If you don't know who J.K Rowling is you may be in the wrong section of this website. Just in case you don't though, she is the author of the Harry Potter series.

Percy

For the third time that night Percy pulled his watch out of his waistcoat and willed the hands to tick faster. However the slow and steady sound… kept…its…pace…

Finally, Percy buckled under the pressure and knocked thrice. "I know I'm early, so if you want I can leave and return later… why are you looking at me like that?"

"What on earth have you done to your hair?" Audrey squinted up at him suspiciously.

"Not enough potion?" He self-consciously patted down his thoroughly slicked back hair.

"Actually it's always too much in my opinion, but today it's just outrageous," Audrey sighed. She opened the door wider and welcomed him in with a wave of her hand. "Of course, if that's your personal preference then go for it, but if you've only done it because of today's humidity then let me present to you exhibit A." Audrey gestured at the halo of black frizz around her head.

"It was a struggle to look presentable this evening," he admitted.

"What about me? Am I… presentable?" His eyes flickered to her tongue, playing over the gap between her two front teeth. "If you've got something more formal planed for later I could run down to Diagon Alley and grab a bottle of Sleekeazy's."

Percy shook his head vehemently. His curls bounced slightly out of place, but for once he did not move to straighten them. "You look lovely." Her pillow tossed hair was the same he remembered from the morning after he'd slept over. The charcoal black of each strand popped out against the red of her jumper, which fluttered tantalizingly just above her knees. Her sheer blue tights showed off the soft curves of her legs… Percy realized he was staring. He coughed. "You're wearing red," he commented, not trusting himself to say anything else.

"Not on my legs." So she had noticed. She was smirking.

"Won't you be cold?" He couldn't help it.

"I'll let you in on a little secret." She stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. "I know magic." His spine tingled. "Besides." She rolled down onto the balls of her feet, bouncing lightly. "I thought our first order of business was to cook dinner together."

"If that's fine with you." She nodded eagerly. He followed her helplessly into the kitchen. "Audrey…" She took a pause from her dangerous mission of emptying the spoiled ingredients out of her cupboards.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't get Valentine's Day off."

She frowned at him. "How many times do I need to tell you to stop apologizing?"

"Perhaps a couple times more." He dipped his head.

"Perhaps I need to find a better way to convince you." She was smirking again. The sideways tilt of her mouth was terrifying and terrifyingly addictive all at the same time. He couldn't look away. He couldn't move as she leant into him. However, before he could discover exactly how it was she planed to convince him, a large barn owl swooped through the open window. "Saved by the post," she laughed. "Hey, that's Tony's owl…" She peeled the letter off the owl's leg, eyes zipping across the page. "No." Her face went pale. "We've been planning this issue for months this can't be possible." She slumped against the kitchen counter.

Percy gripped her by the elbows. "Audrey, what's wrong?"

Audrey practically growled. "I knew the slimy bastard would retaliate, but Donna was sure Kingsley had it covered…" Percy's ears perked up at the name of his boss. Donna, he thought, was the name of one of Audrey's employees. His hands slid up to her shoulders as he tried to steady her shuddering body.

"I can't believe…" Audrey jerked away from him. "Percy." Her whole body tensed, from her wrinkled brow to her curled toes. He had an intense desire to cuddle her against his chest and offer her a steaming mug of tea. However, he wasn't sure what she wanted from him at the moment. He hovered.

"Audrey, what do you need? Can I do anything to help?"

"I need to get to the office." She was all ready hopping on one foot towards the door as she pulled on her boot. She tripped and fell flat on her face. He winced and sat her upright, helping her with her tangled laces. "Merlin this is horrible timing. It was supposed to be our special pre-Valentine's date. I wore red…" Her tongue danced over her lips.

"Go if you need to," he told her. She opened her mouth, as if to protest, but he shook his head. "No. I've canceled and rescheduled on you more times than I can count… and I am excellent at maths."

She let out one sharp laugh. "I don't have much time. What kind of boss would I be if I abandoned my people in a crisis? Though, there is one thing you could do for me."

"Anything. You only have to name it."

Her hand found his. "Come with me?" Her pulse pounded at his fingertips.

He blinked. "Won't I be in the way?"

"On the contrary, I could very much use your assistance." She pulled him forward.

Audrey

During their brisk walk to the apparition point, Audrey explained the situation to Percy. His ears went furiously red when she told him of Murray's misdeeds, the back of neck matching in hue when she told him of the recent retaliation. Then she asked for a favor.

"I know it's a lot to ask for…"

"Consider it done. Mr. Murray will not get away with his actions." Percy's clipped tone was deliciously dangerous. Audrey caught his balled up fist and kissed his whitening knuckles.

"I'll lend you my lucky quill, I think you'll need it—oh!"

