Disclaimer: Harry Potter world belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Rated T for language

A/N: The beginning of this chapter is from Hermione's POV, and then it switches back to Percy's.

Chapter 6

Hermione descended the steps into the kitchen, yawning widely and making a beeline for the coffee. Light was shining through the windows and making merry pools of golden yellow on the floor. Hermione shook her head, finding trouble accepting the idea that it was nearly midday and she was just waking up—Ron and Harry were still sprawled in their beds, snoring loudly. She hadn't seen Percy or his girlfriend Audrey yet. Hermione smiled internally. She liked Audrey—the young woman seemed smart and fun; she'd be good for Percy.

Everyone else was milling around the kitchen, getting served a mixture of breakfast and lunch food by a beaming Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said politely as Ron's mum offered her some eggs.

"You're welcome," Mrs. Weasley replied with a happy smile. It was obvious to Hermione that she was enjoying having her whole family under one roof again. It had been awful, especially for the poor mother hen, after the Battle of Hogwarts, with everyone busy with reconstruction efforts and mourning the loss of Fred.

"'Lo, Hermione," Bill called from the table, where Fleur was feeding him bits of bacon. Hermione couldn't help but sigh inwardly at those two; she couldn't wait until they were out of the lovey-dovey phase. But they had been married for a year; it didn't seem like they were coming out if it anytime soon. "You're up before most of the house: I haven't even seen Percy yet."

"Well, we were all up rather late, wouldn't you say?" Hermione sat down at the table with Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Ginny, Mr. Weasley and George.

Before anyone could respond, there was a loud, frantic knocking on the door. Mr. Weasley put down his paper, frowning.

"Who could that be?" he asked. "I thought we put up spells to keep the press away…." The knocks continued at the door, louder and more erratic, soon becoming a desperate pounding. Everyone exchanged worried glances. Mrs. Weasley stopped her surveying the dishes washing themselves in the sink and turned towards the door, which was shaking under the assault. Hermione, who was closest to the door, leapt up and answered it.

She gasped in shock at the person standing in the sagging doorway. It was a middle-aged woman, dressed in a worn set of brown robes. Tears were beginning to stream down her face. "Are you okay?" Hermione inquired immediately, gently taking the arm of the poor woman. "Do you need help?"

"I'm l-looking for Audrey White and Percy Weasley," the woman replied shakily, wiping away the tears from her face. "The Ministry said th-they might be here."

Hermione blinked in surprise. What did this woman want with Percy and his girlfriend? "Yes, they're here." The woman let out a sob of relief. "May I ask your name?"

"Of course, of course. My name is Susan Edwards." She wiped at her face again. "Can you get them, please? I really need to t-talk to them."

"I'll get them," Hermione told her soothingly, still wondering what had this Susan so upset. "Why don't you come inside, have some tea?"

Mrs. Weasley bustled up quickly to the door, taking the woman's arm and leading her inside. "Yes, yes, Susan, please come in. I'm Molly, remember? We had Charms together in school. Perhaps you don't, it was so long ago."

Hermione headed up for the stairs as Mrs. Weasley lead the woman to the table, continuing to chatter comfortingly. George jumped up and offered his chair. "I'll go get Percy and Audrey," Hermione said.

George hurried up to walk beside her. "What does one of Mum's old schoolmates want with Percy?" he asked, glancing back to the kitchen. "She seems really upset."

Hermione just shook her head. "I don't know. It's unusual, isn't it?"

They took the stairs two at a time and soon were in front of the dark brown door to Percy's room. Hermione could hear soft noises coming from inside the room. "I guess they're awake."

She reached up a fist to knock, but George didn't seem to care about being polite. He grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open.

"Bloody hell!" George shouted, stumbling away from the room and shielding his eyes with his hands. Hermione, alarmed, jumped out of his way and looked into Percy's room to see what George was yelling about. She certainly wasn't prepared to see Percy and Audrey on Percy's bed kissing passionately with various articles of clothing unbuttoned and unzipped.

"Oh, Merlin!" Hermione ducked her head and surged backward, feeling her face turn bright red. "We're so sorry!"

"You could have knocked!" Percy cried out indignantly as he and Audrey broke apart, frantically trying to right their clothing, faces flushed crimson as well.

