Percy couldn't believe his luck.

He learned that taking a stroll after his shift was a nice way to decompress and so, he was walking through the Alley, glancing at the display windows and watching the people around him when he saw her. He almost didn't think it truly was her, merely a mirage of some sorts. It had to be his eyes playing tricks on him. Why else would this be happening? But it wasn't. Miraculously, it wasn't. She was really there, just a few feet away painting of all things, just outside of Florean Fortescue's. She had a canvas propped up and was carefully gliding her paintbrush across the parchment.

And she looked breathtaking while doing it.

Her hair was up in a knot on the top of her head, face pinched with concentration and chewing on her lower lip. The sunlight was hitting her face and made her practically glow. He stood there like an idiot, unable to tear his eyes away. She was simply mesmerizing and she probably didn't even know how he was pathetically pining for her.

Pining.

He was pining for someone.

He hadn't done something like that in years. Not since he was first getting to know Audrey.

Should he say something? Would she want to talk to him now? It seemed like a bad time. She was clearly absorbed in her painting and might be irritated by the interruption. Percy had a habit of doing that, interrupting people at the worst times. She might not want to ever talk to him. Friday's ice cream encounter might have been a one time occurrence; she might have been in an extraordinarily good mood because of the upcoming weekend or something that happened in her life. He didn't want her to think of him as a creep or that he was stalking her.

He was going to move on, find someplace else to go. Probably turn around so he didn't walk by her but then she noticed him and was crazily waving him over to her. "Percy!" She called and sounded genuinely happy to see him. He was kind of taken aback. "Oh my gosh! It's so nice to see you! I wasn't sure when I'd see you again. Dunno about you , but I've been working like crazy. I got today off, though, so that's nice. What about you? Did you get the day off? What do you do, anyway? I don't think I asked you last time. I was kinda in a hurry. But now I have time! Isn't that great?"

She was beaming again, thoroughly distracting him.

"Yes...that's great," He said when his brain caught up with him. "And, er, no. I didn't have today off. Actually, I've just gotten off. I work for the Ministry. I'm the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation."

"Oooh, fancy," Abby said. "I never thought about working for the ministry. I thought it was kinda stuffy. No offense to you, of course. You must be pretty awesome if you're the head of the place."

"Not really the place," Percy corrected with a shy smile, "just one department."

She didn't respond, only continued to paint. Percy was standing behind it so he didn't see what it was, although he did see her using orange and yellow paint. "I work in the muggle world," she said a few seconds later. "I'm a paramedic. Do you know what that is? Most wizards don't. That's alright, though. I don't mind explaining. I like my job. It's nice to help people. I give emergency medical care to people that are sick or injured. I love it."

"You do your job...dressed like that?" He realized how rude that must have sounded and flushed. Why couldn't he ever say the right thing? Now she was going to think he was judgmental and want nothing to do with him, despite that his question was in no way meant to be like that. He just recalled how she'd been in casual muggle attire.

"Oh, no," Abby said, momentarily pausing in her painting. "We weren't working that day. Sometimes my boss has fitness days for us where we have a workout to make sure we're physically fit."

"I see," Percy said. He was honestly rubbish at small talk and social situations in general. It was no wonder why Oliver had been his only friend since his first year of Hogwarts. "So, erm, what are you painting?"

She seemed very happy that he asked. She turned the canvas over so he could see and he was blown away by what he saw; she was painting a sunset over an open field. It looked incredibly realistic. Abby was definitely artistically talented.

"Wow," he murmured. "That's brilliant!"

She smiled goofily. "Thank you! Do you like painting? Have you ever tried? I've been painting since I was ten or maybe it was eleven or twelve. Something like that. I can't remember. I like it. It's relaxing."

But Percy didn't have a special talent like that. He wasn't artistically or athletically inclined. He was good at academics but that was about it. He just never found something that could be his. "I've never really tried," he admitted. He never would've done it in his youth; it was too messy and too juvenile for him to even consider.

But on her, it didn't look that way.

It was actually a bit enticing.

Abby turned back to what she was doing. He didn't understand how she could concentrate so thoroughly while in the midst of the noisy Alley. She does, though. Never once did she falter. It was admirable, really.

And then he just had to ruin the moment.

"I've been looking for you," he ended up blurted out, much to his mortification. That was not what he intended to say.

Her innocent looking eyes fell on him again. "You have?"

He couldn't dig himself out of this metaphorical hole now. "Er, yes," he was trying not to stumble over his words, "I have. I mean-oh, that sounds strange, doesn't it? I didn't mean it like that. I just-"

Abby put down her brushes into a goblet of water. She glanced down, smiling. She was swaying her body back and forth. "It's not strange," and then she looked at him properly again. "I think it's sweet."

"Really?" He said before he could help himself. "Oh, well that's good. That's good. I'm glad."

"Is there a reason you were looking for me?" Abby tilted her head.

