Short Skirt/Long Jacket
(A/N: Based loosely off Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake)
Not that she had any way of knowing what just happened; indeed he prayed she never came privy to the morning's events. But none the less he felt guilty for letting Cordelia's game strike any amount of doubt across Audrey's impeccable character. He had no reason not to trust Audrey and all the reason in the world not to listen to Cordelia. But how does one apologize to someone without that person ever knowing that they had been wronged?
Percy was in such deep thought about this inquiry that he paid little attention to his surroundings, and the answer quite literally nearly smacked him in the face. He came about in just enough time to miss running into the mobile coffee cart that was periodically pulled throughout the Ministry in the mornings. He nearly cursed as his parcels almost spilled out of his hands, but held back as the idea struck him. Yes it was a small act, but it would definitely be a welcomed treat. Besides, she had tried apologizing to him with coffee before, so it should work the other way around.
A few minutes and a handful of Sickles later, Percy finally made it to his office. Perched precariously atop his stack of boxes sat the largest blended coffee drink he could buy, chalk full of espresso shots, dark chocolate chunks, and topped with whipped cream. He balanced it all quite carefully and managed to open up his office door. Practically tripping the few steps from the corridor to his desk, he dropped his bulky and heavy parcel load on top of the table, saving the drink before it toppled over. It was not until he had let go of all the boxes that he realized how heavy it all was, and he let out a small gasp of pain as he stretched out his aching arms. As he turned to the corner, he noticed that Audrey was already there. This was not particularly surprising as it was already half past eight. What was strange was her dress and demeanor. Though her style normally bordered on eccentric, with bright colored stockings, layered peasant skirts and bangle accessories, he couldn't quite figure what she was trying to pull off today. She was wearing strapped and fierce looking knee high boots that were propped up on a shabby cardboard box. Though it was July, she was wrapped in a light beige trench coat that was fully buttoned up, hiding any other attire she had on. And, despite being inside, she wore thick black sunglasses. She was sitting up facing his direction, but hadn't acknowledged his presence. It took Percy a few moments to realize that she was asleep.
"Audrey?" he called out to her softly. She shook at the sound of her name being called and began to grumble incoherently. As she moved, Percy smelt the unmistakable scent of stale liquor radiating from her person.
"Are you…hung over?" he asked hesitantly, with a small amount of disappointment. Audrey barked out an irritated laugh.
"No, because that would have involved me actually having a chance to have a drink last night," she stated flatly. She adjusted herself to sit more properly in the chair, and her nose wrinkled when she too smelt the presence of alcohol. "Ugh, but I certainly smell why you asked that."
Percy took the chair next to her and looked to Audrey with a confused and concerned gaze.
"Then what happened?" The aggravated look upon Audrey's face melted into a wearied smile. She perched her glasses on the top of her head and rubbed vigorously at her eyes. When she removed her hands, Percy saw the old residue of her eye makeup from the previous night and red blotches on her cheeks that were normally hid by concealer.
"The Appleby Arrows are going to the semi-finals," she stated simply. Percy sat back in his chair and he began to comprehend the situation.
"The game was in Scotland, but when they won they came back to celebrate here in London. I was visiting my grandmother that evening and by the time I met up with them at the pub the whole team was already smashed, along with a large group of young girls who were apparently fans." Audrey pursed her lips at this statement before continuing. "I spent the whole night making sure none of Max's teammates poisoned themselves with all the alcohol they consumed, fighting both Beaters and the Keeper as they all tried sticking their hands up my skirt, which Max went back and forth from finding funny, to wanting to punch any guy who got near me. Then, I had to smooth over the damages done when the Seeker somehow managed to break open the giant wooden keg of ale, which is why I smell so rosy by the way. By the time I was able to take all the boys home and have them settled down it was already morning. I didn't have enough time to shower or even change so I threw on a coat, grabbed my bag and made it here as quickly as possible." After finishing her unenthusiastic rant, she once again rubbed at her eyes, causing her black eye makeup to smear against her dark sleep circles. She shook her head after a few moments and tried her best to compose herself. A sigh escaped her lips before giving Percy a bright and radiant smile to combat the look of worry he held upon his face.
"I'm so sorry, I know I'm a complete mess right now, but I promise you I am fully capable to work, and I'll go home and shower on my lunch break. I hope that's alright." Audrey's eyes morphed into a pleading look, causing Percy to smile.
