Incorrigible Infatuation

by AutumnsFey

Fem!Harry. Percy Weasley had his whole life planned out. He just never planned for the incorrigible infatuation Antoinette Potter would be. But really, if there was perfection in this world, than his beloved Toni in his arms was it. This is how their Story unfolds.

Harry Potter Fanfiction: Incorrigible Infatuation

The Weasleys were a rather large family of nine.

Arthur and Molly Weasley had been quiet busy for a consecutive strip of 12 years, bringing into the world Bill, who now worked as a curse-breaker for Gringotts in Egypt, Charlie, who was a Dragon-handler in the Romanian Reservation, Percy himself, straight O-Student and later on rapidly-rising Ministry employee, Fred and George, the innovative Terror Twins and Jokers, Ron, their little Chess Strategist, and Ginny, the dotted-on, only and always favoured daughter. In such a mass of children, it was only too easy for one of them to fall to the side, in one way or another. Ron, as the youngest of them, often had been forced to accept the second-hand belongings of his brothers, his favourite colours and food forgotten in favour of his older brothers' or sister's. He became envious of his siblings, and manifested this envy in a greedy, complaining and lazy attitude. It was as if he had accepted his apparent lot in life and only wanted to make the people he held responsible for it miserable, something that worried his mother terribly. Percy, on the other hand, was the one son who, at least during the time he still lived at home, didn't worry his mother at all. He was responsible, ambitious and knew his strengths. He also knew his weaknesses, and was quiet aware that the personality traits and habits that came so naturally to him often egged on with his younger and sometimes even older brothers. Being held on a pedestal as role model for the Twin Terrors and Ron didn't help, their resentment painful and mostly expressed in ingenious ways specifically created to be the most humiliating to him. Sometimes Percy wanted to scream at them, tell them just how much it hurt to be treated like an unwelcome stranger in his own home, but he held his tongue, not out of guilt but as to not make any more difficulties and trouble for his already stressed-out mother. He always told himself that he only had to hold on for a few more years, that it was bearable, that he could do it; his mantra in times when frustration and loneliness reared their ugly heads. It was all he could do, remembering himself to keep his head down and grades up and he would soon start working in the ministry, climbing up the ranks and ensuring that in the family he would build for himself the poison of poverty never allowed foothold for the same judging resentfulness he was faced with growing up.

No children of his blood would be born, no wife to his name be taken, until he could make sure that they had an at least moderately well-off life and home waiting for them.

Sometimes, he avoided mirrors. Sometimes, he wanted to pretend that his family was strangers; it was easier if not that effective, more of an often futile attempt to not break down crying. It escaped his grasp why they couldn't see his motivations, why they didn't listen to his words.

He knew, not even Bill and Charlie understand him. The brothers he felt always the most connected to. They were less obvious in their condemnation, but they always took the younger ones side. It would have been okay if they later on came and talked it out with him in private, but why bother. It seemed as if he was always guilty for them before the accusation was even laid out. Honestly, somewhere deep within, he had written of his family after his first year at Hogwarts, simply lacking the willpower to continue caring what they thought of him and swallowing the pain that threatened to encompass him like a cloud of doom.

He had a goal, and he was determined to reach it. Working at the Ministry, earning a well-off income, courting and marrying a lovely witch, getting children, at least two, at most four to five; it was the ambition he worked himself to the bone for. And if that made him a stick-in-the-mud or an anal-retentive brown-noser, so be it. Seven years of school, compared to their life expectancy of 150 to 200 years, was nothing. He wanted a future, not an existence dedicated to wallowing in the good old past.

Really, he never wanted to procreate as many children as his own parents, having learned by example what problems that could lead to. His life had been planned out since his first year at Hogwarts.

The only thing he had not counted in was meeting a girl with the ability to court trouble with the best of them, and actually falling for that particular troublemaker. There had never been a concrete idea in his mind, but over the years his budding admiration of the tiny green-eyed child had become an infatuation and he couldn't, for the life of him, find the strength to fight the attraction she had over him; he was spell-bound, in the best sense of the word.

That was one spell he gladly and voluntarily carried.

It came as no surprise, neither for him nor any of his friends or co-workers, that Percy Weasley not only achieved exactly what he set out to, but actually upped the ante of his own expectations.

And Merlin, it was heart-stopping how thankful he was for his own nerdy nature. A nature he had never had any reason to appreciate, merely tolerate; not until she shyly smiled her way into his life.

It was the often despised trait that against all odds was the spark that brought him the best thing in his life. A blessing blown into his life and anchored in his heart by both of their wills.

He was one truly bless man.

A man who couldn't keep the smirk of his lips thinking about how the most important person of his life made it an experience from another world.

But, well, he, for one, was a fervent advocate to the age-old saying that woman were otherworldly beings.

In every way that, good or bad, counted.

It all started in his fifth year, his highly anticipated OWL-year. To be precise, It started on the first day of term, on the night of the welcoming feast, mere minutes after the sorting of the letter 'P'.

It was the big green eyes filled with uncertainty and shy admiration that caught his attention as the little first year girl who had just been sorted to euphoric calls and clapping quietly sat beside him. He ignored the bushy-haired girl on his other side bombarding him with questions as good as he could and answered more out of reflex than anything else, but his focus was kept on the big green eyes looking up at him with an emotion he was so unfamiliar with, it took him days to truly recognize it. Wonder. Hope. Safety. Admiration. Of what, he didn't know. It was a look that never faded. And it was the shy hand in his as he brought her and her fellow first years to the Common Room, which brought the first true smile in months on his stern face and let it stay there. It was not attraction he felt, but a fellow admiration and later adoration for this tiny child that went through so much and still kept going. He once read a quote of Winston Churchill, a very important man for the muggles, in one of his dad's books: 'If you're going through hell, keep going on'. For him, it seemed as though she did exactly that. And even though he disapproved, and that even vocally, of her rule-breaking, he still sat at the same library table and in the same common room arm chair as the little green eyed girl, reading or softly talking with her. She was a friend, as strange as that sounded, and he could imagine that in a few years, she could become more. Four years of difference were not that much when both were adults and lived for over a hundred years. For the moment, he didn't even really see her as female, more like an adorable kitten and admirable friend. It warmed his heart in a way he didn't know he actually missed.

In his sixth year, the Twin Terrors, who had somehow wormed their way into her good graces, kidnapped him to get her from her relatives. He couldn't help the apprehension he felt the nearer they came, an apprehension that turned in full-blown panic when they saved her and her beloved snowy owl Hedwig and he saw how terrible thin, malnourished even, she was, the baggy oversized nightshirt slipping from her shoulders and exposing paper-thin ghostly-pale skin that couldn't be healthy.

It was the first time Percival Weasley felt fury. It wouldn't be the last time.

