"Dad, will you tell us about when you became prefect?" Lucy asked looking up from where she lay in front of the fireplace reading her favorite book about Hogwarts.
Percy's face beamed as he looked at Audrey, wondering if she had told the kids to ask. Audrey shook her head, and gave him a smile. She knew how much it meant to him that Lucy was interested in one of his first important achievements. She could practically see the wheels set in motion in his head as he, no doubt, plotted Lucy's eventual rise to Prefect, many years from now.
"You really want to hear?" Percy asked.
Molly sat up in her mum's lap, and turned to her dad. "Yea! Tell us." She said excitedly.
"Well alright." Percy said.
Percy sat waiting in his room looking for any sign of an incoming owl. Not only should be getting a response from Audrey, but Hogwarts letters should be arriving any time now, and he was anxiously awaiting the letter that would tell him whether or not he had made prefect.
"Percy, what are you doing in there? It's nearly noon." Mrs. Weasley said knocking on Percy's door.
"I'm studying." Percy called back. Studying had been his original plan, and the open book in front of him could vouch for that, but he couldn't take his eyes off the horizon long enough to be bothered with the book.
"Come down and get some lunch, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, opening his door.
"Alright." Percy reluctantly agreed.
"Besides, you have a visitor here." She added with a smile.
"What?" Percy asked confused, he hadn't been expecting anyone.
"Audrey's here." Mrs. Weasley explained.
Percy's face lit up as he flew down the stairs to meet her. "Audrey!" he called looking around for her. He opened the kitchen door only to slam it in her face.
Audrey fell back onto a bench at the kitchen table holding her nose in her hand. She looked down only to see blood all over her hands.
"Oh dear." She said, fighting to keep her eyes in focus. "I don't do well with blood." She added before fainting.
"Audrey!" Percy said shocked, not quite processing what had just happened.
"Percy what happened?" Mrs. Wesley asked walking into the room. She ran over to where Audrey lay, and knelt down next to her.
"I must have hit her with the door. She said she doesn't do well with blood." Percy explained.
Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand and said a few things. Suddenly Audrey's nose stopped bleeding, and the blood that had come from it was gone. She sat up groggily.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I'm sorry, I hit you with the door, and you fainted." Percy explained.
"Embarrassing." Audrey said with a laugh as she started to pick herself up.
Percy held his hand out, and when she took it he pulled her up the rest of the way. "I'm really sorry." He said.
"No worries." Audrey said giving him a hug.
"So what are you doing here?" Percy asked. He watched as she pulled out her Hogwarts letter.
"It's letter day. They're quite important; I wanted to open them together." She explained.
"That would be brilliant, only I haven't gotten mine yet." Percy explained.
Suddenly they heard a large thud, fallowed by a much more muffled thud. They all looked over to the window, where the sound had originated.
"My word that bird is daft." Mrs. Weasley said to herself as opened the window. She reached out and pulled a stunned Errol into the kitchen. "One day you'll learn not to run into the windows." She said to the owl who simply hooted a reply.
"Here you are, dear." Mrs. Weasley said handing Percy his letter.
Percy held it close, just staring at it for a second.
"Are we going to stare at them or shall we open them?" Audrey asked with a smile.
"Open them." Percy said turning his over.
"Good luck Percy." Audrey said, knowing how much being prefect would mean to him.
"You too." Percy replied.
"The two opened their envelopes at the same time, and pulled out their letters. They quietly read to themselves, until Percy read the words he had been waiting to see.
"I made prefect!" He said excitedly.
"That's great." Mrs. Weasley said, proudly hugging her son.
"How about you Audrey, you made prefect too, right?" Percy said.
Audrey held back her tears as she finished the letter, no where did it mention her being a prefect. She closed her eyes and sucked up her sadness for only a second before smiling wide. "Congratulations Percy." She said hugging him.
He hugged her back tightly. "We're going to be prefects together, this will be great." He said.
Audrey shook her head. "Not exactly, I didn't make prefect." She said.
"What? How can that be?" Percy asked grabbing her letter.