"It's alright, really. Everyone has bad nights, and it was very caring of you to look after your boyfriend the way you did," he assured. Even if he is Britain's largest prat, he added inwardly. He gave Audrey a reassuring pat on the leg before turning to his desk to grab the drink he brought for her.
"Anyways, you're in luck. I got this for you earlier and there is so much sugar and espresso crammed in here I guarantee you'll be sent into cardiac arrest." Audrey immediately perked up as he passed her the cup, taking a long draw out of the straw.
"Gee whiz, this is brilliant!" she exclaimed. "Thank you! How did you know I would need this?"
"Employer's intuition," he stated quickly, causing her to laugh again.
"Well, don't you just know everything?" she teased sweetly, taking another long sip. "Now I feel doubly bad for coming to work looking like a train wreck."
"Nonsense," he exclaimed, grabbing a napkin off his desk and rubbing it against the condensation of her frozen drink. "You look like a very adorable raccoon."
They both descended into laughter before Percy used his damp napkin to lightly wipe away the marks around her eyes, grabbing her chin and moving in close to ensure he could do his job diligently. Audrey's laughter stopped at this action but the smile remained behind, changing its form from momentary amusement to something soft and genuine. Percy liked that smile.
As the moment stretched forward and he realized he had finished wiping her face and now was simply staring, he broke the silence with an awkward cough and settled back into his chair. Percy could swear he saw a flicker of regret flash over her face as he pulled away, but assured himself it was only imaginary, as when he looked again she was merely beaming friendly.
"Wow, you're being awfully sweet today, I wish there was something I could give you in return… oh wait!" she exclaimed with mock realization. Using her formidable looking boot, she pushed forward the shanty box she had been resting her feet on in his direction.
"What is this?" he inquired, bending over to open the flap. Inside, slanted against the walls of the box, sat a dozen sturdy thin squares Percy recognized as album covers. Raising his eyebrows in surprise, he grabbed one of them to study, his eyes skimming over the large group of colorful people standing behind a base drum and flower garden.
"It is time, Mr. Weasley, that you begin your musical education," Audrey explained after taking a sip from her now half empty coffee cup. "What you have there in your hand now is Sgt. Peppers, one of the best Beatles albums out there. There are a few more in the box, plus some Kinks, Zeppelin, Journey, Hendrix, a little Dylan, the Who and so forth. Pretty much your classic late 60's, 70's geniuses. I gave you mostly greatest hits albums to give you a feel, but you have to listen closely, okay? You aren't a complete person if you don't. Plus there are also cookies in there. My grandma and I made them last night." Percy looked into his box in amazement, pulling out the bag of snickerdoodles and thumbing through the volumes.
"What made you think to do all this?" he asked with an excited smile.
"Well I've been meaning to put together a little care package since you came over to my place the other week. It just broke my heart that you had been denied such important experiences. Plus, my dad used to own a record store and my grandmother had been trying to get rid of all the back stock. I figured it was the perfect way to kill a few birds with one stone," she explained, curling up on the chair and draining the last of her drink.
"This is great, I'll play some of them tonight," he assured, both happy to hear the music she loved and that she had thought of him so thoroughly. Actually, it was really the second part that was putting him into such a cheerful mood. "A dangerous road to travel," he thought to himself, especially after the delicate events of the morning.
"You and the Bob Dylan bloke have the same sunglasses," Percy commented, after shifting his focus to the album cover in his hand. Audrey sputtered a bit, her mouth full of the left over whip cream she had cleared from her cup.
"Sort of. They're both Wayfarers but mine are more Breakfast at Tiffany's- Audrey Hepburn style," she explained. Percy stared at her with little comprehension of what she had just said. "Hepburn? Er, is that your middle name?" Percy asked, striking up a guess. Audrey laughed.
"No, Audrey Hepburn is a Muggle movie actress, very chic and beautiful. My middle name is Lola," she answered.
"Lola?" Percy repeated strangely before he could stop himself.
"L-O-L-A, Lola," Audrey responded with a wide smile. When Percy's gaze continued to stay fixed in confusion, Audrey elaborated.
"It's from a Kinks' song. My dad picked it out because it's a song about being centered and confused all at the same time, and that's how he said he felt about me and being a dad. Well, actually it's a song about a young man falling in love with a transvestite, but that is neither here nor there."
