*Sorry again for the wait everyone. I PROMISE there will be more to come very very soon. No more long waits!!!
"Mum, when you and dad talk about the fight you had 7th year was it because of Penny?" Lucy asked from where she sat on the counter in Audrey's shop.
Audrey looked up from where she was arranging the sweets in her muggle sweet section. "No, I gave up fighting with your dad about Percy." She replied.
"Well then what was it about?" Lucy asked.
"My shop." Audrey said with a shrug.
Lucy was about to ask more when Molly ran in followed by George. "Hi mum!" Molly yelled as she ran by.
Audrey raised an eyebrow at George. "What's that about?" She asked.
"Beats me." George said with a shrug.
"I have a bone to pick with you, Mr. Weasley." Audrey said leaning against the counter.
"And why's that, Mrs. Weasley?" George ask.
"It certainly couldn't be because you bet my children that I wouldn't know who told them to ask about Percy and my first fight." She said.
George just smiled. "What's the fun in a story if it doesn't have some conflict?" George asked.
"Because there wasn't any conflict between the end of school and now." Audrey said.
"The war?" Lucy asked, perking up.
Audrey turned to her. "Yes, but I don't even know if we're going to talk about that." She said.
"Why not? We aren't kids anymore." Lucy said.
"Don't you think you've learned enough about me and your dad yet?" Audrey asked with a sigh.
"No." Lucy said simply.
"See what you've started?" Audrey asked George.
"Don't look at me, for once I didn't do it." George said.
"Make a note that may be the first and only time that can be said." Audrey laughed.
Molly ran in and grabbed a piece of candy out of one of the jars. She jumped up on the counter next to Lucy. "What are we learning about now?" She asked.
Audrey looked at her, wondering whether or not to ask about what she had been up to, but decided it was best not to know. "Your sister asked about 7th year." She explained.
"What happened 7th year?" Molly asked.
"I was just about to tell you." Audrey said with a smile.
Audrey and Percy sat together at the table in the Weasley's kitchen staring at an envelope.
"Well, read it." Audrey said pushing it towards Percy.
"No, you read it." He said pushing it back towards her.
"Percy it's your letter from the ministry, I didn't apply there remember?" She asked.
"How about I open it, and you read it?" He asked.
She smiled. "Alright, fine." She said with a smile.
Percy reached over and grabbed the letter. He slowly opened it, and then through the letter over to Audrey.
"Ok, now read it." He said.
She shook her head and grabbed the envelope. She pulled the letter out, and opened it. Before you could read it she looked back at Percy. "Are you sure you don't want to read it?" She asked.
"No, just read it." He said closing his eyes.
As Audrey read the letter a smiled crept onto her face. When she didn't say anything Percy opened his eyes, and looked at her expectantly.
"Well, what does it say?" He asked.
"You got the job." She said.
"What? Are you serious?" He asked jumping up.
She stood up and pulled him in for a hug. "Congratulations Percy." She said. Before she knew what was happing Percy leaned in and kissed her. She jumped back, shocked.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." Percy said, looking nervous.
Audrey shook her head. "No, it just caught me off guard." She said.
"Audrey, put in your application to the ministry too, we should do this together." Percy said excitedly.
"Percy I have my shop to run." She explained.
"You could do so much more then that though." He grabbed her hand. "You're not cut out to be some lowly shop owner, Audrey." He said.
Audrey pulled her hands away from him. "How dare you. That shop is the only thing I have left of my parents, and you're looking down on me for wanting to keep that?" She asked. She turned around, and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going Audrey? I didn't mean it that way." He said running after her.
"I'm going home. Have a good night Percy." She said slamming the door behind her. When she reached the yard she immediately apparated back to her house.
"Hello?" Ed asked walking into the kitchen where Audrey had apparated.
"It's just me." Audrey said, she wiped away a tear as he walked in.
He sighed. "What did Percy do now?" He asked putting on a pot of water.
Audrey sat at the table. "Apparently I'm not good enough because I'm not working for the ministry." She said.
"You shouldn't take what he said too seriously. You know how highly he thinks about the ministry. I'm sure he doesn't feel like you're any less of a person because you're not working there." Ed said.
"All I've wanted for years was to open this shop; I just figured that if anyone would know how important it would be to me it would be Percy." She said sadly.
Ed poured two cups of tea and set one down in front of Audrey. Suddenly they heard a loud snap from the living room. Ed sat the other cup down, across from Audrey.
"Just listen to what he has to say." He said.
"You're on the wrong side." Audrey said shaking her head.
"I'm on you're side, you'll see." He said before he walked away.
"Audrey?" Percy asked walking into the kitchen.
"Just let yourself into my house, why don't you." Audrey said to him.
