*~* Sorry, before you get into the chapter, I wanted to appologize for taking so long to post this one. I've had internet trouble and wasn't able to get on. I also want to thank everyone sooo much for the reviews. They are all greatly appreciated, and you guys are just awesome! Thanks so much! *~*
Molly and Lucy sat in their pajamas together talking in hushed voices as Percy and Audrey walked in the room. They stood quietly at the door watching the two girls for a minute. Molly spotted them, and nudged Lucy who quickly stopped talking and turned to them.
"What's this then?" Audrey asked as she sat down on Molly's bed.
"Tell us about when you two got in your first fight, won't you please mum?" Molly asked.
"Where'd that idea come from?" Percy asked, looking up shocked.
"Uncle George." Audrey said along with the girls.
"How'd she know?" Molly asked to Lucy.
"I told you she'd know! Now we have to pay him a sickle each." Lucy said.
"You're uncle bet you that I wouldn't know?" Audrey asked. When the two nodded she shook her head. "You don't have to pay your uncle anything, that was bum odds." She said.
"What?" Molly asked, looking at her mum confused.
"It means that he knew that mum would know. He cheated." Percy explained.
"That cheater!" Lucy said, shocked.
Audrey just shook her head; she'd be having a conversation with Uncle George in the morning when she got to work. "I suppose I could, but it seems so much like a bed time story, and I don't see anyone here that looks ready for bed." Audrey said. She turned to Percy who was sitting next to Lucy's bed. "Don't you think so?" She asked.
"I'd have to agree," Percy said as he wiped off the lens of his glass on his shirt. "Which is a shame because I kind of want to hear this one." He said putting his glasses back on.
The girls looked at each other quickly before Lucy gave Molly a push towards her bed. Molly scrambled over to her bed and jumped in under her blankets in one swift motion.
"You guys are really good at that." Lucy said as she pulled her blankets up around her.
Audrey smiled. "I know, it's brilliant, isn't it? We can't take all the credit though; we learned it from the manual that came with you." She said, her smile getting even bigger.
"Babies come with manuals?" Molly asked. The look on her face made it appear as if she couldn't decide whether to be more excited or shocked, which only served to make Audrey start to laugh.
"No silly, I'm only joking. Your dad sure wishes you did though." She said, ruffling up Molly's hair.
"Don't I ever." Percy said with a sigh.
"Shh dad, Mum's gonna start the story now." Molly said holding her finger to her mouth.
"Oh, sorry." Percy said in a whisper that was quickly shushed away by Molly.
Audrey smiled, and though back to where she ought to begin.
Percy sat quietly in the common room pretending to read a book when really we was impatiently waiting for Audrey to get back from watching quidditch practice. He turned to the door quickly as he heard the sound of laughter. Audrey was holding her side, and roaring with laughter as she walked into the common room accompanied by Fred and George. The two followed her over to wear Percy was sitting.
"What's so funny?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrow in curiosity.
Audrey slumped into the chair beside him. "Fred accidentally hit George in the head with his bat." She said though her laughter.
"Accidently my…"
"Language!" Percy interrupted.
"I wasn't actually going to say it." Audrey said, making a bit of a guilty look. "Anyway."
"I've got to talk to you." Percy said quickly.
"Oh. Alright" Audrey said, calming her laughing down as she saw the look on Percy's face. "What is it?" She asked.
Percy looked up at the twins.
"Alright, alright, we know when we're not welcome." Fred said, nudging George. "We've got better things to do then listen to a prefect emergency anyway." He added before the two walked off.
"What's wrong?" Audrey asked, pulling her chair closer to Percy so their conversation could be private.
"Nothing's wrong, everything is very right." Percy said with a smile.
"Oh?" Audrey asked, confused.
"All of the prefects have decided to get together and throw a new term party, they're allowing up a classroom, and we can invite anyone we want." Percy explained.
Audrey's face lit up, she'd never been to a party before. "That's brilliant!" She said.
"You'll come right?" Percy asked.
"Wouldn't miss it!" Audrey said with a huge smile.
The rest of the night before bed Percy explained all the details of the party and his role in planning it. They chatted excitedly about what they might wear, and they both relished in their excitement.
That Saturday Audrey could hardly contain her excitement as she sat with Percy, reading through their next lessons. She barely paid attention to the words as her mind constantly wondered to the party that would be happening that night.
Alicia, one of their classmates walked up with a smile. "Audrey, want to come get ready with me?" She asked.
Audrey stood up. "Love to." She said. She turned back to Percy. "Meet you in the hall in an hour?" She asked. Percy just nodded, hardly looking up from his book.
Audrey walked off with Alicia to their room and both girls chatted excitedly as they got ready. Audrey had set out her favorite dress and the necklace her uncle had sent her when she owled him about the party.
"So are you going with Percy?" Alicia asked.
She looked away as her cheeks went pink. She couldn't explain it, but recently she'd been felling strange whenever she was around Percy. When he smiled at her, she'd forget to breath, and when he hugged her she felt like her heart would beat right out of her chest. In fact, just the though of him made butterflies fly around in her stomach. "Well, we're best friends, we do everything together." She explained, shaking the thoughts from her mind. The idea that she might fancy Percy made her sick to her stomach; she hadn't planned for anything like that.
