My Sincerest Apologies- Percy Weasley

16

"That's a nice sweater mum." Bill pointed towards Molly's Christmas sweater that was a nice holiday green with glitter mixed in.

"Thank you darling, Marianna knitted it for me." She replied proudly.

"Someone made mum a Christmas sweater instead of the other way around?" Ron chuckled.

"It was nice to be on the other side of such a thoughtful gift. I do have to say, she's a mighty fine crafter. Promise me you'll all find a lovely girl like Marianna to be your wife." Molly cheerfully said.

Ron fake barfed while Ginny laughed at her brother's reactions. Percy couldn't suppress his grin. His mum never liked any of their girlfriends yet she adored Marianna. Then a sorrowful feeling washed over him, she wasn't his girlfriend. She was just his mate. He'd never find someone like her that would make his mum proud of him.

"Or husband." Charlie noted.

Percy looked at him confused.
"Why would you say that?"

"There's lots of blokes in here, one of us is bound to fancy wizards more than witches." Charlie explained.

Oliver felt himself shrink where he was standing. He knew Charlie didn't mean any harm by it and there was no way of anyone knowing he was speaking about him, yet he felt extremely embarrassed.

"That's true I guess." Percy noted.

Oliver couldn't help but feel relieved at Percy's words. He didn't seem disgusted or weirded out by the thought.

"Welp. I'm not gay." Fred noted as he looked towards someone coming down the stairs.
Percy's eyes followed Fred's line of sight and he felt himself almost fall over at the witch in front of him.

"Wow." He whispered to himself.
Marianna with her perfectly tailored dress and magnificently styled hair was a sight to behold. Percy felt himself wondering if Christmas wishes could come true, because all he wanted was her.

"Sorry we took so long, Ginny was fighting getting her hair done." Marianna apologized to Mrs. Weasley.

Just then Hermione and Ginny walked down the steps, causing similar reactions from Harry and Ron.

"Woah." Both wizards said in unison. Marianna giggled at the lot of them.

The party wasn't too big, as it was pretty last minute to begin with. But a good crowd showed up regardless. Oliver's family came, and so did Hermione's surprisingly. They were being cornered by Arthur and his millions of questions about muggles but they didn't seem to mind much.

Marianna sat happily on the couch watching everyone enjoy themselves. She felt the seat next to her sink slightly and felt nervous when she noticed it was Percy sitting beside her.

"Do you miss your family at all or are they as bad as you say?" Percy asked. To any one else this would have been offensive or too straight awkward to ask, but Marianna was used to Percy being blunt and knew he meant nothing by it.

"I dunno, I feel like I should miss them. I think I would if I didn't have such nice company here. The idea of family is so much better than my reality to be completely honest. I adore yours much more than my own." Marianna admitted.

Percy looked around the room at all the happy smiling faces and he felt himself agreeing with her. He truly did have a great family.
"I appreciate it."

Marianna looked back at him slightly confused.

"Your love for my family, I really appreciate it. They deserve your love just as much as you deserve theirs." Percy explained.

"They- they love me?" Marianna asked, completely surprised by the statement.

"Of course we do."

We

That word sat with Marianna. He said we and she couldn't stop thinking about it. The mere idea of being apart of this family, a real part of this family, made her overjoyed.

"Ollie is this the girl we always hear so much about?" Oliver's mum exclaimed.

Oliver smiled broadly, proudly pulling Marianna beside him and throwing an arm around her shoulder.
"Yeah, this is Marie!" He exclaimed.

Marianna offered her hand to shake.
"Marianna Fudge, how lovely to finally meet you both."

Mr and Mrs Wood shook her hand excitedly, smiling proud at their son.
"You never told us how pretty your girlfriend is!" Mrs. Wood noted.

"Girlfriend?" Marianna and Percy asked in unison.

"What do you mean?" Oliver questioned.

His parents chuckled and looked between eachother and then back towards Oliver.
"Son you don't have to act like you two aren't a thing, I was a teenager once ya know." Mr Wood laughed.

"You two are dating?" Percy questioned in a dejected tone.

"No, no of course not!" Marianna exclaimed to Percy.

"Of course not? Are you insinuating my son isn't good enough?" Mrs. Wood questioned.

"No, that's not what I meant, anyone would be lucky to be with your son!" Marianna attempted to explain.

"So you do fancy him then?" Percy asked.

All eyes were on the lot of them as they continued to argue and confuse the situation further. Oliver felt the world crashing down around him as their voices grew louder and louder.

"I'm gay!"

The room went silent and everyone turned towards Oliver.

"What?" Mr. and Mrs. Wood asked.

Oliver ran out of the room and Marianna immediately ran after him. Oliver's parents looked to Percy for answers but he was just as surprised as they were, after shrugging his shoulders he too went after his mates.

"Ollie, Oliver wait!" Marianna called after him. He finally stopped when he reached Percy's room, Marianna shutting the door behind them.

"Im so sorry Marie, they get all nosy and then they just say whatever comes to mind and they shouldn't have put you on the spot like that and I didn't know what to say and then I-"

"Ollie, Ollie, take a breath. Breathe." Marianna noted, rubbing his back to comfort him.

Oliver took a long shaky breath then fell into Marianna's arms, turning into a sobbing mess.

"It's okay Ollie, it's okay." She soothed as she continued rubbing circles.

The door clicked open to reveal a teary eyed Percy. Oliver wiped his eyes and nose dry and stood up, walking up to him with his head hung low.

"Im sorry Perce, I-"

He wasn't able to finish the sentence because Percy pulled him into a tight hug.