Reunited
Percy comes back from work on Wednesday night to see Audrey playing with the girls in the living room. He’s a bit surprised, normally when she’s back from work she’s quick to get started on dinner, leaving Percy to deal with playtime and chores. Then she helps them with their homework while Percy cleans up.
“Hi babe!” she calls cheerful over her shoulder.
“Daddy!” Lucy shrieks and runs to him. He wraps her into a hug. Molly wriggles out of her mother’s grasp and hugs Percy as well. Seeing them together like this, it makes Percy feel like everything he’d ever done is worth it. Audrey’s been unusually considerate lately and had even surprised Percy with concert tickets to a muggle band he likes.
Then he notices two trunks in the living room.
“Are you-,” he asks, suddenly very worried.
“My sister just had her baby, remember?” Audrey says, watching his gaze go from the trunks to the girls. Percy didn’t remember.
“Uh,” he says dumbly. Audrey rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.
“Seriously, Percy? I told you last week the girls and I were going to stay with her and her wife.”
Percy blinks, trying to remember Audrey mentioning anything at all relating to that. He knew Nora was having a baby with Miriam, but not quite so soon. He was sure Audrey never even told him when she was due.
“I don’t think so.” Percy says, unsure.
“Yes, I did Percy. Remember? You said you couldn’t join us because you had to work.” She stands up and walks over to him, placing the back of her hand on his forehead as if checking for a fever.
“Are you feeling alright?”
Percy feels a bit dumfounded. He sure Audrey never mentioned anything about going to visit her sister with the girls after her nephew was born, but maybe he just had just forgotten?
“No, I’m fine. Sorry, I must have just forgotten.” He amends quickly and his wife pulls her hand away from her forehead. “You girls go and have fun, okay?”
“Are you sure? If you’re not feeling well-,”
“No, no. It’s fine.”
His wife smiles and kisses him.
“Ew!” Molly exclaims. Audrey and Percy both chuckle at that. Audrey and Percy get the girls dressed, and then he calls them a cab and walks them outside for it to take them to the train station. Nora’s wife was a muggle, and they lived in a Muggle city.
He kisses his girls goodbye and gets them settled, then puts their trunks in the boot of the cab before facing his wife.
“Did you really tell me about this?” Percy asks. He’s certain she hadn’t.
“Of course I did,” Audrey says brightly, a small crease in her brows. She tilts her head at him. “Would I lie to you?”
Percy smiles gently. “No. You wouldn’t.”
He pecks her on the cheek and helps her into the cab. He shuts the door and waves until he can no longer see the cab on the street.
Audrey’s right. She wouldn’t lie to him.
Percy spends the next two days basically doing a whole lot of nothing. He goes to work, of course, the Ministry’s not going to stop because his family is out of town, but the evenings, without Audrey or the girls, he’s got nothing to do. He eats leftovers and catches up on some reading he’s been meaning to do.
Friday night, once again finding himself bored, he decides to get a head start on some laundry that needs doing. As he’s emptying out pockets, he finds a small slip of paper folded up in one of his trousers. He unfolds it- It’s Oliver’s address. He had forgotten all about it after Audrey and he had gotten into the argument.
He hesitates for a moment. Audrey didn’t seem too pleased about their meeting in Diagon Alley, but she had said it was because she had been unprepared for it, right?
He leaves the laundry and goes to his desk in the bedroom. He pulls out a fresh sheet of parchment paper and scribbles out a quick letter seeing if he and Oliver can meet somewhere. He signs it, seals it up and opens the living room window. He whistles for his owl, Hermes, who gleefully approaches, staying to be scratched. Percy had suggested to Audrey that once that they should let Hermes stay in the house full-time, but she had wrinkles her nose and outright refused. That was okay, even if Percy missed him. Hermes spent a lot of time exploring nearby trees and hunting and doing whatever he did with his spare time. Hermes was getting up there in years, shedding a few more feathers and looking a little grey, but Percy still found comfort in his dear friend.
The owl had been the only friend he had for a long time.
He scratches the owl’s head for a bit before sending him off with the letter. Percy watches as he becomes a small dot in the sky and goes back to the laundry.
The next morning, Percy is woken up by pecking at his bedroom window. He groans, it’s much too early for this. It’s been ages since he had a proper lie-in, and with the girls gone there was no small children waking him up in the middle of the night. He opens his eyes blearily and shoves on his glasses.
His heart skips a beat when he sees it’s Hermes pecking at the window with his beak. Percy wasn’t expecting a response so soon. He opens the window to let the bird in, and it a bit surprised that the owl soars in through the window and settles comfortably onto the nightstand. Maybe with the girls away, Hermes didn’t mind being indoors. Percy sets out a bowl of water and some treats for Hermes who chirps happily and takes the letter.
It's from Oliver, confirming that he’d like to see Percy, and offering a few dates and times. Percy quickly writes back, suggesting they meet on Sunday, the one day off Oliver gets during the season. He also suggests a small coffee shop that splits the difference between their two addresses. Percy wants to send it off right away, but Hermes looks so cheery to be indoors with just Percy, he doesn’t have the heart to ask the bird to fly again so soon.