Percy stared at her, mouth a gape for a few moments before collecting himself. "You listen to the strangest things."
Audrey shrugged. "Girls will be boys and boys will be girls, it's mixed up, muddled up, shook up world except for Lola," she sang back in defense, tossing her coffee in the rubbish. "It's in there, listen to it. You'll like it."
"I'm sure," Percy chuckled, shaking his head and turning to his desk. The piles of packages sat scattered in front of him, taking up a large portion of his work space. Two of the boxes were large and flimsy, and Percy figured these were the personnel files that had been revised and needed to be replaced. Some other packages were oddly shaped, wrapped with brown paper instead of being placed properly in a box. In fact, the only suitably contained parcel was the small heavy one Percy had noticed earlier. Even now, Percy noticed how it crushed the file boxes, causing the tops to wrinkle under the pressure. With some applied effort, Percy lifted the small cube from its sitting position and placed it on the small cleared space in front of him. It landed with a hard metallic clink.
"What's that?" Audrey asked, noticing the strain the little box placed on both the table and Percy's grasp.
"I'm not sure yet. Weiss said it was something illegal and dangerous though," Percy replied cautiously, looking at her hesitantly.
"I get your drift," she replied, "I'll stay back until we know what it is."She uncurled herself from her chair, flashing quite a lot of leg as her jacket un-bunched. Percy spent a moment wondering exactly what she was wearing under her trench that would leave her uncovered at least half way up her thigh, but quickly returned to the matter at hand. He took is wand and tapped lightly at the box, causing the tape to unravel and the lids to pop open. Inside sat half a dozen metal bottles shaped like small milk jars, all tightly sealed. Percy picked one of the objects up, and quickly realized it was not made of metal, but a thick, reinforced glass. It was the liquid inside that gave it its heavy silver sheen look. As he stared at the contents, he couldn't decipher all the colors that emanated, and found himself slightly transfixed at the vibrant hues that formed as he rolled the heavy bottle around his open palm.
"Delphinium Glaze!" Audrey called out, shaking Percy out of his memorized trance. He felt a little out of focus after looking away and didn't immediately grasp the fact that Audrey had bounded across the room, grabbing the vile from his hand.
"Wh-what is that stuff?" he asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his nose to relieve the pressure threatening to mount into a headache.
"Delphinium Glaze!" she repeated with excitement as she checked the bottle herself. "It's an artist's tool, very rare, and extremely valuable, this one bottle here probably costs more then I'd make at the Ministry in four lifetimes! You cover your painted artworks with it when you're done and it makes it the most vibrant and breathtaking hues imaginable. It makes any painting so gorgeous you can't take your eyes off of it!"
"Okay…," Percy said slowly, putting his glasses back on. "That's great and all, but why the fuss? Weiss said all this stuff is dangerous and illegal." He watched Audrey bite her lip after he spoke, lowering the vile from her face down close to her body.
"Because, well, some people… not everyone… but most I suppose… quite literally can't take their eyes off of it. If the solution is too strong the paint becomes so mesmerizing people can't stop looking at it. They'll stand there through thirst and hunger until, well, they die," she said dejectedly, giving the vile a good push over to the box of its brothers.
"You're joking?" Percy said with arched eyebrows, taking another close look. But sure enough he found himself once again captivated by the rich and swirling colors.
"I'm not," she sighed firmly, gently prying the vile away and placing it out of sight into the box. "I read a book once that had a photo of a painting, just a photo, and I stared at it for two hours until Madam Pince tore the book away when I completely ignored her calls saying the library closed. It can be pretty powerful stuff. Luckily, people today aren't really sure how it is made. The few ingredients that are known are all poisonous, like the Delphinium flower. Research on it has been banned and the remaining solutions are to be destroyed immediately without prolonged exposure."
"You sure know a lot about this stuff…" Percy said cautiously. Audrey wiggled uncomfortably, biting her lip as she avoided eye contact.
"I used to be really interested in how it was made. I was pretty good at potions and thought I could find a way to make a much more watered down version of it, just to make the paint brighter. I figured I could use it to open my own studio, it's pretty hard to make it as an artist now days, everyone needs an edge," she explained softly, almost talking more to herself then to Percy. Worried feelings began to flood through his veins as Percy saw a look of longing in her gaze as she stared at the small box. Audrey must have sensed this because she quickly laughed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.
