Of Peculiar Friendships
Author: Curious Forgotten Lore
Rating: K or G or whatever the heck these things should be
Pairing: None. Maybe a little Percy/Oliver pre-slash if you are squint
Summary: Oliver contemplates the complexities of friendship with Percy.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and I do not intend any copywrite infringement. I am only doing this for fun, no profit is being made.
AN: Thanks to Caraotd for all her encouragement and praise. You are the sort of reader who make writers feel so much better about themselves and their work and the sort of writer who makes a fellow writer jealous. Thank you.
There was a framed photograph on the table beside Percy Weasley's bed. It had been there the first night he and Oliver spent at Hogwarts, the last, and every night in between. It had a carefully polished bronze frame, which Percy was adamant about keeping absolutely clean. A glass plate in front of the photo, by contrast, forever had Percy's fingerprints smudging it.
Oliver could always remember watching as Percy stared into the photo, even as a first year, and carefully allowed the pads of his fingers to graze the photo. For months Oliver had assumed the photograph was of Percy's family; that the wistful look in his eye was merely homesickness. It wasn't until December, when Oliver carefully set the Christmas gift of chocolate frogs on his roommate's bedside table that the curiosity tugged at him and he took a look.
A small crowd of children sat in the picture, all of them looking to be three or four years old. Percy was easy enough to find, but once Oliver located the bright red hair he hesitated. The child in the picture was smiling, laughing with his other friends, looking animated and popular. As much as the photo seemed different than his roommate, Oliver knew it had to be him. The resemblance was too shocking for it to be otherwise.
Oliver's eyes trailed to the other children staring at each cataloguing every detail. They were unfamiliar, all of them. And he finally gave in and looked at the neatly written caption Percy had carefully placed under the picture.
Savannah Norrington, Cordelia McFaden, Algernon Richards, Zachary Brown, Percy Weasley; Spring 1980
He couldn't just ask who they were, where they were now. Percy would wonder why he was so interested, and he wasn't sure he had an answer that could stand up to Percy's critiquing. So he wrote down the names on a scrap of parchment and looked them up in with some help from a somewhat suspicious Madam Pince.
Cordelia McFaden. Born October 3, 1976. Died November 17, 1980. Death Eater raid in Diagon Alley.
Zachary Brown. Born March 9, 1976. Died February 12, 1981. Death Eater raid on his home.
Algernon Richards. Born July 22, 1976. Died June 30, 1981. Death Eater raid at a Quidditch Match.
Savannah Norrington. Born September 1, 1976. Died October 20, 1981. Death Eater raid at her home.
And the next time Oliver saw Percy staring at the photograph, he knew the wistfulness was the pain of losing too many friends too soon. Oliver hadn't known many people during the war, he didn't remember too much, a couple of people moving away to somewhere safer, but no deaths that he remembered.
What it must have been like, Oliver wondered, to see your circle of friends slowly disintegrate. He wondered if Percy's first thought had been that his friend, Cordelia, was mad at them and was sulkily refusing to play with them anymore. He wondered how long it took Percy, way too smart for his own good Percy, to realize that there was more to the story than his friends not coming to play anymore. After Zachary? After Algernon? After Savannah? Wondered when he realized none of his friends would ever come back to play with him. Wondered if a young Percy would have cheerfully followed them in death if it meant not losing his playmates. Wondered if Percy blamed himself for them leaving him behind.
Oliver kept quiet about his reservations, not wanting his somewhat aloof friend to fall further away from him. The school year was nearly over when he accidentally caused quite the confrontation. He had rather loudly, because Oliver just didn't know how not to be loud, announced at breakfast that Percy Weasley was his best friend.
Percy had barely spoken a word to him the rest of the day and Oliver wasn't sure why he was angry. When they returned to the dorms after classes, he apologized anyway, blunt and awkward because he still wasn't sure what he was apologizing for. He had been honest earlier; it was his roommate who he felt to be his best friend. He was, after all, the one who listened to him rant about Quidditch and helped him with his homework. And it's not like it would kill Percy to lose his snobby reputation and make some friends, anyway.
