Harry woke muzzily the next morning, clawing after the unusually pleasant dream he'd been having long after it became clear to the tiny, awake, portion of his mind that he wasn't getting it back. It was when he rolled over and pulled the covers over his head, in the hope that the darkness would help him fend off the encroaching wakefulness, that it first drifted across his mind that something was wrong. The thought wafted away again as he tried to remember what it was he'd last been doing in his dream, but it was enough to wake him up a little more, so when it returned a few minutes later he was able to actually comprehend it. Seconds later he sat up, wide-eyed and groping for his wand. When he found both it, and his glasses, within arms reach he calmed down a little, sliding the glasses on and taking in his surroundings.
It was the sight or the Weasley family waving at him enthusiastically from inside a cheap wooden frame sitting on a nearby dresser that actually reminded him of where he was. He slowly slid out of the warm bed, wishing that he'd at least managed to stay asleep long enough for the day to start heating up. It was too damned cool at six in the morning to be wandering around. Still, it was better to be cold and doing something then warm and staring at the ceiling, so he didn't let the chill drive him back under the covers. Besides, he hadn't showered before going to sleep the night before, and his escape from home had left him feeling more then a little grimy. He quickly dug the nicer of the two robes he'd brought, now badly wrinkled due to being crumbled up all night, out of his bag and grabbed the clothing he'd been wearing the night before off the chair he'd flung them on. As quietly as possible he slipped out of his room and across the hall, almost noiselessly closing and locking the bathroom door behind him then quickly threw off his boxers. As he turned on the water in the shower to let it heat up, and went about his morning business, he made a mental note to get some of his money changed at Gringotts and find a nearby muggle clothing shop. He didn't know how long it would be before he got to go back home, and he could hardly wear the same clothing everyday under his robes. At least the fact that it was summer meant that all he really needed was some cheap tee-shirts and shorts, and a couple of changes of underwear. Probably a slicker too, although he didn't actually need to go out on rainy days if he bought some books or something to pass the time.
He continued making his mental list as he slipped into the shower, adding toiletries to it as he squirted some of Percy's shampoo into his hand. His hair was just as contrary when it came to getting clean as it was about anything else he tried to do to it, and he'd noticed in the past that it seemed to take several times as much shampoo to make his hair feel fully washed then it did for anyone else he knew. Thinking of this, he raised his lathered hands to his head and then paused, sniffing, before holding them in front of his nose instead and taking a deep whiff. This proved to be a bad idea, as the ensuing strong smell of artificial strawberry scent made him sneeze hard, just barely remembering not to cover his mouth unless he really wanted to find out how the shampoo tasted.
He worked the lather into his hair, not wanting to waste it, before grabbing the conditioner and thin sliver of green soap that were also in there. They smelled like raspberries and melons, and Harry had to wonder whether Percy just grabbed the first things that came to hand when he went to the store or if he actually liked smelling like a fruit salad. Well, that was just one more reason why he needed to buy his own things for the shower.
His stomach grumbled at him then, reminding him not to take all day in the shower, and he rushed through cleaning himself, not needing to linger since he'd stopped feeling grungy almost as soon as he'd jumped under the water. He wondered if there was some magic in the water here that cleaned you better then normal, then decided that that was stupid. He hadn't noticed anything like that the last time he'd stayed at the Cauldron, and if they'd magiced the showers since then Percy wouldn't have shampoo and soap at all. Unless of course he really did like the way they smelled.
He dressed quickly once he was out of the shower, doing his best to ignore the mirror's catcalls and the way the air that had fifteen minutes earlier just been cool now felt frigid to his wet skin. Then, as quietly as possible, he exited the room and went to the kitchen, all but walking on tiptoes as he passed the couch where Percy was still sleeping. He wasn't surprised to find the fridge fully stocked when he opened it, even though he still believed that Percy had never actually cooked in there, he was the sort of person who would keep it stocked with food just because it was the proper thing to do with a kitchen. It's not like he'd need to keep using up his paychecks restocking as things went bad; Harry knew that Tom made sure that all the cupboards and refrigerators at the Leaky Cauldron had charms on them that kept food stored in them from spoiling.
