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

Not sure I like this chapter, but here you go…Oh,and I'm upping the rating to Teen. Not because I'm planning on adding anything dirty or racy, but simply because I think the overall content /storyline is a little mature for K+.

Chapter 15: Girls

He was awake again at five, scouring his notes. Of the twenty-seven house-elves the Malfoys had owned, he had tracked twelve. Four more had died. Though Percy wouldn't have been surprised to find that the Malfoys had a few black market elves in their possession, he was staying off that possibility for the absolute last.

He'd talked to Narcissa, briefly. She'd said she knew nothing of any child born and disposed in her house, to a servant or anyone else. Then again, he probably ought to conduct a lengthier interview. He'd only had a few moments to ask her, whilst he and Charlie had been looking for Audrey...

Not thinking about Audrey.

Not thinking about Audrey.

So that left him eleven house elves still untraced. He shuffled through the paperwork. One had been repossessed by Andromeda Tonks...why she wanted the thing was beyond him, but he'd have to pay her a visit nonetheless.

He paused a moment as he realized that Andromeda Tonks, his mother's now dearest friend, was Audrey's aunt by marriage. Strange...

Not thinking about Audrey.

Yes, so now there were ten elves yet to find. Aside from the one given to Mrs. Tonks, the elves had been sold off in mass to various families...

He studied the sale records. Five had gone to Smith Industries, with the sale records bearing the signature of Asher Smith. But where were the other five? Five house elves yet unaccounted. Any one could have been the one that birthed Audrey, hid her away, and carried her to the restaurant where she was found.

There was a sharp knock on the door and he glanced up with annoyance. After a moment he felt several of the wards disappear. Dropping his papers, he sighed, crossed the room, and undid the rest of the spells himself, then yanked the door open to find...Penny.

She looked worried as she pushed past him into his flat. "Percy, are you okay?"

"Er..." He shut the door. How did she know? "Yes, how did you..."

"My landlord. He said you came by, he said you looked distraught. And then your mother sent me a patronus, and she said you were out of sorts. I would've come earlier, but I was at St. Mungo's...Percy's what's up?" She peered at him closely through chocolate brown eyes. "Are you...alone?"

"Yes, Penny, I'm alone." He gestured to the couch. "I'm fine, but if you want to sit."

She sat at once. "What are you doing?"

"Working on a case. Trying to work on a case." He corrected himself.

"Distracted?"

He shrugged, pushing aside his neat papers to sit down again.

She watched him. Well, hadn't he wanted to talk to her? He glanced her way, wondering if it would be awkward. She was his ex-girlfriend, for Merlin's sake! But then again, who else could he go to for advice? Charlie? His mother?

"There's this girl." He blurted awkwardly.

"Really." She didn't seem surprised.

He eyed her warily.

"You have lipstick on your face." She leaned forward and pointed to his mouth. "Right there."

He flushed the famous shade of Weasley scarlet and wiped it away self-consciously. "Anyways." Why did she have to be such a show-him-up Ravenclaw?

She was biting back a coy smile. "And I take it you like this girl? So much," She glanced over his papers, "That she's distracting you from your work. Pretty impressive. I could never do that."

He ignored the underhanded blow and pushed his glasses up. "She is my work." He informed the witch across from him. "She's involved in a case I'm working on."

"Oh, of course. A convenient work relationship." Penny nodded.

"Are you going to be of any help?" He demanded.

She smiled gently. "I'm kidding, Percy. You and I was a long time ago, I'm only joking with you. Really, though, what's her name?"

"Audrey Bones."

"And what about this relationship is so difficult that a Gryffindor egghead Ministry worker couldn't work it out?"

"I like her." Percy said carefully.

"And..."

"I don't want to."

She picked up his empty teacup and swirled it in her hands. "Why?" She asked quietly.

He threw his hands up. "Penny, she's a muggle!"

"And you're worried about half-blood progeny?"

"No..."

She gave him a look. "Percy, I know you never start a relationship, never start anything for that matter, unless it has potential to be worth your time and effort in the long run. I also know you believe in keeping your bloodlines pure. I don't have a problem with that, but I do think you let old ideas get in the way of new thought."

"It's not that." Percy said firmly, not denying his preference for purebloods. "She is pureblood."

