Rating:
PG
House:
Astronomy Tower
Ships:
Other Canon Witch/Percy Weasley
Characters:
Percy Weasley
Genres:
Romance Drama
Era:
The Harry Potter at Hogwarts Years
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets
Stats:
Published: 07/16/2003
Updated: 07/16/2003
Words: 1,215
Chapters: 1
Hits: 539

Flustered

Lyta Padfoot

Story Summary:
Penelope Clearwater is disappointed with the quality of romantic advice offered to modern witches.

Posted:
07/16/2003
Hits:
539

"Flustered

Penelope Clearwater absently twirled a strand of her curly brown hair around a finger as she lay on her bed leafing through the pages of Young Witch magazine. The subscription was a birthday gift from her older brother - under ordinary circumstances a magazine consisting of article on pore potions and how to attract eligible wizards would have been beneath her notice, but her brother was oblivious to her tastes. Today, however, she attacked the wobbling stack of back issues collecting dust under her bed with the zeal of a general just handed an opponent's battle orders on the eve of major conflict.

Like a general, she had a clearly delineated mission: Percy Weasley. She'd snogged most of the male Ravenclaws in her year at least once, but none of them made her feel with the most practiced kiss the way Percy did with a glance. Penelope had always dismissed love at first sight as a charming fantasy, now she was forced to edit her opinion.

Never having felt so pulled toward anyone, Penelope needed the reassurance of advice. Unfortunately the sort of advice Young Witch offered made her head ache. It was incredibly insulting to any witch with self respect and an iota of intelligence to be told to 'play dumb' for the benefit of a wizard.

Not to mention the low calibre of any male who would actually find simpering attractive.

Penelope turned the page to the one section in the magazine that actually interested her: the letters to the editor. She was convinced that 'Clueless in Chelsea' was really a rather nasty Slytherin classmate desperate to snatch Roger Davies away from his girlfriend of four months, Cho Chang. Penelope considered the Slytherin's chances to be firmly in the realm of nonexistent.

If that's how she writes a letter, then it's no wonder she failed to attract Roger's interest,

Penelope thought shaking her head at the woeful grammar. It takes much more than a pretty face to turn Roger's head!

According to Young Witch, most teenage witches preferred cute but vapid types whose only accomplishments came on the Quidditch field. Percy was hardly the poster wizard for this sort of publication: he wore glasses that were not in tune with current styles and was more at home in a library than the pitch. He only attended Quidditch matches his brothers participated in.

Percy was adorable, but did not fall into the traditional definition of handsome. She loved his fierce intellect; his obvious love of family and his care towards his prefect responsibilities. The way he turned an unbecoming tomato colour and looked as through he had just been struck by a Bludger whenever she came into view. Penelope appreciated (even if others did not) how his serious demeanour contrasted with his fiery hair and surprising gentle eyes.

"Why am I reading this drivel?" Penelope demanded of herself. She banished the magazines back under her bed with a quick wave of her wand.

If my wizard is the opposite of the ideal described in this magazine, perhaps I ought to so exactly the opposite of what is suggested!

She thought back to the article on 'How to Win Your Wizard Without Resorting to Illegal Love Potions' from the October issue. The article was firm that the boy should always make the first move.

Then perhaps I ought to make the first move.

Penelope frowned as she considered, then rejected several scenarios. Most of the ideas flitting through her head were cribbed from Muggle movies and not applicable for real life.

The simplest plans are usually best. Perhaps I should just take him aside momentarily...

* * *

The next time she saw Percy was at the Leaving Feast. The euphoria of seeing Slytherin lose the House Cup to Gryffindor gave her a burst of courage that she decided to capitalize on. She threaded her way through the crowd to where Percy was chatting with Emma Alcott, one of the prefects from Hufflepuff.

"Ron is an excellent chess player - always has been - so I'm not terribly surprised he beat McGonagall's giant set. I am, however, very proud of him."

"You ought to be," Emma said. "He and his friends prevented much evil." Something in her voice, a certain wistful quality, made Penelope suspect the other girl lost family to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters. One of her own neighbours lost a son in the Falklands and he had the same inflection in his voice when certain subjects were touched upon.

Percy nodded. A shadow crossed his face for a moment and Penelope was reminded that he too was a pureblood old enough, if only just, to remember the darkness. Her courage started to wilt. What if the divide of house and background was too much? What if he was not even interested in her?

"Oh, hello Penelope," Emma said cheerfully as she noticed Penelope standing there. She waved a hand at the scarlet Gryffindor banners adorning the hall. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Penelope took a deep breath to dispel her doubts and grinned. "Oh yes, I thought the only reason Daniel Travers did not faint was that he was too stiff with shock!"

The two prefects laughed appreciatively.

"I wish I could've seen that," Percy said with a sigh.

Suddenly someone yelped loudly. It had to have been quite the sound for it to carry far amidst all the noise of the celebration. All three heads turned to see an indigent Hufflepuff with lavender streaked hair pointing her wand at a laughing pair of Ravenclaws.

Emma sighed. "Duty calls. If you will excuse me..."

She pulled out her own wand and fought her way through the crowd to prevent the further spread of chaos and lavender stripped hair.

Penelope decided to seize her chance. She grabbed a startled Percy by the arm and manoeuvred him out of the Great Hall into a small alcove shielded from public view. She smiled up at him and Percy flushed scarlet.

"Miss Clearwater..." Percy began formally before Penelope silenced him with a kiss. He stood as still as a statue for a long moment and Penelope feared that she had made a very big mistake. Then Percy slipped his hand around to tangle his fingers in her hair and started to kiss her back. She dimly wondered where he had learned to kiss like that and mentally blessed whoever was responsible. They did not break apart until both were weak kneed and breathless.

Amazing...

Cho Chang had once described a kiss from Roger as a warm and fuzzy supernova combined with a Bludger hit. Penelope decided the same description applied to Percy's kissing.

As Percy adjusted his glasses, Penelope dimly heard professors trying to tell students that it was time to return to their houses.

"You will write me over the holidays, won't you Percy?" She asked. Amazingly, the boy who had kissed her with such skill and passion a moment earlier turned a fiery red and stared down at his shoes. Penelope did not bother to resist the urge to kiss him good night. She tipped his chin forward and after almost losing herself in his eyes, she lightly brushed her lips against his.

When she pulled away again, Percy could only nod and whispered "yes."