So.. Here's my first fic in about four years. Crazy how time flies! (Though I actually wrote most of this a couple years ago, just never got around to posting it.)

All around him people were laughing. All around him people were cheering. Smiling. Happy.

Then there were those who were grieving. Crying. Broken.

Percy Weasley felt nothing. His emotions disappeared and all that was left was an empty void where his heart should have been screaming.

His brother was dead.

One second Fred was alive and laughing. The next he was a shell. Nothing inside. That split second seized Percy's world and forced it upside down until reality vanished.

Crowded around Fred's body, his family wept, but Percy stood, stone faced, staring down at what his brother used to be, unaware his mother was sprawled across Fred's body and sobbing into his chest. Unaware of George's tears streaming down his cheeks.

He was only aware of the nagging feeling urging him to leave.

So Percy found himself staring at a crumbling Hogwarts tower as time rushed by him.

"Hey," a familiar voice called, breaking the eerie silence. "Percy?"

Percy didn't turn around. He let Oliver Wood jog up next to him.

"I heard what happened," Oliver said.

Percy kept his gaze on the tower and nodded.

Oliver put a hand on Percy's shoulder, giving him a small squeeze. "I know we were never close at school, but if you need anything…"

Clenching his eyes, Percy nodded again.

"…Someone to talk to," Oliver continued.

In his attempt to say thanks, a choking sob came out instead. He suddenly felt everything at once spinning around him, crushing his lungs and pushing him to the ground. Oliver sunk with him and drew him into a desperate hug. Percy collapsed into it, grabbing fistfuls of Oliver's bloody and dirty shirt as he sobbed.

Neither was aware if it minutes or hours passed until Percy's sobs subsided to shaky, but steady breaths.

He lifted his head off Oliver's shoulder.

"Feel better?"

"I do," Percy whispered, still clutching Oliver's shirt, his fingers white with tension. "Thanks." He smiled weakly and loosened his grip, letting the blood rush back into his fingers, tingling slightly.

"It's not the end of the world,"

"Then why does it feel like it?" Percy said. Oliver tightened the hug as Percy rested his head on Oliver's shoulder once more.