Penny's eyebrows went up fractionally. "Interesting. A pureblood muggle. Explain how that works."

"She's a squib, but she's been raised by muggles...I can't really explain it all, but the blood thing isn't what's holding me." If anything, it made Audrey that little bit more perfect. She was one of the few purebloods left in the country he could actually stomach the sight of. "It's...Well, she's a muggle."

"And? If she's pure of blood, there should be no problem."

"But it's not..." Percy ran a hand through his hair, trying to explain himself. Audrey was almost certainly pureblood, so he didn't have that concern if the relationship ever did turn serious. She was far distanced from his own world, a refreshing change from the constant state of fear or frenzy of most in the wizard world. That was just it, though. What made it easiest also made it hardest. "She's a muggle. Wizards and muggles...it just doesn't work! It would be awkward, hard, and she'd give up eventually, knowing I'm keeping secrets from her, and the relationship would end, and seeing as how I know that now, it'd be unreasonable to even start one."

"What's she like?"

"She's not the type to just hang there while I lie to her face." Percy told her. "She's quite close to her family, she works hard, and she's taking some impossibly complex course in mathematics at a muggle school, so she's quite smart. She's...also a little sneaky. And she's very determined."

"Is she pretty?"

"Well..." Percy had trouble answering that question since he'd realized just how much like a Malfoy Audrey looked.

"Here, I'll put it in big words so you can understand. Does she possess characteristics which are physically and aesthetically pleasing to your masculine senses?" Penny enunciated carefully.

"...Yes."

"All right, then, she's pretty."

"Yes, but that's not the point." Percy said. "I don't want to like her. I...I haven't, up until now. I ignored the whole thing, and it was easy. It would blow over, I'd finish the case, and we'd never see each other again, no problem."

"But? I'm assuming that plan went to pot somewhere, considering the lipstick-on-the-face item."

He glanced away. "I lost my head for a moment, and then we snogged, and now I don't know what to do. Whatever she's thinking, I'll just have to tell her it was a mistake."

"No!" Penny sat up. "Percy, you can't do that, you like the girl. And she likes you!" She seemed as desperate to see him settled at his own mother did, which Percy considered slightly disturbing, taking into account their past relationship.

"But that's not the point!" Percy argued. "It would never go anywhere, it would be difficult on both of us, and frankly, I don't have the time."

"Well, make time!" Penny told him off, her eyes snapping in that old familiar way. She'd said that very thing after he'd stood her up because he had to go to the office with Mr. Crouch. "Percy, you need this now. Regardless of how it ends, I think you need it. You asked for my advice, there it is."

"I don't need..."

"You do." Penny confirmed. "For the very reason you were sitting here alone working. Your family has each other, but you'd never go to them for support, never. You're not like that. You only come to me as a last resort, and you're too dignified to let anyone else in on your problems. You need someone to snog or even just to talk to. You need to heal, and that's not going to happen on your own."

He glowered at the coffee table and his organised files and documents. A good argument he couldn't truthfully disagree with. "But not with her." He said. "I couldn't just use someone for my own emotional good and then throw her away when I'm feeling better."

"No, you can't. So keep her. You obviously want her."

"But it's not about what I want!" Percy turned to her, trying to explain himself one last time. "It's not about how I feel, or what I want. Feelings are stupid, flighting, I won't trust myself to that. I've got to be logical about this. Relationships are a choice, and I've chosen to ignore how I feel and to do what I know is right. To do otherwise would be illogical. I've got to be logical." He repeated. "Otherwise I'll end up in all kind of a mess. Forget what I want, it's about what's sensible and will succeed."

"Percy, I'm a Ravenclaw. I'm more logical than the next person." She swirled the teacup in her hands again. "And it's only illogical from your viewpoint. A. You're very practical, you don't get into relationships unless the person is someone you won't be wasting your time with. B. She's pureblood, she meets the most important criteria. C. She's supposedly a muggle, so being with her will draw you away from all this pain and rot. And D. You need her right now. She fits your all of your little qualifications for a relationship. As I see it, it satisfies both your logic and your emotion. And contrary to what you might believe, yes, Percival Ignatius Weasley, you are a human being and you do have emotional needs."

Why did she have to be such a Ravenclaw? He leaned his head back and tried not to watch her sitting there peering at the tea leaves in his cup. When she put it that way, it made sense, and he wasn't sure quite what the problem had been in his mind before.

