24/11/03
Audrey Whitman is 23 years old and a part-time waitress in a cafe in central London. The rest she spends going to auditions and teaching classes. Because she is going to be an actress, it's not her fault that she got screwed over when some posh girl's daddy paid for her to take her role in one of the pantos. She got the lead role four years in a row in her local youth theatre. Audrey can sing, dance and act. And last year she got cast as part of the ensemble in Cats.
She can even do a halfway decent Australian accent. She sometimes uses it, because after three hours of being on your feet and politely answering tourists' questions it becomes a bit boring saying that you're from Newcastle and yesthat is in England. Especially when it's been deemed the festive season and East 17 had been begging her to "stay another day" all day. For Christ's sake, they're only halfway through November.
She notices the regulars and there's one that shouldn't catch her eye but somehow does. A tall, lanky man who looks only a couple years older than herself. He's got a mop of ginger curls, a plethora of freckles and some horn-rimmed glasses that shouldn't look good on anyone but somehow suit him. He's come in everyday at around half past one for the past six weeks and each time orders the same thing. Tea with one sugar and a blueberry muffin. Every single day. Sometimes he'll even come in after work and get one for the journey back home. Audrey's seen him when she's picked up shifts.
She assumes he works in civil service although Audrey's never actually asked him. He just looks like the type too. He's here now and sits down at his usual spot. She makes his way over and asks him the same question she's asked for God knows how long.
"What can I get for you, love?"
"Chocolate chip muffin and tea, please." The change surprises her.
"Have you ended the love affair with the blueberry then?" she says, laughing. He laughs a little as well, chuckling under his breath. It's sweet.
"Gone off it. Too much of a good thing, I suppose." This is the most she's heard him say in a month and it's a pleasant surprise.
"Never mind, chocolate chips are my favourite, best of the lot."
"My mum makes them. I haven't been home in a while and I missed them."
"Where's home for you then? You don't seem like a native Londoner. I'm not either, if you couldn't tell by the voice."
"I like it. Distinctive voice, especially here. I'm from Devon, if it matters. Went to school in Scotland though."
"Boarding school eh? Knew you had to be posh." Audrey says, smiling.
"I-I won a scholarship." He says somewhat sheepishly, as if he's apologising for something.
"You look like the smart type." It's true. The man's hair is curly and flops down onto his forehead with a surprising lack of grace. He wears suits and carries a big brown satchel. To Audrey, this is the pinnacle of smartness.
She wants to talk to him before her name is called from the counter. "Audrey! Table three needs cleaning!" She smiles at the stranger apologetically and continues.
"That's me. So what was it-chocolate chip muffin and tea?"
"That's right."
"Good. It'll be out soon, love." He turns red when she addresses him. In all honesty, he ends up looking a bit like a tomato.
"Audrey's a pretty name," he says, his face still very flushed.
"Thank you. What are you called then?"
"Percy. Percy Weasley," he says with a note of pride.
"Well then Percy Weasley, your chocolate muffin will be out soon."
Audrey walks away, smiling. She likes this Percy, even if he does seem a bit posh. She grabs the cleaning supplies and gives table three a quick wipe before rushing to the kitchen with his order.
"Tea with one sugar and a chocolate muffin on the side. Table 1," she calls.
Her friend, Jodie, appears from the side. "Saw you talking to the ginger lad. What's up with him?"
"I think he works in civil service and he's from Devon but won a scholarship for a school in Scotland," she tells her importantly.
"Right." Jodie looks at Audrey, her eyes meeting hers. "He was looking at you in the way guys do when they fancy someone."
Audrey doesn't answer. Instead she just stares at the ground. She'd be lying if she said she didn't find him attractive. Tall, smart, And he seemed nice enough.
"Aude, you don't think he's fit do you?" Jodie says, obviously surprised. "I mean-he's ginger for Pete's sake!"
Audrey laughs a little bit. "Just because your ex was ginger doesn't mean all of them are bad."
Jodie's nostrils flair. "Yeah right. The muffin's ready," she mumbles, pushing the plate and cup towards Audrey.
