A/N: I do not own or profit from Harry Potter.

Chapter 24: Confrontation

Percy kissed his mother on the cheek. "Thank you, Mother."

She hugged him fondly. "Happy Birthday, Percy." She tugged Charlie close. "Going home?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Don't splinch yourself."

"I won't. Bye, Mum." He tugged on his ubiquitous dragon-hide jacket and followed Percy out the door.

"Isn't George coming?"

"No." Charlie said, shaking his head. "He's going to Angelina's place." He gave Percy a telling look.

"Oh."

"Uh-huh." They continued in silence for some time. Charlie coughed.

"So, uh, Perce, could I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"You seem to be pretty into this girl of yours." He caught Percy's glance and rushed on. "And that's good, I mean, it's about time. But it seems like you only want her around because she helps you forget about the war and...stuff. And...I'm not really sure that's good."

"And why wouldn't it be?" Percy felt his hackles rising, and had to take a breath to keep himself calm. He couldn't blame Charlie for what he didn't know. Charlie didn't know what Percy had done during the war; and that's the way everyone liked it, wasn't it? "Don't you think I hurt a little bit during the war, too?"

"I know, I know, it was hard for you. And I'm not saying it isn't, but wouldn't that make you come closer to us, not farther away? I mean, did you ever think of just coming to one of us when you need help?"

"That's ridiculous." Percy gave him a look.

"Why?"

There was a long pause as Percy tried to think of an answer. He had to have an answer. He always had an answer. He was logical. "Well," He said to buy himself time.

"Well...The reason is that we're all too busy. We're rebuilidng the country and taking care of each other, and..." His voice trailed off. He was cringing inside, a part of him wishing he had told someone about his wartime doings, but he hadn't, and to go back and spill all now would be nonsensical. "...And since I didn't do much during the war but sit in an office, my problems are trivialities compared to those of others. It's about prioritizing."

Charlie gave him a suspicious look. "Sure."

Percy cleared his throat uncomfortably. He'd often wondered what would happen if his family stumbled upon some stashed-away file, with his arrest warrant and his records. His mother would be furious with him. No, secrecy was best. What they didn't know wouldn't keep them up at night. "Audrey, on the other hand, is relatively carefree. She doesn't have to deal with the war to such an extent."

"Yeah, but how can she help you if she doesn't know your problems?"

"She knows some. I have to be careful here, Charlie." Percy pushed his hands into his pockets. They were just walking, aimlessly, along the road, and he considered apparating for a moment, just to escape the conversation. Charlie would probably follow him. "Any other pieces of wisdom you'd like to share, big brother?" He asked, looking down at Charlie.

Charlie glanced up at him, shrugging into the dark. "It sounds like you've got a pretty complicated situation going on, Perce. And I have a feeling I don't know the half of it."

"Never trust your feelings."

Charlie rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Want my advice? Stop trying to make it so complicated. Just...go with it."

"Go with what?"

Charlie thought about that for a moment before finding a response and turning to Percy. "Go with your gut. If you don't let us help you, and can't let her help you, most of your issues are going to be your fault. Loosen up. Go with your gut."

"Go with my gut." Percy repeated.

"Yes."

Percy mulled the words over in his mind. Strange words, but advice was advice, wasn't it? "Right. Well...I'll see you later. Thanks."

"Sure." Charlie's face broke into a grin. "You're welcome, little brother.

"Little from you is a bit much." Percy said pointedly, looking down at his sibling.

"Was that a height joke?"

"Good night, Charlie." Percy said, masking just how grateful he was for someone else to talk to and share with. In a moment he'd apparated away and was standing near his own apartment building. He mounted the stairs, sighing, and pushed open the door, then stopped at once.

His door was unlocked.

He stepped back and checked the simple green door. The muggle locks weren't done, but they never were. But the wards and spells, the protective bubble over his residence, was gone. He'd just walked through it, hadn't felt it, hadn't had to disarm it.

He pushed open the door curiously. "Penny?" He called.

There was a dark head leaning against the back of the couch, but it wasn't Penny. Percy's brows rose as he recognised the much darker, straighter hair of Audrey.

"Uh..."

She turned, looking up from the book she'd been reading, and smiled as she set it aside and rose. "Percy; I hope you don't..." Her smile faded. "Who's Penny?"

"No one." He said, looking around curiously, not really looking at her. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long; I thought I might come over, if you didn't mind, and...Percy?"

He was looking past her. "Is...anyone else here?"

"No." She was looking at him blankly. "Percy?"

"How did you get in?" She didn't undo the wards. She couldn't have undone the wards. But his secure assortment of spells was down. Someone else had to have done it. Oh, surely she hadn't just walked through an entire field of defensive spells again!

