Title: Goodbye, Nostalgia

Author: zazial

Time Period: DH

Pairings: Percy/Audrey, many others.

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and everything connected with him. She's kind enough to let us play with her creations the way we do.

Chapter 14

It was finally morning. Getting up into a sitting position, Audrey noted that Joscelind was still asleep. It was pretty miraculous actually, thinking that all of the things that happened yesterday were already past, already owned by memory. What a yesterday it was.

Taking this opportunity of solitude, Audrey reached into her jeans pocket to pull out the lump she had felt there since awakening the night before. While she knew that Percy and the players would not harm her, that did not mean she did not appreciate an escape. She knew Arcadia's work as she held in her hand a small, soft, velvet pouch. Opening it Audrey noted the keychain that rested inside. There were four keys – which were also four portkeys to different places: one to Arcadia's apartment she was sure, another had the Puddlemere Headquarters logo set into the head, so that would take her to the office, the third key had the logo for the Falmouth Falcons on it, Arcadia's office then, and the final key looked like ordinary muggle metal, lacking the wizarding design and aesthetics of the first two. This fourth key was most likely an emergency escape to some trusted muggle location.

Audrey smiled, as she tied the bag back up and slipped it into her pocket. While she knew that everyone here would need her help, she'd have to find a way to slip away sometime to solve her own mystery. She'd have to learn how to apparate sometime, or at least the Portus spell. She after all, could not keep relying on Arcadia to bail her out. Especially now that Arcadia had that Marcus Flint to keep an eye on. Who on earth was that man? Audrey knew who all the players and reservists in each team were, and she did not recognize that name. Hells, that face would have stood out earlier. How did Arcadia know him? But that was not for her to worry about now, what she had to consider was her own fate.

She'd help this group come up with a plan, and then she'd be on her way. Audrey was sure that Percy and the rest of them would be able to take care of themselves better without her holding them back with her semi-magical competency.

Percy Weasley, what an oddity. What a family too, the Weasley's were the complete opposite of her own family it seemed, and she had no idea how to fathom growing up in a household like that. Despite the noise though, she could feel the warmth and security of them through Percy's words, or maybe it was just nostalgia playing with all of them. As she quietly left the bedroom to get to the kitchen, she pondered the dangers of romanticizing memory, turning reality into fantasy, and getting lost in nostalgia. It was nostalgia that made her think about Percy all too often. That did not make any sense though, she barely knew him, but she knew that meeting him awoke waves of past events that she thought she had shut behind her. At least however, meeting Percy and facing these memories gave her a sense of purpose; she had something to do now, to rebel, to fight and not hide. It was refreshing to have something to fight for after drifting for so many years.

She passed a sleeping Dorian, who had apparently, won the couch.

"Good morning." It was Oliver, whispering the greeting, sitting at his small table having something hot. He had obviously just woken.

Audrey smiled in response, taking a seat opposite him. She had no idea why, but from the first moment Joscelind and Dorian entered her office with Oliver in tow, she felt a protective liking towards him. That had never happened to her before, no matter how sweet the face was, but it happened with Oliver. She knew his background and knew the reality of these professional Quidditch players: good mates to party with, relatively fun to talk to, but get them into the game and they become so caught up in their wars that they'd do almost anything to win. Would Oliver try to bump off a team he particularly did not like? Of course. Would he cause injury to a rival seeker to win the next game? Most assuredly. Would he bravely try to take on a crowd of hooligans on his own? Unfortunately, the answer to that question was also a yes, and yes was also the answer to 'Would Oliver do everything he could to go up against an malevolent Ministry?' Then again, no one ever said that people had to make sense, only that one had to accept them they way that they were.

"Sleep well?" He did seem genuinely concerned.

"Very well Oliver, and thank you so much, you've been forced to provide such excellent hospitality on a very short notice."

Oliver just smirked "You always this polite in the morning? Or just in general?"

She had to laugh at that. "I'm not a polite person Oliver. I'm a lawyer remember?"

"About that, I'm sorry."