She takes it and walks right over to Percy. "Your order. Just how you like it. One sugar"
Percy looks at her, "Thanks. Do you do this full time?"
"God no, I'd go mad if I did. I'm an actress. Well-I'm trying to be, West End's been my dream ever since I was tiny."
"That makes my job seem really boring. I work in um-civil service," he says.
"Well that's probably more stable than my job, " she remarks.
"Audrey. C'mon it's just before lunch. Get him gone," her boss whispers into her ear in passing.
"I'm really really sorry I have to-" she says. She doesn't want to go. She wants to talk to him more, he's interesting.
"It's fine. I-I get it. See you tomorrow," Percy says, smiling.
"See ya!" she calls, smiling back.
****
19/12/03
He comes back everyday after that and every single time they talk for as long as her co-workers allow it. And during the course of these talks, Audrey realises that she has a massive crush on him. Percy's smart, funny, sweet, shy and he cares.
She learns a lot about him. He has seven siblings, two older and four younger. All boys apart from his little sister. She also learns that he's a fanatic about the Beatles and the Smiths. It's a bonding point when they learn that their shared favourite song is "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds."
And the best thing about him is that Audrey thinks he likes her back.
One day he comes after work. The sun set at four and he's here at seven thirty. Audrey's just finishing up and there he is, his eyes cast down on the floor.
"You alright?" she asks, her voice soft. Mariah Carey is blasting in the background and it seems woefully inappropriate for reasons that Audrey can't quite place.
"No." he chokes. His voice sounds heavy and when he looks at Audrey his eyes are puffy and red.
"Oh Percy." she says. "I'm off in five. Wait for me outside." He nods and she finishes sweeping the floor in record time. She rushes to the back, tells her boss that she's clocking out for the night, puts on her clothes and lets down her curly brown hair.
He's waiting for her outside the shop, hands in pockets. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"Can we walk?" he asks. She takes his hand and he lets out a little "oh!" of surprise. They end up settling in the doorway of a closed shop. Audrey shivers slightly in the cold, even though she has a jacket on. "Are you cold?"
"A bit." He's wearing a long coat and he wraps it around her. "That better?
"Aye. It's perfect." They stay silent for a minute till she speaks. "What's happened?" The Christmas lights illuminate the dark streets and Audrey thinks that it's beautiful.
"I don't want to go home for Christmas." he says after a bit. "And I don't think I'm a good person."
"I think you are." she replies almost instantly. And she's not just saying it out of politeness. Percy Weasley is good, she's sure of it.
"My brother died five years ago and nothing's been the same since." A tear rolls down his cheek and Audrey places her hand on it, stroking it. It's only then she appreciates his height. She's barely 5'2 and he must be at least 6'3. She just reaches his shoulder.
"It's ok," she whispers, still stroking his cheek. "It wasn't your fault."
"He was a twin. They were identical. Fred was the one who died and George nearly drank himself to death after. He's got a girlfriend now but I can tell he wishes it was him. I wish it was me too."
"It wasn't your fault." she says again.
"It was. I left and didn't talk to my family for nearly two years because we kept arguing and they were on the right side and I was scared. I missed my brother's wedding and then Fred died and I wanted to die too. My dad got hurt before that and I didn't even ask how he was because I was too fucking stuck up." His tears are coming fast now and his glasses have tear stains on them.
Audrey's always been good at comforting people but now she doesn't know what to do. So she does what feels right. She leans up and hugs him and it doesn't matter that she's standing on tippy toes. He hugs her back, his arms strong as he leans down and buries his face in her neck. They stay like that for a while until he breaks away. "I-I'm sorry," he mumbles.
"Don't be. Don't ever be sorry for that." she answers, her voice strong.
He looks into her eyes, his are blue like the sea and she's been told that her's are like chocolate. And then he moves closer and she does too, leaning up to kiss him. It's not a desperate kiss, like the drunken ones in clubs. This kiss is soft and tender and sweet. She can feel his hands in her hair and suddenly he's the only thing that matters. They break apart, both smiling.
"How long?" she asks.
"Ever since I saw you from the window. You're why I keep coming back."
"Oh Perce," she says, the nickname coming naturally. "I like you too."
