A/N: OK, this needs some explanation…This is the follow up to "Saving Percy" and I actually wrote this before OotP. (Notice how I got some stuff really right? Spooky, huh?) I was writing away on this story but just couldn't finish before OotP. So after the book came out I started rewriting to incoporate OotP info and this story became "Hiding". Anyway, I was looking back at this and decided just to post it for fun, because I really liked it. Hope you do too…Inspired by JKR and Sarah McLachlan. Go listen to this song!

Sweet Surrender

"Sweet Surrender is all that I have to give." - "Who are you?"

It doesn't mean much

It doesn't mean anything at all

The life I left behind me is a cold room

I've crossed the last line

From where I can return

Where every step I took in faith betrayed me

And led me from my home…

No one really noticed the young couple in the park, the last few weeks of summer. There was nothing terribly unusual about them. If someone watched them closely they could have noticed that they were very much in love. The rest of the world was lost to them as they delighted in the details of each other. On a sunny weekend you could find them on a blanket under a tree, the girl weaving scrub flowers into chains as the boy talked earnestly. Some days they both brought thick books and would read together, the boy twirling the girl's curly hair absent-mindedly as her head lay across his lap. Other days they brought lunch and could be found giggling and teasing each other with some delicious morsel. And at times they kissed, as young lovers do. But really they were quite unremarkable and no one ever gave them more than a second glance.

And then one day, the boy didn't come.

The girl sat and waited for him, alone. After a while, a man approached the girl and sat with her on the blanket. The man had the longest hair and the longest beard you could comfortably imagine. He wore a long dark green robe and a passerby might have thought him to be a part of some very strange religious order. He sat and talked with the girl for a long time. At first she listened intently to him and then he handed her a piece of scroll wrapped in a white ribbon. She read the parchment several times and began to cry. Gently, the man took it from her. Somehow in his hand it turned to flame.

My Dearest Penelope,

I am going back. It is the right thing to do, even though it will be difficult.

No one must know about us. Above all else, I must not place you

or my family in danger.

Penny, no matter what you hear or see of me, please believe that I

love you with all my heart. And I always will.

Be brave Darling. We will find a way.

Yours always,

Percy

**

Dumbledore had warned her that the scene was coming. She knew her role in the charade was critical. And yet when he stormed in and lambasted her work in front of her colleagues, the flush and embarrassment were very real. When she protested and called him by his name, he pompously asked that she refer to him as Mr. Weasley from now on. She felt real tears sting from his cruelty. Later, she locked herself in the stall in the bathroom and repeated over and over in her mind, "It's not real, It's not real."

She was not the only one who was suffering. Soon Percy was not speaking to his family and had moved out into his own flat. Something he could afford now as Deputy Assistant Minister of Magic. His robes grew finer, but he grew thinner and dark circles appeared under his glasses.

She arrived at work that day to find people collected in the halls. Some were crying. Others were yelling. A crowd had gathered outside the door to Percy's large office which was locked and would not open for all the wands pointed at it.

"What's happening?" Penelope grabbed a friend in the hall.

"Oh Penny, I'm so sorry. The Ministry has sacked all the muggle-borns." Penny walked to her desk to find a scroll.

Dear Miss Clearwater,

I regret to inform you that the Ministry of Magic is no longer in need of your services. Please remove your items from the premises immediately. Failure to do so will qualify as criminal trespass on private property.

Percival Weasley

Deputy Assistant Minister of Magic

He had signed it. She clearly recognized his own hand. Penny did not wait. She grabbed her things and disappeared, speaking to no one and still clutching the scroll in her hand.

**

You take me in

No questions asked

You strip away the ugliness that surrounds me

Are you an angel?

Am I already that gone?

I only hope that I don't disappoint you

When I'm down here on my knees…

**

That night the storm raged outside. She was actually glad for it. The rain and thunder kept away the storm of protests she was sure would have occurred in the wizard streets. It was late when she heard a knock on her door. She looked cautiously, but saw no one. Then the knock came again. Slow and deliberate. This time she opened the door and heard his voice whisper. "It's me. Step back, close the door and go turn out the lights."

She did exactly as instructed and when she tuned back from extinguishing her candles, he was there before her in the dim firelight. His robes soaked through. She removed his wet robe and led him to her bedroom where she found a large blanket. "Take off those wet clothes, wrap up in this and I'll get you some tea."

When she returned from the kitchen, he was sitting staring into the fire. She placed the tea and biscuits beside him and went to sit facing him in the other small chair. She sat and watched him in silence as he drank the tea with a shaky hand. He set the cup aside and opened his mouth to speak. "Penny, I…"

"Shhh. Don't," she said. She rose and went to a drawer pulled out a small box and a pair of scissors. Then she levitated two pillows directly in front of the fire. "Come here," she said, "I have something for you." He awkwardly met her on the floor and she pulled a gold medallion on a black cord from the box. She placed the medallion in the palm of his hand.

"Thank you, it's very nice," he began.

"Wait," she interrupted. "I'm not done." She took the scissors and cut a lock of her own curls and placed the curl on top of the medallion in his hand. Then she waved her wand over his hand and the medallion began to bubble and glow. When he looked a second time the curl had been encased in the gold, leaving a perfect circling swirl.

"Now," she said as she kneeled before him and fastened the cord behind his neck. "No one will ever suspect, and you will have a part of me beside you always."

She gently removed his glasses and rubbed her fingers across his eyebrow and temple as if to smooth away the worry and tension. His eyes searched her. "Are you an angel?" He asked hoarsely.

"No," she smiled as she took his hand and led him to her chest, "Do you feel my heart? Percy, this is what is real."

He encircled her and pulled her to him in a kiss that opened and awakened the senses in every part of her body. She could find him in the kiss, the same Percy, her Percy and she drank him in. When she broke from him he collapsed to her shoulder and his lips climbed up her neck as he gently lifted her hair. "I have nothing to give you, nothing at all." he whispered.

She lifted her neck as she closed her eyes. "Yes, you do," she breathed.

He lowered her to the floor and the room began to spin.

**

I don't understand at the touch of your hand

I would be the one to fall.

I miss the little things…

I miss everything about you…