Yah! I've gotten another chapter done! I'm hoping to churn out another one this week. I'm afraid I haven't made drunken Percy as cheerful as I originally planned, but he just wouldn't let me…Anywho, I want to thank all you guys:

JustAudrey07

Avanell

Baying-for-the-Moon

Emily

nicole

meggiemoon

The Whimsical Fairy

For reviewing so far. Comments really help me to go on with this sort of thing.

Anyway, I really don't own the Harry Potter series. J.K Rowling wrote it…the lucky woman.


Audrey sat at the table, staring at Percy's body laying in front of her. Neville and Hannah stood to the other side, possibly whether she would be leaving any time soon. Audrey sighed. Despite the fact that her busy brain had never failed to coming forth with wild ideas, she had to admit that many of them simply wouldn't work. She had wanted to transfigure him into a dog and have him sniff his way home, but Transfiguration was her worst subject, so she supposed that wasn't the best plan. But then again…Audrey's eyes sparkled.

"Well that's an idea." She muttered to herself. Hannah looked concerned.

"Audrey what do you—"

"Hey Neville." Audrey interrupted. "Can I borrow your owl?" He opened his mouth, "And some parchment, and some ink, and a quill?" She adding thoughtfully before he could even answer.

Moments later Audrey followed Neville's owl Flutterby out the door, and gently levitated Percy to float behind her.

"I do like her." Hannah said after she had gone. "But I have to admit she's odder then marmalade Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans."

Audrey ducked into an alleyway racing after the small grey owl, narrowly missing slamming Percy's head into a wall. She chuckled at her idea. She had written Percy a letter, attached it to Flutterby's leg and had promptly began to follow him to Percy's address. She specifically addressed the letter, Percy Weasley's Flat and left the rest up to owl wisdom.

After twists and turns through various alleyways and all manners of buildings Audrey screeched into a stop in front of short, squat, faded red brick building. Flutterby flew up to the third floor window at the corner and began hooting mournfully, tapping at the glass. Audrey maneuvered Percy through the door, up the stairs, and up to the door she expected was his. After trying alohomora, Audrey accioed the keys out of Percy's pocket and unlocked the door manually.

She lowered his body onto the couch and leaned over him. "Enervate." She whispered, with a wave of her wand. Blue eyes met blue eyes as Percy awoke. He sat up slowly, grasping Audrey's arm for support. She ended up behind the couch looking down at him. He blinked a couple of times.

"Wha—what?" He looked around blearily, and then grinned weakly. "Audrey." He reached out and ran his hand through her hair. "I was waiting for you." He told her softly. Audrey shivered, for reasons unbeknownst to her.

"Really? How come?" She asked slowly. He chuckled, deeply. Audrey froze for a moment, wishing that she could hear him laugh like that without the influence of the drink.

"Because you're Audrey." He said as if it was obvious why he was waiting for her.

"Yes…I'm Audrey." She said, not really sure how to respond and the tone he said her name in was overwhelming. Who did he think she was? "But who is Audrey?" She wondered aloud. She leaned forward and frowned.

Percy sat up with some difficulty and scratched the back of his neck.

"Hmmm…intelligent, but strangely slow sometimes, annoying, but undeniably cute, wild in the loveliest way, comforting and a grievance all at once." He said unblinkingly. His eyes were slightly glazed over, and he looked uncharacteristically relaxed, but other then that he seemed completely serious. Before Audrey could decide whether that was a compliment or an insult he leaned backwards so his face was right beneath hers. "Your turn." He said calmly.

"Huh?" Audrey moved away from him slightly. His behavior was unnerving.

"Your turn." He repeated. "Tell me, who is Percy Weasley?" Audrey flushed, the way he was looking at her—she silently promised herself she was never going to let him near the fire whiskey ever again.

"Err, a rather nice bloke?" She stumbled.

"Don't ask me silly." He laughed again. "I was asking you." He touched the side of her face and laughed again. "Really, you are cute…" Audrey jerked away.

"Drunk men always say that about me." She stammered. "Ah!" She raised her hand into the air. "That's right, you're drunk! I'll go make you some tea." She scurried into his kitchen and bean clanging pots and bans in a way that had nothing to so with making tea. The noise clamed her though.

"You still haven't answered my question." Percy called from the couch. Audrey paused.