"Oh, the landlady gave me a key. I told her I was a friend, and she unlocked the door for me. She told me to ask after you brother..."

Percy gave her a look. Key? A muggle key?

"But then I got up here, and the door was unlocked." She watched him as he eased into the kitchen, looking around. Was Penny playing a prank? There was no way any of his family could have got here before him and undone the spells for a joke. Not with her around. "Percy, there's no one else here." She said a little louder, trying to regain his attention.

He held up his hand as they looked around the kitchen and he started for the kitchen. "Um...go back to the front room. I'll be right there."

"Percy..." He left her standing in the kitchen beside the counter, and moved on into the bedroom. He cast a few spells, but there was no one in the bedroom. No one in the bathroom. No one in an invisibility cloak, under a disillusionment charm, or hiding anywhere. He moved back to the kitchen, now vacated, and tried several spells there, to no avail. Audrey was the only person here. Someone had come in and undone his spells, and either that person was gone now, or that person was Audrey.

He looked suspiciously back at Audrey, sudden memories of Mr. Crouch coming to mind. Of other men, under either the Imperius or the Polyjuice.

"Audrey."

"What?" She asked crisply, looking up at him from where she sat. "Is everything all right?"

"Er, yes..." Think of a question, think of a question, something only she would know. "What was the name of that shop where we met, the first time we met to talk about your father?"

"...Spiderhouse Cafe." She regarded him strangely. "Why?"

Percy sat down next to her, perplexed.

"Percy, who were you expecting to be here?"

"Someone who could have gotten in." Percy told her. "I cannot believe one of my brothers would be so callous..."

"Someone like Penny?"

"Yes, exactly! I'm pretty sure she has something else going tonight, but..." He looked over at her. "Wait..."

"Who's Penny?" She prompted, gesturing for him to go on. "You never mentioned her."

"She's a friend. A friend...who has a key." He admitted with a little shame. "I thought it must have been her who dropped by, but...It's not, so..."

"Too bad, it's only me." Audrey shrugged.

Percy ignored the slightly jilted tone of her voice and tried to regain his thoughts. Audrey thought he was bonkers, plus someone, somehow, had come into his home, undone all his spells, and left them that way. There was a strange tone in Audrey's voice, a curious tightness to her words, but he couldn't diagnose just what it was, and really didn't have time anyways. He was more worried about potential Death Eaters having come in and stolen some of his work. Or his hair, to use for a polyjuice. Should he report this to the ministry? And what was he going to do with Audrey in the meanwhile? Why was she here anyways?

She was leaning back, looking away at his books, letting him think. She was annoyed, testy, and was pretending that she wasn't. He fought the urge to be annoyed at her ignorance, and cleared his throat.

"So...what's going on?"

She looked back at him. "I dropped by; I wasn't sure if you'd be tired or not, but it's your birthday, and I thought I might make up for not knowing about it before."

"Well, you didn't have to." He told her, the words coming out more brusquely than he'd meant them to. "I mean, you couldn't help not knowing."

"True." She agreed, turning towards him again. "I guess you've had a long day; You want me to go?"

He glanced around the apartment, feeling the wards he'd just set up. "It might be best; I have a few things to do."

"Sure." She got up quickly, and he realised a little too late that she was probably offended. What had Charlie said? Something about going with what he wanted.

Well, he wanted her to stay here and for things to be all fixed, but that wasn't going to work, since he, a ministry employee, had just had a major security breach, and he, as a ministry employee, needed to make sure that there wasn't any danger. He had known and met a lot of unsavory characters during the war, like Burke or Vanderburg, and he knew that not all of them had been caught. And they would know that he had been working in the Ministry, against the Ministry. He'd been warned, as everyone had, that old associates could come back any day for revenge, Dark Lord or no Dark Lord.

This could be a matter of life and death. Not necessarily his, either.

She was leaving.

Percy stood as she collected her purse, torn between wanting her here and needing her to get out of the way, trying to remember what Charlie had just said to him a few minutes ago. Terrible advice, if he couldn't remember it.

"Audrey, wait." He burst out.

She paused and raised one eyebrow expectantly.

"Wait, wait..." He lifted his hands. "Look, I just have some work to do."

"Did you get your new position, then?"

"New position?"

"Yes, the one you were supposed to get reassigned to after you closed my father's case."

"Er, no."

"Is is my paperwork, then? Is there work to be done on that?"

"...No."

She waited, then went on. "So...you don't actually have any work to do."

