"Please, Percy?" came a young voice that could only be Ginny Weasley.

"No, Ginny, I've got to finish the de-gnoming," came Percy's firm voice in response. Oliver couldn't resist, getting up from where he'd been sitting, waiting for the Twins to finish getting yelled at by their mother. He quietly peeked around the edge of the ramshackle house to see Percy standing in the middle of the garden, looking harassed. Ginny was standing at the edge of the garden, in a swimsuit, with a pleading look on her face.

"Please, Percy? I asked Mom earlier, and she said I could go swimming, as long as I don't go alone. C'mon... I'll help you de-gnome later!" A distinct whine was creeping into her voice, and Oliver couldn't help grinning to himself. He'd been there a week, visiting the twins, and he hadn't seen her on any less than her best behaviour. Well, aside from going after George with an uncooked fish last night before dinner, but he really thought that would have been a reasonable response to the situation on the part of anyone.

"Why don't you get Ron to go?" Percy said, trying to get out of it.

"He won't play with me, because Oliver's here and the Twins are letting him play Quidditch with them." Ginny sulked.

"Well, ask the Twins and you can all go. I'm sure Oliver would probably like to go for a swim."

Ginny's eyes narrowed in a manner strikingly reminiscent of Percy on a bad day, and this time Oliver actually snickered. Fortunately, neither of them heard.

"I HATE the twins! They'll just dunk me, and put a spell to keep the dryads away, and take all the fun out of it. Please Percy? Please please please? I want YOU to come with me. Pretty please?" She was nearly jumping up and down by the end of her impassioned plea, and when Percy turned his head away from her for a moment, Oliver saw the smile he was trying to hide from her. Percy was clearly pleased to be the one Ginny wanted to spend time with.

Percy heaved a dramatic sigh as he turned back to his sister. "All right, all right, I'll go. Just give me a minute to change. And if you don't want the twins along you better not let them see you, or they'll want to come along for sure." He had the exasperated-yet-willing-to-humour-his-sibling thing down to perfection, Oliver thought, turning away. He stifled the wish that he could go along with the two of them. He'd never thought there would come a time he wouldn't want to play another game of Quidditch, but he was finding that practicing on his own, or with a team of good players, was very different from playing with his two insane beaters and their klutzy younger brother. All attempts he'd made to spend some time with Percy over the visit had been foiled by either Ginny or Mrs. Weasley demanding something from Percy, or the Twins dragging him away him away. He'd never figure out why the twins didn't just believe him when he said he considered Percy a friend. After six years rooming with him, you'd think the natural assumption would be that they got along fairly well. Fred and George, however, seemed to be convinced he was only being polite.

Ironically, if not for getting to see Percy in his natural habitat Oliver would be beginning to regret having let the twins talk him into coming to stay for two weeks. The twins were great... on a limited basis. The twins 24-7 were somewhat... tiring. Mind you, this was better than staying with his Aunt Joyce while his parents were out of the country: If he were there he'd have a whole new wardrobe by now and be expected to spend time with his cousin Kevin, who was as obsessed with the Violin as Oliver was obsessed with Quidditch. They never had much to say to one another. His parents refused to let him stay on his own while they were gone, so he really hadn't had an option. It wasn't, his mother had informed him, that they didn't think he could take care of himself at the age of seventeen; it was that they didn't think he could stay out of trouble for two weeks at the age of seventeen. No logic in the world could combat that, especially after that little incident with the out-of-control Bludger, the neighbour's shed, and the turkey. Which really hadn't been his fault, exactly…

The twins burst out the door, Fred grabbing Oliver by the arm. "C'mon before Mum thinks of some task to give us! Ron! Get down here!" he bellowed.

"Coming!" The answering yell, causing Oliver to shake his head once again. His mother would have lectured him for half an hour for yelling in the house. Outside, fine, but she expected Oliver to behave in a "semi-civilized" manner inside the house. He snickered to himself, wondering what she'd make of the Weasleys. He almost wished she could see them, so she'd realize he really wasn't that bad. Mrs. Weasley had so far referred to him as civilized, polite, gracious, possessing lovely manners, being a charming young man, and being so much better behaved than her gang of hooligans. His mother would faint, even if she HAD demanded of him that he be on his best behaviour about 27 times before agreeing he could stay with the Weasleys.