"It's alright though; it won't be any different then before." Audrey said.
Percy nodded. "No different." He repeated.
"Mum that's sad." Molly said hugging her mom.
Audrey just smiled. "No, I wasn't very sad, I was too happy for your dad. It's a really big honor to be made prefect." Audrey said.
"As a prefect I got to take charge of showing the first years around, and keeping order in the halls and the common room." Percy explained.
As he continued to explain about the duties he had while he was a prefect, Audrey couldn't help, but think back to the ride on the express that year.
Audrey picked the first empty car she could find, and sulked down into the seat.
'I can't ride with you today; I've got to sit in the prefect's car.' She thought about Percy's words, as she looked out onto the platform. She waved at her Uncle who mirrored her sad expression. He was always sad to see her go away for so long. As the train sped off Audrey looked away from the window, and down to her book. Her uncle had sent it with her, knowing she would have more time alone this year, due to Percy being busy with his prefects duties. She stared at the pages, not reading the words for a long time before she was interrupted by the door opening.
"Why so glum?" Fred said sitting to her right.
"It's not a good look for you." George added, plopping down to her left.
"Percy can't sit here, he has to sit with the prefects." Audrey explained.
"You can't
be glum about not being a prefect." George said.
"You're much to fun to be a prefect, only prats make prefect." Fred added.
Audrey smiled. "Thanks guys." She said.
"No worries, what would you do with out us?" Fred asked putting his arm around her shoulder.
"Read quietly, staying out of any trouble." She predicted.
"Exactly, who'd want any part in that?" George asked.
"Someone who knows better then you or me." Audrey said with a smile.
Fred shook his head. "Haven't you ever heard that ignorance is bliss? Why do you think George and I are the happiest pair around?" He said with a laugh.
As the hours went by Audrey and the twins laughed and played around, keeping themselves entertained as the train headed towards Hogwarts.
"What on earth are you doing?" Percy asked standing at the door, a confused look on his face. He tilted his head to get a better look at the three. The were piled up together on some sort of sheet with colored squares, Percy had never seen such a thing before.
"It's a game my muggle Gran sent me; apparently it's popular with them. They call it Twister." Audrey said reading off the box.
"It's primitive, yet surprisingly fun." George said.
"What's the point of it?" Percy asked, not finding their explanations helpful at all.
"It's about balance. You spin and it tells you a color and a body part and you are supposed to find a way to get that body part on that color without falling." Audrey explained.
"What's the point in it?" Percy said.
Audrey smiled. "It's just a muggle game Percy, they're much less complicated then wizarding games." Audrey explained.
"Though just as fun." Fred said moving his right hand to red.
Percy just shrugged. "Alright then, I came to tell you we're nearing Hogwarts, you should probably change into your robes." He explained.
"Oh thanks." Audrey said moving to stand up, but instead losing her balance and toppling over, taking Fred and George with her. She stood up, brushing herself off. "Should I save you a spot at the table?" She asked Percy.
"Yes. I should be able to sit with you." Percy replied, looking even more confused at the three.
"Great." Audrey said with a big smile. She had so much to talk to him about.
"Don't forget to change into your robes." Percy reminded.
"Robes,
right." Audrey said.
"You look like you've been confounded. Are you still in there?" Percy asked.
Audrey smiled at Percy. "Of course, why?" She asked.
"I put the kids to bed a few minutes ago; you've sort of been in your own world for a while. What are you doing?" He asked.
"Just thinking." Audrey explained.
"About what?" Percy asked sitting next to her.
"Fifth year." Audrey said.
"That was a good year." Percy said.
Audrey nodded. "It was." She replied, though she was sure she enjoyed fifth year for a much different reason then Percy did.
"You spent your fifth year getting into trouble with my brothers." Percy said, rolling his eyes.
Audrey smiled as she stood up. "And imagine, I got caught only about half the time." She said with a wink. "I suppose the girl's will want to be tucked in." She added.
"I suppose so," Percy said grabbing her hand as they walked up the stairs. "Troublemaker." He added with a smile.