"It was a long time ago, and I was really just curious. I never tried anything, certainly nothing illegal! It was just sort of a thought or interest I had as a school girl. I mean, everybody has those desirous wants that are a tad inappropriate." Percy mulled this over and agreed. He certainly had had such thoughts, and worse had often acted on them. There really was no harm in wishing to have an edge, and she clearly pushed no boundaries or acted on it. But still, there was a nagging voice in the back of Percy's mind bursting to be heard.
"She is fully prepared to do whatever it takes to get what she wants."
No! No, he would not let himself go back to that place. He was done debating over what Cordelia had said. Had this conversation happened yesterday he wouldn't think twice about Audrey looking a bit too long over at the Glaze, or have the urge to compulsively obsess over her motives. He had to stop himself from letting Cordelia sabotage one of the few non-family relationships he had.
Lucky for him, a flutter of wings and Audrey's high pitched scream was enough to pull himself out of his head.
Percy jumped from his seat as Hermes floated across the room, landing lightly on his shoulder. The bird stayed calm as Percy whipped around his desk to find Audrey curled up on the floor, legs together in the most dignified manner she could maintain after having slipped off the chair in panic.
"What's the matter?" Percy cried, trying to pull her back on her feet.
"That," she said simply, shielding her face with one arm as she pointed to Percy's shoulder with the other. Percy looked behind him, and upon seeing nothing, rested his gaze on his owl.
"Hermes?" he inquired. Audrey nodded her head in the affirmative.
"I'm sorry if he startled you but, he is all calm now," Percy tried to assure, again sticking out his hand to help her up.
"I'm sure he is, but I, um, I'm quite comfortable right here," she replied lamely, maintaining her lady like fetal position. Percy stared at her in wonder before finally settling on the most logical, but unreasonable, conclusion.
"Audrey, are you scared of owls?" he asked, barely squashing his amusement. Audrey continued to lie there silently, as though weighing her options, before she finally shouted out:
"Well why shouldn't I be? What with their pointy beaks and sharp talons? Or the way they can see in the dark like it's sunny out, and they are sneaky! Especially that one!" she cried, muffled slightly by her over coat.
"You're a witch! Honestly you must have seen at least a hundred owls a day back at Hogwarts, you couldn't have had freaked out at every breakfast," Percy said logically.
"Unless I was able to either eat lunch early or breakfast late each day and manage to become friendly with all the house elves," she shot back.
"There really is no reason to be scared, especially not of Hermes. I've had him for nearly a decade and he's been nothing if not friendly and loyal."
"I know," Audrey sighed, picking her upper body off the floor and turning to face her boss, "and it's nothing personal Hermes, I'm sure you're a wonderful owl. It's just I can't help my irrational fear, hence the irrational part. Besides, I thought they stopped using owls inside the Ministry."
"They did," Percy reassured as he untied the letter strapped to Hermes' talon, "but this should be the answer to a Ministry request I sent off last night. I normally would have got it at home but I had to be here painfully early for Weiss's meeting. Hermes knows to come straight to me with something important." Percy opened his desk draw to find a small box of owl treats he kept for such an occasion. He let Hermes take his own pick and with a happy hoot the bird flew off his shoulder and out of the office. The smile remained on his face as he watched Audrey's hand slap the table as she pulled herself up. Diligently smoothing her coat, she took her seat once more, sitting as poised as possible.
"So, Mr. Weasley, what does the response say?" she inquired casually. Percy kept himself from laughing, figuring her admittance to her fear and the bruises on her knees were enough indignities to suffer for the incident. Percy pulled out the letter, gazing through it quickly as the affirmative response to his request was simply a business formality. However, as his eyes skimmed down the page, he realized it was not the regular admission he was accustomed to. It took him a few more read-throughs for him to grasp the stated content, but even then, he was not able to accept what it had said.
"This is impossible!" he cried, slapping the parchment down on his desk and turning quickly to his bookcase.
"What's impossible?" Audrey asked hesitantly as she watched Percy flip frantically through a thick, leather-bound volume. Percy ignored her question as he had found his sought after page and focused all his attention at soaking in its information.
"I knew it!" he yelled loudly, throwing the book down as he swapped back to his letter, compulsively reading through it for the seventh time.
"Knew what, what is so impossible?" Audrey demanded, an edge of trepidation quivering in her voice.
