I finally edited this. Boo-yah.
Harry Potter and recognizable characters are products of J.K Rowling. Worship her.
Oliver was sitting on the steps in front of Audrey's apartment building. A thick layer of snow covered his hair, thighs, the tips of his ears, eyelashes, and the toes of his shoes. Through the darkness and bad weather came the pitter-patter of footsteps. He stood abruptly, his icy coating cracking and falling off, his sigh forming a white cloud in front of his mouth.
"Audrey," he breathed. His expression contorted awkwardly. He wanted to cover her in blankets and put a warm drink in her hands..but he also wanted to lecture her for hours. Though... she was skipping towards him. Her cheeks and the tune she hummed were in the pink. Her grin was several teeth wider than he'd ever seen. His heart clenched in pleasure to see her like that. A poisonous prick of jealousy wormed its way in. He brushed it away, welcoming her into his arms.
"Oh Ollie I'm so—" She stopped, pulling back and studying his face carefully. He tried to look as bright as her, but he failed miserably. Her eyebrows knit together as she pouted, shaking her head. Then she hugged him even tighter before pulling him upstairs by the waist. "Come on Mr. Snowman, let's get you thawed out." Her voice suddenly sounded so tired. Oliver silently berated himself for ruining her mood.
They helped each other out of their coats. He let her run a towel through his hair before they plopped down on the couch together. Audrey pulled a jar of blue flames out from underneath the coffee table and shoved it into his hands. Then she got up again, making herself busy in the kitchen. Oliver could hear Katie in the back of his mind, lecturing him on the dangers of frostbite. He winced, deciding to change the subject of his internal dialogue, and bring Audrey back into better spirits at the same time.
"Who's the lucky bloke?" He asked casually. Audrey froze, the mug she was holding slipping out of her fingers. It crashed loudly, pieces of porcelain flying everywhere, the dark stain of hot chocolate seeping into the carpet. Oliver rushed over quickly, checking her over for burns and cuts.
"I'm fine Ollie, fine!" She swatted him away. "Katie got me that cup," she grumbled as they leaned down to pick up the pieces. Oliver felt like he was going to be sick. He clenched a sharp bit too hard, a bead of blood popping up to greet him. He stuck his finger in his mouth, sucking warily as Audrey levitated the rest into the rubbish bin and then muttered a quick scorgify.
"You can't fix it?" He wondered, glancing mournfully in the bin.
"It's beyond repair," Audrey said quietly. Then she stared pointedly at the ceiling. "What tipped you off?"
Oliver ran a hand over the back of his neck. "You're all dressed up. And I figured you don't have another job interview coming up any time soon so..."
"You're right," Audrey admitted after a prolonged silence. She bit her lip. It felt wrong to bring up her growing love life when his was wilting and sick. Plus, even though they had been in the same year, and the same house, Audrey got the feeling Percy and Ollie had never really gotten along...this was why she had neglected to mention her crush in the first place. She would hate it if two of the few people she liked were at odds with each other. "You know, I'm kind of tired. Why don't we go to sleep?" She started to get up, but Ollie grabbed her foot and pulled her back onto the couch.
"No," he said firmly. "If this guy's making you happy then I want to hear all about it." Audrey chewed on the inside of cheek.
"You won't try and hit him or anything?" She asked accusingly. Her very few romantic encounters had ended badly, but Ollie had stepped in at the last moment, and made sure the other parties involved came out just as crushed.
A ghost of smile slipped onto his lips. "I can't promise that," he answered honestly. Her eyes narrowed. Ollie raised his hands in surrender. "But, if he doesn't hurt you then I guess I'd return the favor." Audrey made a mental note not to mention all those times she'd cried over Percy. The crying was easy. The making up part had been harder, and if they got through that all ready, she saw no reason for Ollie to get caught up in the past. "So who is he?"
"It's Percy Weasley."
She cleared her throat to break the following silence.
"Really?" Ollie's eyes bugged out. The lingering melancholy that had been weighing down on his shoulders momentarily disappeared in favor of shock. "Percy Weasley?" She nodded. "But he's so..."