Later, during their official courtship, his tiny love would, in a quiet pained voice, confess to him that it hadn't only been starvation they used as a weapon; it had merely been the most obvious for outsiders. He would grit his teeth and hold tightly onto her as she revealed shockingly how the large clothing was actually deliberate to hid the blooming black-and-blue bruises painfully littering her body, the broken rip or two that didn't feel right and had years later been corrected by a furious Saint Mungos healer. It would only be her trembling hand on his heart that made comforting her the only action he took.

That spared him a life-sentence in Azkaban for the murder of three muggles.

… even though, honestly, if he confessed the why, he was pretty sure he would get a slap on the wrist and hidden claps on the back.

She never told him how hurt she had been when his brothers and he kidnapped her from her relatives. He asked only once, her stilted silence more condemning then any words could be.

Yes, in his sixth year Percy learned the taste of fury, and it only stayed as a companion from this year on, abating but never really receding.

His parents ignored her state of being, taking it as a result of growing, which she honestly hadn't really done all that much. It was Percy who held her during nightmares, slipping into Ginny's and her room to console her.

It was Percy who stood with her when 97 percent of the school declared her dark and evil, an accusation just one moment of thinking would reveal as completely brainless and idiotic. When even teachers and her friends let the bullying escalate from verbal to physical and she stopped eating and sleeping. When she became afraid of her own house and started to panic so much that she couldn't breathe, collapsing helplessly in his arms, ringing for air that fear withheld in an iron grip. He was there. He fought for her. He never let her down.

Never.

And his fury roared.

'Why was everyone so fucking blind and ignorant?!'

This continued on into his seventh year, and even through the stress of NEWTs started taking their toll on him, it was nothing against his fear of what would happen if Sirius Black managed to get her. She was such a tiny thing, a strong wind could blow her over, and not even with the for her age astounding, if well-concealed, intellect and superb wand-work she owned could he imagine her winning against a strong dark wizard of Blacks reputation, especially if he taunted her with the death of her parents, a trauma the freaking Dementors forced her to revisit everytime they closed in on her, feasting on the pain and despair tormenting that small child with the big heart. It was a year filled with anxiety, and though he gave her more than once a lot more than just an earful for it, he was also glad to know that the year concluded in the realisation that Sirius Black didn't want to kill but to protect her. He just despised the way this realisation had to come about. The danger she, once again, had found herself in.

From this day, one more person officially joined his steadily progressing cause - that made two men on the side of a tiny girl expected to bear the weight of the wizarding world on her frail shoulders. It didn't surprise him that she smiled while she cried on his graduation day, but he promised her to write and keep in contact.

As if his developing infatuation could do anything else.

It nagged even more than his mother.

That's some serious skill.

It was in her fourth year that things became clearer concerning the emotional hurricane Percy had been in since fifth year.

Mature he may have been, but that year made him grow into a man.

A man protecting what he claimed as his.

She was named the fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament.

He knew one thing with absolute certainty: She didn't enter. His heart beat wildly as he opened the letter she had send him, and it broke as he saw the black tear stains making so many letters completely illegible. It was all he could do to write back and assure her he still stood by her.

His writing shaky from the furious tremors shaking his frame.

Once again, everyone shunned her. Well, he was still on her side, and he would not stand for it.

And once again, after her marvellous performance at the first task, the sheep came crawling back, tails between their legs.

He even asked Cedric Diggory, a friend a year below him, to accompany her to the Yule Ball. Steadfastly ignoring the biting bit of jealousy nagging at him painfully.

It was Percy she rescued from the lake, her panic and fear for him making her sick on top of the shock the ice-cold water gave her, keeping her bed-ridden for a week afterwards while he sat seething by her bedside.

But it was the aftermath of the third task, the broken girl he saw in the Hogwarts Hospital after she returned with the portkey and the dead body of Cedric, the protective fury turning the world in a sea of red wrath, which made things crystal clear: he was infatuated with her, and he didn't care to do anything against it.

It was what made him stay at her side, made him hold the tiny girl whose strings had been violently snipped, made him listen and enabled him to form, slowly and carefully, a plan in his mind.

A rather simple plan, a rather dangerous plan, but a plan nonetheless.

If the Minister didn't want to believe a girl he assumed to be under the headmasters powerful thumb, than maybe he would be more accessible to the sly words of an earnest ministry employee, an advocate for the good work and progress the ministry had managed.

It couldn't hurt too much to just try.

It didn't hurt.

Especially as Undersecretary Umbridge was idiotic enough to send Dementors after his little lady, for that was what she was: Little and a Lady.

The toad didn't know that her intended victim was very proficient with the Patronus charm. Still, she tried to trial the girl-who-lived for the offence of Use of Underage Magic.

The trial she had to attend would have been a charade, if Percy hadn't been able to slowly twist himself into the minister's trust and talk him into giving her a chance while discrediting Dumbledore.

Minister Fudge relented and, under Veritaserum and through a pensieve projecting her memories for the whole wizengamot to see, she proved Voldemort's return and her innocence concerning the Dementor attack. Umbridges upset screeching incriminated the toad woman without anyone needing to investigate.

He was only glad he had been able to talk with his infatuating little lady before the trial, and that she did as he said, cooperating with the Ministry and not aggravating the Minister. Too much. He smiled as she tearfully hugged him, thanking him.

He was the only one there for her.

Sirius had an excuse, as a wanted fugitive.

But neither Dumbledore nor his order had come to her defence.

He knew it broke the last threads of trust she had for the old coot.

Finally.

She stayed with Madame Bones, independently self-studying for her OWLs which she would take early, while also training for the upcoming war with Aurors as her teachers so she could fulfil the apparently prophecy-fuelled expectations of the public. Percy had blushingly admitted to Minister Fudge, who after Umbridges dismissal had taken him on as Junior Undersecretary, with a promise of promotion once Voldemort was dead, his investment in her continued health and happiness, and had been given the task of training along with her so he could protect her along-side his now other task as Junior Undersecretary.

He knew that the Minister was grooming him to take over once Fudge decided to retire from serving as Minister, and he also knew that the Minister, as foolish as he often seemed, could be a crafty old fox and was counting on Percy and the future Lady Potter becoming even closer than they were and combining two old lines.

Percy didn't exactly protest.

