for lizzy, via gge, and because she gave me the plot
thanks to ana for betaing. love you ~
prompts at bottom
2050 words
…
Audrey is still young when her family is driven out of her house and told that they had to leave, that another family would be taking their house.
Audrey is still young when her family's town is taken over by the Weasleys. Everybody knows their name. Everybody hates it.
Audrey is still young when she has to move to a cheap trailer, living with another small family because the Weasleys had taken their house, too.
Audrey is still young when her mother dies, too frail to go on under the Weasleys' awful reign.
Audrey is still young when her house if taken, but they can't take her home.
Home is where the heart is, after all.
…
Percy is a prince. Percy isn't just any prince, he's the crown prince, ready to take over his father's rule when his father dies—except Percy isn't ready, at all.
Technically, Percy has two older brothers, but they both have lost their right to the throne. Bill has been too injured to rule, and Charlie has rejected his destiny, running off to another country.
So, the duty falls to Percy, who becomes next in line, instead of third.
He hates his family reign. He truly does, deep inside.
He hates when his family taken over innocent people's houses, he hates when they take over their town, he hates when he doesn't say anything.
His father would say that it's for good and that they're taking over the city because they can't fend for themselves any longer.
Why, then, are they forcing families out of their homes?
Percy even knows that it's not entirely his father's fault; even King Weasley has people he has to answer to, people like High King Malfoy, or Emperor Fudge.
Pretty soon, Percy is going to have to answer to them as well.
Even though Percy doesn't want to rule, he's not going to be like Charlie. He's not going to reject his destiny. There's too much to be given up.
Percy takes walks around the lesser side of town, through the forest, where there are groups of trailers. People who his family kicked out live there. He could be sleeping in one of their old beds.
He knows that they hate him there, and they have every right to; his family hurt their families. Still, it's nice to walk around. It's peaceful.
It's there where he meets the brunette, sitting under a tree. It's there where he decides to help her.
If he has to be rich and powerful when he's older, the least he could do is try to be a good person.
…
Audrey isn't so young anymore when she first meets Prince Percy.
She tries to rip his face off.
She can't help it, she's filled with so much rage inside. She hates him, she hates his family, she hates what they've made her become. Her family used to be well-known. They used to have money, they used to be financially safe.
Now her mother is dead and her father has to work multiple jobs in order to pay way-too-expensive rent on their tiny trailer. She can't even work to help him—the Weasley family won't allow anybody under the age of twenty-one to work, and Audrey is only twenty. She's considered leaving the town, but she couldn't do that to her poor father, and the town is her father's home. He still believes, one day, that they'll get their town back to normal.
Audrey knows he's wrong.
So Audrey tries to rip Prince Percy's face off. He deserves worse.
Apparently, despite his pretty face and royal stance, he's quite good with a sword. He pulls it out as soon as Audrey lunges, and uses a maneuver that brings her to the ground in a split-second, the flat of his sword on her chest.
He stands over her, his face flushed, his red hair falling loosely around his face.
"You dare attack the Crown Prince?"
…
God, Percy's cringing at himself.
He knows that he's trying to be a better person, but this girl just attacked him. He has a right to his royalty, in that moment.
She looks into his face as he stands over her, pressing the flat of his sword deeper onto her chest. If all poor citizens are that rude, maybe High King Lucius has the right idea to oppress them. They look at each other, hatred etched deeply into her face. Then she spits at him.
Percy stands up on instinct, wiping the spit from his face. He spits onto the floor, trying to make sure any spit she got into his mouth was gone.
He doesn't feel very princely in that moment, spitting on the ground.
She smirks at him and straightens up.
"You done, you ass?"
…
Audrey is having too much fun. She can't help it, really. She loves making him dance around and spit.
He's just like the rest of them, a human.
"Do you know who I am?" he asks her, straightening his spine. He swipes a hand through his hair and sheaths his sword.
"Yeah," Audrey says, crossing her arms. "You're Prince Percy, Crown Prince, son of the person who ruined my family's life."
She feels insanely happy to see that he bites his lip and looks down when she says that. He looks ashamed.
"I didn't mean to," he says, narrowing his blue eyes at her.
"Is that supposed to be an apology?" she asks, taking several steps forward until she's standing right near the Prince. He has every right to kill her right now, she knows, but he hasn't brandished his sword yet.
"I guess?" He sounds unsure, almost tentative, like he's nervous about talking to her.
"Try again, maybe. That's an awful apology, Prince."
She sees his hand goes towards his sword, but then he drops his hands and brings them behind his back.
…
Percy has never apologized to anyone before. He's a prince. He doesn't need to apologize to anyone. If he does someone wrong, they apologize to him, not the other way around.
Except this girl, who he doesn't know, had her life ruined by his family.
He really is an ass.
"I'm—" he starts to say. He doesn't know how to say it. She raises a single eyebrow. "I'm sorry?" he manages. It's definitely a question.
The girl narrows her eyes.
"I'm sure," she says her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I am!" he protests. The words might be hard to say genuinely, but inside, he really is sorry. Also, he doesn't like being called a liar.
