A/N: I do not own or profit from Harry Potter.

Thanks so much to all my wonderful reviewers!

Chapter 14: Demented

Percy pushed through the door into Penny's building, stumbling a little. He should have come here first. She was the one who would understand, not his parents, not his family. He'd not told them much about what he'd done during the war. Not that they didn't care, weren't concerned, but there were simply better things to be done than sit around and mope about the past. Tragedy was tragedy, but they had all tried to move on. And Percy had never been particularly inclined to tell his own story.

Penny knew. He trusted her. And she was a healer, maybe she knew some potion that would get rid of the nausea...and the dementors.

He stopped in front of the brown door that was Penny's and knocked. Pounded, actually. She didn't answer. He glanced at his watch.

She was at work. She had a shift at St. Mungo's. Of course.

He put his head against the door and let out a breath, then apparated back to his own apartment building. Of course, there was no one to talk to. Had there ever been? He passed his landlady on the stairs and turned the corner to his flat, and stopped abruptly.

Lucy was standing there, clutching her handbag, worry lines covering her forehead and face.

"Lucy?"

She turned towards him. "Percy. I'm so sorry, but I realized I don't have your number, and I didn't know where to find you..."

"What is it?" He interrupted her, more sharply than usual. He was tired and he could not get the chill out of his bones, and she looked afraid.

"It's Audrey. She went out for the morning with a friend, only she wouldn't say where, and she promised she'd be back, but she isn't. I tried calling her, but her phone is unavailable."

"Do you have any idea where she might be?"

Lucy glanced at something crumpled in her hand. "I found this, and tore out the page." She handed it over.

It was page from some sort of book, listing names and strange numbers and addresses. In the center, with a thick black circle drawn around it, were printed the words MALFOY, LUCIUS.

He turned around at once. "Lucy, go home. I'll find her."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Lucy, go home!" He snapped hastily, spinning and starting down the stairs. He'd pulled his wand out at some point, and as soon as he was outside, he sent a patronus up to the ceiling. It was late, someone had to be available. "Charlie, meet me at Malfoy Manor if you can. Now."

He apparated outside the familiar gates and waited for either Charlie or a return Patronus to find him.

In a moment, Charlie appeared, still pulling a jacket on. "What's up?"

"Something bad." Percy turned and peered through the gates. "Audrey Bones, the girl involved in this case, she found out where Malfoy lives and I think she's in there." He explained all in a rush.

"Why the hell?"

"Because..." Percy shook his head and waved away the question. "I don't have time. If Malfoy caught her in there, she's..."

Charlie seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation, and nodded. "Right. Let's go."

Percy put his badge against the gates and they dissolved long enough for the pair to sprint up the drive.

"I hope you know," Charlie said as they mounted the terrace and approached the doors with their wands out, "That you just interrupted the ultimate game of Exploding Snap."

Percy rapped on the door with the knocker and waited a moment.

There was a long pause before it was opened, creaking, and Draco Malfoy stood on the other side. His lip was fighting to curl as he stood there.

"Malfoy." Charlie reached out to push him out of the way. "You know us, you know why we're here, so let's just skip to the interesting part."

Malfoy was reluctantly moved out of the doorway to admit them. Percy glanced around the hall and then turned to Draco. "Are you alone?" He asked, his tone clipped.

"My mother is here."

"Anyone else?" Charlie cut in. "Any guests? Anyone you might be considering lying to us about?" He had his wand out, kept his tone tight and threatening.

Draco glanced from one to the other, and for the second time that day, Percy felt that he was at a dead end with the Malfoys. Draco had no idea what they wanted, just as his father hadn't had the faintest idea what he had been interrogated about. He cleared his throat, hoping someone knew. "May we speak to Mrs. Malfoy?"

Draco's nose went just a bit higher in the air as he turned his heel and led them up the stairs. Charlie and Percy exchanged glances and followed after him.

.

Audrey leaned back against the wall as Percy and his brother disappeared up the stairs with the blond man.

"That's your policeman." Davis whispered. "He can get us out of here."

"We'll have to get his attention without the other guy noticing." She whispered back.

"He came here for us." Davis mused. "Your mother must have called him."

