ship_manifesto | Percy/Oliver (Harry Potter)

Title: A Jock, a Geek, and So Much More
Author:

merelyn
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Percy/Oliver
Email: chips_caro @ yahoo.com
Spoilers: All 5 Books, including OoTP!
Author's Notes Special thanks to my friends from back home (you know who you are), and the folks over on

weasleys_wood for helping me out (esp.

alcoholicberry). Mwah!

Percy/Oliver is the HP ship that is perhaps closest to my heart. I’ve read a lot of fic in a lot of fandoms over the years, and to date P/O is the only ship I’ve ever written (and if you're vaguely inclined to read some fluffy crap, I'll take a moment of self-pimping and point you here). The pairing has changed a lot since I first got into it two years ago, and again, there will be spoilers for OoTP, which marks a definite change in Percy’s character, and thus the pairing in general.

Also, to preface this, I am a Percy fan first, so there’s probably going to be a lot more here about Percy than Oliver, though I’ve tried to keep it as balanced as possible. Just a disclaimer, though.

Percy Weasley:

Percy has often been described by Harry Potter fans as the “least likable” Weasley. After all, he’s stuffy. He’s officious. He’s condescending. He’s proud. He’s got a stick up his arse the size of a redwood. (What’s not to like, I ask you?) As a prefect and Head Boy, Percy shows a reverence to authority, and a strict adherence to rules. He devotes most of his energy to studying, so that he can pass his exams and get into the Ministry of Magic, perhaps even become Minister of Magic one day. He’s ambitious. He cares about appearances and what other important people think about him. He’s most commonly referred to as “Perfect Percy”. And unless you’re like me and have a thing for pretentious characters, there may not be a lot of the surface for you to like. Most Percy fans, though, tend to look beyond this exterior facade to what we see behind it.

Percy is, perhaps first and foremost, an outsider among the Weasleys. Percy does not get along with the rest of his family; his personality is quite different from the rest of his siblings. Fred and George in particular pick on him and tease him mercilessly (granted he makes an easy target), and Ron seems to resent Percy’s success in school. In fact, I would say that Percy gets along with his mother (and maybe Ginny) better than any of his siblings. Despite all this, he genuinely cares for his family. With Bill and Charlie so much older and out of the house, Percy is put in the position of older brother to the rest of the Weasleys, taking care of them the only way he seems to know how- fussing and bossing them around.

Partially because of this, I would call Percy insecure in a lot of ways. He’s one of seven children, and has spent most of his life competing with his siblings for his parents’ attention and affection. And what better way to do this than to follow in his fathers footsteps and go into the Ministry? You know, it’s always the kids who don’t get approval from the right people who feel they have to shove their accomplishments in your face the way Percy does.

However, despite being ambitious, Percy is neither ruthless nor cunning. Once he gets into the Ministry in Book 4, Percy goes about moving up in the Ministry ranks by becoming a complete suck-up- doing whatever his boss wants. Percy obviously thinks that writing reports on Cauldron Bottoms will get Crouch to promote him.

I think in his mind Percy translates success- academics, his career- into happiness, love and approval. In my opinion, that’s what really drives Percy to succeed more than anything else, despite the fact that he must know on some level (from personal experience) that life doesn’t work like that. So he works his butt off anyway because he doesn’t know how to do anything else, and as for the love and approval stuff, he does the next best thing and isolates himself from everyone before they do it to him first. And to protect himself and make himself feel in control, you’ve got the Percy we seen on the surface- the irritable, proud, stuffy, snotty, rule-bound prat we all know and love. I can feel myself getting a little too psycho-analytical here, so I’ll spare you any further rambling.

In fic, Percy is often portrayed a little differently than we see in the books. In fanon, Percy is sometimes softened into a character that is merely adorably stuffy and uptight, and not so much a proud, pompous ass. You know, that neurotic person who organizes everything on his desk at 90 degree angles, but in a cute way. Still, I have the feeling that many authors just ignore or gloss over the not-so-cute aspects of Percy’s behavior, instead of getting at the motivations behind it.

But don’t just listen to me! For another view on Percy, and a really excellent essay, please check out

strangemuses’ Appreciation of Percy over on

idol_reflection.

ifyouweremine has an adorable, wonderful list of Reasons to Love Percy. Also, there was also a really interesting discussion about Percy being brave over on

arclevel’s lj here.

Personally I like writing Percy because he’s human and fallible, fun to tease, and you never quite know what you’ll find once you get behind those walls of his. And if you, like so many of us, have a thing for men who wear glasses, then hey, Percy’s the character for you. Just check out this fabulous piece of fanart by Marta. Aww. Don’t you just want to give him a hug? Well, I do, at least.