Ron caught up to them as they entered the clearing the Weasleys used for playing Quidditch, and then all his attention was focused on the game.

~~

The game ended quickly, when Ron crashed into a tree. He was relatively unhurt, but Oliver decided to take advantage of his advanced years and declare the game over before the boy killed himself. So they trooped back into the house in search of something to drink.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Oliver said when she handed him a glass of lemonade.

She beamed at him and pinched his cheek. "Such a polite boy. If only the twins could learn some manners..."

"We have manners," protested George.

"Yeah, we have normal people manners!" added Fred. "Oliver's just polluted from years of rooming with Perfect Percy."

"I wish you wouldn't call your brother that, Fred," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Good manners never hurt."

"Where IS Percy, anyway? Is he done de-gnoming the garden already?" George asked.

"Oh, he took a break to take Ginny swimming, " Mrs. Weasley said, with more than a trace of affection in her voice. "You lot would do well to spend more time with your sister as well you know!" Oliver had noticed a certain tendency to dote on Ginny, but he couldn't tell if it was usual for any of them other than Percy, or a reaction to nearly losing her the previous spring.

Fred grinned at her. "Great idea, Mum!" He turned to the rest. "Let's go swimming!"

Oliver gaped as the three abandoned their glasses on the table and stampeded up the stairs.

Mrs. Weasley chuckled at him. "Better hurry and go get changed Oliver, or they'll drag you along as you are."

She didn't seem at all bothered by the mess that had just been made and left for her to clean up, so Oliver just nodded and headed up to get changed. He didn't know who was going to be more annoyed about this invasion: Percy, or Ginny.

~~

They heard them before they saw them, as they came around the curve in the path to the pond. They were engaged in a splashing fight, until Ginny abruptly squealed "Tea Party!" They both sank underwater and stayed there, till Oliver began to get nervous.

"What -?" he began.

"Tea Party," said Ron sullenly. "You go sit on the bottom of the pond, open your eyes, and then make faces at each other till one of you smiles."

As Oliver tried to keep the smile off his face at the thought of Percy making faces at anyone, the two swimmers burst to the surface, Ginny giggling like a maniac. "I win! Who's the man!" She gloated.

While Oliver contemplated the obvious gender confusion inherent in that gloating, the twins cannonballed into the pond right beside her, the resulting wave swamping both Ginny and Percy.

"WILL you two be careful!" Percy snapped at them, as Ginny clung to his shoulder, coughing. He absently patted Ginny on the back, glaring at his brothers. Ron, evidently not wanting to be left out of anything the twins were involved in, even one of Percy's epic lectures, cannon-balled in beside them, swamping all four. The twins promptly turned on him and started dunking him.

Ginny made a wordless sound of annoyance, launched off Percy, and swam further down the pond. Percy sighed, pulled the twins off Ron, and said firmly, "If you can't behave, go back to the house. You'd think with a guest around you could at least act like civilized wizards!"

He swam off to the other end, with a surprisingly strong and graceful stroke, ignoring the various faces being made and insults being issued by his brothers. Fred, George, and Ron resumed trying to drown each other, although Oliver noticed the twins were being a little more careful with their younger brother. Seeing they weren't paying attention, he wandered down to the other end of the pond, where Ginny was pouting at Percy about the "beastly" twins having driven off the dryads. They looked up as Oliver approached.

"Is it safe to come in down here?" He asked lightly.

Ginny scowled at him, but Percy grinned, a rare thing under any circumstances. "Safer than down that end, anyway."

Oliver slid into the water, which was actually fairly warm. Still cool enough to be a relief from the summer heat, he thought, ducking under the water. "That's much better," he gasped, as he surfaced. He thought he caught Percy's eyes darting away from him swiftly, although he couldn't have said why.

"Nothing better on a day like this than going for a swim," Percy said quietly, apparently focused on treading water. But he had a tiny smile on his face. Ginny, looking annoyed, swam away, kicking up enough water at them that they both spluttered.

"Is your entire family insane, Percy?" Oliver asked in bewilderment.

Percy snickered. "More or less, yes."