Audrey shut her eyes. Hours. They had been in this dark, dusty room for hours, muffling their sneezes and trying to plot a way out of the place without getting caught. They'd tried the door at every opportunity. The windows in the room were boarded and covered by heavy drapes. And now, her mother had missed her and called Percy, of all people (though honestly there was no one else to get them out of this mess), and when he found out she had come here, he would be furious. Providing she was actually able to get his attention.

They waited a long moment, occasionally peeking out to look up the stairs and wait for Percy and his brother to return.

At long last, there was the loud shutting of a door, and a clipped voice broke the silence that smothered the manor.

"I hope you're satisfied." The strange young man sounded contemptuous. Footsteps started coming down the stairs, and Audrey peeped out once more. Percy's brother was coming down the stairs, with Percy just behind him, as the young man stood and watched them go.

Percy's brother glanced up once and his eyes happened to light on her face. She tried to mouth something, then realized she didn't know what to say.

He stopped and turned around at once, and for a moment she was afraid he would turn her in. "You know what, Malfoy?" He snapped. "I'm not satisfied." He began stubbornly to march back up the staircase. Percy looked at him askance as he stomped back up the stairs to where the thin pale boy stood. "You go on, Perce, I want to have a talk with this little shit again."

"Charlie..."

"Percy! Move it!" Charlie snapped, seizing the front of the boy's long robe and pulling him away.

Percy stared after him, spreading his hands in confusion.

Audrey seized Davis' hand the moment the other two were gone, and poked her head out. "Percy!"

He spun and gaped when his eyes found her. Bounding down the last few steps, he stepped into the darkened room with her. "Audrey!"

"Ssh! I don't want that guy knowing I'm here..."

He gritted his teeth and she realized she had in fact made him sufficiently angry. His hand grasped hers and he dragged her to the door, then threw it open and pulled them both out onto the now-darkened terrace. He didn't let go of her as he started down the drive toward the gates, glancing back once as the door swung open again. Charlie caught up with them a moment later. No one said anything as they approached the gates and passed through them again with ease.

"So." The other redhead breached the silence. "I assume this is the fair lady for whom we have been so ardently seeking?"

"This is Audrey. And David." Percy groused.

"Davis."

"Shut up. Audrey, this is Charlie."

"Percy." Audrey tugged her hand out of his and they all stopped as he turned to face her.

He held up his hand. "Why did you go there?"

"For answers."

"That's why you have me!"

"Well, you're not giving me much to go on!" She snapped.

"What, so you go to the house of a murderer for answers?" He demanded hotly.

"You never said explicitly anything about Lucius Malfoy, I was forced to come to my own conclusions."

He gave her a withering look and seemed to calm down a little. "Audrey." He stated through gritted teeth. "There are rules I have to follow. If you think I didn't mean to tell you something, don't act on it. You could have been killed! You have no idea of the things that have happened inside those gates. To people...to anyone!"

She fell silent, crossing her arms defensively. There was a silence as Percy spun again and she noticed for the first time that he, too, was wearing a funny long robe. She glanced up at the shorter redhead as he took her arm and glanced warily back the way they had come.

"So was that Lucius Malfoy?" She asked.

"No. That was his son, Draco."

"So then who's Lucius?"

"I told you. Or, you'll have figured it from that book you looked at. He's your father."

"Wha—?" Charlie gave a sudden, strangled gasp and leapt as far back from Audrey as he could, instantly releasing her arm. "What—Percy, I just touched her!"

Audrey stared at him in surprise, not sure yet whether to be offended. Given his tone of horror and disgust, it did sound uncommonly like an insult.

"No!" Percy put his hand to his head. "No, not like that."

"Then like what?" Charlie demanded warily, keeping several meters between Audrey and himself. He had his hand in his pocket, and she had an uncomfortable queasy feeling that he was armed. Percy stalked over to him, dragged him not far away, and began whispering. The two held a short conference, followed by a long pause as Charlie stared up at Percy, then put his fist to his mouth and looked away. His shoulders twitched once.

"It's not funny!" Percy thundered.

Charlie sniggered. "Yes it is. It's hilarious. It's ironic. Let's go tell him."

"No!" Percy seized his brother's much thicker arm and pulled him back. "No, no, we can't."

"Well, why not?"

