Disclaimer: The characters and world of HP is not mine. I'm merely using them to give my life meaning.

School and Year: Mahoutokoro, Year 3

Prompt: [Setting] The Lake

Technique: Em dashes, hyphens, and semi-colons

Word count: 843

Slightly AU because Percy is in a relationship with Oliver, not Penelope. Set during seventh year (PoA)

Also, yeah I know, I got away from the technique challenge but I fell in love with the story okay? I ain't apologizing for that. LOL. Enjoy and drop a review if you feel like it. They're much appreciated.

It was a Saturday evening. Percy and Oliver had eaten dinner early so they could go out and sit by the lake for a while before they had to head back to the castle. They both had work to do, but they were with each other in a quiet, cool environment, so it didn't feel much like work.

Percy had some parchment and a few books laid out in front of him, studying for his NEWTs, while Oliver had some sketchboards and diagrams, thinking about the Quidditch final.

Percy may not always understand Oliver's fascination with Quidditch but he respected it; and he couldn't help but admire the effort Oliver put into his planning and tactic creating.

"It's getting close to curfew," Percy murmured.

Oliver looked up, his neck audibly cracking as he rolled his shoulders. "Yeah, it is," he agreed, glancing at his watch. "And I can't believe I'm saying this, but if I look at one more diagram tactic I might…" Oliver trailed off, searching for a proper metaphor.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I feel the same. If I read one more sentence about the laws of Transfiguration tonight my brain might explode."

"Well, we can't have that," Oliver said teasingly. He laid aside the diagrams in the grass beside him and leaned towards Percy, kissing him lightly on the cheek.

Percy smiled, playfully shoving Oliver away. "You do realize we're in the middle of the grounds right? Anybody could see us at any moment."

"Who cares?" Oliver said, shrugging. He reached up and pulled off Percy's glasses.

"I'm the Head Boy, Oliver," Percy said, mildly irritated but trying not to laugh.

"And I'm the Quidditch Captain," Oliver shot back. "Trust me, I think everybody believes we're in a relationship anyways."

"And who's fault is that?" Percy said. "You're the one who keeps trying to hold my hand during classes."

"Is it a crime to want to hold your boyfriend's hand?" Oliver said.

Percy rolled his eyes again but smiled. "No, I suppose not."

He and Oliver laid back on the grass, holding hands.

People who didn't know them together and only knew them individually, would think it was crazy for them to be in a relationship together; the main reason being that they had complete opposite views on schoolwork and Quidditch. While Percy was an avid learner, Oliver only studied enough to keep his grades up. And while Oliver was incredibly enthusiastic about Quidditch, Percy didn't see much appeal in it.

But when you took away the difference in interests, Percy and Oliver were more similar than you'd think. They were both ambitious and hardworking. They were both perfectionists, always working on their essays or tactics late into the night.

Not too rarely, you could find Percy and Oliver sitting together in the common room at four o'clock in the morning. They'd play the old Muggle turntable in the corner of the room, a classic record like Fleetwood Mac or the Rolling Stones playing softly as they worked.

And Percy had his moments of fun. He was just extremely reluctant to show them in front of people like his family, teachers, and friends. Anyone really, who wasn't Oliver. He couldn't explain why but — ever since they'd been kids — Percy had always felt at ease around Oliver. The child in him had always felt staunched, so being around someone like Oliver, someone who had the perfect balance between child and adult, brought out those buried laughs and jokes.

Maybe it was a symptom of 'middle child syndrome' as Muggles called it. There was Bill and Charlie, making a name for themselves before any of the others. Fred and George, the pranking jokesters who automatically summoned attention, and Ron and Ginny, the babies of the family.

Which left Percy.

Now, sitting by the lake with Oliver, Percy felt like he could just be himself. They quizzed each other on Quidditch facts or Charm theories, laughing when the other got the answers incredibly wrong. When one's eyes would close, the other would sometimes pull up a handful of grass and throw it in the other's face, or take their wand and pull water from the lake, dumping it over the other's robes.

They knew they had to go back to the castle; that didn't mean they wanted to though. Percy held up a pompous, prideful mask when around others, and if he was honest with himself, it was exhausting. But at the end of the day, he had Oliver there to keep him just childish enough, happy enough.

"What if we just stayed out here all night?" Oliver asked suddenly.

Percy blinked, pulled from his thoughts. "What?" he asked with a laugh. "You're crazy, Ollie."

"No, I'm serious." Oliver propped himself up on his elbow. "It's not like McGonagall does roll call."

"Uh, you do remember that there's a mass murderer on the loose right?" Percy said, though he grinned.

"Who cares?" Oliver said, leaning down and kissing Percy. "We've got each other, don't we?"