"So how was it?" Penny paused to squint at a lump of tea leaves.

"What?"

"Whatever went on."

He shrugged. "It got my mind off things."

"What things?"

"Dementors." He responded drily.

The teacup clinked against the table. "Dementors?" Her tone had gone from passive to serious. "Have you been having flashbacks?"

Percy avoided her eyes. "I don't really want..."

"To talk about it? I'm a healer, Percy, if you need Sleeping Potion or Focus Pills or something, I should know."

"You won't like it." He knew she wouldn't. She'd be angry.

"What is it?"

"Please..." He glanced at her, aware of how stubborn she could be in a rage. "Please don't get too mad."

She gazed at him, the chocolate brown eyes having turned suddenly more calculating.

He sighed. "I went to Azkaban." He mumbled, not looking at her. Waiting for it.

A hand snapped across his face painfully, and he winced as the blow stung his cheek. A moment later, she slapped him again, apparently devoid of words to express herself.

"Ow. Penny..."

"What were you thinking?" She snapped fiercely. The chocolate eyes had hardened now.

He avoided her eyes.

"After all..." Her words dropped off as she seemed too indignant for rebuke. At last, she burst out, "Why on earth?"

"I...had to." He said slowly. "I needed to go, as a part of my investigation."

"Couldn't someone else have gone?" She demanded, still angry.

He said nothing for a long while. He didn't know what she was doing, he was looking away.

"You could have been killed." She said after a long silence.

He didn't debate the point, and didn't remind her that dementors didn't kill, they sucked. After another long silence (neither seemed to know what to say), she blew out her breath. "No wonder you were cross with your parents."

At least someone understood.

"And no wonder..." She shook her head so that he couldn't see her face. "Well, that explains a lot about the girl."

"Yes." He agreed tentatively. "Loss of control, I'm afraid. Won't happen again."

"It had better." Her tone was not one to be argued with.

.

Again, there was a comfortable pause before he cleared his throat and spoke. "I saw Fallan."

She looked up suddenly, and she didn't have to ask, he knew she wanted to know. "Is alive?"

"He was locked up in a cell. Crazy. Raving mad, chained to a wall."

"Good." The one word was tight. He could at least offer her that consolation. The head warden who had kept them both imprisoned was suffering his fair due. She didn't have to say anything more. She'd been thrown into Azkaban in January, and it was only now August. The scars got there were still fresh, very fresh for her.

"I should go to the Ministry." He murmured. "Or...find Charlie. He had some business with the AMRS I ought to look into."

"The Accidental Magical Reversal Squad? Whatever for?"

"Don't ask." He pushed himself off the couch.

She stood with him, her St. Mungos' scrubs rustling as she followed him. "Percy."

"What?"

"Don't go back."

"I'm not."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"To the Ministry? No, you don't have..."

"I won't sleep either way." She reminded him ruefully, and he wondered if he should have waited to tell her. Waited until a better hour, when she hadn't just got off an all-night shift at the crowded St. Mungo's in the aftermath of the worst war in a long time.

Damn the war. Did everything in his head have to come back to that? Maybe Penny was right. Maybe he did need something else to think of. "Go home." He told her. "Sleep. Be logical. Fallan's locked up, he can't hurt you."

"You're not the only one with nightmares." She reminded him as they descended the steps of the building. "I can still feel that cold water."

"I can still smell the blood." He replied drily before both fell silent as they passed the landlady's daughter, the happy ignorant muggle girl who lived downstairs and had no idea...no idea at all. Percy glanced over at Penny.

"Do you wish you were like that still?"

"Yes." She replied, lifting her head. "Sometimes. Sometimes, I'm not sure it's all been worth it. All that, a whole war and hundreds of deaths...for what? So I can give painkillers to the wounded and lollipops to children as consolation for the parents who died on the operating table. Do you?"

"I was never like that." He reminded her as they pushed out the front doors. "I was born into war."

She didn't argue, but turned to hug him before they apparated their separate ways. "If you ever need to talk, send me one of your Patronuses."

He nodded, knowing he never would. She spent a lot of time in the muggle world, after all, it wouldn't be sensible.

"And when I don't respond," She continued, "Buy a telephone and call this Audrey person so you can talk to her."

