This one-shot is written for Transfiguration Assignment #2 on the Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardy forum! I chose the second task: Write about a character determined to prove something or do something right, and so they need to practice.
This does follow my headcanon of Audrey, which you can get a better idea of in my multichap, Stronghold!
Word Count: 2055
17 June 2000
Audrey was convinced that by the time she turned the last page of Baby-Proof Your House The Magic Way! that she had read nearly every baby book in existence. Of the wizarding and muggle variety, of course.
Everything had happened very fast, and just thinking about the last few months gave her a headache. It had been a tornado of events, and Audrey happened to get picked up along the way.
Only a couple weeks had passed since Bill and Fleur's baby announcement when Percy had asked Audrey to marry him, and somehow, by the end of January, everyone had been packed into a bigger-on-the-inside tent with gold and white decorations all over the place and Heating Charms to keep people from freezing their arses off.
One month later, Audrey found out she was pregnant.
Two months pregnant.
(Audrey suspected that the New Years' Eve party they had attended was to blame.)
The only problem was that, well, it wasn't exactly planned. Audrey would have to take a break from her Auror training - as much as it pained her - and focus on... being pregnant. And being a mother.
The thought of that alone scared the daylights out of her.
Mother. The word literally haunted her everywhere she turned. Just a month earlier, Victoire had been born, and Fleur was just such a natural at... mothering?
Whatever it was called, Audrey was convinced that she wouldn't be any good at it. Never mind being born to do something - Audrey wasn't raised to do this. She had grown up with dusty history books in her lap and the Slytherin Duelling Club to call home. Those were two things that simply did not add up to "Good Mother." Audrey figured that maybe one day she would be a good mother. One day in her mid-thirties when her career was well-established and after seeing enough of her friends go through motherhood to be convinced that it was what she wanted.
However, she was only twenty-two, not even finished Auror training, and the only young mother Audrey knew was Fleur. She had no reason to believe that motherhood was on the horizon.
Oh, how wrong she had been.
Audrey wasn't scared - that much she knew. She was never scared, and she hated it when people called her scared. No, perhaps the best way to describe her emotional state was...
Despair. Yes, despair fit her quite well.
Audrey looked down at the small baby bump on her abdomen and let out a sigh. Her hand rested lightly on top of it, as if she was worried that she would hurt the poor thing before it was even born.
"You'll love me no matter what, right, kiddo?" she asked quietly. After a small pause, she muttered to herself, "Yeah, I'm definitely going insane."
Audrey let out another sigh and picked up the next book on the pile. The Mother of all Pregnancy Books.
"Huh, that's kind of clever."
"Audrey, what are you doing?"
The witch in question looked up from the book in her hands, startled. Her eyes landed on her husband, Percy, standing in the doorway of their bedroom.
Her husband, Percy. That was a mood-brightener, if Audrey ever knew one.
"Studying," Audrey replied with a small smile as she returned her attention to the pages in front of her.
She heard Percy laugh and felt the bed lurch slightly as he sat on the end of it. "You can't study for parenthood."
"I can damn well try."
"Audrey."
She felt a warmth on her knee and looked to see Percy's hand resting there. Audrey shifted her gaze to his face, which was still holding a kind smile, but she could see the worry in his eyes.
"Let's go for a walk."
Percy and Audrey's wedding had had a strict no presents rule. They had just wanted everyone to be there and not have to worry about where they were registered or how thrifty they could be.
However, Audrey's Aunt Camille had never been much of a rule follower, and the same could be said for her dear husband Daveth, so the newlyweds ended up with the small, quaint Botterill Cottage that had been in Daveth's family for eight bleeding generations.
Percy and Audrey tried to refuse, but Daveth was stubborn and Camille kept repeating, "If I'm not going to have any kids, then we might as well hand it down to our favourite niece."
Their only niece, actually, but that wasn't worth mentioning.
Not that they could really complain. Just married and they already had their own house in charming St. Mawes, Cornwall. It reminded Audrey of a conversation her and Percy had about moving to the seaside on one of their first dates, and that memory alone was enough to make her fall in love with the place.
Having a cottage by the beach was also convenient for spontaneous walks.
The small waves rolling up on the shore were foamy and grey, with some rare streaks of aquamarine. The sky was a smoky colour, and the cool sea breeze bit at Audrey's face like some pre-rainstorm nymph, but she loved the weather. It wasn't stifling, it wasn't freezing... it was perfect.
Of course, Percy holding her hand and walking close to her added to that perfection.
He didn't say anything - Audrey figured he knew better than that - but he would occasionally give her a lingering, sidelong glance as if that would somehow will her to start talking.
And it worked.
"What if I fail?" Audrey asked quietly.
"Fail what?"
"Being a mother," she replied, her tone implying that that should have been obvious. "What else could I be so bloody worked up about?"