For the first time ever Harry found himself a little less angry over his years spent as the Dursleys' personal chef, since over the years he'd perfected cooking as noiselessly as humanly possible. Now, even with Percy a few feet away he was able to avoid making any sounds loud enough to wake him as he scrambled eggs, and fried bacon. Coffee was a bit more problematic, since instead of the electric muggle coffee maker Harry was used to, Percy had a percolator. Harry wasn't completely unfamiliar with the device, years ago his uncle had had a superior who he'd been trying to impress that preferred percolated coffee, so Vernon had bought a percolator and Harry had to use it whenever the man came over. He hadn't needed to do that since the man had moved away when Harry was nine however, and now he first had trouble putting the thing together, once banging it together hard enough that Percy stirred in his sleep, and then realised he'd forgotten how long to leave it one the stove before it was done. By the end he was wondering why he'd even bothered to do this, since as far as he could recall Percy didn't even drink coffee. He supposed that it was just because he'd been trained to always make coffee with breakfast and now, even outside of the Dursley house, he was compelled to keep up the same old routine.
His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet groan coming from the couch. He turned to face it and saw that Percy's eyes were tightly squinched closed, but he seemed to be sniffing the air. Harry laughed softly at the sight and Percy's eyes cracked open. "Huh?" He murmured, squinting in Harry's direction. "Who izzat? Wa'm I on the couch?"
Harry laughed again, louder, at the unfamiliar sight of a disorientated Percy, then took pity on him and said, "It's me, Harry. I showed up at your work last night after the death eaters attacked my house, remember? Um, I made breakfast for us, if you want some. You did like your eggs scrambled, right?"
"That's right." Percy had found his glasses during Harry's laughing jag, and seemed much more clearheaded now that he could see what was going on around him. "How did you know?"
"Come on Percy, I've spent how many nights at the Burrow? Do you really think I'm unobservant enough to miss that?"
Percy looked at him strangely. "Well, most people wouldn't, in my experience."
"Really? Well, maybe it's just because I'm used to paying attention to things like that. The Dursleys always expected me to keep track of their tastes when I cooked. So, are you going to eat?"
"Oh, yes." Percy sat down at the table and Harry handed him a full plate, then joined him with his own food. He seemed hesitant to try it at first, but the way Harry began to wolf his food down seemed to reassure him that the food wouldn't be awful at least, and he took a small bit of his eggs. Then, obviously surprised at how good it was, he began to eat almost as fast as Harry. He even gulped down a cup of coffee, even though Harry could tell from his expression that he'd remembered right about his not normally drinking it. "This is really good, Harry. I didn't know you could cook."
"Well, eggs and bacon aren't that difficult, but thanks. I've been in charge of breakfast at my Uncle's house for years now, so I guess I've gotten pretty good. I would have made something a bit more complex, but I didn't know for sure what else you like."
"This is perfect. I don't need anything else. You might not think scrambled eggs are that big a deal, but they were always my favorite. I always leave for work before Tom starts serving breakfast, and I don't have time to cook myself, so I haven't had them since leaving home." For a long moment Percy seemed lost in thought, then he shook himself and focused on Harry again. "I'm surprised you always do so badly at potions class. If you like cooking enough to take over a meal when you're at home then I'd think you'd be the type of person to take right to potions."
Harry decided not to correct Percy about the reasons for his cooking breakfast (not to mention lunch, dinner, and dessert) at home, and instead said "Well, maybe if we didn't have such a biased bully of a professor I'd do better. I'm just lucky that I've always managed to scrape by with a passing grade considering how much Snape hates me."
"Well, it's not as if you haven't given him good reason to dislike you," Percy replied, then seemed to realise immediately that that was the wrong thing to say as Harry's face flushed with anger.
"What? I gave him reasons to hate me? He never even gave me a chance! The greasy bastard hated me from the moment I walked through the doors of Hogwarts, just because he didn't like my father!"
