The Perils of Being Percy

Professor Dumbledore needed some advice and Percy was only too happy to provide it. Meeting in a secluded location early in the month of October, they discussed the problems Madame Umbridge had caused in her new posts as Defense Against the Dark Art's Professor and High Inquisitor at Hogwarts.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore, sir. I must say I'm not surprised to hear you telling me all of this. I did inform you that she's ruthlessly evil," Percy said, resting his elbow on the table. Chin in one hand, idly strumming the tabletop with the fingers of the other.

"Percy, it doesn't do to dwell on the human milk of 'I told you so' and forget to remember that you don't always know everything," Dumbledore remonstrated smiling, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Yes, sir," Percy answered jumping up to pace the confines of the their small meeting room, wondering irreverently, How does Dumbledore always know about all of these seedy rooms in out of the way places? "So you say, sir, that Madame Umbridge is refusing to allow the students to learn to defend themselves?"

"I'm afraid I am saying that," Dumbledore agreed.

"I don't get that, sir." Still pacing, Percy spoke perspicuously, "Defending oneself against unreasonable search and seizure should be one of our basic human rights, along with free speech and the right to peaceable assembly. What could Madame Umbridge hope to accomplish by preventing the students from arming themselves with defensive spells?"

"A question I ponder much myself these days," Dumbledore informed him heavily.

Percy ceased pacing. Whirling on Dumbledore, he asked, "Sir, you don't think she's one of them? Umbridge isn't one of You-Know-Who's supporters?"

Chuckling, Dumbledore responded, "I am much mistaken if Voldemort would allow Dolores Umbridge to live an entire day as one of his supporters. Recall his merciless treatment of Wormtail."

Percy recalling that he had neither seen nor heard hide or hair of Wormtail in a good long story, asked, "Do we know anything about Wormtail's location sir?" And he sat back down to hear the answer.

Dumbledore gazed at the cracked dirty ceiling of their meeting room, pondering before speaking. "I have a theory, but it's only a theory. I think Wormtail may be in hiding from all factions just now. My suspicions are that he has met up with other rodent allies in the sewers at Hogwarts. Bearing that in mind I have asked Severus Snape to step up his production of pickled rat's spleens."

For a long moment they sat there together in silence, Dumbledore staring at Percy while he steep led his long fingered hands together at the bridge of his half-moon spectacles. Percy steep led his own long fingered hands together at the bridge of his glasses, staring back at Dumbledore. A Star Wars fan might recollect that Voldemort also has very long fingers and make a connection between the similarities of the three. Since this story is not Star Wars, however, this recollection must be dismissed immediately as coincidence and never considered again.

Percy ventured, "If I may offer a suggestion, sir? Have you considered asking Harry to teach the students defense lessons? I mean to say, that kid produces a Patronus Charm that will knock three people flat on their arses---er, backsides. And a Patronus isn't even supposed to do that."

"All possibilities are under consideration, Percy," said Dumbledore. "It's your help I need in this matter, though. I would like for you to search the Ministries records for current decrees pertaining to the rights of Magical Persons. Send me the information you can find about the rights of Magical Persons under the law. If am to intercede between the school and the Ministry I must have all the facts at hand."

"Certainly, sir, I'm happy to do my part in that endeavor." Percy felt a sudden foreboding. "Today they're denying the students' right to bear arms. What would they dare next? Prevent them from peaceful assembly?"

"I trust we can prevent things from ever going so far, Percy," Dumbledore responded, sounding disturbed at the thought.

"Well, if you'll forgive my saying so, sir," Percy told him with a sudden sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, "I think you may be wrong about Madame Umbridge's support for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. What better way could there be to prepare the populace for being over taken by a dictator? Restricting our freedoms make us more vulnerable to the attack."

Offering high praise, Dumbledore said, "I had very good reasons for making you Hogwarts Head Boy."

Flushing humbly, Percy answered, "Well, thank you for saying so, sir."

