Taming the Weasleys - 5/11 - Adult - Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender
Title: Taming the Weasleys (5/11)
Author: silvernatasha
Rating: Adult
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: Despite their mother's nagging, Charlie and Percy Weasley are perfectly happy being single and have no intention of settling down and getting married. The women in their lives, however, have other ideas.
Ships: Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender, slight Charlie/Angelina, slight Fred/Angelina.
A/N: Written for midsummerfest and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. View the dramatis personae here.
Word Count: 2069.
Chapter Five: In Which There is an Eventful Dinner
At the sound of a knock on his door, Percy nearly fell off his bed in surprise. Was it Hermione again? He wasn’t sure that he could face her again so soon. Not after what had just happened. He swallowed, for once not at all sure what to do. This uncertainty wasn’t a feeling that Percy liked.
“Who… who is it?” he asked.
He had been sitting in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, trying to fathom what had just transpired. He was no closer to working out Hermione’s motives or purpose now than he had been after she had left.
“It’s Ron, you pillock. Can I come in?”
Percy nodded, then realised that Ron couldn’t see him. “Uh, yeah. Come in.”
Ron entered with a grin. “You alright? I didn’t… interrupt anything did I?” Ron waggled his eyebrows in a rather lewd expression.
“No, you did not,” Percy said somewhat stiffly, glaring at his younger brother for insinuating that he would be doing such a thing. He looked at Ron, suddenly aware of his brother’s friendship with Hermione. “Ron,” he said slowly. “How well do you know Hermione?”
He shrugged. “Better than most people, I suppose. Why? Are you interested, because I know she’s single.”
Percy shook his head. “No. Well…” He cleared his throat. “She just proposed to me.”
Ron’s eyes widened and he quickly took a seat at Percy’s old desk. “I... She… I’m sorry, Perce, I thought you just said that Hermione asked you to marry you.”
“She did.” Percy’s face turned red with embarrassment. “She’s thinking of a registry office for the ceremony, apparently.”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t like churches that much, so that’s not surprising,” Ron remarked. He shook his head, realising what he’d just said. “Wait. Did you say ‘yes’ to her?”
Percy frowned. His mind was, admittedly, all of a jumble after Hermione’s visit. “I… I didn’t say ‘no’.”
“So you’re going to marry Hermione?”
“Of course not!” Percy removed his glasses, polishing them on the edge of his jumper.
Ron drummed his fingers on Percy’s desk. “Maybe you should marry her,” he said at length.
“And what do you mean by that?” Percy asked.
His brother shrugged, resisting the urge to say ‘because no-one else will have her’. “You’d probably make a good match. Besides, hasn’t there been publicity recently saying that Playwizard’s getting a bit sleazy?”
A little grudgingly, Percy agreed with this as he slipped his glasses back on. “I suppose.” He’d recently been getting far more involved in the production of the magazine, and was more public about his ownership of the publication than he had been in the past.
“Getting married would make people see you as a sort of family man, wouldn’t it? I dunno. Might be good for business.” He grinned. “And, you know, she’s going to be filthy rich soon.”
Percy looked sharply at Ron. “Rich? What do you mean?”
“Something to do with that bloke she was working for in France. He died and left her a load of money. Apparently, she doesn’t get the money until she does something, but she told me she’s got that all sewn up.” He shrugged. “She was a bit vague on details.” Ron rubbed his nose indifferently. “Not that it really matters, right? You’re hardly short on money.”
Percy scratched his chin thoughtfully. What the fuck is Hermione up to? he wondered. Percy wasn’t one to swear aloud, although he did it fairly frequently in his head. If Hermione was going to be ‘filthy rich’, as Ron put it, then she obviously wasn’t after his money. Did that mean her proposal was for real?
Is she in love with me? It had been quite a while since they had last spent any real time together, and so if Hermione was in love with him, she would have been harbouring her feelings for quite some time. Maybe her emotions just took her over?
Ron cleared his throat. “Are you alright Perce?”
Or maybe she’s been at the sherry. Tis the season, after all. Percy wrinkled his nose.
“I’m fine,” he said eventually. “Just feeling a little hot.” Percy flashed what he hoped was a confident smile. He fanned his face with his hand for extra effect. “Did you come up here for any particular reason, Ronald?”
“Er, Mum said dinner’s going to be ready in ten minutes. More like five, now, I expect. So… yeah. You should probably come downstairs.”
