Who: Percy, Charlie Where: The Burrow What: Last minute present building When: Christmas Eve (sorry) Rating: G Status: Complete
Percy tossed down a pink rounded piece of wood and shook his head before laying back on the floor of the (now spare) room. "This is insane," he groaned. "At this rate she'll be twenty before we get this thing built. I thought magic was supposed to make things easier, so why isn't there some easy 'put toddler bed together' spell?"
"There probably is and we just don't know of it," Charlie grumbled from where he was stretched out on his stomach, chin resting on his hands, "You know, we probably should've started earlier on this - as in October, perhaps."
"I could hardly keep it a surprise that whole time, Charlie," Percy pointed out, not to mention he couldn't have afforded it. If he could have, he would have just ordered it pre-built. "As it is, she'll be up in a few hours, if Penny got her to bed at all. She's far too excited by and spoiled by everyone here for the holiday."
"We'll just have to get it done, then. Fantastic, we're not going to get any sleep tonight, are we?" he asked with a slight grin and turned onto his back.
"Well, I can’t speak for you, but I can't - I won't. Merlin, I don't know how mum and dad managed all of this for the lot of us. I can barely handle one." Reaching over he pulled his bag to him and pulled out the package Oliver had sent him that day. Conjuring two glasses he poured two and pushed one towards Charlie. "Compliments of Oliver Wood, who says I'm an old bag."
"Cheers to Oliver, then," Charlie replied as he rolled over again and reach for the glass, "This might just be what we need." He downed most of the glass before putting it down with a contented sigh. "So, you still hear from him?"
Percy peered at the scotch and then downed the small glass with a grimace. "Now and again. Not as much while he was playing, but now that he's out with his injury there'll be more time. He complains that I don't visit enough."
"I wonder why," Charlie murmured as he reached for the bottle and refilled their glasses, "You should let him know that you actually get home before dinner on some days now."
A red eyebrow quirked as Percy took his refilled glass. "I wouldn't say before dinner. There were those couple of times, but they're the exception, not the rule."
"It's a start at least, and your daughter enjoys it - and I daresay her mother, as well," Charlie said with a smirk before emptying his glass again.
That comment definitely needed another glassful of scotch. "Very funny," he replied, then more hesitantly, "She does seem happy, doesn't she?" He'd been waiting for the teasing to begin, especially since he and Penny were sharing a room at the moment - not that anything was going on, not with Persephone in there as well.
"She does and so do you. It's good to see you happy for a change, Perce," Charlie said with a raise of his glass.
"Well hopefully she won't get to see me with mashed parsnip on my glasses, or any other food thrown at me for that matter." He was still sore about being embarrassed in front of the Minister of Magic last year, and wasn't entirely sure dinner would be better this year, since some of the family still seemed to be holding a grudge.
"I think things'll be different this year," he said carefully, "Besides, I'll be there, as well and you'll be there right from the start - not coming by when dinner's almost finished and with the Minister in tow."
"I suppose." He had every intention of keeping Persephone with him as much as possible. Not even the twins would risk her safety, or mum's wrath if anything happened to her. "You know...I think this piece is that window over there. Wasn't there a set of long screws for the windows?"
Charlie rummaged around for a moment before finding the screws, "Yeah, here they are - do you need me to hold anything or can I just lie here for a while?"
Percy smirked, taking the screws. "You can stay there. For this, I do know the spell." Sitting up, he waved his wand at the pink rounded window and moved it up to where it was supposed to go, silently casting a spell to keep it in place while he worked on screwing it in. "Mum should be up any time now to start cooking."
"She should," Charlie agreed, "Not that there can be much more to do with all the food that's already in the kitchen. D'you reckon she'll miss one or two of those little pies she made yesterday? I'm hungry."
"One or two entire pies?" Percy chuckled. "I think she might. But I think there was some chicken left in the coldbox." Pointing his wand just to Charlie's side, he thought ‘Accio left-over chicken’ and hoped it didn't accidentally grab the neighbors instead, as fuzzy as that scotch was making things.
Charlie flashed a smile at his brother as a plate of chicken came zooming through the doorway. He helped himself to a piece and asked, "How much do we still need to do on that?"
Testing if the window would hold up to pulling and pushing, Percy pondered and looked around at the remaining pieces. "You could take care of the back piece, there. Just put it together and stick it on the back. Then there's the door frame and the stairs and putting in the mattress and bedding."
"Right." He got to his feet, wiped his hands on his jeans and set to work on piecing together and then putting up the back piece of Persephone's present.
"She'd better like this, or I've just spent far too much money on something completely outrageous." Percy wasn't one for impractical gifts, but in this case he'd gone out of his way to choose something out of the ordinary.
"She'll adore it - I don't think there's a little girl who won't." Charlie reassured his brother as he pushed down on it to see how sturdy it was, "She'll live in there and you'll only see her at dinner time."
Doorframe on, Percy looked around and gathered the round mattress up and put it inside, then set the pillows and stuffed animals on it. "She's not too young? I don't know. I'm not good at these things and Penny just grins when I ask her."
"I don't think she's too young." Charlie said, scratching his head, "But then again, what do I know about children? I'd say it's a good bet that she'll like if Penny's just grinning when you ask her."
"She's evil, Penny is. She's getting back at me by not telling me. Oh! Curtains." Percy grabbed the rods and pink curtains, hanging them carefully. "If they ever move out of here I'm shrinking this. There's no way I'm taking it apart again."
Charlie only laughed at his brother and picked up the half-full bottle and two glasses, "Another one before bed? Just to congratulate ourselves on getting it right after only one try?" he asked with a grin.
Percy gave a nod. "One try that took several days, mind you, but nobody has to know that part."
"Hey, we had work and other stuff to do as well," he said dryly and clinked his glass against Percy's.
"Cheers." Percy threw back the scotch, squeezing his eyes shut as it hit the back of his throat and burned on its way down. "To a Christmas with all the family together, and living under one roof for a few last days."