"Well, even if that's true, you could have tried to be a good student and prove to him that he had no reason to dislike you. Instead you and my brother antagonised him at every turn. And don't think that I don't know that that's true, as Head Boy and Prefect I was sent copies of all complaints filed against Gryffindor students, and I lost count of how many were about your picking on Professor Snape. I suppose that I should have reprimanded you for this, but I'm afraid I neglected my duties because you're a family friend and I didn't something like that to come between our friendship."
Harry glared at Percy, angry that just as he was getting comfortable with normal friendly him Percy the Perfect Prefect/Head Boy just had to make a reappearance. However, he found his anger slipping away to shock at the realisation that Percy had thought there was a friendship between the two of them at school. Sure, Harry didn't go out of his way to avoid Percy the way many other students in the tower seemed to do, and if Percy tried to strike up a conversation with him he'd go along with it for the sake of politeness if there wasn't an urgent reason for him to be elsewhere, but he'd never seek out his company just to hang out with him or talk the way he did with Percy's brothers and his other friends. When he wasn't being overly stuffy or overbearing Percy had always just been a figure in the background to Harry, a friendly acquaintance at best. But, thinking back on it, he couldn't remember anyone outside of the Weasley family other then Penny Clearwater who'd even talked to Percy for longer then absolutely necessary even out of politeness. Hell, half the time even his brothers didn't do that. Could Percy really have thought of him as a friend because of that? For the first time since deciding to head to the Ministry the night before Harry began to feel a little guilty for running to Percy purely because it had seemed to be the most strategically sound choice to make and completely lacking any real desire to see or spend time with him. "How about we just drop this topic," he said finally. "I don't want to have a fight with you, especially not over something like Snape."
"Alright." Percy stared down at his almost empty plate for a second, frowning slightly, then said, "Well, I do have one last thing to say. If it makes you feel better, I actually did disapprove of Professor Snape more then you when I heard of your encounters. True, I thought you should learn to control your anger toward him a bit, since his is a faculty member after all, but it's expected that most students have a teacher that they hate. I myself couldn't stand Professor Trelawney, although Divinations is thankfully neither a required class, nor one that I needed a NEWT in to work at the Ministry. Professor Snape, on the other hand, is a fully grown man, and should be able to rise above whatever hatred he had for your father and judge you separately from him. Not to mention that I am not blind to his gross favoritism towards Slytherin house, which Dumbledore should have put a stop to years ago."
Harry could hardly believe that he was actually hearing Percy agree with him about Snape, though saying so in a much more polite way then he would, instead of giving the same old spiel about how he was a teacher and as such must always be respected. "Thanks," he said, grinning. "That really means a lot, coming from you."
Percy actually visibly blushed, quickly ducking his head to try and hide it, but the pink tips of his ears were still obvious. "Well, just because I prefer to abide by the rules doesn't mean I'm blind to what's going on around me. I was aware of the fact that half the time Professor Snape was just as at fault as you were in your spats."
"Hmm." Harry's eyes drifted over to the clock hanging on the wall and he asked, "What time do you need to head for work anyway? I need to be ready to go with you to talk to the auror on duty after all."
Percy's eyes followed his gaze as he said, "Well, I like to be there by-- HELL!" He leapt to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. "I should be ready by now!" Harry stared after him as he dashed down the hall and disappeared into his room, more startled by hearing him swear then by the sudden burst of activity. It seemed like barely a minute later that Percy came running out again and grabbed his wand off the table. "No time for a shower," he muttered, then waved the wand over himself. "Abluo!"
Before Harry's eyes Percy suddenly became cleaner looking, although he hadn't realised until then that he'd been dirty to begin with. Still, there were a few things off. "Uh, Percy, do you realise you skipped a button on your shirt?" Percy looked down at himself, then quickly fixed the mistake while Harry walked towards him. "And, uh, your hair... you might want to brush it, or something."
Percy glanced into the mirror that was hanging next to the door, then grabbed a comb that was lying on the table under it and ran it through his hair a few times, managing to tame his bed-head at least enough to keep himself from looking completely unpresentable. That done he raise an eyebrow at Harry and asked, "Anything else?"
"Well, could you use that cleaning spell on me? I don't have any extra clothes to wear under my robes, and after last night these ones aren't at their cleanest."