"I like you lots, Audrey."
He smiles at her and she smiles back and God, it's perfect. "Fag?" he asks. "I don't normally smoke but still."
"Me either. Special occasion for both of us." He laughs as he pulls a box out of his pocket.
Percy hands a cigarette to Audrey and searches in his pockets for a lighter. "Shit I forgot it. Oh well." He takes out a long wooden stick from his pocket and points it at the cigarettes.
Audrey bursts out into laughter. "Alright magic man. You need two sticks to light something on fire."
Percy looks momentarily confused and then goes bright red. "Right yeah. My fault."
"Luckily I have a lighter." She searches in her pocket and elaborately brings one out, handing it to him. They both stick their cigarettes in their mouth and lean closer together. He lights both of them and pulls her closer as they smoke.
"Percy?" she asks, taking a drag.
"Yes?"
"Let's have fun tonight. It's Saturday tomorrow and we're in London."
"What do you suggest we do?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. And he looks so handsome that Audrey might just stop everything. His glasses framing his freckled face perfectly. His curly hair that falls down his forehead to the point where you know he's styled it, or at least attempted too.
"Finish that and then we'll go." They both stub their cigarettes and she takes his hand as they walk through the streets of Soho. They can hear the carol singers and Audrey imitates them. There's some girls stumbling through the streets singing Girls Aloud at the top of their lungs. She starts to sing along under her breath.
"When the beat of the drum goes round and round." She sings.
"Into the overflow, where the girls get down to the sound of the radio." he replies, singing it back at her. He's got a deep voice when he sings and Audrey looks at him in surprise.
"You can sing?"
"I guess. I was in the choir at school." he says, somewhat shyly. "And I taught myself how to play the piano and guitar. My family didn't really have the money for it and I got some old hand-me-down books my brothers hadn't used."
"So musical genius as well as academic prodigy?" she asks, smiling.
"No, just a kid who liked to listen."
"Well that's good because I've been told that I talk people's ears off."
"I don't mind. I like hearing you talk." he replies, looking at her deeply.
"Well thank you." Another thought strikes her. "Also how on earth do you know that? You don't seem the clubbing type and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't listen to it willingly."
"I go to clubs sometimes. It's nice to dance where nobody knows you. I'm 26, not 50."
"Well I have got to see that. Y'know I'm trained in contemporary, jazz, hip hop and tap?"
"Well I think you're probably better than me." Audrey feels a splat of water on her hand and looks up to the sky "Did you-?" asks Percy before there's a crack of thunder and the rain starts.
"C'mon let's go. I know a place." she says, pulling him along. She takes him to a lively old man's pub and they step inside their faces flushed from the cold. She's been here before, one time with her ex and a couple times with her mates,
"Merry Christmas you two. There's a table back there," says the barman, speaking with a strong cockney accent.
The pub's packed, with tinsel hanging from every possible surface and shiny wooden tables. They sit down and Percy insists on buying her a drink, pulling out a crisp ten pound note as he does so. They both get gin and tonics and sit down talking about everything under the sun. After about an hour and a half, during which they have several more cocktails before settling on a glass of mulled wine each.
At this point everyone in the pub is drunk or at least tipsy and Audrey feels considerably lightheaded as she stares into Percy's eyes. Someone puts a song on a record and Audrey's eyes go wide as the start of "Fairytale of New York" plays. The whole pub starts singing along to Shane McGowan starts his ballad. Percy starts to sing along too and as the instrumental bit starts he holds out his hand to her. "Care to dance?"
Audrey doesn't even reply, just takes his hand and drags him up to the open space where there's several other couples, though all considerably older than them.
He holds onto her hand as he twirls her and she sings Kirsty MacColl's verse.
"They've got cars big as bars, they've got rivers of gold..."
They both laugh as the pub sings and they dance, he spins her around and she goes as fast as she can. They sing the duet at the top of their lungs and eventually their voices are the ones standing out amongst the crowd.
"You were handsome" she sings at him.
"You were pretty. Queen of New York City." he replies.
"When the band finished playing they howled out for more. Sinatra was swinging, all the drunks they were singing. We kissed on the corner then danced through the night." They sing together, still dancing.