"Well, not that kind of work, but I have...something else I have to do. Now. So..." He lost his train of thought as she stood there, looking like she didn't believe him. She actually looked a little angry. More than a little.

"So, I'll just go and you'll do whatever it is you do when I'm not here, right?"

"Yes." He realised too late that was meant in sarcasm. "I mean, no." Bloody. This wasn't working. Not working, not working...He took a breath and looked back at her. Could it wait until tomorrow? Would it? Possibly. Would she? Possibly...not.

This wasn't rational. This was not how he operated. He pushed down his reason, crossed the distance to her, tugged her close, and kissed her once. "Audrey."

She looked surprised beyond belief, but she didn't pull away as he held her. "Yes?"

He wasn't sure how to proceed from there, but if Charlie's advice was to 'just go with it', then that's what he would do. "Look, I'm not lying to you. I promise, that as soon as all your paperwork gets through, I will explain everything to you and it will make sense. Everything will make sense."

"Everything?" She wasn't buying it, but at least she wasn't cross with him anymore.

"Yes."

She sighed. "And how long will that take? How long until my paperwork gets a go-ahead?"

He paused. "It may be a little while longer." He couldn't tell her, no matter how truthful and rational it was, that her paperwork was denied. Now what? "But I am working on it. Just some departmental switches going on, but once I pull the right strings it'll get done." He kissed her again, just for good measure. "And you don't mind waiting, do you?"

"It's not the waiting that I mind, it's the lying. It's the not-knowing. Either about my father, or about you."

"Oh." he could sympathise with that, and he was flattered that he'd been put on the same level with her father, who she cared about so much.

She looked down and he relished the silence. The situation was diffused, at least for the moment. Granted, there was still a chance that some murderer was creating a polyjuice potion with his hair, stolen from his apartment, but...that was rather far away right now. For the moment, he had his arms around Audrey, and she wasn't leaving.

"So am I staying?"

"Definitely. It is my birthday."

"Hm..." She distracted herself, coyly avoiding his eyes by pleating his shirt with her fingers. He let her, waiting for her to look back at him.

"So, you're family is all done with you?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, will they be dropping by? They seem quite present most of the time."

Percy had to admit she was right, realising how glad he was that they were so present. "Well, yes, but no. They are quite present, and they're not dropping by all night unless something goes dreadfully wrong." He had just set up new wards, with new accesses. Even if his family did come by, they wouldn't know how to disarm the spells and get in. "And why do you ask?"

She raised her eyes to his and he could read her smile behind them, even though she didn't smile with her mouth. She was on the verge of responding when something fumbled at the door.

Before Audrey could draw breath Percy had released her and taken three steps to the door, peering out the tiny peephole into the dimly-lit hallway. Annoyance was spreading from his mind to the tips of his fingers, all wanting not to have been interrupted at the moment.

Penny was outside, and she was apparently trying new spells against his wards. Percy stepped back from the peephole, his annoyance still simmering.

For a long moment he stood undecided, then glanced back at Audrey, who was still standing by waiting. Making up his mind, he waved her back into the kitchen and reached for his wand, casting the few simple spells to protect his flat. Yanking the door open, he took Penny by the arm and pulled her inside, putting the spells back up as he moved.

"Percy." Penny and he shut the door together. "I know you're probably upset about the wards—"

"Was that you?"

"Well, yes, but I was in a hurry..."

"Penny, you scared me half to death...Wait. I need a security question."

She gave him a look. "Percy, the War's over, no one does security questions anymore. Don't be so silly."

"Hush. Why're you here? Now?"

"It's your birthday. I came by earlier to see you, but you'd already gone, and when I was going out, I found your Audrey coming up the stairs, and so I left the wards down so she could get in. She is gone now, isn't she?"

"Who?"

Both jumped and turned to find Audrey leaning against the kitchen doorway, watching them. She gave Percy a cool look and then turned her eyes to Penny. After a moment, her expression changed, and became puzzled.

"Audrey. Hi."

"Um..."

Percy hastened to introductions, before Audrey could jump the wrong conclusions. Judging from her face, she was already suspecting something was amiss with the strange, attractive other woman who had access to his apartment at night. "Penny, this is Audrey, my girlfriend." The word sounded strange on his tongue, and Penny's grin belied that she, too, was amused. "And Audrey, this is Penny. She's a family friend."

Audrey looked between them. At last she gave a nod. "Yes, we've met."

"...You have?"

"Audrey, it's so good to see you again." Penny pushed past the redhead and took Audrey's hand. "Ethan said you'd been busy lately, so I'm so glad we ran into one another."

