Pleach: to interweave branches or vines for a hedge or arbor.

April 7, 2001

Audrey swept her long dark hair out of her face, planted a hand on her hip, and examined the white, latticed arch before her with a critical eye. Nine days from now she would be married beneath it.

"I think roses would look nice. What do you think?"

Audrey turned as her mother-in-law-to-be stepped off the small back porch and came to join her beside the trellis.

"Roses would be lovely," Audrey agreed, imagining the thorny vines crawling up the lattice, dripping with red blooms. "Percy would like that."

Molly nodded. "Percy always liked proper things like that," she said fondly. "He was the only little boy I knew who insisted on parting his hair every day."

Audrey smiled, thinking of her fiancé as a little boy. "Roses it is, then."

She raised her wand waved over the base of the arch. Vines sprouted from the earth and began winding their way up the sides. Molly moved to do the same on the other side.

"You know, I don't know that I ever thanked you," she said after a moment, glancing up at Audrey.

"For what?" Audrey asked, surprised.

"For bringing our son back to us," she said quietly. "I imagine you had at least a little something to do with it."

"Oh," Audrey murmured. It was all she could really think to say. Everything was so much different than it had been three years ago, and none of them liked to dwell on that time much. "Well, he helped me out quite a bit, you know. I – it just – he would have come back anyway."

Molly nodded and sniffed, and Audrey was dismayed to see a few tears leaking out of her eyes. "Yes, he would have. But maybe not until it was too late." She mopped her face with her sleeve and smiled at Audrey. "I'm sorry, dear. It's just, I think if he had come back after the battle, just a few hours later than he did…. He and the twins used to fight so much…. It would all have been different if it had taken him longer. So, whatever you said to him – and he's told me you said something – I'm grateful for. We all are."

Audrey felt her cheeks burn. Compared to what everybody else in this family had done, helping Percy humble himself to them seemed barely worth a mention.

"It – I was happy to do it," she told Molly, reaching out to pat her shoulder. "But, really, there's no need to thank me. I mean, I suppose it's like the roses," she went on, pointing to the vines weaving their way through each other toward the top of the arch. "One vine uses another to get closer to the sun, then that one climbs over another one, which pretty soon is climbing over the first. Every helping hand is repaid in kind. I'm sure I'll need your help one day."

Molly smiled and patted Audrey's hand on her shoulder. "And you'll be more than welcome to it, dear. We're glad to have you as part of the family."

At the top of the arch, the two sets of climbing vines met, interweaving with one another, too.

A/N: R&R, yes? All the cool kids are doing it! :)