"Then what are you going to do about it?"
Percy opens his mouth, unsure how to answer. He can't stand up to his dad; his dad doesn't control what he has to do. He doesn't have any access to his dad's higher-ups, either.
"Something," is all he's able to answer.
She looks away from him, and Percy realises that she just wants her life to get better.
And he can't help her.
"That's not good enough."
He knows.
…
Audrey hates Prince Percy, even more than she did before. It's really hard to be mad at him if he's sorry about it.
Of course, she's not entirely sure he's completely sorry. She doesn't trust him; he's given her no reason to.
"Do you want to come back to my house?" he asks. She furrows her brows, taken by surprise.
There are a hundred different ways that she could respond. She could simply refuse politely, or she could go and see the palace. He must live in an extravagant palace, after all, and she's never seen one in real life.
"Okay," she agrees.
…
Once again, Percy doesn't know what he's doing.
He's inviting some random girl, a poor girl, to his house. Where his family is. To prove that—what? What is he even trying to prove?
He offers her his arm, which she doesn't take, but she follows him when he starts to walk away. He takes her the way he came, through the woods. It might not have been a good idea, in hindsight, to bring a lady through the woods, but she seems to be fine, taking wide steps and avoiding branches.
Okay.
They walk a bit more, in silence, until Percy realises that he doesn't know the girl's name.
"What?" she says, almost walking right into him.
"What's your name?" he asks, turning to face her. She smiles, a real smile, and it makes Percy feel happy.
"Audrey," she answers.
"Audrey," Percy repeats. It feels nice on his tongue. "Well, Audrey, we're almost at my house. Please don't attack anybody from my family."
"Sure," she says, a twinkle in her eyes.
Percy turns back around, hoping she won't, and continues to walk.
…
The silence is slightly awkward, but Audrey follows the Prince out of the woods and into a clearing, where he pauses in front of a house that she knows.
"This is the Thomas' house," she says, frowning at Prince Percy. He gives a nervous chuckle.
"Well, it's my family's now. For now."
Oh. So they don't live in a palace. They live in a normal house. Audrey's slightly surprised; they seem almost normal.
They walk in, and Audrey was again surprised by the people inside. There are four people, three boys and one girl, all younger than Percy, all gingers, and all just lounging around in normal clothes. They seem to be having some type of argument, but Percy clears his throat as the two of them approach. They all look at him.
"This is Audrey," he says, motioning to her. The only girl wiggles her eyebrows at him, and Audrey can see Percy blush. She laughs, because she'd never like any prince like that. "Audrey, this is Ginny, Fred and George, and Ron." He points to each of them as he says their names.
"Lots of siblings," she notes. He nods and they stand there awkwardly for a moment, just looking at each other. He clears his throat for a moment.
"Let's go upstairs?" He offers his arm, and this time she actually takes it.
…
Percy knows he owes Audrey some sort of apology, but he doesn't know what to say, or how to say it.
"Look, we don't want to be here, honestly," he says as soon as they walk into his room. Audrey raises an eyebrow.
"Then why are you?" she asks, giving him a glare. And he thought that they were starting to get along, as well.
"It's not our choice. Or my dad's. Emperor Fudge declared it," he explains. He knows that she's not going to understand the workings of royalty—he hardly does.
"Right." She sounds unimpressed and he can't blame her; it's a pretty lame excuse.
"I really am sorry," he says, swallowing his pride. It stings, slightly.
Audrey glances at him, before sighing.
"I know you are. It doesn't help me. Or anyone else."
Percy hates himself.
…
Percy visits Audrey again the following week and her heart is fluttering. She doesn't know why, and she wishes that it would stop.
He brings them food, which surprises her.
"I've decided," he says, announcing like he's some big important person, which he is. He was the Crown Prince, at their part of town. "to bring everyone here a few meals."
Most people are bitter towards him, Audrey knows. They're bitter towards everyone that's royal, except that coldness fades once he starts to distribute the food around to Audrey's friends and neighbors, in person, and she feels proud of him. Maybe he isn't such a jerk. Maybe not all princes are.
He comes to her trailer last, trying to hard to look cool, leaning against the trailer, but failing. She laughs when she sees him standing there and shoves him.
"Why?" she asks.
"You made me think," he says, straightening up and smiling at her. "I thought I couldn't do anything, but I guess I can. I wanted to."
Huh. She's impressed by that. Once again, Prince Percy is surprising her.
"So," she says, feeling awkward. "Thanks, I guess."
"You guess?" he teases. Audrey rolls her eyes and walks forward to him. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and smiles when she sees his blushing cheek.
"Thanks."
…
for:
ql training camp [whining warriors - chaser one stand in - conquering a land/nation]
assignment 3 [mythology - athena - making a wise decision]
insane house comp [percy]
scavenger hunt [percy as a main character]
writing club [character appreciation - a man with red hair; otp - having a disagreement; showtime - for good - friendship; restriction - no using any hogwarts houses; liza's loves - royal arrival - royal!au]