"I'm being sabotaged, is all!" he replied dramatically, shoving the paper into her hand. "Slandered and black mailed for a grievance I clearly did not make." Audrey looked worried as she started carefully reading through the notice that had sent Percy into such a tailspin. Upon completing it however, her countenance dropped into an unbelieving gaze focused on her angry boss.
"This just says you filled out the storage request wrong," she said flatly, shaking her head at Percy's tantrum.
"Which is impossible!" he cried again. "I created these forms, l know them in my sleep!"
"I know you like to pride yourself on knowing all the inner workings on Ministry bureaucracy, but mistakes happen, especially now that there is a new system…"
"You don't understand," he said firmly, grabbing the Ministry guideline volume off his desk to show her the pages he was looking for early, "I literally authored over half the forms for this department under the new system, including this one. I know every detail of it and triple check the forms before I send them in. There is no way I made a mistake."
"Oh," Audrey said quietly, looking down at the guideline book. "Then what do you suppose has happened?" Percy braced himself on the desk, thinking hard about the processes the form had to go through to discover his roadblock.
"Wickham," he said finally, pounding his hand against the desk. "The form has to go through John Wickham at the Co-op office and that arse has always had it out for me, not to mention he holds school boy grudges against Gryffindors, and stopping me would help out a fellow Hufflepuff. I hate that fat perverted nepotistic son of a…"
"John Wickham you say?" Audrey asked, biting in her lip as she soaked in the information. "We really need the form to go through to get access today?"
"Yes of course we need it! Haven't you been listening? I have to…" Audrey took her hand and pushed on Percy's shoulder, causing him to sit back down in his chair.
"You have to sit down, relax, and let me handle it. I have an idea," she said calmly.
"Relax!?! I'm finally ahead of the game and my chances are being ruined by a bloated Anteater and you want me to relax?" he demanded.
"Yes," she said simply, scooping her bag off the floor and settling down in the small table in the corner. "Have one of my cookies, it will make you feel better."
"Plus it will fatten you up a bit. I've often been surprised that your stick figure can hold up such a big head, and I worry for your safety lest you finally tip over," a joking voice called from the door frame. George walked in with a grin plastered to his face, recognizing the classic signs of an over-exasperated Percy.
"George!" Percy called out in surprise. His younger brother had never come to visit him at work. "What are you doing here?"
"You know, you said that like you caught me wandering the corridors after curfew," George answered with mock indignity. "I'm hurt. Can't a bloke come around to visit his favorite older brother without suffering such cruelty?"
"What do you want George? I'm having a rough day, and I'm really not in the mood for games," Percy replied, though with a softer inflection.
"Fair enough," George grinned. "I need help with some paperwork. They changed some of the tax sheets and it's all so baffling."
"Really? I thought they changed the system so it'd be easier, more streamline," Percy said, holding his hand out to take George's file.
"It may be, I haven't actually looked at it," George admitted. Percy let out an exasperated sigh and shot his brother a look very much like their mother's. George laughed.
"Oh come off it. This stuff drives me mad and you probably already know everything I need to do off the top of your head. And don't act like you don't love me coming here and asking for your help because I know you do." Percy smiled a bit at this admittance but shook his head.
"I really can't right now, George. Honest I'd love to help but…"
"Shhh, no buts!" Audrey decreed, twisting down her lipstick tube and returning it to her bag. While Percy and George had been talking, Audrey had touched up her appearance, fixing her hair so it hung down purposefully and reapplying her makeup.
"You can help your brother while I go take care of our work problem. It'll take you five minutes, will make you feel better, and George will be even more grateful towards you then he already is."
"It's quite the all around win if you think about it," George agreed.
"It's not that I don't want to help him, I just don't see what you think you can do…" Percy's words were halted by a piece of snickerdoodle flying gently into his mouth. Audrey stood with her wand out, still pointing at his face after successfully delivering the cookie.
"Enjoy my baking, help your brother, relax. I'll be back in a jiffy." Audrey flashed the brothers a smile before flouncing out the door. George turned to watch her leave, impressed at how quickly and comically she had taken control of the situation, and then returned to watch his brother dislodge the treat that silenced him.
"You know, I would be kind of irked that she threw a cookie at me if it wasn't so good," Percy finally said after a few moments of chewing and swallowing. George laughed as he kicked back in his chair, throwing his arms back behind his head in ease. Assenting, Percy grabbed the files and started sorting through them.