"You should have said something, you could have borrowed something of mine. I know they'd be a bit long on you, but..." Percy trailed off, but the way he looked at the castoffs that Harry was swimming in spoke for itself. "Well, I don't think it would be that big a problem."
"I'll keep that in mind in case I don't get a chance to go clothes shopping today. But for now the spell'll be fine, thanks."
"Well, just remember to remind me tomorrow morning if needed. Abluo. Now, let's get going."
Harry followed him out the door, feeling a little confused. "Aren't you going to apparate?"
Percy raised an eyebrow at him. "Not from this close to the ministry, unless I was much later getting ready then I was. No need to waste energy that would be better spent on my work. Besides, I'm hardly going to leave you to make your own way to the ministry after last night. Once you've finished up at the Law Enforcement department I'm sure that they'll assign an auror to protect you, but until then you're in my care and I can't allow anything to happen to you."
Harry tactfully decided against letting Percy know how little help he expected the man to be if any Death Eaters did spot him and risk attacking, or how, if they did have an auror baby-sit him, he would damn well do his best to escape them as soon as he had a chance. Instead he just ignored the talk about his safety, and concentrated on the answer to his original question. "Does it really take so much more effort to apparate then it does to walk?"
"I'd forgotten for a moment, you're too young to learn how to do it, aren't you? Well, it depends on how good you are, how long you've been doing it, and how far you're travelling. It's not that much more tiring then walking from this close, but I'd rather not waste the energy when so little time is saved."
Harry snorted at this, and grinned at Percy. "Now that you're past showing off that you can do it everytime you get a chance?"
For a second Percy seemed to stiffen, but then he loosened up again and even smiled a bit at Harry in return. "Well... yes. Besides that, I don't like apparating over short distances because, well...." He hesitated a long moment, then said, "I'm trusting you not to tell my brothers this, but I'm not that great at apperation. I'm not at any risk of splinching myself, so I passed the test, but it's a lot more draining for me to apparate somewhere then it is for most other people to travel the same distance. It was worth it when I needed to travel from The Burrow to my office everyday, but not now that I live in the Alley."
"Oh." Harry digested this information, more then a little startled that Percy would admit this to him of all people. It was hard enough trying to imagine him confessing that he was less then perfect at anything he attempt to anyone, let alone Harry. "Well, I imagine I'll have just enough trouble when I get around to learning how to do it." Percy made a small sound of disbelief, and Harry glared at him for a second. "You better not be thinking that I'll be great at it just because I'm Harry Potter. If apparating is a thing like flooing or travelling by portkey then there's no way I'm going to be good at it. I hate travelling both of those ways, and I don't even need to put any effort into them. I'll probably set a new world record for the number of times I need to be unsplinched."
"Oh, I doubt that. If you're really as bad as you imagine you'll be then you'll probably manage to fatally splinch yourself long before you break the record. It's people who're only moderately bad that have a chance at it."
Harry stared at him silently, looking for any signs that he was joking, then finally said, "It's possible for splinching to be fatal?"
"Of course. You can leave behind most of your body and it's recoverable, but your brain and heart need to be in the same piece of you or you'll be killed. Preferably at least one of your lungs too, but it's not needed if you're gotten to quickly. You just need to remember to cast a spell that'll oxygenate your bloodstream. They'll teach it to you in apparation class." He managed to meet Harry's gaze steadily for a short while, then his lips began to twitch, giving him away.
"You ass! You had me believing you!"
They'd reached the Ministry by now, and the receptionist looked up in amazement at the sound of Percy's laughter. "If it makes you feel any better, I believed Charlie, and he believed Bill, though I'm not sure that Ron will believe the twins since no one with sense would believe a story like that coming from them. I'm sorry for dragging you into our little family joke, but since you brought up the topic I couldn't resist." He nodded to the receptionist, who was still staring back and forth between him and Harry, and said, "Good morning Ms. Davis. My friend here is expected at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"Oh, uh, yes Mr. Weasley. Do you need a guide there, Mr--"
He ignored her attempt to get his name, just saying, "No, I can make my own way." Then he turned back to Percy. He didn't really want their conversation to end, but obviously he couldn't stand their talking all day. "So, what time do you get off?"