"He's so what?" Audrey asked, nudging his foot with hers.
"Okay, I admit, when I hear the name Percy Weasley the word 'pompous' automatically comes to mind...and maybe 'prefect' as well. Still...I guess he's an alright guy. He always routed for the house team, even though his girlfriend was in Ravencl..." Ollie trailed of. Audrey shrugged, she was well aware of Penelope Clearwater.
"Oh if I could carry around a book of the world's rules and regulations, he probably would. Still, we've gotten close."
"How close?" Ollie asked immediately. He put his hand over his eyes. "Or do I not want to know?"
"We're really good friends," Audrey said dreamily. "We meet for lunch and write each other whenever we can-and he's just invited me to his place for Christmas."
"The Weasleys are a good bunch." Oliver nodded distractedly. "Excellent Quidditch players the lot of them." Audrey distinctly remembered Ollie taking photos of Charlie Weasley and pinning them up in his dorm. She coughed to hide her amusement. "Shame about Fred."
"Ah yes... speaking of Weasleys and Quidditich, did you hear about Ginny? She's with the Holyhead Harpies now, did you know?" She was not sure what to say about Fred Weasley.
"Oh I knew about that ages ago. Blackwood is dating Griffiths, who's just retired from the Harpies." He nodded.
"Really, bit of an age difference isn't it?"
"Uhuh, but they seem to get along well." The small moment of gossip faded into a comfortable silence, during which Ollie played with a thread on her jumper and she admired the dancing blue flames in the jar. "So...you and Percy Weasley... you were on a date tonight?" He asked finally.
Audrey flushed. "You know, even with my status as a prime Ravenclaw student, I have no idea what the actual definition of a date is—"
Oliver raised a finger thoughtfully, "You know, I'm not sure it's the same sort of intelligence." She continued as if he hadn't spoken.
"—But we went for dinner, and that was excellent."
"Speaking of dinner," Ollie said, his grumbling stomach begging for attention.
Percy got home to find someone riffling through his kitchen cupboards. He raised his wand in defense, but it turned out to be George.
George spotted him, and shoved a handful of biscuits into the pockets of his stretchy muggle trousers, trying to look innocent. George never quite managed to pull of that look.
"Those are stale," Percy said vindictively. Serves him right. George shrugged, eating one anyway, chewing at it thoughtfully.
"Do you ever take the time to grocery shopping?" He asked, scratching at his bare chest. Percy considered asking where his shirt had gotten to, but thought better of it.
"Well, I'll take this oppurtuinity to return your coat," Percy decided, taking the green dragon-skin jacket off the hanger and handing it over. There was a tear down the side, but it was better then going out half-naked into a blizzard. Though that might have been the sort of thing George was interested in.
George went to take the coat, but froze mid-step as his gaze fell on the rip. He closed his eyes for a moment and turned away. "Keep it. That one's not mine." His voice was hoarse.
Percy swallowed heavily, and delicately hung the coat back up before rushing over to busy himself with the kettle. This hadn't been the first struggle with George's duplicate wardrobe. He tried to push some of the clothes off onto his brothers, but they had difficulty accepting it. Mum cried every time she saw the items lying around unused. In the end Ginny scoffed and took most of it, claiming that she could probably pull it off better than all of them.
"I thought Angelina was coming over to yours tonight," Percy said, as the pot whistled. He handed George the steaming hot mug. George drank the earl grey unenthusiastically. He probably wished it was something stronger, though he knew not to ask.
"What, I can't spend time with my big brother?" George asked, trying to affect an adorable childlike lisp. Percy rolled his eyes.
"There's no way you'd be over here, if your attractive girlfriend was waiting for you in your flat," he reasoned. George grinned slyly.
"You think Angie is attractive then?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Can't wait to tell Audrey...also Angie. Her reaction should be worth a laugh." Percy groaned. He was becoming rather loose lipped lately. He blamed it on the people he was spending most of his time with.