"I'll think about it while I make the tea." She said after a moment, and then went back to the clanging. She came back with a cup of strong black tea, no milk or sugar. She handed it to him and sat down wearily. He pouted.

"There's no sugar." She bit her lip.

"So you're a sweet tooth…" Percy nodded enthusiastically.

"I have a bit of an obsession with sugar…oh well though, if you made it…" He took a couple sips and then grinned. "Delicious! I've never been able to get black tea down you know." Audrey sighed.

"Percy you're killing me, why don't you go to sleep already?" Percy rose an eyebrow.

"Why don't you answer my question?"

"Fine! But then you have to promise you'll go to sleep, or I'll stun you and leave you lying on the living room floor."

"Alright sweet, I promise." She thought for a moment then nodded to herself. She stood up and stared pointedly at the ceiling.

"You're perhaps the best person I've ever meet to tease, because even if you get cross, you don't really treat me badly. You're a bit of a gentlemen actually—when you're not to busy being pompous, but overall you're a understanding bloke really…But I've never meet a guy as motherly as you either—there's nothing wrong with that! I kind of like it in fact, but it still a big, weird part of who you are. You do obsess about your work, and become way too uptight about some things, which does tick me off, but I get that it's mostly cause responsibility lays a heavy weight on you…" She thought about it for a moment and smiled. "And you're a family man through and though. It's amazing how much you support them so much." Percy turned red and winced. He lay back on the couch and stuffed a pillow in front of his face.

"I'm glad you think well of me—"

"Of course I do!" Audrey interrupted, then put her hands in front of her mouth. "Never mind, continue." Percy peeked out from behind the pillow, a sad sort of smirk visible on his face.

"But you don't really know me at all." He finished.

Audrey stared. What did he mean by that? "I know we haven't known each other for very long…but I think we've got to know each other fairly well." She said, somewhat indignantly. Percy shook his head.

"You only think we have, but in fact I'm as much a mystery to you, as you are to me."

"I do know you're awfully stubborn and confusing." She muttered grumpily. She was beginning to see that he was right though. Thinking over what she knew about him, she kept pulling up blanks, perhaps they weren't as good friends as she thought they had been…she had a sudden urge to learn everything about him. "Alright then." She conceded. "I don't know anything about you, why don't you fill me in?"

"…I thought I was supposed to go to sleep?" Percy teased. Audrey frowned.

"After this then, I just want you to tell me a little bit about yourself." There was a moment of silence, then…

"Sure," Percy agreed. "But you have to come sit over here, I am a bit," He yawned. "Sleepy." Audrey nodded and he moved over as she sat down next to him. Then he leaned back slowly, propped up against her side. Audrey couldn't move. Percy kept the pillow mostly over his face as he began to talk.

"You know, I've always had problems interacting with people. I didn't make friends very easily with the boys in my year, I didn't date as much as the boys in my year…" Audrey readjusted herself slightly, what did he mean, he wasn't a social outcast like she was, he could talk to people alright, couldn't he? He seemed to guess what she was thinking.

"Well yeah, I could have had more friends if I had made an effort, but that would have involved making up a lot of crap about myself, or pretending to be interested in things that only bored me to death. Meanwhile, the things I was into were about as stimulating as a History of Magic lesson to others." Audrey nodded, he was an old soul. "As for the whole dating thing, I only started becoming interested in girls in fourth year. And then Penny was lovely for a while, but she hung on too tightly when I was trying to let go…my usual way of making a mess of things." Audrey frowned, Penelope Clearwater was a little too much the center of attention for Audrey's taste in friends, so she'd never really spoken much with her.

"Not that I didn't have a good life or anything. My parents loved me, and were proud about grades and strive for perfection…But I've always sort of wished I turned out more like my older brothers. Quidditch is a big thing in my family, and I'm probably the worse flyer out of all of us. You should have seen the look on Ginny's face when he was made Quidditch Captain, and she was so young too. And there a was a time he when he could console my mother no matter how upset she got, of course, that's passed by now, but he's still has the most luck at claming her down. And then Bill's always gotten away with everything—I suppose it could come from being the firstborn, but he's been the charismatic type for as long as I can remember. And Ron. He's not a genius or anything, but the kid's got a heart the size of the moon, and the courage to match it, especially when protecting his friends. Ginny's the fiery, nearly unpredictable one, though she'll always be our little girl. I don't think she's ever let anything get in the way of what she wanted, and she approaches everything with such passion that I…" Percy huffed. "But I love them, I daresay I love them more then almost anything, and if only I hadn't been so stubborn, they would know that…and Fred…"

"What was your relationship like with George and Fred?" She asked softly.