"Come by the same time as last night. I'm sure I'll be ready by then."
"Alright, see you then." With one last smile, to let Percy know he wasn't angry about the joke, he turned and began to walk in the direction he remembered from the night before.
* * *
Nothing belongs to me, I'm just playing a bit.
It was the sight or the Weasley family waving at him enthusiastically from inside a cheap wooden frame sitting on a nearby dresser that actually reminded him of where he was. He slowly slid out of the warm bed, wishing that he'd at least managed to stay asleep long enough for the day to start heating up. It was too damned cool at six in the morning to be wandering around. Still, it was better to be cold and doing something then warm and staring at the ceiling, so he didn't let the chill drive him back under the covers. Besides, he hadn't showered before going to sleep the night before, and his escape from home had left him feeling more then a little grimy. He quickly dug the nicer of the two robes he'd brought, now badly wrinkled due to being crumbled up all night, out of his bag and grabbed the clothing he'd been wearing the night before off the chair he'd flung them on. As quietly as possible he slipped out of his room and across the hall, almost noiselessly closing and locking the bathroom door behind him then quickly threw off his boxers. As he turned on the water in the shower to let it heat up, and went about his morning business, he made a mental note to get some of his money changed at Gringotts and find a nearby muggle clothing shop. He didn't know how long it would be before he got to go back home, and he could hardly wear the same clothing everyday under his robes. At least the fact that it was summer meant that all he really needed was some cheap tee-shirts and shorts, and a couple of changes of underwear. Probably a slicker too, although he didn't actually need to go out on rainy days if he bought some books or something to pass the time.
He continued making his mental list as he slipped into the shower, adding toiletries to it as he squirted some of Percy's shampoo into his hand. His hair was just as contrary when it came to getting clean as it was about anything else he tried to do to it, and he'd noticed in the past that it seemed to take several times as much shampoo to make his hair feel fully washed then it did for anyone else he knew. Thinking of this, he raised his lathered hands to his head and then paused, sniffing, before holding them in front of his nose instead and taking a deep whiff. This proved to be a bad idea, as the ensuing strong smell of artificial strawberry scent made him sneeze hard, just barely remembering not to cover his mouth unless he really wanted to find out how the shampoo tasted.
He worked the lather into his hair, not wanting to waste it, before grabbing the conditioner and thin sliver of green soap that were also in there. They smelled like raspberries and melons, and Harry had to wonder whether Percy just grabbed the first things that came to hand when he went to the store or if he actually liked smelling like a fruit salad. Well, that was just one more reason why he needed to buy his own things for the shower.
His stomach grumbled at him then, reminding him not to take all day in the shower, and he rushed through cleaning himself, not needing to linger since he'd stopped feeling grungy almost as soon as he'd jumped under the water. He wondered if there was some magic in the water here that cleaned you better then normal, then decided that that was stupid. He hadn't noticed anything like that the last time he'd stayed at the Cauldron, and if they'd magiced the showers since then Percy wouldn't have shampoo and soap at all. Unless of course he really did like the way they smelled.
He dressed quickly once he was out of the shower, doing his best to ignore the mirror's catcalls and the way the air that had fifteen minutes earlier just been cool now felt frigid to his wet skin. Then, as quietly as possible, he exited the room and went to the kitchen, all but walking on tiptoes as he passed the couch where Percy was still sleeping. He wasn't surprised to find the fridge fully stocked when he opened it, even though he still believed that Percy had never actually cooked in there, he was the sort of person who would keep it stocked with food just because it was the proper thing to do with a kitchen. It's not like he'd need to keep using up his paychecks restocking as things went bad; Harry knew that Tom made sure that all the cupboards and refrigerators at the Leaky Cauldron had charms on them that kept food stored in them from spoiling.