Looking at the festively decorated table, Charlie clapped his hands together. “Well, doesn’t this look a treat?” As far as he was concerned, no-one quite did Christmas like his mum. He’d spent many Christmases away from home, but it was just never the same when he was away from The Burrow. The turkey never tasted as good (partly because he wasn’t a very good cook), the crackers were never as much fun (the hats never seemed to fit his head properly) and even the atmosphere wasn’t the same.
“It looks good,” Lavender said, blushing slightly. Charlie looked, in her opinion, particularly handsome in the candlelight and she was having some rather lewd thoughts about him and wrapping paper. Mainly, her carefully tearing paper from his body to reveal inch after inch of delicious skin…
“So where am I sitting, then?” Charlie leaned against the doorframe with a smile.
Lavender glanced at the table. “Your mum came and did the place settings just now.” That was the one thing that Molly had insisted on doing to the table herself. “Um… well, here’s Percy.” She moved around the table. “And then Hermione, Ron…” Lavender grimaced slightly. “Then me and… oh. You’re next to me.” She smiled a little nervously at him, hoping for a good reaction to this.
“Excellent.” Charlie grinned, making Lavender blush even further. “That means there’ll be a barrier between me and Ron’s so-called table manners.” He gave Lavender an appraising look. “You’re not one of those people who sprawl their elbows out everywhere, are you?”
She shook her head. “No. Not as far as I’m aware.”
“Good. Because I am.” He grinned, walking over to the table. “You need a hat, pet. Not one of those silly mediwitch hats you wear. A proper Christmas one.” Charlie reached for a cracker; Lavender was too busy trying to imagine his muscles beneath his shirt to see the sleeve dip into the flame of one of the candles.
Charlie dropped the cracker with a yell as his sleeve caught fire and he jumped back, waving his arm in an attempt to subdue the flames. If anything, this just made it worse. Lavender shrieked and it took a couple of seconds for her to remember that she had a wand. In her panic, she did the first thing that came to mind, sending a stream of water straight at Charlie.
Thankfully, the water put out the flames. It also succeeded in moulding Charlie’s shirt to his body, showing off the muscles beneath. Lavender’s breathing was as heavy as Charlie’s at that sight. She had her hand over her mouth. “Are you okay?” she asked through her fingers.
“A bit burnt.” Charlie gave a hollow laugh. “Fuck. I’ve had worse. Don’t worry about me.”
“Let me have a look.” Shaken, Lavender took Charlie’s arm, turning it over. It’s not too bad,” she said softly, biting her lip. “Nothing about to worry about.” Lavender gently touched her wand to his burn. “This might sting a bit.”
Charlie winced audibly as the magic repaired his skin, leaving just a shiny mark that would eventually fade.
“There we go. All better.”
Charlie smiled thankfully. “Thanks, pet.” He looked down at himself. “I should probably go and change before dinner.”
Lavender’s eyes widened as Charlie proceeded to peel off his sopping shirt, finally getting a glimpse of the body she had been trying to imagine. Charlie glanced at her. “You alright, pet?” He stood there, half naked, and apparently not the slightest bit concerned about his state of undress.
“Um. Yeah. Fine.” She motioned in a vague sort of manner towards his arm, unable to look him in the face. “Just a bit shaken, I suppose.” Lavender offered him a wavering smile. “Wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
He grinned. “Anything can happen the Weasley household. Anything. Usually when you least expect it. You should probably bear that in mind.”
“Isn’t this lovely?” Arthur Weasley asked, sipping his wine. “All the family together.”
“Yes, it is,” Percy agreed, actually a little glad that he had been seated next to Hermione. “We should do this more often.”
“We’d all go crazy if we did this to often,” Ron remarked.
“Pass the potatoes,” Bill asked, reaching over the table.
“Elbows off the table,” Molly reminded her grandson.
“Careful!” Lavender moved her drink away from Ron’s elbow, ignoring Charlie’s snigger.
When the family had quietened down into a peaceful hubbub, Percy cleared his throat. No-one paid any attention to him and he scowled slightly, glaring a little at his nephew, who was holding people captive. Percy tapped the side of his wine glass with his knife. Gradually, the family turned to look inquisitively at him.
“I have an announcement to make,” he said with a smile. He cleared his throat again, feeling a slight flutter of nervousness. He knew that he had to do this, though.
One of the twins muttered, “Oh, god,” sending the other into a fit of silent laughter.
