August 11, 1997

I stepped into my apartment, weary and more tired than I could ever recall. Disgusted with the horrors I had witnessed and the true nastiness of Umbridge and those who helped implement these anti-muggleborn policies with glee. This was monsteress! Disgusting! I kicked the shoe I was taking off across the room with a shout. It made me feel better for a few seconds.

I could change none of this. I was truly a political pawn and captive, tying the hands of MACUSA to respond openly in any way. Granted the ICW only cared about the Statute of Secrecy, wizard governments tended to act in an isolationist manner unless an issue spilled beyond a national border. Britain being an island of nations with a magical government that paid no mind to those borders meant that the dementors, the easiest thing for a neighboring state to retaliate over if they crossed the border, could not be used as an excuse to intervene.

I slumped down to sit in the entryway with my back against the door. How are people like this? What makes them see people of No-Maj descent as lesser? There is no difference between them and the purebloods who clearly despise them.

I fiddled with the letter Erebus had brought me from Alex, he had dropped it on my head as I stepped into the apartment building in a movie that felt very spiteful.

Head down, mouth shut.

A.G.

My brother had always been very direct. I was not sure this was any better than the letter I had received from Misty and Zara.

Z's with me. We're going on a trip. Family emergency. Don't know when we'll be back.

Love you!

Misty didn't even have to sign it. I recognized her handwriting. Misty had spoken about running out of the country when I last saw her. She kept it vague, but she did mention a beach in France that was beautiful where she had a few goblin relatives who owned some property.

Good for them. I was safe to wait this out. Zara being Muggle-born and Misty being too much of a half-breed for Umbridge were not.

A series of loud knocks echoed down the hallway. Official sounding for their briskness and aggressiveness.

That was odd…

I shrugged and picked up my shoes to put them in the proper place after my temper tantrum.

BANG!

There was a loud crashing noise, like something had exploded that made me jump.

A chorus of sudden echoing screams echoed through the wall.

"PAUL!"

The high pitched screams of a child and the wail of a baby brought me to my feet.

"CLAIRE! GO!"

There was an increasing chorus of screams as the sounds of scuffle grew louder.

BANG!

I threw my door open, my wand in hand as my stomach dipped and swerved like I was riding a broomstick as I looked down the hall. My immediate neighbor had moved back in with her parents last week, the only place the noise could be coming from was the Carters two doors down.

The screaming increased, growing more panicked and another loud BANG shook the building, sending chips of wood and plaster into the hallway from the force of the explosion before two small figures tumbled out of the open doorway of the apartment. No, that wasn't a doorway, that was a large hole in the wall from what I thought was an expulso curse. The figures tripped over each other for a moment before running down the hall towards me. The smaller one was holding a small bundle that had a tuft of blonde hair sticking out of it.

I froze.

It was the Carter girls. The bundle was the baby.

I stepped in front of the girls and shoved and corralled them through my apartment door.

"Back bedroom! Now!"

They obeyed me quietly while the baby continued to scream.

I cast the most powerful silencing charm I could manage on my bedroom door, bringing a crypt like silence upon my home. I cast another on the walls of my hallway and the walls of my living room that were even close to my bedroom.

I went to wait by the door, pressing my ear against it to listen for any sign of life from the Carters apartment or that of their assailants. I cracked my door open slightly in case my charms were too powerful. I needed to know what was going on.

It was so quiet.

I did not know how long I waited. It could have been a few seconds, it could have been several minutes.

In the end it didn't really matter.

Some man emerged from the apartment in a tattered coat with a piece of parchment in hand, a second figure on his heels looking up and down the hallway.

"Little bitch bit me!" The first man said with a disbelieving scowl, shaking his hand with the paper in it with a wince. "Took a chunk outta my hand!

The second man wiped a cut over his eyebrow before turning back to the apartment door and pulling out his wand to write something on the outer wall of the apartment. "Don't matter, they won't get far."

The first man marked off something on his parchment. "Shame they had to fight, they were worth more alive."

"Thieves will fight to keep ill gotten gains, they have no honor. Ya got the proof?"

"Yep!" The man pulled two broken wands out of his pocket. One was stained in blood.

The second man saw me looking out into the hallway, "Hey!"

"Yes sir?" Stay calm, Audrey.

"You see any kids go by?" He flashed me a badge so quickly I could not read it. I doubted it invested him with real authority, but I kept that thought to myself.

"They got in the lift a couple of minutes ago."