"No, no. I just meant that... you two are attractive together." He blinked, that didn't sound any better actually. He needed to improve his speaking habits. Slip ups like this could mean the death of career in politics.
George chuckled, standing up a bit straighter. "Yeah, I knew you were jealous of all this," he said, gesturing at his toned upper body. Percy felt like banging his head against the wall.
"No you idiot—stop twisting my words around!" He'd never admit it aloud, but truth be told he was a bit envious. The rest of his family had Quidditch perfect physiques while he was stuck with a tired, thin, speckled appearance. He glanced out the window at the snow, recalling the night. She seemed to have enjoyed herself, but he wondered if Audrey preferred muscles and proper eyesight. He could start exercising and investigate something to replace his glasses. Though what if she was the sort who liked glasses? Penny always said that—
"Hello?" George waved a hand in front of his face. "Aren't you going to tell me about your night? What happened after the initial, horribly debilitating, rotten luck, setback?" Percy tried to glare, but a smile kept bursting through.
He straightened his glasses. "Yes, I'm quite pleased with how the rest of the night turned out."
"I hope you didn't take her to that stuffy, overpriced place." George was curious. "Cause a girl like Audrey needs excitement. You know, spontaneity and creativity, the two things you have the most difficulty with." Percy shook his head.
"I can be spontaneous," he argued.
"Where'd you go then?" George asked, starting on another handful of biscuits. George was looking a bit thin again. Percy's compulsive big brother mode switched on.
"Did you have super yet? I'll make you something if you tell me when you last ate."
"Do whatever you want." George shrugged.
Percy scratched his head, thinking over the contents of his kitchen. "I could do chicken soup. Just the way mum makes it. Isn't that your favorite?"
"Fine, I give," George sighed. "I haven' eaten a full meal since yesterday morning." Percy frowned. "I was busy experimenting. And I'll admit you can be a decent cook when you put your mind to it. That's actually half the reason I came over here in the first place."
Percy held his chin high as he poured some chicken stock into a pot. "And the other half of the reason?" He asked. He waved his wand over a knife, setting it to chop up a couple of vegetables. Then he noticed George had scattered crumbs all over the counter and tutted as he began cleaning up.
"Well I was wondering how your date went." Percy stopped. He was actually kind of touched George even cared. "I wanted to see how good my meddling improved a hopeless case." Ah.
"Well, if you must know I let her decide where to eat."
"And where was that?"
"A muggle fish and chips restaurant," Percy answered in a bit of a subdued tone.
"And by your lovely tone I'm guessing something went wrong."
"I, err, didn't anticipate buying muggle food. I didn't bring muggle money." His ears felt hot. "She had to pay." George clapped him on the back sympathetically. All Weasleys were sensitive about money, especially Percy who strove to be both self-sufficient and a gentleman.
"But since I know Audrey, I'm guessing she didn't mind one bit," George commented, trying to take the lid of the pot. Percy shooed him away.
"I protested, but she just made me promise to pay next time." Percy allowed himself a grin. It was nice to have an equal playing field in some ways. Of course, Audrey had skipped into his life and flipped it upside down in true Audrey fashion, but now that things were starting to fall in place, Percy found he enjoyed the view on the flipside. And when he upset things by arriving late, she wiped off her tears and held a genuine grin for the rest of the night. It was something to appreciate, the way she could always manage a smile.
George whistled quietly. "It'll be interesting to see her interact with mum, he said suddenly. Percy's smile morphed into a grimace. He put out the fire on the stove, ladling some soup into a bowl for his little brother.
"Great, thanks for bringing that up George."
"Your welcome. Good food by the way."
"Really?"
"Yep…though it could use a touch more salt. Did you forget to taste it before serving?" Percy, very maturely, hit George over the head with his spoon.
Oliver's head was resting comfortably on Audrey's shoulder. Well, at least physically he was quite comfortable. Emotionally he felt like even more of a broomwreck then he had earlier. He would have thought it was impossible to feel more mixed up, but like always, Audrey proved him wrong. Merlin, she sounded near obsessed with the former head-boy. The only thing stopping Oliver from apparating over to Percy Weasley and interrogating him this instance, was Audrey's hand wrapped around his waist.