Percy glared at them. He knew from personal experience that glaring didn’t tend to achieve much as far as the twins were concerned, but it made him feel better. “Well, I wasn’t planning on announcing this so soon, we weren’t rather… but seeing as we’ve got the whole family together…”
“Get on with it.” The twins were starting to heckle him, which Percy knew was never a good sign.
“Me and Hermione are getting married.” He reached over, covering her hand with his as he turned to beam at her. She froze, her fork halfway to her mouth, eyes bulging in surprise.
Around the table, the rest of the family were having a similar reaction. Ron nearly choked on a piece of potato; Charlie had to reach around Lavender to slap him on the back, Bill and Fleur was looking at each other in amazement and the twins shared a look of identical gawping surprise.
“When… when did this happen?” Molly looked stunned.
Percy gave Hermione’s hand a squeeze, feeling her tense. “Oh, it’s all been rather like a whirlwind. It’s been so quick, but it just feels so right, doesn’t it, sweetheart?” Ron sniggered slightly.
“It’s all a big surprise,” Hermione agreed quietly, staring at her plate and wishing that she could stab her fork into Percy’s hand. It was so close and it would be so easy…
Ron was staring at his brother. What was Percy doing? He had never been particularly great at getting inside Percy’s mind and, right now, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to. Had he gone completely insane? Hermione had proposed to him less than an hour ago, yet he was telling everyone that they’d been having a whirlwind romance. And he was calling her sweetheart. No-one called Hermione nicknames; not even Charlie could get away with giving her one, and Charlie would give a nickname to a stone if he had half a chance.
Ron reached surreptitiously around Hermione, prodding Percy in the back through a gap in the back of his chair. Percy squirmed, shooting a sharp glare in Ron’s direction. Ron clearly didn’t know his own strength, because that hurt. Or maybe he did and that was the point.
Hermione was sure that her cheeks were burning. This wasn’t what she had expected to happen when she had come to The Burrow for dinner. Nothing of what had happened was going to plan.
She couldn’t look at anyone, least of all Percy, but she was sure that they were all staring at her. Hermione could imagine that the twins were waiting to start their teasing or that Molly was waiting for absolute confirmation that this was true before doing anything.
Hermione let out a shaking breath, glancing with trepidation at Percy. He beamed at her and she shivered slightly. That expression was more than a little creepy.
Whatever had happened to a simple business relationship?
And where the hell did he get off calling her sweetheart?
Author: silvernatasha
Rating: Adult
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: Despite their mother's nagging, Charlie and Percy Weasley are perfectly happy being single and have no intention of settling down and getting married. The women in their lives, however, have other ideas.
Ships: Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender, slight Charlie/Angelina, slight Fred/Angelina.
A/N: Written for midsummerfest and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. View the dramatis personae here.
Word Count: 2069.
Chapter Five: In Which There is an Eventful Dinner
At the sound of a knock on his door, Percy nearly fell off his bed in surprise. Was it Hermione again? He wasn’t sure that he could face her again so soon. Not after what had just happened. He swallowed, for once not at all sure what to do. This uncertainty wasn’t a feeling that Percy liked.
“Who… who is it?” he asked.
He had been sitting in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, trying to fathom what had just transpired. He was no closer to working out Hermione’s motives or purpose now than he had been after she had left.
“It’s Ron, you pillock. Can I come in?”
Percy nodded, then realised that Ron couldn’t see him. “Uh, yeah. Come in.”
Ron entered with a grin. “You alright? I didn’t… interrupt anything did I?” Ron waggled his eyebrows in a rather lewd expression.
“No, you did not,” Percy said somewhat stiffly, glaring at his younger brother for insinuating that he would be doing such a thing. He looked at Ron, suddenly aware of his brother’s friendship with Hermione. “Ron,” he said slowly. “How well do you know Hermione?”
He shrugged. “Better than most people, I suppose. Why? Are you interested, because I know she’s single.”
Percy shook his head. “No. Well…” He cleared his throat. “She just proposed to me.”
Ron’s eyes widened and he quickly took a seat at Percy’s old desk. “I... She… I’m sorry, Perce, I thought you just said that Hermione asked you to marry you.”
“She did.” Percy’s face turned red with embarrassment. “She’s thinking of a registry office for the ceremony, apparently.”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t like churches that much, so that’s not surprising,” Ron remarked. He shook his head, realising what he’d just said. “Wait. Did you say ‘yes’ to her?”
Percy frowned. His mind was, admittedly, all of a jumble after Hermione’s visit. “I… I didn’t say ‘no’.”
“So you’re going to marry Hermione?”