Karen White ambushed them in the doorway. "Audrey, this is all my fault! Maybe if you fire me Mr. Murray will be satisfied." As always, Vincent Hill was at her heels.

"No way! You didn't ask for that creep to feel you up," he protested.

"If anything, I am the one at fault, as I was the one who hit him…" Donna Marshall sighed.

Karen reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "No way Donna. You were great. You protected me."

Donna patted her hand. "I did not say I regretted it."

"I'll say! You were so cool! If I ever have any kids you are so going to be godmother!" Vincent grinned at her. Donna stared. "Er, that is, if you want to," he amended.

"I'd be honored." She smiled softly.

Vincent flushed. "Right, ah, well then—what shall we do boss?"

Audrey took a deep breath as she looked around at all the hopeful faces. She climbed up onto her desk, trying to ignore the way Percy's eyebrows shot up as her jumper rode up her thighs… She cleared her throat.

"I see you've heard the bad news. Nice of you all to come, especially since I've given you tomorrow off."

"Nonsense, we wouldn't leave you to face that devil on your own," Mrs. Smith told her.

"We will solve this more efficiently together," Madam Roux said.

Audrey clucked her tongue. "Now, I don't know how he managed to convince the Board of Ethics that our central story was 'inappropriate for publication' but there it is. Of course A Study on Wizarding Culture's Affect on Differing Romantic and Sexual Orientations was bound to be controversial, but I thought the board was all for controversial, as it tends to sell more papers." She shrugged. "Maybe Murray's got a couple of members in his back pocket."

"I don't think so dear." Mrs. Smith shook her head. "If he had a member up his arse then he'd be more open to the article," she pointed out. Percy's jaw dropped. Laughter filled the office. Rebecca, who had been crying as usual, let out a hiccup and a giggle.

"I don't know why they had to scrap the whole issue though!" Karen groaned, as the laughter began to die down.

"Yeah, I worked hard on that psychological bullshit," Edith agreed, popping her gum angrily.

"I spent months on those photographs," her brother sighed loudly.

"I won't let him trash our hard work," Audrey promised them.

"How?" Rebecca sniffled.

Audrey grinned, showing all of her teeth. "If Murray wants to play games, then we'll just have to make sure we win." She caught Anthony's eye. "The name of this game is subtext."

"I see." He grinned, running his hand over his stubble. "We'd have to re-write the entire spread in just over eight hours… but if anyone could do it, it'd be this mad bunch."

Audrey had spent plenty late nights of last minute studying in the Ravenclaw common room. Those days she had sat alone, always in an out of the way corner.

Here she was, a full grown adult, and what's more, responsible for a whole group of full grown adults, many of whom were older than her… yet Audrey was smiling.

"Having fun?" Edith asked dryly, starting on her third piece of Drooble's.

"Oddly enough, I am." Audrey could feel the group's excitement tingling around her. She was more energized than the time she'd tried out George's experimental raspberry flavored energy potion.

Edith snorted. "Well, you always were an odd one." Her quick-quotes quill paused over her parchment. "Good thing too, since I don't think anyone normal would've been able to pull this off."

"You do realize you're calling yourself abnormal as well?" Audrey commented lightly.

"Yeah, so what? I said it was a good thing," Edith grumbled. Audrey felt a strange desire to engulf the grumpy witch in a hug. She resisted and stood up, going to check on the others.

The sound of quill against thick newspaper parchment echoed throughout the room. The nostalgic scent of machine oil met her nose as Mr. Locke tuned up the printing press, going on the hope that they would even be allowed to print the new issue.

Madam Roux had helped Percy draft a speech to the board, asking permission to present a new manuscript for judgment. It was highly unorthodox move, but not technically illegal.

Audrey knew Percy's involvement was risky for his reputation, especially amongst any of the remaining ministry traditionalists, but she hoped the importance of his position would protect him from any fallout.

If it didn't she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

"Audrey? Can you confirm these statistics?" Karen asked. Audrey steeled her shoulders and jumped back into the fray.

"Rebecca, great work on that collage!" She called over once she'd finished looking over Karen's article. Rebecca shot her a thumbs-up without looking away up the photograph of her and her father. To make up for lost time, Mathew suggested the workers chip in with photographs of their own loved ones. Anthony loved the idea and handed over several of himself and Joe. Rebecca was carefully pasting them side-by-side with a photograph of Mathew and Edith glaring identically at the camera.

Audrey had titled the new issue, Love in all it's forms and was pleased to see her staff embracing the idea so fully.

Mathew glanced over Rebecca's shoulder. "We could use one more just here." He gestured to an empty space. "How about we all get in for a group shot?"

"Won't you not be in it then?" Edith complained. Mathew rolled his eyes.

"There is such a thing as a self-timer, E."

