Written for the Weasley Relationships Challenge with the platonic pairing of Harry/Audrey.
"You're getting married, Percy?"
"You?"
"Wait, what? Percy's engaged?"
Incredulous voices and a mixture of emotions filled the small kitchen of the Burrow. Some were crying tears of joy, some wore amused expressions, while others looked utterly bewildered by the news Percy had just shared with them.
He was getting married. Percy, the one who had kept himself locked away in his room for a good four months, had somehow met a girl whom he was now engaged to.
And to top it all off, she hadn't even attended Hogwarts. Nor had she gone to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang or any other wizarding school, for that matter. No, Audrey Figg was a Squib.
"Bloody hell, Perce, are you sure she's your fiance?" George ran his hand over his face as if that would make the surprise go away.
Ignoring George's undertone, Percy beamed at his family, his eyes reaching every single one of them. "Yes. I'm amazed she said yes to my proposal."
"So am I," George, Ron and Ginny chorused in unison, snickering to themselves.
Molly Weasley sent her three children disgusted looks, before smiling up at her third eldest son. "This is fantastic news, Percy. Oh, I'm so pleased we will be having another wedding soon!" Beaming, she embraced the shy girl, Audrey, warmly. "Welcome to the family, dear."
"Thank you, Mrs Weasley." Audrey smiled bashfully as Percy wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead.
Harry, who had been watching the exchange from the sidelines, chuckled to himself at the outward display of affection. It's about time they came out with it, he thought.
From where she stood with Percy's arms around her, Audrey flashed him a smile. A pretty girl with long, flowing brown hair and matching eyes, she was definitely not the tallest but those features certainly made her stand out from the crowd.
Now that everybody knew about Percy and Audrey's relationship, Harry no longer had to keep it a secret.
"So, let me get this straight," Ron whispered into his ear as everybody made their way over to congratulate the happy couple. "She's a Squib?"
Harry nodded as he watched Audrey squeeze her way out of the gathering crowd and over to where Harry stood. "Yep. Never saw it coming from Percy, did you? You better go and see him by the way," he added, giving his friend a gentle push in the direction of his family.
Ron nodded. "Right, I'll find out what spell he used to get her to say yes." A brief grin formed on his lips and he left just as Audrey approached Harry.
"Hi, Harry," she said, her voice gentle.
"Hi," Harry replied, smiling at her. "It's good to see you again, Audrey. Are you glad that's out in the open now?"
"It feels so good," Audrey agreed. "I was worried, you know, that they wouldn't like me..."
"There's nothing not to like about you, Audrey," Harry assured her. "I told you it would be fine."
Audrey sighed. "Everybody seems surprised," she commented, watching as everyone took their turn in congratulating Percy, some making snide comments as they did so.
Harry shrugged. "Well, it's Percy," he said, as if that would explain everything.
"I don't understand what that means, Harry," Audrey frowned, perplexed.
"Well, from what Ginny and Ron have told me, some of them kind of have a bet going on as to who will be the last of them to get married. They've both told me Percy was the popular choice."
Audrey looked affronted by this news, but Harry simply laughed. "It's all in good fun," he assured her.
"It's outrageous!" she exclaimed. Her eyes softened as they landed on her fiance, who was laughing and chatting with his family. "He's such a sweet, young man," she sighed. "And so charming."
Harry was forced to choke back another laugh. Percy, charming? Sweet? Really? Were they talking about the same Percy?
"So how's your grandmother, Audrey?" Harry asked, changing the topic to a less awkward one. Audrey's grandmother was Arabella Figg, the Squib who had looked after Harry when he lived with the Dursleys during the summer.
"She's fine." A broad smile broke out over her face at the thought of her grandmother. Audrey was very close to her - during one of the few times he had been left at Mrs Figg's house when the Dursleys went out, Audrey had come to visit and rescued him from the threat of a boring afternoon spent looking at pictures after pictures of cats.