“Of course not!” Percy removed his glasses, polishing them on the edge of his jumper.
Ron drummed his fingers on Percy’s desk. “Maybe you should marry her,” he said at length.
“And what do you mean by that?” Percy asked.
His brother shrugged, resisting the urge to say ‘because no-one else will have her’. “You’d probably make a good match. Besides, hasn’t there been publicity recently saying that Playwizard’s getting a bit sleazy?”
A little grudgingly, Percy agreed with this as he slipped his glasses back on. “I suppose.” He’d recently been getting far more involved in the production of the magazine, and was more public about his ownership of the publication than he had been in the past.
“Getting married would make people see you as a sort of family man, wouldn’t it? I dunno. Might be good for business.” He grinned. “And, you know, she’s going to be filthy rich soon.”
Percy looked sharply at Ron. “Rich? What do you mean?”
“Something to do with that bloke she was working for in France. He died and left her a load of money. Apparently, she doesn’t get the money until she does something, but she told me she’s got that all sewn up.” He shrugged. “She was a bit vague on details.” Ron rubbed his nose indifferently. “Not that it really matters, right? You’re hardly short on money.”
Percy scratched his chin thoughtfully. What the fuck is Hermione up to? he wondered. Percy wasn’t one to swear aloud, although he did it fairly frequently in his head. If Hermione was going to be ‘filthy rich’, as Ron put it, then she obviously wasn’t after his money. Did that mean her proposal was for real?
Is she in love with me? It had been quite a while since they had last spent any real time together, and so if Hermione was in love with him, she would have been harbouring her feelings for quite some time. Maybe her emotions just took her over?
Ron cleared his throat. “Are you alright Perce?”
Or maybe she’s been at the sherry. Tis the season, after all. Percy wrinkled his nose.
“I’m fine,” he said eventually. “Just feeling a little hot.” Percy flashed what he hoped was a confident smile. He fanned his face with his hand for extra effect. “Did you come up here for any particular reason, Ronald?”
“Er, Mum said dinner’s going to be ready in ten minutes. More like five, now, I expect. So… yeah. You should probably come downstairs.”
Looking at the festively decorated table, Charlie clapped his hands together. “Well, doesn’t this look a treat?” As far as he was concerned, no-one quite did Christmas like his mum. He’d spent many Christmases away from home, but it was just never the same when he was away from The Burrow. The turkey never tasted as good (partly because he wasn’t a very good cook), the crackers were never as much fun (the hats never seemed to fit his head properly) and even the atmosphere wasn’t the same.
“It looks good,” Lavender said, blushing slightly. Charlie looked, in her opinion, particularly handsome in the candlelight and she was having some rather lewd thoughts about him and wrapping paper. Mainly, her carefully tearing paper from his body to reveal inch after inch of delicious skin…
“So where am I sitting, then?” Charlie leaned against the doorframe with a smile.
Lavender glanced at the table. “Your mum came and did the place settings just now.” That was the one thing that Molly had insisted on doing to the table herself. “Um… well, here’s Percy.” She moved around the table. “And then Hermione, Ron…” Lavender grimaced slightly. “Then me and… oh. You’re next to me.” She smiled a little nervously at him, hoping for a good reaction to this.
“Excellent.” Charlie grinned, making Lavender blush even further. “That means there’ll be a barrier between me and Ron’s so-called table manners.” He gave Lavender an appraising look. “You’re not one of those people who sprawl their elbows out everywhere, are you?”
She shook her head. “No. Not as far as I’m aware.”
“Good. Because I am.” He grinned, walking over to the table. “You need a hat, pet. Not one of those silly mediwitch hats you wear. A proper Christmas one.” Charlie reached for a cracker; Lavender was too busy trying to imagine his muscles beneath his shirt to see the sleeve dip into the flame of one of the candles.
Charlie dropped the cracker with a yell as his sleeve caught fire and he jumped back, waving his arm in an attempt to subdue the flames. If anything, this just made it worse. Lavender shrieked and it took a couple of seconds for her to remember that she had a wand. In her panic, she did the first thing that came to mind, sending a stream of water straight at Charlie.
Thankfully, the water put out the flames. It also succeeded in moulding Charlie’s shirt to his body, showing off the muscles beneath. Lavender’s breathing was as heavy as Charlie’s at that sight. She had her hand over her mouth. “Are you okay?” she asked through her fingers.
“A bit burnt.” Charlie gave a hollow laugh. “Fuck. I’ve had worse. Don’t worry about me.”