It also didn't help that the little green eyed child had at fifteen, seemingly over night, matured significantly. She was still tiny, but living with Madame Bones brought exercise, nutrition potions and regular meals which improved her health significantly. The practical tight-fitting clothes she wore while training showed of her developing curves, and Percy was forced to admit that his nineteen year old virgin body readily approved this curves. He had a particular liking for her broad soft hips and supple breasts, both complimenting her rather delicate stature surprisingly well. Her glasses were black-rimmed and big, always slipping down her pert little button-up nose and smartly high-lightning her beautiful green eyes. The red of her lips was accented by the soft blush blessing her pale cheeks often enough to seem nearly permanent, and Percy was smug to admit that he held no little part in making her blush that often. Her long dark-red hair had shortly after the start of her training yielded to a misaimed fire hex, a loss he somewhat mourned; since then she kept her hair in a close cropped cut to avoid another similar accident. She had confided in him that she fully intended to retire to a very calm desk job once the war was finally over and that she was looking forward to a mirror image that was neither practical nor preventative. She wanted to be something the Dursleys, Hogwarts and the war didn't allow her to be: a Lady. Posh, a bit vain, pretty.

She wanted lavish dresses, expensive jewellery, make-up, high-heeled shoes and long tresses.

And Percy wanted to give her all that and more. Everything to make her smile.

Yes, he was falling, and that fast.

Hard and fast.

She spent her fifth, sixth and seventh year training with the Aurors and taking her OWLs and NEWTs. Percy was at her side as often as his other duties allowed.

He was her only constant variable.

He was there as an Unspeakable discovered the Horcrux in her scar; he was there as they exorcised it and called all other parts with its writhing remains, destroying the Soul Pieces anchoring the Dark Lord to the Mortal plain for a final death.

He was there as the last shreds of her innocence died with the knowledge that Dumbledore would have allowed her to go to her death like the pig he raised for voluntary slaughter.

Fury rattled him as he swore to return every tear she cried for the old coot a thousand times over.

It was two months after the destruction of his Horcruxes that Voldemort attacked Hogwarts.

Against the beliefs of that illegal resistance group of the fried chicken under Dumbledore, Minister Fudge sent his best Aurors to defend the school and evacuate the students while he ordered the rest to secure other high risk sides like Hogsmead, Diagon Alley, the Ministry and Wizarding Villages.

Percy and his little lady fought as a team at Hogwarts, violently battling their way through the Death Eaters and Order Members that got in their way without discriminating and slowly but resolutely cleaving their way to the middle of the fight, the circle formed around a fiercely but evenly duelling Voldemort and Dumbledore.

And, naturally, not one of the gaffers thought to try and shot the Dark Lord in the back.

Amazing. Where's the common sense in that?

Percy snorted as he saw the disbelief in his younger brothers and father's eyes at his presence. A cynical part of his mind returned that they perhaps expected him to be a Death Eater, after he had stopped all contact with them three years ago and had taken to denying their kinship. The truth was that they were too firmly in Dumbledore's pocket and that Percy had from the day he met her been firmly in his little lady's pocket. Dumbledore had betrayed her trust and as such Percy couldn't condone any contact with the old coot or the fried chicken allies.

Dumbledore himself looked hopefully up as he noticed her, eyes gaining a disturbing twinkle. Obviously thinking she had come to her senses after three years of figuratively giving him the middle finger, forgiven him and was now ready to die for the Greater Good like timid idiotic saviour he had tried to sculpture her as. Percy therefore felt ridiculously smug and positively gleeful as she coldly ignored the old coot like he was not even worth a footnote in the memoirs of her life and turned completely to a still-standing Voldemort, who looked at her with a strange mixture of arrogance and fear on his face.

She smiled angelically at him.

And throw her first hex.

A classic entrails-expelling curse.

Ah, he loved it when she smiling brightly while cursing the rotten core out of her enemies.

What a woman.

Percy stayed at her back and protected her from the Dark Lords more enthusiastic and less spell-bound followers while she fought the monster who murdered her parents.

Curses flew, red, and green, sickly yellow, muddy brown, blinding white – his wand wove in firm but quick jabs and swishes and twirls. And always, always did he keep an eye on her.

She looked regal, more majestic than aristocratic. The black cloak blew around her while she stood still, exchanging hexes and curses more rapidly than he could even identify. Her opponent returned them with just as much fervour. But Percy could see it. He could see that where her curses hit their mark with continuing unfaltering strength, Voldemort's spells were starting to miss, starting to falter in their power levels.

And then she tried to give the murderer of her parent's absolution. She told him to think, to regret. She told him that while she hadn't turned out like him, the potential had been there, once upon a time, and that while she may never forgive Voldemort she forgave Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Her answer was furious green light.

Percy flinched, but it hadn't been necessary. She concurred with a spell he hadn't even thought of – Expelliarmus.

Suddenly, a bright light blinded the fighting forces. Shouts of confusion where heard, screams of terror sounded around the battlefield.

But he recognized what happened, and he wasn't the only one turning to the duelling pair. A golden string layered with golden beads connected their wands and a soft breeze lifted the opponents in the air. Percy could see the serene expression on her face and the terrified one on Voldemort's. Suddenly the beads started to move, and they moved to Voldemort's wand, beginning to glow with a silver core. Then, the first one touched the tip of Voldemort's wand, and the Dark Lord started streaming. He screamed like the hounds of hell were after him. A silver light started to travel up his arm and over his face, encompassing his whole body, cracks of golden light forming along the silver glow, and suddenly …

… he exploded.

Grey ash and black cloth burned to the ground in a golden fire.

Silence dominated.

The Dark Lord Voldemort was dead.

He was gone.

Permanently.

Finally.

Percy held his breath as she slowly turned to him, her pale face even whiter, and smiled tiredly.

They had won.

She had won.

He took on step towards her before darkness engulfed him.

Six weeks ago, his little lady had completely triumphed over her opponent and killed the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Killed him through the use of Prior Incantatem and a non-verbal Expecto Patronum. The Unspeakables were insufferable; she had proven their theory that love was an unconquerable power.

Percy had been hit with a bone-breaking curse to the spin and woke up in Saint Mungos completely healed and regaled with the tales of a furious Woman-who-conquered summarily decimating anyone who so much as looked too long at him including his own family and the Order of the fried chicken … no one knew what happened to the one who tried to kill Percy. He hadn't been seen.

He hadn't seen her until the the day of his hospital release two days later, and wow.

Even now, over five weeks later, he just smiled at her as she lovingly brushed her long silky tresses which cascading down her back like thick waves of dark-red fire, looking cripplingly beautiful. She was so breath-taking, it made his heart stop.

This, this was the reason he had thrown all his good intentions out of the window the moment she had entered his hospital room on the day Saint Mungos had released him and looked upon the vision of a goddess, flaming waves surrounding a sinuous pale form clad in a long-sleeved knee-length black dress hugging her bosom and waist like a second skin and sinfully sexy black high-heels.

No mental image he had ever entertained could hope to hold a candle to the beauty of reality.

He had never been kissed or kissed anyone like this before.

A kiss to take his breath away.

She sat his body aflame with desire and passion.

Their first kiss.