Audrey was confused, and it must have shown on her face because Oliver continued explaining himself. "I realize I was a complete bastard after you cleared me. Sorry about that, I suppose I was worked up over the trial and, I guess I've always been irrationally idealistic." She felt the smile on her face.

"You saw Flint and I yesterday, well that goes back to our days at Hogwarts. He was damn good at cheating, but my team tended to defeat his anyway. I got used to that, winning just because the passion was there and it seemed right. I guess I'm too used to the world being black and white like that, and I've always wanted things to be as clear as possible. I should accept now that it's not possible all the time."

"You know Oliver, that trial frustrated me because I knew you were innocent, but all the information was being denied to me. I was angry, and I reacted the way I did because I was forced to win a trial not through factual means. Yes, I have to admit, I'm good at what I do but I'm a pretty lousy lawyer, I mean, lawyers are just supposed to win at whatever the cost. I'm not good at that. I think too much." She grinned. Let him think she was joking, she knew it was the truth. She hoped that would distract him from the question of her being on the run.

"Hope you don't mind my asking, but why are you on the run?" Apparently she failed, and Oliver never minded being as blunt as possible.

"I found out something I was not supposed to know, it involves murder, but why those particular murders should still matter is beyond me. I don't know, it has something to do with your case, but they don't seem to be after you or even watching you all that closely…just me." Audrey paused, suddenly thinking of something "I hope Percy knows better than to try to snoop for me."

Oliver only gave a wide grin at that. "He's a Weasley. He may have left his family but I know them. I played Quidditch with three of his brothers. You can bet that he'll try to help you."

A feeling of anxiousness ran through her, the last thing she needed was for Percy to be a hero over this, he had his own skin to worry about. "That's not good. He needs to concentrate on the muggle-borns, not to mention himself."

She saw Oliver's expression darken "We'll just have to do well to remind him occasionally to remember himself when we get the chance. I think that's what went wrong before, at Hogwarts and then even when he left his family. I think he forgot who he was, and got caught up in who he thought he was." The Keeper shrugged. "Not for me to judge though."

Audrey was nodding in agreement before she thought to dig. "Were you two close at Hogwarts?"

"No."

"How do you know so much about him?"

Oliver smiled, cannily this time. "What, think I fancy him?"

What a question! She was thinking too many things that made no logical sense when it came to Percy, damned if she knew why. She fixed him with her lawyer look and only asked back. "Do you?" She hoped it was obvious that she was joking.

That bastard Keeper was laughing. He was laughing so hard in fact that he was tearing and clutching his stomach in pain. Dorian must really be exhausted if this was not waking him. She decided to fix her frostiest stare at Oliver until he stopped laughing and started explaining.

Noticing her glare, Oliver forced himself to stop, though he was still grinning and couldn't stop the occasional giggle from escaping. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you, it's just that you have no idea the kind of rumors that run around a school when you've got just one roommate for seven years, and you're both madly in love with your future careers. Though I'll admit I was more in love with Quidditch to the point that there was no time for anything else, whereas Percy actually found time for a girlfriend." He paused at that, looking at her carefully before continuing.

"Look, if I did decide to…play for the other team, maybe I could do worse than Percy but truth is, it takes more than just being stuck together for seven years to build up the required rapport for a romantic relationship. For 'love' I suppose, you need that initial spark, you need to complete each other, or find yourselves being better people around that other person, balance you know? I find from watching my parents' example that the most important thing is the willingness to put the time into each other. Personally, I've always been distracted. Quidditch is very important to me, and every woman I've dated has never been able to accept that she does come in second to it. I figure, until I meet the one who can accept that, I'll just keep playing. Suits me fine."

Audrey was personally wondering why he was telling her all this. In fact, she was wondering the night before why Percy was beginning to tell her his life story but she welcomed it from him. Maybe it was just these times of stress, people needed to let things out and she came from an environment fresh from theirs.

Oliver was still chuckling. "So, why are you digging me for information on Percy?" At least he was easily amused, and did not seem to take offense at such insinuations.

Audrey summoned the pumpkin juice from the counter, needing a desperate drink to get her energy going. She knew she was turning red and was trying to figure out how to best answer his question. "I don't know honestly, just curiosity I suppose. It also just seemed odd to me that you both have almost nothing in common, and you even say that you both weren't close at school, and yet you seem to know him so well, and you also seem…very protective of him."