"Who's Ethan?" Percy said with alarm. They apparently knew one another, and it wasn't through him. Unless, that is, Penny had done something inexplicably stupid.

"Davis." Audrey said without taking her eyes off Penny. "Yes, I'd hoped to see you soon, too. What a surprise, to find you here..." And here her eyes slid over to Percy, giving him a look that was more than a little accusing.

"Davis? What?"

"I didn't know you and Percy were friends."

"Oh, yes. You know, he mentioned that he'd gotten a girlfriend, and she sounded absolutely superb, but I never thought of you."

"Wait." Percy cut between their chatter. It was all pretence, anyways. Penny's eyes told him all he needed to know. She was the only one here who knew what was going on, and that, to him, was more than a little disconcerting. He knew Penny, and her plans usually involved something very clever and something he wasn't so sure about. "You know each other?"

"Is that a problem?" Audrey seemed to have found an ally in Penny as they both turned to him.

"Yes." He told her frankly, before turning to Penny. "Miss Clearwater?"

"Mr. Weasley." She gave him a look back. "Why would it be a problem that we know one another?"

"Well, you both know one another, and you both know me, so it might seem a bit suspect that none of this was ever mentioned to me. Penny." This was Penny's fault, he knew it. He should have suspected when he hadn't seen much of her lately that something was up. She was a Ravenclaw, wasn't she?

Penny waved him off. "Ethan and I have been going out, didn't I mention that?"

Percy stared at her for a long moment before looking at Audrey again and then back. "Just one moment." He promised, seizing the witch's arm and pulling her back to the front hall beside the door. "What is going on?"

"Ethan and I have been seeing each other lately." Penny told him.

"Seeing each other? Davis?"

"Yes, Percy, Ethan Davis. He's American, he likes it when people use his first name."

"You've sunk to this."

"Percy!" She scolded. "Ethan is a good guy. I like him. Besides, if you can have muggle girlfriend, why can't I have a muggle boyfriend? Don't you think I need to get away from the Wizard World sometimes, too?"

Percy rubbed his eyebrow. "Penny, I just had him obliviated. Don't make me do it again."

"Tsh, I've been careful. I'm a Healer, not a Ministry Worker. And Ethan is a man. Men like to talk about themselves, so I don't have to say much. Plus, I'm muggle-born. I'm much better at getting along in the Muggle World then you are."

Percy gave her a hard look. "And the fact that you picked Davis is just...coincidence?"

"Of course not. I was starting to worry about this girl of yours. What were her motives? So I tried to plan an accidental meeting with her, but I ran into Davis instead, and..."

"You did what?"

"Percy, don't pretend you weren't concerned, too. I was worried about her motives. Now normally, looking after your personal life would be the job of your family, but since you obviously have reservations about trusting them, I considered it my job to make sure she wasn't just into you for her own gain. You're hurt enough as it is."

"I can handle that myself!"

"No, you can't. Were you a normal male, you would have admitted your doubts and taken them to your father long before now. You would have asked for guidance from him. But you're not a normal male, since you and your father are still awkward, and since I know that you can't take care of your problems yourself, I helped. But I didn't ask your permission because I knew you would...well, you would do this."

"So you went in to investigate my girlfriend, and walked out with a date of your own?"

"I did."

Percy rubbed his eyebrow again as she watched him.

"You know how this makes me look?"

"I know."

He told her anyways. "It makes me look like a...like someone who keeps more than one woman around. And you had to come just now, didn't you?"

"Why?" She raised her eyebrows. "Were you two in the middle of something?"

"Shush."

"If you wanted me to shush, Percival Weasley, you might not have dragged me over here. Now this just looks worse to her, and you know it. You'll have a lot of explaining to do once I'm gone."

"I wouldn't have any explaining at all if you'd just told me what was going on. Or better, let me deal with my problems on my own!"

"Which you can't do."

"Let's not go over this again."

.

Audrey stood where they'd left her.

Penny. She ought to have known something was up when he couldn't tell her about his work, couldn't tell her much about himself. She'd suspected that there was something going on when she wasn't going on, that he had a more-than-professional reason for keeping her at a distance, and now she knew.

She crossed her arms against the chill in the apartment, looking hard at the wood floor. Yes, she'd been stupid all along.

But Penny? Davis' new girlfriend? He'd be heartbroken. Every time she'd seen him since he and Penny had been together, he had been practically glowing. And Penny had seemed like such a nice girl...

What was going on here? Her boyfriend, Davis' girlfriend, together behind their backs. It couldn't be a coincidence. Unless Penny was also part of this secret government thing with Percy, and...yes, that made sense. It was right after Davis had gotten involved and gone to the Manor with her that he'd forgotten about his old girlfriend, and become suddenly so wrapped up in this new girl, this Penny Clearwater.