They go through the whole insulting each other bit and then carry on with the song.
"And the bells are ringing out for Christmas day!" The song finishes as the music goes on and everyone cheers. Audrey looks up and kisses him again and this time he lifts her up so they're eye to eye. When they finish, some old man wolf whistles and another guy shouts "Get a room!" while the woman beside him slaps his arm.
"They're young and in love. Leave them be." she says and Percy sets Audrey down and she can see that his face is bright red.
They each get another drink before leaving and as they do an old couple stop them.
"Sorry, do you mind if we take a picture of you two. You just remind us of when we were your age." Audrey can see the resemblance. The tall, balding man has glasses and the woman is short and has dark brown curls and eyes just like Audrey.
She looks up at Percy and he looks down at her and they both say "Yes" in perfect unison.
"Where you from?" the man asks. "You sound Geordie."
"That I am." she says proudly. "Moved down here for work."
"Oh right." The man pauses for a minute. "What about lover boy here?"
"Devon." Percy replies. "About an hour and half away from Exeter by car."
The man looks poised to ask them another question but his wife interrupts him. "Stop interrogating them! Now let's take that photo."
They take the photo with the woman's camera and Percy gives her his address so she can send the photo later.
"How long have you been together?" the man asks just before they leave and this time Audrey's the one that goes red. It doesn't really seem possible that this is the only time she's ever been out with Percy, everything just feels so natural with him.
"Umm-" she stutters before Percy cuts her off.
"Audrey. Would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asks, turning towards her wearing a massive smile.
"I'd love to." she replies, smiling back.
Percy then turns to the old couple, who are both staring at them in shock. "About ten seconds." Audrey hugs his arm and she thinks that this is the happiest she's been in years.
"Oh my god Bert!" the woman exclaims and she hugs him. "They really are just like us."
"What do you mean?" Percy asks.
"I asked her out when my friends thought we were already dating. After a Beatles concert." Bert replies.
"We love the Beatles." Audrey says.
"Us too."
The conversation ends with both of them wishing Merry Christmas to each other and making promises to stay in touch. They walk out into the streets and it's nearly midnight but Audrey's not tired.
They walk hand and hand in silence. They don't really need words. She looks up at him, smiling from ear to ear. She won't say it, not yet. But she's pretty sure she loves him. Even if they've only been dating for 15 minutes.
"Thank you." he says quietly, looking right at her.
"For what?"
"For saying yes. I would've looked daft if you said no."
"Oh Percy" she pauses for a second. "I don't think I could've said no."
He kisses her again and they walk to Oxford Street to see the lights. It reminds her of when she was a little girl and she had begged to go to London to see a play. Her parents had taken her and her brother and they had stopped to see the lights. They were just as mesmerising then too.
"Pretty aren't they?" Percy asks.
"They're beautiful."
They stay like that for a few minutes, each of them not saying a word. It's colder now and Audrey starts to shiver.
"Do you want to go to a club? I'll show you I can dance" he asks after a bit.
"Do you have anywhere in mind?"
"Let me show you." He leads her to an alley and then takes her down several side streets until they reach a grimy looking building that has a modest queue. She must've given him a look because he does the raised eyebrow thing again. "Just trust me. I know the people who work there."
He walks to the side and knocks on the back door. A girl with short dark pink hair and piercings opens it. "Who is-oh Percy!"
"Hey Leanne." he replies.
"Come in. Davy's by the bar and- who's this?" she asks, looking at Audrey.
"This is my girlfriend." he says proudly, gesturing to her.
"Hiya. Me name's Audrey." She notices that her accent's coming out more and more now that she's drunk. Ah well. Best he gets to know her properly early on.
"Well come in then. It's proper cold out there." Leanne opens the door and club songs can be heard playing while the smell of alcohol fills Audrey's nostrils.
"Thanks." Percy leads her inside, nods to Leanne and then leads her inside.
It's filled with girls dancing in tiny dresses and shirtless boys with drinks in hand. It strikes her at this moment that they're not at all dressed for the occasion. She's in her denim skirt with tights and a white top and Percy's still in his work clothes, though he did take off his tie a while ago.