Oliver Wood:

If there is one thing we know about Oliver from the books, it is this: Oliver Wood is a Quidditch maniac. He loves it. He lives and breathes it.

He takes it very seriously.

In the books at least, Oliver's moods, his self esteem, his entire life (as we know it) is tied to Quidditch. As the Gyffindor team captain, Oliver is determined to get the Quidditch cup, and he’s willing to go to almost any lengths to do so, without endangering his teammates- basically. He cheerfully holds practices at the crack of dawn in any sort of inclement weather. He’s also something of a sore loser. Take, for example, Oliver’s reaction to a disappointing loss in Prisoner of Azkaban:

"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square... even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" said Harry, suddenly realizing he wasn't there.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

That’s my all time favorite Oliver quote. Also, here’s a lovely piece of fanart by Emily R. Bucherati. I think it perfectly captures the character. Only Oliver would be crazy enough to stand on one of goal hoops and be smiling about it.

Of course, since the books are from Harry’s POV, we only see Oliver in a Quidditch context. In fact, after Gryffindor wins the cup in PoA, Oliver pretty much drops out of the books, except for a little bit in GoF, where we find out that after Hogwarts he’s gotten a position as Reserve Keeper on the professional team Puddlemere United. We never see Oliver alone, in class, relaxing, or just hanging out with his friends. Besides the Quidditch mania not much else is known about Oliver- his family, his friends, even what he looks like (in the books the only physical description of him we get is “burly”).

(Of course, many people are plenty happy to imagine him as he appears in the films, hunky!Scottish!Written out of the third movie!Oliver, as played by Sean Biggerstaff (insert joke about pervy last names here). Sean has basically become the Orlando Bloom of the Harry Potter movies, with all the annoying fangirls that go with that.)

Anyway, to be honest, in the books, Oliver is not much of a three-dimensional character. To quote my lovely friend

alcoholicberry, “If you took away all the pressure of him wanting to win the games and all the work he puts into Quidditch (or take Quidditch away all together) we are really left with an empty shell.” And sadly, this is basically true. I think JKR definitely could have fleshed him more.

Still, this is where fic writers can come in and fill in the gaps. There’s got to be more to Oliver than the one-note Quidditch obsession Rowling gives us. I have a feeling Oliver tends to be written off as that crazy Quidditch jock just as much as Percy is written off as the pompous Head Boy. Also, there’s got be some explanation for why Oliver is so Quidditch-obsessed. Many fics I’ve read have imagined Oliver’s father as the driving force behind this. But that’s just one view. There’s lots of room to play in. Writers can take Oliver in all sorts of directions; give him a history, complex personality layers, a future, whatever they want.

Also, if you want to learn more about Oliver, head on over to

babyofthegroup's Essay on Oliver over at

idol_reflection.

The Pairing:

Okay, so granted Percy and Oliver don’t exactly have what you’d call a relationship in canon- though I think they might be peripheral characters in the same scene once. The only (admittedly tenuous) piece of canonical evidence comes from Prisoner of Azkaban, when the Gryffindor team wins the house cup. As soon as Harry catches the snitch, we find Oliver sobbing his eyes out in joy, and Percy “jumping up and down like a maniac, all dignity forgotten.” Now why would Percy, who doesn’t seem like the type to give three straws about Quidditch, loosen up for the first and only time in the books over a Quidditch game?

The answer to this question should be obvious- his secret boyfriend just won the Quidditch cup. Duh.

In the movies, it should be noted, they do sit together a lot, as shown here in these screencaps

alcoholicberry. (Clearly, the filmmakers knew what they were about.)

Still, despite the fact that they are barely canonically connected, Percy and Oliver are in the same house and year. That means- if Harry’s year is anything to go by- that they shared a dormitory through most if not all of their time at Hogwarts. They definitely know each other. And as for their canon love lives, well Oliver seems too Quidditch-obsessed to think about dating anyone, and Percy’s girlfriend Penelope drops out of the books after the third one, saving you the trouble of writing her out yourself.

And while many people object to Percy/Oliver on the grounds that there’s nothing in canon on which to base it, I actually like the pairing for the same reason. There’s so much to work with. You have two very distinct characters, and time was you could write them together without having to worry much about the confines of canon (well except for OoTP, but more on that later). You can have Percy and Oliver as friends at school, sekritly in lurrve, or have them meet years later, and it’s all plausible. Because of this, though, Percy/Oliver is a largely fanon-based pairing.

