Y/n's POV:
Two weeks later, and it was time to travel through the fireplace once again.
I hated traveling with floo powder. I always felt nauseous doing so, and had this re-occurring fear that I would end up in some random person's living room. It wasn't the most fun way to travel, but it was the safest. No Muggle was in our living room, other than my Dad, so it was good in terms of not giving away our magic identies to any unsuspecting Muggles. Plus, you wouldn't have to walk anywhere. Which I was all for.
I placed down my luggage in the fireplace, quickly hugging my Dad goodbye and grabbing a handful of floo powder. Stepping back in, I grabbed my small suitcase with my free hand and stung back backpack over my shoulder, calling out 'The Burrow'. I threw the powder into the fireplace and soon the green flames surrounded me. Mere seconds later, I found myself at my destination.
I coughed slightly as I entered the Burrow, the soot from the fireplace now in my throat. But before I could get even a single word out, Fred and George had already enveloped me in a tight hug. "Guys... can't...breathe." I choked out, their strong grips cutting off some of my air supply.
"Sorry." They corused, collectively taking a step back.
"Good to see you too, you idiots." I laughed, ruffling up their hair.
"You too Y/n/n." They said.
I let go of my luggage and gently put it down next to me. "Hi Molly." I beamed at the familiar red-haired woman. She returned with a hug if her own, her's being alot more comfortable then the one the twins gave me.
"Good to see you back again dear, it's been so long." Molly smiled excitedly.
"I know, six months is a long time. But it's good to see you again too." I beamed.
"Well boys, don't be rude! Take Y/n's luggage and bring it upstairs." Molly looked to the twins, who where standing there akwardly - waiting for my conversation with Molly to be finished quickly. They both sighed in defeat, Fred grabbing my small suitcase and George my backpack.
I shook my head, chuckling. "Silly boys, those two are."
"Indeed they are." Molly grinned, dusting off some lint from my shoulders.
"Where'd everyone else run off to?" I asked, looking around the room, not seeing (or hearing) anyone else around.
"Arthur had to run off with them to Diagon Alley, Ron forgot scabbers again there while they where out shopping for late Christmas presents - they needed all the help they could get to catch him. " Molly explained. "Just like you said, silly boys." She giggled.
I laughed. "They sure are."
And at what most people would call prefect timing, the rest of the Weasley family burst through the door. Mr Weasley looked frazzled, hair all around the place and scratches all up his arms. Ron was attempting to keep a tight grip on Scabbers who was wiggling around in his hands. And Percy trying his best to comfort Ginny who was on the verge of tears. "Whoa, what happened here?" I asked.
"Oh hi Y/n, good to see you. Perfect timing actually." Percy said.
"It is?" I asked quizzically.
"Yeah, don't you have that ointment for owl scratches? Do you think it would work for rats too?" He asked.
"Oh, right! I'll just go grab it real quick, it should be in my-" I began.
Then came the sound of a loud bang from upstairs. You could hear the twins sqeak in surprise, calling out apologies. And I went up to investigate. "What the hell did you guys do?!" I yelled, noticing my broken suitcase on the floor, all my belongings scattering out of it.
"We're sorry! We where just fooling around and-" Fred began. I huffed, grabbing piles of my clothes and attempting to stuff the ones that would fit into my (surprisingly un-harmed) backpack.
Percy came upstairs to see what was going on too, seeing the mess that was caused and immediately began to help me pack my stuff back in. He didn't say a word, not being so surprised to see what had happened, having lived with The Twins for the majority of his life. "Thanks." I breathed out. He nodded.
The Twins just stood there akwardly, not quite sure what to do. "Well if you're going to break her suitcase, the least you could so is help!" Percy interjected.
"Right." They said, getting on their knees to help pick some of the stuff up.
"Thanks again, Perc." I said.
"It's alright, it's not-" He stopped suddenly, gingerly picking a small piece of clothing. "Is this yours...?" He asked hesitantly.
My eyes widened seeing the black bra - or rather, MY black bra - in his hands. I snatched it without and single word, and turned back to my other clothes. Percy was blushing slightly, but quickly turned back to the rest of my belongings.
The Twins snickered in amusement. "What, never seen a bra before?!" I quipped back. Their faces immediately dropped back down. "That's what I thought." I huffed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After finally finding the ointment for the scratches on Mr Weasley's arms, and my suitcase was magically put back together with Molly's help - everything seemed to finally calm down. We where able to all greet eachother without the disturbance of the Twins and catch up properly. Sitting peacefully on the couches and chairs of the living room, sipping at whatever new hot drink Molly had made for us - we chatted away.
Ron had just finished telling us all the new adventures with Harry, who was staying with his family over the Winter Holidays. I felt bad for him, knowing what kind of a household he had to go back into. But sadly, there wasn't anything I could do. I'd tried everything - contacting Dumbledoor for example, but he wasn't responding to my posts. Typical, I thought.
"What about you, Y/n?" Arthur interjected.
I looked up from my mug of hot chocolate, glancing around the room. "What about me?" I asked.
"Well, what have you been up to? Over the Holidays, we mean." Molly asked.
"Well, uhm..." I started, placing down my mug on the table and began adjusting the rings on my fingers out of habit. "Not alot really. Dad and I went to a carnival which was pretty fun."
