Year One, Part Three: Hidden Depths
I didn't have this written originally, as most of their early years are supposed to be through Percy's eyes, but someone asked and I'm a sucker for my reviewers.
Be forewarned: There is much more to simple little Oliver than anyone dares to suspect, especially Percy. And, uh, I hate this chapter. Don't know why, I just do.
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Oliver sighed and turned in his bed again. It was a nice, big, and comfortable bed. He couldn't help but feel that he should have fallen to sleep the moment his head hit the pillow because it had been a very eventful day, as his mother would put it.
He missed his mother already. And his little sisters and his grandmother. He was used to always having them around, talking, laughing and just…around. And he was very used to having Nancy and Lacy in his bed and taking up all of the room. It was amazing how much room a five year old and a three year old could take up when they wanted to.
It wasn't that they had to sleep together anymore; it was just that it put them at ease. They probably wouldn't sleep a wink tonight. They'd probably drive his poor mum up the wall.
His mother didn't make a lot of money and his father was…well, his grandmother liked to say his father was a clinically useless bum who couldn't find his ass without the help of Oliver's mother but Oliver had to confess he wasn't totally sure what that meant.
His family now lived with his grandmother because they'd been forced out of their apartment over the summer when his father had 'mysteriously vanished' into the night. Mysteriously vanished being code for 'lost his job, got tired of smacking Oliver's mum, and decided to run off with his other girlfriend'. But Oliver wasn't supposed to know any of that because it was very unseemly and the Wood family had a reputation to maintain
His mother just told neighbors her husband had died and hoped they believed her.
He didn't mind so much though, the moving. He'd spent the last four years of his life sharing a bed with his little sisters and now he had his own room in the attic, plus they had a big yard and his grandmother had a cat. It was old and fat and slow but he kind of liked having a pet.
And it was still better than Percy's pet rat.
One of the perks of his own room was his own bed, though it hadn't really worked out that way. Nan and Lacy always ended up in his room, in his bed by the time the sun came up and as much as he whined he liked it. The new house, the new room, and the new bed…those two made it easier to adjust to it all. Made it feel more like home for him.
And here he was, three months later, with yet another new bed and this time no little sisters to help him break it in. It was just…so big. Open. Empty.
He turned again and looked over at Percy who was fast asleep. The redhead had been asleep before his head had really hit the pillow and it had been funny at first. Now Oliver was just lonely.
He slid out of bed and slipped on his slippers before padding out of the room. Already he liked the Gryffindor Tower. It was warm and friendly and everything was in shades of red and gold, with tall portraits of past house members on the walls, chatting and wandering about aimlessly.
This late however all of the paintings were asleep or elsewhere so none of them called greetings or waved as he crept down the stairs into the Common Room. He could see light being cast around the room from the flickering fire and hesitated for a moment, wondering if whoever was down there would mind the company of a first year.
He decided to chance it and crept over only to find the fire deserted. He scratched his head then shrugged. He had no idea why a fire would be lit if no one was down here but his mother had told him Hogwarts was full of mysterious going-ons.
Maybe spontaneously lighting fires was one of them.
He sat down and, finding the warm glow of the fire oddly comforting, pulled his legs up to his chest and watched the orange-red flames jump in all directions, and the sound of logs crackling.
Without really meaning to his mind drifted to the Sorting Hat and the strange words it had whispered to him before calling out Gryffindor. He'd only had the thing on for an instant but it had left him something to think about that much was for certain.
Oliver Wood… my quite the little knot of secrets you are. No worries, I know just the person to unravel you. Sometimes I enjoy this job.
Then the hat had laughed (which was strange as well. Talking he could understand but laughing? What in the world had been so funny? Then again he supposed being a hat that come out once a year left one starving for humor.) And he'd been occupied with the fact he'd been put into Percy's house.
He couldn't explain it really but something about the redhead was…something. He couldn't really think of a good word for it, but it was something good. Warm. Different.
And Oliver had never really had a friend of his own. The Muggles they'd lived around could never really come over or stay at his house because of the magic his mum used, and the Wizarding kids he had to hang around…well his mother made him do it. Said they would be a good influence on him.
He thought they were all damn annoying but he couldn't say that out loud. His mother wouldn't have approved and she was trying so hard to make their family fit in with all of the other families and make friends with all of the neighboring mothers. Oliver loved his mum and he was willing to deal with people for her.
He yawned and wrapped his arms around his chest. He laid his head on the armrest and before he could fully realize what was happening had fallen asleep.
000000
"Bill? Bill…Hey! Keep your hands to yourself for a moment."
"You're a bloody tease Jamie, I hope you know that."
"There's a kid on the couch. I thought you made sure everyone was in bed already. Isn't that what you people do?"
"…You're so unappreciative. I get all the brats to bed, I start a fire, I risk McGonagall to come and sneak you out of Ravenclaw and into the tower and all you do is whine. 'Bill my feet are cold' 'Bill there's a kid on the couch', 'Bill I think Mrs. Norris is out.' 'Bill-"
"William, you sound like your mother."
"I hate you."
Bill muttered before shuffling over and scooping the kid up. He was surprisingly light considering that he was only a little bit smaller than Bill's brother Percy was, and Bill stumbled for a second. The boy muttered in his sleep then cuddled against him, unknowingly resting his head on his shoulder and winding a hand in his hair. Then he went silent.
Bill blinked, not at all sure what to think. The only two people who'd ever done anything remotely like this were Ginny, and she was the baby so he didn't mind, and Percy. And Percy had grown out of that phase the moment he grew out of needing a nightlight. He looked at Jamie who smirked. He could feel heat rushing up his cheeks.
"Not a word." He warned. The Ravenclaw's smile only grew. "I mean it Jamie. Not a word."
"You'll make such a fine daddy Bill." Jamie said in a singsong tone of voice. Bill grimaced. The things he was forced to put up with for a good snog.
He turned and headed up the stairs. If he recalled correctly this was the other new first year. He'd seemed friendly with Percy, which was promising. Poor Percy was more or less stuck in the middle back home. Ginny and Ron always played their games together and only drafted Percy as a referee. The twins were inseparable and as different from Percy as night and day. And, though Bill hated to admit it, he often shut out his younger brother.
But there was a nearly seven year gap and with Charlie there was only a year difference and…
Well it was good for Percy to have friends of his own.
Speak of the little devil.
Percy peered out of his dorm room just as Bill was shifting Oliver's weight to open the door. Sleepy blue eyes locked onto his own. Percy's lips pursed.
"'Liam?"
Bill's eyebrow quirked. Yep, Percy was clearly less than a hundred percent awake. That nickname had gone the way the nightlight and crawling into Bill's bed after nightmares. He reached out and ruffled Percy's hair and laughed when Percy batted at his arm weakly. He rather liked Percy when he was asleep. He acted more like an eleven year old should and less like a thirty-year-old man trapped in the body of a child.
Percy was probably more mature that Bill was.
"Not a baby." Percy muttered but allowed himself to be turned around and aimed back inside. "Why're you carrying Oliver?"
"Fell asleep downstairs."
"Oh."
Bill dropped Oliver onto the bed across from the one his brother was climbing into then pulled the covers up over the brunette. Oliver rolled onto his stomach and snored softly. Bill chuckled and turned around to say something to Percy (what he wasn't sure) but found his brother had already dropped off.
He shrugged to himself and headed for the door.
Back to Jamie and, hopefully, the snogging he'd been deprived of all summer.
Thanks to Curious, Angel, PWeatherby, Silver Mirror, Mugs, and Sheepgomeep.