Dumbledore nodded his respects then added, "But I think we must keep in mind that we are arming ourselves against more than one faction of dictatorship."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The early weeks of October saw Percy doing as Dumbledore asked him. Without attracting Fudge's attention he spent as many hours as possible researching magical law. Penny wasn't pleased. Every night that he came home Percy lugged stacks of articles and periodicals with him, believing some of them must have the information Dumbledore needed. The nights that he didn't go home he worked in Fudge's office writing Madame Umbridge's Educational Decrees.

"Honestly Percy," sighed Penny sitting at the table with him and trying to capture his attention over the stacks of parchment. "What was the point of your coming home this evening if you only intended to ignore me all night?"

Glancing up at her, his applejack eyes twinkled at her behind his glasses, he grinned. "I haven't ignored you all night."

"I suppose you'll have me take into consideration what we were doing for the first hour you were here tonight." Penny dismissed his comment along with his actions. Getting up from the table she wandered over to the window, and stood gazing down at the dark alley.

Leaning back in his chair, arms folded, Percy eyed her speculatively. "Well, yes. Honestly I thought you might have taken that into consideration." Gesturing with his head in the direction of their bedroom, "I didn't spend time in there with you tonight doing something I take very lightly."

Having finally captured his attention with his favorite topic, Penny confessed, "Sometimes it just doesn't feel that way. I mean it does, when we do. But then later, I don't know how to explain it. It's like you're not here with me right now. Does that make any sense to you?"

"I am right here with you, Penny," he told her sincerely, "And I'm thinking about you all of the time when I'm at work. I just have a couple of very important things I need to take care of right now."

"It's always something, Percy. And it's always something that's more important to you than I ever seem to be," Penny said stalking into the bedroom. He watched her leave with worried eyes, and couldn't concentrate again on his research for a long time.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In two weeks spent researching Percy uncovered nothing worthwhile. By far the majority of decrees on the records dealt with the restrictions and limitations on the freedoms of magical people. Lawmakers knew only how to write themselves into corners, Percy decided with disgust, tossing the heavy decree books aside. He was sickened and scared after reading page upon page of circumscribed bondage for days. Wizards had no rights, none that were written in stone. Few were cursorily scribbled onto parchment. No help for Dumbledore would be coming from his quarter, and Percy felt defeated and useless.

We don't even have the right to a trial before being condemned to prison. In that moment Percy reviled Cornelius Fudge and every other Minister of Magic who had gone before him. They had all utterly failed their constituency. Percy acknowledged he'd been engaging a bad habit. The fact that he shared the habit with most of the young people he knew, and many more who were older, didn't soften the acknowledgement a bit. Percy had been taking his freedom for granted.

Having recently written the missives Fudge used to manipulate the press, Percy had no doubts about his own culpability. Just because a thing could be done didn't mean it should be done. As hard as he had been working these past months to aid Dumbledore, he knew now that he had been working almost as hard to further Fudge's cause. It was a terrible trap, there was no way around that. Percy was a man caught in the middle.

Balking at his position, Percy took some time off. Not a lot of time, but time enough to appease Penny. Shopping with her in the alley on Saturday, Percy thought Penny looked happier than she had in months. Blue eyes dancing, she hadn't let go of his hand since they'd left the flat.

"We haven't done the grocery shopping together since we moved into the flat," Penny announced pulling his hand, leading him to the fruit seller's stall.

"That isn't right, Pen," Percy disagreed. "We went to the Creamery together our first night in the flat."

"How can I have forgotten such a domestic accomplishment? Even if I did assume we'd do the shopping together every week, splitting a strawberry-peanut butter ice cream with you that night I felt positively confident in the moment that moving in with you was the right thing to do." Penny squeezed his hand affectionately, but wore a facetious smile.

"Don't be cheeky, at least I pay my share of the bills," he remonstrated, grabbing golden-red apples off the fruit sellers cart and tossing them hand over hand to Penny who caught them deftly in the basket she carried.

"Mmmm.." she murmured taking a crunchy bite out of her apple. "It's been like living with a silent partner." She offered her apple up to Percy, who took a much bigger bite."Wonderful, aren't they?"

