have you ever had a percy(or even not percy) fanfic idea that you love alot but for the life of you just can't write it?
not that I can think of, no, there is no story that I have thought of and haven't been able to write down. I have thought of so many stories to tell that I haven't written, but that's mainly the nature of writing and my time scarcity, not a lack of capacity.
my main issue is not starting to write fanfic, it is finishing it. I have a handful of percy wips I would love to finish - a story exploring his sexuality, my remus outsider pov perciver fic, my cedric & percy fic, my hbp ron & percy canon divergence idea - but gosh, I'm scarce on time, and I have my FTH fics to prioritise (neither which are percy this year - one is shadowhunters and the other is marauders, but I'm excited to start writing them)! there are a lot of stories in the in defence of percy weasley series I would like to write, some more for the YearoftheOTP event - but, alas, time. I'm not a slow writer, I just don't write frequently.
I am still amazed that I finished writing and published a study of cracked gold (my percy & ginny post-war fic) and falling from dusk into dawn (perciver getting together post-war fic), although to be fair ffdid was my FTH gift last year for @sugareey-makes-stuff so there was a deadline [which I lowkey need tbh], which were 18k and 26k, respectively. that's a lot! my most 'I need to FINISH this goddamit' fic is my 42k WWII malec au I started in 2018.
so in short: no, it's getting the stories done that's the issue, not scribbling them down. ffdid is probably the closest - it was a difficult story for me to write, not the least because it wouldn't stop growing (it initially was going to be 10k at max), because it was a character study without much plot aside, focused on a character I hadn't explored in much depth before, but it was a good challenge.
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brought to you by your local percy weasley lover who is fond of all the weasley siblings and regards their parents with a healthy dose of scepticism who is currently in italy.
okay, italy aside, let’s get into some rambly thoughts.
so I’ve mentioned a few times ron & percy’s similarities and parallels: their tempers, appearances.
and well, admittedly the only time I’ve substantially written ron in my writing has not been in the most flattering light.
and I want to explain myself, as I do genuinely love ron. he’s not my favourite character, but he is a character I quite like + an interesting and lovable character who gets way too much hate. it’s a bit of a long scene, but not that long, so I’m going to extract it in fall under the read more to save people’s dashes.
A fortnight after Fred’s funeral, sparks fly between Ron and Percy, barely not literally.
Percy had come for lunch, after firmly refusing their mother’s requests to move back in, and he had offhandedly mentioned Harry.
How is he?
Ron, who has been an unlit tank of gasoline lately, took that as a challenge.
Why would you care? Wasn’t he a ‘bad influence’ who was ‘clearly deranged’?
Percy snaps back: don’t be so immature, Ronald.
The full name, the belittlement, cracks Ron’s composure completely, and he decides to come, claws out, for his brother.
It’s a thought that flits across Ginny’s mind less than some people may think: my brother is an asshole .
But it does occur, and often it’s flippant, meaningless, yet now -
“What do you know about the war,” Ron says, with an ugly sneer, “you didn’t fight in it.”
Here, this is deliberately meant to be misplaced insecurity (well, even if I left harry and hermione, at least I did more than percy, who I was told was a thousands time better than me for most of my adolosence [don’t compare your kids, not healthy]).
Percy’s face is bright, furious, as his ears redden. “I fought in the battle.”
Ron scoffs, crossing his arms. “And what else?”
Ginny loves Ron, but he has been so isolated this past year, barely peeking into the horror of Hogwarts or the shitstorm at the Ministry.
Ron forgets, sometimes, that he is not the only one deeply, irredeemably traumatised by the last year in his family.
“More than you know,” Percy retorts, tight-lipped, before spinning on the spot, the resounding crack loud.
The following silence is even louder.
Ron has quietened, now pale-faced. Percy gone, his rage dies, and remorse dawns on his face. He pulls at his already dishevelled hair. “Shit,” he says, a wild look in his blue eyes, “what did I just do?”
Ginny rolls her eyes, in a way that tries and fails to imitate only annoyance at her brother’s careless words, not fear.
So this scene was written quite early on in the drafting process.
Ron struggles to deal with negative emotions productively and this is just after the war - his brother just died, he was on the run for one year - he’s a live wire, basically. Very traumatised, a mild touch of survivor’s guilt and guilt from abandoning Harry and Hermione for a while, and he’s not getting the help he needs. Ron is grieving and angry and hurt - and I decided to write that as Ron with his temper very reactive, very quick to respond and fight, and still struggling with his own perceived abandonment by Percy - because although Ron may have tried to hide it, he was deeply hurt by Percy’s betrayal.
I think, ultimately, that Percy and Ron would repair their relationship, but it would take time. I closed their interactions off with this:
He peers at her, suspiciously. “Oliver told Ron to fuck off, so I didn’t get to speak with him, not really.”
Because Oliver is deeply protective of Percy, who probably came home a little mess from his brother (accidentally or not) targeting his biggest insecurities.
And then another mention here:
Repairing her relationship with Percy is tentative, but Percy is earnest, much more willing to take steps towards intimacy with her than he is even with Ron.