He set it up and they all gathered close together, blinking widely at the blinding flash.

"That should be lovely." Mathew nodded to himself. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got some extra-speedy developing potion in the darkroom."

Audrey waved him away, running over to Vincent who appeared to be struggling with his article, Thanks to the Fans.

"I know tons of famous players have been quoted as saying they wouldn't have made it anywhere with the support of their fans, but seeing as I'm such a big fan myself, I'm worded about how to word this passage without sounding like a total prick."

"Give it here." Audrey held out her hands. "I'll try and make you sound like only a partial prick."

"Thanks! I think…"

After she finished editing Vincent's article Audrey treated herself to a cup of coffee. However, rather than gulping it down as she usually did, she found herself staring into the mug like it held the keys to the universe.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon dear," Mrs. Smith said knowingly. Audrey jumped.

"Mrs. Smith! I didn't see you there… and I'm sure I don't know who you're talking about."

"I'm sure you do. That you lover-boy of yours was nice to give up his night off to help us out. I'm sure he would rather be spending his time alone with you."

Audrey flushed. "Have I ever told you that you're insufferably nosey?"

"Only at least once a day dear." Mrs. Smith smiled. "However, I do have my advantages." She plucked the cup out of Audrey's hands before giving her a shove forward.

It was impeccable timing.

Audrey fell against Percy's chest just as he came through the door. She could feel the fast rise and fall and knew he'd been running. "You alright? Take a deep breath," she suggested.

He did so. "Sorry, I'm not in the best shape…" His breath slowed. "Madam Roux is still with the Board of Ethics, waiting for the manuscript to arrive."

"You mean…" Audrey stared hopefully at him.

He nodded. "We got the permission. It was tricky, but Madam Roux is quite formidable."

"She is," Audrey agreed. Even at this time of night Madam Roux was dressed fabulously in her well-cut suit.

"She reminded the Board, that in accordance to Statue Twelve of the Agreement of—" She stopped his mouth with a kiss.

"Excellent work," she said as they broke apart.

"Such unprofessional behavior," Anthony teased. "What will your employees think?"

"… That was kind of hot, boss," Vincent said. Percy glared. Vincent spluttered, "I mean… not as hot as Quidditch or anything but it was… um… I'll shut up now."

"Good call," Karen giggled.

"You've got the manuscript, right?" Audrey tugged on Anthony's sleeve. "We need to send it in."

"All ready done," he told her.

"You hadn't gotten permission yet." Percy frowned.

"I had faith in Audrey's faith in you," Anthony said. The praise quieted Percy just as effectively as Audrey's kiss. Percy proudly preened his hair, which had quite lost its formation since hours earlier.

"Now what?" Vincent wondered, having found his voice again.

"Now we wait," Karen sighed.

"Hmmm…" Audrey quietly found Percy's fingers and interlocked them with her own.

After several communications with the Board, with sharp, unbending words from Madam Roux, and beautifully crafted legal snares from Anthony and Percy, the Board had no choice but to allow the publication of the new article.

That's not to say that The Prophet employees could rest easy now.

Having only two hours remaining before the deadline (Valentine's Day morning when the papers were expected to be sent out to all sellers and subscribers) the workers put their noses to the grinding stone in order to piece together the pieces and complete the issue on time.

"Cheers!" Vincent cried out when a pretty snowy owl lifted off with the last bundle of papers. He clunked his stale butter beer against Karen's glass of rose petal wine from Anthony's secret stash. Anthony had been very generous with his drinks, as had Vincent and Mrs. Smith.

"I do hate to bend to stereotypes, but here you are," Mrs. Smith sighed, pulling out a large bottle of vodka from her desk and conjuring several shot glasses.

"What stereotypes?" Vincent wondered, popping open his second butter beer.

"Because I'm Russian dear," Mrs. Smith told him.

"You're Russian?" Vincent furrowed his brow in confusion.

"You didn't notice?" Edith rolled her eyes. "She's got a pretty strong accent."

"Hey, I try not to make judgments about people without knowing the whole story." Vincent shrugged. "Plus I'm not too good at identifying accents."

Karen laughed and swirled her wine. "This is tasty, thanks for sharing Anthony."

He nodded agreeably at her. "It would have been better with something sweet to eat along with it." Percy made a small noise.

"Excuse me from a moment." He moved out from underneath Audrey, who had been sitting on his lap.

Vincent grimaced at Karen. "You didn't thank me, and I provided the butter beer!"

"Nobody wants butter beer when there's alcohol available," Anthony told him gently.

"Rebecca's drinking some," Vincent pointed out.

Rebecca looked up guiltily, and put down the bottle of vodka, whose label she'd been reading. "Well, it feels weird to be drinking since I'm from America, and I'm still not of drinking age according to their laws."

