July 5, 1998
"You keep turning up like a bad Knut," Rabastan grumbled upon Percy's arrival in the surprisingly sunny drawing room at the Lestrange family's drafty old manor. "Is it really time for another one of your visits?"
Rather than greeting her brother, Ginny ignored him in favor of her scone. Percy had a safe-conduct to visit, but the guarantee of his physical safety did not require her to be pleasant or even polite to him.
"Indeed it is," Percy said. He seated himself next to Ginny without waiting for an invitation and gave a fussy sort of dry cough. "I do hope you aren't holding a grudge over what happened at the last meeting, old chap. I was only following orders."
Ginny raised an eyebrow at the glee underlying in Percy's pompous proclamation. She had known Rabastan was tortured at the last meeting - it had been obvious when he arrived home - but she had not known Percy was responsible. It made her feel slightly less hostile towards her older brother.
Rabastan slammed his teacup into the saucer, causing brown liquid - more Firewhisky than tea - to slosh over the sides. His fingers twitched in irritation, or perhaps the lingering aftereffects of Percy's Cruciatus Curse.
"Yes, we all obey the Dark Lord," the Dark wizard snarled. "But I had not realized you were such an enthusiastic follower."
"I do apologize, but I was only following orders," Percy repeated. The apologetic words were contradicted by a smirk - an expression Ginny often had seen Fred or George wear, but never her staid middle brother.
"Have a house elf fetch me once he's gone. I'll be in my study," Rabastan snapped at Ginny before storming from the room.
She laughed as soon as he slammed the drawing room door behind him, leaving her alone with her least-likable brother. "If you keep having that kind of effect on Rabastan, I'll need you to come over more often, Percy."
He gave her a strained smile. "I'll come as often as I can. How are you holding up, Gin?"
She shrugged. "I'm alright." It was more or less the truth. Her morning sickness was abating, Rabastan did not beat or rape her, and really her standards had gotten appallingly low.
"How is your pregnancy going?" Percy asked, awkwardly.
Ginny shrugged again, this time to hide her growing excitement about the new life she and Harry had created. Percy had murdered their parents to gain Voldemort's favor, so he certainly would not balk at betraying an unborn nephew. "I've an experienced Medi-witch as my midwife, and she tells me everything is progressing as it ought. She's very conservative, though, so I'm a bit restricted in the spells I can do."
"Good, good," Percy said absently, taking a sip of tea.
"Are you even listening to me?" Ginny demanded. Though in truth, the pregnancy-related restrictions on her magic were a good thing, in that they allowed her to delay the resurrection of one Bellatrix Lestrange. She placed very little faith in Trixie's protests that she represented all that was sane and good in that mad, evil witch, but she was honor-bound to restore her to human form. Ginny had not sworn an Unbreakable Vow, but her magic still recognized the deal she had made with the she-devil. Trixie had upheld her end of the bargain by killing Rodolphus, and there would be consequences for Ginny if she did not eventually obtain a human body for the Horcrux mirror.
"I just said I have limits on my magic because I'm expecting, and you said that was good." Ginny rolled her eyes in irritation.
"Sorry," Percy said. "I drifted off for a minute. I'm afraid I've been sleeping poorly."
"Have some more tea," Ginny suggested, after a quick examination of the dark circles under her brother's eyes. "Or would you prefer coffee?"
"I'm fine, thank you," he waved her off. "What about Rabastan? How is he treating you?"
Ginny tamped down her irritation at the persistent if well-intentioned questioning. Percy had been the same way her first year at Hogwarts, asking questions about problems that were too big for either of them to solve. "Better than Rodolphus, not that that's saying much," she answered.
"I wish I could have stopped him from marrying you," Percy said guiltily. "But he Stunned before I could even get to my wand. I feel like such a pillock."
For reasons Ginny did not quite understand, she felt more like consoling him than berating him. The anger she had felt towards Percy since the battle at Hogwarts was beginning to abate. Perhaps the pregnancy hormones were making her go soft. "Ah, well," she said flippantly. "One husband down, one to go. You could help me with that," she added, not really joking.
Percy shook his head, taking her seriously. "Right now, it would not be prudent. The Dark Lord would only hand you over to another Death Eater, one who might be worse than Rabastan."
"Better the devil I know," Ginny agreed. "You always were the sensible one, Percy."
He flinched slightly at her bitter sarcasm. "I swear on my magic I will help you when the time is right," he promised.
She nodded in acceptance. It was a more binding promise than the one she had given to Trixie. Her brother opened his mouth, probably to ask yet another question. Ginny beat him to it, feeling firmly that turnabout was fair play.
"Enough about my shitty marriage. What about you, Percy? Is there a special witch in your life?"
"Madam Umbridge has been very assiduous in her attentions," he answered, straight-faced.
Ginny gaped at him for just a moment before he cracked a tiny smile. Then she cackled with outright glee. "The pink hag? Are you serious?"
