Chapter 5 - Inheritance
27 August 1999
Audrey coughed lightly as she kicked up some more dust in the dark basement of the Shacklebolt Estate. She vaguely remembered stuffing a box full of dresses her grandmother had given her down there, but could not remember how any of the dresses looked like, so that ruled out a simple accio incantation. In all honesty, Audrey had never expected to actually want to wear those dresses. She wasn't the "dress" type and it wasn't exactly recommended wear for Auror training. Lo and behold, Audrey had forgotten to consider the fact that she might actually go on a nice date at some point.
"Audrey?" she heard her mother's voice call.
"Down here, Mum!" Audrey shouted in reply. In a matter of seconds, Zhara was making her way down the creaking stairs entering the basement. She was still in her plain black Ministry robes with the Department of Mysteries logo embroidered on both shoulders in silver thread, so Audrey figured she had just gotten home from work.
"What on earth are you looking for down here?" Zhara questioned with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"That box of rubbish dresses Gran gave me," Audrey replied as she continued to scan the dim room.
"If they're so rubbish, why are you looking for them?" her mum questioned with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her face.
Audrey paused for a moment and narrowed her eyes at her mum before finally replying, "All dresses are rubbish, just so happens that some occasions call for them."
"Ah," Zhara voiced a bit sarcastically. She took a couple strides to get to where Audrey was standing, then pointed her wand above her daughter's head to levitate a box with the word DRESSES scrawled in messy block writing. Audrey's messy block writing.
Audrey crouched down to open the box and pulled out a sleeveless navy blue summer dress with a bare back and a halter top neckline. She held it up for her mum to say and asked, "Good?"
"It has my approval," Zhara replied. "And I'm sure it'll get anyone else's approval too," she added with a knowing glint in her eye.
Audrey simply nodded and started to make her way out of the basement, her mum walking alongside her. From behind, the two women may as well have been sisters - Audrey had easily adopted the slightly curvy shape and perfect posture from the Shafiq side of the family. Other than that, however, Audrey was the spitting image of her father - pitch black hair, umber brown skin, chocolate brown eyes, and a slightly upturned nose - just like Keegan. Next to Zhara's tawny beige skin, as if she was constantly just a bit sun-kissed, pale green eyes, and chestnut brown hair, Audrey may have well been the night to her day.
Just as Audrey was about to head for the stairs, she noticed that her mother had stopped in front of a bookshelf and was holding a tattered photo album in her arms with a rare soft smile on her face. Audrey approached her mum, curious to see what had gotten her typically stoic mum in such a trance. As Audrey peeked over her shoulder, she recognized a young Zhara - Audrey guessed around twelve or thirteen years old - in a photo standing next to three other children, two visibly younger and one that looked to be close in age with Zhara.
"This was when we visited my grandfather in Qatar," Zhara said quietly. "The taller boy is my older brother, Basir, and the younger two are the twins, Fouad and Aaliyah."
Audrey had met Fouad - he was actually very kind and his wife, Dana, even more so - but had never met Basir or Aaliyah. Her mother had very rarely spoken of them, on account of their decision to become Death Eaters immediately after they had graduated from Hogwarts. Zhara let out a heavy, shaky sigh then flipped the page and said, "Here's some happier memories - your father and I on our first date."
Audrey couldn't fight the smile on her face as she took in the photo. A young Kristopher Shacklebolt stood tall - nearly a whole foot taller than Zhara - and had a somewhat proud smirk on his face as he handed Zhara a bouquet of peonies. Her mother, looking just as elegant at seventeen as she did at forty, gracefully took the bouquet and warmly smiled at Kristopher.
"This was just near the tail end of seventh year. Said he didn't want to break the professional boundaries between Head Girl and Head Boy too soon, but we both knew he was just intimidated," Zhara said jokingly. "We snuck into the astronomy tower for a picnic under the stars."
"Oh is that all," Audrey muttered with a joking grimace.
Zhara laughed as she tucked the album under her arm and started to head upstairs, deciding not to reply, which made Audrey's grimace a little less joking. "That ruins all of Astronomy for me," she muttered to herself as she quickly followed behind her mum.
"Well, I may have married my Hogwarts sweetheart, but if there's one thing I've learned from my dating experiences, it's to trust your gut," Zhara advised once Audrey had caught up with her. "There's no handbook to picking the perfect man - you just know."
"What makes you think I need dating advice?" Audrey questioned. Her mom gave her a pointed look and Audrey sighed, "Yeah, all right, you got me."
"I had to magically restrain you when you were a kid to get you in a dress," Zhara started, "and now you go looking for them in the basement. A mother just knows."