"For the very same reason we didn't need him finding out she was there before. For the very reason we thought he might have violently kidnapped and killed her. Because he would kill her. The Malfoys would do anything to protect their family's honor."

"I don't think Draco would. He's too weak, too scared now."

"Well, Lucius isn't. Or he won't be, when he gets out of Azkaban."

Charlie seemed to consider that for a moment before agreeing. "Pity, though, they can't by told. They'd die of shame. I'd like to see that." He gave Audrey a look of appreciation, apparently having reversed his earlier perception of her character. "I don't know how I didn't see that before. She looks just like Dracola, except with black hair."

"She does not. And stop calling him Dracola, it's insulting."

Charlie gave Percy a look aside as they all began to walk again. "Awfully fond of the Malfoy family all of the sudden, are we, Perce?"

Percy didn't respond, and Audrey decided not to say anything more. With Charlie around, she got the impression that she wasn't going to get a whole lot of information out of Percy, and Davis wasn't exactly supposed to know anything about this at all. Percy had properly managed to shame her in front his brother, and so she simply followed in silence.

The sharp deedle-deedle of her cellular phone rang out, making Charlie jump and spin around fully twice before pinpointing the source. She pulled it out of her pocket. Of course, it was Mum. "Just a minute." She hit the call button and stepped away as she thought she heard Charlie ask, "What is it?"

"Mum?"

"Audrey? Where have you been?"

"I'm fine, Mum, I'm on my way home."

"No, darling, stay there. Percy's on his way."

"I know, Mum, he's already here with me, we're coming home now."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Percy Weasley. He's coming."

"I know, he's here with me."

"But...where are you? I just talked to him, just over ten minutes ago, here in London."

"I'm in Wiltshire." Audrey turned to glance at the tall redhead. "You did?"

"Yes. He can't be there with you yet."

Audrey looked back at Percy. "Well, he's here now. I'm looking right at him." Neither said anything for a moment, before Audrey spoke again. "I'll just catch the next seat back and talk to you later." After saying goodbye, both hung up, slightly puzzled. Audrey gazed down at her phone a moment before walking back to where the three men waited. "Um, Percy, How did you get here?"

"By train." He told her. "Why?"

She raised her eyebrows. "My mother said you were just in London ten minutes ago."

His face twitched a little, and he said nothing as he searched for an answer, before simply deciding upon the easiest one.

"It was a fast train."

Audrey glanced at Charlie. He was gazing innocently up at the stars with both hands shoved into his pockets. It was a fast train. Yeah, right. "Okay, then..." None of them said anything until they reached the town again and obtained tickets back to London.

They were mostly silent on the ride home. By some mutual agreement, Percy kept Audrey close and Charlie kept tabs on Davis. There was some whispering between Charlie and Percy, several glances over at Davis, but Audrey couldn't discern what they were saying.

"They're talking about me." Davis whispered to her nervously.

"It's my fault." She whispered back. "I told you some things I wasn't supposed to, and I dragged you in there. It was more dangerous than I realized, and I'm sorry."

He said nothing, but kept a nervous eye on Charlie, who hadn't removed his hand from his jacket pocket in a while.

Percy broke from the brother's parley to speak to her. "Audrey, call your mother and tell her I will get you home later. I'll need to ask you some questions before I can let you go."

She tugged out her phone. "I would've called her in the house, but my phone stopped working entirely."

"Yeah," Charlie put in sympathetically. "Isn't that what happens? Isn't it that all their ekeltracity thingies don't work inside or near wards?"

Percy not-so-subtly kicked his brother's shin. "Yes, Charlie, that's how it works. And hush, we don't know what she heard.

" And it is pronounced electricity."

Charlie rubbed his shin and said nothing, but glared back at his brother once Percy wasn't looking.

.

When they reached London, Charlie seized Davis and bade them farewell with a jovial, "Off to the Ministry!", and then left the other two.

Percy hailed a cab and they rode to his flat, saying little on the way.

"Don't you have an office?" She asked once.

"Yes, but only those with proper permission can go to it, and only at proper hours." He replied as they pulled up at his office. "You're not permitted, so as much as you may dislike me, you'll have to bear with answering some questions here."

She followed him out feeling the need to defend herself. "I do not dislike you, I dislike that fact that you're still trying to hide things from me that I feel I should know."