"Just conjured them fresh from the orchard this morning." The produce seller assured Percy as he dug around in the pocket of his jeans to pay for Penny's treat. They finished shopping, meandered down the alley and returned, arms laden with groceries, to their flat. Percy meant to hand his jacket up on the hook, but Penny stopped him. "Let's go back out."

"What do you want to do?" he asked for the sake of the inquiry, already putting his jacket back on. Leering suggestively he leaned over and whispered, "I had something in mind already."

"That's always on your mind." Penny tossed her curls and, disregarding his warning, cheeked him again, "I want to do something intellectual for a change."

"Not another museum?" he groaned. "Please, Penny, I can't bear another minute of the Mystical Museum of Magical History. Not even for your father's sake. I had to prop my eyeballs open with a toothpick the last time we visited your parents, he went on for ages about the cursed corpses discovered in Neferteri's tomb."

"Oh, what would you care if it was," she scoffed. "You're in danger of falling asleep every where we go anyway. Besides, I want to visit the bookshop."

Percy agreed to that idea, helping her put away their groceries so they could be on their way. It was a gorgeous autumn day outside, golden warm sunshine sparkled the colored leaves they kicked at with their feet, a crisp wind tangled up Penny's dark curls and right blue skylight mirrored her eyes. Percy held her hand, and laughed with her feeling very much like a young man in love.

Flourish and Blott's, was one of his and Penny's favorite bookshops. They both enjoyed reading. Penny still read avidly. Reading for pleasure was another something Percy had sacrificed to the cause a long time ago. He couldn't recall having read a book on any recent rainy days, although it used to be one of his favorite pastimes. Flourish and Blotts was cavernous; piled high to the ceiling with every book Percy had imagined, and a few more that couldn't be.

Penny told him she'd once heard rumors that the right spell opened a secret corridor in the back of the shop. Rare and ancient magical texts lined its walls, rather like the restricted section of the library at Hogwarts, only better. Percy didn't credence that rumor. Messrs. Flourish and Blott were in the retail business. He couldn't imagine they kept valuable, revenue earning texts hidden from the majority of the public. Still, the notion was intriguing, and he couldn't help wondering just what mysteries such a room might hide.

Splitting between the towering stacks they each headed toward their favorite directions. Penny gravitated towards the natural science collection. For knowledge she read about plants, anatomy, and animals. For fun she preferred weighty fiction.

"Ruddy Ravenclaw," Percy muttered, disdaining her taste in literature. He would take a good storybook any day. True story, or not, it didn't matter to him, as long as it had one mysterious character and a secret plot. "Prefects Who Obtained Power" had been the best mystery novel he'd read in a long time. The plot involved an intrepid prefect, a scandalous schoolmaster, a tarty French elf, and an evil potions master who was found swinging from the rafters. He eagerly awaited the upcoming sequel, "Head boys Acquiring Hegemony."

Together, but apart, they spent a pleasant hour thumbing through books. Some books performed amazing feats of independent magic. A few read themselves out loud to Percy when he pulled them off the shelves. He was very annoyed by one that insisted on reading the plot twist at the back before beginning at the front. Ridiculing it, he asked, "What is the point of that?" Not all of the books answered him back.

Enjoyable as it was to browse for the day, Percy didn't plan on buying. His remission from work was a short-lived event. Without doubt things at the Ministry of Magic would be picking up speed soon, and unread books were a waste of very hard earned money. Shoving his hands inside of his pockets, Percy resisted the temptation to pick up more books and headed up the steps to the second story. Penny passed by the corner of his eye on her way up there earlier. He was hungry, and hoped to convince her to go home. He strode rapidly down the aisles searching for her, pausing for just moment at the balcony where he could view the shop below, and stumbled over something on the floor.

"Ouch!" Penny snapped, rubbing her ankles where he'd barked them with his big feet. "Look where you're going!"

Crouching beside her, Percy said, "I was looking at where I was going, not at my feet. What are you doing?" He got a glimpse of the pictures moving in the book on her lap and his mouth fell open in shock. "Penny!" With a great show of indignation he snatched the book from her hands. "Let me look at that!"

