All right, it's time to take a look at how Audrey saw the whole scenario :D
8. A Duelling Mind
Following her encounter with Halloway, Audrey needed to let loose. She had discovered in the last few weeks that alcohol was not necessarily the best way to meet such an end, and had instead resorted to paying frequent visits to the duelling rooms of the Auror Office after hours.
It was suspiciously relaxing to damage practice dummies.
After Audrey had brought about ten dummies to their early demises, she felt breathless and unweighted. With a satisfied nod at the wreckage she created, Audrey headed for the changeroom showers. She turned on the water as hot as possible. It burned and reddened her skin, causing Audrey to wince in pain, but soon enough she didn't even notice the heat. It provided a warmth that she rarely found in herself those days.
Eventually, the water started to run cold, and Audrey stepped out and got dressed. When she left the Auror Office, Audrey couldn't help but notice how unbearably quiet the rest of the building was. There were still some people shuffling papers and passing through doorways every now and then, but there was no incessant chattering, like one would find during the day.
As Audrey turned her gaze away from peeking through doorways, her pace slowed to a stop. Once again, her persistently astute green eyes met Percy Weasley's kind blue ones. They hadn't seen each other since Audrey's undesired encounter with Daphne, so she could only imagine what he thought of her.
"Didn't think there'd be anyone else here," Percy said eventually.
Audrey shrugged. "The Auror Office never rests." She wasn't about to admit to using the duelling rooms and showers after hours. That was her secret.
As for Percy, he noticed that her hair was oddly damp and her features didn't seem quite as sharp and deadly as they did when he first met her.
Silence filled the gap between the two of them. For the first time ever, Audrey found she was actually getting a headache from excessive quiet. Finally, Percy said, "Well, thank you."
Audrey frowned. "Thank you? For what?"
It dawned on Percy then that she probably didn't see him in Diagon Alley. You're a pompous idiot, Perce. "You were one of the Aurors to catch that man in Diagon Alley earlier today, weren't you? I was there with my sister," he clarified.
"I'm not an Auror," Audrey said. "I'm in training." She wasn't sure why she felt the need to make that correction. Maybe it was because part of her was still bitter about her conversation with Halloway.
"Oh. Well, thanks anyways," Percy replied. He was shocked to find out that she was still training. Ginny was right in one respect: Audrey was very talented at duelling. It was surprising that she was only a trainee.
"Yeah, no problem, I guess," was the only reply Audrey could think to muster.
There was another long pause. They were occurring so often between the two of them that they weren't even awkward anymore. However, Percy decided to break it with a question he quickly regretted. "How do you know Daphne Greengrass?"
Anger flooded Audrey's entire body. At first, it was anger with Percy, for even asking. It wasn't any of his bloody business. Then, it transformed into anger with Daphne Greengrass, for being an insufferable bint and talking to her. They weren't even close. However, after that, it was just empty, ambient anger and it filled every single part of Audrey. The ire flashing in her eyes sent a chill travelling up Percy's spine. That, he recognized, was the feeling of regret.
"Why would it possibly matter?" she eventually asked in reply, her tone deadly quiet.
Percy didn't know what answer to give. He would either sound like he was losing his mind, or like he was extremely rude. Neither were graves he wanted to dig for himself. That didn't matter, however, because Audrey knew exactly why it would concern him.
She felt a smile grace her lips, but it wasn't out of happiness. It felt dull and jaded. "Of course," she started, "but I'm sorry to burst your bubble. I'm not leading some crazy pureblood rebellion. Move along."
"You know, you're a lot more disagreeable than when we first met," Percy said, with sudden confidence. He mentally slapped himself immediately. What the hell is wrong with you? Just leave the woman alone, for Merlin's sake.
The words felt like a knife was being twisted in her gut. Audrey no longer felt angry. She felt hurt and absolutely exhausted. Her intimidating glare was replaced by an expression that Percy had often seen on his own face: exhaustion. Audrey rolled her eyes and replied, "Yeah, well it's been a long day, mate. I'm not really in the mood to do this right now."