Percy spends the day lazily. He knows that Audrey doesn’t like it when the house is a mess, but now that he’s alone, it’s a good time to use some cleaning spells that he can’t use when his kids are running around. It saves him a lot of time, and soon he’s in his favorite armchair with a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other in a spotless house.
He stays up late and sleeps in until almost noon before getting dressed and heading out the door to the café.
When he arrives, he sees that Oliver has beaten him there, sitting at a small table outside with two drinks in front of him.
“Oliver!” Percy calls. The other man looks over his shoulder and grins. He stands, his warm brown eyes bright.
It’s amazing to see him again, bright and smiling and looking so alive. It was very different from the last time Percy had seen him at the Battle- covered in blood and dirt, so thin and pale and scared.
“Hiya Perce!” Oliver says, wrapping his arms around Oliver.
“Hullo.” Percy says. Oliver's already ordered for him, recalling how he took his tea when they had been in school.
(Black tea with two milks, no sugars)
It gets delivered to their table quickly. When they each settle in, there’s a few long moments where they just look at each other. It’d difficult to describe his relationship, or lack thereof fore about ten years or so. They had been close in school, originally not getting along at all; Oliver had been too hyperactive for Percy, and Percy too serious for Oliver, but they got around it around exam time. Oliver offered to help Percy ride a broom if Percy helped him study. They had been mates ever since.
Percy flushes slightly, thinking of the fire-whiskey induced drunken snogging. He doesn’t really remember most of the night after they had won the Quidditch Cup, but he did remember that. He also remembered they both had tumbled down the stairs right after, and that had been the end of it. If Oliver remembered, he didn’t say anything. So neither did Percy.
“How are you?” Oliver asks finally, a warm smile still on his face.
“Oh, fine.” Percy says, thinking fondly of his girls. “I’ve got the twins, haven’t I? Molly after my mother, Lucy after hers.”
Olivers eyebrows crease a bit. “Your wife, Aubrey?”
“Audrey.” Percy corrects automatically. She hated it when people called her by the wrong name.
“We met a few years after the war- it was all quite fast, really. We were engaged and married in about six months.”
“That is fast.”
“Yes, but when you know.” Percy says. His fingers twitch as he thinks about Audrey shoving him. But it was okay. They’d be okay.
Percy takes a sip of his warm, fragrant tea and sighs into it. “I’m afraid Audrey isn’t a fan of bergamot. She won’t have any earl grey kept in the house."
“I’m guessing she’s not home if you’re drinking it, then.”
Percy smiles sheepishly. “You’re correct. Her sister just had a baby, and she took the twins to visit. I couldn’t take the time off.”
Oliver looks him up and down, a mild smile on his face.
“Well, I’m glad you get to enjoy your favorite tea.”
They had only planned on staying for about thirty minutes, but it’s nearly three hours. Percy’s four cups of tea in, Oliver’s had Merlin-knows how many coffees and they’ve split too many pastries to count between the two of them.
“I’m telling you, Perce,” Oliver is saying, running a finger along the rim of his nearly empty coffee cup. “You’d love it. I can take you flying in the stadium. It’s so different when it’s empty.”
Percy makes a sour face. Oliver’s been trying for the past several minutes to convince Percy to go flying with him at the Puddlemere stadium. He’d never admit it, but he’s not much one for heights. But Oliver won’t let up, so he sighs.
“Sure, Oliver.” He concedes. Oliver pouts dramatically.
“What?” Percy asks.
“You only say ‘sure’ when you really mean ‘no’. You did the same thing in school.”
Percy bristles. “I do not!”
Oliver tilts his head back and laughs. “Yes, you do. Remember, when that first-year Hufflepuff asked you on a date? And you said-,”
Percy sighs. “’Sure.’ Godrick, you’re right.”
“Always.” Oliver says with a nod. He opens his mouth to say something more, but his watch beeps. Oliver looks down at it in surprise. He blinks as he reads the numbers.
“Godrick! It’s nearly three in the afternoon. I’ve got to get to the training center. Coach and I are having a strategy meeting in about twenty minutes.”
Percy looks at his own watch, the one his father had given him when he came of age. He had only recently taken to wearing it again. After the big fight with his father, he had taken it off. After the war, he could only think of the watch they would have given Fred, if they had even been able to give Fred a watch in the first place. It had just been too painful. Oliver is correct, it’s way past the time they had intended to meet. Time just slipped by so easily Oliver. It was like he was sixteen again, sitting on the side of the Quidditch pitch listening as his roommate told him a story.
Being with Oliver was just so easy.
Percy flags down their server and pulls out his wallet to pay, but Oliver’s quicker and pays first.
“Hey!” Percy protests.
Oliver smiles at him. “You’ll get the next one.”
Percy raises an eyebrow. “So, there’s a next time?”
Oliver leans back in his chair and tilts his head, considering.
“Of course there’s a next time. We’ve missed out on ten years. I’d rather not wait another ten years. Would you?”
Percy smirks at his old friend.
“Sure.”