When Ron Weasley received the outfit his mom sent him, he promptly went to Percy to exchange that horrible suit for the one his older brother has.

It was terrible of him, yes - he couldn't do that with Fred and George, let alone Bill or Charlie, but-

If it was Percy-

He'd probably smile and thank him as he pushed his own tastefully designed Prewett-certified heirloom in Ron's arms - transfiguring it to fit Ron's body for good measure while complimenting him like a proud father.

Ron knew from experience that once his siblings discovered his stunt, they would slap him silly, but Ron didn't want to settle for something less when he could get a better one easily.

Besides, his older brother would probably get his dormmates to help in transfiguring that bloody horrible outfit and if it hides that admittedly outstanding face just a bit better-

Why shouldn't he do so?

(And if Ron somehow hoped it would turn a certain dastardly Hufflepuff off, then that's no one's bloody business, but his own.)

...

..

.

Ron wasn't wrong.

He hadn't even managed to step a foot out of the Gryffindor tower when Percy came bouncing in himself to Ron - pushing his exquisitely designed suit to Ron's arms and fetching Ron's own in front of the twins' eyes.

His older brother stubbornly reasoned in the face of the twins (and Harry's) protest that since he used to wear that hand-me-down before anyway, it wasn't a problem to wear it now so despite the twins glaring, Ron just raised his hands and shrugged in an attempt to show his innocence.

What could Ron do?

The boss had spoken and it would be hypocritical of him to refuse since he did need a better one. Ron didn't even need to ask this time, so they couldn't beat him up as they wished.

Heh.

(It was his first official date with Hermione after all and looking good wouldn't hurt to change her impression of him.)

Ron booked it out of there once George fetched Ginny to fix up the costume. Merlin knew that woman was too bloody overbearing, she'd probably snatched the costume out of Ron's hands once she saw the hopeless state of that...dress was in and brainwash Percy to be a normal, selfish human being.

It sometimes worked too, since Percy always listened to Ginny as if their sister was their mother so it was safer to get out of the firing range and hope for the best.

Percy had always been Ron's greatest cheerleader.

He was that older brother that didn't brush him off. The weird one that gave and gave - asking nothing in return as he sincerely believed in Ron and his capabilities.

Ron hadn't spent as much time as the others with Percy. His older brother was almost always at Aunt Muriel's house for some reason or the other during Ron's childhood and Ron, unlike Ginny, wasn't favored by the old bat so he avoided going there as much as he could. There was also the issue about the "incident" that left Percy weak for a long period of time, so Ron spent most of his prepuberty phase with the neighbor's kids or fooling around with Fred and George whenever they got themselves out of their slump.

But-

The little snippets in time Ron did have with his delicate older brother were always tinged with unceasing fondness and inexplicable trust.

(That made it hard to hate Percy even with the evident partial treatment he got from everyone Ron knew.)

That feeling hadn't changed when Ron finally went into Hogwarts and well-

It honestly made him uncomfortable.

Percy wasn't doing anything wrong. Ron felt warm, cared for and pampered whenever Ron was with him but-

It was tad unnerving and too out of Ron's usual norm that he couldn't stand it for a longer period of time even if he wanted to.

Percy was too...nice and gentle in a way that made Ron feel ill at ease.

Ron felt that if he'd sell Percy out, the guy would haggle for his own price just so Ron could get the better end of the deal.

...He wasn't kidding.

Ron wished he was damn it, but he sensed that the probability of that happening if Ron wished to do so was particularly high.

It was too bloody abnormal to act that foolishly generous. Percy didn't even have the slightest defense against people he called his, bloody hell -

It made Ron want to tear his hair off from stress.

Ron thought that with enough acts of selfishness and by being the best example of a parasite, Percy could grow out of his innocence and naivety so he wouldn't be hurt irreparably in the future by people he trusted, but well-

It didn't work as Ron imagined it would as Percy delightedly pampered him like a young master and indulged his every whim.

Ron admitted that there were even times that he took the treatment for granted and if it wasn't for Ginny's whomping, he'd probably be more of a jerk than he already was.

So when Cedric Diggory bought his family's treasured baby to the floor to dance and stared at him hotly for the whole night, Ron wanted to smack that bastard's face on the floor.

(Ron had an inkling about Cedric's intentions for Percy after the international Quidditch match they watched earlier this year. He didn't believe it before since Cedric was relatively low-key with his moves that only obsessed people like the twins and Oliver could even see the so-called blatant courting that was happening however-)

(Ron's alarms were faintly ringing during the Quidditch event, once he realized how Cedric was a tad too sticky to Percy than what was normally accepted. The bastard was very good at toeing the line, though, so it wasn't as suspicious as it should have been but-)

(Ron could feel his dastardly designs.)

Bloody hell.

Ginny and the girls in the Gryffindor dorm were too good at their job, that even if they spent a considerable amount of time getting ready themselves, they still managed to transfigure the horrid costume Ron had before into something stunning.

The two made an eye-catching picture as Cedric danced and teased Percy endlessly - looking delighted as his older brother blushed fetchingly.

Merlin, if it wasn't for Hermione looking ravishing and diverting his attention, he'd probably join the twins as they postured around the two like flies that badly needed a swat.

Damn it.

Author's Note: This chapter was sponsored by Zuzu's ko-fi. Thank you for the support.