"They were brilliant you know. Absolutely spectacular. Jealousy doesn't even halfway cover how I felt towards them. While they could diffuse the tension with a couple of words, I was always the one creating it, or awkwardly making things worse. That was part of the reason I left you know, I thought they'd all be better off without me. Except for mum. I'll never forgive myself for treating her like that."

"But jealousy either induces love or hate. And I know you didn't—don't hate them Percy. It's not in your nature to be able to hate any one in your family." Audrey reasoned.

Percy snorted. "You obviously think to high of me." He said dryly. "Aunt Muriel's never been that well loved by any of us." Audrey quirked a small smile, she'd heard rumors about said Aunt. "But you're right. If there's anyone that I've ever wanted to make laugh, it would be those two."

"I'll lend you some jokes." Audrey muttered quite seriously.

"Thanks, but it's a bit late for that. Fred's…gone, and all because of me." Audrey swore she heard sniffling beneath the pillow.

"Idiot. Fred's death has got nothing to do with you."

"No. I just as good as killed him. He was right next to me, and I put him off guard by attempting to tell a joke, and then he was gone…forever."

"Pardon me if I'm being bold, but it sounds to me if you actually did make him laugh. Course, the timing wasn't the best, but at least he died with a smile on his face, and really, would Fred want it any other way?"

Audrey froze, the pillow was shaking. "Sorry, sorry!" She said hurriedly. "I'm being a prat, I'll just leave now!" She attempted to get up, but she suddenly felt Percy's hand in hers. The pillow was flung to the floor and Audrey stared at the man in front of her.

He was laughing and crying all at once, his red curls sticking out at awkward angles, his glasses perched crookedly on his nose. "Don't leave." He managed to choke out. "You just reminded me…that's almost exactly what George told me back then. He turned from the coffin and said to me, 'He's smiling Perce, couldn't have done it better myself." Audrey collapsed in laughter, even though she didn't think that was very funny, and tears, because her words were caught in her throat. She wrapped her arms around him, and they cried, and they laughed, until he was almost asleep.

Audrey conjured up and colorful quilt and tucked him in dutifully. She took his glasses and placed them on the table. "Good night Percy." She mumbled, kissing his forehead.

"Good night Audrey." He whispered. Through mostly shut eyes he watched her walk towards the door. "Please don't leave me." He said in a louder tone. "Anything but that…" Audrey smirked.

"Anything?" She asked. Sitting on the red cushioned chair, making herself comfortable. Percy nodded, closing his eyes with a yawn. "I'll get to cook you breakfast then?" Percy nodded again.

"Of course sweet, I'd love to," Yawn. "Try your cooking." Yawn.

"Go to sleep." She chided. As he drifted off she sighed. This night had made her feel more like a therapist then a friend, but she was so glad she got to learn more about him. And she chose to stay. He asked her to stay, and she did. That had to count for something, didn't it?

Early next morning she woke with an uncomfortable crick in her neck. "That's the last time I'm falling asleep on a chair." She muttered to herself. She looked around the room, getting adjusted to the fact she wasn't at home, and her Graymalkin the cat wasn't going to come say good morning to her.

Still, she couldn't help but smile as she took in her surroundings. The flat was so…Percy that she couldn't help but automatically feel comfortable in it. She got up, yawned and stretched before moving towards the window. The morning light streaming through the brown curtains strew beer bottle light across the walls. Audrey pulled the wand from the knot in her hair, and it tumbled down around her. "That's better." She opened the curtains with a flick of her wand, turning to Percy carefully. He was still slumped over on the couch, his arm resting protectively on top of his face, a gentle snore sounding from him.