Oliver grinned, and then sobered. "Ginny doesn't seem to like me much; I haven't done anything to offend her, have I?"

"No. Whenever there's guests, the other three won't have anything to do with her, and it hurts her feelings. So she gets a bit bent out of shape with guests." Then he abruptly grinned again. "Except Harry of course. She and Harry spend all their time fleeing each other."

"Like that, is it?" Oliver said in amusement, shaking his head. "And when it's not Harry visiting, you, being a complete pushover, spend your days entertaining her."

Percy spluttered. "A pushover? Oliver, have you lost all sense? I merely wanted to get a break from the de-gnoming! I most certainly am not a pushover!"

"Uh huh.... She's got you wound round her little finger. Though having met your family I can now say that if my parents ever had another kid, I'd really want the sister. Your brothers are nuts! I knew they were before I got here, but not how much!"

Percy laughed so hard he nearly submerged, and Ginny abruptly re-appeared at his side. Her gaze looked a little softened, and Oliver realized with some embarrassment that she must have overheard him.

"C'mon Percy, race you down to the other end!" She said. Then grudgingly, "You too. If you want."

"Sure," he said amiably, and they lined up.

"Ready, set, go!" said Ginny quickly and took off, the older boys a beat or two behind her. Oliver made sure to stay a beat or two behind her, as he noticed Percy was, and she crowed happily when pronounced the winner at the other end.

Six races later, Oliver was getting a bit tired, but didn't dare say anything, since Ginny seemed to be thawing considerably. Percy pulled on his arm, muttering quietly, "C'mon back to shore." He was flushed from the exercise, and Oliver could swear he'd developed more freckles just this afternoon, as he followed the boy to shore. Considering the whole family seemed to have come back from Egypt with twice their usual supply of freckles, that would have been a remarkable accomplishment. Percy's method of getting out was rather novel, Oliver thought. He launched himself out of the water, grabbing a low hanging branch, and swung onto the ground, settling in.

He eyed the branch dubiously. Percy laughed and leaned to offer him a hand out. After a precarious moment, they were settled, water dripping from them, on the sunny bank. Ginny splashed up near them. "You can't be tired ALREADY," she grumbled. Oliver was astounded to see she didn't look even the slightest bit less energetic than when he'd arrived.

"We're old, Ginny, we need to rest," Percy said, with all the dignity he possessed. He sounded positively aged. "But," he grinned, returning to this fascinatingly more casual Percy, "I did bring the ring."

Ginny squeaked, and splashed a bit, clearly excited, as Percy picked up round, weighted ring, which was an alarmingly bright yellow in colour. Oliver watched, baffled, as Percy rose to his feet and threw it halfway across the pond. Ginny launched herself after it, moving remarkably quickly through the water, and dove down where it had entered the water. A couple moments later, she re-emerged, holding the ring, and swam back to deliver it to Percy. He took it, and as he prepared to throw it, Ron abruptly appeared at Ginny's side.

"I could have caught it faster than THAT," he said scornfully.

"Could not."

"Could too."

"Could not!"

"Could too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

Percy interrupted the argument before they could run out of syllables. "Okay Ron, prove it. My money's on Ginny."

Ron looked offended. Ginny looked smug. "Prepare to lose, RONALD."

"You're going to eat your words, VIRGINIA."

Percy tossed the ring, further this time, and they went after it. He grinned down at Oliver. "I convinced them this was a fun game when they were younger, and they're still strangely fond of it."

"Percy, you taught them to play FETCH! Didn't your parents ever get you a dog?"

"No money for a dog," Percy shrugged, with a complete absence of his usual touchiness about money. "Besides, this works quite well." Ron and Ginny were rapidly approaching with the ring. "Want to see something REALLY funny?" he added, with a mischievous smile that Oliver would have expected to see on the Twins's faces, not Percy's.

He watched with curiosity as Percy took the ring, and warned the two, "I'm going to throw it really long this time, so get ready." His youngest brother and sister bobbed in the water, eyes completely intent on the ring, like a pair of trained seals and Oliver fought down the rising urge to laugh. Percy drew the ring back dramatically, then threw it clear to the other end of the pond. It hit the water only a few feet from Fred and George who stopped trying to drown each other and dove after it instantaneously.