Merlin, he sank to his knees, her face between his hands and stumbling over his words like a desperate fool as he admitted just how long he had harboured feelings for her, how they had slowly but steadily grown from the first moment, how deep he had fallen, how amazing she was. She only smiled shyly and told him that with a light giggle that she had started to fall for him as he had greeted her with a smile after her own Sorting Ceremony. His mouth stayed open as her amused voice explained that she had decided that he was to be her husband during that evening, simply because he liked his smile and the intellect shining in his eyes, and that in the seven years she had known him, he had actually only managed to cement that fact and made her fall irrevocably in love with him.

He stuttered like a fool asking her to allow him the chance to court her.

She had actually had the audacity to laughingly agree and then pat his cheek and inform him in a very sympathetic voice that he never had a chance against her.

He had always been hers.

And now, he had simply acknowledged that she was also his.

A foregone conclusion, really.

Merlin, just … he loved that woman, and he loved that she loved him.

It was not a fairy tale happy ending, but it was greater and lovelier than anything he could have ever imagined and it was far from finished.

They were just starting their own life. Their own fairy tale.

Together.

Percy Weasley returned accomplished to the Ministry and officially apprenticed under Minister Fudge in Politics. He moved into a bigger apartment that he shared with his little lady after she moved gratefully out of Bones Manor. They had decided, together, that she would first finish her apprenticeship in the Magical Archives of Europe as a Master of History before they made anymore plans.

Only this time, he was just too impatient.

Really, it was her fault.

If only she wasn't so lovable.

He couldn't wait anymore and proposed two years after they officially started courting.

No one was surprised as the news of their engagement were announced in a tasteful little statement, the Minister was especially gleeful seeing as she had never reconciled with the old coot and his motley crew. His plans promised to be fruitful at this rate.

She graduated and achieved her mastery with top marks before starting a job at the Ministry Archives.

They married at Valentine's Day a year later in a private but beautiful ceremony and decided to stay in their apartment; Percy agreed that they would move into Potter Manor once their first child was on the way. As fate would have it, they didn't have to wait long for that.

It seemed their wedding night had been eventful in more ways than they had formerly known.

She had laughed herself silly as the healer mentioned this, while Percy only flushed even brighter than his hair and nearly fainted.

He was about to become a father.

The next day, they moved to Potter Manor and she spoke with her boss, admitting that she wanted to be there for her child and that she had actually entertained such a scenario before her apprenticeship; she wanted to start writing new history books while using the archives as research basis. She wanted to give the students to come a better basis than she had been given.

It was the perfect solution. They actually could attend to every rising complication one after another and still stay happy and satisfied.

The only major subject still wrong was his family. And he honestly didn't want to deal with them.

They had made their own grave.

Percy was aware that he wasn't merciful when it came to his own family, but they had truly worked hard for this result: It was a life-long task, alienating him completely. They should be happy that he was finally out of their hair.

Naturally, it was now that the lechers came out of the woodwork and tried to suck them dry. Percy could only shake his head and look down at the beautiful woman glued satisfied to his side. He was a blessed man, and he wouldn't allow anyone to destroy this bliss. A sigh escaped his lips as he took in her peacefully sleeping face. No, she would not have to deal with this.

Standing up slowly and letting her gently down on the mattress, a tired smile quirked up his lips and he leaned forward, snatching her glasses carefully and settling them on her nightstand.

Antoinette Potter-Weasley was everything he could have ever asked for. She was his life, and he needed her like air to breath and liquid to drink. She was salvation and addiction in one. When her beautiful green eyes set on him and he saw the overwhelming love within them, all this love directed at him, he could do nothing but fall even deeper in love with her.

He had never felt so loved.

Gently smoothing the duvet down, he smiled a little more at the obvious and rather large bump settled on her middle, a bump that contained their children, their twins, already seven months in the making.

He had been so afraid; she was so delicately built and young, only 21 years old. Twins often brought complications, but Toni's pregnancy had been mercifully easy so far.

The healer had commented that it was a good thing that her hips were quiet broad for her over-all frame, making it even possible in the first place to support their twins for as long as she has. Maybe they would even reach the eight month mark, he could only hope, but considering her built, carrying twins which were notorious for being born premature her achievement of seven months was remarkable.

Percy hadn't even made the effort to conceal his grin at the healer's words. It had been his encouragement and nagging that had her gaining the necessary weight and counteracting the damage her relatives had done. She was still tiny and delicate, but her proportions had evened out, her slightly sunken stomach filling out to present a smooth curve from her small waist to ample hips and a truly marvellous firm bottom. He loved how copious and enticing her larger cleavage looked when she wore her tight lace bras and low-necked dresses, which brought attention to her bosom and flowed gently over her baby bump.

She was breath-taking.

Percy readily admitted that he was one of those men who delighted in seeing their wife glow with a new life within them.

He had taken the healers advice serious and made sure that she knew how much he adored and desired her. Healer Merriweather had even commented on how much more secure Toni had become in her body in the last few months, and to keep up the good work.

Looking down at her now, caressing her baby bump and gently watching her sleep, he was so damn grateful for the pregnancy, which allowed her to take a real, true breath for the first time in her life. No horrid muggle relatives, no Hogwarts, no Training, no Master programme, no work in the ministry with admirers agitating her. Just Toni and their babies blooming like a rose that had never been allowed to open her crown and show the world the colour it held.

Reaching up, he gently swiped the dark-red wisps out of her face. She hated waking up with hair in her mouth.

He wouldn't allow anyone to disrupt their live. Not even his family.

It was time to deal with the undesirable leech infection plaguing their entrance hall.

Family comes first.

It was the credo he had always wanted to live by, and the one he did now live by.

As such it truly hurt to see the ones who should have been his family, united only amongst themselves.

He stood silently in the doorway arch and watched. The Weasleys were still a loud and boisterous family. His father and mother sat on one settee, Fred and George on another. Bill shared one with his wife Fleur, and Charlie sat next to Ginny, Ron and his fiancé Hermione on another one. The whole Weasley family was in attendance, and he curled his lips disapprovingly as he saw the flickering greed in Ron's and Ginny's faces as they looked around the expensive and tasteful décor Toni had chosen.

Leech invasion, indeed.

Shaking his head, he slowly stepped into the room and cleared his throat. His family turned to face him.

He blinked at the pain only to clear in his mother's face, and the guilt aging his father's. The only ones without guilt or sadness etched into their features upon his entrance were Ginny, Ron, Granger and Delacour, of which only the latter two, as in-law and future-in-law, had an excuse for.

The first two, well … they were just in bad taste.

Unfortunately, it was a natural-born state for them.

Taking a deep breath he forced a thin-lipped overly-polite half-smile on his face. Time to mark the differences between them one last time; he was an adult. Maybe even the only one in the room. It certainly stood to debate.

