Always- a Hinny / Romione fanfic

Chapter Thirty Eight

Percy Weasley stepped into the Leaky Cauldron, his shoulders stiff, his back aching. He always felt stiff, like a huge weight was on his shoulders.

The other members of his family had stopped having nightmares long ago, he could tell. He had stopped hearing shrieking cries every night in the Burrow, they had stopped coming down stairs sniffling, face patchy and eyes red.

But not him.

He had them nearly every night still, Fred's laughing face before the light was wiped out of his eyes, Hogwarts being destroyed, and his family, his family shaming him, telling him it was all his fault.

He couldn't help but feel like he deserved this. For what he had done. He thought he deserved the greatest shame.

But instead, his family had welcomed him back lovingly, with open arms. He had always wondered why. People would tell him it's because that's what families do. But he didn't. He didn't do that. And he should've.

"A small firewhiskey please," Percy muttered, shaking off his cloak and setting a galleon on the table. He began to sip his drink morosely, his throat burning.

Across the bar, he noticed a very pretty girl, with long, waist length auburn hair, and a very loud laugh. She was talking with a large group of girls. Percy found himself staring for over five minutes.

Finally, she noticed, and, much to Percy's surprise, came and sat down next to him. Her eyelashes flickered a bit. Percy could tell she was slightly buzzed.

"My name's Audrey," she said bluntly, spinning slightly in the chair, "and I saw you checking me out."

Percy just shifted uncomfortably and took an unnecessarily large gulp of firewhiskey. It slopped down his front, burning him. He spat it out, gagging.

He desperately tried to mop himself up with napkins, embarrassed. Audrey snorted loudly, highly amused.

"That was hilarious!" She shouted, now laughing much longer than the average person should.

Percy smiled awkwardly. But, as soon as she stopped laughing, she seemed quite interested in talking to him. The conversation immediately steered to their jobs.

"I work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports," Audrey announced, waving for another firewhiskey. Percy wrinkled his nose. He had always found that department a bit flaky. He nodded politely.

"You?" She asked, eyes curiously wide.

"Magical Law Enforcement." It was true. He had immediately resigned from his original post, but was offered this one at once. He was very close to being the head.

Audrey let out a low whistle.

"No wonder you're so tight."

"I'm not tight," Percy argued, cracking his neck.

"Are too. You could use, like, a serious massage. Or a couple more drinks," she pointed at his empty firewhiskey glass, wiggling her eyebrows. "My treat."

Percy shook his head stubbornly. "The girl isn't supposed to buy the guy's drinks." As if he knew. He had only dated once before in his life, and it was basically studying and then snogging.

Audrey rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so proper. Oi! Bartender! Could we have another firewhiskey over here?" He nodded gloomily.

After the second and third firewhiskey, Percy became more talkative.

"So, what do you do in your free time? Drink?"

Audrey just laughed.

"I'm actually on the Holy Head Harpies. I'm a huge quidditch fan. But, I don't know if you've heard... One of our chasers quit, and if we don't find another player soon, we're out for the season." She flicked her chin, looking sour for the first time.

"Hey," said Percy, eyes brightening. "I know someone who might be interested! My sister is an amazing quidditch player! Trust me."

Audrey smiled, thinking.

"Well, is she committed? Like, does she have a lot of free time."

Percy laughed.

"She's drowning in free time. Doesn't know what to do. Her boyfriend left for Auror training a month ago."

"Auror training?" Audrey asked, clearly interested. It was very rare now a days that someone got accepted into training. "Who is her boyfriend?!"

"Potter. Harry Potter."

Audrey's hands flew to her mouth.

"The Harry Potter?! Oh my god... you've met him!?"

Percy nodded, feeling slightly abashed, remembering a particularly nasty newspaper article he had helped release about him.

"Well, anyways, tell your sister to shoot me an owl about it then...oh...shit!" She turned, staring at the door. "My friends just apparated! Damn!"

"What's the matter? Can't you apparate?"

Audrey shot him a look.

"First time I apparated, I splinched my entire body in half. And now I absolutely refuse to do it alone. They were supposed to take me! You know, side along apparition...oh damn..."

Percy smiled cleverly.

"I could take you."

She brightened, hiccuping a bit.

"You mean it!?"

"Of course." He responded, leading her outside. Audrey thanked him over and over, telling him her address as he led her down the muggle street, away from all the eyes.

"This was fun. We should do it again," she said, fixing her hair. Percy finally got to look at her eyes for a really long time. They were bright blue, breathtaking.

He nodded, a little drunkedly.

"Yeah."

He held out his hand, and she took it, and he apparated to where she had said, a tall, tall apartment building on a quiet, lonely looking street.

"Do you have a telephone?" She asked, punctuating each syllable as though speaking to a child.

Percy shook his head.

"I know what it is though," he said, rather defensively.

"Yeah, you should really get one. My parents are muggles. While I love the wizarding world, I can't stand the transportation methods. I have to wait forever for my freaking owl to travel halfway across the city. I don't have time for that shit. Anyways...goodnight..."

Percy waved, she smiled and waited a bit. They stood there awkwardly.

"So that's it?" She asked, slouching a bit. "You're not going to kiss me or anything?"

Percy stuttered.

She snickered

"Ah, I'm just playin'. My little way of asking permission you know."

Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek.

"G'nite."

And Percy was left in awe, thinking that he was in love.

***

Heyy little filler

This was inspired by how my parents met.

Yes.

In a bar 😂

I might do a tiny tiny tiny time skip to where Harry and Ron get back from Auror training or something if that's okay..?

Please say if you would like be rlly mad if I did😂😂😂😂

ILY 30K READS😭💕😘