On that final note, Audrey brushed past Percy and continued down the hallway to the Floo Networks.
Percy felt like an idiot. She was right, in that it really didn't matter how she knew Daphne Greengrass. The way Percy asked did make it seem like he unnecessarily suspected her of something evil, and he then realized that he probably did.
These suspicions of Audrey were also extinguished in the same moment. That familiar look of exhaustion on her face made Percy realize something: maybe it wasn't because she was tired of work. She might have just been tired of dealing with her past. That was something Percy could both understand and respect.
And then there was her excuse. It's been a long day. Its familiarity stung at Percy like the venom of a snake, and only confirmed his revelation of the mysterious dark-haired woman. Her past was something that haunted her on a daily basis, and her deepest desire was simply to escape it and continue life with a clean slate. It was much like Percy's predicament. And like his own predicament, Percy assumed, no matter how much she wanted to escape her past, it was the reason she had been able to achieve any change in the first place. The past was the one thing that kept her firmly rooted in her present.
In that moment, Percy felt sympathy for Audrey, and he only felt worse about his invasive question.
As Audrey swept past Percy, the last look on his face lingered in her mind. It communicated shock and understanding.
Regardless of Percy's reaction, Audrey still had the same painful feeling coursing through her body. Tears stung her eyes. Not because she felt offended by Percy's comment, but because it held some truth in it. Audrey tried so hard to protect herself from her past, but it also resulted in pushing back people that didn't even mean any harm. She was hurt by herself, and it felt absolutely ridiculous.
Audrey realized in that moment that her so-called 'coping mechanism' wasn't the occasional drink at the Leaky Cauldron or gruelling hours of duelling practice. It was being cold-hearted and exclusive. In her experience, the only way Audrey could avoid the past from being repeated was by keeping everyone at arm's length.
Of course, Audrey was not a fool. She saw the self-destructiveness in this, and that was why tears were now running freely down her cheeks.
Percy slowly and quietly closed the front door of the Burrow behind him. The entry hallway was shrouded in darkness and inexplicable silence. Percy could never remember being the only one awake in that house, and the silence shocked him. It felt incredibly uneasy. He realized it was probably because it mimicked the loneliness he felt when he was living alone.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a glass being placed on a wooden table. Knowing that someone else was awake in the house brought some comfort to him. He quietly walked in the kitchen to see George sitting in the dark early morning shadows with a glass cradled in his hands. A board squeaked under Percy's foot, causing George's head to shoot up and his hand to go to his wand.
"Bloody hell, Perce," George muttered, slouching back into his chair. "You nearly scared me into next week. Give a bloke some warning, will you?"
"Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you," Percy said, sitting across from George.
George mumbled something incoherent. Percy assumed he was tired, until his eyes landed on the glass in his hands. His eye's widened and he grabbed the glass from his younger brother's clumsy grip. He sniffed the amber liquid and confirmed his suspicions.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" Percy hissed, giving George an incredulous look. "It's three in the morning, and you're sitting here drinking firewhiskey alone?"
George grabbed the glass back from Percy and downed the rest of the liquid. He didn't say anything, and he avoided Percy's gaze.
Percy scoffed. "This is really something, from the man that told me to pull it together," he said.
"It's not the same," George snapped. "He was my other half, Percy."
"I might as well have pushed him into that rubble!" Percy argued, careful to keep his voice down. "You think it was easy for me?"
George only shook his head. Percy noticed his face was stained with tears, and immediately felt like a horrible person. That was something he was feeling often, lately.
"I'm sorry, George," Percy said quietly.
"No, you're right," George muttered. "I don't know, I just want to forget. And I can't. No matter how much of this stuff I drink. And if I try to dive into my work, it just reminds me more of him, because it was our bloody joke shop. Nothing works, Percy."
"That's not necessarily a bad thing, you know," Percy said.