" Welcome to Potter Manor."

Let it never be said that his manners were lacking.

" Who do I have to … thank for this unexpected family reunion?"

Well … he never said he wanted to be nice. Only marginally polite.

And that was already a drastic concession.

" Oh Percy …", his mother whispered, but he held his head rigidly high.

He would not relent. Not this time, not in this matter. Not for his mother, not for his father, nor for his siblings. The expression on his father's face during the final battle was still too fresh to even consider that.

As much as he hated it, some part of him still loved them. And that made it hurt all the more.

Maybe, if they really meant it, they could start on this painful way, maybe in the far away future, they could be a real family again, but even if they managed to reach his stubborn heart, first and foremost came his own little family. And he was willing to let the bridges remain ruined …

" Mother, father, my dearest siblings and in-laws, I'm really sorry, but could you please come to the undoubtedly completely unnecessary reason for your impromptu visit, I'm not particularly happy with the thought of leaving my heavily pregnant wife alone for any longer than necessary and for anything except the end of the world. So, please, get on with it", Percy demanded, actually smirking as he noticed how sarcastically alike to a certain emerald-eyed beauty he sounded

Ron snorted. He had a disgusted glint in his eyes.

How supremely unsurprising.

" Git. You only want to shag the girl-who-lived again", his littlest brother jeered.

" She's the Woman-who-conquered, Ron," snapped Granger, the contempt dripping from her voice.

Percy rolled his eyes. The little know-it-all had never forgiven Toni for beating her score at OWLs and NEWTs and was always a little, well, twat when it came to his wife, badmouthing and disparaging her whenever she could.

Arrogant and inappropriate, that one.

" If we were to compare woman and motives, little brother", Percy said slowly, enjoying every word with a vindictive smugness always present when he talked about his perfect wife to such less blessed as him, meaning everyone else. " Then I assure you, my motive happens to be a lot more honourable and loving than yours, and my wife has no equal on mortal or immortal soil, neither from the dead nor the living. She's perfection without compare; she's the loveliest, giving, intelligent, sweet and unpredictable creature to ever walk this world. I lost my heart to her before I even knew it, and I would do it all over again without any hesitation, the good and the bad. I would never want my love to be tempered. Can you say the same about your … shag interest?"

Politely asked, honestly. He really wanted to just come out and ask him what he planned to do with his little muggleborn know-it-all once reality hits them, because in the end, neither Granger nor his brother had any redeemable facts speaking for them in this life.

On the other hand, it was really obvious to everyone that Percy was completely smitten with his wife; and he made no attempt to hide that truth, indeed, he seemed to relish in it.

A willingly bewitched man.

His lips twitched; just a funny thought. What would they say if they knew that Amortentia always smelled like blooming roses, hazelnut chocolate and cool rain to him, the very fragrance his sweet Toni was always bathed in?

He loved her scent …

" Percy, don't talk like that with your brother", his mother scolded him.

He actually had to bit his lips. That woman may be his mother, but she had certainly lost the right to make any kind of assumption or condemnation on the way he conducted his life, and she certainly had no right to tell him off; he was defending the honour of Toni, and if he wanted to cuss his siblings out to hell and back, then he would fucking do exactly that.

He took a deep breath, violently quelling the urge to throw his own mother summarily out the front door and bare her the way back in.

'They are your family.'

Toni. For Toni he kept his fury tightly leashed. For her peace of mind and light of heart.

But keeping his fury contained was not the same as swallowing his indignation, and that, he would not do. Not this time. He had been forced to swallow his thoughts and opinion just that much too long in her presence to acknowledge her authority as unfailable. It was time to speak up and out.

" You are … you are reprimanding me? Me? He insults my wife, his … I don't even know what to call that little girl in present company without offending anyone, makes snide and hateful comments way above her station, and I defend the love of my life and mother of my unborn children, your grandchildren I may add – but I'm the one getting reprimanded, yes? I'm in the wrong?" He asked, his expression conveying exactly what he thought of his mother at that moment. And it wasn't charitable in the least. Good to know where I stand. " Thank you, mother, for once again proving that I made the right decision."

He was really just moments from throwing them out, but Toni would have his … tail.

'Family matters, blood or water. We decide. But no matter in which way, they always mean something to us.'

It was her voice staying his hand. And it was the silent guilt in his elder brother's faces.

Maybe …

" Mom, when can we move in? I love this house!"

… Percy was pretty sure that he could get away with killing his little sister. Really.

Arrogant bint.

Maybe Fudge could hold the trial? Percy had high hopes of getting an Order of Merlin Second Class for riding the world of the nuisance called Ginevra Molly Weasley.

Really.

" Ginny, this is Percy's home", Charlie scolded their sister.

Percy was surprised to see the disgust in his older brothers eyes aimed at their sister, not him. A truly novel concept.

Well, in the Wizarding World pigs did fly. And he was pretty sure that glacius cast by Toni could freeze hell. Only, no Margarita's. he preferred Elvish wine.

Ah, Elvish wine … Toni would kill him if he would drink why she couldn't.

" So what? It's big enough for all of us! Why should we life like beggars while he resides in a bloody castle?! It's not fair!", demanded Ron angrily.

Lazy idiot.

It was not Percy's castle - it was a manor, not a castle, anyhow, just … a big manor – no matter how often and how persuasively Toni demanded that Potter manor was their estate, not hers.

It was his love's inheritance, and he would rain hell upon the unfortunate souls who dared to take her home and safety from her.

" Now I can get that red dress from Madam Malkin! Oh, it will look so hot with my hair colour, the shade really complements me."

That brat wouldn't get one Knut off their money. Over his dead body.

" With my wife's money", he deadpanned.

His voice was cold enough to invite snow into the desert.

" Yes! She's family now, so she can pay for everything I want! It's like her dowry to us! Thank you, Percy!"

Deluded much?!

He really wanted to strangle that impertinent spoiled brat, to hell with good intentions!

" Give me one good argument why I shouldn't let the wards throw your sorry behinds right out."

Silence welcomed his words. None of them uttered even one word, though the younger ones certainly looked like they wanted to.

But even Percy's patience could end, and ending it always did in a very spectacular manner.

His mother, once again, looked disapproving. Whatever.

" Well?", he demanded forcefully, tired of their annoying company.

" I'm sorry, Perce. You know, not all of us are like Ginny ore Ron", Bill spoke up, his oldest brother wearing a steady glare as he stared down their two youngest siblings.

" Hey!"

Bill ignored their indignant calls.

" You are my brother, that's the reason I'm here. I thought you didn't want anything to do with us, not that I could resent you that decision, in hindsight we weren't good brothers. Somewhere along the way, Charlie and I forgot that you weren't a mini-adult but our baby brother, too ", he said, his voice getting hard and lower the more he spoke; Percy could actually see the honest remorse in his brothers eyes. " I don't think I would have found the courage to come here, if dad hadn't been so worried. And he was right; you are looking harried. Is Antoinette okay?"