"She certainly is," Percy said with a grimace. "Fortunately, my girlfriend has been keeping her at bay."
Ginny raised her eyebrows in surprise at his casual mention of a girlfriend. Percy had always been very private, even secretive, about his love life. "A new girlfriend? Do tell," she invited.
Percy gave her a quelling look. "You're a terrible gossip, Ginevra."
"So what if I am?" she shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to share girlish secrets with Rabastan or the house-elves."
"She's . . . well . . . she's rather brilliant," Percy said, giving in to Ginny's prodding. "Pretty, and clever, and-"
"What's her name?" Ginny interrupted. Wizarding Britain was small enough that she probably would know her, if she had attended Hogwarts.
"Audrey. Audrey Selwyn," Percy answered, utterly unconscious of the slightly dopey expression on his face.
Ginny hid a grin at the sight. "I remember her. She was Head Girl my third year and only took about a hundred points off me."
"Which I am confident you richly deserved, since you were quite the troublemaker and Audrey is nothing but fair." Percy leapt to his girlfriend's defense.
"She's also a swot and a stickler for the rules - like a pureblood version of Penelope Clearwater. She must be perfect you, given your new politics," Ginny observed with an edge to her voice.
Percy glared at her. "Please do not presume anything Audrey or my relationship with her. Or Penny," he added as an afterthought.
"Can I presume your relationship with Audrey is serious?" she asked.
"As I said, she is my girlfriend. Only the second one I have had in my life," Percy replied stiffly.
"So, when is the wedding?" Ginny needled. "If she's a Selwyn, her family probably wants her married off straightaway."
"They do," Percy said tiredly, "but Audrey likes her independence. I, for one, support her right to a career and would prefer a longer courtship, but there are pressures on both of us . . . . " He trailed off, staring into the dregs of his tea as though he could read the future.
"You could do a lot worse," Ginny counseled. "So could she."
"I am aware of that," Percy stated. "However, I am not certain it would be fair to Audrey to take further steps in our relationship when I still have feelings for another."
"Dear Dolores?" Ginny queried with a wicked smile, surprising a snort of laughter from her brother.
"Actually, I detest pink and loathe cats, so that romance was doomed from the start," Percy said, utterly deadpan.
"Well, it never was going to work out between you and Penny. Definitely not after you got that lovely tattoo on your arm. Who knows if she's even still alive," Ginny stated with deliberate callousness.
He looked away, his jaw clenched. Unlike her other brothers or Ginny herself, all of whom would explode with anger, Percy would internalize. "Penny's still alive," he bit out. "She's safe for now, in Romania."
Ginny blinked, wondering how he had come by that information. Perhaps Charlie had sent him an Owl, before finding out what Percy had done to their parents.
"I'm glad for her," she said, after a pause. "I wish I were there, too."
She watched him for a moment, then decided to favor him with her opinion. After all, she was Molly Weasley's daughter. "If I were you, I would hold on to Audrey as tightly as you can. There's not much love left in this world - if you've found even a little, you're luckier than you deserve to be."
Percy's lips thinned and color rose in his pale cheeks. Before he could reply, Rabastan burst into the room, a smirk on his bearded face.
"Weasley, I never thought I would say this, but it's a good thing you're still here! Nott just Fire-Called me to say the Dark Lord wants us to attack Shell Cottage this evening," Lestrange related, not bothering to suppress his excitement.
"But . . . but the raid isn't supposed to take place until after the full moon on Thursday," Percy protested. "That was the plan."
Rabastan rolled his eyes in impatience. "We're Death Eaters, not bureaucrats. We follow the Dark Lord's orders, not some paper pusher's plan. Besides, did you really think we would trust you with the real date?"
Ginny watched as Percy opened his mouth and then shut it without saying a word. Grimly, he took off his glasses, polished them, and replaced them. Now clear-sighted, he gave Rabastan a grim smile. "Of course you wouldn't trust me with the real date. It would be foolish of me to assume so. Shall we go?"
In that moment, she realized that Percy somehow had warned her surviving family of the impending raid on Shell Cottage. Despite the Dark Mark on his arm, he still was on their side - at least still loyal to his family over Voldemort. Her head was spinning and she desperately wanted to speak with Trixie, to get the mirror's candid opinion. "Be careful," she managed.
Percy gave her an odd look, but Rabastan took her concern as nothing more than his due. "That's sweet, Ginevra. Give me a kiss for good luck." He gave her no choice, shoving his tongue towards her tonsils and groping his hands down her body as she tried not to gag. Rabastan released her with a hearty laugh and a wink.
"Don't be too angry with me, pet, if I have to torture or kill any of your brothers. After all, I'm only following orders."
Disconcertingly, he was looking right at the back of Percy's head as he spoke.
A/N: Hi, all! As usual, thanks for the lovely reviews on this WIP - they do inspire me - with a special shout out to the rabid Tribe fan (wait 'til next year, right?) and hellina2000. We won't get there in a few chapters, but I promise you Harry will have a nice nose eventually.