Old school Percy/Oliver also tends to have somewhat less relationship angst than your average ship- sort of like Harry/Ron, if you know what that’s like. Not to say the pairing doesn’t have its share of gut wrenching, dark angsty stuff, but this isn’t Snape/Voldemort we’re talking about here. Most of the humor in the pairing, at least as I see them, comes from the Odd Couple vibe they’ve got. Percy’s the adorably uptight one, Oliver’s the laid back “cool” one. Mix them together and hilarity results.

Also, as

alcoholicberry points out, “What is Oliver? Quiddich Captain, handsome, someone out of Percy's league? Exactly why it's a cute couple.” Some fics definitely have a jock/geek, almost Cinderella undercurrent to them.

But what really strikes me about Percy and Oliver is just how similar they are. They are both extremely motivated and driven individuals. Oliver is just as obnoxious as a team captain as Percy is as Head Boy. They both know what they want, and they’re going to get there. That’s is something that I think lies at the heart of both characters (for better or worse) and is something that I think they would understand in each other, even if Quidditch and the Ministry aren’t really similar fields. Besides, living together has got to have given them some insight into each other, an ability to see beyond the jock/geek facades.

Order of the Phoenix:

Being a relatively light and happy (at least from my perspective), very fanon-based pairing, especially considering Percy’s characterization, OoTP had a pretty big impact Percy/Oliver. At the end of Book 4, after Voldemort’s return, Percy faces a choice between the Ministry and his family. Percy gets promoted to Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic- closer than he’s ever been to his career goal. He tells his dad about this, and Arthur insinuates that Percy was only promoted so he could spy on his family. They get into a row, and Percy leaves home, choosing the Ministry. Then, he writes an obnoxious letter to Ron warning him away from Harry. And then, in a particularly horrible move, he sends back the Weasley Christmas jumper Molly knitted for him. Ouch.

Most Percy fans read the book and were outraged at what JKR did to their character (that is, fanon!Percy). I will admit to being one of them.

However, I’m not really bitter now, and I’m going to tell you why. It’s important to consider that although we as readers know that Harry’s has seen Voldemort and that he actually is back, all the other characters only have Harry’s word for it. To an outside perspective, at the Third Task in GoF, Harry and Cedric disappear in front of the crowd, and then later they reappear, Harry clutching Cedric’s dead body, telling everyone that the dead Dark Lord they live in fear of has returned. I think I’d be a little skeptical of Harry’s sanity myself if I didn’t know better. (Besides, even Seamus, a more outwardly likable character, thinks Harry’s “mad” in Book 5.) I can understand wanting to be in denial about the return of Voldemort, especially if you were old enough to remember his first appearance, which Fred, George, Ron and the rest of Harry’s year weren’t.

Besides, more importantly, Percy’s decision really just exemplifies his character. One of these being his extreme respect for authority- it would never really occur to Percy that the Ministry, the institution he’s been trying to break into for practically all his life, could be wrong about anything. And as for trusting his family, well, Percy’s father has just undermined and insulted him at the very moment when Percy has come closest to reaching his goal and finally winning his family’s approval. And considering his position in his family, considering they all have a completely different way of looking at the world- where status isn’t important- why should he believe them? Percy’s choice also shows his pride, his Weasley temper, and I think, above all, his courage. It takes a lot of guts to leave your family and set out on your own, even if your convictions are ultimately wrong.

Of course this doesn’t excuse Percy, and his decision is made all the worse by the typically snotty way he goes about it, and his behavior afterwards.

Many hope that Percy will swallow his pride and come back to his family. And maybe this is what will happen in the future books. After all, before OoTP, the last time Percy appears in the books (other than by mention or letter) is when, after the Second Task in which Harry “saves” Ron from drowing, Percy, “(looking) very white and somehow much younger than usual” wades out in the lake to grab Ron, smothering him in concern for his safety. This shows me that Percy does genuinely care for his family, even if they don’t get along. And in the end, I hope they’re more important to him. But we don’t know what JKR will ultimately end up doing to his character. Some people even speculate as to whether he will even survive in the end.

Or course, the OoTP thing put a bit of a wrench in things, P/O-wise. Canon kind of got in the way. The pairing’s innocence was lost, as corny as that sounds. Writing a P/O post OoTP fic means addressing the issue and “justifying” Percy’s actions. It’s not the easiest thing to do- and it certainly adds a lot of built-in angst the ship didn’t have before, at least from Percy’s side.

Of course, there is Oliver to consider. While he isn’t in the book at all, we can still guess at what he’s been up to. Is he still playing Quidditch? Would he continue to play even if the Dark Lord himself stormed a game? ;) Will he join to war effort now that Voldemort’s return can’t be ignored? Maybe the Order of the Phoenix? Also, exploring Oliver’s potential reaction to Percy’s decision is an interesting one. Again, this is another area with a lot of room for speculation.

