The title is inspired by the song "I let myself fall" by Rosie Thomas.

August 1st, 1998

On the following day, Percy went downstairs to find his mother and Harry making breakfast.

"Would you mind helping Harry, dear? I have to feed the chickens" told him his mother, wiping her hands on her apron.

Percy started grilling tomatoes while Harry was busy with sausages.

"Is everybody else still sleeping?" he asked.

"No, your father's gardening and George is doing some kind of work for the shop"

Percy smiled to himself. So now George was the one working from home…

Now that you are lone with Harry, there's something you owe him.

"I've never had a chance to… apologise to you" he said, rapidly checking the tomatoes.

"There is no need to" answered Harry, confused.

"Oh no, there is. I had known you for years and I should've known better. I am thankful that you didn't give up"

While talking, Percy felt free of a burden. He had intended to say those words since the Battle, maybe even before the Battle.

"t's alright, really" said Harry, putting the sausages on a plate. Percy noticed that he was doing it the Muggle way.

"Other people who knew me didn't believe me" Harry went on "I had a nasty fight with Seamus Finnegan on the first day of our fifth year. He called me a nutter and we came close to hitting each other. Very few students believed me.. I guess the main reason why many started believing me was that Umbridge was so awful"

Percy silently agreed with him.

"At first I was furious at people who didn't believe me and disappointed when it came from people who knew me. But in the end people make errors… I mean, even Dumbledore was friends with Grindelwald. Really, it's alright"

The conversation was interrupted by Hermione and Ginny walking into the kitchen.

Percy wasn't surprised to see Ginny kiss Harry. It was not exactly a secret. But if someone had told him the first time he had seen Harry and Ginny together… he shook his head.

Soon they were joined by the rest of the family and they enjoyed a long Saturday breakfast.

Upon leaving, Percy had to face the usual discussion with his mother, who always tried to supply him with every kind of food.

"Make us proud with the lady, Perce, whatever her name is!" George cried after him just before he Disapparated.

OOO

At 2 p.m., Percy Apparated in front of Audrey's door in Castlemartin. He hadn't seen the house from the outside on his previous visit and he noticed that it was a small, one floor cottage with climbing plants on the walls and roof. Not knowing where she wanted to take him to, he had settle for Muggle trousers and a shirt. His heart racing, he knocked on the door.

After a moment, Audrey appeared. She had her hair down and wore a dress - again. She was just stunning.

"Hi" said Percy "you look very… er... charming"

Great, let's start cutting sorry figures from the beginning, Percy.

"Thank you!" she answered with a smile "Good that you dressed Muggle. Shall we?"

She outstretched her hand and he took it.

A moment later, Percy found himself standing in Diagon Alley.

"Uh... why is that good that I dress Muggle in Diagon Alley?" he asked uncertainly.

Audrey laughed.

"We are in Diagon Alley just because I needed to Apparate in London. Let's get out of here, we'll need to take the underground"

Percy had never taken the underground before and followed Audrey's example, trying his best not to look odd. They got off at the Tottenham Court Road underground station and walked for some minutes until they were in front of a large building. Audrey turned to him.

"Where are we?" he asked. The building had high, white columns and looked a little like an Ancient Greek temple.

"This is the British Museum" she answered eagerly "I was positive that you had never been here and I think you might like it"

Oh, she had to be the woman of his life…

"That's great! I've been in the History of Magic Museum in Godric's Hollow but I've never visited a Muggle Museum before" he answered excitedly.

Inside the museum, Audrey took two tickets and two tickets and headphones.

"Wait, you shouldn't be paying! I asked you whether you were free in the first place" he said.

"Why not? I have a wage, you know. Besides, the ticket is free"

"But the headphones…"

"I'm not going bankrupt for two headphones, Percy. If you are feeling so bad, you can pay tea later"

That meant that they would spend some other time together after visiting the museum. Percy couldn't say that he was complaining…

"Very well, I give up. What are the headphones for?" he asked.

"They are an audio guide to the museum, I will show you how they work"

She took him by the hand and led him in front of a giant map of the museum. It was clearly enormous, they would not have time to visit it in its entirety.

"Is there something you would like to see?" she asked.

He looked at the map. Yes, he knew about Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages but not from a Muggle perspective.

"I think I will trust your judgement. I am not really familiar with this"

Audrey smiled and guided him to the rooms dedicated to Mesopotamia.

Percy had a wonderful time, although the museum was only partly responsible for it. He liked to see Audrey beside him, to look at her while she observed a piece of art with a concentrated brow, to feel her fingers brush against his ones, to be able to smell her perfume. And she had been right about the museum, he loved it. There were so many interesting things he didn't know about and the audio guide on the headphones was great. He felt sorry when he noticed that the closing time was approaching and they had to leave.

"This was... wow. We must come here again!" he told Audrey excitedly once they were outside.

Hold on, Percy. Who told you that you are going to have a second date?

But Audrey was as excited as he was: "Definitely! I love this place and there are so many other great museums to visit!"

