As Oliver Wood entered the Gryffindor common room he reflected that he had never seen it so quiet. He scanned the room for red hair. There, in a cluster at the far table were Harry and the Weasleys. Ron was so pale that he looked like he might faint, and the twins were staring motionlessly down at the table. In all the time he’d known they Oliver had never seen them so still. But for all their teasing of their little sister they’d loved her very much… he looked for the fourth Weasley brother and didn’t find him. Percy should have been with the others, he’d be devastated by Ginny’s death… however hard he tried, Percy hadn’t been able to hide the fact that he doted on his baby sister.

A quick, whispered conference with their roommates revealed that Percy had sent an Owl to his parents and then retreated to the dormitory. Out of respect, the rest were staying away.

Worried, Oliver went up to their room. The door was not quite closed all the way, so he quietly pushed it open and stepped inside. Percy, seated at his desk, didn’t seem to notice him at all. He was just sitting there, head in hands, as unmoving and silent as his brothers in the room below.

"Percy?" Oliver whispered. Percy jumped, grabbed for his glasses, and settled them on his face before turning to look at him.

"Yes?" he queried in his usual composed tone of voice. He might have fooled Oliver if not for the way he was hunched over, hugging himself as though in pain.

"Why aren’t you with your brothers? You shouldn’t be up here all alone," Oliver said, as gently as he could.

Percy flinched anyway, and turned away again, fumbling with some papers on the desk "I-I had some correspondence to see to. There’s always so much- so much to do –" His voice was lost sounding, and ended with a faint choked off sob.

Overwhelmed with pity, Oliver pulled a chair over beside him and tried again. "Percy…"

The other boy burst into tears, undone by the sympathetic tone of voice. Oliver simply took him in his arms and rocked them back and forth, murmuring reassurances as Percy shook with broken, silent sobs.

While people tended to think Oliver never noticed anything unrelated to Quidditch, he was actually quite observant. And if there was anything he’d learned about his reserved roommate in six years, it was that Percy was extremely sensitive and rather shy.

Percy started to pull away, abruptly realizing what he’d done. Oliver found himself regretting letting him go, as he had no idea what to say or do next.

"I’m sorry," Percy sniffled, trying to pull himself together. "It’s- it’s just that I can’t help thinking – if I’d just paid more attention to her. If I’d tried harder to find out what was bothering her she wouldn’t be – missing – now, I think she knew something she was so upset’ he broke off abruptly, unable to stop the steady stream of tears.

Oliver was startled. Percy believed that Ginny’s dea –er… disappearance was the result of negligence on HIS part? He thought back to a mere month earlier, when he’d woken to the sight of a small figure outlined in the doorway. Before he’d woke up enough to say anything he’d heard Percy whisper "Ginny?" and get up. He’d picked up the sobbing little girl, even though she was 10, much too old to be carried, and headed downstairs. When Oliver had slipped down the stairs to the common room to make sure everything was okay, he’d seen Percy rocking her quietly, listening to her broken speech. Gathering Ginny’d had a nightmare, he’d gone back up to bed, reflecting that Percy was more like a father than a brother to his siblings sometimes.

"Percy, you’ve been hanging over Ginny like her nursemaid all year!" Oliver let his disbelief show in his voice. "Every time I turned around you were tearing into the twins for teasing her or making sure she was eating. When she had a nightmare, she came and got you, not one of the others! Percy looked up at him, startled, and he held the eye contact, wanting him to BELIEVE what he was telling him. "You did as much as you could possibly have done. This isn’t your fault. This is the fault of Slytherin’s heir, and when we find him – " Oliver heard the coldness in his voice, " when we find him – he is going to PAY"

Percy broke down again, sobbing on Oliver’s shoulder. When he’d cried himself out, Oliver helped the shaky boy to his bed. He left him there for a moment to fetch a wet washcloth from the bathing rooms, and then returned to gently wipe off the tearstained face. Percy started to object, but he placed a finger on his lips and continued. Percy gave up, too tired to argue.

Oliver set the cloth aside and reached down to push the now wild red hair off Percy’s forehead. A rush of unfamiliar emotion filled him as he looked down at the pale face. Slightly unnerved, he pulled back his hand and busied himself convincing Percy to get under the covers, tucking them in around him. He was startled when Percy asked him hoarsely "Do you think there’s ANY chance she’s still alive?"

