I want you by my side.

Percy just shook his head. He couldn’t form the words properly to establish what he had been fearing for six months previous to this meeting. At last he managed to force out, “I’ve had to keep it quiet. Anyone could tell the Ministry, and then I wouldn’t have a job or privacy or any of my friends. No one I’ve talked to has been accepting, and they had to be threatened in order to keep them quiet. I suppose I just assumed that you would be the same.”

Oliver closed his eyes and shook his head. Then he returned, “I can see that this is going to be very difficult to make you understand, much less believe.”

Percy shrugged, but had no response for that.

Oliver pointed back over his shoulder, asking, “You see that team photo on the mantle?”

Percy nodded.

“The man on the far left, second row. Ginger-ish hair, fairly tall, sort of smirking at the camera?” Oliver wanted to make sure that Percy understood.

His companion nodded again. Clearly, he was dealing with a mute.

“I guess it would have been about… oh… two months after I joined the team, we started to become lovers. It only lasted about a month after that, but it would appear that, specifically, I have a thing for redheads. Male redheads who have a bit of height to them,” he emphasised.

Percy gulped. “Please stop,” he intoned.

Oliver shook his head, “I’m not finished yet, Perc, calm down. Have a drink, light a cigarette, and relax. We may yet be here for a while,” he said, moving around to pour the other man a drink.

“Now, when I’m done, you can leave. You can run away screaming, never look back, never speak to me again if you do not want to. I’ll never breathe a word of it to anyone if that is the way you want it. You can turn your back on me, if that is what you truly wish to do, but for now you are going to listen to what I have to say. Is that clear, or do I need to use small, clear words so that you can comprehend through your… apparent shock?” Oliver taunted.

“As long as there’s an exit clause in this contract,” Percy replied snarkily.

Oliver grinned before continuing his speech, “Well, well. At least you are well enough to make jokes now. I rather thought that you might just pass out at any moment. You do have a very weak heart, for a wizard, Perc,” Oliver paused to make absolutely sure that this was taken as the light-hearted teasing that he meant for it to be, before he carried on, “Now, I did have a thing for you at Hogwarts. For all of our sixth and seventh years, and half of our fifth, to be exact. I spent a lot of time hiding it from you. As well as more time on the Quidditch pitch, practicing. than was actually necessary. I stayed awake with you at night for months on end, despite being exhausted…And then finally, I just forced myself to ignore it. Penny’s constant, never ceasing presence helped. But it never went away, Perc. And it’s not some horrible secret that is going to be the end of anyone’s career or the cause of their losing all their friends. If you want to see men, then see men. Don’t hide behind being too busy at work, and don’t use your work to ignore it, and don’t avoid your friends in order to block it out and hide it from them. It isn’t fair to the people who know you to not really know you, and it isn’t fair to do it to yourself either. Trust me, I learned it the hard way. It’s not like you make some kind of announcement, you just go about your life with whomever you want the same way you would had nothing changed.”

Oliver stopped talking for a moment because he realised that he was becoming far too involved in this, and far too passionate about the subject. He took a breath, and then, “All I’m saying is that you are making your life far more difficult than any of it needs to be. Your internal conflict is hurting my external observations. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion, Perc. Don’t do it to any of your friends and don’t do it to yourself. It’s not fair to anyone involved,” he finished.

Oliver threw himself into the corner of his couch, lit a cigarette, and did not say another word.

Percy very slowly came out of his shocked stupor and got up. He turned to Oliver and said, “Goodbye, Wood.” Then he gathered his things again, and this time actually made it out of Oliver’s front door.

He found himself wandering around the streets outside Oliver’s flat, having shrunk all of his things into a size that now fit into the pocket of his trousers, as he was only now realising that he had left his cloak on the heater inside. But damned if he were going back in that place anytime soon.

Percy lit a cigarette and wandered over to the pub down the street. He didn’t bother to order a drink, clearly he was already more foxed than was really advisable. He merely sat at the bar and smoked.

Oliver stood in the doorway from his lounge into his kitchen and stared at his front door. He was going to regret that speech, he was realising now. He knew that he had just lost a friend for a long time. As he turned to go back into his lounge and drink himself into a stupor, as had been the original plan, he saw Percy’s deep crimson cloak still sitting on the heater where it had been left. His friend had been so upset that he had left without it and would probably be too angry to come back to retrieve it. He sat on his couch, shot his whiskey all at once, and put his head in his hands.

Percy was still hesitating, fidgeting and glancing from Oliver to the window every few seconds, as he had been for the last ten minutes. Finally, he pulled a cigarette out of the pack he’d been keeping in his pocket and asked, “Do you mind if I have a smoke, Ol?”

“Go ahead, I was going to have a couple myself. Ashtray’s on the end table.” Oliver replied, sitting up.

Having appropriated the ashtray to the coffee table, both men lit their cigarettes and then slowly exhaled. All of the tension seemed to leave the room, or at least lesson considerably. Percy had always liked to watch other people smoke, there was a sense of calm around it. It revealed a lot about a person without asking much.