"Where are we going?" she shouts, trying to be heard over the music.
"To see some of my friends! You'll like them, I promise." he calls back, leading her by the hand.
He takes her to a corner where a man and a lady are sat with drinks in hand. They both look like they're mid-40s and the woman is resting on the man's outstretched arm. The man looks up at Percy and immediately stands up and hugs him.
"Percy!" he says in a thick accent. "How ya doing?"
"Good Davy. I want you two to meet someone." He holds up his and Audrey's intertwined hands. "This is Audrey, she's my girlfriend."
The woman gives a little scream and then immediately goes to hug both Percy and Audrey. "Thank god for you Audrey. We were getting worried about him being in the flat all alone. I'm Mandy by the way."
"How do you know him?" she asks curiously.
"What's a Northern girl like you doing down here in London?" Mandy asks.
"I'm an actress. I'm trying to make it big on the West End." she tells her proudly.
"Well good on you love. You asked how we know Percy, right?"
"Aye."
Mandy laughs and hugs Percy's shoulders. "Have you seriously not told her?"
"Told me what?"
"Percy sings here every Tuesday night. Fridays and Saturday's too in the summer. And he does it in our pub sometimes. Been doing it for about five years now, haven't ya?"
"And we've been trying to get him to do it more. But he's always at work." Davy alternates the last bit with fake jabs at Percy's shoulder. "You should come see him."
"I will." This new bit of information just makes Audrey fall for Percy more. He's tall, smart, kind and he sings? She's starting to think that this must be a dream and that Percy Weasley is nothing more than a figment of her imagination. Audrey pinches herself slightly and it confirms that yes, this is real.
"I just wanted her to meet you guys. You've looked after me ever since I moved here and you were there for me when Fred died." Percy says sincerely.
"Aw Perce. We're just some 40-something olds and you're young enough to be our son." Mandy says.
"Now what are you kids still doing here?" Davy asks, his dark skin shining in the strobe lights. "Go out and dance!"
Percy takes Audrey's hand as they dance on the floor. There’s bodies pressed up against them but they don't care. He dances with surprising coordination for someone so lanky and tall. The opening for "Crazy In Love" plays and everyone in the club screams. Percy spins her and they dance, both slightly unsteady on their feet. They move closer together and eventually their bodies touch as they dance. They point at each other as the song goes on and he lifts her up into his arms again as they're noses touch, his long and slender meeting her button one as they kiss. His hands are holding her waist and her’s are in his hair and it's drunk and slightly sloppy and Audrey doesn't care one bit.
She doesn't know exactly how she ends up at his flat but from what she can remember there was a tight feeling that squeezed her chest and the sound of wind rushing past her ears. She assumes it's simply the passing of the tube. What she can remember fully however, is them stumbling into his flat and her kissing him harder than she's ever kissed anyone before.
"Do you wan-?" Percy asks nervously.
"Yes." Audrey replies with full force. He takes her hand and leads her to his bedroom. It's neat and tidy but she's not focusing on the bed. She's focusing on him.
He kisses her again and then she's unbuttoning his shirt. There's a faint scar on his upper chest and she thumbs her finger across it. "How'd ya get it?" she whispers.
"Fighting" he replies with a small smirk.
"I knew you were trouble."
"Well I haven't always been good"
"I don't believe that." Then she sees his arms, covered in faded scars. He notices her looking and puts them around his stomach, looking down at the floor. "Hey-" she says, "I don't care. They don't matter to me."
"Really?" he asks, his voice small. Audrey's heart breaks a little bit then. How dare anyone tell him that he should hide them?
"You're beautiful either way." she says sincerely. "An-and these-" she holds his arms and holds them up "They're just proof of what you've been through and how strong you are." And then she leans up and kisses him with a sort of desperate urgency. Audrey doesn't ever want to come up for air because Percy's like oxygen. His hands are in her hair and he tugs at her shirt. She pulls it over herself and they both undress till they're in their underwear.
"Au-Audrey" he stammers.
"What is it?"