Oliver blinked, confused somewhat, before answering. "Audrey, remember how I got into that mess in the first place? I jumped into a crowd of hooligans." She had to grin at that. "Anyway, I find that it's a habit of mine, to know everything about the things that are going to be close to me, and then I suppose, protect them the best I can. When I began to play Quidditch, I kept tabs on all the players of each House team, made sure my own team was eating well, that they were mostly okay, even though they felt like killing me most the time for my all weather practices. Players from the other teams, I tried to keep up with developments; which captain was stupid enough to fall for his seeker, who had just gotten injured, etc. Granted the Slytherins managed to keep a lot of secrets from me, but we won at the end anyway." He concluded that with a smug grin. "When I found out my first year that I was only going to have one roommate, I decided to treat him as if he were one of the players, just to make sure that I'd be a good roommate, you know, care enough to know what not to do to piss off the other person in the room with you. It wasn't always easy, but in the later years he had Penelope to worry about, and she was quite demanding on his time so I got the room mostly to myself."

"I'll ask you about Penelope later." Audrey responded dryly "But I suppose you're right. You're just plain protective and a bit of a control freak. You're watching over him now, and now you're watching over Joscelind and Dorian. I suppose even me."

Oliver only shrugged "We're teammates after all, all United's slaves we are. And if we're really going to be some secret heroic group or whatever, that makes us into another kind of team. I have an advantage with Percy, Joscelind and Dorian in that I already know them from before but you," He clucked "The lawyers and office people were a different bunch, though now I'll need to keep my eyes open, especially on you." He either ignored or did not notice that she was not looking forward to being coddled.

"Now as for Percy, definitely need to keep an eye on him. I miss Hogwarts. I miss the peace that I had there a lot, and since we shared a lot of that peace together in the same room, there are memories tied to that school that are unique to just the both of us. In a way, I see protecting Percy as protecting my reminisces."

Nostalgia again, Audrey was beginning to feel extremely irritated at it.

"Besides, I know his brothers; Fred and George were really torn up when he left. They teased him all the time yes, but they tease everyone – bunch of troublesome wankers but a whole lot of fun they are. They figured they were doing him a favour, trying to get him to loosen up. You see, Fred told me once, that before Percy got caught up in this 'Perfect' and 'Ministry' mumbo jumbo he used to be happier, even used to joke around too. Unfortunately, they never really did make Percy laugh, and when he left, they saw it as a kind of failure. But now everyone is just angry apparently. I don't know, I guess it's just that he's a Weasley. Percy's older brother Charlie granted me the honour of being made Quidditch Captain early. Charlie was Seeker, and Captain before me. His seventh year he wanted to concentrate on his field studies on dragons and let me be Captain instead. He was a great mentor, and I'm grateful."

"Why tell me all of this?"

Now he had that smug smirk again. "I'm telling you all of this because you've been mad for Percy since my trial and I think you both need to teach each other some valuable lessons."

Audrey sat still, absorbing what Oliver had just said. Nevermind that there was no way she could be attracted to Percy, it did not make any sense. She met his statement with a steely silence.

Oliver leaned back in his seat. "Don't believe me? Fine. Ask Joscelind when she wakes up. You may kindly not want to discuss it with Dorian, though he knows. Figured it out before the rest of us."

"I think you're mistaken." 'You have to be' she thought. And damn if Dorian still has not let up on that.

"Of course you think I'm mistaken. I believe earlier, you wanted to ask me about Penelope?"

Damn him, she did want to know who Penelope was. Audrey already had a suspicion but then why should she care? People dated in school after all, she certainly did. In fact, just yesterday before seeing the face that came with the rest of the package, she was admiring Marcus Flint's body. Yes! She was not attracted to Percy, she was not. "Ex-girlfriend I'm guessing?" Damn, why did she ask?