To judge by the pictures he had stumbled upon Penny in the marital enhancement section of the bookshop. Funny, but that was one area of their relationship where he was pretty certain they didn't any help. Percy thought any marriage needing this kind of enhancement was beyond all hope. Slamming the book shut he asked, "Pen, why were you staring at this?"

Shrugging a bit sheepishly, she admitted, "I couldn't seem to help myself. I was just standing here browsing the shelf. I opened this book and it sucked me right in." A curious glaze crossed her eyes and she asked him, "Did you see what the pictures on page 12 were doing? Do you suppose that's really possible?"

"You are never going to find out," Percy said firmly, resolutely tossing the book onto the very top of the shelf with little effort. He leaned over her wearing a censorious frown, "Why were you in this section anyway? I thought you'd come up to pick up another copy of "Pacific and Conflict" since you haven't found your own, yet."

Penny spat out a rude response in the hopes he would blush. He did blush, although managed to return a rude remark of his own. Laughing Penny scrambled to her feet and took off at a run through the stacks. Percy chased her down two aisles, pausing briefly to set an elderly man back onto his feet. "Pardon me, sir," he said, and dashed around the corner to the back of the second floor. Cornering Penny where she was concealed between two stacks, Percy stalked her into the wall, squeezing his narrow frame into the crevice with her. Being very tall, and very thin, occasionally had its advantages. Running his girlfriend to ground in a narrow burrow was just such an occasion.

Before he could censure her anymore she twined her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe and kissed him hard. He returned the favor, worrying her lips with his and offered her his tongue. Eyelids fluttering closed, Penny took his tongue into her mouth and imagined it elsewhere. They kissed thoroughly between the stacks, ribs shuddering, hearts thudding painfully, until she pulled away.

"I have missed you so much," she said breathlessly resting her forehead against his chest. His heart slammed into her ribcage. "I almost feel like we're a regular couple right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his voice gone husky, his heavy-lidded eyes searching her face curiously.

"I mean we never do normal couple things," Penny said, sinking back down to her flat feet and placing her hands on his chest. "You know, courting kinds of things. Going out to eat, or for walks in the park, kissing in the rain, that kind of stuff."

"We kiss in the shower," Percy offered helpfully.

"I really enjoy that 5.7 minutes you set aside every morning," Penny responded wryly.

Percy blew out a heavy breath. "Okay, Penny, I get the hint. You think we don't spend enough time together."

"I don't think we spend enough time together? Percy, we've had dinner together one night in the past two weeks. Three days last week I didn't even see you at all, you didn't come home until after I'd left for work. Is that enough time for you? I mean I can't even believe you're here right now---"

"I am right here," he interrupted her tilting her chin up to kiss her again. This wasn't a conversation he was prepared to have. He didn't have any explanations she wanted to hear.

She let him kiss her, a temporary seal on the argument they were bound to have sooner or later. It had been such a good day she honestly preferred later. Just as her eyes were closing Penny caught a glimpse of another pair of eyes over Percy's shoulder. She jumped a foot into the air with a shriek, staring in horror at the outraged old harridan peering at her and Percy snogging in the stacks. "Disgusting behavior! You young people today have no morals!"

Percy startled and swung around to stare at their incriminator. Before either he or Penny could reply she swung her handbag, a suitcase size affair done in pale blue dragon hide, whacked him on the shoulder and screeched "For shame! Go get a room already! What would your mother say?"

Percy's career in politics flashed before his eyes. He could read the Daily Prophet headline now,

Minister's Top Aide caught Tongue Tangoing in public with a Woman not his Wife!

Penny felt dismayed as well, not for herself, but for Percy's sake. He was easily embarrassed. She made a grab for the handbag. Percy beat her to it. Jerking the bag out of the woman's hand, he tossed it down five aisles and sent it flying over the side of the balcony. A loud thud confirmed its rapport with the first floor. "We have a room already, thanks," he leered defiantly at the woman, now aghast, he returned to his kiss with Penny.

Momentarily forgetting the harridan and the bookshop, everything but Penny's lover faded to black. It was the best kiss he'd ever given her. The only kiss he'd ever given her in full view of another human being. No excuses, no holds barred. She was too shocked and delighted to protest.