George scoffed. "It feels like a bad thing."
"And there's nothing you can do to change that. You can't escape your past, George. You just have to change so that you can live with it. Remember our deal?"
"Yeah, I remember our deal. Did you keep it, though?"
Percy paused before meekly answering, "No."
"Exactly. Easier said than done, isn't it?" George said. He grabbed the firewhiskey bottle from underneath the table and poured another glass.
Percy clenched his jaw and grabbed the bottle from his hands. "Since when do you follow in my footsteps, huh?"
"Well, it's certainly not on purpose. Who in their right mind would want to be a right git like you?"
"Stop it. Stop joking around to make us think you're okay," Percy scolded. "Just because we believe it doesn't make it true."
"You know, I always hoped it would."
By the time Audrey arrived at the Ministry's Floo Networks, she had a change of heart. Instead of the fireplace, she stepped out into the streets of London and headed for a muggle pub. She needed at least one drink, and she wanted to avoid any unnecessary encounters.
She had three drinks, and no encounters.
By the time she arrived to her flat, it was already dark out. The flat itself was nearly pitch black, with all of the blinds and curtains drawn. Audrey opened the door as quietly as she could, imagining that Erin was asleep. She was right in that respect, except Audrey had not expected her petite blonde friend to be asleep at the dining table.
Once Audrey noticed Erin, her head resting on folded arms on top of the dining table and her blonde curls covering her face, she gently shook her shoulder. Erin's head snapped up immediately, probably not expecting to be woken at all.
"Merlin's pants, Audrey, you scared me into Tuesday," Erin said.
"I'm sorry, I'll knock next time I want to enter my own flat," Audrey replied sarcastically.
Erin rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "That's not what I meant," she muttered.
That was when Audrey's eyes finally adjusted to the dark and noticed that her friend's cheeks were stained with tears. Audrey immediately sat down next to Erin and grabbed her hand, face filled with worry.
"Erin, what's going on with you?" Audrey asked.
Erin shook her head but avoided Audrey's gaze. "Nothing."
Audrey scoffed. "You're basically my sister. I know when you're lying."
Silence filled the room like a thick vapour. It was dispersed by a sob escaping from Erin's mouth.
"For Merlin's sake, Erin," Audrey breathed out, moving closer to embrace her friend.
"I just – I was just thinking about Dad, I guess, and it always gets me in such a state and I suppose I cried myself to sleep, by the looks of it. Bloody hell, how embarrassing."
Erin's dad was a muggle-born and, quite expectedly, did not fare well during the war. He had been killed in broad daylight by Death Eaters, in front of other muggles and, unfortunately, Erin. Erin's mother had disappeared right before the Ministry fell, but she didn't have high hopes that the French woman was still alive, pureblood or not.
"It's not embarrassing, Erin," Audrey said comfortingly. "You can talk to me, you know? I won't stop you from crying, but you don't have to cry alone."
"That's rich, coming from you."
Audrey tensed. She was just about to ask Erin what she meant, but stopped herself, because she realized Erin was right. That was rather hypocritical of Audrey to say. Just a few hours ago she had been thinking about how closed off she was to everyone, and now here she was telling her closest friend to open up. It wasn't exactly like she was setting the best example for Erin. Plus, if Audrey never opened up to Erin, how could she expect Erin to open up to her?
"I'm sorry," Erin suddenly said, wiping her face. "I'm just so bloody emotional."
"No, you're right," Audrey said quietly. "I never let you into my problems. Why would I expect you to do the same?"
"All things aside, it's pretty sound advice," Erin replied optimistically.
"Erin, we need to make a deal," Audrey continued, her tone serious. "From now on, we open up to each other. If we need to laugh, cry, gossip – anything – we need to talk to each other."
"It's a deal, ma'am," Erin agreed. "Now stop being so gosh darn serious and get me the tub of ice cream from the freezer. We have some talking to do."
So that's resolved... sort of ;)