For the first time ever Harry found himself a little less angry over his years spent as the Dursleys' personal chef, since over the years he'd perfected cooking as noiselessly as humanly possible. Now, even with Percy a few feet away he was able to avoid making any sounds loud enough to wake him as he scrambled eggs, and fried bacon. Coffee was a bit more problematic, since instead of the electric muggle coffee maker Harry was used to, Percy had a percolator. Harry wasn't completely unfamiliar with the device, years ago his uncle had had a superior who he'd been trying to impress that preferred percolated coffee, so Vernon had bought a percolator and Harry had to use it whenever the man came over. He hadn't needed to do that since the man had moved away when Harry was nine however, and now he first had trouble putting the thing together, once banging it together hard enough that Percy stirred in his sleep, and then realised he'd forgotten how long to leave it one the stove before it was done. By the end he was wondering why he'd even bothered to do this, since as far as he could recall Percy didn't even drink coffee. He supposed that it was just because he'd been trained to always make coffee with breakfast and now, even outside of the Dursley house, he was compelled to keep up the same old routine.
His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet groan coming from the couch. He turned to face it and saw that Percy's eyes were tightly squinched closed, but he seemed to be sniffing the air. Harry laughed softly at the sight and Percy's eyes cracked open. "Huh?" He murmured, squinting in Harry's direction. "Who izzat? Wa'm I on the couch?"
Harry laughed again, louder, at the unfamiliar sight of a disorientated Percy, then took pity on him and said, "It's me, Harry. I showed up at your work last night after the death eaters attacked my house, remember? Um, I made breakfast for us, if you want some. You did like your eggs scrambled, right?"
"That's right." Percy had found his glasses during Harry's laughing jag, and seemed much more clearheaded now that he could see what was going on around him. "How did you know?"
"Come on Percy, I've spent how many nights at the Burrow? Do you really think I'm unobservant enough to miss that?"
Percy looked at him strangely. "Well, most people wouldn't, in my experience."
"Really? Well, maybe it's just because I'm used to paying attention to things like that. The Dursleys always expected me to keep track of their tastes when I cooked. So, are you going to eat?"
"Oh, yes." Percy sat down at the table and Harry handed him a full plate, then joined him with his own food. He seemed hesitant to try it at first, but the way Harry began to wolf his food down seemed to reassure him that the food wouldn't be awful at least, and he took a small bit of his eggs. Then, obviously surprised at how good it was, he began to eat almost as fast as Harry. He even gulped down a cup of coffee, even though Harry could tell from his expression that he'd remembered right about his not normally drinking it. "This is really good, Harry. I didn't know you could cook."
"Well, eggs and bacon aren't that difficult, but thanks. I've been in charge of breakfast at my Uncle's house for years now, so I guess I've gotten pretty good. I would have made something a bit more complex, but I didn't know for sure what else you like."
"This is perfect. I don't need anything else. You might not think scrambled eggs are that big a deal, but they were always my favorite. I always leave for work before Tom starts serving breakfast, and I don't have time to cook myself, so I haven't had them since leaving home." For a long moment Percy seemed lost in thought, then he shook himself and focused on Harry again. "I'm surprised you always do so badly at potions class. If you like cooking enough to take over a meal when you're at home then I'd think you'd be the type of person to take right to potions."
Harry decided not to correct Percy about the reasons for his cooking breakfast (not to mention lunch, dinner, and dessert) at home, and instead said "Well, maybe if we didn't have such a biased bully of a professor I'd do better. I'm just lucky that I've always managed to scrape by with a passing grade considering how much Snape hates me."
"Well, it's not as if you haven't given him good reason to dislike you," Percy replied, then seemed to realise immediately that that was the wrong thing to say as Harry's face flushed with anger.
"What? I gave him reasons to hate me? He never even gave me a chance! The greasy bastard hated me from the moment I walked through the doors of Hogwarts, just because he didn't like my father!"
"Well, even if that's true, you could have tried to be a good student and prove to him that he had no reason to dislike you. Instead you and my brother antagonised him at every turn. And don't think that I don't know that that's true, as Head Boy and Prefect I was sent copies of all complaints filed against Gryffindor students, and I lost count of how many were about your picking on Professor Snape. I suppose that I should have reprimanded you for this, but I'm afraid I neglected my duties because you're a family friend and I didn't something like that to come between our friendship."