She had the thirst for knowledge and the joy of learning which were so purely Ravenclaw. And he just wanted to touch that wonderful golden hair… now there was a gentle breeze and the hair was dancing around her face…

… he was staring at her again.

"Do-do you know a tea-room in the vicinity?" he asked, noticing that he was blushing again.

Soon they were sitting in a nice little tea room next to Russell Square. She chatted enthusiastically about the British Museum, the National Gallery and other museums she liked, while he talked about the Museum of Magic in Godric's Hollow and the many interesting things that were kept there.

Then they started sipping their teas, in a comfortable silence.

"You know…" she said conversationally "I had a little crush on you at Hogwarts"

He choked on his tea and started coughing, noticing that his face was becoming very warm.

"Really?!"

"Yes. It started when I was appointed a Prefect and you were Head Boy. You instructed us in the Prefects' carriage on the Hogwarts Express and I thought you were… nice" she explained.

"I... er... I've never… noticed" he said, trying to catch his breath again.

"Of course you haven't, I didn't want to show it! It was just a crush and you were already dating Penny Clearwater" she explained "After some time I got over it"

Percy didn't know what to say. He had never considered himself to be a heartbreaker. Yes, he was kind and he supposed that he wasn't ugly. But he had always lacked the qualities that made other boys popular among girls: he wasn't dashing or spontaneous or funny. With girls, he had always played the "man to marry" card, showing that he was serious, reliable, hard-working…

"Are you lost in your world?" she asked playfully.

"Yes, sort of" he admitted "I wasn't expecting to hear that"

Girls who met him for the first time usually found him stuffy, not nice, he thought. But he kept the thought to himself.

"Well, I've always had a soft spot for..." she went silent, trying to find the fitting word.

"Bookworms?" he suggested. She laughed and he laughed with her. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like this.

"In a way, yes. I just... I've always liked boys who took things seriously... I still do" she said quietly.

Percy felt a very warm sensation in his chest. He understood what she was trying to say and he would've liked to say something similar but he didn't know how.

He just smiled heartily at her and she smiled back.

It was alright. He could be like this with her. He could be unspontaneous he could be clumsy when he was nervous and she wasn't annoyed at him!

She had that wonderful Ravenclaw acceptance - probably it wasn't a coincidence that his only other girlfriend had been a Ravenclaw too.

They spent quite some time chatting in that tea room. She talked excitedly about her job and he told her about his interest in magical transportation. He told her about his older brothers whom she didn't know, she told him about her only brother and the way they were close although he was five years younger. Until, somehow, they started talking about exes. Percy couldn't even remember how it had happened.

"I knew that Rolf wanted to be a Magizoologist but I hadn't realized that he intended to travel all over the world and even to move abroad. When he started speaking about it, I sort of… I wish to settle down and I don't enjoy frequent changes, I am not an adventurous type. And I didn't want to build a family abroad because my family is Muggle, travelling isn't easy or cheap for them. We tried to find a compromise but eventually... one of us would have been miserable and we broke up. I think he's in Uruguay at the moment"

She seemed lost in her thoughts for a long while, then asked softly "What about you?"

"Oh... I was dumped" he said, trying to sound casual. He didn't know how much he was supposed to say about the end of his relationship with Penny. He didn't want to repeat the things she had said to him.

Audrey stayed silent and even if he was looking down at his mug he could feel her eyes on him.

"She said that... the qualities she had previously cherished in me were not enough to build a long lasting relationship"

He couldn't bring himself to say more, to say how Penny had said that he was arrogant, difficult to stand and not a great snogger.

"It happened soon after your N.E.W.T.s, right?" she asked softly. Percy was so surprised that he looked up at her.

Oh, no. Maybe Penny had told everything to her friends and Audrey had heard it...

"Did she tell you that?" he questioned cautiously.

"Oh, no. I just sat with the two of you in the Prefects' carriage at the end of term. You weren't even sitting next to each other, something was clearly off"

"Ah..." he said, relaxing. "Yes. Actually, it was on the very last school day. Great way to end it" he added.

They went on chatting until they noticed that the tea room was about to close.

Reluctantly, he stood and they walked back together to the underground station.

Half an hour later, they were walking into Diagon Alley.

"Should I see you home?" he asked.

She laughed.

"Maybe I should see you home, since you live here!"

"Yes" said Percy "that probably makes more sense. But... why did you ask me to come to Castlemartin and then Apparated here again?"

She turned to him, confused.

"I assumed that you would be spending the weekend at your parents'. You said something about Harry Potter's birthday yesterday"

"Yes, I was there but I came back after breakfast. My siblings figured out that I had a date and it was sort of… well… they didn't need to know that"

Percy mentally slapped himself. Why did his siblings not need to know that he had a date? Why had he said that? Maybe Audrey would be offended!

But she laughed again.

"I've had a wonderful time with you today" he said quietly once they were in front of his door. "And if you… if you wish, I would really like to see you again"

Audrey looked intently at him and for a moment he feared that she would say no.

But she stood on her toes, propped on his shoulder and kissed him.