The harridan disappeared, intent on causing trouble based on the tone of the irate invective she hurled at their heads. Percy wanted to do a lot more than kiss Penny, although he was having a lot of fun with kissing her, but the unmistakable sound of a victim reporting an atrocity reached his ears from the stacks below. It was time to stop kissing and move, Percy urged, "Come on. Let's get out of here. Mr. Blott is coming to check out the commotion."

Tugging Penny out of the crevice, he started to run but she wasn't moving past the shelf. Turning to see what was wrong he found her staring oddly at him her fingertips tracing the out lines of her lips.

"That was outstanding." Eyes wide, she repeated, "Outstanding."

"Penny, move!" he ordered, "We've got to go now."

He yanked her out from between the shelves by the hand and led the way up the third floor stairs, running at top speed for the back of the store and the back alley exit. Percy yanked open the back alley door with a crash, shoving Penny through first, slamming it shut behind them. Bracing one handed on the broken rail he leaped over the iron balustrade to the landing below. Holding up his arms for Penny, who was looking very nervous about the three stories below, he promised, "Jump Pen, I'm going to catch you."

Listening for signs of pursuers, and thinking she heard a scuffling inside the shop, Penny whispered frantically, "I'm scared." Considering the distance between the narrow metal platform and the alley below her eyes informed her she had good reason to be. Percy stood two landings down on the metal grid of the broken staircase and he looked very far away. Beneath his feet the autumn wind scattered loose rubbish blowing it down the hard paved alley.

"Trust me!" he ordered glancing nervously behind him to the other end of the alley. The full impact of his actions beginning to weight in on his conscience, if he was caught the repercussions to his career could be fatal. Now the headlines would read:

Caught snogging with a tart! Top Ministry Aide Brutally Attacks Little Old Lady Complaining About Lewd Conduct in Public!

"Come on, Penny! Please!" he hissed up at her urgently.

Closing her eyes with a feeling of deep faith, Penny hurled herself over the side. The rail caught her upside the head, her rib cage smacked hard into his head, but her faith in Percy renewed when he snagged her by the armpit and stopped her free fall to a gruesome death on the alley's stone floor.

They jumped the final length together and hit the ground with four feet, Percy advising, "Run!" Pulling her after him, they dodged between the rubbish bins and shot out into the bright sunshine of Diagon Alley. Penny, rubbing her aching head, leaned against the brick storefront of the Magical Menagerie. She bent double, holding one hand to her knees.

"He'll never know it was us," Percy heaved, stopping beside her to catch his breath. Clutching his ribs, he asked, "Why did you look at me that way in the book shop? You were acting like you'd never been kissed before."

"You've never kissed me like that before," she gasped.

"I was kissing you just that way this morning and you didn't look as though you were going to fall over."

"That's because I was lying down, wasn't it?" she responded, waving away his ego. "It wasn't the kiss exactly, anyway. It's just that you've never kissed me in front of anyone else before. Ever. You're always so concerned about appearances. What people might say."

Touching the scrape on her forehead, Percy changed the subject, "All right then, sweet heart? I couldn't stop you from hitting your head."

"Yes, I'm fine." She grinned at him. "It'll bruise I bet, but it was a good adventure. We don't have very many of those anymore." She stood up straight. "Let's walk, I'm feeling nervous. I don't think Mr. Blott will ever let us back in there."

"That'd be a pity." Percy agreed, taking her hand. "It's the only bookshop in the alley. But I don't see how he could know that it's us."

"Do you suppose so many tall, red-headed men live here in the Alley that he won't recognize your description?"

"It's the hair," Percy grumped. "Gives us Weasleys away every time. Well, anyone who asks about me will be referred to my brother Bill. He's tall, has red hair, and is working at Gringott's Bank right here in the alley. Besides he's much more likely to be caught snogging in a book shop than I am. They'll never be able to prove it otherwise."

"Bill wears an earring, Percy," said Penny, wryly. "And his hair down to his shoulders. I must tell you that I don't think you two look a thing alike."

"Close enough for a line-up," Percy grunted. "It bothers you."