Harry glared at Percy, angry that just as he was getting comfortable with normal friendly him Percy the Perfect Prefect/Head Boy just had to make a reappearance. However, he found his anger slipping away to shock at the realisation that Percy had thought there was a friendship between the two of them at school. Sure, Harry didn't go out of his way to avoid Percy the way many other students in the tower seemed to do, and if Percy tried to strike up a conversation with him he'd go along with it for the sake of politeness if there wasn't an urgent reason for him to be elsewhere, but he'd never seek out his company just to hang out with him or talk the way he did with Percy's brothers and his other friends. When he wasn't being overly stuffy or overbearing Percy had always just been a figure in the background to Harry, a friendly acquaintance at best. But, thinking back on it, he couldn't remember anyone outside of the Weasley family other then Penny Clearwater who'd even talked to Percy for longer then absolutely necessary even out of politeness. Hell, half the time even his brothers didn't do that. Could Percy really have thought of him as a friend because of that? For the first time since deciding to head to the Ministry the night before Harry began to feel a little guilty for running to Percy purely because it had seemed to be the most strategically sound choice to make and completely lacking any real desire to see or spend time with him. "How about we just drop this topic," he said finally. "I don't want to have a fight with you, especially not over something like Snape."
"Alright." Percy stared down at his almost empty plate for a second, frowning slightly, then said, "Well, I do have one last thing to say. If it makes you feel better, I actually did disapprove of Professor Snape more then you when I heard of your encounters. True, I thought you should learn to control your anger toward him a bit, since his is a faculty member after all, but it's expected that most students have a teacher that they hate. I myself couldn't stand Professor Trelawney, although Divinations is thankfully neither a required class, nor one that I needed a NEWT in to work at the Ministry. Professor Snape, on the other hand, is a fully grown man, and should be able to rise above whatever hatred he had for your father and judge you separately from him. Not to mention that I am not blind to his gross favoritism towards Slytherin house, which Dumbledore should have put a stop to years ago."
Harry could hardly believe that he was actually hearing Percy agree with him about Snape, though saying so in a much more polite way then he would, instead of giving the same old spiel about how he was a teacher and as such must always be respected. "Thanks," he said, grinning. "That really means a lot, coming from you."
Percy actually visibly blushed, quickly ducking his head to try and hide it, but the pink tips of his ears were still obvious. "Well, just because I prefer to abide by the rules doesn't mean I'm blind to what's going on around me. I was aware of the fact that half the time Professor Snape was just as at fault as you were in your spats."
"Hmm." Harry's eyes drifted over to the clock hanging on the wall and he asked, "What time do you need to head for work anyway? I need to be ready to go with you to talk to the auror on duty after all."
Percy's eyes followed his gaze as he said, "Well, I like to be there by-- HELL!" He leapt to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. "I should be ready by now!" Harry stared after him as he dashed down the hall and disappeared into his room, more startled by hearing him swear then by the sudden burst of activity. It seemed like barely a minute later that Percy came running out again and grabbed his wand off the table. "No time for a shower," he muttered, then waved the wand over himself. "Abluo!"
Before Harry's eyes Percy suddenly became cleaner looking, although he hadn't realised until then that he'd been dirty to begin with. Still, there were a few things off. "Uh, Percy, do you realise you skipped a button on your shirt?" Percy looked down at himself, then quickly fixed the mistake while Harry walked towards him. "And, uh, your hair... you might want to brush it, or something."
Percy glanced into the mirror that was hanging next to the door, then grabbed a comb that was lying on the table under it and ran it through his hair a few times, managing to tame his bed-head at least enough to keep himself from looking completely unpresentable. That done he raise an eyebrow at Harry and asked, "Anything else?"
"Well, could you use that cleaning spell on me? I don't have any extra clothes to wear under my robes, and after last night these ones aren't at their cleanest."
"You should have said something, you could have borrowed something of mine. I know they'd be a bit long on you, but..." Percy trailed off, but the way he looked at the castoffs that Harry was swimming in spoke for itself. "Well, I don't think it would be that big a problem."
"I'll keep that in mind in case I don't get a chance to go clothes shopping today. But for now the spell'll be fine, thanks."
