Title: Ruined
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Warnings: N/A
Prompts:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) : Speed Drabble (One Hour) : moan, poetry, "How, exactly, did you think having an affair would help our marriage?"
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) : January Event : Level Two - Percy / Audrey
Gringott's Prompt Bank : Various Prompts - Genre Specific : mid-life crisis, shackle, Gringott's Prompt Bank : wedding vows
Gringott's Prompt Bank : Various Prompts - Feelings & Emotions : incensed, cold
Gringott's Prompt Bank : Descriptors - Words To Use Instead of Said : exploded
Word Count: 455
Notes: N/A
Summary: Audrey and Percy's marriage falls apart.
Audrey flooed into her living room and stepped neatly out of the fireplace. She dusted herself off and crept through the house. These days, she always seemed to get home late, well after Percy had gone to bed. Work wasn't easy, and she had grown accustomed to silently slipping into bed beside her snoring husband.
That night however, when she quietly pushed open the door, she found her husband awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, still fully dressed.
"Percy?" she asked in surprise. "What are you still doing up?"
When he answered, his voice was hollow. "What's this?"
Audrey let out a slight moan as she saw what he was holding. She knew what he was talking about as soon as she saw the scrap of paper. The handwriting scribbled across the parchment was as familiar to her as her own.
"Percy-" her voice was low but he cut her off abruptly with a wave of his hand.
"There are hundreds of these." He stated bluntly, holding up several of her precious letters. She felt herself grow angry.
"How dare you go through my things? You had no right."
"No right? You're going to lecture me after you slept with someone else?" Percy exploded, his voice rising until he was almost shouting. She didn't try to duck the accusation, it was all there after all, written confessions of their sin.
"I thought it would help." she offered up, for perhaps the first time in her life words failing her.
He stood up, dropping her letters to the floor. "How, exactly, did you think having an affair would help our marriage?" He grew incensed by her lack of response, his face turning red. "What the hell is this Audrey? Some kind of mid-life crisis. I thought we were happy, for Merlin's sake."
"I thought we were too. But then I looked around and I saw the rest of the world Percy! And guess what - they're not all in dysfunctional marriages. I barely see you, we never talk... your idea of a romantic time together is just reading poetry! Our wedding vows aren't something to be cherished anymore, they're something that shackle me to you. I want to be free."
"I want you to go." He said, his voice cold, refusing to allow her to make hima angry.
"Where to?"
"I don't care. Stay with your sister for tonight, or find an inn."
"Percy, be reasonable." She pleaded, her voice desperate.
He glared at her, not backing down.
"Fine." She grabbed her bag from beside the bed and spun around, trying to see through her tears. Everything was ruined, and it was all her fault.