In A Time Of Uncertainty

Part One, Chapter Four

Percy's flushed face of three hours previous flashed across Oliver's mind.

"We were positively convinced he was gay until he started dating Penelope," said George casually. "He's so...so..."

"Prissy," finished Fred.

"Oh, that makes him queer for certain," said Oliver, rolling his eyes. He himself had never actually met a gay man that fulfilled that particular stereotype.

"Come on, Ol, you know what we mean. I can just see him reading about - " George picked up Summer of Fire " - 'François gasped at the sight of Michel's smooth, sculpted backside' - "

"Give it back," said Oliver, self-conscious. Having people know you were gay was one thing. Having them read aloud from the latest addition to your erotica collection was another.

"To tell you the truth," he said, hoping to get them out of his room as soon as possible, "Percy has always struck me as practically asexual. In fact, I don't think that I've ever seen Percy show any emotions beyond frustration, irritation, and smug satisfaction." Plus something that might be either discomfort or embarrassment, he added silently to himself.

"Sounds right to me," said Fred. He looked at his watch. "Well, dinner's nearly over. Perhaps we can find him in the common room." He and George left, closing the door behind them.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Oliver picked up a quill and wrote his letter home. The letter to Jean-Marc could wait until morning - he was quite tired, and he still had N.E.W.T. studying left to do.

As he attached the letter to Ares's leg, Oliver looked back on his choice to take seven N.E.W.T.s and wondered what he'd been thinking. Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Astronomy, Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ancient Runes all looked as though they'd be as nastily exhausting as the name of the exams promised. Keeping options open, Oliver told himself. He was keeping his options open.

Quidditch was a difficult sport to break into professionally; despite what the Gryffindor Chasers thought, it was quite possible that Oliver wouldn't be drafted anywhere. Even if he managed to secure a position and played at his full potential, he'd be retired from the game by forty at the absolute latest. After that, no definite career plans came to mind. It was unwise to suppose that Quidditch would make him enough money to retire on, and besides, Oliver had too much energy to retire early. Coaching was always viable, but he didn't know if he could stand to instruct others in a game he could no longer play himself.

Opening the window, he released Ares and then sat down with The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven. However, his eyes involuntarily shut at about the fifth line, and he realized that it was going to be impossible to stay awake. He'd spent the weeks before the Cup studying advanced defensive strategy at night, and now the hours of lost sleep had finally caught up to him. Deciding it would be best to get some rest sooner rather than later, Oliver shut the book and changed into his pajamas, grimacing as he did so. He wasn't particularly fond of his pajamas and he usually wore boxers to bed at home, but the unspoken dormitory etiquette prohibited him from doing this at school. After performing cleaning spells on his face and teeth, Oliver crawled into bed and was asleep within the minute.

He awakened to the sound of the door slamming and footsteps outside. Squinting, he sat up to see Percy leaning against the door, an exasperated look on his face.

"Hello," said Oliver groggily.

Percy looked at him, startled. "Oh, hello Oliver," he said, his voice surprised. "I didn't know that anyone else was in here."

"Yeah, couldn't stay awake. What's the noise?"

Percy let out a deep breath and pushed back a strand of hair. Oliver had never noticed his hands before; with their long, slender fingers, they looked as though they were carved from ivory. Percy's hair, however, had been observed by Oliver several times, as he envied it immensely. His own hair was brown, plain and straight, unremarkable and bland, in his opinion. Percy's thick red curls were, unlike those of the twins, closer to auburn than orange. The only thing that Oliver disliked about Percy's hair was the way he combed it: slicked down flat with a part on the left. It seemed like a defiance of nature and therefore both absurd and futile.

"Fred and George," said Percy. "If they spent half the time on academics that they spent on their pranks, they'd actually have above-average marks. However, they seem to have decided that their future lies in juvenile jokes and the pursuit of utterly pointless knowledge."

Prissy indeed.

Percy removed his glasses and began to polish them on his robe. If there was anything Oliver found more bizarre about Percy's appearance than the way he combed his hair, it was his glasses. The thick horn rims looked as though they should belong to a man of at least seventy, rather than seventeen. Oliver shuddered inwardly as Percy finished his polishing and put the glasses back on.

"Lane and Theo are in the library, and I expect they'll been there for some time yet," said Percy, referring to the other two boys who shared their room. "Would you mind if I studied in here?"

"No, go ahead," said Oliver. Over the Christmas holidays, the little girl next door had been teething, and after surviving a fortnight of screams Oliver had developed the ability to sleep through anything.

Percy took some books off his nightstand and sat down in the window seat. Cross-legged, open the thickest of the pile and stared intently at it, occasionally scribbling a few notes. Oliver watched from the corner of his eye.

Now that he thought about it, Percy really wasn't bad-looking. What had been gangliness their first year had now transformed into a tall and lithe physique. He also had absolutely flawless skin, unmarked except for a patch of small freckles across the bridge of his nose. If only he would do something about those horrible thick glasses...Percy's eyes, Oliver noticed for the first time, were light brown, framed by long curly copper lashes. They were actually very pretty.

It was unfortunate that Percy was straight and, well, Percy. He was surprisingly quite attractive.