At which point Oliver broke down and started howling with laughter, till tears actually began to run down his face. Fred, in possession of the ring, was now playing keep-away with it, the other three in hot pursuit. Percy flung himself down on the bank, reclining, and closing his eyes in the sunlight, a smug look on his face as he waited for Oliver's laughter to wind down.

"All of them?" he finally gasped, lying down next to Percy.

He could hear the smile in Percy's answer. "All of them. And they've no idea. They'll keep that up for 20-30 minutes, then they'll be back to get me to throw it for a while. Then either Fred or George will insist they can throw it better. I'll put up a struggle over having my authority challenged, give up in disgust, and have about an hour to relax. Generally. Then I'll have to drag them out and head back to the burrow of course, but it's not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

"No," Oliver grinned, "This's great way to spend an afternoon. Now how do I convince the bloody twins to do this every day? I think this is the longest conversation I've been able to have with you all week!"

Percy laughed, quietly. "Well, if you really want to, just suggest it at lunch. We usually spend half the summer in the pond."

They sank into a contented silence. It was one of the things Oliver liked best about Percy. When he didn't feel he was on display, or that he had something to prove, he had this way of being quiet, without being unfriendly. It was...restful. Other than the sounds of the younger kids at the far end of the pond, and Percy's quiet breathing, he couldn't hear any sounds of civilization whatsoever. Birdsong, the wind in the trees, a nearby insect. The warmth of the sun was making him sleepy, and he slid into a half-drowse without even noticing, pondering Quidditch maneuvers.

Which was why the sudden wave of water hitting him what seemed like moments later nearly scared him out of his wits. He leapt to his feet, dripping, and stared at Fred as he stood over Percy, brandishing the ring. Percy didn't so much as open an eye.

"Percy," Fred lightly kicked his brother, who didn't respond. "C'mon, wake up and throw this for us. George and I have a bet on, and Ginny and Ron can't throw it far enough."

Percy opened one eye, and heaved a sigh of dismay. "For pity's sake, Fred, can't you lot do ANYTHING by yourselves?"

Fred's expression was strikingly similar to the pleading one Ginny'd used to get Percy to go swimming with her earlier, and Oliver reflected that he'd love to see the Twins slip up like this around Percy at school. Their vaunted coolness would vanish, if anyone saw them acting like a couple of ten-year-olds.

"All right, I'll throw it," Percy sighed, gracefully rising to his feet. Oliver found himself strangely fascinated by the stretch of pale, freckled skin over Percy's back, as he snatched the ring from Fred's hand.

Fred leapt back into the water, splashing everyone. "Ron and Ginny, go down to the end, you've got to be the judges," he ordered.

The younger two took off, and Oliver wondered if they ever got tired. Maybe it was something in the water? As they reached the far end and waved, Percy drew back the ring, and feinted throwing it, incurring outraged yells from the twins. He gave them his most supercilious look, and then threw it to the end of the pond, landing between Ron and Ginny. The twins vanished underwater.

"I always wanted a dog," Oliver said wistfully, as he sat back down on the now soggy bank. Percy looked at him in surprise. "I wanted a black lab, but neither of my parents are fond of dogs, and they pointed out that I certainly couldn't take it to Hogwarts with me. I asked for a cat for a familiar, but my dad's allergic, so I got an owl."

Percy looked down at the grass. "Well, an owl IS the most useful…" he trailed off, then looked at Oliver directly. "It's never to late on the dog front though. Want to throw the ring next time?"

Laughter chased away Oliver's contemplative mood. "Sure, why not," he grinned.

Another wave of water hit the shore as the twins approached. Fred and George always did seem to relish causing as much disruption as possible. Useful in beaters, less helpful when trying to have a relaxing afternoon.

"I won!"

"Not bloody likely!"

"The judges said -"

"The judges are NOT impartial."

"Excuses, excuses… you LOST, take it like a man."

"Percy, throw this, so I can prove once and for all which of us is the better twin."

Percy grabbed it out of his hand, and passed it to Oliver. "Throw it good and high, to land between Ron and Ginny," he instructed pedantically, barely restraining his obvious urge to reach out and show Oliver how to throw it.