"Bloody hell!" George repeated, still covering his eyes. "Merlin, do you have to do that in the house? That's just not right!"

At that moment, Harry and Ron stumbled out of their rooms holding their wands. "Wazz wrong?" Ron asked, still half-asleep.

Percy and Audrey had, thankfully, gotten their clothes back on at this point.

"Percy—in his room—" George was stammering, "—with a girl—"

"Honestly," Percy protested as George continued to hide his face, pretending to be disgusted. Hermione, who was bright red to the roots of her hair, watched through her fingers as comprehension and then horror passed over Ron and Harry's faces. "Honestly, George, don't act as if you've never…" Percy broke off, staring at George like he'd never seen him before. "You're joking, aren't you?" A slow smile spread across Percy's face. Hermione grinned too. It was so nice to see George kidding around again.

Audrey, looking irritated, pushed past the crowd of people gathering around Percy's room. "Very mature, you guys!" she hissed. "Learn how to knock, will you?"

"Learn how to lock a door if you're going to shag—" George said, starting to grin.

"Okay!" Audrey cut in loudly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Okay, okay, okay. Just…tell us why you felt the need to barge into Percy's room unannounced? Please?"

"There's a woman downstairs looking for you two," Hermione said quickly, desperate to stop the awkwardness. "Do either of you know a Susan Edwards?"

Percy and Audrey's embarrassment immediately disappeared as they exchanged a serious look and then headed for the stairs together. Hermione, curious, followed them. Behind her, George was still doubled over with laughter and Ron and Harry were gaping stupidly.

Susan was still sitting at the table, drinking tea with Molly. Her teary eyes jerked up when Percy and Audrey entered the room. She leapt to her feet.

"What's wrong?" Audrey exclaimed, as the same time Percy said, "Are you all right, ma'am?"

"Please," Susan said, rushing around the table to stand in front of them. "I think you know what happened to my children? Emilia, Thomas?"

Hermione frowned. What would they know about this woman's children?

Audrey's brow was furrowed with concentration. "Uh... brunette kids with dark green eyes?" she replied slowly. "Their father was a muggle?"

"Yes!" Susan bobbed her head wildly. "My husband." She started to cry again, big tears sliding down her cheeks. Hermione could feel her eyes begin to tear in sympathy. "I'm a muggle-born, and the Ministry was trying to put me in prison and I got him to take the kids and find help going into hiding, but, but—"

"We can help you," Percy said, his voice commanding but comforting. He glanced around the kitchen, which was packed with staring family members. "Why don't we go talk in the next room?"

The three of them walked into the living room, Percy closing the door behind them. There were several moments of awkward silence before Charlie finally spoke up.

"Now what was that about?" He shook his head. "Seriously, what is going on with Percy?"

There was silence in the room, broken only by the rustling sound of Mr. Weasley's newspaper as he folded it and placed it on the table, his eyebrows knitted. George glanced up from his food, something flashing in his eyes—realization?— and looking for a moment like he was going to speak, but he didn't.

A few minutes later, Audrey and Percy burst out from the living room with Susan between them. "I'm sorry, I have to go," Percy apologized. "Thanks for the food, Mum. I had a great time."

"Yes, me too," Audrey agreed as they pulled on their traveling cloaks. "Thank you so much for inviting me."

"Of course, of course," Mrs. Weasley bustled over to kiss Percy. Then she gasped in shock, letting out a shriek that caused everyone in the room to jump. "PERCY! Your…your face…you're hurt!"

Percy's hand flew up to the uneven, scarred flesh. Hermione watched out of the corner of her eye as Mr. Weasley, eyes wide, put his newspaper down and stared at his son. She knew this was the first time he had noticed the scars.

"It's nothing!" Percy said hastily. "I promise I'm fine," he tried to convince her as she continued to fuss over him.

"How did this happen?" Mrs. Weasley demanded, her voice bordering on tearful but with a definite edge of steel.

"Er…" Percy broke off, eyes shifting nervously around the room. "I'm sorry Mum, this is really important." He gestured his hand to where Susan stood. "Can you ask one of the others to explain?"

"I, I suppose," Molly replied, still looking doubtful about letting one of her chicks escape without explaining his injury.