Percy started chuckling softly, “It’s like we’re third years behind the Quidditch shed again, bloody hell…” he said.

“At least now we don’t have to worry about Snape or Filch…. or worse, McGonagall sneaking up to chastise us for having a smoke,” Oliver replied.

“Oh, you never know, one of our old teachers could decide to visit you and burst through the door at any moment to admonish us for smoking these frivolous things! Not as if they hurt Wizards at all anyway,” Percy continued, still chuckling.

“But Perc, we were not using our time on an activity that they approved of!” Oliver began to chuckle too.

“Oh of course,” Percy started to say, when there was a knock on the door, “Maybe I shouldn’t have doubted their ability to know that we were having a smoke.”

“Maybe not,” Oliver returned.

“I’ll get the door, then,” Percy said, rising.

“I’ll go with you, so we don’t confuse anyone,” Oliver replied, rising also.

Still carrying their cigarettes, they went to the door, just as the knock sounded again. Percy opened the door with Oliver behind him, only to reveal another old friend behind it.

“Oh, hullo, Lee, I almost forgot!” Oliver rushed to the closet across from the front door, retrieved a brown paper package and handed it over to Lee.

“Thanks, Wood. See you next Thursday?” Lee asked.

“Of course, Lee,” Oliver replied and closed the door, wandering back into his lounging room.

Percy followed him back and asked, “What was all that?” as he reclaimed his seat on the couch.

“A bunch of people from our year get together every other Thursday. Sort of a smaller version of the Order,” Oliver replied, “This will be the first time that I’m going,” he finished.

“Ah. Want company?” Percy asked, taking a drag from his second cigarette.

“I thought I had company right now, actually. But I wouldn’t mind if you tagged along, no,” Oliver teased.

There was a silence for a few more moments, while they enjoyed their drinks and smoked a little more.

“What were you about to tell me, a little while ago, Perc?” Oliver asked.

Percy tensed just a bit, and took a drag from his cigarette, “My roommate is sleeping, and he won’t appreciate me coming home foxed at four in the morning, which is where this is headed.” he answered.

“Oh… I get it. He’s about as much of a prick as you’ve been?” Oliver attempted a joke about it.

“I could take lessons,” Percy replied.

“Just relax, drink up, and don’t worry about it,” Oliver suggested.

For a while they talked over their memories of Hogwarts and Dumbledore, and what would happen next. Then it became worry over their families and a mention of Oliver’s younger brother and sister, Jordan and Sonja. Finally the two just decided to stop talking about the depressing things that were so stressful, and put on a record so they could drink and smoke themselves into a stupor.

“You listen to Muggle records, Ol?” Percy asked, a little surprised.

“I think that it shows better artistry than our music does. They put more work into it, you know? Any wizard can bewitch instruments to play along with them while they sing, but these artists actually put together a band, or play themselves.”

“I think you’re right,” Percy admitted.

They listened through REO Speedwagon’s Keep Pushin’ and then Building The Bridge in relative peace.

A few songs later they had both decided it was time to go for coffee and food.

Tucking their cigarettes into pockets, Oliver clamped a hand on Percy’s arm and Apparated to Olivia’s.

“What is this place, Wood?” Percy asked, after they sat down.

“The best little take-away place in our world. Any kind of coffee you can think of, along with endless amounts of different kinds of food. Chinese being my personal preference. Any objections to that?” Oliver asked.

“None at all, it sounds great.” Percy replied.

They ordered far too much food; fried dumplings, sweet and sour chicken with the sauce on the side, two separate types of rice, some kind of shrimp and pasta, black pepper potatoes, chicken eggrolls and regular eggrolls, shrimp on its own, scallops, three orders of homemade fortune cookies, egg noodles, and three large boxes each of French fries and tator tots. Then they made sure they had two white chocolate mochas apiece and took all the food back to Oliver’s place.

“I think we may have out-ordered ourselves, Ol,” said Percy

“Nah, we’ll just pretend that we’re still growing Hogwarts students. Dumbledore was always big on everyone eating as much as they could take,” Oliver grinned.

“I can’t remember the last time I got to smoke and drink while I ate, much less the last time I had time to eat this much,” Percy said, between doing all three.

“Oliver Wood: Professional Force-feeder,” said Oliver with a grin.

“Surely not as bad as that time that you charmed your door, your quill and your broomstick to say ‘I can only please one person each day. Today is not your turn. …Tomorrow is not looking good either.’ if you tapped it, whenever someone annoyed you. At least not yet,” Percy was finally teasing back.

“People ask too many questions. Specifically, the same questions. Repeatedly. I don’t like repeating myself, you know,” Oliver responded, but he was still grinning around his food.

“Sorry, what did you say, Ol? I couldn’t quite hear you,” Percy smirked.