Oliver turned the ring around in his hands, feeling the surprising weight of it. "What's this made of, anyway?" he asked.

Percy looked a little embarrassed. "It's just magicked rock, I made it when I first got my wand. I could do a better job of it now, of course," he broke off, squirming slightly, and Oliver was amused to realize that Percy simply didn't want to admit to a nostalgic attachment to the toy.

"Quite advanced work, for an eleven year old," he smiled at Percy, letting him off the hook, and then flung the ring to the opposite end. It was a bit hard to aim, but it landed more or less where it should, and the twins were gone in a heartbeat.

They were swimming back, seconds later, arguing. Oliver leaned in close to Percy, and whispered in his ear, "You're right, this is better than a dog." He felt Percy shiver, and realized he was invading the other boy's personal space, but found himself very reluctant to move away.

He took a step backwards, finally, as the twins arrived. Percy looked rather flushed as he accepted the ring, and immediately tossed it out again. He only threw it to the middle of the pond, which caused Ron and Ginny to forget they were the "judges" and swim after it. The next half hour passed in a blur of watching Percy throw the ring, and watching his siblings retrieve it.

He was caught off guard when Percy dramatically croaked "No more!", tossed the ring across the pond, and appeared to fall in. Oliver was on his feet in an instant, but Percy popped back up and smiled at him, a little shyly, from the water.

"You scared me for a second," Oliver said.

"It's almost time to go back - might as well swim for a bit more," Percy said, still looking self-conscious. Ginny swam up from behind him and put her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who?"

Percy looked thoughtful. "Let's see... is it Fred?"

"No!"

"Must be Ron then!"

"NO!" Ginny's peal of laughter would have surely given her away if her voice hadn't.

"I just can't figure out -"

"You know perfectly well, Percy Weasley. I'm the only sister you HAVE!"

Oliver attempted to stifle the snicker as Ginny unconsciously took on the exact tone of voice Percy used to tell off the twins when they'd broke the rules at school in some prank that Percy privately found funny. Unfortunately he failed, and found himself the focus of two pairs of Weasley eyes, one blue, one brown. They moved as one onto the bank, and Oliver found himself looking down into an innocent face framed with flyaway red hair escaped from its plaits.

"Okay, why do I feel like I should be backing away now?"

"Back away?" Ginny looked more innocent than ever, and Oliver actually took a step backwards. "Oliver, you're our guest! We'd never do anything to you... certainly not throw you in the pond." She beamed at him, and he returned to his earlier stand that all the Weasleys were nuts.

Another step backwards brought him into contact with a bare, wet chest, and he really hoped that the embarrassing squeak he made when he leapt away towards the pond had been internal. By Ginny's giggling and the small smirk on Percy's face, he doubted it.

Two hands set themselves firmly on his chest, and he had only a moment to look at Percy with the startled realization that he really meant to push him into the pond before they shoved, and he hit the water. He came up spluttering. "Percy!"

Percy looked away in an attempt to hide his grin. Percy never rough-housed with the rest of them at school. Never. Which was probably the reason for the blush growing on Percy's face as he glanced sideways at Oliver. So Oliver grinned, to let him know there were no hard feelings, as Ginny leapt into the water beside him.

Percy's return smile looked slightly shaky, but then he dove back into the water again, coming up behind Oliver. Oliver spun to keep this new, unpredictable Percy from getting a drop on him and dunking him or something. Which got him another little smile and a sheepishly pleased expression.

"You do understand, Percy, that my dignity demands that I get revenge for this affront," he said softly, letting his amusement shine through before diving his direction.

There was much splashing and yelling before Oliver actually made it through the free-for-all that resulted and dunked Percy, to the sound of the twins cheering. Wandering back up the path to the burrow he wondered exactly how much had changed now, as he watched Percy haranguing his siblings, thin arms continually moving in emphasis, as if it were the only thing keeping them moving towards the house. Ginny was bounding along beside Percy, singing quietly. Ron had lost his frequently sullen expression. Fred and George were taunting Percy at every opportunity. It certainly felt like something had changed, though he wasn't sure quite what. If he dreamt that night of red hair and freckled skin under shade, he forgot it by morning.