Audrey tucked one last strand of her hair into the bobby pin, and turned to Alicia nervously. "Do I look aright?" She asked.
"You look great, Percy is lucky to get to go with you." she said.
Audrey just looked down embarrassed as she thanked her.
"Ready to go?" Alicia asked.
Audrey nodded and the two walked down together. They separated with a wave as Audrey walked over to meet up with Percy who was looking quite nice in his dress robes, she noticed.
"You look nice." She said fighting to keep her cheeks from turning pink as butterflies flew around her stomach.
"Do you really think so because I've got to go pick up Penny in a few minutes, and I'm pretty nervous." Percy said looking around.
"Penny?" Audrey asked. She took a breath as the butterflies starting to feel more like rocks tumbling around.
Percy's face lit up. "Yea, Penny Clearwater, I asked her to go with me." he explained.
"Of course." Audrey said, feeling as if she might be sick.
"Audrey, she's amazing, you can't even imagine. She's so pretty, and the smartest girl I know." Percy said with a happy sigh.
Audrey could feel her heart drop as she fought to hold back the tears. "For someone so smart you're a real idiot, Percy Weasley." Audrey said before turning around and running down the hall.
She didn't stop running till she made it to the top of the astronomy tower where she slid down the wall, finally letting the tears fall as she sat on the ground. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid, believing that Percy would be going with her. She looked down seeing her dress which only made her cry harder. She wiped her eyes quickly as she heard steps near by. She couldn't stop her tears so she pulled her knees up to her chest, and hid her face behind them.
"I'm fine." She said addressing the unidentified stranger.
"Clearly." A familiar voice said sitting next to her.
She looked up, tears streaming down her face to see Fred. "What are you doing here?" She asked.
"You ran past me. I followed you up here." He explained. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"You're brother's a git." She said before she broke into sobs again.
"Well I could have told you that." Fred said trying to make a joke. He put his hand on Audrey's and sat quietly for a second. "What did he do?" He asked.
"He's not the git I am, I was stupid enough to think, I don't know what I thought, but I look like an idiot in this thing, and it's all because I thought it might impress him." She said.
"You don't look like an idiot. You look pretty." Fred said quietly.
She looked up, wiping away her tears. "That' nice, but you don't have to lie." She said.
Fred smiled. "I never tell a lie."
Audrey couldn't help, but laugh at that. "Sure." She said.
"Why don't you let George and I take you to the party? No reason to let a nice dress go to waste." Fred suggested.
"I look like a mess." Audrey said.
"Not hardly." Fred said with a wink. He stood up, and held his hand out. "Come on, George and I will change quicker then you can say blast-ended skrewt and then we'll go and have a good time." He said.
She took his hand and stood up. "Thank you." She said.
The two walked back to the common room where Fred grabbed George and the two changed quickly.
"Alright, are you ready to go with the two finest dates in all of Hogwarts?" George asked.
"Yes, where are they?" Audrey asked looking around.
"Look who's the comedian." George said rolling his eyes.
The two boys linked arms with Audrey as they walked into the party. Audrey couldn't help, but laugh as George made jokes about having to share a date, and as Fred consistently responded that it wasn't his fault George couldn't find his own date.
"Come on, a dance will cheer you up." Fred said as he pulled Audrey off towards where everyone was dancing.
"I can't dance." Audrey said trying to pull away.
Fred grabbed her arm and pulled her in close. "Don't worry, it isn't difficult." He said.
"Audrey, there you are." Percy said walking up to them. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.
Audrey spun towards him. "What's wrong with me? You are! If you know what's good for you, you will not speak to me ever again Percy Ignatius Weasley!" She said turning back to Fred. "Come on, let's go." She said.
Fred just shrugged at his brother as Audrey pulled him off, leaving Percy standing alone, confused at what had just transpired.
"You can't mean for him never to talk to him again." Fred said as he handed Audrey a glass of punch.
"For the time being that's what I mean." She said. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "I don't want to think about it. Let's just have fun." She suggested.
Fred nodded. "Good idea." He said.
After many hours later, the two walked into the common room, exhausted by the night's events. Audrey was about to go up to bed when she turned back around.
"Fred." She said, getting his attention.
He turned around. "Yea?" he asked.
She walked up to him and pulled him in for a hug, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." She said.
He smiled back at her. "Anytime." He said.
Lucy looked at her mother shocked. "Mum!" She scolded. "You're supposed to love dad not Uncle Fred." She said.
Audrey smiled, unsure of what to say, luckily Percy jumped in.
"Sometimes I'm not the smartest when it comes to your mum's feelings. Uncle Fred made her feel better, there's nothing wrong with that." Percy explained as he got up and sat next to Audrey. "Besides, we ended up together, didn't we?"
"Yea." Molly said with a yawn. Percy stood up, and tucked her in as Audrey got up and tucked Lucy in.
"Don't worry, I'll never anyone quite like I love your dad." She whispered as she tucked Lucy in.
"Promise?" Lucy asked, looking up at her mum, still obviously bothered by the story.
"Promise." Audrey said.