That … that was more than unexpected. Truly, he had held a slim glimmer of hope that he could at least reconnect with Bill and Charlie, the two brothers who were nearest and dearest to him. He would not serve them redemption and forgiveness on a silver platter, but those two at least were already earning the inch he would leave his door open.

He would not throw them away … especially if they asked about Toni. He was startled to see real worry in their eyes, and Delacour's too.

" She … she's okay, tired most of the time, but … but okay", he answered hesitantly, testing the waters.

Charlie grinned. Bill smiled and nodded relieved.

Delacour, no, he once called her Fleur, smiled brightly and stood up, leading his oldest brother with her, and came over to him. She took Percy's hand and he allowed her to manoeuvre the three of them on the last free settee.

" That's wonderful, Percé", she gushed.

" Thank you, Fleur. Your accent is nearly unnoticeable, congratulation."

And he really meant it. A few years ago, he really had trouble understanding her, but now her pronunciation, while accented, was clear. Quite the accomplishment.

" Merci, merci. I had a very good teacher."

She grinned up at Bill and Percy was amused to see the burning red of Bill's ears clashing with the red of his hair.

" Ah, I believe that I was the one who had the very good student, love", Bill countered, grinning at his wife before turning back to his younger brother. "But it's really good to hear that Antoinette is progressing well."

" It was difficult, still is. She's come along nicely, but the fact that she's carrying twins is taking its toll. The healer said that it's already an accomplishment that she was able to carry them as long as she has, and that it would be ideal if she could hold on until at least the middle of her eight month. We are holding our breath, so to speak. But … I just want all three of them to be healthy and safe."

Merlin, he just wanted them safe and healthy.

He would give everything for that to become reality.

Suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder and he stared up, noticing the grim but supporting look in Charlie's eyes, who had come over while Percy had spoken.

" Understandable. I'm here for you", Bill answered.

" We are."

Percy nearly grinned at the reproaching tone in Fleur's voice. Yeah, he knew exactly how Bill felt, he had the same sheepish expression everytime Toni did that.

A man just couldn't win when both of them new that woman were always right.

" We are here for you", Charlie corrected their oldest brother while squeezing Percy's shoulder.

" Thank you that means more than you could know", Percy whispered, his throat unexpectedly tight.

" Twins?"

They all looked up and at the twins who had stood up and were slowly coming over, bright grins on their faces.

That's all he needed now, twin-speak. Honestly.

" Wow, you know –"

" – what that means –"

" – don't you, Perce?"

" Two –"

" – times -"

" – the normal -"

" – terror."

Percy pursed his lips and ignored them.

It was … not at all amusing how much it hurt hearing them speak to him like they did when they were children and he still mattered as their brother, not a scientific victim of their developing pranks.

Fred and George looked rather put out at his silence.

" Come on, Percy the Prefect. We're sorry."

Wow.

" Really sorry."

Just wow.

Maybe he could believe them, if they had looked like they actually knew what they were apologizing for. At the moment, they didn't.

He had no desire to make it easy on anyone.

" Really? And what are you sorry for?"

The twins looked momentarily stumped before swiftly looking at each other and nodding.

" Pranking you that much", they said together.

Percy just shook his head.

How typical.

" That's not the reason", he said.

Questioning eyes met his own.

" Huh?", commented Fred.

" What is it then?", asked George, just as perplexed.

Percy stood up and looked the few inches that were between them down on his younger brothers, putting his best stern mask on.

It seemed to be rather effective, judging by how swiftly their expressions turned chagrined and dreading.

" The reason you should apologize is the fact that during the final battle, in the moment you and dad saw me, you accused me. Every fibre of your being, your mimic, gestic and body language, everything you had for everyone to see, accused me of being a Death Eater ", Percy explained slowly, for once not masking the hurt the memory brought him even now. " That is the reason why."

Uncomprehending expressions met his explanation.

Then horror followed.

His father seemed to age before his eyes, and Percy knew that the man remembered his own reaction that day. His mother began to sob into her husband's robes.

His elder siblings looked horrified.

His youngest two appeared nonchalant.

The twins stared at him, really stared at him, Percy, their brother, for the first time, and he felt no pleasure as their expressions morphed into sheer horror. They looked sick to their stomachs.

Even though he flinched he didn't move away as two stocky red ruffians suddenly latched onto him and for the first time in over a decade hugged him.

Hugged him like their life depended on it; or his life. Whichever way around, it conveyed honest desperation.

He concentrated on their strained hurried voices as they babbled their apologies.

" Shit, Percy, that – "

" – we didn't know –"

" – we didn't mean –"

" – never even thought –"

" – so sorry –"

" Please forgive us –"

" – Please!"

He bit his lips as he actually felt George tremble and lifted his arms to encompass his little brothers.

' You can be as strict as you want, lover, but in the end you love them. Don't force your love to change into hate just because it seems like the logical choice, instead hold onto that love and let it slowly grow healthy again.'

Oh Toni, you were so right. Again.

Percy sighed and pressed his face into the straight red strands of George.

" Don't expect miracles", he said lowly, breathing carefully to calm himself. He was not ready for this concession, but Toni was right; he still loved them, and somewhere, the recovery had to start. " Allow me baby steps."

Baby steps were good.

Baby steps were doable.

Baby steps made this fucked up situation bearable.

" Absolutely."

" Everything you want."

Somehow, he actually believed them.

A quiet sob let his head swing in the direction of his mother, and he had to bit his lips upon seeing her tear-streaked face and the anguished look his father was sporting.

It took a nearly herculean effort not to run to her and embrace her tightly.

But he couldn't help the quiet "Mom" that escaped his lips - his voice not nearly as steady as he wished.

His father held his mom even more tightly and Percy wanted to do nothing but assure her that everything would be alright. The problem with that train of thought presented itself insofar, that he wasn't sure that everything would be alright and as such there would be the possibility of lying to her, something he tended to avoid for both of their sakes.

" My boys, my boys …", she sobbed, her fingers clutching his father's robes in a steel-like grip.

He was hurt. He was not ready to just forgive nor forget.

But he wasn't a monster.

Taking a deep breath he stepped around the twins and went halfway to his parents. Standing still, he let his arms hang at his side, not defensively but also not exactly welcoming.

" Come here", he asked his mother softly.

Percy was still a son speaking with his mother, no matter if he respected her highly or not. She may make him terribly angry and unwittingly insult him in about every second sentence, make him say things he didn't have any inclination of seeing through and call upon pure fury within his very being, but she was still his mom.