Hiding his smile in his cup, Oliver nodded in the affirmative. Audrey sat down, looking at him expectantly. "Fred and George tell me he spent all summer writing letters to her, spent every moment he could with her, and genuinely thought he was in the throes of first love." 'First love' he had said in a theatrical dreamy fashion. The tone sounded so alien to Oliver as she knew him that she guessed it had to be imitated from the famous twins. So Percy was an old-fashioned romantic was he? Lucky for Penelope.

"They were together for three years, but of course these things don't always last. Have to try though, you never know unless you try."

"You make it a habit then? To keep up on the gossip of an ex-roomate you weren't close to just to fill in his potential future girlfriends?" Audrey asked rather dryly.

Now Oliver was finally getting irritated at her defensiveness. "What are you so paranoid about? I'm not going to harm anyone."

Audrey only looked at him with utmost calmness, making it clear that she was only trying to solve a puzzle. "What do you see yourself as Oliver?" She finally asked "Some kind of wizard-chess master? Some universal Quidditch strategist and the world is your own personal pitch to play with? I'll answer you though, because I don't see any harm in you knowing the answer to your second question; I'm not worried about you particularly, I'm just plain worried about everything in general. I worry that Percy is going to get lost in this new quest of his, from our brief discussion yesterday, I now know I have to worry about his tendency to overblow situations and his guilt trip won't help anything. Worse still I have no clue how we're going to pull this off – this…sudden mission of ours. Now apparently I need to keep an eye on you watching my every move and knowing anything about me."

Now quizzical, the Keeper asked "Why should that worry you? Professional Quidditch is one big political mess. We all keep tabs on each other. You have my file and you were my lawyer, I know you know a lot more about me than I know about you."

Audrey forced herself to reexamine her opinion of Oliver. He was after all, a budding professional, the youngest active player in the league, and had to play team politics just like the rest of them, if he wanted a long-term career in the sport. Audrey looked at Oliver in a new light, now acknowledging more than his open, honest nature, and noting his ambition and canniness when it came to his great passion. The chivalry was something naturally within him, that part that wanted to protect others, but passion for Quidditch could make him a different sort of survivor. He was a dangerous one this Oliver Wood, and she knew for a fact that everyone in United had so far been underestimating him in that respect.

Grinning at him, she only said "No wonder Arcadia wanted you. I bet she could have convinced you to put her before Quidditch on some days."

He gave Audrey a hard smile "I know. That's why I didn't touch her. I'm still young, I'm not stupid enough to let Quidditch go because of a very seductive, promiscuous woman…as stupid as I did feel at the time for not letting myself fall for her."

How did everyone on the team miss the fact that Oliver Wood was a control freak? It was difficult to see that before when he was a reservist and playing his cards right to not anger the wrong people, but she could see now that he liked planning, strategizing, and knowing everything, it was not only something he did for the sake of doing it, he enjoyed it.

"Audrey you saved my Quidditch career. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"In return, and to express my thanks. I'll help you now. I'll help you in whatever you're planning to clear your name, and I'll help you in whatever way I can with Percy. How's that?"

Audrey laughed. "Thanks Oliver, for the offer, but there's really no need. I was just doing my job." She was going to ignore what he said regarding Percy.

"Quidditch is my life Audrey. It means more to me than just a job. No worries though, I'll find a way to repay you. But for now, I think it's about time we woke the two of them up. They certainly had less of a stressful day yesterday than us and look at them! Sleeping in!" Sounding like what he must have sounded like in his school days at Quidditch Captain, and then like a kid, Oliver ran into the living room raising a ruckus and pulling a still sleeping Dorian off the couch.

"Huh? Wuzzat?"

"Morning Nox! Did you have sweet dreams?!"

"Wha? Wood?! You bloody wanker I didn't sleep most the night!"

"Liar Dorian! You're a liar! I'm the one who didn't sleep most the night because you snore like a herd of stampeding hippogriffs!"

They were sounding such chaos, yelling at each other and mock wrestling that Joscelind came marching out from the bedroom to bark orders at them (this time everyone got to hear her Captain voice) to quiet down. Really, did they all just forget that yesterday happened? Horsing around like this?

But the image of the three Quidditch players treating the living room like the locker room after a game made Audrey smile. It was always these little moments after all, that made life worth it.