"So, do you actually want me to show you how to file these correctly, or are you just going to hassle me into doing any of the store's paperwork that needs to go through the Ministry?" Percy asked light heartedly as he shuffled between receipts and the tax forms.
"I know how much you enjoy this type of thing. What kind of brother would I be if I denied you such pleasure?"
Percy grinned and shook his head at George's comment, tossing the first sheet in his direction as he worked on the second.
"All you need to do is sign. I put big 'X's down where needed so you didn't have to strain yourself reading."
"Ah Percy, I knew you loved me." George then reached out across the desk to grab a cookie out of the plastic bag. With quick and surprising reflexes, Percy slapped at George's hand, knocking it away without looking up from his work. A bit stunned, George looked over and saw Percy trying to hold back a smile.
"You hit like a girl," George commented, reaching again for the bag of sweets.
"Don't let Ginny hear you say that," Percy shot back, grabbing the cookies just out of George's reach.
"I warn you, Percival, I've been coming out with new and soluble lines for Skiving Snackboxes- little dissolvable tablets you can carry around a put in a drink. I haven't quite gotten all the kinks out of it yet, but wasn't it you who always went about saying practice makes perfect?"
Percy mulled over George's threat before extending his arm out with the bag in hand.
"Thank you," George said, reaching out. Once more Percy jerked the cookies back before George could get a hold on them, but pushed the bag his direction before George could retaliate. They caught another's eyes, each laughing softly, before they went about their own businesses of eating and working.
"Got it!" a singing voice called out from the door frame. Audrey slid in, one arm crossed over her chest while the other held a sheet of paper.
"You did?" Percy exclaimed, jumping from his chair. Audrey nodded her head emphatically and gave him the form. Percy read through it quickly, jumping inwardly at seeing he had been granted access. The day had been saved.
"This is brilliant!" Percy moved towards her quickly, nearly jumping over his desk. Audrey laughed giddily as he picked her up and spun, releasing her only after giving her a deep hug. They continued to hold one another's arms after they broke apart.
"How'd you manage to reserve access after all?" Audrey hesitated, tucking a lock behind her ear.
"I simply explained that we needed it, apologized for any mix up, and very nicely asked if he could please just over look the mess because we would be very grateful and willing to someday return the favor," she explained.
"Really, that's it?" Percy asked, cocking his head and knitting his eyebrows together. "Nearly everyone I know who has had to deal with him talks about how hard he is to work with; it's hard to believe he'd be so easy."
Audrey shrugged.
"People can be reasoned with, you just have to give a little," she stated factually. And then she shrugged off the coat no longer securely buttoned or tied together. A tight black and red laced bustier coupled with a short pleated skirt was revealed. Percy felt his mouth open slightly at the sight. Paired with the cutting knee high boots the outfit was quite… alluring. Having only ever seen her in loose fitted cotton tops, slacks or peasant skirts, he had never quite appreciated how curvy she was. As the mystery of why she had gone all morning covered tightly in her trench coat was revealed so unannounced, Percy was vaguely aware of how shocked he appeared.
"Yes boys, these are my breasts," she laughed. "Don't act like you've never seen a pair." Percy came to himself quickly, realizing that George too had been gawking, only he looked more amused and entertained than shocked.
"Wow," George said loudly, grabbing the finished forms and placing them in his file. "If I had known this was the dress code here I would have listened a bit more closely to Mum and gotten a Ministry job." He gave Percy a quick wink before waving good bye to them both and heading out the door. Percy called out a farewell before returning to his seat. Still a bit flabbergasted, he twisted around in his chair, wanting both to look at her and remain professional.
"You look so shocked," she commented playfully, walking over to his side of the desk. Percy paused for a few moments before replying.
"I just never realized you were such a vixen." He sent her a sly smile, causing her to laugh out at his statement.
"A vixen? Really?"
"Yes. Don't get me wrong, I fully endorse and appreciate you using your feminine wiles to push through the bureaucracy; I just didn't think it was possible for someone to willingly try and seduce Wickham." Audrey's mouth dropped open indignantly.
"I did not try to seduce him," she replied with a slight tone of laughter. "I merely walked over and asked him a favor."
"Without the coat on, I'm presuming," he retorted.