It took everything he had not to flinch to noticeable as she hurried to him and hugged him for dear life.

As much as he had often complained about her, he had still missed her soft warm hugs.

Laying his chin upon her head, he looked at his father, who had come to a standstill not too far from them and watched their embrace with something akin to rueful longing on his face.

Percy hadn't forgotten that it was his father who had called for this reunion, and that the man hadn't done this for shit and giggles; he had done it out of concern. After everything said, everything done …

His father may not have the backbone Percy would have wished for him to own, but at least the man had his heart in the right place. It's something to work with.

He loosened one arm from his mother and beckoned his father silently.

" Percy …"

The man looked like he was holding back tears.

" Baby steps, dad."

And he did just that. Percy watched through cautious eyes as his father stepped nearer and squeezed his shoulder.

" I just want my boy back", whispered his mother through her tears.

Percy bit his lips.

That's just perfect; he wanted his family back, too. But not on the condition of maintaining the status quo. There would be changes, or there won't be a chance.

Maybe, if hadn't longed to return to Toni quiet that desperately, he would have formulated his reply a bit more diplomatically, but really, he just wanted them gone, and his mother's whining didn't help in the least.

" I never choose to leave."

She only clutched tighter to his robe and burrowed her face in his chest, sobbing his name over and over again.

" Oh mom", he sighed.

Percy derived no relief nor satisfaction from her pain. Nothing. He hadn't expected to, still … he wanted to talk with his wife. She would know how to react.

He finally settled on looking his father deep in the eyes and conveying the truth in an as inoffensively manner as possible.

" You really hurt me. You hurt Toni. I think", he said slowly, carefully choosing his words, knowing that his siblings were also listening. " I think we need to talk it out, but … not now, please. I'm not feeling that … charitable right now."

He didn't know what was better – his mother's rapid nodding and wet thank you's or his father desperate face brightening like Percy had gifted them with something priceless.

Really, a mere concession to civility and another meeting was not priceless. It was hard, but not invaluable.

He scowled as Charlie slung an arm around his right shoulder and throw a grin at Percy.

" Brat."

… he actually had missed that light teasing tone. Huh, go figure.

" Ignoramus."

Yep, he really missed their banter.

" Perfect Percy."

And Ron just had to destroy the moment.

Percy entangled himself from the Weasley bundle nearly burying him and stared blankly at his little brother, who had the gall to stare haughtily back.

" So, can we go to Gringotts now? I want my dress! And I need to pack my stuff", cheered Ginny.

Percy could actually see the greedy Gallons in her eyes.

Homicide is not a socially acceptable response, no matter how many would congratulate him.

Still, holding himself back was more than simply difficult; it was truly an act of love – love for Toni and their children. He wouldn't do much good to them if he was in Azkaban.

" It's actually really nice here", she continued blithely, completely obvious to Percy's darkening expression. " We need to buy a bit more expensive things, though, if I'm to live here. Toni's taste is just too … boring. Plain. I want more gold and silver. And rubies, I love rubies. They go so well with my hair colour."

This boring style is called tasteful.

Not that a dull piggish twat like her could tell.

Well, he was so really really not in the slightest bit sorry to make her greedy dreams implode.

" Forget it. This is Potter Manor, and it will stay Potter Manor. You will most certainly not move in with us, Ginny. Neither Toni nor I want that",

" But why?!", she screamed petulantly.

" Because it is not your home, nor will it ever be", Percy explained sharply.

" I hate you!" she screeched; as if her feelings mattered to him.

It was actually quiet ugly to see Ginny's face colour an even brighter red than her hair.

But it couldn't end there, no. Idiot number two just had to speak up.

" You're just fucking the screw so no one sees the stick up your ass! Whatever would she want with a loser like you?!", Ron jeered.

" That's right! No woman would ever want you!", Ginny scoffed gleefully.

" Maybe I should offer her a good shag", Ron continued hatefully, the perverted glint in his eyes enough to make Percy slowly see red. " She was with you, she doesn't know what sex really is."

Percy bit his lip so he didn't point out that yes, Toni knew exactly what sex was. Her pregnancy spoke for itself.

" Maybe she's so ugly that she could only get him?", offered Granger, her tone telling in itself.

'Grow up, brat. Schools over, real life knocks on you door. And you won't like it, I promise you.'

" N-not even then", giggled Ginny.

That's it!

Percy raised his wand, a nasty pain curse on the tip of his tongue just as acerbic as the sickly yellow light glowing promisingly atop his wand.

" Or maybe", a beautifully chilling voice whispered behind them like death breathing in their necks. "I simply love your brother and understand completely why you are the two family member's he doesn't even want to be able to stand. Really, his homicidal rage where you are concerned seems to be even more deserved than I ever anticipated, my sincere congratulations for this achievement. You have to have been working so hard on it … or not."

Percy was about to turn around but stopped as one delicate pale hand gently touched his upper arm and the most beautiful apparition moved into his vision.

She was an epiphany.

A goddess among mortal women.

Wearing nothing but a light black robe over a loose crème-coloured lace dress that gently curved over her belly, she was simply divine. Her red curls tumbled wildly down her back and her small feet were adorned with low-heeled black slippers. Even pregnant and obvious cranky, if the venomous touch to her bright red lips was anything to judge by, and it was, because that colour was her 'I'm-Pissed-off-and-contemplenting-homicide-just-for-you-bitch'-lipstick; she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She made Fleur, who was a Quarter-Veela, look plain and common in comparison.

He was naturally biased, but the more then appreciating gazes of his brothers spoke for themselves; and they had not reason to lie.

Percy felt something deep within him stir as his wife slowly glided forward, like a graceful predator about to devour a simple-minded prey. Very simple-minded, indeed.

They didn't see it.

They didn't see the poisonous edge of her smile, or the loathing gaze she gifted them.

Percy's right hand pressed abruptly down his heating bothered groin; this woman would be his death.

And all he wanted to do was to have her right now, right there.

" Really, Granger, low and lower", Toni commented, her voice so saccharine, she sounded sickly-sweet.

Percy grinned vindicated as the know-it-all coloured up right alongside his brat of a little lazy brother and twat of a spoiled snivelling sister.

Oh, how he loved her!

And, if the snickering in his back was anything to go by, so did his siblings – those who mattered, anyway.

" Whore!"

… mature, really.

Why, again, was murder not socially accepted? He had a very good reason to abolish that particular law right before him.

But really, who was Percy to deny his wife her daily fun, especially as he could see the amused twitching of Toni's lips. She was not looking at Granger, she was looking down on her.

Way down.