"Not at all. Your brother is nice looking, but I think you're far handsomer. I prefer the clean-cut look," Penny replied with her mind on his brothers, all red haired and handsome.

"I know that." Stopping to take her shoulders, he clarified his statement. "I meant that it bothers you that I've never kissed you in front of anyone?"

Penny looked up at him, squinting at the bright glint of sunlight on his hair. She thought his whole head would blaze from the sun. Percy was pure fire and she felt that nobody knew it but her. "It's always seemed to me that you hold back your feelings for me when we're not alone."

"That's not true, Penny," he argued. "I'd put a ring on your finger if you'd let me. That would make my feelings pretty obvious to the world, wouldn't it?"

Penny didn't want to go there. Marriage was a touchy subject with both of them. She half laughed in a joking manner. "You refused to hold my hand, or hug, or anything as long as somebody might see us while we were dating at Hogwarts. When I told my Ravenclaw classmates that you were my boyfriend they thought I was joking."

"We were both prefects back then." Percy furrowed his brows. "What was I supposed to do, put us into detention together? I was trying to set a good example, that was my job."

"I had to tell your mother that we were living together," she declared.

"I know you did," he shrugged uncomfortably. "I wasn't speaking to her. I never asked you what she said to you about that."

Penny snorted. "She's not best pleased, I guess you already knew that. And I daresay she'd rather have had the news coming from you." Suddenly feeling very tired, Penny turned her head towards the entrance of their flat. They walked in silence for a time, the pretty peace of their day shattered in the interim.

"Well," Percy said breaking the quiet, catching the hand that held the key to their flat and pulling her close. "My Mum knows that we're much more than friends now, doesn't she? And I want us to be even more, I want to marry you, Penny."

Penny jerking arm away, stuck the key in the lock, and replied, "I'm not sure you know what it is that you want, Percy. You wanted to move in together but you're hardly ever home with me so we can be together. You want your mother to know that I'm special to you, special enough to marry even, but you don't want to talk to her about it. I don't want to marry you under these circumstances."

Not surprised by her reply, Percy didn't press the issue. He was too busy trying to maintain the current state of their relationship. That Sunday evening they met Penny's friends from work for drinks at The Leaky Cauldron. Percy was glad to do it, even if he didn't have much to add to a conversation that revolved around the correct treatment for a suppurating slug burn, or the correct wand motion to cauterize an amputated limb.

"I'm telling you, these things crawled right into his brain. Straight thorough the ear canal," said Penny's friend Sally, making a twisting motion with her finger in her ear. "It was awful. We replaced his blood for hours, but it dripped straight back out through his nose again."

Fascinating conversation, Percy thought, taking the opportunity not to be sick. Penny and her friends were all leaning together over the table intrigued by Sally's story. She was a shorthaired blonde. Percy suspected her of coloring it with her wand because of her unusually dark eyes. Ethan, short, dark haired and muscular watched Sally's gesticulating hands with twitchy eyeballs. Trey, a very good looking American studying at St. Mungos via the Wizarding International Cooperative Education program sat between Penny and Sally, his long sun-bronzed arms spread out over their chair backs on either side. Penny kept leaning over to talk to Trey, and his eyes blazed a trail over her bosom every time. Percy resisted the almost overpowering urge to jerk Penny back into her chair and cover up her cleavage with his jacket. Trey seemed like a very typical American, arrogant, bossy, and egotistical, without any good reason to be.

"Y'all don't understand about Texas," Trey explained. "Everything is big there. Even my spells are bigger at home. If that dude got brained at home in Dallas we could've pulled them doxies right outta his head without nobody getting hurt."

"Oh! I've always wanted to visit Dallas," Penny said, stirring her drink with a swizzle stick, and fluttering her eyelashes. Percy's eyes narrowed, he cleared his throat loudly, but Penny ignored him. " Whenever we talk about it, Trey, you make it sound like it's so huge. I can just imagine what it must be like."

Percy stretched a long leg under the table, and pressed heavily on Penny's toes with his foot. She glanced up surprised, wearing the universal, "What's your problem?" expression. Percy lifted an eyebrow, and took a swig of his beer. Two could play this game, and he was better at it than she realized.

