Chapter 2: After All These Years
Both girls sat in their beds whispering excitedly to each other as they waited for their mum to come tuck them in. Their eyes lit up when they saw Percy walk in the room.
"Dad, you're home!" Lucy said excitedly.
"Mummy's been telling us about how you met." Molly told him.
"Has she? What has she told you so far?" Percy asked.
"Only about meeting you on the train, and getting sorted into Gryffindor." Lucy said, catching him up.
Percy smiled, as he pulled up the chair next to Lucy's bed and had a seat. Audrey pulled Molly's blanket up and wrapped it around her as Molly curled up next to her.
"Well, I suppose you'll want to know what happened next." Percy said. The girls just nodded as they grabbed their teddy bears and got cozy.
Weeks had passed since they had first arrived at Hogwarts, and Percy and Audrey sat quietly looking over their books in the library. Percy had made it a force of habit that they should study at least two hours every school night. While Percy worked quickly, completing multiple drafts of his essays and then studying ahead, always preparing for the next lesson, Audrey spent her time struggling to complete the assigned work, rarely finding time or the ambition to study ahead.
Defeated, Audrey dropped her head down onto the book that sat in front of her. "Percy, I can't study any longer. We've been at it for hours." She whined.
"And you still haven't finished the second draft of your potions essay." Percy rebuked.
"And I never will. I'm handing in my first draft. If I have to stare at this book a minute longer I'm liable to go mad." Audrey said standing up.
"Now you're just being over-dramatic. You're never going to make prefect with that attitude." Percy explained.
Audrey slumped back into her seat. "I have years to work on being prefect; today however, I don't care to work on it. It's such a nice day, can't we go outside?" she asked, her eyes begging him to comply.
"And do what?" Percy asked, looking at her skeptically, sure that she was imagining another one of her outlandish plans.
"Anything, we can just lie in the grass and enjoy the weather." She suggested.
Percy thought about it for a second. "Alright." he said, closing his book.
"Really?" Audrey asked, shocked that he had given in so quickly.
"Sure, we can study out there. Natural light is much better for reading anyway, and you still have that second draft to finish." He explained with a knowing smile.
Audrey put her head in her hands for a second, wondering how long it took him to perfect that smile that drove her absolutely mad. After a minute of internal debate she decided that she'd better take what little bit she was given. "You're impossible, but fine, the smell of old book is starting to make me nauseous, fresh air will do me some good." She said as she slammed her book shut.
"Will you be quiet, this is a library." The librarian scolded, popping out of a near-by bookshelf.
"Sorry." Audrey apologized in a whisper, her cheeks turning red. She quickly picked up her book and herded Percy out into the sunlight and onto the nearly empty school grounds. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked for a good place to sit. She spotted an older tree that provided just enough shade, but still allowed warm sunbeams to burst in, that would be the perfect place to study, she thought. "By that tree, that's a good spot." She pointed out as she skipped over to it.
"This will be alright." Percy said sitting down. He wasted no time and opened his book to continue to study.
Audrey laid on her back in the grass, staring up at the clouds. "What are your mum and dad like?" She asked.
Percy looked up from his book. "Nice, I suppose." He said simply.
She turned over onto her side to look at him. "That's not an answer. You told me all about your brothers and your sister, now I want to know about your parents." Audrey said shaking her head at him.
Percy looked up from his book and fiddled with the pages for a second, thinking about his answer. "Oh, well, my dad, he works for the ministry. He really likes to learn about muggle things. He's always finding things and trying to figure out what muggles use them for." He explained.
"And your mum?" Audrey asked.
"She's nice. She's kind of nosey sometimes, but she usually keeps Fred and George from teaming up on anyone, and she's always busy. I guess that's part of being a mum to seven kids." Percy said with a smile. "You know they fought against, you-know-who in the war." He added.
Audrey sat up, and turned towards him. "So did my mum and dad!" She said excitedly. "I bet they knew each other." She thought.
"What are your parents like?" Percy asked, shutting his book and turning to face Audrey.
Audrey smiled, the question taking her mind a million miles away. "They were fun, and really nice. They used to have a sweets shop in Diagon Alley." She said.
"Why don't they anymore?" Percy asked, he was so intrigued by the look in her eyes that he didn't catch on to what she was saying.
She looked down at her hands, and sighed. "They were just about to close up the shop when the Death Eaters showed up; they didn't even have a chance." She said. She kept her head down for fear that Percy would see her eyes start to glisten with tears. "See my dad was muggle-born, so when the war broke out he took to caring for muggle-borns, and their families." She explained.
"How come you never told me?" Percy asked.
She shrugged. "You never asked."
"I'm really sorry." Was all he could think to say. He couldn't help but notice how her eyes had lost their normal sparkle, replacing it with a dark sadness. He instinctively put his arms around her, hugging her tight.
She smiled, her cheeks going pink. "Thank you." She said burying her face in his shoulder as she hugged him back.
He pulled away, his cheeks just as red. "You're welcome." He said, opening up his book and starting to read again, embarrassed by his sudden outburst of affection. As he read, Percy found himself stealing glances her way, for only a second, before quickly turning back to his book.
Audrey opened her scroll, and continued to work on her essay. Every once and a while she could see his eyes quickly turn to her before turning away, and every time she could do nothing but smile to herself as she thought about how right she had been, that first day they met, when she told him they were going to be great friends.
Molly was now lying on Audrey's lap, fighting to keep her eyes open as she looked between her mum and dad.
"Did you know you loved mum right then?" Lucy asked her dad.
Percy smiled. "I wish I could say that I did, but it took me much longer to realize that." He explained.
"What happened next?" Molly asked, through a yawn.
Audrey picked her up, and laid her back onto the bed, tucking her in. "That we will save for later, now it's time for bed." She said kissing her on the forehead. She looked over to see Percy give her a quick glance and a smile as he tucked Lucy in. She couldn't help but smile, she would have never admitted it back then, but even just a glance from him made her heart skip a beat, and through all the years that fact hadn't changed.
"Good night girls." Percy said, turning the room dark with just a flick of his wand.
"Night daddy." Molly yawned before closing her eyes and falling asleep.