"You're perfect." he says and then he pulls her onto the bed and she laughs. He's gorgeous, skinny but firm. Lanky but lovely. She sits up and he places his hands on her waist. Audrey can feel them shaky and he's touching her like she could shatter at any moment.
Their bodies melt into each other and it's bliss. She never ever wants to leave him. He's perfect and they kiss and kiss and he keeps a steady hold on her.
They stop for a second and Audrey says breathlessly. "I think I'm in love with you."
He looks up at her, his hair messy and ruffled and kiss marks adorned on his cheeks. "I think I'm in love with you too." he replies. And then he kisses her again and again. And when they finish and just before she falls asleep in his arms, her last clear thought is "I'm going to marry him one day". She doesn't think a life without Percy Weasley is a life worth living.
****
Audrey's eyes flutter open. The cold winter morning's light is streaming through the crack in the curtain. Percy isn't next to her and she closes her eyes for a second. Of course it was too good to be true. Why would she have anything good happen to her ?
And then she hears a man singing from the kitchen. She can't make out what it is but Percy's here. She sits up and realises he's left a button up shirt and some plaid pj bottoms for her to wear at the end of the bed. Audrey puts on the clothes, goes to the bathroom where he's left a toothbrush out for her. She cleans her teeth and then makes her way to the small, rectangular kitchen.
Percy is sizzling some bacon in a pan and singing along to the radio. He doesn't notice her standing there, leaning against the door frame. "So I started walking her way, she belonged to bad man Jose! And I knew, yes I knew I should leave when I heard her sayyy!" he sings while cracking an egg.
Audrey begins to sing softly under her breath, "Come a little bit closer, you're my kind of man. So big and so strong."
Percy stops in his tracks, looks towards her and breaks out into a big smile. "Come a little bit closer. I'm all alone and the night is so long." Audrey carries on, singing louder. He stretches out a hand which she takes almost immediately and they slow-dance in the kitchen. The song finishes and she kisses him slowly, savouring the taste.
*****************************
They get married two months later in the local registry office, a month after Audrey finds out about his world. Two years later Molly arrives, a little girl that's the spit of her father but with her grandmother and namesake’s slightly terrifying temperament. And then three years after that Lucy Diamond follows, with black hair, freckles and green eyes and all of her twin uncle's mischief.
Audrey gets a couple of roles here and then but mainly sticks to teaching classes. But when she does get roles, Percy goes whenever he can, eyes shining as he watches his wife perform. And he always makes sure to greet her with a bouquet and a kiss.
Percy works his way up the ministry, loses his hair slowly(though Audrey thinks he looks handsome as ever) and joins a band at the age of 45, becoming their lead singer.
Molly grows up to become the head of a major wizarding makeup company and marries at the age of 27 to a magical lawyer called Winston Jones. They go on to have a son called Nicholas and twins Vera and Jasper.
Lucy follows in her father’s footsteps and forms a band with her muggleborn best friend, Owen Lee Coleman. Together they take the wizarding world by storm, her with a high voice that sounds like a nightingale and him with his low but gentle one. They even break into the muggle scene and become a hit act, headlining festivals across the world. Lucy goes on to have a little girl named Ruby Lee Weasley, named for Rubeus Hagrid and her best friend.
****
19/12/2053
They're older now but Audrey's hand still feels the same in Percy's as they walk the streets of Soho. "Baby," she says softly, "Doesn't this remind you of when we were young?"
"It does love, you know it does." he replies as the snow pounds their faces.
They cross the road and stand outside the cafe she used to work at. 50 years to the day that they fell in love. It's changed hands many times since then but the memories haven't . The spot by the window where he always used to sit, the corner where they shared their first kiss.
"I was lucky then love and I'm lucky now." Percy says and she smiles up at him. "My dancing girl."
"My magic man," she replies, "God you remember when you told me?"
"You screamed, cursed me, asked if I needed an exorcism and then if I was real. Course I do love." he replies, laughing gently.
They walk on, past the club that Davy and Mandy used to run and straight into the pub. The decor's at least thirty years out of style but it doesn't matter. Not to them.
"What can I get you?" the boy at the bar asks them.
"Two G and T's love." Audrey replies and they take their drinks as Percy pulls out his wallet for his bank card.