"Thanks!" The second man took the lead in a methodical walk to the lift, the pair's boots thunked heavily on the floor with every step while the first gave me a flirtatious wink and pressed his lips together in a mockery of a kiss.

I fought not to retch on my carpet as the men moved towards the lift.

"Good to get the easy targets before the rest do. How far did they expect to get with three squalling brats?"

I waited until they were in the lift doors closed before stepping into the hallway, running to the Carters apartment, stopping at the gaping hole next to the door to the apartment. There were words written on the door in a substance that reminded me of dried red paint.

Mudblood Thieves

I could see just inside the apartment. There was blood all over the floor and…

The Carters were dead.

I can't help them.

I can help their daughters.

I ran back to my apartment and flung open the door, my brain rushing a mile a minute, flying through possibilities and ideas almost faster then I could recognize them as something coherent.

I locked the door to my apartment behind me, enchanting it with nasty surprises for anyone who wanted to bother me while I solved this problem.

Nathaira's tongue, Paul, why didn't you leave sooner?

A thought fell upon me, unbidden and sharp. Should I have told him about the assassination of Scrimgeour? Would he have left sooner with his family?

I can't think like that. I'm not a seer. I don't throw bones like my father. It's easy to look back and focus on the what ifs. That does not mean I need to submit to guilt talk. My priority now is the girls. Paul and Claire would want them safe and that is what I am going to do.

The walk back to my bedroom was long with heavy footsteps that made it feel like an eternity. What I found when I got there were the three girls coming out from under my bed, reluctant to be parted and the eldest daughter looking at me as if I had all the answers.

Eleanor, as she insisted on being called, was the eldest of the Carter daughters. I knew she had turned eleven two weeks ago, the family had a nice party and their mother had brought me a piece of cake as an apology for the noise. Eleanor was thin and wiry, reminding me of a stray cat in some ways. She had shoulder length blonde hair and hazel eyes that were wide in fright even as she stood in front of her sisters with her wand in hand.

The second daughter, Katherine (who once told me to call her Kitty like everyone else did) was around eight, if my memory was correct. She had long brown hair in a braid which half of the hair was escaping from, like someone had grabbed it and pulled it to pull her somewhere, there was blood running down the side of her face from where some of her hair had been ripped out. Her brown eyes were red with tears and her face was covered in snot from crying.

The baby's name was Grace, she was pudgy in the way healthy, happy babies are apt to be with fat rolls on her limbs that looked like bread dough which often made me coo over her in the lift if I was heading up with Mrs. Carter. She had wispy blonde hair and big brown eyes.

Fuck. What do I do with these kids?

"W-where's Mummy?" Kitty's lower lip was quivering and she was squeezing Grace so tightly I was afraid the baby was going to pop like a balloon. I reached over to adjust Kitty's grip on Grace to make sure the baby could breathe, it did not help much but I was confident Grace would survive her sister's nerves. Babies were rubbery in most ways. Eleanor was still like a statue, seemingly already given herself over to shock and understanding of what I was sure she had seen tonight.

I bit my bottom lip and tried to stay composed. If I panicked now these kids were going to come completely undone.

What should I say?

I summoned a handkerchief from the top of my dresser and wiped Kitty's face free of the snot, tears and blood while I tried to work through the next several minutes of action and conversation. "I'm going to take you somewhere safe, okay?"

Kitty began to bawl loudly for her daddy and I felt my heart shatter. I wanted a good cry myself.

I turned my attention to Eleanor, who seemed the most coherent at the moment. "I have an aunt in Scotland. If I can get you three there she'll take care of you and you will be safe, but I can't apparate with three other people and we can't take the floo network."

The Knight Bus was out of the question too, I did not want anyone else to see the girls. It was too dangerous for them.

Wait.

"Tinsy! Barry!"

There was a soft popping noise from the bedroom doorway. I turned to find Tinsy smiling widely in the burgundy blouse of Vanessa's I had given her almost two years ago. I had given her other things, since she was no longer bound to me in magical formalities, but the blouse was her favorite. She said it made her the most fashionable of elves.

"Yes, Miss Graves?"

Barry arrived a moment later, he was covered in dish soap suds and giving Tinsy a filthy stare for her clean state. I threw a dirty shirt off the floor to Barry so he could get the soap bubbles off his hands. He looked at the shirt and the state of my bedroom in disgust as he wordlessly complied while giving me a judgemental stare. His bulbous eyes moved slowly towards the Carter girls, a glimmer of understanding in his eyes.