Still, there are plenty who go the denial route, writing Hogwarts era fics, or future fics that completely ignore the development. (As I said before, canon has never been the dominant basis for the ship.)

I continue to love the pairing. Pre-OoTP fics can be pretty waffily wonderful, and post-OoTP fics are often very gripping, if angsty. It’s still a ship worth checking out, there’s so much room to play in, and who knows what will happen once the other books come out?

Fic Recs:

Okay, most of these aren't exactly the depressing, moody kind of fic. As in, they can be pretty fluffy. Just to warn you. My favorite dark fic is still a WiP, in my defense.

Pre-OotP:

In This World of Stangers by A’Jes’Blue. This is a classic. For a lot of people, this is the fic that got them into the pairing. It’s angsty, gripping, and maybe a little schmoopy, but still really good. I love the backstory on Percy.

Out of the Closet into the Frying Pan by

cairnsy. Light on the P/O, but freakin’ hilarious. Read it. Now. Cairnsy also has some really excellent, more serious Percy fics over at Perfect?.

Conventions by Angel Interceptor (

sunsetmog)- this fic has a warm glow to it, as silly as that sounds. One of my favorites from way back.

Let Me Count the Ways by Fleur- Short and sweet. Really cute without being sappy.

Everything to Everyone by Kimagure(

skylark97)- This one has a really excellent take on Percy’s view of the Ministry.

Sleepwalking by Khirsah; and it's companion, Perfect by Mathilda. Dark, very dark. I'm reccing it because I read it years ago and it's still sticking to me.

Dancing, Dancing 2, and Dancing 3 by Teague (

macteague)- I cannot believe I forgot to put this up here originally. *facepalm* Teague has written a lot of P/O, all of it wonderful (her site is linked below), but this is my favorite. It's just adorable and funny, and everyone's so in character. Read it.

Post OoTP:

All’s Fair by

pogrebin- shortish, but sad, and really quite good.

In a Time of Uncertainty by Marauder (

marauderthesn)- One of the only long post-OoTP P/O out there of note. Her characterization of Percy is quite different from what one usually encounters.

My Reasons by LadyJackyl- Percy gen fic, but an awesome Post-OoTP take on him and the Weasleys nonetheless.

Not a lot, I know, and my tastes are admittedly a bit limited. I might put some more in later, but otherwise, if any of you have some great P/O fics you’d like to rec, please link them in the comments. If you want.

Sites:

Percy:

P is For Percy- Wonderful Percy site, with essays and more.

Prefect- The Official Percy Weasley Fanlisting

percy_fans- D'oh. Forgot to put this up the first time.

The Percy Weasley Fic-A-Thon- Another addition; thanks to

icarusancalion for pointing it out. Lots of Percy stories, including some P/O.

Oliver:

He’s a Keeper!- the Oliver Wood Fanlisting

There’s not many really in-depth sites about Oliver, besides the drooling, omg Sean is so hott!!1! kind. He does have his own t-shirt at HotTopic, just to let you know.

Percy/Oliver:

Percy/Oliver on FictionAlley- the ship thread for P/O over there. Lot’s of good links to stuff. I’d recommend checking it out first, especially since my recs are by no means very extensive.

Perfect?- the slash section of this Percy fic archive, basically all P/O. It hasn’t been updated in ages, but there’s some good stuff here, more old school.

Percy/Oliver Writers Support Network- the main Yahoo!group for P/O. Still active, and there’s been a ton of fic posted there over the years.

Quills and Quidditch- the archive for POWSN, but it hasn’t been updated in forever.

POWSNadult- POWSN’s smuttier sister. NC-17 P/O fic.

weasleys_wood- the P/O lj community. It's been getting more active lately. Check it out.

Oliver/Percy Improv- group for the OP Improv. Still relatively active, though you need approval to join it.

The OP Improv Archive- it isn’t active anymore, but you can find a lot of good stuff, some of it a bit dark, here.

Percy/Oliver Fic Carnival. Their archive doesn’t have anything up yet, but you can find some fics in the files section of their Yahoo!group.

Breagerey- Teague’s website is full of Percy/Oliver fic. Wonderful stuff here. Highly recommended.

Mireille’s P/O fics. Mireille writes dark, fucked-up, hot fic like no other. Also has some Oliver/Marcus and Percy/Marcus if you’re so inclined.

And of course, if you're really brave, you could always poke around ff.net. There was a lot of good stuff up there before ff.net started sucking.

That’s it. Longer than I ever imagined. *dies*