Percy had no idea how it happened. Ever since Harry Potter had broken into the Ministry, there had been so much excess security, especially in the upper levels. Yet somehow, here he was, held at wand point by a woman in his own office.
"Give me your wand," the woman demanded.
Percy didn't hesitate. "Slowly," she instructed. He sat the wand at the edge of his desk and backed away. Without taking her eyes off him, she took the wand and pointed it at him too.
"You Arthur Weasley's son?" she asked.
Percy had been used to the question, and up until recently, he'd been offended whenever anyone in the Ministry had asked it.
"Yes," he said.
The woman smirked. "You have his eyes. Arthur's always been decent to me."
Percy backed up further. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not that she knew who he was.
"You must be Percy, then," she said.
Percy nodded. "The son he hates," he said miserably.
"He doesn't hate you, you stupid prat, he's worried about you. Now stop talking, they're coming."
They stood there, both wands still pointed at Percy. Then, they heard raised voices on the other side of the door to Percy's office. Not a moment later, there was banging on the door and Percy heard a voice he recognized as Dolores Umbridge saying, "Percy! Percy, are you alright in there? There's a mudblood who's escaped from custody, we think she ran up here. Are you in there?"
The woman looked pleadingly at Percy, but she didn't need to. Percy's mind had been made up the minute he realized why she'd burst into his office.
"I'm in here working on a report from the Minister. It's confidential, don't come in. I haven't seen any muggleborn."
The woman seemed to be looking at Percy in a completely new light.
"Alright, inform us immediately if you know anything." Then there was the sound of footsteps racing away, and Umbridge barking orders.
The woman lowered both wands. "Thank you," she said.
Percy nodded. "You know my father?"
"Yes," she said. "I worked with him in Confiscations. I'm Audrey."
"How'd you get out?" Percy asked.
"Wandless magic," Audrey admitted. She moved back to the door and tried peering out the keyhole.
Percy was impressed, but also confused. "If you could do wandless magic, why are you only escaping now? The registration's been done for months."
"I knew I'd be safer if I was behind bars then if I was being hunted by Death Eaters and werewolves and Merlin knows what else," she said. "And I helped several others escape in the process. But now, there's one last battle against the Death Eaters, and I intend to be there."
Percy laughed mirthlessly. "You're everything I wish I could be."
Audrey shot him a look before turning back to the keyhole. "What are you talking about? Haven't you been keeping your family safe from the inside since the Death Eaters came into power?"
Percy's jaw dropped. "How did you-"
"Please," she said. "The largest family of blood-traitors in wizarding Britain surviving over eight months of Death Eater legislation? They must have had help from the inside." She gave Percy an appraising look. "You must have marked their files as Tracked behind the Ministry's back so the Ministry wouldn't investigate any further. That was very brave of you."
Percy smiled. "Well, I AM a Gryffindor."
Audrey smiled too. "Alright then, oh great and mighty Gryffindor, help me get into Dolores Um-bitch's office so I can floo to Hogsmeade."
Percy's jaw dropped once again. "The battle is at Hogsmeade?"
"No, Hogwarts," she said. "Harry Potter returned, that means revolution."
Percy decided too. "I'm coming with you. If what you say is true, my entire family'll be there. I think it's time I apologized, especially since there's no way I'll be able to help you without their noticing and I'm not even gonna try to convince you to wait it out up here... in my office... all alone... with me."
Now that the thought hit him, Percy realized that Audrey was very pretty. She had perennially tan skin, and her hair was tied in a ponytail, which admittedly, wasn't Percy's favorite hairstyle, but it looked very good on her. She also had the fiery eyes that Percy always attributed to Penelope.
Audrey smiled. "You're cute. Tell you what," she said. "We survive this battle and overthrow You-Know-Who, we'll come back to this office and we can do whatever you want."
Percy, acting on some strange will he didn't know he had, approached her, took his wand from her, grabbed her shoulders and said, "No deal. We might not survive."
Then he kissed her, for no other reason than because there was an opportunity.
Suddenly they broke apart. "What's your last name?" he inquired.
"Turner," she answered, without missing a beat.
"Awesome," Percy said. And he flung open the door.
"Stupefy!" he shouted at the nearest guard. The other guards rushed forward, but between Percy and Audrey, they were all Jinxed and hexed just enough to be kept at bay until the two of them reached Umbridge's office.
"You have a key?" asked Audrey as she jinxed a man's head to spin around.
"Of course not," said Percy, and he cast a curse at the door and it exploded into a million splinters.
Audrey went through first. She grabbed floo powder, said, "The Hog's Head!" and jumped into the hearth disappearing in an instant. Percy aimed another hex at a Ministry guard, and followed right behind her.