"You've been here long enough though dear, so you're welcome to give it a try if you like," Mrs. Smith told her.

Audrey looked up, expecting Percy to say something about the dubious legal implications. However, her legal-minded boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. She was just about to get up and look for him, when he entered the room, holding a gigantic box of chocolates aloft.

"You said the wine would be better with something sweet to eat in accompaniment?" Percy addressed Anthony.

"Well this would be perfect, only…" Anthony rubbed the back of his neck and glanced between Audrey and Percy. "Are you sure those weren't for someone else?"

Percy cleared his throat, ears pink. "I had purchased them for a different purpose initially… but considering the circumstances, I very much think all of your hard work deserves a reward."

"Well that's sweet in more ways than one," Donna commented quietly. Audrey agreed. She wondered if he could feel the heat of her stare.

Percy

"Someone's going to get laid tonight!" Vincent called out. Percy froze. Karen kicked Vincent's shin. "Ow! What?" He saw Percy and Audrey looking pointedly away from each other. "Damn… did I say something awkward again?"

"Chocolate solves everything," Karen shouted, breaking the silence, and reaching over to take one.

"Especially on Valentine's Day," Anthony added, rubbing his hands together.

Percy paused. "That's right, it's officially a new day." He turned to Audrey, somehow managing to meet her eyes. He picked up the last piece of chocolate between his thumb and forefinger. "I know this hasn't been what we planed but… will you, uh, be my valentine?" He held the chocolate out to her, wincing at the cheesiness.

"Chocolate solves everything," Audrey repeated, leaning over. Percy could feel her lips on his fingertips.

It was a feeling that quite nearly made up for the lack of the pre-Valentine Day's date he'd had planed.

"It's not too late," Mrs. Smith said knowingly. Percy almost went for his wand. Where had she come from? He breathed deeply, letting his heartbeat slow back to a normal speed.

"What isn't it too late for Madam?"

"It's not too late to go on your date," the old woman said, as if this were obvious.

"I, I have work to do." Though he stumbled over his words, he was quite firm on this point.

"At least take her out for breakfast before you go to work," Mrs. Smith suggested. "It's still quite early after all."

"Breakfast is an underrated romantic opportunity," Anthony agreed. Percy blinked, was everyone going to get involved in his love life? Well… at least he had a love life for people to stick their noses into.

"Audrey…?" Percy turned to find her, and spotted her patting the young Rebecca on the back. Audrey conjured up a glass of water and watched carefully as Rebecca downed it. Audrey caught him watching. She grinned and came towards him.

"Vodka is not the best for a first time drinker," she explained.

"You'd make an excellent mother," Percy said, before he really had time to think about the statement.

"Oh?" Audrey grinned, her cheeks dimpled.

"Y-yes. Would you… like to go to breakfast?"

"I'd love breakfast," she told him.

It was early enough for Diagon Alley to be clear of the normal hustle and bustle. Only the shopkeepers were up and about, preparing for the long day of work. The winter wind jingled a row of glass hearts a festive shop owner was stringing across his windows. Percy put his arm around Audrey as she shivered, hugging her small form under his wing.

"Are you too cold? Should we forget about breakfast?"

"And miss this?" Audrey pointed at the decorations, which seemed to be popping up everywhere. There were streamers and flowers, and tables set for two. "It's a bit much, kind of crazy, but I like crazy."

"Hmmmm…Beautiful," Percy said, not looking at the decorations, but rather the way her eyes lit up as she spoke.

They settled down in a small sandwich shop that they'd used to go to back when Audrey was stopping by at the Ministry to bug Percy.

"Do you remember the first time we ate here?" Audrey reminisced as the waiter put down their preferred sandwiches without asking for their order. "Mrs. Millicent gave me extra food because she said I needed fattening up."

"Well, you were starving yourself in order to meet your bills at the time," Percy recalled. He glanced over her body and frowned. She wasn't as frail as she had been many months ago. She had curves and full round cheeks… but somehow she still seemed so small. "Have you been eating enough recently?"

She paused mid-bite. "You'd be an excellent father," she laughed, echoing his earlier comment.

She may have been joking, but Percy still felt something blossom in his chest at her words. "Thank you," he said, genuinely. Having made every mistake possible when it came to his family, he wouldn't blame her for steering clear of the topic. Yet she thought him capable…

"Are you crying?" Audrey tentatively brushed her thumb under his eye.

He rubbed a hand across his face. "Sorry, I'm being silly."

She fell silent for a moment, and then leaned over the table, kissing his tears away. "One day you will be the best father there is," she promised him.

Well thank you everyone who continues to read, follow, favorite and review, even though my intervals of updating are dubious at best.

Still, I am determined to complete this story... however long it takes.

Wish me luck!