"Is this about money? Because - "
"No!" Audrey interrupted, more harshly than she intended to. With a softer tone, she continued, "I just... I feel so lost. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. This isn't what I was raised to do, not really, and - bloody hell! I can't even knit and the only decent meal I can make is eggs and ham!"
"If you really want to learn how to knit, you can ask my mum," Percy suggested cautiously.
Audrey sighed heavily. "It's not about knitting. I mean, maybe it is. I don't know. See? I don't know! I don't know anything about being a mother, and apparently, it's supposed to just come naturally to hormonal pregnant women!"
Percy laughed and stopped walking. He turned to face Audrey and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You'll be a great mother," he declared confidently.
"Really? Because even after the stacks of pregnancy books I've already read, I still don't know what that entails."
"There isn't a handbook on parenthood."
"Actually, there is. It's titled - "
"Audrey."
Her mouth snapped shut when she noticed the pleading expression on Percy's face, and Audrey started to feel a bit of guilt bubbling in her. Maybe Percy had a point - she couldn't study for parenthood. It wasn't some big test. Parenthood was just... life. Besides, she didn't think Percy felt all too great about Audrey's growing pile of books annexing their bed.
But it wasn't just about being good at it. It was about proving she was good at it, and the look on Percy's face suggested that he had an inkling that there was more to Audrey's determination than she was letting on.
"I just feel like everyone's expecting me to be a horrible mother," Audrey said quietly. "And I want to prove them all wrong, of course. Ambition is part of that big, fat Slytherin package."
"Who thinks you're going to be a horrible mother?" Percy asked, his expression turning into one that practically shouted, "I'll hex those arseholes to bloody Avalon!"
"I don't know! People!" Audrey exclaimed. "How can anything about me scream 'Look at me! I'm a mother!' anyways? I don't even have a job yet, I'm better at duelling than cooking, and I haven't even thought of a bloody name for this poor thing!"
She was pointing at her stomach now in a manner that she hoped was passionate. Judging by the look on Percy's face, it was probably more amusing. However, he didn't say anything during Audrey's pause, so she continued.
"And every single time we go to Bill and Fleur's, they might as well have 'World's Best Parents' tattooed to their foreheads! I mean, she's part Veela, for crying out loud! Since when are Veelas good mothers? And I just know that everyone in your gargantuan Weasley clan is going to be talking about 'Audrey and Fleur' and that is not something I want to go up against, and you know what? I don't - "
It took a spontaneous kiss to finally make Audrey shut up and forget her worries. A nice, long spontaneous kiss that left her just a little weak in the knees and -
"Are you done?"
Percy had broken the kiss, but his forehead was leaning against hers as he looked into her eyes. Audrey pursed her lips and thought about her answer for a moment before quietly replying, "Yes, I think so."
"All right, then I'll say it again: you'll be a great mother," Percy said. Audrey opened her mouth, rebuttal at the ready, but Percy narrowed his eyes slightly and she took the hint. "The only person that's expecting you to be horrible is you, as far as I'm concerned. And while I'm not supposed to tell you this... well, Fleur feels the same way about you."
Audrey raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"Bill told me that Fleur thinks Mum will start comparing the two of you once our kid is born. They never were on the best of terms, Fleur and Mum," Percy explained. "She thinks you're the image of a perfect mother, already reading up on all of the books, buying things left and right, asking Mum questions, helping with Victoire and Teddy."
"Well, watching after Victoire and Teddy is great practice," Audrey reasoned.
Percy laughed softly. "And if it makes you feel any better, I haven't thought of a name either," he added.
"Actually, I lied about that," she muttered. "I have been thinking of names, and I wanted to ask your opinion. It's nothing final, of course, and we don't have to if you don't think it's proper, but - "
"Hey, you're the one carrying that baby around for nine months," Percy interrupted. "I'm not really in the position to argue."
"Well, I thought we should name the baby after your parents," Audrey suggested. "Molly if it's a girl, Arthur if it's a boy. Your parents really were so nice to me from the get-go, even though I had that shady background, what with me being a Slytherin, and I just... well, they're your parents."
"I think that's a brilliant idea," Percy said, a wide grin spreading on his face. "Now that's something Mum will bug Fleur about."
Audrey laughed loudly and wrapped her arms around Percy's middle to hug him tightly. "It's nice to see that my competitiveness is rubbing off on you."
"I think it's the other way around, actually."
"Wanna bet?"
Percy laughed as he stroked Audrey's hair and held her close. "If you really - " He abruptly cut himself off and looked down at Audrey. "Did you feel that?"
"Of course I felt that, it's in my bloody uterus!" Audrey exclaimed. She took a small step back, a hand going to her swollen belly just as she felt another soft kick. "You just know when we're talking about you, don't you?"
In that moment, as she stood with Percy on the beach, the two of them laughing at the small kicks in her belly, Audrey's worries seemed to melt away.
Maybe she could be a great mother, after all.
Additional prompts used: "determination" (word), "aquamarine" (colour), "despair" (emotion), "What if I fail?" (dialogue)
Thanks for reading! :)