Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Really and truly.
Hope you enjoy this; it's dedicated to the Ravenclaws at HogwartsOnline, written for the prompt: A walk in the park.
Every day, he takes a walk in the park. Every day, he sees her, sitting on a bench, but they don't acknowledge each other. He wonders if they ever will, or if they will go on like this, pretending not to see, because it is easier than remembering.
...
Every day, she goes to the park. She sits on the bench, her bench, and waits. Every day, he walks past her, but they don't speak. She has no idea why, but it seems like a ritual; something she must do. She feels an odd sense of loss on the day when he doesn't come.
...
One day, he gets sick of it, and he doesn't go. He tells himself that he just doesn't feel like it, but deep down, he knows the truth. He is hiding from her, hiding from the memories that inevitably attach themselves to her.
...
The next day, she makes up her mind. She waits for him to come past her bench, and when he does, she stands up and follows him. She tails him all the way around the park, and all the way back to his flat, and then she stops. Is she ready to do this?
...
He gets back to his flat, and he has just sat down at the kitchen table. Then the doorbell rings. Who the hell is that? When he opens the door, she is standing there, and he wants to shut the door in her face.
...
'Hello.' she says.
'What do you want?' he asks in a shaky voice.
'Percy,' she begins.
He stares at her for several long, agonising seconds.
'I don't know you.' he says coldly. Yes you do.
'Percy, you do know me. You do.'
Now he does shut the door in her face.
'Percy Weasley, open this door right now! You do know me!'
He sits with his back against the door as she screams.
...
'Percy Weasley, you know who I am! I am Audrey Charlton and we worked together at the Ministry during the war. I helped you escape when we realised we were on the wrong side, and you saved me from Death Eaters at the battle. You rescued me, and you said you l-loved me, and I said I loved you, and I thought we were telling the truth! Then we went to fight again and your brother died and you locked yourself up and you wouldn't talk to me and you've been ignoring me every day at the park since!'
...
He sits silently, ignoring her hysterical sobs, trying to ignore the screaming inside of him as well. He never goes to the park again, but she comes to his flat, shouting at him from behind the door. After the third day, he doesn't even bother checking to see who it is. He doesn't know why he is ignoring her. Maybe she does; she always was cleverer than him, anyway.
...
'I know why you're doing this, Percy.'
Of course you do.
'You think if you hadn't wasted your time saving me, you would have been there for Fred. You're blaming me because you don't want to blame yourself.'
Why are you so bloody clever?
'What you don't realise is that it's nobody's fault except Voldemort's. If you've forgotten, I lost family too. He killed my sister and parents.'
I remember. Of course I remember. How could I not? You were crying when you told me, and I held you, and that's when I realised I was in love with you.
'But pushing everybody who loves you away isn't going to help. Everybody is grieving, but you're just hurting your family more. You're hurting me more.'
I don't mean to. I never meant to. But you make me remember. And it kills me.
'You can stop hurting people. It's your choice.'
I want to. I want to! Can't you hear me screaming?
'Open the door. Please, Perce. Please.'
...
She nearly faints from shock when he opens the door. And then she throws herself at him, and they stand there, in his threadbare flat, hugging each other tightly. Neither of them want to let go.
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Love always,
FredRocks29