A/N: Hey guys! This is for Round 5 of the QLFC Season 4!
Main prompt: Mod Head!Canon: Lucy and Molly are adopted by Percy and Audrey after they spend six years unsuccessfully trying for a baby.
Optional prompts:
6. (word) piano
10. (quote) "They say marriages are made in heaven. But so is thunder and lightning. -Clint Eastwood
14. (colour) cherry
Sit back, relax, and enjoy!
…
Fantasy and Shattered Bottles
Percy and Audrey were definitely not your typical couple. No, Percy was serious, studious, and logical, not to mention that he had the humble nature of one who was haughty and then realized his wrongs and committed himself to making up for them. Audrey, on the other hand, was bubbly and energetic and glowing, her extroverted and assuredly confident nature seeping into everyone around her.
Everyone except Percy, that is. At least, that was the case at first.
…
Percy was a busy man. At least, he thought he was a busy man hard at work for the Ministry doing a variety of important things, but then Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt had assigned him to a rather peculiar task: visit Muggle bookstores and libraries to take a look at how Muggles pictured the world of wizardry and witchcraft. Percy could not for the life of him figure out what this had to do with his job as head of the Department of Magical Transportation, but nonetheless, he decided not to question it; after all, Minister Shacklebolt was a little eccentric at times.
This was the reason why Percy was in the Muggle part of London during a frigid torrential downpour with no access to magic to alleviate his suffering. He grit his teeth, told himself it was all for the betterment of his world, and pushed open the door to a bookshop.
The light jingling sound of the bells and the sudden blast of warm air hit him like a Hungarian Horntail's namesake body part whacking him in the face. Behind his now slightly foggy glasses, his eyes teared up a little due to the rapid change. He blinked rapidly, shutting his eyes for a couple seconds to let himself adjust to the atmosphere of the bookshop's interior.
"Um, excuse me?"
Percy, in a bit of a foggy haze, cracked open his eyes, then realized what a madman he must look like, standing in the doorway with his eyes closed. He opened them wide - at least it felt rather wide after squinting and closing them.
The first thing he noticed about the owner of the voice was a vibrant cherry red color. Removing his glasses to clean off the fog, he realized that they were the woman's lips. With a tall yet slight feminine figure, she was almost as tall as him in her worn, brown, wedge-heeled boots. He only blinked stupidly.
"Sorry for interrupting you. But you're sort of dripping a puddle on the carpet." She flashed him a bemused, apologetic smile, her warm brown eyes twinkling.
"Right, er, sorry about that. Um, where should I put my umbrella?" he responded, registering only the light shimmer on her eyelids and her lush, dark eyelashes.
With a raised eyebrow and a tiny jerk of her chin, she replied, "Over there," like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Shuffling his feet over the doormat and setting down the plain black umbrella, he ventured into the actual store. It was only then that he realized he had no clue what he was doing. When he saw the girl he had just talked to organizing some books, he hesitated for a moment, then walked to her and tapped her on the shoulder, realizing that he would probably never have to interact with her ever again anyways.
"Er, where's the fantasy section?"
With another raised eyebrow - he was starting to see a trend here - she responded, "It seems like you've already got quite the collection, doesn't it?"
"Well, one can never have enough books," Percy attempted weakly with a strained smile.
With that line, Audrey suddenly beamed and radiated a glowing warmth. "Come with me," she whispered excitedly, her eyes alight.
She navigated the labyrinthine rows of bookshelves with a quick, nimble grace. All Percy could do was stare and follow.
At last, she stopped in front of an enormous shelf, simply exploding with a warmth that he swore could have eclipsed the most powerful Incendio incantation.
"We've got all kinds of fantasy books here," she breathed with a childlike joy. "These two whole shelves...they are just full of the most beautiful and outlandish and intricate places! There's castles and magic and dragons and fairies and mermaids and…"
Percy let out a laugh.
She turned on him sharply, slightly defensive. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," he hastily amended himself. "It's just - I mean - there are times that you think all of that magic is real when you're reading."
"I feel like that every single time." She missed his wry smile.
"Oh, by the way, I don't think I caught your name?" she broke the spell of quiet serenity.
"I'm Percy."
"Audrey. Nice to meet you."
That bookstore quickly became one of Percy's favorites.
…
"I can't fucking believe it!" A shatter of glass followed the scream of frustration.
Percy slumped, the hope that, time after time, he was just completely unable to suppress, draining out of him. One more pregnancy potion that had simply confirmed all of the other one hundred and forty-seven other attempts at testing to see if Audrey was going to have a child. Every time the piano of his heart burst out with a melodic crescendo with strong, powerful notes, it simply slowed down to a mournful diminuendo as the test came up negative once again. He moved over to hug his wife, who, though used to the pain of lost hope, could not stop the tears prickling at her eyes. Wrapped in her arms, she was like clay, cold and hard at first and then suddenly soft and warm and easily molding into him.
"Six years," she muttered, muffled by the skin of his neck. "Six whole years and we haven't succeeded once. The rest of your family, everyone, have children. And we don't. Why doesn't it ever work?"
Percy couldn't handle seeing his effervescent wife in such a resigned, pessimistic state. He finally voiced an idea that had been flitting around his head for quite a while.
"You know, I was thinking, and it might be a good idea to adopt."
Audrey lifted her head, her eyes meeting his as she contemplated the idea. "I think it's a wonderful idea. But, I mean, we should think about it first."
"Yeah. Yeah, we should."
"You know," Audrey mused. "They say marriage is made in heaven. But so is thunder and lighthing."
Percy tightened his hold on her. "Don't ever say that this is us failing. We're happy, perfect. Not being able to have a child is something that doesn't even matter. It isn't a bad thing. It doesn't make us lesser beings. It doesn't mean our relationship is less valid than anyone else's."
She looked into his eyes with a soft yet passionate gaze. And then she kissed him.
…
"She sounds wonderful," Audrey smiled at her adoption representative. "What's her name?"
"Molly."
Audrey felt the sharp intake of breath from Percy. She closed her hand around his fingers and stroked them.
"We'll definitely be looking into it with a lot of interest."
They left the building with Audrey feeling a kind of elation she never had before and Percy wearing a jubilant, entranced smile.
…
A few months after Molly officially became a Weasley, she got a sister who had also been adopted: Lucy.
…
A/N: Annnd scene! Did you enjoy it? I'd love to hear your feedback! Review, favorite, PM, I want to hear what you have to say about this story!
Ink on!
Lil' Quill