Audrey laughed at her mother's apparent exasperation. "Well, even I know when to dress to impress," she said. "Thanks for the advice, Mum."
"Anything for you, Audrey," Zhara replied. She took a step closer to Audrey and gently cupped her daughter's face. "You deserve someone that can fully appreciate how amazing you are. Never forget that."
"How'd you get your whole abdomen bruised up again?" Percy asked Oliver, his eyes briefly flitting to Oliver's cast before looking back in the mirror to make sure the spell tying his necktie was working properly.
"Saved the Quaffle and got destroyed by a Bludger right after," Oliver explained, "but hey - we won!"
"Right, yeah," Percy replied hurriedly before giving up on the current tie and going to search for another.
"Also the Medi-witch was smoking," Oliver added.
Percy re-surfaced from his increasingly messy closet and held up a tie until Oliver nodded in approval. "In that case, I'm assuming you celebrated in a typical Oliver Wood fashion," he replied.
"I was about to but, uh, she's Coach's daughter," Oliver replied meekly.
Percy let out a single laugh and said, "Well, there's your good luck with women running out," he joked, finally satisfied with his outfit.
Never in a million years had Percy been so critical of his outfit for a date. For work, yes, he certainly had been. But for a date - Merlin no. He had never felt like it mattered all that much on a date. With Audrey, however, he cared about how he looked just as much as he did when he went to work - although for different reasons, he needed to put his best foot forward. He wanted to impress Audrey. He wanted to prove that he deserved her.
"Hey, let's keep that negativity out of here," Oliver warned. "I'll find a way to date Coach's daughter, you'll have an amazing dinner - good vibes all around!"
"Wow, she's really holding your attention, huh?" Percy teased. "Already making you a better man."
"Yeah, all right... what would you do if I wasn't around for you to make fun of me?"
"I'm glad you've finally come to terms with your purpose in life."
"Guess I'll just shut up now," Oliver grumbled. He stood up with a sigh and added, "Well, I'll let you get on your way to whatever exciting date you have planned. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That is a very short list," Percy joked.
With a pop, Audrey found herself in a dark alley branching off of a busy street in Muggle London. Cars zoomed past and she took in the bright lights of the city as she and Percy stepped out of the alley, hand in hand. She looked up at him with a small smile, his eyes set ahead with determination and a big grin across his face. Audrey liked that look on him.
Percy slowed to a stop in front of a quaint restaurant with lively music and an aroma of spices streaming out onto the street from the open front doors. The sign bearing the restaurant's name used the Arabic alphabet, but the phonetic pronunciation fajar was right below it in smaller letters. "This is it," he declared as he looked down at Audrey with a proud smile.
"Aurora," Audrey translated. "Nice name."
Percy frowned. "I thought you'd never had Moroccan food before."
"No, but I can read Arabic," Audrey explained. "Mum's a Shafiq."
"Right, well... onwards then," Percy said, the smile returning to his face once more.
They entered the small restaurant and were taken to their table by a smiling waiter, the music and aromas now fully surrounding Audrey's senses. The ceiling of the restaurant was all glass, forming a large skylight that could be used for stargazing. It made Audrey feel even more nostalgic for their encounter at the gala. "So how'd you discover this place anyways?" she asked as they took their seats.
"I, uh, actually had an apartment in Muggle London when I first moved out," Percy explained. "Went for a walk one night, got a little lost, and then I found this place just as I was getting hungry. Went back the next day to make sure it didn't just taste good because I was starving."
"So you've been here a couple times already."
"Oh, I've been here countless times. The chef knows my order."
Audrey laughed and shook her head lightly, a wide smile on her face as she met Percy's eyes. His icy blue eyes drew her in and held her attention, just like they had done that night on the balcony at Kinglsey's gala. Being around Percy made Audrey feel completely at ease and gave her a feeling of pure happiness that she hadn't felt in a long time.
Audrey knew that part of her attraction stemmed from that extraction mission she had led with Keegan during the war. At first, she had been skeptical of Percy Weasley, but when it had come down to making an actual sacrifice for the sake of the Order, he hadn't even hesitated. He had been at the back of her mind ever since then, like a half-forgotten dream, although it all came back to her clear as day when she had seen him on that balcony.
Things had gone south far too quickly. This was not the mission they had planned. Yet, here they stood, surrounded by Death Eaters in the grand atrium of the Ministry of Magic, just mere feet away from the Floos - so close, yet so far. They still wore their disguises, but that was mostly because Kelsey knew exactly who had tried to break out her father, Dion, and she enjoyed making a scene. The one upside to her theatrics was that Percy was also still wearing the disguise Audrey had given him, probably because Kelsey assumed he was just some other unknown Order member. He may have already been compromised, but there was no use in having him killed on sight. This mission was already doomed to fail.