“I’m going to choose to ignore you. Hey, did you know that people have been saying that they’ve been seeing you around London’s more… quiet restaurants without anyone? There’s talk that you’ve stopped seeing women,” Oliver looked at Percy quizzically.

Percy hesitated. Then he tried to casually say, “Oh? I hadn’t noticed. I have been having dinner and supper with my business contacts frequently, lately. I don’t suppose any of them are women.”

Oliver nodded, but privately he was thinking, ‘Well, that confirms my suspicions.’

Percy lit a cigarette and Oliver followed suit, neither saying a word for a while.

Halfway through his smoke, Percy asked, “Have you noticed that most of this evening has been a series of long awkward silences and hesitation?”

“Mmmhmm,” Oliver mumbled through the smoke he exhaled.

“You don’t mind? It doesn’t bother you?” Percy inquired.

Oliver shook his head, “I’ve always been content to let you take the lead.” he murmured.

They looked at each other for a moment, considering what that meant.

Ginny was making margaritas when Seamus walked in.

“Oh lord. What happened now?” he said when he saw the tequila.

“Jordan broke rule #13.” was her reply, without looking up.

“Erm. How?” Seamus knew he was going to regret that question.

“They have to call in someone to look at the paperwork,” again, Ginny didn’t take her eyes off the blender.

“How does that… I’m sorry, remind me what Rule #13 entails, again,” Seamus was used to Ginny’s rules by now.

“Rule Number 13: Never, ever, involve lawyers. For any reason,” Ginny said matter-of-factly.

“Lawyers. Oh dear. Is Jordan still living?” Seamus actually was a bit worried about that. Ginny took lawyers very seriously.

“For the moment. His luck may or may not hold. Depends on the lawyers,” she said.

“Please don’t kill him, where on earth will I find another producer?” Seamus was almost pleading, now.

“In Oxford?” Ginny didn’t have any remorse when someone involved lawyers.

Seamus was silent and still. It only took a minute before Ginny gave in.

“Oh fine. How about I make you a margarita? I can make it a virgin!” she offered.

Seamus leaned forward to whisper in Ginny’s ear, “I doubt that.”

Ginny finally looked up as she gasped, “Offensive! Very offensive!”

Seamus just walked away, laughing.

“Library books.” he murmured, looking at the stacks.

Pansy nodded.

“Library books?” he stared at her. “Really?”

Pansy fidgeted a little under his gaze. “I have them from every city I’ve ever lived in. I’ve been doing it since I was ten.”

Draco glanced at the books again, then back to her. “You never get to call me insane again.”

Pansy fidgeted some more. “Done.”

Draco walked out of the room mumbling “She steals library books?” under his breath.

Pansy watched him for a moment, then picked up The Rivers of Zadaa and set up camp in an overstuffed chair.

“Oh, not this again!” Said a voice from the door.

“Do shush, Draco.” said Theo from the couch.

“Must you insist upon watching this rubbish at least once a week? Really?” demanded Draco.

“Must you consistantly complain about it? It’s not as if I tie you to the couch and force you to watch it with me.” Theo shot back.

“Yes. The Constant Gardener does not qualify as quality entertainment, Theo. Tessa and Justin be damned, you don’t need to cry like a little schoolgirl every single weekend,” proclaimed Draco loudly.

“If you had ever bothered to watch this movie, Malfoy, you would know that The Constant Gardener is not about just the romance. It’s controversial, and for good reason,” Theo explained absently.

“Wouldn’t you rather read something? Wander through the seas in Moby Dick? Become unstuck in time with Billy Pilgrim? SOMETHING intellectual?” Draco cried in desperation.

Theo finally looked up, pushed Draco down into sitting on the couch, turned back to the movie and said, very quietly, “Sit still. Hush. Watch.”

“Hey Gin, hows the shop going?” Charlie walked into the living room and slumped into his father’s favourite arm chair.

“Dead standstill,” She murmured without looking up. “Can’t seem to find a reason for the hero to come in and purchase any books.” she closed her laptop with a soft ‘click’. Ginny was a writer, and her Uni classes were forever the bane of her creative existence; or so she said. She took a glance at Charlie.

“Oh. What did Peeves do now? Bloody prick…” she mumbled the last bit.

Everyone knew that Charlie was in a perpetually tormented relationship with a man called Jared Peeves. He was forever putting the breaks on or starting endless arguments over nothing, disappearing for weeks at a time, only to come back guilting and cajoling Charlie into accepting him again

Unfortunately it was painfully obvious that the man was silly in love with her brother, or Ginny would have had a few choice words with him a year or so back. But no one dared tell Charlie. Peeves was a dangerous specimen. Still,it was tempting at times like this.

“Nothing, he’s just holed up in the studio again. Has been for a week. I’ve nothing to do.”

Ginny hid her amusement. If only Charlie knew what Peeves was up to in there…

A Note: This was written purely for amusement purposes, and thus far has five and a half chapters.