"A carnival?" Both Percy and Arthur repeated, at the exact same time. I laughed a little, the unison reminding me of the twins.
"Yeah. Do you guys not have that here?" I asked. They shook their heads.
"Oh we have to go sometime, it's really fun! It's basically this place where...." I began explaining extatically. Percy had seen how exited I'd gotten by mentioning it and smiled softly at the sight. "But because my Dad still had to work alot, we didn't do much more than that. I mostly just stayed in my room and read." I shrugged, taking another sip of my hot cocoa.
There where a mixture of sad smiles in the room the second the words left my lips, and I cringed. I didn't want their pity. I hated pity. It made me feel like a child. "It's seriously alright you guys, I'm used to it. I'm just glad he's got a job that he loves and is earning better money now." I said.
They thankfully shook away the subject, instead begun to focus on Charlie and what he was doing in Russia. Apparently he was a part of this new research team to investigate the existence of Witches and Wizards during the 18th Century. It was rather fascinating. We continued to talk about it for a couple more minutes before Molly sent us up to our rooms to unpack and get ready for the night.
I was thankfully left with a room of my own (Charlie's old one, who was completely ok with me having it) while everyone else was stuck with sharing them. As I was unpacking my stuff from my backpack, I heard a knock on the door. I walked over to answer it and was only mildly surprised to see Percy at the door. "Hey." He said.
"Oh, hi." I replied, smiling in an attempt to sort-of conceal the tension between us. "What're you doing here?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Right... I- uh just wanted to check up on you. We haven't been able to talk much since school finished. And I don't know...I wanted to see how you where doing." He shrugged in an attempt to remain cool.
I nodded. "Right. Yeah I've been good. Managed to read a book a day while I was at home." I let out a dry laugh. Percy didn't say anything in response. "I'm sorry, I'm making this akward." I cringed.
"No, no it's ok. You're not." He gently placed a hand on my shoulder as a way to calm me, which it sorta did, before he'd quickly realised what he had done and pulled it pack hastily. "I... just thought you where going to continue, I like listening to you talk." He said.
I smiled at this. "Thank you, but there's not much to tell. Though I did go to Waterstones! Which is a Muggle bookstore by the way." I explained. I saw his eyes light up and he even smiled little as I continued. "My Dad let me go out and buy some books with the Christmas money he gave me. I read them all a little too quickly though." I let out a laugh, a real one this time. "And that's all." I finished.
He smiled again. "That sounds awesome."
"And you'll be even happier to find out that I got you something from there to." I grinned.
He let out an exited gasp. "No way! Oh my Merlin Y/n, you're amazing!" Letting out a small laugh, he hugged me tightly.
I stood there for maybe half a second, not quite sure what to do with myself and feeling rather stunned by his sudden closeness. Probably sensing my hesitation, he began to pull back in fear that he made me uncomfortable but I quickly stopped him. I hugged him back even tighter than before, bringing my arms around his chest and onto his back, holding him in place. Now it was his moment to hesitate, before he did the same.
Because we where so close in hight, (him being 6"1' and I 5"10') I was able to lean my head on his shoulder and was able to faintly smell the lingering scent of old books, cotton and cashmere. It made me feel weirdly comfortable. As if I had someone to protect me, and keep me safe. I felt secure in that moment. He made me feel secure.
"I don't mind you hugging me you know, we've done it before." I let out a chuckle.
"Right. Noted." He grinned, pulling back.
"Now, I want to know what you've been up to. I like to listen to you talk too you know." I said.
We sat down on my bed, leaning back a bit until our backs hit the mattress and we where staring at the ceiling. We continued to talk for a while, getting completely lost in eachothers stories as we laughed along to embarassing ones and reminiscing on past experiences. I had learned a few new things about Percy and while he may have considered some of them weird, they only made me like him more.
He had a love for chocolate just as I did but refused to eat any with nuts or rasins in it. He was allergic to watermelon but loved strawberries. And compared to my love for more modern books, he preferred the classics. One of his favourites being "Little Women" which Fred and George had gifted to him as a joke but he actually ended up loving. Jokes on them, he teased.
I told him about the times when I would visit my Grandparents as a little girl. My Nana was the best cook, though she always snuck me a little chocolate before dinner despite knowing my father would have a fit if he found out. My Grandad was a lawyer for many years, and successful one at that.
Though he eventually had to quit after an incident with one of his clients and ended up working at at a local grocery shop until he retired. Though their lives weren't prefect, they made a point to be happy. They always showed their love for me even in the hardest of times. And I think that's why it hurt so much when they finally died. From then on, it was just me and Dad.
But I decided to leave some of those details out.
Eventually, Percy and I both grew tired. Not surprising since we'd stayed up until maybe 1 am chatting away - but even then, I couldn't explain the sad feeling I had gotten when he eventually left.
A/n: Hi guys! It's been a while :)
A couple things first... happy new year and a late happy holidays. Thank you for helping me hit 10K a day before the new year and now 12K only a month later! I can't even begin to explain how much this means to me, it was a big milestone and it wouldn't have been possible without any of you guys <33
And also, great news...
This story will officially not on hiatus any longer! Though the updates will be slow, I have decided to continue this story and can't wait to be writing further chapters for you guys :)
Hope you all have had an amazing week/weekend and an amazing month! I love you guys xx