Even with Ron suggests a certain closeness or intimacy between the two - and I think that as much Ron griped about Percy, I do think that it’s pretty typical sibling stuff and that Percy was probably one of the most reliable people in Ron’s life for years - who may not have been the most fun, yes, but who would stick up for and support Ron, and when he stopped that, Ron was deeply hurt. He takes things very personally (see Harry and the Goblet of Fire situation). And, of course, in Ron’s eyes, Percy didn’t trust/believe Harry. (I’ve discussed previously how I view Percy’s break from his family ultimately stemming from a deep distrust for Dumbledore and broken interpersonal dynamics and Harry was just the convenient explanation, but I digress.) And Harry was Ron’s best friend, ride-or-die. Of course it cut deeply and their relationship is probably going to take a while to repair, but I think they have the potential for a close relationship after the war.
A lot of their friction - as seen in the fight above - is that they are too similar. Similar tempers, particularly, similar insecurities, but they express themselves differently.
Final interaction, at Ginny’s graduation ceremony, is this:
Percy, ever the courteous one, reprimands Ron with a stern yet fond look
Percy is Ron’s true older brother, and they love each other, but it is messy. By true older brother, I mean the age gap between Bill and Charlie and Ron is so substantial that they are more like fun cousins, whereas Percy had to do the hard work of actually being an older brother. Anyway. Maybe one day I will write more deeply on the subject instead of my messy evening rambles.
in lieu of a wip snippet, have some percy and oliver vibing ordered a while ago in a study of cracked gold.
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“Oh,” Percy says, clearly surprised but pleased. He pulls Oliver in closer, who is looking at Ginny approvingly.
Ginny does not want to get on Oliver Wood’s bad side. She remembers how fanatic he was about Quidditch when he was captain. All the small snippets of interaction she has caught so far with her brother show that he absolutely adores Percy and treats him with intense passion and love.
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She can imagine Percy’s response, curt and acerbic: Their loss. It is mainly his unwillingness to subject Oliver to their treatment: he had suffered during their childhood, but he would not let his fiancé face a fraction of their family’s scorn.
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“How is Oliver doing with the Quidditch season starting up again?” Ginny asks after she has finished a bite of wonderfully seasoned chicken.
Percy raises his eyebrows, but the look in his eyes is fond as he shakes his hand in a so-so gesture. “Fanatic,” he says, “but happy. I’m happy for him, even if he keeps on accidentally waking me up at 5am.” He sighs, rolling his eyes dramatically. “Maybe one of the only good things about the war was being able to sleep in.”
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Her stay starts after Christmas because Percy is still not out to the rest of their family, other than Charlie, who adores Oliver anyway... Regardless, Oliver had wanted to spend time with his family, so Percy and Oliver did not go to the frosty Burrow’s Christmas together (where Percy behaved impeccably and barely talked, even to her, crushed in their family’s expectations and all).
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(Percy and Oliver worked with them during the war. Of course they know, Oliver being the sap he is combined with Percy and Sirius’ strangely close camaraderie.)
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Percy and Oliver turn out to be both absolutely wonderful cooks and equally splendid hosts, not giving Ginny a set bedtime (just be quiet, Percy had said with a careless roll of his eyes) and allowing her to dictate what she wanted to do, not pushing past her boundaries.
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“Have fun,” Percy says, who has leave until the fifth of January, putting down his steaming cup of tea and book - about the intricacies of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, of course.
(Muggles are fascinating, of course, but they are also people, and our father forgets that, Percy had told her back in the haze of summer with a cracked smile. They are complex and human and messy, and inherently worthy of life.)
“Of course,” Oliver says, leaning down to give Percy a kiss goodbye. “See you later, Ginny.”
“Bye,” Ginny replies, sunk comfortably into the fluffy grey armchair near the kitchen.
percy weasley & his complicated relationship with his father
His voice breaks, hitches. “He didn’t support me at all during the Ministry inquiry when I was 18. He didn’t notice, even though he had been working at the Ministry for decades, that I was being overworked and exploited. You know one of the first things Umbridge said to me? Umbridge? I wish my father was as good at ignoring me as yours was when I first started at the ministry.”
Already stained by unshed tears, the redness of his eyes deepens as Percy rubs them fiercely, in a futile effort to collect himself. A tear slips through anyway, silently. “It wasn’t malicious. He had just spent years pretending I was invisible. I was well-behaved, had good grades, after all. I didn’t need any attention, any love or affection. Out of sight, out of mind.”
a study of cracked gold | 18.1k | rated: t | harry potter | angst and fluff | percy & ginny weasley: rebuilding together after the war
Percy watches her, softly, impossibly fond. Doesn’t he know of all the little ways she betrayed him?
“Of course,” he says. “I will always be here for you, Ginny, as long as you live.”
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After the war, Ginny Weasley rebuilds her relationship with her estranged brother, Percy. It is an upwards battle, but the unconditional love she gets and gives in return is priceless.
Alternatively: Ginny grows close with Percy as they stumble through their trauma, together and apart.
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the monster of fic is here, finished and the length of a novella! please enjoy ginny and percy bonding with a side of perciver and ginny pining over luna. bon appetit!
“She made her love conditional, and I always knew that, intrinsically.”
A hand held up, preemptively in self-defence. “Mother wasn’t the worst parent or person in the world. But she is far from perfect. It has never felt like she missed me, but rather the idea of me, the poster child who succeeded and could do no wrong.”
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SixSentenceSunday (or thereabouts) through Percy criticising his mother’s lacklustre parenting skills. don’t worry, arthur also gets roasted 0.2 seconds after this!