"So you can go tell them to your friend Davis and get him in trouble?" He asked innocently as he held the door for her.

"What are you going to do to him?" She asked.

"Our job." Percy responded tightly, escorting her up the stairs. In all honesty, he wasn't sure what Charlie was to do to Davis. He pushed open his door, glanced around for any stray red heads, and sat her down. "I'll be back." If course with Audrey around, he'd have to use a pencil instead of a quick-quotes quill. He scowled and grasped one of the tedious muggle writings instruments and returned to the living room.

"All right. Where did you hear the name Lucius Malfoy?"

"I heard you say it." She told him dully. "You were talking. Sometimes you talk so much you get carried away with your own intelligence."

He resisted the urge to glare at her. When he'd thought back in Azkaban that he was going to go see her, this wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. He'd been hoping for a more fond, sweeping, possibly even affectionate, reunion. But he'd been demented (well, more demented) then, and his irrational mind had been carried away. This, this working relationship, this was them for now. "And how did you find out where he lived?"

"I looked him up for a number in the phone book. There wasn't one listed, but after a little looking I did find a street address, in Wiltshire. So I just had to track down that address."

"And what possessed you to do such a stupid thing?" He asked tightly.

She was silent for a long moment. Yes, it had been stupid. It had been a good idea, poorly carried out. She ought to have gone about it more...rationally. Yes, more reasonably, just like Percy. God, she could make herself feel stupid just by thinking about him now. She cast a glance across at him again and noted the details. A tired, tired face, and more pale than she had seen him ever look before. Or perhaps that was just the long, dark clothes he wore. She'd never seen such an outfit before.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, hoping to appease him a little. "I know it was stupid. My father...the man I will always consider my father is dead. And I want the man who did it. If that man is my biological father, than I'm not afraid of him, and..."

"You should be." He cut in harshly, and kicked himself as she looked hurt. He'd always had a talent for being callous in the face of other people's emotions.

But wouldn't he have done the same thing? Hadn't he done the same thing, when Fred died?

No, that was different. I was trained, I had a wand, a weapon, I knew what I was getting into. It was war, we were all in danger anyways. I had to fight. I'm a wizard.

And she's not.

He focused on the words he'd written already, pretending to be reading them when he was really trying not to think. He didn't need this tonight. He didn't need the smell of the dementors still on his robes, he didn't need the fog from Malfoy Manor still dampening his skin, he didn't want to think about Audrey and how yes, he'd admit it, he liked her, but she was not made for him. No, he didn't need to think about any of that tonight, what he needed was a bath and a bed and a book.

And Audrey was still sitting there. Waiting.

He was just sitting there, staring down at his paper, his red hair a little fuzzy from too much moisture. He wasn't even looking at the paper anymore, he was staring through it, as if his eyes were daggers just stabbing through the thick, creamy paper and past it. And he was wearing all black, and looked utterly defeated. He hadn't said anything for several minutes.

"Percy?" She broke the silence, a little afraid to.

He snapped up so abruptly she might have thought he'd fallen asleep.

"What? Oh. Oh, yes. Where was I?" He continued professionally, as if nothing had gone wrong.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." He brushed off her question as if it were a pesky fly and rattled his papers. "Now. Your friend Davis accompanied you?"

"Yes. Reluctantly. He only went because I told him the man might be involved in a murder, and he wanted me to be safe. He didn't mean any harm. I take full responsibility for...for whatever you're going to do." She replied humbly.

"How did you get in?"

"We walked through the gates...I mean, through them." She tried to gesture the experience. "Like they were smoke. They didn't open, they just kind of dissolved. We figured they were one of those light-beam simulation things..."

"And you weren't challenged or stopped?"

"No." She walked him through their entry, their exploration of the house, the encounter with the strange woman, the sighting of the young man, and then the hours they had spent hiding in the front room trying to plot a way out. Percy took down her story without further comment or scolding, and she didn't try to argue with him. Wherever his mind was, it wasn't here in this room, and it was scaring her just the slightest bit.

At last he laid down his pencil. "Is there anything else?"

"No." She replied meekly.

"Copacetic." He glanced at his watch, not surprised it was late.

"Percy, are you...sure you're all right?"

He raised his eyes to hers.

