Leigh!fic | Tomato Soup (1/1) | Percy Weasley/Penelope Clearwater
Title: Tomato Soup (1/1)
Author: Leigh, aka leigh_adams
Characters: Percy Weasley/Penelope Clearwater
Rating: G
Word Count: 488
Summary: Percy was never the funny one.
Author’s Notes: After a sabbatical of sorts, this was written for amazonmink as part of my Unemployment 2011 Drabble Meme. She requested Weasleys, using the quote, "The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose" as the prompt. Liz, I hope you enjoy!
Percy wasn't the brave, handsome one. That was Bill.
Nor was he the daredevil, talented Quidditch player; Charlie.
He wasn't the funny one, quick with a joke or prank. That would be the twins.
Nor was he Molly Weasley's secret favorite, though she would never admit harboring a preference for any child over the other. But everyone knew she favored Ron. He was her youngest boy and had been the smallest baby; premature, two months early and no bigger than a puffskein.
And he certainly wasn't Ginny, the lone Weasley girl-- though the twins had often accused him of being soft like a girl.
No, he was Percy. Stick in the mud, prefect Percy with his penchant for rules and regulations. Percy, who wore glasses and always felt slightly out of place at the Weasley family dinners. An introvert among extroverts; the lone Weasley boy who thought before he spoke-- most of the time. With Penelope around, he found that his brain simply didn't want to cooperate.
He hadn't wanted to tell her about growing up Weasley. She was a Muggleborn and a Ravenclaw; unlike the rest of the magical world, she didn't know that red hair and secondhand possessions equated second-tier status to some, despite their long wizarding lineage. Penelope hadn't known, and he didn't want her to think less of him because of his family.
Merlin, he'd been such a prick.
Miraculously, she hadn't cared. She'd even empathized. He hadn't known what it was like growing up for her, the eldest child; a girl when her parents wanted a boy. A social mountaineer for a mother, who watched the peerage the way some wizards watched for phoenixes, and a loving but detached father. Two Muggle brothers who resented their sister for being different.
They were much more alike than he'd ever thought. And Penelope, she liked him despite the "broomstick up his arse," as the twins had so eloquently put it. She liked hearing his stories about the Burrow, about living in a family where chaos was the norm.
"What's your favorite memory?"
"What sort of question is that?"
"One I want you to answer, or there'll be no more snogging until after exams."
"That's cruel, Penelope."
"I am a harsh mistress, Percy."
"Okay, fine... it would have to be the time I made my brother laugh so hard he snorted food out of his nose."
"You can't snort food out your nose, that's ridiculous."
"Yes, you can. It happened!"
"You're having me on."
"Well, technically it was tomato soup, but that's still food, and Charlie was laughing so hard it flew out of his nostrils and hit Great Auntie Muriel right on the nose."
He never told her that he didn't remember what he'd done that made Charlie laugh that hard, but she never asked. In that moment, he had been the funny one, and he'd never forgotten that night.
He'd never forgotten the snog he'd gotten for his troubles, either.
Author: Leigh, aka leigh_adams
Characters: Percy Weasley/Penelope Clearwater
Rating: G
Word Count: 488
Summary: Percy was never the funny one.
Author’s Notes: After a sabbatical of sorts, this was written for amazonmink as part of my Unemployment 2011 Drabble Meme. She requested Weasleys, using the quote, "The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose" as the prompt. Liz, I hope you enjoy!
Percy wasn't the brave, handsome one. That was Bill.
Nor was he the daredevil, talented Quidditch player; Charlie.
He wasn't the funny one, quick with a joke or prank. That would be the twins.
Nor was he Molly Weasley's secret favorite, though she would never admit harboring a preference for any child over the other. But everyone knew she favored Ron. He was her youngest boy and had been the smallest baby; premature, two months early and no bigger than a puffskein.
And he certainly wasn't Ginny, the lone Weasley girl-- though the twins had often accused him of being soft like a girl.
No, he was Percy. Stick in the mud, prefect Percy with his penchant for rules and regulations. Percy, who wore glasses and always felt slightly out of place at the Weasley family dinners. An introvert among extroverts; the lone Weasley boy who thought before he spoke-- most of the time. With Penelope around, he found that his brain simply didn't want to cooperate.
He hadn't wanted to tell her about growing up Weasley. She was a Muggleborn and a Ravenclaw; unlike the rest of the magical world, she didn't know that red hair and secondhand possessions equated second-tier status to some, despite their long wizarding lineage. Penelope hadn't known, and he didn't want her to think less of him because of his family.
Merlin, he'd been such a prick.
Miraculously, she hadn't cared. She'd even empathized. He hadn't known what it was like growing up for her, the eldest child; a girl when her parents wanted a boy. A social mountaineer for a mother, who watched the peerage the way some wizards watched for phoenixes, and a loving but detached father. Two Muggle brothers who resented their sister for being different.
They were much more alike than he'd ever thought. And Penelope, she liked him despite the "broomstick up his arse," as the twins had so eloquently put it. She liked hearing his stories about the Burrow, about living in a family where chaos was the norm.
"What's your favorite memory?"
"What sort of question is that?"
"One I want you to answer, or there'll be no more snogging until after exams."
"That's cruel, Penelope."
"I am a harsh mistress, Percy."
"Okay, fine... it would have to be the time I made my brother laugh so hard he snorted food out of his nose."
"You can't snort food out your nose, that's ridiculous."
"Yes, you can. It happened!"
"You're having me on."
"Well, technically it was tomato soup, but that's still food, and Charlie was laughing so hard it flew out of his nostrils and hit Great Auntie Muriel right on the nose."
He never told her that he didn't remember what he'd done that made Charlie laugh that hard, but she never asked. In that moment, he had been the funny one, and he'd never forgotten that night.
He'd never forgotten the snog he'd gotten for his troubles, either.