Christmas chapter. Merry Christmas, by the way!

London - Christmas 1997

They spent Christmas at Audrey's Mum and Dad's, since there was obviously no question of going to Percy's parents'.

Audrey placed kisses on their cheek as she walked into the house, gifts in arms, snow melting in her hair.

Percy was hit with shock at how much his life had changed since he met her. Last year, though he'd been seeing Audrey, they hadn't been serious enough to spend the holiday together, so he'd been dragged by Scrimgeour to a very awkward meeting with his parents. Now he was at her family's house, the Ministry and all of those problems pushed to the back of his mind, because he didn't want to deal with that now. He didn't want to think about all those who had lost their lives that year. He just wanted to relax for the day.

Audrey's mum greeted him with a hug, gushing about she felt that she already knew him because Audrey had told her so much. Audrey's dad was watching a game on the television and didn't even give Percy much of a glance. Audrey's brother, Gavin, was on his phone. He was nineteen. Her sister, Olive, who was only fifteen, also paid no attention to them, other than to give Audrey a glare.

Listeners tended to perk up at this point in the story. They wanted to know what Audrey's family was like, since most of them had never met them.

Audrey pulled Percy over to the couch and he sat and watched as she tried to engage her family in conversation. After a few minutes of struggling, her father looked up at Percy (though maybe that was because it was half-time).

"Name?" he asked gruffly.

"Percy Weasley."

"What do you do, Percy Weasley?"

"I work for the government," Percy replied pompously.

Audrey rubbed Percy's arm. She was used to him acting like this in front of strangers, but she'd been hoping that he'd pass when talking to her family. Her dad didn't like people who were proud.

"What school did you go to?" Audrey's father questioned.

"I went to a small, prestigious boarding school."

Her father shook his head. "No, I meant university."

"Oh… I didn't."

"Percy started working right after he got out of school," Audrey supplied to her father. "But he has a very good job." Not that she knew. She barely knew anything about Percy's job.

Her father grumbled a bit and turned his attention back to the television.

"Why are they all ignoring you?" Percy whispered in his girlfriend's ear.

She shook her head. "Just leave it," she insisted.

But Percy couldn't. This was not how he was treated at his house, or at least not how he'd been treated last time he was there. Though they were seven of them, his parents could never stop fretting over Percy and his siblings, and there were always children yelling at each other from across the room, sometimes from across the house.

His house was chaos.

This house was… almost boring.

They ate dinner. Gavin contributed to the conversation occasionally, and Audrey's father asked a few more questions, but he seemed to have dismissed Percy. It was Audrey's mother and Audrey herself that really fueled the conversation. And Percy talked, though he tried to restrain himself to let Audrey reconnect with her family.

Olive never looked at Audrey or Percy after that first glare.

And then they were sent back out into the snow.

As Audrey drove the pair home, Percy cleared his throat and asked quietly," You and your sister don't get along?"

"No," Audrey admitted.

She was content to leave it at that, but she supposed she might as well tell him the whole story.

"I used to go out and party till insane hours in the night when I was younger," Audrey said after a long moment's pause. "I'd come home at two in the morning beyond drunk and I scared Olive out of her mind. She's never forgiven me for it, even though I haven't done it in years."

There was a long pause filled only by the quiet music from the radio.

"I suppose I should finish telling you my life story," Percy said softly.

No response.

"I got a job with the local government right before the man who was trying to take over came back to power. They told me that there was no way he was coming back. My brothers and their friends had proof that this wasn't true. But I – I left my family. I didn't believe them. I haven't seen my mother in years. I don't even think I'd be accepted back."

"I'm sure they would accept you back."

"What makes you think that?" Percy demanded, starting to get a bit angry. He didn't like thinking or talking about his past. It was better to just pretend that he never did anything wrong. Then he didn't feel guilt. Then he didn't have to wonder how his mum was holding up.

"You've changed since I met you Percy," Audrey said, risking a glance at him. "I can tell. You used to be more…"

"Arrogant?" Percy offered.

"Proud," she said. "But you've changed."

"You've turned me into a big softie," Percy murmured. The ice was starting to thaw. "Audrey… I love you."

Audrey froze and the car swerved slightly, but she got it quickly back under control. She glanced at him again. "I love you too."