Such a long way …

" How … original. I would ask you to cry me a river, but we already have one who is not polluted and cursed by your arrogant ignorance. Now", his wife purred, a mere five feet away from the loathsome trio, one perfectly manicured hand gently tipping against her jaw as her delicate little nose curled as if she was smelling something … unappealing. Like cockroaches. " You insulted my husband in our ancient seat. An ancient seat that has not only been owned by Potter's for over a millennia, but was actually built by them. Ignorance is no defense, dear Miss Know-it-all, and just because we both were raised by muggles you actually believe we are the same? That we have the same right's? The same limitations? Here's a little lesson for you, dear annoying maybe shrew-in-law."

Ouch.

He fucking loved that woman.

Toni took a step away from Ginny, Ron and Granger. Wind picked up around her and her eyes begun to glow in an unearthly green light. He felt the ancient family magic encompassing her and welcomed it as the loving tendrils of magic curled teasingly, invitingly around him, giving him a feeling of safety, family, belonging he knew so well; the very same feeling Toni gave him by simply existing.

Suddenly she spoke, bringing his attention back to her, and her sweet voice was layered with a power so old, Percy had to remember to breath as she unleashed it.

" I, Antoinette Rosalyn Potter-Weasley, Lady of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter and Black, hereby banish by the right gifted to me by our mother magic Ronald Bilius Weasley, Ginevra Molly Weasley and Hermione Jane Granger from the land of my ancestor, that they may not set feet again upon this sacred ground ever again. So it has been said, so it shall be done."

The walls started to shake and brilliant gold and green whisps of smoke rose off the ground. A high screeching sounded through the air and the smokey tendrils of magic violently gripped Ron, Ginny and Granger before throwing them into the meanwhile brightly green-flaring fireplace.

A screech so shrill it nearly made his ears bleed sounded one last time and everything settled down.

Percy slowly approached his wife and embraced her from behind, kissing her neck reverential.

He felt the fine tremors torturing her body and fury awoke anew.

" Toni …", Percy whispered, closing his eyes.

He felt her tremble gain, this time stronger, and his hands formed into fist gripping the lace dress she wore, his shoulders stiffening.

She must have felt his anger because she suddenly melted into him, laying her small dainty hands over his bigger ones and pressing them against her soft belly, against the child growing within her. He heard her exhale and the next thing he knew was his face pressed into her neck and she was talking to his family again.

" I would be very thankful if you could leave our home. We have a healer appointment in an hour and I need to rest for a bit, excitement truly isn't good for the child."

They had a healer appointment? Well, if Toni said so.

He bit his lips, expecting the scolding his mother wanted to dish out, but his love did seemed to sense the same. And she was faster.

And politer.

" I expect you next Saturday for the start of our weekly family dinner. Don't be late."

Toni. Simply Toni.

With two sentences she mollified his mother, included his family in their life and made quiet clear, that not only was this development she did only for them, but also that this was a chance, and that she accepted nothing but actual effort on his families side.

Percy sighed and straightened up.

He kept his smile perfectly polite as his family said goodbye, one after another disappearing through the Floo with the promise of more time together in the future. Voluntarily.

Sly minx.

His elder brothers only shot him partly apologizing, partly amused looks.

Yes, he was housetrained. And yes, it wasn't that difficult to deduce who truly ruled the household.

" Percy, would you help me back to bed?"

" One moment, dear," he answered, just as his mother stood before him.

Before she could start in on him, he quickly hugged her and then gently turned her to the Floo.

" We will talk some other time. Until next Friday, mom", were the words he used to bid farewell to his parents as they too flooed home.

He lost no time and swept Toni off her feet, aiming uneeringly for their bedroom as she slung her arms around his neck and kissed him.

It was very good that he could find his way blindly to their room.

He kicked the door open, stepped in, and kicked it close before moving straight to their bed and gently setting her down. He savoured the moment as she let herself fall backwards, her hair like a hallow surrounding her otherworldly face and her body ripe and ready for the picking.

Merlin, she was so beautiful … she was …

Completely his.

" Completely yours."

Percy laughed out loud as she echoed his thoughts and let himself fall next to her, angling his face so that they could look at each other.

" Thank you, love."

Toni just smiled in answer. She knew what he meant.

" Maybe it was time", she continued after a while, softly tracing lines on his pale skin, stroking the light red hair on his arms. " We will take it slowly, and I will be with you for every step on the way. Now come here and cuddle with me; I woke up and no Percy."

" Oh love", he whispered gently, teasingly.

She laughed and hit him softly on the arm, a beautiful smile on her bright red lips brightening her face like she was the sun.

" Husband, don't make me hex you", she threatened, a light giggle in her tone. Then she said softer, her voice like a breathy whisper: " I hate it when your bedside is cold."

It was a feeling he shared. Waking up without your other half cuddled close to you, without the warm soft skin of your love reassuring you was neither fun nor enjoyable. It was lonely.

And the last thing he wanted was for her to be lonely ever again. A childhood strife with isolation, neglect and abuse was enough; her adulthood would only be filled with love, care, hugs and laughter. He would accept nothing else.

He reached forward and drew her against his body, her face nestled into the crook of his neck. He shivered as her hot breath ghosted like kisses over his sensitive skin.

" Won't happen again."

A Promise.

" Liar."

A Sigh.

" True."

Remorse.

Sometimes, the less said was for the better.

" Do we really have an appointment?", he asked, his chin resting on her soft red hair.

He actually couldn't remember any kind of appointment, much less a healer's appointment. And if there was something he was proud to be anal about, than it was taking care of his little family.

Toni sighed and snuggled closer to Percy, her left hand tangled into his hair.

" No, I just wanted to throw them out. Too much idiocy in one room; bad smell in the air, you know", she answered, a whisper of mocking in her voice.

It was one more reason to love her.

A reason he didn't even need; it was impossible not to love her. Even his siblings had been enamored, and he knew she hadn't been aiming for it.

Toni … Antoinette was his other, his better half. And he thanked her for it every time he was allowed to lay eyes upon her magnificence.

" I love you, Toni", he whispered gently.

The hand in his hair tightened her grip and he felt how she wound the other arm around his neck.

" I know", she returned just as quietly and tender. " I love you too, Perce."

It was perfect.

He could have never imagined the way his life would come to develop, but, well, there was simply no possible way to predict his lovely wife, so that's okay. What mattered was that they were together.

That was all that mattered.

He snorted softly as she burrowed even deeper into his embrace and tightened his own arms around her beautiful body, delighting in the supple warmth she gave him.

He rolled his eyes as she contently sighed.

" Come cuddle", she murmured, the pout almost palpable in her voice.

He grinned into her hair.

There was no alternative universe, no parallel dimension or diverting timeline I which Percy Weasley could have done anything but fall head over heels in love with Antoinette Potter, that was a fact. And he would have it no other way.

If perfection could be captured, than his heart had found perfection in the woman in his arms.

" Cuddle whore."

~ The End ~

18