Normal
Percy goes into work for the first time in ages on Monday morning. He gets a few quiet, questioning looks from people, but otherwise it’s pretty much seamless. Seamus is the only one who really says anything, and he merely claps him solidly on the back in greeting.
Percy thinks that it’ll be difficult to get back into the groove of things, but work has remained work. He’s still got paperwork to fill out, bills to examine, and report to read about broomstick regulations. It’s painfully boring and repetitive, but he loves it. It feels warm and comfortable and normal. Merlin, he missed normal.
He and Penny eat lunch together at a nearby café. It’s a muggle café, but he suspects the owner, a waif of a woman with fringe bangs, knows something about the wizarding world. He’s pretty sure he sees her accept a few knuts in addition to muggle money.
It’s pleasant.
Percy goes home after work and is delighted to see he has letters from both girls. He responds to them quickly and settle in for the night. It’s routine. And it feels wonderful.
He carries on like that for the next week. He and Penelope agree to have movie nights once a week, and he even finds the time to visit Ginny and Harry. She’s due soon to have her baby, a thought which terrifies both Percy and Harry. They don’t know the gender, wanting to be surprised. So, Percy just buys them a toy broomstick. Any wizarding child would love to have one.
He develops a steady schedule. He goes to work in the mornings, and meets either Penny, Harry, or Hermione for lunch. On Mondays he brings his work home to get ahead start on the week. He stops by Penny’s on Tuesdays for a movie. On Wednesdays he visits his parents. On Thursdays he takes the night for himself. On Fridays he meets his brothers at the local chippy. The weekends are spent sleeping in and reading and spending time with Oliver.
Oliver.
Percy’s a bit embarrassed to admit it, but he’s sort of obsessed with Oliver. He starts to notice things he hadn’t before. The way his nose crinkles when he’s thinking. How he likes olives but never on pizza. How his eyebrow quirks when he’s reading something. The way his tanned skin dissolves into sunspots when he hasn’t been practicing outside.
He’s not sure where he stands. Yes, they have standing dates appointments on the weekends. Ad they sometimes get dinner together. And yes, Percy goes to all his games with the family tickets Oliver has. And Oliver’s has been admittedly affectionate. Holding the door open for Percy, nudging him with his shoulder. Sitting very, very close to him on the couch. Honestly, it’s taking a lot for Percy to keep from jumping his bones.
There’s a memorable night where Percy is preparing tea, and he comes into the living room where Oliver is leaning backwards on the couch, arms on either side of him, hair mused from a long day of sweating in the sun. It takes a lot of will power to keep from doing anything.
Percy’s still just… not sure. They had kissed, and Oliver had understood that they couldn’t do anything until the divorce was over. But Percy was divorced now. They just haven’t talked about it. Were they dating? Were they not? They haven’t kissed or done anything else since their outing to the pond.
Percy knew they needed to chat. He just hasn’t found the courage to do it yet.
He isn’t expecting it when it happens.
He’s walking home from work, enjoying the cool air. Penelope had something to finish up and had insisted he go ahead. It was Tuesday, which meant they were due for their movie night. Although it seemed like Penny had recently been more curious about Oliver then the movies. Honestly, Percy was too.
He’s thinking about how he’s going to pick her brain for advice about Oliver when he turns down a narrow alley. It’s a shortcut- quicker to walk between two buildings and appear out of the other side rather than walk all the way around. It feels normal up until he hears footsteps behind him. He glances over his shoulder, and when he sees who it is his veins turn to ice.
It's Audrey. And she looks awful. His eyes are red and swollen, her usually tanned skin sickly and pale. She’s got dark circles under eyes.
“Audrey?” he asks in disbelief. She didn’t look like his ex-wife at all. The next thing he notices is her stomach- what was once round is now flat.
“I lost the baby.” She says, voice oddly calm.
She doesn’t look calm.
“I’m sorry.” Percy chokes out. He’s not quite sure what to do here. Audrey steps closer to him, and it’s like his feet are glued to the floor.
“The healer said it was because of stress. Stress that you put me through.”
“Audrey,” Percy says carefully, his hand slowly drifting down to his pocket where his wand is. She looks like a lioness stalking her prey. It reminds him of the wineglass throwing.
“You couldn’t have kept it together, could you?” Audrey demands, her voice sharper and less dull. “You just had to leave me. Abandon me. Your family.”
Percy feels indignation rise in his chest.
“I only did that because of how you were acting.”
“I was acting that way because of you, Percy!”
One moment, she’s standing in front of him, unarmed. The next, she’s got her wand in her hand and she’s shooting out a jet of purple light; aimed directly at Percy. But he’s prepared this time, and brings up his wand from his pocket, casting a Protego.
It’s enough to keep him from getting hit from the spell, but the force of it shoves him backward. Audrye throws another hex his way, and Percy’s just barely able to block that one too.
“Audrey, stop!” he demands, although it feels more like pleading. She doesn’t. Percy doesn’t want to hurt her, but he’s got no choice, He sends off his own jinx, which Audrey successfully dodges.
And then it’s an all-out brawl.
Percy hasn’t been in this kind of quick-fire duel since the War. The entire thing takes mere minutes, but it feels like hours as they trade spell after spell. Percy good, yes, but Audrey’s had more practice. She gets in a good hit that sends Percy back first into the hard brick wall. It knocks the wind out of him, and he wheezes, managing somehow to keep a grip on his wand. Audrey levels off another spell, and Percy realizes that she hasn’t been trying to jinx or hex him.
She’s been trying to curse him.
“YOU!” Audrey roars, slinging a spell at Percy chest. Percy scrambles away from it, pulling himself across the dirty alley floor.
“You ruined EVERYTHING!”
Another spell. Percy can’t shield it in time and ends up just barely ducking out of the way of it. The magic gets so close to his face he can feel it in his teeth.
“You took my children from me! You ruined my life!”
Percy’s surprised when he finds is voice despite the pain radiating up his body. It feels like someone has reached a hand down his throat and ripped are the air from his lungs.
“They’re our children. Audrey!”
“I’m their mother!”
“I’m their father. Just stop this, Audrey! Walk away, please! Please, just leave and I swear I will never mention this again. Just leave, Audrey and we can end this.” He’s barely able to gasp through unsteady wheezes.
He means it, too. Audrey’s clearly had a break of some kind, and she doesn’t seem very well. Her hair is stringy and greasy, the whites of her eyes bloodshot. She looks like she’s just come out of a bender.
She barks out a laugh, a rough, coarse laugh that Percy swears he will never forget for as long as he lives.
“I will You’re right, Percy for once in your miserable life I can end this. So I will.”
“Audrey, stop!” Percy shouts.
What she says next haunts him, even as it hits his ears. He knows what she’s about to say, even as her lips just start to form the first letter.
“Avada kadavra!”