plate in front of him.

"Mr. Fudge called me up to his office just after lunch, and told me himself." Percy responded, practically bursting his buttons in his pride.

"Just after lunch? What time?"

"About two, I expect. Why?"

"Nothing." Harry shook his head as he put his own plate down on the other side of the table and took his seat. "It's just funny that I decided to do this," he indicated the table, "about then, too."

"Maybe we have some kind of psychic connection." Percy said in a joking tone, as un-Percylike as Harry could possibly imagine.

"Oh, undoubtedly." Harry agreed facetiously. "It couldn't just have been coincidence at all, could it?"

Percy laughed out loud at this, and together they dug into the meal.

Harry watched Percy while they ate, marveling at genetics, and how much like Ron Percy could be, but how much he was also his very own man. Harry marveled at how grown Percy was. Percy had put on airs of being grown when they'd first met, but Percy had been a boy -- a fifteen year old boy. But now he was a man. Harry wondered when, exactly, it had happened. When Percy had been made Head Boy? When he'd graduated? Just today, when he got the promotion?

"Percy?" He broke the silence.

"Yes?"

"When did you grow up?"

"What?" Percy stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, when we first met, you were fifteen. The age I'm turning in," he thought, "ten days."

Percy didn't seem surprised that Harry's birthday was coming up so soon, "Right . . .," he prompted.

"But you weren't grown yet. I mean, I'm not going to be all grown up at fifteen, so I know that you weren't."

Percy nodded for Harry to continue.

"But now you're grown, and I don't remember it happening."

Percy shrugged. "I don't remember it happening either." He looked down at his plate, like he was studying it. "It's just one of those things I guess."

"Percy?"

Percy looked up.

"When's your birthday?"

Percy gave Harry a peculiar smile. "September 15th."

Harry wondered at the smile that Percy had given him. "Oh."

"Why?"

Harry shrugged. "Just curious. Wondering when you're turning twenty." As Percy turned back to his dinner, Harry began to wonder what he could give Percy for his birthday that Hedwig could successfully carry to him.


A/N: Just for the entertainment value, I share my own personal favorite chicken recipe, Jeff Smith's Chicken stuffed with potatoes and olives http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/twarda/recipes/Chicken_Stuffed_with_Potatoes_and_Olives.html. I opt out of the optional anchovies.