"Yes, I was wearing my club outfit. But it's not like I walked in there, did a strip tease and offered myself for T-90 form. I just put my body out there," she explained, and then in a more hushed and teasing tone, she whispered,
"It was up to him to think whatever he wished of it." She leaned in close, her arm bracing herself against the table. Her umber hair fell lightly across her shoulders as she tilted up her head. Her eyebrows arched and her full lips smiled surreptitiously. Percy felt heat rush to his face as she leaned in closer, and tried to shake his head to pull himself out of it.
"You shouldn't say things like that to men when you look like…well, it really isn't fair," he muttered.
"Why Mr. Weasley, are you blushing?" she asked in the same sultry tone. Indeed, at this statement he felt himself flush harder, and it took every last ounce of strength for him to compose himself.
"Just put those away before someone gets hurt," he laughed, turning away. Audrey stood with a smile, placing her hand on her hips and shrugging her shoulders up into her luscious hair.
"Anything you say. You're the boss."
Percy let out a deep sigh at this comment and buried his face in his hands. Audrey clapped and started to double over in laughter. She grabbed her coat off her seat and wrapped it around her body fully before tucking herself into the arm chair.
"I'm sorry!" she spurted out between fits of laughter. Percy moved his hands from his face and into his hair, causing it to spike lightly with frustration.
"It's not funny," he said clearly, smiling none the less. Audrey tried biting her lip to mute the laughter, but was unsuccessful.
"It's a little funny," she egged on, using her thumb and index finger to measure out the small amount.
"I'm serious. You could have given that man a heart attack." This clearly was the wrong thing to say to get her to stop, as the image of the detested man going into arrest over Audrey's ruse was enough to cause him to laugh right alongside her.
"I know it isn't the proper thing to have done," she admitted, wiping a tear away from her eye, "but it is ridiculously fun. And I promise you I only use my power for good and the occasional free drink."
"Well that's reassuring, and I thank you on behalf of my sex that you contain yourself."
"Oh don't worry, even when I do stoop low enough to use sex appeal to get something I want, I don't lay it on nearly as thick as I just did. I'm far more subtle than that."
Far more subtle. The exact words Cordelia had used about her this morning coming from Audrey's own mouth. It was a sobering thought that pulled him out of the playful atmosphere. Fortunately by now he really was over the things Cordelia has said to bother him. Audrey was something nice he had in his life and he was tired of having his paranoia ruin his relationships as it had done in the past. As the two settled into work, unwrapping and sorting through the other items on his desk, he counted himself lucky that in spite of past mistakes he was still more or less on track with his life, both professionally and socially. He felt more determined than ever to keep himself in the right direction and enjoy what he had in his life.
And he felt he could have been successful at this if it weren't for the image of Audrey's sexy pose filtering into his thoughts as he tried to work. He found himself wondering how soft her skin felt and the different ways he could test that. His hands twitched at the thought of themselves slowly traveling up her outer thigh and disappearing into the folds of her skirt. The bare base of her neck seemed to call out to him, and he wanted to taste the salt of her skin as they pressed their bodies together. Most of all, he wanted to hear her say his name again in that hushed and lustful tone, and the desire alone was enough to make his ears burn.
A stirring sound from his side was enough to pull him away from his thoughts. During the lull of activity the lack of sleep seemed to once again catch up to her, and Audrey had moved to tuck her legs into her lobby-stolen arm chair, and curled up into a more comfortable position. She looked innocent enough with her eyes closed that he began to feel guilty about his lustful thoughts, and the moan that escaped her throat as she buried her head into the side of the chair didn't help.
"Hey," she said sleepily, giving him a sweet smile, "you think I could convince you to let me go home early so I could get some sleep?"
"I could think of a few ways to be convinced," he said internally.
"I see no harm in that," he replied outwardly. "You may go home now if you wish." Audrey yawned and stretched.
"Nah, I better stick around a bit longer in case you need me," she teased. Percy nodded.
"Alright, well why don't we take this to storage and sort it out, and you can see how you feel after that," he suggested. Audrey popped out of her seat and stretched again. She walked around the desk to start putting the objects in easy to carry piles as Percy got the paper work in order.
"Ooops!" she cried. Percy turned to watch several of the bottles of Glaze roll towards him as they slipped from Audrey's grasp. He jerked away in enough time to avoid one of the heavy objects from crashing on his foot as they fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry! I just didn't have a good grip on them and they're so heavy!" she apologized, moving to rush to his side of the table to pick the bottles up.
