A/N: I don't really know about the warnings here. Anything may come up as it is a drabble collection. Please be sure to check each chapter separately. Also most of these ships are ones I do not ship. If you ship one of these, hopefully I did them justice. If not, please forgive me. A disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters here. Only thing I own is the plot.
Percy likes order. He likes to organize his life into different categories. In his mind, the people in his life are stacked in separate, labeled boxes. He labels actions too, believes there is a clear line between right and wrong. He takes pride in always doing the right thing. After all, rules are there for a reason and following them has to be the right thing.
But with Fred's death, the lines become blurred. The boxes are tossed into air and the labels scatter on the ground. Doubt and guilt grip his mind and heart. He cannot face his family, cannot look them in the eye and admit that he might have been wrong. That his precious rules and labels might have failed him.
So he leaves.
He doesn't have the heart to celebrate a victory he took very little part in, or mourn for the lives he could have saved - should have saved - if only he hadn't been so busy drawing lines that he thought shouldn't be crossed.
He doesn't even have the heart to attend Fred's funeral.
As people are hugging, laughing and crying, he quietly slips away to pack his bags. He apparates to a random Muggle street and checks in the first motel he sees.
The first week, he sits in his room all day, blinds drawn, enveloped in darkness. He can't even look in the mirror - he no longer recognizes himself. There's a new Percy now. And this Percy is barely human, more a vile, yet sad creature; pathetic, pitiful.
But soon, even the darkness becomes hostile, and the nightmares start. When he wakes up all sweaty and breathless, he seeks his comfort in the open air.
He stands outside, gulping the cold air greedily. He's hoping to see stars, but even the sky offers no comfort - it's a cloudy night.
So he looks around the poor, filthy street instead and sees a small pub across the street. The building seems like it will break apart any minute. Plus, Percy always looks down on people who drink.
Or rather, he did.
The new Percy, on the other hand, has nothing to lose. So he walks in and orders a beer.
That's where he meets her.
She's the type of girl who'd set off the old Percy's alarms immediately. She has haunting eyes and her fingers are shaking as she lights up her cigarette. When their eyes meet, he feels like she can see through his broken, blackened soul and when she suggests that he should buy her a drink, instead of wrinkling his nose like the old Percy would, he signals to the bartender.
She sleeps with him that night and when he tastes her lips and notices the scars on her soft skin, he realizes she just might be as broken as him.
He doesn't learn her name for sometime and when he does - Audrey - it feels like she is nudging along all the other names that tumbled out of his precious boxes, making room for herself.
He is a tea person but he learns to love coffee and tolerate the smoking.
Though the old Percy would label her as completely wrong, he realizes that she's just right. Plus, the new Percy likes the names all jumbled up together, without any lines inbetween.
When he finally finds the courage to go back, it's her hand inside his. And the softness and shakiness beneath his fingers feel completely right
Please review !