"So we walked, and the snow was gorgeous, but Percy thought it was dangerous and starting ranting about safety precautions, which was annoying, but his concern was so..." She sighed. "And then I said 'see you soon' which made him smile, which made me smile, which made everything seem so near perfect." She turned and looked him in the eye. "And I see I'm driving you mad."
"You drove me made ages ago," Oliver said only half-jokingly.
"Well Percy said that...ha! Ollie!"
He had started tickling her to shut her up. If he had to hear one more word about Percy Weasley...He continued tickling her, and she attacked back and they both became hysterical. Then Audrey caught her breath and said, "What happened, I mean, what happened between you and Katie? I know it might be private, but I really want to know."
"No you don't." Oliver grumbled. Why couldn't she just focus on herself for once? Stupid, unselfish best friend.
"I do want to know," she insisted. "Even if it's none of my business, I still want to know. That's just how I am." Oliver ran a hand over his face, white sparks dancing across his tired vision.
"I'll probably regret saying this, but my business is your business. Besides I understand that K-Katie was your friend. Course you deserve to know." Oliver conceded. It was quiet.
"Take your time." Audrey said. She winced. "And that wasn't meant to sound sarcastic." Oliver rubbed the stubble on his chin. It might be time for a shave.
"Ah, but the problem is Auddie, I'm not exactly sure what happened either."
"Ah well...you know, I have no idea what to say to that Ollie. Maybe...just try your best to lay it out for me?"
Oliver grunted. "Alright, so I got home late, and she sort of glared and told me off, so I snapped at her, cause she'd gotten home late almost every day the week before, and before I knew there was this epic shouting match... I don't remember half the things we said," Well, he did, but it hurt to think about it. "And she started crying," Truth be told, so did he. "And I tried to..." take her in his arms "...but she pushed me away. She told me she'd had enough. She said if I didn't pull my act together she'd leave and never come back. So I said good riddance, " in harsher terms, full of lies. "Then I left, got smashed and woke up on your couch."
"…Lucky my couch is so fond of you." Audrey said lightly. He stared at her. His eyes started to water. He stood up quickly, his back facing her so she couldn't see. Though he thought she suspected anyway. He felt a small hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes we say 'never' but we end up coming back anyway." She paused. "And I'm not saying that's the healthiest way to do things, or even the right way to do things...but until you figure out what to do next, my cluttered flat is your cluttered flat."
"Thanks," he said roughly. Then he got up and went to stick his head under the shower.
Of course there was a huge argument over breakfast. Audrey tried to force feed him some eggs, which he had been thoroughly resistant to after he saw Greymalkin eat some and promptly turn purple.
"It might've even been an improvement," Audrey grumbled as she stood on the counter and scrubbed the ceiling. "I mean look at you." Oliver conjured a hand mirror. The bags under his eyes coupled with the grumpy expression and untidy beard made him look like a dealer of powdered dragon claw. He smiled experimentally, but the falseness just increased his creepy aura. "You're all brown and beige and boring. A bit of color would be nice."
"…Audrey, were you purposefully trying to turn me purple?"
"No, it was just a rather nice side affect."
Oliver sighed deeply, pulling out his watch. "The shops are almost open. Maybe I'll get a haircut and some food." Audrey blanched, slamming a stack of dishes into the sink. "What?"
"What time is it?" She asked, eyes bulging slightly.
"Um…" He told her.
She ran through the door like a maniac, forgetting to remove the rubber gloves she was wearing.
After apparating and sprinting up a flight of stairs, Audrey finally arrived at work.
She was greeted by a waving Vincent Hill.
"Oi boss—why are you so late? Or am I just early?" He laughed to himself.
"Oh, ha ha Hill, you're hilarious." This only made him laugh harder. He looked her over, repeated his findings in his best Quidditch commentator voice. "Audrey Green arrives to work half an hour late wearing yellow gloves made a of strange substance, along with a fine coating of soap bubbles and a glare pointed towards me...but don't worry folks, I've seen much stranger from the boss lady!"