My calling for Tinsy seemed to have given Tinsy several more sparks of life then she already possessed. I quickly took in Tinsy's appearance, checking her for her favorite knives that she tended to keep close, really a very unconventional House Elf.

"I need you two to take the girls to Thornell! I'll be along to talk to Lucinda in a few minutes. Can you do that?"

"Yes!" Tinsy puffed up proudly and reached out her hand to Eleanor.

Eleanor shook her head and pointed at her sisters. "Take them first."

Barry walked over to Kitty and Grace, he was speaking to them quietly in his gravelly voice. "Baby must be first."

"Kitty, give him the baby." Eleanor's low voice and continued encouragement was loosening Kitty's hold on the baby.

Kitty reluctantly gave Grace to Barry, who looked at the child with a warmth and affection I was not sure the old House Elf had ever displayed in my presence before.

Barry disappeared as suddenly as he had arrived, the baby clutched to his chest while Kitty gasped at the sudden empty space.

Tinsy reached out to Kitty who grabbed her outstretched hand like a lifeline as Eleanor did the same with the other. Tinsy looked back at me with a resolute, confident expression. "Tinsy will return for Miss Graves."

She disappeared with the girls with an almost non-existent popping noise before I could protest. Tinsy was a free elf, she was an independent mind and she had always been prone to twisting orders and requests to do as she pleased. I never told her not to come back for me after all.

I began throwing some of my clothes in a bag with flicks of my wand. I decided almost instantly once I saw the remains of the Carters apartment that I could no longer stay here. Four murders was far beyond an acceptable number for a single apartment building. I was going to ask if Percy's offer to move in was still open. No, I did not want him to turn his office into a bedroom for me. If I was doing this. I was committed to everything that would entail. This was a relationship, a partnership and he was right, we were a very good team and every bit of what we were building between us would have to keep us alive.

I threw in some of my private possessions and debated if I should go back to the Carter's apartment to find some supplies for the baby and clothes for the girls. That might have been a good question to ask them before I sent them off, but they were in no state to offer guidance in that regard.

A small pop told me Tinsy had returned. I could feel her big eyes on my back as I put my jewelry box in my bag and a few books I was reading.

"Tinsy will take that." She reached out as I closed the bag, her hand on the handle. "Lucinda is yelling."

Of course she is, I just gave her three traumatized little girls.

"Tinsy, can you do something for me and the girls?"

Tinsy straightened with a soldier-like attention. "Yes!"

I heaved a sigh. I hated asking things of people I could not do myself, but there were anti-apparition charms all over this building for safety and for some reason, House Elves were immune to their effects.

"The Carter's apartment is just like mine, but it has another bedroom across the hall." I pointed to where the room would be in my own apartment to show her. "Can you apparate in there and get the girls some clothes and toys?" I paused, another thought crossing my mind. "And family pictures? And anything that looks valuable."

Tinsy looked at me with a confused expression. "Pictures and valuables? Mistress wants Tinsy to steal?" Her eyes seemed brightened by the idea of theft, something I was sure appeased her sense of adventure.

I bit my lower lip, I did not think those men who killed the Carters were Ministry officials. They wore no badge of office or anything else to mark them as such, just a shiny thing the one man had pulled out of his pocket that could have been anything. If the Ministry had hired outside agents to hunt down Muggle-borns, then… Well… I had no answers for that. I just knew it was wrong. "Their parents were killed for being Muggle-born. The Ministry will not give the girls anything, I want those things for them."

Tinsy's expression shifted to one of understanding. Tinsy was always a menace, but an intelligent one.

"The front room is a mess. That's where the bodies are. You do not want to go in there." I handed her a purse with an expansion charm on it. "That should work. Clothes, diapers, toys, family photos, things that would comfort little girls take priority."

Tinsy nodded and disappeared with a pop.

I began to clear the food out of my cabinets and ice box to stay busy. How was I going to handle this? What kind of things could I do to hide myself? I would continue to pay rent here, Eloise could be talked into lowering my rent after everything, I'm sure there was a clause in my contract I could exploit until my lease was up in June. I could pay what I would save towards part of Percy's rent and go dutch on everything else. It was fine.

Tinsy returned with the bag over her shoulder, giving me a hard nod confirming her mission was a success. She probably just emptied out the whole apartment, I would normally prefer a little more discretion, but we would not be coming back here.