"You really thought I wouldn't figure it out?" Kelsey asked tauntingly. "The cocky one," she added, turning to Keegan, "and the reckless one," she continued as she turned to face Audrey. "You can pose as Death Eaters all you want, but I'd be able to pick you out in a crowd the size of London."
Her taunting was met with silence. There was no point in entertaining Kelsey. The longer they resisted the more she would try to push their buttons - and that would be precious stalling time that they could use to think up a new plan. Audrey's eyes shifted to her grandfather, the Shacklebolt patriarch, held back by two Death Eaters and covered in blood and bruises. Although he couldn't see past her mask, he stilled smiled lightly just as Audrey looked his way. She already knew that even in the best case scenario, there was no way they would get him out alive - and he was half the mission. Everything would have been perfect if Kelsey hadn't been around - even Percy wasn't aware of which two Order members were sent to extract him and Dion.
"I'll give you credit for effort, but I'd like to see how quickly that determination falls when you're at the other end of the Cruciatus Curse," Kelsey threatened as she played with her wand.
I've got a distraction I can use.
The voice had seemingly come out of nowhere, but Audrey quickly recognized the familiar echo of Legilimency, and she all too easily recognized Percy's voice.
Use it as a chance to break free and fight - might also wanna try to get your wands back, Percy's voice echoed.
Audrey nodded once, very lightly, and that was all the signal Percy needed. In one sudden movement, he stomped on the feet of the Death Eater holding him, pulled something out of his pocket, and threw it right into the middle of the crowd...
Wildfire whiz-bangs, unbelievable, Audrey thought to herself in amusement. Her moment of mirth didn't last long, though, as it took her less than a second to get into fighting mode.
The rest of that mission had been, as far as Audrey was concerned, pure luck. It had been luck that the Death Eaters had taken their wands instead of snapping them. It had been luck that Keegan's wandless magic was the least shaky it had ever been up until that point. It had been luck that she had managed to grab Percy and place his hand on the wall sconce sticking out of a Floo fireplace, the most inconspicuous disguise for a portkey. It had been pure luck that Kelsey's special torturing curse had only hit her leg. By the time it had come down to saving her grandfather, however, their luck had run out.
Audrey was snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed a waiter in the corner of her eye. Percy was talking to him in a hushed tone and pointing somewhere on the beverage list, then the waiter left. Audrey raised an eyebrow and asked, "Should I be scared?"
"No, I think you'll like this," Percy replied with a proud smile. A few moments later, the waiter re-appeared with a rustic-looking bottle of bourbon.
Audrey looked over at Percy, partly pleased and partly curious. "How'd you know?"
"It's what you had at the gala," he replied easily. "And I recognized the brand from Kingsley's office."
Audrey laughed. "Very clever," she praised. "It's a Muggle brand from America - Astrid got it for him for their tenth anniversary because it's a family favourite."
Percy shrugged modestly. "Lucky guess."
Percy reached over to open the bottle and pour some bourbon into their glasses, then shortly after the waiter stopped by again to take their food orders. Spending the night talking with Percy made Audrey feel completely at ease. Delicious food aside, that evening felt like an escape from the politics that was surrounding their world and a chance to let their guards down. Staring into Percy's blue eyes, listening to the sound of his voice... it was the most relaxed and content that Audrey had felt in a long time. It was what she had thought - hoped - life would feel like after the war.
"I've gotta say, Percy, this has been one of the best nights I've had in a while," Audrey said with a small smile.
"I can say the same for myself," he agreed. "You are... amazing."
There was no other word he could think of that would better suit her. She was funny, ambitious, intelligent... attractive, of course, although that had always been difficult to ignore. Every time Percy was around Audrey Shacklebolt, he just felt like he was being drawn in and there was nothing he could do to stop that - nor would he want to do something.
Audrey was about to shoot back a joking reply when it happened.
With a large crash, the skylight cracked and the completely blew into pieces. Audrey didn't even hesitate to take cover under their table, her survival instinct kicking in almost immediately. She went to pull Percy under the table as well but quickly realized that he had had the same idea when she came face to face with him, crouched right next to her under the wooden table.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Audrey asked, instinctively speaking in a hushed voice.
"I can confidently say that's never happened here before," Percy replied quietly with a concerned frown.
Audrey turned around and slowly pushed aside a small corner of the tablecloth to see what was happening in the restaurant. Her heart stopped for a moment as she took in the scene.
She quickly dropped the tablecloth and turned to face Percy again. "Death Eaters," she breathed out.
Yeah I'm gonna end it here because suspense is really great ;) See ya next chapter!