Discussions
“Have you noticed that Audrey is a bit mean to Percy?” Charlie asks George.
They’re in his brother’s shop, late at night. Charlie had just shown up there, holding an unopened bottle of wine and asked if he could stop by. George didn’t see why not, everyone else was in bed and his wife was away for work.
The second George had let him in, Charlie had stomped past, uncorked the bottle and drained about a half of it while George gaped at him. Then he had went and asked George that.
George thinks about it. He hadn’t really been seeing much of Percy these days. He didn’t have standing once-a- month plans with his older brother like Charlie or Bill did. He didn’t really know Audrey that well, as a matter of fact. Percy had just... come home one day and said he was getting married to some girl he had met barely six months before.
“She’s the one, Mum. I just know.”
He saw them both at occasions; birthday parties and the like, but he’s never really spent time with Audrey. On the few occasions he had reached out, he and Percy had made plans, but something always came up with Audrey or the girls that caused his brother to cancel. After awhile he had just… stopped trying.
“What happened?”
“I just heard them get into a fight. I think she hit him.”
“She what?”
“She hit him. I heard her screaming at him through their door about not letting him leave. Then there was a crashing sound. I couldn’t stand it, so I knocked.”
“And?”
“She let me in and told me he had gotten hurt putting the kid’s playset together and we needed to meet another night. I wouldn’t leave until I saw him. He was in their bedroom trying to hide a black eye.”
“Merlin.”
George takes the bottle from his brother. “You just left him there?”
“What was I supposed to do? He told me he had hurt himself at work. When I corrected him he told me het got hurt at work and putting a playset together for the girls.”
The wine is making things a bit easier to handle. The idea that Percy, their strict, overbearing sort of a prat brother was being…
“We don’t know for sure?” George suggests weakly. In the night of their shop, the shadow from the streetlights casts an eerie gaze on his brother.
“I think she’s hit him, George. I really do. It got me thinking.”
George furrows his brows. “About?”
“Audrey! Think about it- when was the last time you saw Percy?” Charlie asks.
“Uh, at Hugo’s birthday party?” George offers lamely.
“No, I mean like, hung out with him just one on one? Not with Audrey around?”
George blinks. Sure, he and Percy weren’t very close but surely, he’d…
He draws up a blank. When had been the last time he had seen Percy without Audrey? Not at Hugo’s birthday, not at Hermione and Ron’s anniversary party... Merlin when was the last time he had even talked to his brother when his wife wasn’t around? His brother’s wedding, maybe? Percy had been the last of them to get married, since Charlie wasn’t even interested in that sort of thing, and that had been years ago.
“I- I don’t know.”
“Exactly!” Charlie exclaims. He takes the bottle of wine from George and finishes it off quickly. George studies his brother- he’s on sabbatical from the Dragon Institute in Romania, trying to write a book or something, and it’s been nice to have him home. But it was clear that Charlie was aching to go back; living in a tiny, rented flat, studying and writing, it seemed to drive him crazy. He was itching for his old life.
George can relate.
“Look, we don’t know for sure what happened. Maybe he really did get hurt earlier, twice, and he and Audrey were just arguing about it.”
Charlie scoffs in disbelief.
“Fine! Okay, look. Let’s you and me see about getting lunch with him sometime or something. We can, y’know, feel it out.” George suggests.
Charlie gives him a long quite look before sighing. He runs a hand through his hair, lost in thought for a few moments.
“Fine. Do you have a quill and paper? I’ll write him now.”
Charlie does write Percy and sends the owl off the next morning. Percy replies saying he’d love to get lunch with George and Charlie sometime next week.
When the day comes, George and Charlie get to the café ten minutes early, sweating in the early summer sun. They wait together for him for twenty minutes, then thirty, and finally an hour has passed, and Percy still hasn’t shown up.
“Do you think he’s alright?” George asks Charlie nervously, ripping his paper napkin into shreds. It wasn’t like Percy to be late at all.
“I-,” normally Charlie would say of course he was fine, but now he wasn’t sure. Finally, he’s about ready to pay their bill and march over to Percy’s home himself when he sees red curls and freckles in the doorway of the café.
“Percy!” he calls, feeling oddly relived. Their brother turns at the sound of his name and smiles mildly at them before walking over and joining them.
“Sorry, sorry. I know I’m late.”
George raises an eyebrow.
“Very late.” Percy amends. “But Audrey had taken the girls out of school this morning for some kind of special art class party and asked me last second to pick them off and drop them at Mum and Dad’s.”
Charlie studies his face for any sign of a lie but can’t quite seem to find one. The waiter comes by and Percy orders quickly, noting the annoyance on the man’s face. George and Charlie have been loitering at the table, waiting for him.
When the waiter is gone, Percy turns to face them. The swollen eye is long gone, and Charlie can’t see any other marks. Wizards were known to be quick healers, though, and if Percy had applied some dittany, any marks from last week would be long gone. Something about that made Charlie wildly uncomfortable.
They chat for a bit about this and that- Percy tells them about the twin’s schooling and George talks about his own family. Charlie complains about missing his dragons. By the time they’ve all caught up, Percy’s done eating and they’ve all had a few cups of tea each, but it feels like no time at all has gone by.
“Look, Percy,” Charlie starts to say, exchanging a look with George nervously. “I think we need to talk. About Audrey.”
Percy stills, every muscle tensing. Then, like it had never happened, he relaxes. He gives them a tight smile.
“This is about last week?”
Charlie nods.
“Look, it really was just an accident. I hit my head at both-,”
“Percy, c’mon.” George interrupts suddenly. Percy looks at him now but doesn’t meet his eyes. Instead, he keeps his eyes on the bridge of his brother’s nose.
“We were both thinking about it, and there’s just some things we’ve noticed that bother us about her.” He says carefully.
“We don’t want to make you upset or uncomfortable-,”
“Well, you have.” Percy says sharply, now refusing to look at either sibling. This was beyond embarrassing.
“It’s not just about last week, Percy. It seems like she’s not treating you in a way that’s very respectful. Canceling your plans, not spending any time with us without her-,”
“She is my wife.”
“I know!” Charlie says quickly. “That doesn’t- how do you explain last week? I heard you two arguing. I heard that crashing sound, and then all of the sudden you have newly formed black eye.”
Percy rolls his eyes. “Okay, yes. We were arguing. Things got loud, but she didn’t, like, punch me, or anything. It was getting heated, and I didn’t see the coffee table behind me, and I fell. It’s not a big deal, and you’re making it one.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me that?” Charlie asks.
“It’s embarrassing!” Percy hisses, voice low. “Who wants to admit that they tripped and ate it when arguing with their partner?”
His brothers go quiet. Had Percy just tripped? Audrey was slight compared to him, there’s no way she could hit him hard enough to cause that big of a shiner. Maybe he really was just embarrassed about the whole thing.
“Look,” Percy offers “Mum and Dad’s anniversary party is coming up soon. I’ll bring Audrey and the kids and you can see that everything is fine. You’re blowing things way out of proportion. If you want to spend time with me alone, just ask. It goes both ways, doesn’t it?”
Charlie feels a little bit of tension leave his shoulders. Percy looks so sure of himself, so confident. If he was lying about it, he was damn good at it.
“Okay, Perce. We believe you.”
“Thank you,” Percy says primly.
And that was that