"It gets mighty hot," Trey responded, hefting his mug of frosty butter beer with a beefy arm. "And I can drive for days without getting to where I'm headed."

Percy smirked into his beer. The double entendres weren't lost on him, but apparently Ethan was clueless. Reminding him of Ron. Reminding him that the racy comments were being directed at his girlfriend. His smirk faded.

"You drive everywhere?" asked Ethan. "Whatever for?"

"I'm an American," Trey answered. No other explanation necessary.

"How long does it take you to Apparate across the country?" Penny asked.

Percy caught the eye of the pretty girl sitting quietly for a while now on his other side. "I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name."

"It's Sian," she smiled. "I'm American, too. Although not from Texas."

Percy studied her for a moment, "Sian? That's an Irish name, and you've the look of the Irish."

Indeed, with her red hair, auburn rather than fire, green eyes, freckles and fair skin she would have looked as perfectly at home in an Irish Pub as she did there in the Leaky Cauldron sitting next to him.

"We don't call ourselves the Melting Cauldron of America for nothing, Percy," she said elbowing his ribs.

He offered his most devastating grin, remembering not to check if Penny was watching. "You remembered my name."

"I'm not likely to forget 'Percy', am I?" Sian laughed. "That must be an unusual name for you even here in Britain."

"Just so," he agreed cheerfully. He hated his name, but he was busy flirting and didn't want to grumble and spoil his image. "Would you care for another butter beer? I'm going to get my self one."

"Yes, thanks," Sian accepted his offer and leaned over to whisper to Penny. As Percy walked away from the table towards the bar, he heard her comment, "You'd better eye that one close Penny. No wonder you don't bring him around very often. What a keeper."

"He doesn't play Quidditch," Penny informed her friend coolly. Percy smiled.

Fall was moving fast, Percy noticed when they left The Leaky Cauldron later that night. Dark clouds scudded the moon, partially leafless tree branches loomed starkly against the lamppost lights. And a definite chill was brewing in the air. Penny shivered with it.

"I told you to bring a jacket," Percy reminded her, taking off his own and wrapping it around her shoulders. Penny pulled it tightly around. It radiated heat to her from its owner, the human inferno. Tugging the collar up around her nose Penny closed her eyes, saying quietly with sad resignation, "This jacket smells just like you, Percy." Her healer's nose recognized his familiar combination of sweet-spiciness mixed with bitter brimstone and ash. "I think I'll take this jacket to bed with me when you start working abominably long hours again."

Having had so much fun with her this weekend, Percy didn't want it to ever end. But he'd promised himself never to lie to her, no matter what. So, he stayed silent and she changed the subject.

"What did you think of my friends from work?" she asked, as they strolled together down the nearly vacant alley back to the flat.

"Very nice," he said, "I'm sorry I haven't met them before. Your friend Sian has a fun sense of humor."

"She's very witty," Penny agreed, "Has the knack for a good turn of phrase."

"Is she seeing anyone?" Percy asked.

"Oh, yes, I believe she sees her husband quite regularly. She Apparates back to the States almost every weekend. Didn't you notice her ring?"

"No," answered Percy honestly. "I didn't even look. I thought they were all nice, except maybe for Trey. Bit of an arrogant git isn't he?"

"I don't think so," Penny answered loyally. "That's just his manner of speaking. Trey's always been nice to me and he's very smart. Smart to enough to be beating the pants off of me just now in this sanguinary potions rotation at the hospital. He's at the top of our class."

"Hmmm----." Percy, picturing Trey beating the pants off of Penny, said, "Knowing that about him doesn't make me like him much better, sweetheart. Say, Penny! Look here, the store across the street from Flourish and Blotts is empty. Maybe we'll get another bookshop in town. Or even a newspaper house. I've heard the editor of The Quibbler is looking for some space here in the Alley."

"The Quibbler here?" asked Penny. "That would be interesting, especially with us living just down the street. I do admire their editorial cartoons of Cornelius Fudge. I think they've got him pegged dead on."

Walking arm and arm, they stopped and watched themselves reflected in the dark glass of the empty storefront for a brief moment in time.