"That's great to know." Harry grinned. He had not seen the 'batty old cat lady' in a while - the last time they met was when he helped the Dursleys move back into Privet Drive after the war. Percy, representing the slowly-rebuilding Ministry - the Dursleys were relatives of Harry Potter after all - had come to oversee the process as well. And it was sheer luck that he did - that was the day Audrey came to visit her grandmother.
"You know," Harry began, thinking back to that moment when they told him about their relationship and begged him not to tell anyone. "It was quite tiresome keeping your relationship a secret. Especially from Ginny. I'm really glad I don't have to anymore."
Keeping it from Ginny had been particularly difficult. Ginny was among one of the most observant people he had ever met and he would always feel uncomfortable whenever she fixed that scrutinising gaze on him. But he had given his word to Percy and he wasn't about to break it.
"I wish you didn't have to either," Audrey said. "We just..." She paused, glancing back at the Weasley clan in the corner. They were still congratulating - or mocking, in George and Ron's case - Percy on his engagement. "We weren't sure."
Harry nodded. "I know," he said. "But, I did tell you they'd be fine. They probably wouldn't care if Percy was marrying a Hippogriff... as long as he was happy. Not that he would marry a Hippogriff anyway."
Audrey cracked a wry smile. "I guess I've just grown up being told that Sq - being what I am is wrong. I wasn't sure if they would be happy about me marrying into the family." Her voice was nonchalant, but he could still detect a hint of fear and worry underneath the indifferent tone.
"You can't help who you are, Audrey. Just like Hermione's a Muggle-born, but Molly still treats her like family," Harry comforted.
"But she can do magic. Not like me. I'll get in the way of their lives; they wouldn't want to do any magic around me for fear of upsetting me," Audrey replied bitterly.
"It doesn't matter to them," Harry promised her, confidence radiating in his voice. "They wouldn't mind not using magic once in a while. We're a family, after all, and we stick together. Actually, to be honest, they're probably more surprised that Percy managed to find himself a girlfriend than worry about anything else."
"Why do they tease him?" Audrey asked, brows furrowed. "He's been nothing but kind."
Images of the period of Percy's estrangement from his family flashed through Harry's mind. Ron, seething with anger upon receiving a letter from him, telling him that Harry was a bad influence and the return of Voldemort was merely a lie. Molly, crying in the kitchen after Percy sent back the jumper she had knitted, unopen. Ginny and the twins, flinging mashed parsnips at him during Christmas when Scrimgeour wanted to use Percy's family connections to get close to Harry. His jaw clenched slightly at those memories, but he forced his bubbling anger back down. It was all over and in the past. "Well, let's just say, he wasn't like that all the time."
Audrey nodded in understanding. "He did tell me about that," she said softly with a wince. "Haven't they forgiven him?"
"Yeah, they have, but I guess they still see him as a bit of a prat. They love him, though," Harry added hurriedly as another frown appeared on Audrey's face. "Even when he sided with the Ministry that time."
"He told me he still regrets that, even after all this time," she sighed. "A family should stick together through thick and thin, yet he left them at their most desperate time of need. He blames himself for everything, even Fred's death."
A lump lodged itself in Harry's throat at the mention of the dead twin. He had been there when that explosion went off; had been there to see Fred's motionless body sprawled among the dust and rubble, his face still lit with a hint of a smile. He had been there to witness the tears shed afterwards.
"Fred's death wasn't Percy's fault," he said, throat tight. "None of us saw the explosion coming. If only we knew..."
"It was too late by then," she sighed wistfully. "I really wish I had been able to meet Fred. According to Percy, George wasn't the same after his death."
"Yeah," Harry said, recalling how George spent weeks locked in his room, before finally coming out to work nonstop in the joke shop. It had taken almost a whole year before George finally accepted his twin's death, but even after that he was no longer the George they had once known: he became more silent, no longer cracking jokes all the time and the beaming and mischievous smiles were less frequent.
A silence reigned over them, before Audrey spoke up. "You know, we shouldn't be talking about such depressing things during joyous occasions. It does puts a damper to the mood, doesn't it?" She grinned.
"You're right," Harry agreed as they rejoined the celebrating Weasley family. "We should all be happy. Another wedding... just what we all need."