“Let me have a look.” Shaken, Lavender took Charlie’s arm, turning it over. It’s not too bad,” she said softly, biting her lip. “Nothing about to worry about.” Lavender gently touched her wand to his burn. “This might sting a bit.”
Charlie winced audibly as the magic repaired his skin, leaving just a shiny mark that would eventually fade.
“There we go. All better.”
Charlie smiled thankfully. “Thanks, pet.” He looked down at himself. “I should probably go and change before dinner.”
Lavender’s eyes widened as Charlie proceeded to peel off his sopping shirt, finally getting a glimpse of the body she had been trying to imagine. Charlie glanced at her. “You alright, pet?” He stood there, half naked, and apparently not the slightest bit concerned about his state of undress.
“Um. Yeah. Fine.” She motioned in a vague sort of manner towards his arm, unable to look him in the face. “Just a bit shaken, I suppose.” Lavender offered him a wavering smile. “Wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
He grinned. “Anything can happen the Weasley household. Anything. Usually when you least expect it. You should probably bear that in mind.”
“Isn’t this lovely?” Arthur Weasley asked, sipping his wine. “All the family together.”
“Yes, it is,” Percy agreed, actually a little glad that he had been seated next to Hermione. “We should do this more often.”
“We’d all go crazy if we did this to often,” Ron remarked.
“Pass the potatoes,” Bill asked, reaching over the table.
“Elbows off the table,” Molly reminded her grandson.
“Careful!” Lavender moved her drink away from Ron’s elbow, ignoring Charlie’s snigger.
When the family had quietened down into a peaceful hubbub, Percy cleared his throat. No-one paid any attention to him and he scowled slightly, glaring a little at his nephew, who was holding people captive. Percy tapped the side of his wine glass with his knife. Gradually, the family turned to look inquisitively at him.
“I have an announcement to make,” he said with a smile. He cleared his throat again, feeling a slight flutter of nervousness. He knew that he had to do this, though.
One of the twins muttered, “Oh, god,” sending the other into a fit of silent laughter.
Percy glared at them. He knew from personal experience that glaring didn’t tend to achieve much as far as the twins were concerned, but it made him feel better. “Well, I wasn’t planning on announcing this so soon, we weren’t rather… but seeing as we’ve got the whole family together…”
“Get on with it.” The twins were starting to heckle him, which Percy knew was never a good sign.
“Me and Hermione are getting married.” He reached over, covering her hand with his as he turned to beam at her. She froze, her fork halfway to her mouth, eyes bulging in surprise.
Around the table, the rest of the family were having a similar reaction. Ron nearly choked on a piece of potato; Charlie had to reach around Lavender to slap him on the back, Bill and Fleur was looking at each other in amazement and the twins shared a look of identical gawping surprise.
“When… when did this happen?” Molly looked stunned.
Percy gave Hermione’s hand a squeeze, feeling her tense. “Oh, it’s all been rather like a whirlwind. It’s been so quick, but it just feels so right, doesn’t it, sweetheart?” Ron sniggered slightly.
“It’s all a big surprise,” Hermione agreed quietly, staring at her plate and wishing that she could stab her fork into Percy’s hand. It was so close and it would be so easy…
Ron was staring at his brother. What was Percy doing? He had never been particularly great at getting inside Percy’s mind and, right now, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to. Had he gone completely insane? Hermione had proposed to him less than an hour ago, yet he was telling everyone that they’d been having a whirlwind romance. And he was calling her sweetheart. No-one called Hermione nicknames; not even Charlie could get away with giving her one, and Charlie would give a nickname to a stone if he had half a chance.
Ron reached surreptitiously around Hermione, prodding Percy in the back through a gap in the back of his chair. Percy squirmed, shooting a sharp glare in Ron’s direction. Ron clearly didn’t know his own strength, because that hurt. Or maybe he did and that was the point.
Hermione was sure that her cheeks were burning. This wasn’t what she had expected to happen when she had come to The Burrow for dinner. Nothing of what had happened was going to plan.
She couldn’t look at anyone, least of all Percy, but she was sure that they were all staring at her. Hermione could imagine that the twins were waiting to start their teasing or that Molly was waiting for absolute confirmation that this was true before doing anything.
Hermione let out a shaking breath, glancing with trepidation at Percy. He beamed at her and she shivered slightly. That expression was more than a little creepy.
Whatever had happened to a simple business relationship?
And where the hell did he get off calling her sweetheart?