"Vince, just be quiet please."
His silence lasted about a minute. "Why are you late though?" He asked in interest, fiddling with his hand held radio, as he always did. Audrey regulated her breathing.
"Ollie wouldn't eat his breakfast." She said, by way of partial explanation. Vincent's radio made an odd high-pitched trill. Robert Locke, who was standing near them, helping Viven Roux hang up a couple posters, swiftly shoved his fingers in his ultra sensitive ears. Madame Roux levitated the posters he had been holding before they hit the ground and tutted disapprovingly at Vincent.
Vincent gave her an apologetic glance. "Sorry about that Madame. I can't ever get this stupid thing to work." He slammed his radio onto his desk rather sharply—somehow causing it to bounce and hit Karen White, who was standing all the way across the room.
"Hill!" She roared, marching over with the radio clenched in her fist, a squareish red mark shining on her forehead. Vincent coughed guiltily and shot Audrey and pleading look.
"No way. Don't you remember what happened the last time I got in-between the two of you?" The bruises and gum in her hair had been the high point. Vincent's puppy eyes were oddly effectively, even though Audrey was more of a cat person. She sighed and called Mrs. Smith over. The little old woman popped her head out from behind her cubical. Audrey didn't like cubicles, but at least they minimized the arguments about personal space.
"Yes dear?" Mrs. Smith asked kindly.
"If you'd place patch White up...again." Mrs. Smith took Karen by the elbow, and marched her away more quickly then should have been possible for a senior citizen. Audrey grabbed the radio as they left. Vincent held out his hand to receive it. Audrey gave him an 'are you serious?' look before pocketing the horrible contraction. "I know for a fact that there aren't any games on today, so suck it up and write an article…you could do a fluff piece about how Quidditch brings families closer together during the holidays." Vincent nodded thoughtfully, plopping his feet up on his desk and riffling through the mess for some fresh parchment.
Madame Roux, seeing Vincent leave, began a discussion with Audrey about the rest of the contents of the special Christmas edition. "Besides Mr. Hill's we will need at least three other pieces with a focus on relevant themes that do not include too much of a..." Audrey struggled to pay attention, but it was difficult after the late night she'd had. At this point she realized she was covered in bubbles and still wearing gloves, she vanished them with a sigh. Madame Roux gave her a critical glance and told her she'd better wash up.
Audrey had just emerged from the washroom when she heard someone call her name. She turned, and repressed her jerk reaction of both slapping and hugging the woman in front of her. Instead she just stared.
"Hi," Katie said, staring at the ground.
"Hi," Audrey repeated flatly.
Percy was pacing back and forth in front of Flourish and Blots trying to decide whether or not to go inside. George had given him a rather pointed hint about making sure to buy a gift that the recipient would actually like, not one that would've liked for himself. He took one last look at the window display before entering as resolutely as he could.
About an hour later he walked back out again, clutching the package under his arm, continuing to give it hopeful glances all the way to the next shop.
It was a new Quidditch place that David had told him about. Apparently it had good quality supplies for reasonable prices, but not as much of a crowd because it had only opened recently.
Percy cursed David under his breath. The teeny shop was impossibly packed. Taking a deep breath he maneuvered himself inside the room. Trying to avoid what looked like a stampede of toddlers rushing towards the low flying brooms, he found himself back up against a table. He turned around to see the perfect gift lying in front of him. He grabbed it, only to find that someone else was holding it tight and refusing to let go. Percy considered struggling with her for the item, but back off immediately, knowing when his little sister got that look on her face, she would come out on top no matter what it took.
"Ginny!" He exclaimed, trying to sound friendly.
"I'll be the one buying it for him Perce," she said fiercely. Percy gulped.
"Ginny, I'm sure we can find a compromise, why don't we split the price and say it's from the both of us?"
She glared. "Don't try to be diplomatic. I saw it first, so I'm buying it for him, fair and square."
