A/N: Hey, peeps! This story is Percy/Audrey. I originally intended to publish this to my drabble collection (which you should totally check out *hint hint*) but I sorta ran away with it and got really into it, even going as far as to throw in a couple of surprising elements. This is also dedicated to my friend Audrey, for being so short that when she went to her CM exam for violin, the judge had to lower the stand for her because it was so high 'cause all the big kids were doing her level. ;) Also, she shares the name of the MC. Anyways, enjoy! :D
Chaos in the Nursery
by Brooke
[~]
for Audrey
Audrey blearily blinked her eyes open, aroused from her sleep by the too-familiar wails of her 5-months old daughter. She groped blindly for her glasses; she carefully put them on, allowing herself a few seconds to adjust to the sudden clarity of her surroundings, and slipped on her baseball-patterned bedroom slippers and stood up from the couch.
She briefly looked at the clock. 11: 35 pm, it read. Percy was taking an emergency night-shift at the Ministry in order to fill in for another employee, or as he liked to say, "doing his duty as a good colleague." Audrey had snorted at that, but agreed to take care of their daughter, Lucy, by herself. Usually, during the night, she and Percy would take shifts, Percy taking most of the hours while Audrey would deliver the occasional lullaby or breast feed, two things that Percy could not or would not do.
She drew out her wand, muttering a hurried incantation for a Hair-Straightening spell, and set out in the direction of the increasingly loud shrieks, her wand poised in front of her, ready to cast any emergency spells if needed. Her motherly instincts told her that it was very much needed.
Her motherly instincts, she found out soon enough, were very much right.
Audrey could only watch in horror as Lucy whizzed around the living room on her father's broomstick, laughing maniacally and shrieking as she bumped into windows and collided with furniture. Audrey was distinctly aware of the clattering noises that indicated the destruction of her porcelain tea set, but it was very faint, so faint that she couldn't even be sure it was real. It was like being submerged underwater, everything murky and sluggish and slow.
Audrey's eyes darted back and forth, following her daughter's broom until she could follow it no longer. Her pupils still aimlessly swiveled about. "I need coffee," she moaned.
The phrase was uttered very softly and amidst total chaos, and yet against all odds, it somehow managed to reach Lucy's sensitive ears. "Goo-goo!" she cried out in alarm, her wide eyes finding Audrey's across the room, and darted out of the living room.
Audrey groaned. Coffee, she managed to think, before thinking better of it and reluctantly following the end of the broomstick to…
Audrey said a few things that she shouldn't have been saying with her daughter of sharp hearing in the house, and swiftly entered Percy's study.
"What the…"
A dizzyingly large number of books lay, open or squished, on the floor. Glass shards, presumably from the many pots of tea on the desk, lay cluttered in a small area below the aforementioned desk. The edges of a once spotless and wrinkle-free rug were now singed. (Audrey didn't even want to know how in Merlin's beard that happened.)
Lucy sped past a portrait so fast that she knocked it over and under the couch. "Hey!" it complained, its voice muffled. "It's not nice to knock people's portraits off walls…" It raised its voice. "Weatherby, Winky! What is this madness? Oh, where is that damn house-elf when I need her?"
Lucy, oblivious to the angry poortrait, was still flying and shrieking louder than ever, happily continuing in her reign of destruction as she cheerfully destroyed everything in her way at inhuman speed, masterfully steering her broom so it happened to collide with anything of any value.
A broom, Audrey noted with growing horror, that was slowly spiraling up higher and higher towards towering bookcase that teetered precariously above the oblivious infant…
Audrey mentally cursed her short stature - oh, why did her precious baby have to steal that broom and go right in front of a bookcase as tall as Mount Everest and a million times more unbalanced? - and was just getting ready to scream as loudly as she could in hope that the neighbors would hear and miraculously find a way to save Lucy, when she heard a booming voice behind her.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The bookcase shot up, bursting through the roof with a sickening crack and leaving massive amounts of wood chips and other debris in its wake. Stunned, Audrey turned to see her husband, slightly breathless, standing behind her, staring at the wreckage before them.
"Daddy!" Lucy rushed into her father's arms.
"Her first word," Audrey said faintly, managing to remember this despite the shocking events that had just occurred.
Percy stared at her. "That's what you're saying?" he demanded incredulously. "After all...this?" He gestured wildly towards the wreckage.
"Daddy wight!" agreed Lucy, blissfully oblivious.
Percy fixed her with a stern look. "Now you, young lady, need to learn a lesson," he said, gently putting her down, but keeping his arms around her, and crouching down so that they were eye-to-eye. "Destroying things is much easier than making them," he said firmly, "so don't destroy things, OK? Mommy and Daddy will be very sad if you do."
Lucy nodded - Audrey guessed that she probably didn't understand anything Percy was telling her. "Daddy wight!" she said eagerly.
Percy patted her on the head. "Good, good," he said, obviously satisfied. "Now off to your room you go!" He released her. She ran out the door, giggling. Audrey could hear her laughter ricocheting off the walls and the soft pounding of her footsteps as she scampered up the stairs.
Audrey turned to him, cringing as she met his eyes. They weren't angry or frustrated, but were disappointed. Somehow, this emotion was worse. "I…"
"You should be," said Percy swiftly, cutting her off. He rounded on her. "Did it occur to you that you were a witch? You had a wand, for Merlin's sake! That was our daughter's life at stake!" he burst out, his voice rising in an uneven crescendo.
Audrey didn't respond. Her shoulders shook.
Finally, Audrey broke the silence. "Look, I'm sorry, OK?" she said. When Percy looked like he was about to interrupt, Audrey plowed on. "I know you aren't happy to be forced to marry me for those stupid reasons, and I know I have been a horrible wife...and…" To her horror, tears were starting to roll down her cheeks. "I tried to be a good mother, but I couldn't! I'm hopeless. I know I'm such a disappointment. I can see it in your eyes whenever you scold me. I'm sorry for failing you! I'm sorry for being a failure! I'm sorry for being the worst mother and wife ever!" By now, Audrey was rambling and full-on sobbing. She stopped herself, knowing that she had gone too far - she shouldn't be burdening Percy with her nighttime ponderings; not now. She was painfully aware of Percy's shocked gaze burning into her back. She cringed inwardly at herself and squinched her eyes shut, waiting for the wave of criticism that was sure to follow.
Instead, she felt two warm arms wrap around her. "I'm sorry you feel that way," murmured Percy into her hair. "You're a fabulous wife," he added. "And, um… You're cabbage stew is fabulous," he added bashfully.
Audrey laughed weakly. "I'm glad you think so," she managed to say.
"I don't regret getting married to you," he continued. "Even if I didn't want to at first. Sometimes I get mad or disappointed in you, but I didn't know it affected you so much. You're smart, funny, kind, beautiful, clever…" He leaned in closer.
"But I..."
Percy silenced her with a kiss.
Audrey's eyes widened, but she didn't pull away.
When they finally broke apart, panting for air, Audrey smiled at him. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" she said.
Percy smiled. "No, it wasn't," he agreed, before leaning in for another one.
Behind them, the clock, stuck to the wall by a Permanent-Sticking Charm, tolled midnight.
A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Say so in the reviews; they make my day! :D
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CHALLENGES AND CONTESTS:
[to be updated]