Disclaimer: I don't own any of JK Rowling's characters or plot, I'm just borrowing it for a bit and I have no intent to make a profit off of this. Enjoy the chapter!


It's only after Penny is inside and dripping onto his floor that Percy realizes that having her, with a wand, inside of his flat, could get him arrested. He finds that he doesn't particularly care.

There is an awkward moment where neither of them can think what to say (and she is still dripping onto his floor) before they both start to talk at the same time.

"I should just..." she stutters, her teeth chattering.

"Here, let me..." he rushes, before pausing.

They both stop, and the awkward moment is back again before Percy decides that she must be freezing cold - it is December, after all, and she has been out in the rain. Moving quickly, he turns to the closet where he keeps his towels neatly folded and hands one to her. She takes it thankfully and buries her face in it, and the break in eye contact eases up the ball in his throat.

"Why are you here, Penny?" are the words that come out, though he wasn't intending to say them at all. He'd meant to be reassuring, thoughtful and maybe the littlest bit suave, help her calm down before demanding answers. She's obviously distraught, coming to his flat like this in the middle of a thunderstorm with a look in her eyes that reminds him uncomfortably of a trapped animal.

Her face is out of the towel now, and she's used a Drying Charm to clean herself up, but she keeps glancing out of the corner of her eye as if she expects someone to jump out behind her.

She clears her throat scratchily before answering him in a whisper, "I have nowhere else to go."

He remembers again, with a start, that she is Muggleborn. It takes him another minute to put the pieces together; that she must've been on the run from the Ministry for months now, that she probably hadn't had a proper meal in ages, that she is an illegal fugitive from the law. Those thoughts fall into place very rapidly, and he is speaking again before he knows what he's saying.

"You should stay with me, then."

Penny's eyes nearly pop out of her head. At first he wonders if he should be offended at her surprise, but he decides against it when he watches her face begin to streak with tears. Alarmed, he makes his way toward her.

"Penny?" he ventures "Are you all right?"

By now she is sobbing. "Y-y-yes! But, are you s-sure?"



Putting his arm around her shoulder and revelling in even the simplest contact with her, he doesn't even pause before replying.

"Of course! Penny, I don't agree with what's going on right now. You have a home whenever you need one."

"B-but Perce, you d-don't understand. M-milo wouldn't take me, a-and Gemma wouldn't help me, a-and I'm going to get my wand taken away!"

Milo was one of her best friends during school, a studious Ravenclaw, though they began to drift apart after graduation. And Gemma had been a colleague and a close friend of Penny's the last he had heard of her. He shakes his head, though she can't see the movement.

"Listen Penny," he begins, turning so he can look her in the eye, "we've had our ups and downs, I won't deny that. You broke my heart in two the last time we spoke." Seeing her start to shake, his voice gets stronger, more intense, "But I will never, never let anything happen to you. I can promise you that much."

She starts crying again, this time into his shoulder, and Percy wonders when he started loving her again. His shirt is soaked by the time he realizes that he probably never stopped.


AN:

Chapter One-622 words

Total-1032 words

Ok, so I couldn't help myself. I'm nowhere near done yet, but I love this chapter, and I want to know how you guys feel about it. Please review! I was very excited by the response to the last one.