Chapter Text
The sun slowly began to set over the castle as Percy put down his quill and fetched the last pieces of brown feather hair out of his mouth after chewing on the end of the quill for too long while his mind wandered to far away places. He’d probably get a new one later, he sure still had some in stock otherwise he’d ask one of his brothers.
As his mind started to wander once more, he stared out of the window watching distant trees dancing with the wind as they swung their majestic crowns from the left to the right. It looked effortless, he could watch the elements for hours.
Though the day had started out rather rough with rain bashing down onto the grounds of Hogwarts and wind rattling on the old windows of the Gryffindor tower - the sound he had woken up to this morning - as the afternoon came around the sun showed through the thick clouds and dried the mud, the only evidence of the starry morning now was the chill breeze of the first autumn days.
After searching the red horizon for a couple of minutes, he realised that the quidditch pitch had cleared up and no Gryffindors were left flying through the air.
It was probably later than Percy had realised if even Wood had stopped to torture his teammates already, so he stretched out his stiffened limps and tidied up his parchment rolls and ink. With a small touch of his wand the quill in his hands set to flames, he felt too bad to throw away the precious feathers of a bird so he viewed this ritual as a last sign of respect.
Leaving his nook at the window he couldn’t go any longer without noticing the chaos in his dorm though. More specifically the chaos Oliver Wood left in every space he set foot into. The belongings of his roommate were spread all over. Just last week he had found a piece of Wood’s quidditch gear beneath his bed.
Percy was sure this was the one thing that he would never adjust to, even after five years the chaos still bothered him as much as on the first day he met Oliver. The sheer amount of chaos he left wasn’t comparable to anything the redhead knew - and he grew up in the crammed burrow with six siblings. Percy surely had a lot of expertise regarding chaos.
But this was Wood. Percy couldn’t go a day in the castle without noticing him, even hiding was effortless as he discovered in their third year. Whenever Oliver entered a room, he would notice, his head would turn ever so slightly to the door to get a peek at the other entering the room, even when he himself wouldn’t notice.
When the brunette wasn’t there, he left his chaos to admire - it was unavoidable. And there was a faint smell stuck in the air he touched. A smell of rough, torn and used Quidditch leather and most ironically the woods itself. Wood always smelled like a century-old pine tree and Percy was sure he’d recognize the smell between hundreds of others. It was the most distinct and unique smell to ever cross his nose.
Percy felt his cheeks slightly flush with a burning red while he thought this intensely of Wood. Even his mind wasn’t safe from the Quidditch captain but how could a single person take up this much space? In disbelief over himself, he shook his head and climbed through the chaos on the floor to his bed and fetched the knitted jumper his mother had made him for last Christmas from beneath the quilt.
He changed into the greenish sweater with a big “P” on the front and threw his robes over his shoulders. While it was a slack Sunday there were some guidelines that needed to be respected.
Percy climbed out of the hole leading out of his common room but turned back around to wave the portrait of the Fat Lady goodbye. It was incredibly important to him to keep up a good relationship with her as well as the other portraits in the castle. They had to put up with so much, loud crowds of rude and disrespectful students passing by each day, he pitied them.
Could it be worse to hang in a school corridor rather than being forgotten? He wondered as he jumped down the stairs to the Great Hall. Almost halfway down he bumped into a crowd of first years though. They had gathered on the third floor, probably trying to catch a glimpse of the famous wooden door Harry Potter had used last year. He shook his head in a disapproving manner and was about to clear his throat as the bloody baron flew through the wall and shooed the first years away. They were still scared of the ghosts but it was for their best, the prefect decided. It was impossible to take studying too seriously and it would pay off if they started early rather than sneaking around the castle.
Just like that Granger-Girl his brother was friends with. While he wouldn’t admit it too loudly, he was pleased to see his brother taking the right steps and growing into a responsible young man.
As he reached the entrance hall, he saw Wood entering the castle. Without realising why he stepped behind the nearest column and observed the Quidditch captain coming in. It was clear that he had a rough training behind him, his uniform was covered in sparkles of mud and his hair was damp most likely from sweat.
He couldn’t help but notice how good Oliver looked each time he came back from training. Generally, the brunette was rather attractive. His statue was dense, his muscles showed and while he wasn’t the tallest he took in a considerable amount of space. He was the kind of person you would notice in a crowded room.
Percy just stood there and watched the other cross the entrance hall at a speed that felt like slow motion. He was way too mesmerised to notice the person sneaking up behind him and grabbing his shoulders, scaring his soul out of his body for a second.
“Fred! How dare you sneak up on me like that! I am the prefect in case you might have forgotten. This is no joke!”
Percy turned around and looked at his little brother, his brows furrowed with anger.
“Besides, where is George? You are not planning one of your silly pranks, are you? You know that I hate taking points from you but you leave me practically no choice!-”
He was prepared to go off for several more minutes; the tantrum their brother threw had become even more boring to the twins than Oliver's speeches before a Quidditch game.
But the older one was thrown off by the smile on his brother's face. It was the cheesiest thing he had seen in a while, probably since Ginny had forgotten one of her love poems for Harry Potter in the kitchen of the burrow.
“What is going on with you?”
His anger turned into suspicion as he leaned toward his brother as if the answer was hidden in a tiny font on the other's forehead.
“What’s going on with me?”
Fred couldn’t hold his laughter anymore, the amused twitching of his face turned into a grimace.
“I am not the one nearly drooling over Wood while hiding behind a slim column.. But you know, this is no place to judge. I have seen this boy's muscles…”
The younger redhead raised his eyebrows in a suggestive gesture as Percy’s expression went through several states of confusion. The only thing he could spit out was a dry-mouthed
“What?”
Though.
But Fred already moved on, up the stairs with this awful arrogant grin on his face.
How did he dare? Percy was sure he had not been drooling over Wood, it was a sheer coincidence he stopped behind this column and besides, why would he even drool over Wood? He was a boy, with muscles, a deep voice and all that stuff.
Sure, the prefect was envious from time to time, who wouldn’t be? But how could his brother even suggest something like that? He wasn’t that way.. His brother should know better, they had known each other their whole lives!
And most importantly, he was in love with Penelope, just as a boy should be - the adoring boyfriend of an amazing girlfriend.
Clearly confused he realised that it was already time for his weekly meeting with the other prefects and he decided to hurry since he wanted to catch up with Penny first. He hadn’t seen her all weekend and he noticed how he missed his girlfriend. He was sure that she would be able to distract him from Wood.