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[icarus]

Drabble number four? I think it is. This one is for haku_kaen, who requested fluffy Harry/Percy, G through PG-13. I'm open for suggestions on the name. Nothing's jumping out at me for the moment.



Christmas Fluff
by Icarus



Christmas at the Burrow was even better than Hogwarts, Harry thought as he helped Ron with the dishes, drying a plate with a jet of hot air. The house smelled of gingerbread and pine, and the decorations were a little battered, but nonetheless cheerful.

It seemed every time Harry turned a corner, someone was whispering and wrapping -- walking into a pair of flying scissors was a definite hazard. The strings of singing holly-lights were slightly off-key, but they made up for it with enthusiasm. They really didn't match unfortunately. One in the sitting room chirped 'We Wish You A Happy Christmas,' while the kitchen set hummed a dismal 'O Come All Ye Faithful.' Ron put his fingers in his ears. But Harry rather liked them.

Besides, he was in a great mood, even for Christmas.

All through dinner Percy had carefully not looked at him, and when someone tries not to look at you, they end up glancing over quite a lot. Plus, he'd dropped his fork, forgot to put his napkin in his lap and poured gravy all over it, and then didn't hear anybody ask him to pass the salt. When they both reached for it at once, their hands had met over the table. Percy could turn as red as his hair.

Harry wiped away a little smile. He felt the weight of a gaze on him, and knew without turning around who it was.

"Harry…" Percy cleared his throat. "Do you need a -- need some help there?"

"Nah, we've got it," Ron said.

Shit. But it was probably better they didn't act like this in front of Ron. Even Ron would get suspicious eventually. Harry turned and shrugged with a helpless gesture.

Percy hovered in the doorway, glanced about carefully, and mouthed: "Later."

Harry said aloud, "I suppose we have it," as he nodded emphatically. His heart raced.

"You know, Harry," Ron observed, glancing after his brother. "Percy's been acting weird all night."

Yeah, it was probably a good thing Percy didn't help with the dishes. Harry waited on pins and needles for bedtime.

~*~*~

But it was really late before Ron was finally asleep, the covers rising and falling steadily. Harry crept along the dark hall past Fred and George's room and stood outside Percy's door. It occurred to him that he'd never even been in here before. He couldn't exactly knock.

"Psst. Percy…" he whispered. There wasn't a sound.

Harry glanced up and down the empty hall, the cheerful colours of the hand-woven rugs and homey pictures gone to tones of blue-grey in the dark. He decided he was invited so therefore… he turned the knob, which gave an excruciatingly loud click, and edged into Percy's room.

It was very dark, and it took Harry's eyes a moment to adjust. He had an impression of extreme neatness, a stark contrast to the clutter of Ron's room, and there Percy was, curled up around his pillow…

…fast asleep.



Finis.

Comments

[mark356.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's adorable! I feel that in your narrative you've really found your voice; it's not JKR, and it's not all rapid-fire description either, but its pacing is perfect, and very concisely tells everything you need to tell us. This is so short it's almost all detail, but even so, I like the little details like the holly singing enthusiastically off-key, or the excruciatingly loud click. And your Harry and Percy are perfect; both of them are as awkward as I am, but at least they recognize their feelings for each other, in their own way. I feel so bad for Harry at the end, since he really wanted to do interesting things with Percy, but by the time he could, Percy was asleep! (I would want to schnoogle him, except that he really wants to schnoogle Percy instead.) But despite the sad ending, this is fluff, in that by the end, Harry recognizes his desire to schnoogle Percy and has a slightly better idea of how to go about it. This is another terrific ficlet, and I'm sorry that I didn't give feedback like this on your fabulous RS/Hr piece!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding? You gave fabulous feedback on the 'Bug' fic. You raised the bar so high, the next person who just (originally) said "gosh, thanks, see ya" left me opening and closing my mouth like a fish. Plus at the time I was pretty bummed out because I had to shit-can my first chapter of Snape Manor. Read it to Wilderness Guru, and he agreed with my assessment.


You can wait back in Ron's room "shhh. Harry, Ron'll sleep through anything.." :D

Icarus