For the thousandth time, Audrey was unable to wrap her mind around what Percy truly did. Something with government. Something very odd, very inconsistent. Very secret. Several times in the back of her mind a voice had whispered that Percy knew how Davis had lost his memory. Percy had made Davis lose his memory. The little voice had a few times suspected that just maybe Percy's government had done something to Davis' memory, something abnormal. Some sort of...hypnosis. It would certainly fit with his fixation on Penny. If she'd used some mind trick on him.

But each time she'd silenced the little voice, as she tried to do now. Mind-tricks? Memory-erasing? It was a ridiculous concept, not solid or verifiable enough for a learned student of maths and sciences such as she was. She had known that of course there was a very rational explanation for it all. For everything that was inconsistent about Percy.

Now, standing alone in the kitchen with their hushed whispers just reaching her ears, she wasn't so sure. The numbers of odd coincidences were piling up in front of her.

They shared a world she didn't know about, she realised as she strained to catch their words. They clearly knew one another, knew a great deal about one another. Penny knew all the things that Percy had to lie about to her. For the first time, a little jealously sprang up inside her, which she quickly buried. She didn't want to dislike Penny. The fault, she guessed, was going to lie with Percy. She leaned closer to try and hear what they were saying, out of her sight.

"...you get to know him well enough, he'll suspect, and then we'll have to take him back to the Ministry and give him to the Obliviators all over again!"

"Don't be ridiculous! You've told Audrey reams more than I've told Ethan. If anyone in this situation were to be Obliviated, it would be her!"

Audrey drew back quickly, tried to stop listening. Obliviate? What they'd done to Davis? She looked around, taking stock of the situation. Percy and his other girlfriend were talking about erasing her mind. She needed to get out of here. She wouldn't let them do to her what they'd done to Davis, not in a thousand years. Never. Percy's usefulness had obviously run its course.

She moved quietly to the other end of the kitchen, which opened up to show the bedroom door on her left side and the front room on her right. The front of the apartment was set in a circle; if she emerged into the front room, Percy would see her, where he stood by the front door, and then he'd send her straight back to the kitchen while he and Penny decided what to do. She waited on the other side of the divider that separated the front room from the kitchen.

Why not just go? He was standing in front of the door, but if she acted calm enough, he might prefer to get rid of her and deal with her later. Surely he wasn't going to keep her here; he wasn't sinister, he was just doing his job.

She decided on her course of action and took the few steps toward the couch, snatching up her bag and the book she'd been reading, not really looking at what was in her hands.

The whispering stopped as soon as she came into view, shouldering her purse. "I'm leaving."

"Wait." Percy held up his hands. "Wait, I can explain."

"I know." She told him, nodding, only wanting to go home. "But it's late, I should go. I'll see you...later." She sidled past him, expecting him to try and stop her again. He didn't to her surprise, and she reached for the door. Before she knew it she was outside in the corridor, and Percy and Penny were still inside together. The door shut behind her and she started blindly for the stairway.

.

Penny didn't say anything for a long time after Audrey had gone. She glanced back at Percy, and he recognised the apology in her face. He knew he looked rather like he felt; tired and deflated.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I'll talk to her, when I can."

"It's fine." It wasn't, but there wasn't much else to be said. Audrey's fragile trust in him was now snapped; Nothing short of a full entry into the Wizard World was going to lure her back. He needed to talk to Davis soon, see what he knew. He wished this had all happened several weeks ago; he'd been promised his new Ministry position soon, and when he did, he really wouldn't have time to deal with personal problems.

"Do you know where Davis is?"

"I believe he's studying."

"I'm going to go see him."

"Percy, wait." Penny followed him as he summoned his jumper and reached for the door.

"What?" He shut the plain green door after himself and started for the stairs.

"Davis is a really nice guy when you get to know him; please don't Obliviate him."

"I won't, but the Obliviators might."

"Percy, you know what I mean." They were heading down the stairs.

"Did you tell him anything he needs to be obliviated for?" He asked her, stopping on the stairway.

"No."

"Then he won't be oblivated." He began to descend again. "The law is pretty simple, Penny, if there's a problem, we'll fix it, but if there isn't, you don't need to ask for leniency." He didn't hear her heels clacking on the staircase, so he knew she'd stayed on the landing and watched him go. What her plans were, he didn't know. She wasn't coming with him, but she couldn't go back to his flat. She'd probably go home and worry. Penny worried often. He let her do as she pleased, too concerned with his own job to deal with her or Audrey at the moment.