Second

Percy and Penelope Clearwater break up three months after they have graduated. It is a decision made together, but Percy still feels little lost after she pecks him on the cheek the last time and leaves with the "We'll stay friends, won't we?". It is a commonly known fact that people don't marry their first love, but still he had cherished the faint picture of Penelope marrying him, not quite yet but in few years – before the new millenium, perhaps.

In the July of 1995, Percy isn't going through the best part of his life. Living alone, being completely on his own isn't as comfortable as he thought it would be. And he misses his family terribly, but can't go back home. Not before – not before they admit they are wrong and so is Dumbledore.

But that month brings something good to him, too. It gives him a friend.

They meet first time when Percy enters to Pat's Bookshop and is surprised to see a completely weird girl standing behind the counter instead of his friend (and cousin, but they don't talk about it) Ty or Pat the owner. The shop is empty and the girl is deeply concentrated in her crossword, and Percy just stands there gaping for a moment because he has never seen anyone else than Pat or Ty behind that counter.

The girl seems to realise she is no longer alone and looks up. She has dark blue eyes and a practised, costumer-friendly smile on her lips when she asks can she help him, and Percy shakes his head awkwardly. He manages to squeeze out that he actually just came to see his friend Ty, and does she possibly know where he is.

"You come few hours too late", she answers. "He was here in the morning, I'm here the evening."

Percy nods and hides between the bookshelves, fingers trailing across the old covers. Pat's Books is to him what a candy shop is to a five-year-old, he loves the place and its peaceful atmosphere. He picks up a book, second, third, decides to take the first one and trails to the counter. The shop is still empty apart from the two of them, and Percy doesn't quite understand why Pat has thought he needs another shop assistant.

"Pat decided to travel a little this summer", the girl answers to his unspoken question. "He will be back in the end of August. A friend of my friend knows him, so I got the job."

Oh. That made sense. "Do you like to work here?" Politely.

The girl shrugs. "It's okay, I guess. But I don't think I will be missing this much when I go back to school." Before Percy has time to say anything, ask the normal questions, she rolls her eyes. "Going to seventh, a Hufflepuff and yes, I do enjoy it at times." She extends her hand and Percy shakes it. "Audrey Dean."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Percy Weasley."

Audrey rests her chin on her hand. "I know. You were the Head Boy few years ago."

Percy nods, takes his book, thanks her and leaves, but comes back numerous times. Sometimes Ty is standing behind the counter, grinning and full of that boyish charm of his that got him out of trouble many times while they were at school. But most of the times when Percy enters the shop he sees Audrey there, doing a crossword or levitating books to shelves or reading one.

"It's a Muggle book", she answers, her voice tight (with fear?) when Percy asks what she is reading this time. "Stephen King's. An evil, evil book. Cemeteries and cats and Zelda. And that movie..." She shudders. "Terrible."

Percy has no idea what she is talking about, so he just smiles embarrassedly and changes the topic. He has noticed that Audrey is chatty and trustful (perhaps little too much for her own good), and even though they met only a month ago, Percy knows her better than he ever knew some of those people he shared classes with for seven years. Audrey tells him about her family (parents and one big brother, she is Muggle-born and subtle enough not to ask about his family), home, friends, school, the years before she learned she was a witch and went to Hogwarts.

Audrey is easy to be with, and when one day in late August Percy enters the shop and sees Pat with his big belly and long brown beard standing there and beaming at him, he feels how disappointment fills him.

The following ten months are however so busy, that at some point Audrey Dean slips away from his thoughts. An odd sort of déjà vu hits him when one day of July 1996 he opens the door of Pat's Books once again and Audrey's dark blue eyes and welcoming smile (she has obviously practised it in front of the mirror – it doesn't look so plastic anymore) are the first thing he sees.

"Hello! I bet you thought you'd never see me again", Audrey chirps and drops the Muggle book with mispelled title from her hands. And suddenly everything is like it was last summer, they talk endlessly in that shop and it's September when Audrey suddenly leans over her counter and asks him out just like that.

The date is less awkward than Percy expected, and as Audrey reaches to kiss him behind her father's rose bushes (Percy insisted on bringing her safely home even though he didn't know where she lived), he knows he wants to do this again as soon as possible. Not just the kiss part, but the whole date.

They go out at least twice a week during the next three seasons and Percy is happy that at least one thing in his life is right. But when August comes, everything falls. One day Audrey has gone hiding and a strange, short girl drops a little message from her ("I'm safe and abroad. A.") while she walks past Percy's table head held high. He watches how everything he has relied on falls apart and while he clutches his quill, he isn't so sure anymore if this is what he really wants.

The next time he and Audrey meet is in the crowded, mourning and celebrating Great Hall. Audrey holds a cold hand of a girl Percy barely recognises – she is the same girl who once upon a time gave him a little piece of parchment with a message from Audrey. Audrey's finger trails along her dead friend's features until she stands up.

"I'm going home, now", she breathes, words coming from her mouth slowly and each one of them apparently hurting her. Then she nods towards his family with a sad smile. "Maybe you should do the same."

They marry the third Christmas after Fred's death. It's a quiet wedding, only the closest family members (no Great Auntie Muriel) and friends are there. It's the first wedding in his family after Fred's death and the atmosphere is rather teary, but all the same Percy knows this is the happiest day of his life this far.

They move to Percy's flat in London after their little honeymoon (seven days in Crete, where Audrey spend seven months during her exile – Percy was little astonished that she would want to return there, but after two days he realised it's her way to come to terms with everything), and start the ickily romantic life of a newly married couple (not that he minds).

So, in the end Percy didn't marry his first love – he married his second (and last) one. And while he sometimes likes to stop and think what would have happened, if he and Penelope had married, he never likes to think that too much, because while Penny was what he needed back then, Audrey is everything he needs now and will need for the rest of his life.

A/N: The evil Muggle book of Audrey's is Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and it truly is terrifying book. Ty is the little Tyler from Differences.

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