They take their drinks and sit down in a corner, sipping them slowly. Percy looks handsome still, even with the last little scraps of ginger hair hanging on to his head. "Remember when we took the girls here?" he asks her.
"We should take the grandkids, do you think they're too old for it now?"
"Probably love. Nicky's 18 next year and Vera, Jasper and Ruby will be 16. Doesn't matter though, they all know how we met."
"We could do it during the school holidays, Golden anniversary present. Invite Owen and Priya too and obviously Cynthia and Rohan." Owen's family are like an extra set of grandchildren to Audrey and Percy, helped by the fact that they've known Owen since he was thirteen years old.
"Tiny Dancer," Percy says, calling Audrey by the nickname he used when they first got together. It makes her feel all fuzzy inside, like she's still twenty-something and newly in love.
"Magic man?" she responds.
"Listen to the song." is all he says and she does. "It's our song Audie."
The opening of Fairytale of New York plays and the pub joins in. Audrey grabs Percy by the arm and starts to sing along with a younger couple. He spins her round and Audrey's still light on her feet, though of course their movements are slower. "When you first took my hand on that cold Christmas eve, you promised me Broadway was waiting for me," she sings.
The song goes on and when it ends the pub bursts into applause for them and the younger couple to their side. The girl is short, around Audrey's height and the boy is just taller than Percy once was, and they both wear glasses. She brings him into a kiss, pulling him down by his tie.
"Remember when you used to do that to me?" Percy whispers into her ear.
"Shame you don't wear ties anymore."
"I wear them for weddings only."
"Darlin', d'ya wanna ask them for a photo?" she asks and before he can answer, she drags him by the hand to the couple who are both very flushed in the face.
"Hiya, we just wanted to say that you remind us of how we were when we were young." she says.
"Really?" asks the girl, "How long have you two been together?"
"50 years exactly," Percy replies, "Married for 50 in February, we got married very quickly."
"That's amazing!" the boy exclaims, "We’ve-“ his face drops as he turns to the girl, “We’re not together Prachi."
“I know Toyin." she says earnestly. "Do you want to or shall I?"
"Do what?"
"Ask me out." Audrey smiles as her and Percy watch the pair.
Toyin stutters before saying panickedly “Yes-yes of course. Prachi, would you like to be my girlfriend?”
“I’d like that very much,” she replies.
"You know, he asked me out in this very pub." Audrey remarks and Percy smiles down at them.
"Well if we end up getting married we'll be sure to invite you." Prachi smiles. "Though not in two months!"
Prachi has long black hair that runs down her back and Toyin has cinnamon brown skin that shines as he smiles at her.
They exchange contact details and take a photo all together. A song comes on the speakers and Prachi exclaims "Oh I love this one!"
Percy looks nonplussed as he says casually, "That's our daughter's song."
Both Toyin and Prachi stare at Audrey and Percy at this revelation. "Sorry-" she splutters, "Your daughter is Lucy Weasley? As in of Diamond Lee?"
"The very same, we're Audrey and Percy Weasley." Audrey says, smiling. She took his last name after they got married, given that there was an Audrey Whiteman that she kept getting confused with. And because she loved him and his silly magical name.
"That's so cool!" Toyin says loudly, "And you know Owen Coleman too?"
"Well given that he used to come round to our house for dinner and we're Granny and Grandad Weasley to his children, I'd say we do." Percy replies.
"Can you tell them we say hi?" Prachi asks.
"Will do."
They dance some more and then bid their farewells to the younger couple, though not before whispering in Prachi's ear "You'd better tell him about that wand." Her eyes go wide as she stares at them.
"You-of course you're magic too. I should have realised, is it both of-" Audrey nods towards Percy, "Just him? I'll tell Toyin, promise."
And with that, Audrey and Percy Weasley step out into the snowy Soho night. A drunken boy and girl walk their way, screaming out "Love you to the end" by The Pogues. And Audrey hums it as she leans up to kiss Percy, her magic man.
"I love you Audie." he says.
"I love you Perce."
Three months later, the invitation for the wedding of Prachi Joshi and Toyin Adeyemi comes in via owl.