Percy sat down across from her. "Was Ed here?" He asked looking at the cup of tea.
"It's for you." She said rolling her eyes.
"Oh." Percy said. "Please don't be mad at me Audrey. You took what I said completely wrong." He explained.
"So I took 'lowly shop owner' the wrong way? What way did you mean it in exactly?" She asked.
"I wasn't thinking." Percy said grabbing her hand.
"You never do." She said.
"That's not fair." Percy said.
"You know how much this shop means to me." Audrey said.
"I know. I'm sorry Audrey." He said. He looked her in the eyes. "Please forgive me." He said.
"I can't stand knowing that you think I'm less of a person because I don't work for the ministry." Audrey said.
"I don't." Percy said.
"Prove it, then we'll talk." Audrey said standing up and walking away. Behind her she heard a loud snap, she didn't even turn to see that he had left.
That night Audrey sat on her couch reading a book by the fire.
"It's late, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Ed said.
"I'll be done in a bit." Audrey said.
Ed nodded, and put his hand on her shoulder, the way he always did. "He'll come through."
"I've gotten in a bit over my head with this one." Audrey said with a sigh.
"He'll get there." Ed said.
"I think he may already be there." She said quietly.
"Lack of sleep won't make anything better." Ed reminded her.
"Alright, alright." Audrey said shutting her book. "I'm going." She said walking up to bed.
"Good night." Ed said with a smile.
"Good night." She replied as she went up to bed.
"Well that doesn't answer anything!" Lucy said.
Audrey laughed. "I'm not done yet." She said.
"What did Dad do to make you like him again?" Molly asked.
"I'll tell you if there are no more questions." Audrey said.
"Shh!" Molly said to Lucy.
Audrey and Ed were working in the shop setting up stands and organizing candy when the door opened. Audrey didn't even have to look up to see who it was as a voice called out.
"What can I do to help?" Percy asked.
"My muggle candy could use organizing." She said giving him a slight smile.
"I can do that." He said walking over to where she had pointed.
"Muggle candy is a good idea." He said as he started to organize it.
"My parents didn't have any; I wanted it to be my personal touch." She explained. "Do you think it will sell?" She asked.
Percy nodded. "Yea, I think it's a great idea. Where does it come from?" He asked.
"I inherited a lot of money from my muggle Gram; I used some of it to buy this." She explained as she set a pack of candy on the shelf next to him.
Percy grabbed her hand. "Am I forgiven?" he asked.
"For now." She said with a smile.
He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Audrey, I…"
"What are you two on about over here? Not fighting I hope?" Ed asked
Audrey's cheeks turned pink as she looked down at the candy. "No, not fighting." She said.
He nodded. "Nice to see you, Percy." He said with a nod in Percy's direction.
Percy just nodded back. He pulled a packet of candy up and looked at it. "What is this?" He asked.
Audrey took it from him with a smile. "It's called Fun Dip." She explained.
"That doesn't explain much." Percy replied.
"It's a sugar stick that you lick then dip into flavored sugar." She explained.
"And people actually want to eat that?" He asked, shocked.
"It's candy Percy, the more sugar the better." Audrey said with a laugh.
"If you say so, where should it go?" He asked.
Audrey pointed towards a shelf. "Right there is fine." She said.
She smiled, feeling that things were finally falling into place. Her shop would be open soon, Percy would be working at the ministry and finally they were things were falling into place with them too. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but somewhere between the end of the school year, and Penny and Percy going separate ways, she figures he finally realized just how perfectly they both fit into every section of each other's lives.
Molly looked at her Mum with a smile. "Dad finally realized he loved you, didn't he?" She asked.
Audrey smiled back. "I think so, but I don't know exactly when it happened."
"But thank goodness it did, we could have been much worse off with that Penny." George said kissing Audrey's cheek. "I've got to get back to the shop. I'm going to take some of these." He said grabbing a handful of chocolates.
Audrey smiled. "Enjoy." She said waving as he left. "Now girls, who wants to help me put the new candy out?" She asked.
The girls groaned. "Do we have to?" Lucy asked.
Audrey shook her head. "No, go have fun." She said shooing them away.
"Thanks Mum!" The girls yelled in unison as they ran off.
Audrey looked over at the counter at the photo she had gotten from Percy years ago, and sighed. She just didn't know whether to talk to the girls about what happened next or not. She was torn between wanting them to know the history of their family and not wanting to expose them to the pain and fear that helped bring their family closer together. She didn't want them to be mad at their father for the choices he made back then, and she certainly didn't want to upset them with the world they were so lucky not to know. But the voice inside her kept arguing that if any piece of history was important for them to know, this piece was it.
She ran her fingers through her hair, as she made up her mind. She would tell them.