"Thanks, Mum." Percy smiled reassuring at her. He raised his voice, adding, "Bye, Dad. Bye, Bill, George, Ginny… all of you lot!"

Everyone chorused their goodbyes as Percy and Audrey rushed out the door with the woman.

Mrs. Weasley turned to the kitchen table full of her children. "Well?" she demanded.

Several hours later.

Percy and Audrey strolled down the London street together, the constant buzz of the traffic beside them. Percy sighed contentedly; it had been a good day. They had successfully managed to reunite a woman with her husband and children who had gone into hiding during the war—every time Percy saw a family come back together, it made his heart swell with happiness.

He did not, however, even want to think about what had happened before that…. Honestly, what had possessed them to think that doing that was a good idea…?

"It's right up here," Audrey said excitedly, pointing up ahead. She was practically skipping down the sidewalk in front of him, obviously delighted to be showing Percy the flat she had picked out for them.

"We are quite close to the Ministry," Percy commented approvingly. "And I think we just passed a bookstore…that's a good sign."

"Oh, yeah, I've already been in there, it's awesome," Audrey replied, grinning. "Great old books." Audrey suddenly stopped abruptly, and Percy bumped into her. She turned to the door of the building they were in front off, pulling out a key and letting them inside. "We're upstairs. 221B."

Percy chuckled. "It really is too bad this isn't Baker Street, isn't it?"

Audrey laughed with him as they started on the stairs. "I'm proud to say that that wasn't the only reason I chose this flat."

Percy nodded. It did appear to be a nice place; it was clean and well-lit, at least. As they reached the appropriate door, Audrey pulled out a second key and unlocked the door. She stepped inside. Percy moved to follow her inside, extremely curious to see the new place.

Percy nearly screamed at what he saw and stumbled backward, slamming into the wall. "Audrey, what the hell is that?" he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "God, there's no need to be so dramatic, Perce. He's a cat." Audrey picked up the animal from the couch and placed it on the ground.

Percy watched with wide eyes as the slim, tawny cat stalked around the floor. It had two long, gray markings running vertically down its back, unusually thick fur around its neck like a lion's mane, and disturbingly intelligent green eyes.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of cats, Perce," Audrey said, staring at him with disbelief.

"Not afraid, no," Percy responded defensively, jerking out of the cat's way as it padded past him. "I'm just, uh, not crazy about animals in general besides Hermes, is all…" Percy noted that Audrey must have brought the owl with her from his Ministry housing, as he was snoozing on a perch in the corner.

Audrey frowned. "C'mon, you must have had some pet other than an owl as a kid, right?" she asked, slightly desperately.

"Well, I had a rat I named Scabbers as a child."

"See? I bet you liked him."

"Yes, well, it turned out that he was actually the Animagus form of one of Voldemort's servants."

Audrey stared blankly at him for a few seconds, mouth open, before she swallowed and replied weakly, "Well, what are the odds of that happening twice?"

Percy slowly turned his head to watch the cat, who was licking his paw. He shot Percy a disdainful look. "I don't know, Audrey…" Percy said, unnerved by the human-like emotion.

"Oh, c'mon, Perce," Audrey pouted. "You aren't going to make me put Lotus out on the street, are you?"

Oh great, she's named the thing, Percy thought grumpily. But when he saw the pleading look in Audrey's beautiful hazel eyes, he knew he couldn't saw no. "Well," he grumbled grudgingly. "It's better than a dragon, I suppose."

Audrey let out a yelp of joy and threw her arms around him. Percy smiled in spite of his grumpiness. "Where did you get, er, Lotus?" he asked finally.

Audrey removed her arms. "He was living around the Reserve. I've been feeding him for a while, and yesterday he just…came home with me! He's the most absolutely brilliant cat I've ever seen."

Percy put an arm around her shoulders, looking around the new flat, his face breaking into a huge grin as he realized what they were doing. Surveying their flat, watching their new cat.

"What?" Audrey asked, no doubt noticing his stupid smile. "Are you okay?"

"Most definitely," Percy replied happily. "Now, care to show me around this place?"

221 Baker Street is Sherlock Holmes' flat number. Another nerdy literature reference for Percy and Audrey! Review, please?