She walked over to him and waved a hand in front of his face. "Percy…" She whispered lightly. Still no movement. She grinned, confident that nothing would walk him now. She glanced around the room, fining what she was looking for on the inside of an open door. Audrey strode towards it and examined herself carefully in the full sized mirror. Her eyes were puffy and pink, and her new red robes (courtesy of Katie) were oddly rumpled and her hair was even wilder then usual. What a mess. Audrey considered leaving her appearance the way it was, but she was a guest at someone else's house, and it would be a rather rude awakening for Percy to see her like this first thing in the morning. She waved her wand across her face, muttering all the way and managed to remove the red and puffiness. She conjured up a brush, and tugged it through her hair, before straightening her robes carefully. Then she peered into the room behind her. A small bed, covered with a warm woolen blanket was shoved in the corner next to the window. Pictures of family members covered the walls, and piles of miscellaneous books covered the floor. Audrey felt a sudden surge of affection for the messiness of the room, and the entire apartment really, and decided it was high time she started to make breakfast.

She marched into the kitchen and looked over what she had to work with. The chipped empty teacup still sat on the table from last night the jar of sugar Audrey hadn't been able to find sitting mischievously beside it. He was a sweet tooth, she reminded herself. She looked in the cabinet—eggs? Check. Milk? Check. Flour? Check. She knew what she was going to make for breakfast. After and wild clashing of pots and pans that made her wonder for a moment if Percy could have died in his sleep, she had breakfast sitting warmly on two plates. She took the sugar and poured liberal amounts on each stack. She liked some excess batter from her sleeves and wondered if she should wake Percy up, or what until he tumbled off the couch on his own accord. The piles of paper strewn across the setting room floor with the bright red corrections carefully inked around the margins was what brought her back to focus. A cold metal watch tickled steadily from her rest. Audrey read the time. They would have to get to work in a couple of hours. She couldn't believe how happy it made her to say they.

She scrubbed the pan clean, poured herself a mug of milk, set the water to boil for tea, and began searching the cabinets again after a thoughtful moment. All the way in the back corner of the lowest cabinet she found what she was looking for. She blew the dust off the label and sneezed. Pre-Brewed Hangover Potion it read. She frowned, it looked like it had come from a set of twelve, why would Percy need so many? Oh well, at least it didn't seem like he had needed it recently. Checking the expiration date one last time, she set it next to Percy's plate and bounced into the setting room to wake him.

"Sleepy heads don't get breakfast!" She yelled loudly into his ear. Percy practically fell off the couch.

"Uh…" He groaned. "Who turned on the lights?"

"The sun's not going to stay down just because you were stupid and drank too much." Audrey informed him. Percy looked up at her blearily.

"Audrey?" He said after a moment. He squinted.

"Oh wait!" She cried. He winced and held his head in his hands. Audrey threw his glasses at him. They bounced off his head.

"Careful, they could break." He reprimanded quietly. He felt around until he found them, then picked them up and put them on. He narrowed his eyes at her. Why was his vision still all blurry?

"I made breakfast like I promised!" Audrey announced cheerfully. Percy stared, and then stood up, stumbling into the kitchen and ignoring her. Audrey blinked. "What are you looking for Perce?"

Percy teetered dangerously and knocked into one of the plates Audrey had carefully step up on the table. "Bloody hell!" Percy cursed as pieces of food and china flew everywhere. Audrey watched quietly as he stepped over the breakfast she had worked so hard on, now dismantled.

"What are you looking for?" She repeated soberly.

"…My hangover potion." Percy admitted after a minute. He was still squinting. "I should still have one left." He muttered as he searched through a cabinet. Audrey stared sadly at the broken plate then walked over to him.

"Sit down." She ordered coldly. Percy registered the tone of her voice and sat without questioning her. She pushed what was supposed to be her plate of food over to him, and shoved the already taken out hangover potion into his hands. "Drink." Percy drank it down in three gulps, the room seemed clearer and his brain stopped beating against his skull, though his heart still continued noisily.

Audrey bent over the floor, muttering repario, and picking up the bits of food that couldn't be saved.

"I'll help you with—" Percy began.

"You've helped enough." Audrey cut him off. Percy looked back and forth between the breakfast and her. After the floor was cleaned up Audrey let out a loud sigh and slouched down in the chair next to him. Percy winced, readying himself for the worst, but all he got was a concerned look. "Why do you have such a big pack of hangover potions?" She asked him worriedly. "And why are most of them finished already?" Relaxed understanding spread through Percy at last.

"Oh. Don't worry about that. I'm not an alcoholic or anything." Audrey brightened considerably.

"Then why…?" She trailed off. Percy had taken a bit of the pancakes in front of him, and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Did you say you made these Audrey?" He asked cheerfully. "They're delightful!" Audrey was torn between interrogating him further, and being pleased he liked her cooking so much. She went with both.

