That night after they had put the girls to bed Percy and Audrey sat in bed together, Percy finishing up paperwork and Audrey fiddling with blanket pretending to read a book. Every few minutes her eyes would turn to Percy as she watched him nervously. She knew there was no reason to even approach Percy about discussing the war with the girls without a proper plan because she'd never be given a chance to succeed. Her thoughts were interrupted when Percy closed his book, and turned to her.

"Well, what is it?" he asked.

"What's what?" Audrey asked caught off-guard.

"You've been staring at me for the last 5 minutes. Obviously you want to say something." Percy explained.

Audrey sat up, feeling a bit defeated already. "I haven't come up with my battle plan yet." She said.

He smiled. "A battle plan?" He asked.

"You're ruthless and you know it. This is the sort of discussion that I won't be able to get a word in edgewise unless I'm prepared." She explained.

"Are we having another child?" Percy asked, looking at her with obvious confusion.

"Not unless you're pregnant." Audrey said. Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Audrey cut him off. "I want to talk to the girls about what happened after we got out of Hogwarts." She said.

"The shop?" Percy asked.

"They already know about the shop. I'm talking further out." She said.

"The war." Percy said finally understanding where she was going with the conversation.

"I think they ought to know." She said.

He didn't say anything for a minute as he thought about what to say next. A few times he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something only to shut it again without a word. After the third time of him doing this Audrey sighed and grabbed his hand.

"Say something, won't you? I hate it when I can see your mind works so hard and I don't know what you're thinking about." She said.

"They're so young." He said simply.

"I know. They don't need to know everything, but they should hear about our lives during everything, what we went through." She said.

"I don't want them to think badly about me." He said quietly.

She moved closer to him, and squeezed his hand. "You're their dad, Percy, and they love you unconditionally. There's nothing in your past that could ever change that." She said.

"I could have done so much more. Had a not been so stupid, so blinded, Fred migh…" He started.

"Stop that right now. What happened to Fred had nothing to do with what you did or didn't do, and you can't let yourself wonder what if. You know he wouldn't have wanted anyone to blame themselves." She interrupted. She closed her eyes quickly, trying to hold back her tears.

"I just wish things would have gone differently." He said.

"We all wish that, but they didn't, and that isn't your fault." She said.

He nodded. "Alright, we'll tell them." He said.

Audrey hugged him. "I love you." She said.

He held her tightly as he fought back tears. "I love you too." He said.

That night Audrey lay awake, unable to stop her mind from racing enough to sleep. As she lay in bed she could hear Percy groaning in his sleep, and once she heard him whisper "Fred." She knew how hard this all was for him; he had never forgiven himself for the choices he made so long ago, and it plagued him to know that while he had chosen the ministry over his family he lost precious time he'd never be able to get back. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Percy. She knew that the pain from their past would never completely diminish, but as she felt his heart beating against her hand she knew that as long as they were together they would make it through. As she fell asleep Audrey wondered how she was ever going to try and make her daughters understand something she, herself, would never fully comprehend.

"Mum wake up!" Lucy said shaking her mother.

Audrey opened her eyes slowly to see her daughters face staring at her. "What, what is it?" she asked.

"Dad! Wake up!" Molly said.

Audrey could feel what she assumed was jumping from Percy's side of the bed.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked sitting up quickly.

"It's not an emergency, don't worry." Audrey reassured him.

He looked confused for a second before leaning against the headboard. "Then why am I being woken up so early on my day off?" He asked.

"Mum said you would tell us about the war." Lucy said.

"You told them already?" Percy asked.

"Contingency plan." Audrey explained as she wiped her eyes.

"United front my arse." Percy mumbled.

"Language." Audrey scolded.

"Sorry." He said. He pulled his watch off the night stand and attempted to read it, having no luck he reached over and pulled his glassed on. "It's 5 o'clock in the morning." He groaned.

"The sun's up that means it's daytime." Molly said.

"You can't argue with her logic." Audrey said with a shrug.

"I can when it's 5 o'clock on my day off." He replied.

"Tell us what happened next." Lucy insisted.

"Alright alright." Percy said. "Audrey, go on." He nudged.

"Well, by this time your dad and I were dating. I ran my shop and he worked for the ministry. I no longer lived with Uncle Ed, I lived above my shop, and dad lived in a small place near the ministry." Audrey explained.

"So what happened?" Lucy asked impatiently.

"I'm getting there." Audrey said.