He muttered something unintelligible about muggle contraptions and let her go. A moment later, he was in the Ministry Atrium, heading for the elevator and the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad.

.

Percy knew he was hard-headed, more hard-headed than the next person, but even he wasn't foolish enough to ignore Penny's advice on a topic she could easily understand from both sides.

Feeling vaguely guilty about his poorly masked attempt to get rid Audrey on the night of the Malfoy Manor incident, he braved his courage a few days later to request she join him for coffee sometime. Not a date, properly, but certainly nothing to do with work. He was completely astonished when she accepted at once.

He slowly forced himself to brave her world. Penny said he needed healing, needed human comfort, and he couldn't deny that she was right. Slowly, gradually, he worked towards some far distant point when he could actually confide in her. It was doubtful he ever would, doubtful his world could ever be diluted enough to be poured into the ear of a muggle, and yet, he kept going back to her. What she saw in him he didn't know, or perhaps she was only out for her own gain, but that didn't stop him. He'd been used before by others, he was strong enough not to be manipulated beyond his own control, wasn't he?

She hadn't pushed for details or names, though; she hadn't even mentioned her father. She seemed to have learnt her lesson. She seemed to think she understood the seriousness of the situation, but Percy knew that despite her brush with the danger lurking in Malfoy Manor, she had no real concept of what might have happened there. She was innocent, she was ignorant, and though he might push away his guilty feelings about leading her on in a relationship, he knew deep down that sooner or later, the questions would begin again. She was smart, and she had already begun to notice things. He would have to be extra careful from now on.

.

Their first non-work meeting, and they'd spent three hours just walking and talking, doing nothing, really, but wasting time. Percy had a surprisingly biting sense of humour in spite of his clean appearance, which he'd been quick to blame on his brothers. Audrey found at the end of the afternoon that she'd enjoyed herself more than expected, and more than that. She had not once all day thought about her father or about the case, an interesting and potentially disturbing detail about Percy she filed away for later contemplation.

She'd been unsure what he had in his mind after she'd left him that night, but he had surprised both her and her mother when he'd asked her to spend an afternoon with him. Lucy had squealed like a girl when she'd found out, though Audrey was careful not to give too many details about where the two stood with one another.

Her mother had declared Percy to be 'a truly good sort' after the incident at Lucius Malfoy's mysterious estate. Audrey had told her every detail of the jaunt inside the mansion, and Lucy had agreed that (a) it had been very foolish, and, (b) there was something very strange about the whole case. It seemed to have taken a bizarre turn into some unreal realm that was trying very hard to keep them out. Though Audrey tried to place her trust in Percy and asked him no more about the case, she couldn't help at night, when she was repeatedly visited by cloaked figures, cracked mirrors, and the pale blond man in her dreams. For a year she'd envisioned her father's killer as a short, dark man in a dark jacket who breathed hard into her nightmares. He had become abruptly replaced by the image of a tall, elegant man, black-cloaked and pale-haired, with a queer name…Lucius Malfoy.

Unlike Lucy, Davis seemed content never to mention the event again. He didn't bring it up, and neither did she. She was concerned about him, but dared not ask because of Percy's warnings. A few days after the incident, Davis' girlfriend Anna phoned Audrey to ask just why Davis had broken up with her. Audrey was left only to assume that he wanted to focus on the upcoming fall semester at university, even as his grades hiked abruptly beyond his usual level.

Audrey, on the other hand, spoke privately with Lucy, who agreed that if she wanted a break from her year-round academic pursuit, she had certainly earned one, especially in a time when she wasn't focusing well anyways. With that in mind, Audrey began looking for a job to fill her time.

Percy's own work seemed to keep him well filled when he wasn't with her. Though he still didn't speak much about it, she could feel out when had had a successful or fruitless day. What kind of investigation he was doing exactly he didn't say, but he'd mentioned questioning several people...who exactly, he hadn't specified. But from that statement she gathered that there were people to be asked. People who knew. People living inside that bizarre twisted realm, letting him in, pushing her out.

Days passed, and she sated herself with job searches and house duties, but always in the back of her mind, there was a mansion inside a cloud of fog in Wiltshire...something she was missing. Something that was right beneath her nose, right on the other side of the door.

And Percy knew, had to know, just what it was.