"Don't worry about it, I got it," he assured, grabbing the couple vials that had fallen to the floor.
"I'm just still a little out of it today, slow reaction time," she said.
"I understand. Why don't I just carry all the stuff back," he suggested, dumping the Glaze unceremoniously into the box. "In fact, let's do this. Wingardium Leviosa!" With his wand pointed at the parcels on his desk they began to levitate into the air, waiting patiently for further guidance.
"See, now no one has to carry them," he grinned. Audrey grabbed her bag and smiled, and the two of them made it out of the office down the narrow corridor. As they got closer to the storage compartments he wondered why he didn't think of using the charm in the first place instead of having had carried them half way through the Ministry like he had done earlier that morning. He was still in contemplation over this as they rounded the corner when the load of parcels crashed into another stack of floating objects controlled by a man with wand in one hand, and the arm of Mundungus Fletcher in the other.
"Watch it then!" Dung yelled, struggling to get out of his captor's strong hold, "what's wiv you trying to ruin all me stuff, eh?" The man holding his arm laughed.
"So it is your stuff then? Didn't you just spend the last hour trying to convince me you didn't know how all these highly suspicious artifacts came into your person?" he asked. Dung cursed angrily, kicking at the mixed parcels as Percy and Audrey went to sort through them.
"I oughta wrangle you for this Weasley!" Dung cried. The broad man holding his arm shook him hard before pushing him to his knees.
"Why don't you stop threatening and help Mr. Weasley and the young lady out? Then maybe I can convince your prosecutors to let you pay a massive fine for breaking your parole instead of serving a few years in Azkaban, based off good behavior," the man said severely. Dung grumbled and reached across to help sort the mess.
"Ouch!" Audrey cried a few moments later, reactively bringing her finger into her mouth. The three men paused from their sorting to watch her, and Percy noticed a near invisible shard of glass sticking out of one of Dung's packages, dripping with a stream of blood.
"You alright?" Percy asked, gently grabbing her wrist in order to take a closer look at her finger. The cut was fairly deep and blood continued to flow out from it. Audrey pulled her hand back, cradling her wound.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. But I think maybe I should just leave, I'm starting to sense a pattern and who knows what other mess I'll make if I don't lie down."
"Get some rest," he agreed, climbing to his feet and stretching out his arm to help her up. Holding her finger gently in her hand she scooped her fallen items into her bag and smiled.
"Thanks. You still picking me up tomorrow night for the Ball?" she asked.
"Of course. I'll be there at 8pm sharp," he replied with a smile.
"Oh, you might want to get there a bit earlier to avoid Mrs. Ainsley," she suggested as she started making her way down the hall.
"7:30 it is," he shouted down to her, giving her a wave goodbye before returning to his mess.
"Sorry about running into you there, Perce. I was a little preoccupied with the scum bag," the broad shouldered man said friendly, motioning over to the still scrambling Dung.
"I heard that, ya gorilla git," Dung muttered as he picked up all of his stolen items and left Percy's on the floor.
"No problem, Seeley. Good luck with your incarceration!" Percy replied as they shook hands, ignoring Dung's mutterings. Seeley gave a friendly smile before roughly grabbing the thief buy the nape of his neck and dragging him down the hall, muttering threats in Dung's ears of what would happen to him if he tried anything fishy. Percy shook his head, now finding himself alone with his parcels. He took a few moments to reflect upon the day he had, from the early morning treat of finding himself in the lead in the competition and feeling secure in his work place, to Cordelia's taunts and his total melt down, over to picking himself back up and reaffirming his faith in Audrey's character, the playful brotherly moment he shared with George, and his lustful fantasies he knew were inappropriate and deciding he didn't care. Yes, it had already been a long day. Upon glancing at his watch and seeing it was time for lunch, he toyed with the idea that maybe for once he too should leave early, seeing as how stressful and extensive the day had already been. Laughing at his joke, he reached down to pick up his pile, feeling it would be very lazy of him to use magic when the door was just a few meters down the hall.
"Funny," he thought as he shifted the parcels about easily in his hold, "I remember these boxes being much heavier."
(A/N: Thanks for braving through the few days between chapters. My grammar can always stray a bit so I have my best friend Blair read through it for me, and as much as she loves my story she too has a life. I know I have been teasing you guys on and on about Audrey but a lot will be answered in the next few chapters. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and I'll try to update soon, but odds are it will be another long chapter.)
