InsaneJournal

A Private Picnic (Percy/Neville, PG)
Title: A Private Picnic
Pairing: Percy/Neville
Rating: PG
Word Count: 319
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: Not mine. JKR's.
Summary: Percy doesn't like water.
Notes: For inell, who requested Percy/Neville, "bridge". (Also: I haven't the faintest what Neville's Patronus is, and I can't seem to find a reference for it online--feel free to correct if you know better than I do!)

Also! Happy Birthday, Neville! (A few hours too late, but still!)

The others have all gone on ahead, Percy and Neville lagging behind so they can snatch a few moments alone with each other. Neville's halfway across the footbridge that passes over the swollen stream when he realises Percy isn't with him anymore.

He turns, holding the wood of the handrail, and there is Percy, stopped a yard or so from the stream. When Neville's eyes meet his, Percy sighs.

"I can't," he says simply, and Neville turns back, stepping once again onto solid earth.

"What do you mean, you can't?" he asks, taking Percy's hand in his.

Percy shakes his head. "I—it's ridiculous. Just—that little bridge. I don't trust it, not with the stream coursing like that. It's usually just a trickle. I didn't know it would be this bad today. I didn't expect to have to cross over that." He's babbling, not looking at Neville but at the stream.

Neville wants to tell Percy that even in its current state, overflowing the banks with the heavy rain of late, the stream can't be much more than a couple of feet deep, but he doesn't, because he understands how irrational fear can be.

"Okay," he says instead, holding up their small basket, "Then we'll have our picnic here."

"The others—" Percy protests feebly.

Neville shrugs and produces a silvery ram from his wand and sends it ahead with the message that Percy and Neville have chosen another path.

And they do, wandering only a little way until they find a clearing where the sunlight breaks through the trees.

And in such a setting, it's easy to forget about their private picnic and just concentrate on each other

And when, after they've rolled about on the grass and mussed their clothing and their hair, Percy props himself up on his elbows and just smiles at Neville, Neville smiles back and is thankful for fear and for rain.