"Thanks, I'm glad you like it. But why did you have those potions though?" Percy sighed and put down his knife and fork to look up at her.

"Well, if you must know, George had a bit of trouble with drinking last year." He admitted. Audrey raised an eyebrow.

"George?" She reckoned his alcohol tolerance would be pretty high, but he didn't seem like the type to test it.

"Yes. George. He was drinking an awful lot after Fred—after the final battle, and though I eventually got him to gradually cut down, at one point offering hangover potions was all I could do to help." Oh, that explained a lot.

"Yeah. I could see how that would happen." Audrey said. "It's good you were there for him then." Percy had been about to take another bit of pancake, but at this he hung his head and stared at the table.

"No. Not really if I hadn't been such a—"

"Now, now!" Audrey interrupted. "Don't you start again. I had thought we had gotten you out of this last night." Percy looked up at her and blinked.

"Last night? What do you mean?" Audrey felt a chill run down her spine.

"You know, last night. When we were talking about, feeling different then everyone else, being jealous of your brothers, and Fred's death and how you blamed yourself for it, but I said—"

"Stop!" Percy stood up and turned bright red. Audrey stared at him.

"What?" She was shocked at his reaction. She had thought they had made some progress last night, if even a little…

"I don't know what you've been listening to, but it's none of your business." Percy said hotly. Audrey's eyes widened.

"Really?" She said softly.

"Yes, and I don't know what you're doing in my flat, but I'd bloody well appreciate it if you stopped trying to tick me off all the time!" Audrey didn't know whether to laugh or hit him.

"I haven't done anything wrong. In fact, I think I've been rather nice since—"

"Nice? Nice? You call showing up at my job, being a nuisance while I'm trying to work, making me feel like an arse all the time, nice?" Audrey pouted.

"Well, I'm glad I make you feel like an arse, cause you're sure acting like one at the moment. And I'm sorry if I've been a bother but—"

"Really Audrey, that's all you've ever been! A clingy, noisy bother, that won't shut up!" That stung.

"Percy, I understand if you're still upset about Fred, and I don't want to—"

"Don't talk about him to me!" Percy yelled. "Get out of my house." His words were liked ice.

"If you didn't want me to mention him you shouldn't have poured your soul into me and made me empathetic!" She yelled at him. And then in a smaller voice, as she rushed out of the door with an angry blush running across her cheeks, " And if you thought I was only a bother you shouldn't have told me I was cute and asked me to stay, even if you were drunk." With that she slammed the door and rushed outside.


Percy


Percy slumped into his chair and as the delicious sugar covered pancakes glared up at him. What had happened last night? He honestly couldn't remember a thing. Something about a party, the Leaky Cauldron and yelling at a Syltherin. A weak, but irritated tap was heard from the window. Percy crossed the room and opened it quickly.

An exhausted looking Flutterby stuck his leg out to Percy before falling over onto the rug. Percy picked up the owl, recognized it as Neville's and opened the letter.

Percy,

Don't get drunk and start fights that much or I'll have to come and rescue you again. I've noticed that you've been a little off lately, well you're always a little off hee hee…Seriously though, if you're having any problems don't hesitate to come to me. I'm a pretty good listener, and I'd love to help you out with whatever you're going though. Isn't that what friends are for? I'm going to follow Flutterby to your house by the way, isn't that an ingenious way of finding out where you live? Looking forward to seeing what your flat looks like!

Yours truly,

Audrey G.

Percy glanced around the flat. There was an Audrey sized imprint on his red chair, pancake batter on the kitchen ceiling, a footprint on one of his papers, and the partially eaten breakfast sitting on the table. Percy fell onto the couch and fingered the colorful quilt he'd never seen before between his fingers. A teeny stitched eagle looked dubiously up at him. Percy smiled at the sneaked Ravenclaw emblem, and then frowned, deeply.

"I've really screwed it up this time." Percy groaned.


Okey dokey, the chapter's over. Did I just type okey dokey? Whoa I'm tired. Right, so please continue to review, it's really awesome that you guys are doing that. I'm hoping to start getting out chapters faster, but I don't honestly know if that's gonna happen any time soon. It's a possibility though. Anyway, in the next chapter Percy has to atone for his mistakes, while Audrey deals with a couple of problems of her own. They won't really get to see a lot of each other the next chapter—unless George has anything to say about it of course!