"Well, just remember to remind me tomorrow morning if needed. Abluo. Now, let's get going."
Harry followed him out the door, feeling a little confused. "Aren't you going to apparate?"
Percy raised an eyebrow at him. "Not from this close to the ministry, unless I was much later getting ready then I was. No need to waste energy that would be better spent on my work. Besides, I'm hardly going to leave you to make your own way to the ministry after last night. Once you've finished up at the Law Enforcement department I'm sure that they'll assign an auror to protect you, but until then you're in my care and I can't allow anything to happen to you."
Harry tactfully decided against letting Percy know how little help he expected the man to be if any Death Eaters did spot him and risk attacking, or how, if they did have an auror baby-sit him, he would damn well do his best to escape them as soon as he had a chance. Instead he just ignored the talk about his safety, and concentrated on the answer to his original question. "Does it really take so much more effort to apparate then it does to walk?"
"I'd forgotten for a moment, you're too young to learn how to do it, aren't you? Well, it depends on how good you are, how long you've been doing it, and how far you're travelling. It's not that much more tiring then walking from this close, but I'd rather not waste the energy when so little time is saved."
Harry snorted at this, and grinned at Percy. "Now that you're past showing off that you can do it everytime you get a chance?"
For a second Percy seemed to stiffen, but then he loosened up again and even smiled a bit at Harry in return. "Well... yes. Besides that, I don't like apparating over short distances because, well...." He hesitated a long moment, then said, "I'm trusting you not to tell my brothers this, but I'm not that great at apperation. I'm not at any risk of splinching myself, so I passed the test, but it's a lot more draining for me to apparate somewhere then it is for most other people to travel the same distance. It was worth it when I needed to travel from The Burrow to my office everyday, but not now that I live in the Alley."
"Oh." Harry digested this information, more then a little startled that Percy would admit this to him of all people. It was hard enough trying to imagine him confessing that he was less then perfect at anything he attempt to anyone, let alone Harry. "Well, I imagine I'll have just enough trouble when I get around to learning how to do it." Percy made a small sound of disbelief, and Harry glared at him for a second. "You better not be thinking that I'll be great at it just because I'm Harry Potter. If apparating is a thing like flooing or travelling by portkey then there's no way I'm going to be good at it. I hate travelling both of those ways, and I don't even need to put any effort into them. I'll probably set a new world record for the number of times I need to be unsplinched."
"Oh, I doubt that. If you're really as bad as you imagine you'll be then you'll probably manage to fatally splinch yourself long before you break the record. It's people who're only moderately bad that have a chance at it."
Harry stared at him silently, looking for any signs that he was joking, then finally said, "It's possible for splinching to be fatal?"
"Of course. You can leave behind most of your body and it's recoverable, but your brain and heart need to be in the same piece of you or you'll be killed. Preferably at least one of your lungs too, but it's not needed if you're gotten to quickly. You just need to remember to cast a spell that'll oxygenate your bloodstream. They'll teach it to you in apparation class." He managed to meet Harry's gaze steadily for a short while, then his lips began to twitch, giving him away.
"You ass! You had me believing you!"
They'd reached the Ministry by now, and the receptionist looked up in amazement at the sound of Percy's laughter. "If it makes you feel any better, I believed Charlie, and he believed Bill, though I'm not sure that Ron will believe the twins since no one with sense would believe a story like that coming from them. I'm sorry for dragging you into our little family joke, but since you brought up the topic I couldn't resist." He nodded to the receptionist, who was still staring back and forth between him and Harry, and said, "Good morning Ms. Davis. My friend here is expected at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"Oh, uh, yes Mr. Weasley. Do you need a guide there, Mr--"
He ignored her attempt to get his name, just saying, "No, I can make my own way." Then he turned back to Percy. He didn't really want their conversation to end, but obviously he couldn't stand their talking all day. "So, what time do you get off?"
"Come by the same time as last night. I'm sure I'll be ready by then."
"Alright, see you then." With one last smile, to let Percy know he wasn't angry about the joke, he turned and began to walk in the direction he remembered from the night before.
* * *
Nothing belongs to me, I'm just playing a bit.