My Sincerest Apologies- Percy Weasley

7

Percy sat at his usual spot at the dinner table, in between Oliver on his left and the Twins on his right. Marianna always sat directly across from him, but she never spoke much.

"I just really think you two should have better aspirations for your future!" Molly exclaimed.

The twins just hummed a reply. This was a daily routine between Molly and the Twins. She'd tell them to focus on school more and they would act like they didn't hear her. Marianna smiled warmly at the situation, chewing softly and quietly as she usually did.

"What are your aspirations for the future Miss Marianna?" Arthur asked out of the blue.

"Me?" She questioned.

"Yes you, big plans for Minister of Magic maybe?" Arthur chuckled.

Marianna was about to just smile and nod as she usually did, hoping the conversation would move on to someone else. Yet today she felt different, Possibly Oliver's words were getting through to her or maybe she just felt comfortable talking to the Weasleys.

"I Uhm, no actually. I'd like to work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." She replied.

The sound of a fork falling caused Marianna to glance at Percy whom looked the most surprised out of all of them.

"Oh really? That sounds exciting!" Arthur replied, gaining Marianna's attention once more.

She smiled up at him, feeling slightly proud of herself in this moment. It was nice to be praised for something that was purely her own doing for a change.

"I'm not surprised, Marie is rather nurturing. Kinda like a mum." Ron explained.

"Yeah and she's strong too, that'd help with catching big creatures." Ginny added.

"Not to mention you're very smart, I'm sure you'd bring a lot of knowledge to that department." Hermione said as she smiled warmly at the Ravenclaw girl.

Everyone seemed in good spirits, smiling and agreeing. Then everyone's attention shot back to Marianna whom was now sniffling with tears running down her cheeks.

"Did I say something wrong again?" Ginny asked.

"No, no Ginny." Marianna replied through giggles. She looked up and met everyone's eyes, her cheeks stained with tears but a bright smile on her lips.
"Thank you, all of you. It means so much to hear such kind words about me."

"Awwwwwww!" Ginny exclaimed, pulling Marianna into a tight hug.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry joined in. This caused the twins to get jealous, so they threw themselves on top of the lot of them. The group fell to the floor in a fit of laughter.

Percy studied the situation. He wondered why he hadn't known that about her, it got him thinking about how no one really knew her. Besides maybe Oliver.

The red headed Gryffindor Prefect couldn't help feeling like he wanted to know more about her. This intense feeling of wanting to hear her talk for hours while he listened was new to the wizard, he didn't know what to make of it.

"You should talk to her tonight." Oliver whispered.

"About what?" Percy questioned defensively.

"You know what I mean Percy, make up, make amends. She's in the perfect mood to open up and have a chat." Oliver explained.

Percy looked back at Marianna whom was cheerfully chatting with Hermione and Harry. Oliver was right, she looked the most happy she had been all holiday. Percy would even say she looked like she was glowing, he couldn't help but gawk at her.

He quickly shook his thoughts from his head when he overheard Oliver talking about quidditch with the twins.

To Percy's eyes, Marianna and Oliver were a thing. He had always assumed Marianna fancied Oliver, or atleast had a small crush on him. And why wouldn't Oliver feel the same about her? They seemed a nice pair in his head.

Oliver was obviously going to be a rich Quidditch star while Marianna was already wealthy and was bound to do great things for the Ministry. Not to mention they looked good together. Oliver was described as a handsome bloke by most female Hogwarts students, and Marianna had Wizards lined up nonestop at Hogwarts as she was known to be beautiful.

Thinking anything different about her in this moment was not worth it to Percy. He obviously didn't want to lose his friendship with Oliver if he did truly have feelings for her and because, why would she ever want someone like him, when she could have someone like Oliver?

Yet he couldn't help the pounding of his heart beating when he looked at her.

The way her nose would crinkle when she found something Ron said funny, or how she always hummed enthusiastically when she would eat something she found tasty. She was adorable.

Adorable?

Percy felt his world turn upside down. At the start of holiday, he hated Marianna Fudge and now he found her, adorable?

Percy almost looked forward to his chat with her tonight, he hoped maybe she could say something to make him hate her again.