As soon as the thought registered his gaze snapped over to the photo and he quickly wrenched them away, hoping Percy hadn't noticed. Percy, unusually shrewd as he was, saw Oliver's eyes flicker toward the bedside photo and gave a sad smile. He took the picture into his hands and gave Oliver a look. Somehow Oliver knew that Percy was aware of his snooping; that Percy was well aware of how much Oliver knew.
"They were my best friends, you know." Percy said, his voice rather distant. "And they just…disappeared. One by one. 'No, Cordelia won't be coming back, I'm sure she did promise to play dragons and unicorns with you, but she won't be here'." Percy snorted and shook his head. "'No, Zachary won't be coming back, not for a long while.' 'No, Algernon won't be back…yes, like Zachary and Cordelia.' 'Percy, about Savannah…'"
"Percy—" Oliver tried
"My best friends" Percy said, with quietly. "Slowly disappearing until I was alone. I had friends once, Oliver and look what happened to them. Don't try to take their place, Oliver, please don't."
Oliver looked through Percy's glasses to the bright blue eyes that now gleamed with tears. He didn't want to forget, Oliver realized, he didn't want to move on.
Didn't want to endanger Oliver with his friendship. As if that had been what was causing the problem all the while.
The desperation in Percy's tone was something Oliver couldn't quite understand; could never sympathize with. Or, perhaps he could. Percy had lost friend after best friend during the war; it seemed now that Oliver was losing his. And he knew that he too would never fully let go.
"I won't." Oliver said solemnly. There was nothing else he could have said.
Percy looked at him intently, as if to judge his honesty. Oliver had never lied to Percy, and never would. Percy seemed to realize this and nodded before silently gathering his things to go to the library.
From that day on, Oliver never called Percy his best friend. If asked, Oliver would reply teasingly that Quidditch was his best friend, to the general laughter of the inquirer. Oliver spent most of his time with the rest of the team, or planning Quidditch strategy. Percy had, in effect, asked him for space, and Oliver was determined to give it to him, so he focused his life around Quidditch, the one area he was sure Percy would have avoided anyway.
But each of Percy's accomplishments was fondly logged away in a small corner of Oliver's heart, where Oliver could show his admiration and pride for Percy without Percy's unease. And no one in the crowd was more exuberant about Oliver's victories than Percy.
No one else knew that it was Percy, not Oliver, who had designed the play that helped Gryffindor defeat Slytherin in the match for the Quidditch Cup. No one else knew it was a discussion with Oliver that had inspired Percy's potions essay that earned a grudging ten points for Gryffindor from Snape. They complimented each other; but they did so quietly.
Oliver never said a word when Percy started dating Penelope Clearwater, who bore a striking resemblance to Savannah Norrington. Never asked Percy for more information about these people than Percy was willing to give. He knew when to push and when to force his curiosity to take a backseat. Percy had always seemed grateful for that.
And their departure from Hogwarts hadn't changed anything dramatically. Percy had notified Oliver of his new job within seconds of getting the news himself. When Oliver was signed to Puddlemere United, Percy found out before Oliver's own mother.
And the photograph of Percy and Oliver, from the beginning of fifth year with them proudly wearing their respective Quidditch Captain robes and Prefect badge, was carefully captioned and placed with greatest care into a silver frame and sat to this day on the corner of Percy's desk. Its perfect replica on a crowded shelf with Oliver's awards.
Percy was, without doubt, Oliver's best friend, and Oliver was Percy's.
But they'd never say so.
AN: Caraotd told me that the reference to Penny is a bit creepy, but works for the story. I truly didn't intend for it to be creepy, but rather a sign that in some ways Percy is subconsciously trying to recreate things he misses from his childhood, even when he is actively pushing aside Oliver's friendship because he feels it is too reminiscent of the childhood friendships he lost. I didn't even realize how creepy it sounded until she mentioned it, but I decided to leave it as it was. Interpret it however you may.