"Yeah," Percy said when his brain snapped out of it. Come on, Weasley. You can do this. You did this with Penny. You can do it now. "Yes. Yes. I did. I do have a reason. I was wondering, if you're not busy but if you'd rather work on your painting I understand, if you would be interested in joining me for a butterbeer at the Leaky?" His heart was pounding. Really pounding. He just might faint. "You don't have to, of course. No pressure or anything! I was just hoping-"

"Okay!" Abby agreed. "That sounds fun! I'm almost done anyway. I can wait until tomorrow to finish it. Lemme just get my stuff and we can go right now! It's been forever since I've had a butterbeer. I don't get to come here often because of my job. Do you come here a lot? You're lucky."

She picked up her belongings, shrinking what she could. The two of them made their way to the Leaky, with Percy inwardly marveling that this was actually happening. She agreed! Willingly, he might add. She didn't turn him down or have that grimace smile expression because she thought he was being creepy. A warm, bubbling feeling spread through his chest.

Abby was a smidgen shorter than he was; she came up his chest, nearly his chin. He couldn't help but think that was adorable. She had a skip in her step that was reminiscent of Luna Lovegood. She skipped through the corridors as a Hogwarts student, her hair flying every which way.

The Leaky wasn't all that busy for this time of day. A few patrons were scattered about, reading the Prophet or talking quietly amongst themselves. It was nice like this. Better than being a loud ruckus like when quidditch players came after a game to drink firewhiskey and scope out a woman to spend the night with.

Like Oliver, Percy thought with fondness-and a bit of exasperation.

Hannah Longbottom was behind the counter, wiping down some goblets by hand. She kept her head down and didn't notice them right away.

"Hello Hannah," Percy said warmly. She'd become an expected friend to him once she took over the Leaky. She listened to his stories after work, asked how the girls were doing and was a pretty good listener. He liked talking to her and Neville whenever he came popped in.

"Hello, Percy. What can I-" Hannah turned around, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of Abby. There was an excited gleam that came to her and Percy dearly hoped she wasn't going to say anything. She clearly misinterpreted things and was thinking that this casual outing was a date. It was not a date. Nowhere near a date. They were acquaintances, perhaps soon to be friends, getting a cold beverage together. She came closer to them, grinning. "Oh. Hello there."

Percy closed his eyes and prayed she would not embarrass him.

"Hannah," he said before she could say anything else, "this is Abby Adams. She was in Ginny's year and a Gryffindor. Abby, this is Hannah Longbottom. She was in Hufflepuff. She's married to Neville. He teaches Herbology at Hogwarts. You may remember him, he was in Harry Potter's year."

He ignored the sly grin he was receiving from Hannah. Oh lightning could come and strike him down at any moment.

Abby was beaming again and came around so she could properly lean over to envelop Hannah in a hug. It caught her off guard momentarily but she recovered and reciprocated. "Hi! It's so nice to meet you! I think I've seen you around here before. Oh my gosh, I love your hair! It's so pretty. Do you like braiding? I've never been good at doing anything with my hair. That's okay, though. I like ponytails better. Am I talking too much? I do that sometimes. Do you? It's a habit. I tried not to talk once and I only lasted like ten seconds but that's my new record!"

Hannah blinked. Evidently, she was a bit taken aback by Abby's ability to talk a mile a minute. Percy also came to realize that Abby's attention span was very, very short.

When it registered to her that there had been a compliment, Hannah flushed. "Oh, thank you. It's nothing, really. Just a simple braid." She moved the one, tightly braided piece with her hand, smiling a bit awkwardly. While she was a pleasant person, she wasn't always that outgoing with people. Percy didn't blame her, though. He could understand that.

"Can we have two butterbeers, please, Han?" Percy requested.

She snapped out of it, remembering where she was.

"Sure. Coming right up. Why don't you two go find a seat?" Hannah gestured to the empty seats.

They found a booth in the back corner to sit at. They were across from each other and the dim light overhead was shining on Abby. Her cheeks sparkled-actually sparkled. There might have been specks of glitter on her.

Percy smiled awkwardly. He was socially inept and she probably knew it right now. Curses for George talking him into this. This was a mistake. He shouldn't have done this. Why did he do this? He should be going home right now to the girls, getting dinner started. Not here embarrassing himself.

"So," he said and then realized he didn't know where he was going with that.

"Sooo," she dragged out the word teasingly and giggled.

Percy opened his mouth then clamped it shut. He groaned softly, shaking his head. He sighed in defeat. Honestly, why had he bothered? "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm very sorry. I'm not very good at this."

There was something about Abby's smile that put him a little more at ease. "You're doing fine," she said and reached over to punch him in the shoulder. He wasn't sure what all that was about. Maybe that's how she showed her affection? "Don't be tense. You should smile more. It's nice to smile, don't you think? I like it when you do. See just like that!"

She had a way of bringing it out of him. Hannah came by, gently placing their butterbeers on the table. They thanked her and Percy coughed lightly when Hannah winked at him.

"So, erm...why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"Like what?" Abby took a drink and swung her legs underneath the table. He knew that because her shoes would thud against the bottom of the booth.

"Anything," Percy responded.

