Happy September 1st!

Chapter 1: 2025: Why Percy Weasley Doesn't Like Lee Jordan

Lee Jordan was a first year Gryffindor. He was quiet and kept to himself, but wasn't particularly cowardly or shy. He was, for the most part, completely unremarkable and entirely beneath notice.

Percy disliked him. No, that wasn't right; Percy was terrified of him.

The reason why Percy was terrified of him was because Percy's immediate younger brothers seemed to like him. This in itself wasn't that noteworthy, as the twins made friends easily and often, but they seemed to truly adore this boy. This quiet, unassuming, well-behaved boy.

It scared him almost as bad as Fred and George's own behavior, which recently had been borderline impeccable. Ever since their arrival in Hogwarts a month prior, it seemed they had been trying to be as polite, helpful, and good-natured as wixenly possible.

The biggest issue they'd caused was when the Hat had called George up in the middle of Fred's Sorting and proceeded to send them both to Gryffindor together (a first as far as Percy knew) after ten minutes of talking to them, which arguably wasn't even their fault. Besides that, they'd practically been angels.

"I don't get it," Oliver Wood sighed as they walked down a corridor, "you're angry because your brothers aren't causing trouble?"

"Yes! No! I don't know!" Percy growled. He went to put his head in his hands, but found them already occupied with his schoolbooks (he really needed to get around to fixing up his old bookbag). He settled for turning to glare at his fri– dormmate. "You don't know them like I do, Wood. They're mischievous little agents of chaos and destruction whose only goal in life is to make as big a mess as possible!"

Down a side corridor, behind Percy but where Oliver could clearly see, the subjects of their little discussion were scrubbing the stone walls of the castle by hand. Oliver knew without asking that they had not been told nor bribed to do this, as by now they had managed to develop quite the reputation for doing things like cleaning the castle or helping other students carry their books entirely out of the goodness of their hearts.

Oliver raised an eyebrow at Percy. "Don't you think you're being a little harsh, Perce? They seem friendly enough to me." He pointed behind the other, making Percy turn around.

The screech that Percy let out upon seeing what his brothers were doing was the single most inhuman sound Oliver had ever heard. And he'd been there for the first time Percy had failed a test, so that was saying something.

The twins cackled madly, running around the Great Hall and jumping from table to table. Food was flying everywhere, with more being summoned every time it looked like the assault was coming to an end. The twins were the only ones not covered in mashed potatoes and treacle tart — not because of any charms they might have casted for protection, mind you, as they were barely first years, but from the fact that they kept using large platters to hit the edible missiles away from themselves and each other.

Percy let his head thump on the table, not bothering to either clean himself off nor to get up and leave the Great Hall. Years of experience taught him it was useless to try to escape until the Twins were done with their nonsense. He knew their behavior was a trap, he knew it!

A part of him was relieved, actually. Now he didn't have to constantly look over his shoulder waiting for the other shoe to drop, now everyone wouldn't think he was insane for accusing them of misbehaviour, now...

Now he had his brothers back.

"Look at them go, mate!" Oliver was staring at the chaos in joy, uncaring to the food caught in his hair and staining his clothes. "You weren't kidding about them, were you?"

"I told you so, broomstick brain." He muttered, the sound muffled by his arms, which he'd folded under his head to protect against the hard wood of the table.

Unfortunately, he had no such protection from the Wood next to him, who insisted on carrying on cheerful conversation while the Great Hall was destroyed around them.

"Hey, Perce, you know what they'd be perfect for?" Oliver asked with a grin, nudging Percy. Percy stayed silent. Rather than continue talking anyways, Oliver decided to keep poking him over and over again, in hopes that their conversation wouldn't remain so one-sided.

Finally, Percy sighed, relenting to the annoying onslaught. "What would they be perfect for, Wood?"

"Quidditch Beaters!" Oliver answered happily, clapping his hands in excitement. He started looking around the table, head turning so fast it almost looked like a blur. "Have you seen Charlie anywhere, mate? I have got to talk to him about getting them on the team next year..."

The Great Hall was chaos.

As had been said before, food was flying everywhere; kids were torn between futile attempts at escaping, hiding under the pitiful cover of the tables, and joining in on the fun. The more time went on, the more students picked the latter.

The twins had begun singing as they danced along the tables, by now covered in food almost as much as everyone else was, though it didn't dampen their spirits in the slightest.

Snape and McGonagall were yelling and flailing about and generally trying to bring back some semblance of order; Dumbledore, on the other hand, was too busy pretending he wasn't laughing to help them.

Lee Jordan most certainly was laughing, and he most certainly wasn't hiding it, as it was loud enough to be heard even over all the noise and hubbub around him. Percy decided his dislike for the other was entirely justified, and so made a mental note to double-down on said dislike in any of their future interactions.

Meanwhile, a collective understanding was settling in to the minds of everyone present that Hogwarts was most probably not going to know a moment's peace for the next seven years. All thanks to three seemingly quiet, unassuming, well-behaved boys.

Percy, who already knew this fact, was reconsidering the idea of being homeschooled. It would mean less schoolbooks to carry, at any rate.