Audrey sat anxiously fumbling with the table cloth on Percy's table. She had apparated in over and hour ago and she was still waiting for him to return. News of Cedric Diggory's death had spread, and she was so worried. There was so much talk about Harry Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and every story conflicted with the last, she didn't know what to think.

Just then she heard a snap in the room next to her causing her to jump up. She quickly walked towards the noise.

"Audrey, is that you?" Percy asked.

"It's me." She replied, finally making it into the living room. She pulled him in for a hug. "I've heard about the Diggory boy, it's so sad." She said.

"It's quite a tragic incident." Percy replied. He took off his cloak and hung it up in the hall closet.

"Have you been to the ministry?" She asked.

"Yes, I came home to get a few minutes rest before going back." He explained as he walked towards the kitchen.

"What's happened? They're saying he's back." Audrey said following behind him

Percy stopped dead in his tracks, and spun around. "He is not back." He said.

"Harry saw him." She said looking at him, shocked by his answer.

"Harry Potter is a trouble maker and he doesn't know what he's talking about." He said simply.

"Percy Weasley, Harry Potter has been incredibly good to your family and he's best mates with your brother, how could you say that about him?" She asked.

"He's lying about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's return. He's a trouble maker and there's certainly something not right about him." Percy said.

"What are you going on about, lying? Why would he lie about such a thing?" She asked sitting back down at the kitchen table.

Percy pulled two cups out of the cupboard and with a flick of his wand he filled them with tea. He put a cup in front of her as he sat down. "I don't want to discuss this. It's all rubbish and you don't need to get worked up about it." He said as he pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

"In what world is His return rubbish?" Audrey asked.

"In this one, and stop saying 'his return' there isn't a shred of truth to it." Percy said.

Audrey couldn't believe the word's she was hearing. How could the ministry possibly believe that Harry Potter had lied, why weren't they taking this seriously? She frowned as she took a sip of her tea.

"Percy, this can't be ignored." She said.

"Audrey I implore you to stop discussing this." He said looking at her, his annoyance becoming obvious in his tone.

"Don't get annoyed with me. This is not the sort of thing that can be ignored and if Harry Potter says that that boy was killed by You-Know-Who then I believe him, and the ministry had better step up and take immediate action." She said, holding her ground.

"You're being ridiculous." Percy said.

"Am I?" She said. "You tell me you think that boy just up and died and I'm the ridiculous one?"

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident, but it does not suggest that He has returned." Like clockwork Percy repeated the statement he'd so obviously been trained to say.

"Don't give me that Ministry line!" Audrey spat back, loosing her temper. "I can't believe you're going to chose to hide behind ignorance."

"Don't preach to me, Audrey. The ministry knows what they're talking about." Percy said.

"That minister is a delusional nutter, he doesn't have the first idea of what he's talking about." She said.

"I think you need to leave." Percy said, unable to process any other response to such a statement.

Audrey didn't budge. "No." She said.

"Audrey, don't make me." He threatened pulling out his wand.

"Don't make you what Percy? Put your wand away." She said. When he didn't move she stood up. "I said put your wand away Percy." She repeated, her fists clenching into balls as she tried to calm herself.

He stood up, getting face-to-face with her, still not lowering his wand. "Take it back." He said.

"I won't." She said shaking her head.

Without another word Percy was gone with another snap, he had apparated away. Audrey slammed her fist down onto the table. She gave one more fleeting glance to the room before apparating away.

"Dad, you didn't think he was back?" Lucy asked, obviously trying to take in the information she had just received.

Audrey grabbed Percy's hand and gave it a squeeze, letting him know he wasn't alone.

"At that time I believed the word of the minister, I believed that the minister was a smart and good man, and that he knew what was right." Percy explained.

"But Uncle Harry knew better." Molly said.

"You girls have to understand that your dad didn't know Uncle Harry as well as he does now. Harry was just a boy then; imagine if you said something but the minister said it wasn't true, which one do you think people would believe?" Audrey tried to explain.

"Oh." Lucy said. "But you realized that Uncle Harry was right, right dad?" she asked.

"Eventually." Percy said.

"Well, that's good." Lucy said, with a sigh of relief. "What happened next?" She asked.

"Your dad took a nap because it's his day off and he could use some rest." Audrey said as she climbed out of bed, and shooed the girls away.

"That happened now too!" Molly said excitedly.

"Yes it did. What a coincidence." Audrey said with a laugh as she shooed the girls out the door. She turned back to Percy and gave him a quick kiss. "I love you." She reminded.

"No matter what?" He asked.

She smiled. "No matter what."