I made sure my apartment was locked and the enchantments would hold for the next several months before taking Tinsy's spindly offered hand.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the large family living room of Thornell, the children were still crying. Tavish was bouncing Grace on his hip with one arm and holding Kitty to him in a tight hug with the other. Eleanor was dry heaving into a conjured bucket as Lucinda rubbed her back in a soothing manner, a gentleness in her face that I knew Lucinda was capable of, but had never seen the full extent of before. Barry was setting up tea and hot chocolate with little snacks on a nearby table. Tinsy released her grip on my hand to go help the older elf, who quickly directed her back to the kitchen to find a bottle of whiskey, the basket of general medicinal potions and dreamless sleep potion from the medicine cabinet.

Lucinda looked over at me, her gentle expression growing hard as she continued to rub circles on Eleanor's back in the same manner she had been for the past few minutes.

"Audrey," Lucinda started her voice low and soft even if her eyes were hawkish, her anger at the situation the girls were in and my snap decision to bring them to the house. "I think I put your mother's old crib in the small office on the third floor, if you could bring it to the Pink Room and make the rest of it suitable for the girls."

"Yeah, I can do that," I shifted my bag, the cluttering noises of the items I had taken from the Carter home and my own possessions rattled inside as I set it down and picked up the purse with the Carter girls possessions Tinsy had dropped in her rush to help Barry.

"Then come to my office for a talk."

Yep, I knew that was coming.

"Yes Auntie."

Oo0Oo0

The Pink Room was very large and very… well… Pink. It had a large canopy bed that I cleared the dust from with a spell, I changed the sheets with help from Tinsy who popped in to check on me and the pair of us found a large bookshelf and an old trunk to use for storage and decoration along with a small, old doll bed just the right size for Barry who would stay in the room to mind the baby and watch the older girls. Tinsy left to tend other matters while I began to unpack the bag of items Tinsy had gathered at the Carter place.

I was surprised to pull out several bags, all labeled with the girls' names. Were the Carters getting ready to run when the men came? It would explain how Tinsy had gotten back so quickly.

From the three bags, and the larger one I sent Tinsy with, I pulled out various possessions of stuffed toys, clothes, baby supplies, school books and family pictures along with a jewelry box that had definitely belonged to Claire and several odd enchanted knick-knacks that I was sure belonged to Paul. The family photo album I pulled out was something I was not sure I could put out right now, so I settled for putting it on the high bookshelf that Tinsy and I had just put into the room.

The whole process took an hour to make a room that was comfortable and hopefully would make the girls feel safe.

I sent for Tinsy to inform Lucinda and Tavish that I had finished and they could send the girls up as soon as they were able.

Barry and Tavish would be perfectly able to get the three of them settled with Tinsy's help.

I could see the faint light under the door of Lucinda's office, which told me she was already inside along with a faint noise of frantic muttering that told me Lucinda was in a state. I knocked on the door and entered when I was bid to do so.

As I had suspected, Lucinda was pacing around her office, her arms were behind her back and her glasses were threatening to slide down her nose. Her gray hair was messy, strands loosening and threatening to escape her bun. There were spots of blood on her robes presumably from tending to the older Carter daughters. Lucinda had a ferocity in her eyes that I had not seen in months, a hard set to her mouth that showed stubbornness and pride in equal measure.

"Barry and Tinsy told me everything! Monsters! All of them deserve to rot!" If Lucinda had something in her hands she would have thrown it. I had no doubt about that. She took a deep breath, seemingly collecting herself to return to stubborn stoicism and stiff upper lip that she found so comfortable.

"I wasn't sure where else to take them." I started quickly, relieved to finally say my part in this matter. "You were the first person I thought of."

Lucinda dropped into her chair and all the energy seemed to drain from her in an instant. Her eyes still gleamed, but the energy and vivacity had moved to other places, Lucinda was alert and focused. I could see her thinking and scheming as she drummed her fingers on the dark wood of her desk.

"I've done this before. During the last war, Thornell became an orphanage for children who were displaced by the war. We can do that again. But last time, it was not the government turning on its own people like this."

I took the seat across from Lucinda on the other side of the desk.

"I spoke to a woman from the gala, Susanna, she had fond memories of the work you did."

"Susanna is a steady woman, I'm glad I had the chance to watch her grow up and had enough pull to help her get on with the Ministry. She would have been wasted as a shop girl." Lucinda sighed. "When I did this originally, it was very different. I had money, I had people who could help me openly, but if they're prosecuting Muggle-borns like this, I won't get help because it puts a target on other people and their families by our own government. I'm capable of doing it again, another seventeen year commitment is nothing if we can save their lives."