"But you can't possibly know who saw it fir—" She pouted. He sighed. "Never mind, go and make your purchase."
She grinned cheekily, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks Percy. Wait for me outside?"
"Yes of course I will."
In that strange turn of events Percy found himself eating lunch with his youngest sibling. They shared soup and sandwiches in a pub near the Quidditch shop.
Ginny eyed him like she was going to chop him up an throw him in a potion.
"It's not like you to put things off until the last minute," she commented, finishing the last bite of her sandwich. She licked her fingers, and stared pointedly at Percy's soup. He tugged it out of her reach, knowing there would be none left if he let her have a bite.
"Yes I know, but Charlie has always been difficult to find presents for," he sighed. And now that Ginny had snatched the perfect gift out from right under his nose, he would need to continue the arduous search. "Anyway, I've all ready set aside most of my other presents."
"Course you have," Ginny said dryly. She sipped her drink. It smelt strongly of alcohol and something spicy. Percy wrinkled his nose, trying to remind himself that his baby sister was legally allowed to drink at this point, even if she had weird drink choices. "Though buying presents isn't the only thing that you've been late for recently, now is it?"
"Is that Harry's shirt?" Percy asked awkwardly turning from one conversation he wanted to avoid, to another equally unappealing topic. Ginny rose an eyebrow coolly, only the faint flush of her ears told him he'd caught her off guard.
"Do you really want me to answer that question?"
Percy did not want to think about what other things Ginny could now do legally. "No, you're right. Please don't answer that." He finished off his soup, and turned to the rest of his sandwich. Ginny sighed. "Can't mutual respect and privacy be a thing between siblings," Percy wondered.
"That's actually not a bad idea," Ginny admitted. Percy smoothed his hair back proudly. Ginny snorted. "There you go ruining it." Percy frowned. "Anyway, while what Harry and I get up to will stay a secret for as long as I want it to..." She smirked, Percy shuddered. "I'm sorry to say your privacy is out of my hands. Your date for Christmas dinner is all ready the talk of the family."
"The talk of the family?" He repeated suspiciously, remembering it had been Ginny who spilled the beans about Penny.
"Hey, it wasn't me," Ginny said defensively. "Bill is a very cool older brother, but he does have one flaw." Percy looked questioningly at her, honestly unable to think up a weak spot. "He tells dad everything," Ginny explained. "And dad tells mum nearly everything, unless it has to do with his muggle tinkering." Percy nodded. "Anyway, now mum's going full on investigation mode trying to figure out everything about the mysterious woman her darling Percy is bringing home for Christmas. She even asked Harry and Hermione to pull some strings and so she could see the Ministry compiled file." Percy frowned, that was against ministry policy. "Luckily, they talked her out of it somehow, but she's heard as much as she could by word of mouth...she even asked dad if he thought this girl was a 'possible marriage candidate." Percy suddenly didn't feel so hungry anymore. Ginny seemed to have predicted this. She leaned across the table and snatched up the rest of his sandwich. She munched thoughtfully and gave him a sympathetic look. "Now, now. It could always be worse. Make up some excuse to the girl and tell her not to come to the Burrow after all. Keep all your dates in the shadows and never mention her to Bill ever again, and maybe mum will let up."
Percy coughed. "Still, I do want Audrey to come over for Christmas." He motioned to the waiter so they could pay and leave. Ginny fell silent.
"Even with mum's hysteria?" Percy hesitated, and then nodded firmly. "Interesting," Ginny singsonged. She wiped her face neatly with her napkin and stretched her arms sleepily, making a sort of cat noise as she stood. "Must be some girl." It might have been a backhanded compliment, but Percy chose to take it genuinely.
"She most definitely is," he said with a smile. Ginny gave him a pat of pity on the shoulder.
Okay, AoiKuroNekoSan here. How's everybody doing? I've missed you :( Anyway, I've hope you enjoyed the chapter. I promise the next one's got the Christmas scene in it. I've got it all planed out and ready to go. I just needed to get some more plot stuff set up. Please tell me what you think of my Ginny.