"I mean, I know it's none of my business, but there's clearly something up, and if I could help..." Her voice trailed off. "I would." She ended quietly.

Everthing's brilliant. My brother is dead, and I'm presently having flashbacks to my time in one of the most horrific prisons known to man. How are you?

God, where was Penny when you needed her?

They were staring at each other, and then she moved to sit a next to him. He was just sitting there, looking rather lost and forlorn (and probably not meaning to). She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You can talk to me."

Talk? Who wanted to talk? He tugged his gaze away from her grey eyes. He wasn't going to look at those eyes now. He was still slightly demented, still too stressed and too staggered to know what was good for him. He wasn't going to look at her face, with that pale, smooth skin. Or her hair, black as a raven and all shiny, falling around her face and her neck, and her throat. He wasn't going to think about her neck, no matter how nice a throat she had...and he definitely, certainly, absolutely was not going to look at or think about her mouth, no matter how soft and pliable and enticing it looked, no matter how good her lips might taste or how comforting they might feel against his own mouth...

He woke from his reverie to find himself very close to that face, very close to all those things he had just said wasn't going to think about...or look at...or touch.

Audrey was leaning toward him, waiting. He could feel her breath on his lips.

He pushed his mouth against hers, closing the gap between them. She kissed him back and he had been right, it did clear the mind. The dementors seemed to soar away suddenly as he tugged Audrey closer and angled his head to lean deeper into the kiss. He couldn't have said where his hands were, but they were somewhere warm. He was feeling very warm all over all of the sudden.

He didn't actually want the kiss to end. He would have liked to go on forever like that, would have liked to keep her that close and just keep snogging for all eternity if that was what it took to keep the bloody dementors at bay, but eventually, he knew he would run out of air.

Both broke away, and he drew in a breath, looking down at her as she looked away and ran a finger over her lips.

And then, of course, reason came crashing down.

She was a squib. A muggle-raised squib. This was nonsense. He couldn't run around snogging with a muggle, and that's why he'd held himself off before, and he couldn't run around snogging with a squib. And that was why he was pulling himself away, standing up and collecting his papers now.

"What...what are you doing?"

"Working." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The dementors were gone, he was sane now, time to return to the professional realm. He chanced a glance down at her.

She was still sitting, her mouth a little open, staring as if not sure what to make of him. "That's..." She began, and he already knew the rest of the question.

That's it?

What are you doing, Percy Weasley?

I have no idea, he responded. This was not the way to handle this. What was the way? Explain that he had been driven partially out of his mind by soul-sucking dementors haunting his past, and thus, the kiss had not occurred in his right mind, and thus, counted for naught...? No, somehow that didn't sound right.

Then what was he to do? Just kick her out with no explanation? Perhaps that would be best. After all, he as a pureblood wizard could never have a relationship with her. It would be pointless, go nowhere, and Percival Ignatius Weasley did not do things pointlessly. Kicking her out would finalise that she need not expect any future displays of demented affection stemming from a weakened mind.

But then she would hate him, and her mother would hate him, and he didn't want that.

Bugger. He was a diplomat. He could handle this diplomatically. Consider it practice for when he was someday running the Department of International Magical Cooperation. He sank back down beside her.

"Audrey." He said carefully. "It's late. I don't want to make things complicated for you or for your mother. Not tonight." He gazed down at her, putting every ounce of sincerity into his voice. But damn, now that he was here next to her he wanted to kiss her again. It would be so easy just to lean in quickly...

She nodded slowly. "All right..." Her gaze strayed to her lap. "All right, then. I should go."

Yes, you should, before I snog you senseless.

He nodded wisely. "Your mother will be waiting up."

She gathered her purse and he gave her what news he had on the case. She asked after Davis, and he reassured her that he wouldn't be in any trouble, it had been a minor incident easily forgotten. He warned her carefully not to ever discuss the incident with him again, even privately, and never to re-involve him.

Just before she left, she glanced down at her shoes, then up at him. Going onto her tiptoes, she kissed him on the cheek and then drew back. "Thanks, Percy." She said sincerely before turning to go.

He shut the door after her, trying hard not to pull her back and tell her just how welcome she was.

His glasses bumped the door as he rested his forehead against it.

Stupid dementors.