"What if I found help for you? People, or elves, who could retrieve the children and bring them here. People who are in danger anyway who could not sell you out and wouldn't anyway because they're good people?"

"How many people are we going to have though?" Lucinda leaned back in her chair. "If they're locking up Muggle-borns, Audrey, what about Hogwarts students? Are they at risk too?"

I froze. Percy and I had discussed this, but I still struggled to comprehend how this would affect students… But Eleanor was eleven. She was clearly not going to Hogwarts this year. Despite the rumors I had heard about it being mandatory for all students this year… If school was mandatory…

"I'm beginning to think they are.

Lucinda slammed her fist on the desk with a bang. "Damn!"

"Having students who can't return to school makes you safer. They'll be mostly qualified wizards, they can help first year students like Eleanor learn magic and help you and Tavish maintain the enchantment wards. We could reach out to mainland Europe, you have connections there and see if they would be able to find safe houses or families they could stay with."

"As a last resort, I'm reluctant to send orphaned children to another country, they would have no papers, and travel needs to be registered with the Ministry. If the older ones want to leave, or have the paperwork to get over the border, I won't stop them, they'll be better able to hide and take care of themselves. My friends are old and crotchety anyway and could handle an older kid or two if needed." She paused for a moment, the light of an idea in her eyes. "Could we forge their papers?"

"The Ministry will change the papers." I was uncertain if this was true at the moment, but I knew Umbridge and I had seen proposals come up to the Minister's Office about new paper security measures though that would take time to go into effect. "New stamps, new inks, new approval processes. We may not have the resources to do so-"

There was a knock at the office door.

"Enter!" Lucinda boomed.

Tavish opened the door and stepped into the office, closing the door behind him quietly. "Da girls're sleepin'."

"Thank you, Tavish."

"Ya 'ave a plan, Lucy?"

Lucinda heaved a heavy sigh. "I might. I need to write some letters. Beg for money for a charitable cause." Lucinda summoned her finance logbook to the desk from its place of prominence on the bookshelf and began to flip through the pages of financial notes and spending notations.

"Auntie," I started, a chilling thought running through my mind. "How long is that contract for hosting Ministry events?"

Lucinda paused, her hands slowly closing her financial logbook as she placed it on the desk in front of her as her eyes widened and her lips pressed together like she was repressing a frustrated scream.

Not a good sign.

"Three years." Her voice was strained, her frustration obvious. "Matilda was talking to me about another event last month. I think that will go through if these people want the appearance of a normal government and all the corruption that implies." She took a deep breath. "There's got to be a way out of this."

"There won't be." I said with a confidence that would have alarmed me two years ago. "You're a pureblood. These clowns are purists. The Death Eaters will not want to host their own events. Too much scrutiny and strangers potentially poking around. You have a very neutral ground that could be used to watch people and scope out potential defectors and their allies. I think you're stuck in this Lucinda."

Lucinda put her forehead in her hands. "Then I can't keep the children long-term."

"You could."

"Hm?"

"Thornell is massive and old, like you said. The kids need to stay out of sight and out of mind. I don't think it would be hard to hide them in the house with the right spells as long as you are above reproach."

"There are old hidden rooms. Lucina and Alistair used them all the time…" Lucinda looked up at me, peering over the rims of her glasses. "Being above reproach goes for you as well. The Averys still want Thornell, they've got connections now that will make it hard for me to make my deals with the law and estate office at the Ministry." Lucinda's eyes rolled, "Idiots. They've never worked a day in their lives and I wanted to look for law loopholes for a living."

Oh Lucinda and Percy would get along swimmingly if I could turn them both to a common goal. They both have soft centers, maybe they could connect over that.

"They'll never look here if you're above suspicion. You know occlumency, you can read minds. It's the safest place for these kids."

Lucinda inhaled slowly.

"Think about it Lucinda, the Ministry pays you a lot of money to host events for them. Wouldn't it be the best kind of irony to use that money to help a group of people they're actively prosecuting?"

Tavish snickered, flashing his teeth with a grin. "Yeah, it would! It'd be nice to 'ave some bairns abou' again."

"If I can get the information from my work at the Ministry," I continued, "we could get these people to safety, not just orphans, but endangered Muggle-borns and do a lot of good in a fucked up situation."

I ignored Lucinda's sharp rebuke about my swearing.

"No one else is going to do anything about this! It has to be us!"