Trapped, Oliver didn’t meet his eyes as he answered "I don’t know. I hope she is". He didn’t think there was any hope whatsoever that the girl was still alive and thought that was actually better than the alternative of her being trapped alone in the Chamber of Secrets with whatever monster had been unleashed.

"That’s what I thought" said Percy bleakly, and Oliver turned back in surprise to see him shut his eyes in pain. He had clearly picked up on Oliver’s un-voiced opinion.

"I’m sorry Percy… I never really had much to do with her because she was so much younger, but she seemed like a nice little kid" Oliver was aware he was speaking in past tense.

After a pause, Percy replied. "She was. She was only 10; she was too bloody young to even be here. Mum will never get over this" he stated with conviction. Realizing that Percy needed to talk, Oliver murmured "Shove over" and climbed onto the bed with him. They lay side by side in the darkness as Percy talked. Oliver learned more about Percy and the Weasley family than he had in the last six years put together. Eventually, Percy fell asleep, leaving Oliver brooding over the damage Ginny’s death was going to cause to her family, especially to Percy. He suspected Percy would always blame himself for her death, no matter how unrealistic that was. It made him feel sick to think of the boy, who seemed so vulnerable suddenly, going on with his life that way. The thought struck him that he wasn’t sure Percy WOULD go on with his life with his guilt hanging over him, and he shivered, and moved closer. He’d have to do what he could to help Percy, because it didn’t look like any of the other Weasleys would be in a position to do so.

When the other boys slipped in quietly to go to bed, he pretended to be asleep.

The next evening, Oliver and his friend and roommate Tim were perched on Tim’s bed, playing a last round of Wizard Chess before bed. Oliver had looked for Percy earlier and failed to find him… he couldn’t help worrying, although he’d heard that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were here now. He looked up to see Percy close the door to the room and lean against it, face pale, eyes closed, and shaking like a leaf.

"Percy! Are you okay?" Oliver blurted, knocking over the chess set as he stood up hastily.

Percy opened his eyes and looked at him for a moment, before a smile bloomed on his face. "She’s alive," Percy said, very quietly. "Hermione had figured out what the monster was, Harry and Ron found her notes, and they rescued Ginny. She’s going to be okay." He was half laughing by the end of the statement, as he swept a happy glance at all his roommates.

Forgetting their usual awkwardness around Percy, all four boys rushed to congratulate him, overjoyed at the news. After a couple minutes of thumping Percy and each other on the back, the other three left to spread the good news to the rest of the Gryffindors.

Left alone with Percy, Oliver moved closer to the shaken, but still smiling boy. "I’m so glad she’s okay, Percy…"

"Me too" was the only reply he got, as Percy leaned in and hugged him hard, overwhelmed again. He let go a second later, realizing what he’d done, stumbling over his apologies.

Oliver, amused at Percy’s assumption that he would object to a simple hug, just drew him closer and hugged him back. When Percy raised his head again he’d stopped shaking and looked much calmer, although the stunned smile seemed to be permanent.

"I can’t believe she’s alive. I’ve gone right past relieved into slightly hysterical" Percy sighed.

"And now you can fuss over her and take care of her to your heart’s content," Oliver teased him gently.

"Really Oliver, you make it sound like I hang over her wearing an apron or something," Percy complained with something like his usual dignity in his voice. He was still smiling though.

Oliver chuckled softly and rested his forehead against Percy’s. "You trying to tell me you don’t fuss over your siblings, Percy?"

A sound suspiciously like a giggle escaped Percy. "Perhaps I tend to fuss – a LITTLE – but I wouldn’t have to if any of them could stay out of trouble for more than a few days," he defended himself.

"Can’t argue with you there," agreed Oliver, oddly content to be standing there like that, with Percy’s breath warm against his face.

A particularly boisterous cheer rose from the common room and they moved reluctantly apart.

"Want to go down?" Oliver asked.

"That’s probably Ron and Harry returning," said Percy with a wry grin. "We’d better go rescue them… they’ll need their sleep after all this."

"No fussing, huh Percy?" laughed Oliver

"Never," said Percy, looking slightly sheepish, blue eyes bright with laughter.

So they walked down together, Oliver staying comfortably close to Percy, wondering why he’d never noticed how absolutely beautiful the other boy was when he smiled.

The End