She thought about it. "Okay!" She chirped. "I like the color. Isn't it such a pretty color? But I like dark blue, not light blue. I love pizza. It's so good! Randy says I'm addicted but I'm not. I just really like it. Cats are my favorite animal. I have a kitten named Salem at home. He's adorable. I actually found him outside one night and I couldn't just leave him out there, you know? Do you like cats? Do you have any? Or a dog? Do you have a dog?"

"I actually don't," he admitted. "I haven't really been around any cats so I don't know. I do have an owl though."

"I used to have one!"

"Oh? What happened to it?" Percy said curiously.

"It died," Abby said bluntly.

"Ah, right," Percy wanted to smack himself. "Well, er, that's very nice."

She nodded. "Now you go!"

"Me?" Percy repeated.

"Yeah! I wanna hear about you."

Percy inhaled. He'd yet to mention Molly or Lucy which was incredibly stupid of him. Abby was young. She likely wasn't interested in a man who had kids. She wanted a fling. A fun date to go out with whenever she could and had no restrictions. It was such a shame, too. He was honestly beginning to really enjoy their time together.

"Percyyyy!"

His head snapped up. She was peering at him. He exhaled. There wasn't any need to mention them quite yet. He and Abby weren't on a date. They hadn't confessed any mutual attraction. As far as Percy knew, they were simply two friends at best. If he could be considered a friend yet. He didn't want to scare her off by moving too fast.

"There's not much to tell," he said lamely. "I'm not the most exciting person out there."

Much to his surprise, she flicked his forehead. "Don't be silly," she said. "Of course you are. I can tell. I'm good at that. You should be more confident! Pretend until you are. There's a muggle saying, fake it 'till you make it. You should try that. It might help. Now, tell me something about you! Anything will do. I don't mind what it was. Or should I just ask you questions? I can do that too."

She placed her hand on top of his, looking earnest.

And holy Merlin. It was electrifying. Nothing he'd ever experienced before. Did she feel it too? He jerked but she never acknowledged it. Great. He must be going mad. "I've never been too confident," he admitted, which was probably too expressive for a casual get together for two people that have only been in each other's presence twice. "My siblings have. They're better at it. Me, I don't do well in social situations."

"That's okay," she waved it off with her free hand. "I don't mind. I can talk for the both of us, if you'd like."

That was...probably true.

He took a deep breath, channeling his brain to work properly. Just pretend it was someone he did know. Pretend it was George. No, wait. Not George. Abby was too pretty for him to be thinking of his brother.

(He shuddered at the thought).

"Tell me your favorite color," Abby prompted gently. "Or your favorite food. Or your favorite book. Or favorite movie-do you have a favorite movie? Have you ever seen a movie? I'm a muggleborn, you see, so I've been to the cinema loads of times. It's really fun!"

He was relieved and grateful that she understood and didn't roll her eyes or mutter under her breath. "Well, I'm actually quite fond of blue myself. I like potatoes in any form. To be honest, it's been a while since I've read a good book so I'm not quite sure and as for a favorite movie as you've called it, I'm afraid I've never been to this cinema."

Abby was astounded. "Never? Well, I'll fix that." She seemed sure of herself. "We should go sometime."

We

She said we

She meant her and I

"We?" he repeated casually. "You and I?"

"Yeah," Abby said. "Unless you wanted to bring someone else. We can totally do that. Oooh! What if you bring your siblings with you? I don't have any so I can't but you can and that way, everyone can see it!"

Percy's smile became fixed. By the way she'd been talking, he initially perceived her idea as a date. A date as in for the two of them. He could just picture it now, him and Abby at this so-called cinema with his siblings around. Being loud and embarrassing and likely making the whole evening stressful for him. "Actually," he said in the midst of her chatter. "I was thinking we could go to this cinema with just the two of us..." He said tentatively.

She twirled a piece of her hair with her finger, biting down on her lower lip. "Like a date?" she peeked at him through her eyelashes.

"If you'd like that," he said with uncharacteristic boldness.

She giggled like a schoolgirl and he found that it was like a melody he'd never get tired of. "Okay. It's a date then."

He'd done it.

He had a date.

He hadn't been on a date in years. Not since the last one he shared with Audrey. And now, this is happening. This is happening! He almost couldn't believe it. It seemed too good to be true. Too easily done. But it was happening. This beautiful woman had agreed to go on a date with him.

He felt a rush of glee that felt a bit juvenile but he hardly cared.

"Okay," he was grinning widely. "Yes. It's...it's a date!"

/

A few things:

- I messed up the math. Originally Abby and Percy were supposed to have a larger gap between them but then she would've been the youngest out of everyone and I still wanted her old enough to fight in the battle so I put her at Ginny's age and I wanted her to be in her 20s while Percy's in his30s but I forgot that in doing so it would mess up his daughters ages. i headcanon that Molly was born in '99 so technically she'd be 10 here instead of 15 but I'm not gonna fix it. It's fine and it won't come up a ton

- After this chapter, it'll be more like how I envisioned it to be. We'll actually see moments between them. Next chapter will be their date and then beyond that will be other cute couple moments

- next chapter we'll see more of them getting to know each other better and Abby will find out that Percy has kids

- if you have a request for a cute moment between them (her wearing his clothes, spring cleaning, i dunno) you can comment and I'll do it!