"Are you willing to die for this?" Lucinda snapped, her eyes darting between Tavish and I with the intensity of a wild animal on the hunt, focused and ready to spring at a moment's notice to knock some sense into us. "Because if we stick our necks out any further that's what will happen!"

I thought about the bloodsoaked crime scene of the Carter home that there would be no justice for. I thought about the little girls who would never see their parents again or even have a real funeral for them. I put Lucinda and Tavish in the Carters' place, dead on a blood soaked floor and barely managed to stop my tears anew.

Tavish's voice cut through the silence with a quiet resolve. "We cannae do nothin'"

Tavish's strength was fueling my wavering heart, stealing my resolve and my anger.

"He's right, if we die doing this, then so be it! We will have saved more lives than just our own!"

I am a Graves. We do not run. When war is inevitable, we fight and violence is our accepted reality. I did not want to die, but I did not fear the reaper.

"No one else is going to do anything about this! It has to be us!"

"You're not wrong." Lucinda sighed, "I'll draft letters for financial aid tonight to my friends in Europe, keep it very vague. A gardening project perhaps? Tavish and I will arrange some skullduggery so the owl hopefully doesn't get compromised by the Ministry."

The next two hours were spent in conference, devising code and trying to find trustworthy people in our circles to get some help. It would take some time, not everyone would be willing to get involved with something like this, some had their own families to think of and they could not be blamed for that mentality. Perhaps there were good, reckless people out there if we could find them.

It was a start.

Oo0Oo0

I knocked at the door to Percy's apartment and made sure my hood completely covered my face. Taking the floo to call or even to give the code was too risky now. I adjusted my purse and shuffled my feet. This was not like last time I had shown up unannounced, this had an air of finality to it. Not resignation, just a greater awareness of everything that was happening in the world and a firm acceptance of everything that was happening between Percy and I. The adult aspects of our relationship seemed so much smaller. Moving in was a big step, but we both knew this.

His familiar voice asked my name through the door.

I gave it and we performed the normal song and dance of loaned books before the door swung open and I was almost pulled into the plain living room of Percy's apartment as he quickly closed the door behind me seconds before I kissed him.

"I'm so happy to see you!"

"I wasn't expecting you! Why are you out of your flat?"

"My neighbors! They've been murdered!"

Percy looked at me with wide eyes.

"Is that offer to move in still open?"

"Of course it is!" He reached for my bag to take it from me, wincing at the noise it made as various possessions tumbled around inside. I had packed in a hurry.

Really this felt very familiar.

I set the bag down and pinched the bridge of my nose.

Lucinda and I agreed that I could not live at Thornell. If I did not know all the details of Lucinda's plans to hide the children or disguise aspects of the house, we all were safer for that point. She and Tavish did not leave much anymore, they had food stores, would order anything else they might need and Barry would meet the delivery person at the gate of the property under the pretense of the pair getting on in years.

My task was to keep an eye on changes in the Ministry and pass on word to Susanna as soon as I had the chance. Lucinda trusted her, Susanna trusted Lucinda and the secretaries in the other departments knew everything.

I knew I could trust Percy, but Lucinda had some conditions and I had some reservations. Percy was too open in some ways. Too principled in a way that I was concerned could be turned against him.

I refused to risk his life until we knew we could be safe in this endeavor.

If I had to involve Percy, I could not propose such wild ideas without structure and a plan in place for him to support and pick apart with fresh eyes.

Percy summoned a pair of wine glasses and a bottle of wine I had brought over last week that we had not opened yet.

I nudged my bag with my foot, "Mind if I put this in your room for now?"

"I don't mind at all. Should I…?" he gestured awkwardly towards his closet of a home office somewhere down the hall.

I gave Percy a look, a raised eyebrow and vaguely amused smile. "You can convert your office or sleep on the couch if you want, but I don't think you would enjoy it very much."

"No, no I don't think I would." His expression relaxed as he took a deep breath. "Do you want a sleep potion or anything?"

"Thank you, but I've got one already."

Percy perked up, "Don't take it with alcohol, it's one or the other!"

"I know, I'm not going to mix my potion and honestly, I'd prefer the drink."

Oo0Oo0

Author's Note: I have a notation in my notes that states that Audrey and Alex are allowed to say fuck in conversation and thoughts because Jack is their father. I have another note that says Percy is not allowed to say that word in conversation or as a thought enhancer because he was raised by Molly.

Four people had to die for Audrey to move in.