Return to Europe

YES! The sequel to Saving Audrey is finally here. Please Read and Review. All I own is Audrey and her family (not the Weasleys though obviously)

Chapter 1

Audrey looked at the identical breathing of the two girls as they slept. They looked so peaceful that she almost hated to wake them. She looked down at the watch. The Weasleys would be over in less than an hour, she had no choice but to wake the girls.

The girls still didn't look very awake as they carried the last of their things down into the foyer. Audrey felt so bad for everything they had been through that she didn't even protest when they laid among their bags and fell back asleep. She would leave them that way until her grandparents came to get them. Audrey went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea while waiting on her family.

"Audrey dear, we're here." Audrey set down her cup and practically ran to the foyer. "Audrey, you look wonderful. You were so skinny the last time I saw you. It's so good to know you are active again. Now, where are the little angels?"

"They fell asleep over there in a pile of their luggage. I didn't want to wake them until it was time for them to go."

"I'll send Arthur on with their bags and I'll floo them over to the house. Now, you are coming tonight after you get off work, right?"

"Yes, I'll be there for dinner."

"Good, the rest of the family can't wait to see you again. I can't believe it's been so long since we were all together. It'll be nice to have the whole family at dinner again."

"Me either. I'll see you all tonight." Audrey gave her grandparents a quick kiss and ran to get dressed for work. She could hear Molly trying to wake her granddaughters.

Audrey pulled the front of her hair back into a pearl clip and gave herself once last look in the mirror. Dressed in a knee length pinstripe skirt and grey blouse, she looked every bit the woman she knew everyone in the office respected. She wondered if her family would even recognize her. Aside from her parents and grandparents, she didn't see the others too often. She hadn't even made it to her Uncle Percy's wedding. She felt awful, but it was during her finals in graduate school. She and Percy had been in the same year at Hogwarts, as well as Percy's wife Penelope. In fact, Penelope had been one of her closest friends during their school days.

Remembering Hogwarts put a smile on Audrey's face. In fact, for the last five years, the memories of her teenage years in England were among a list of about three things that could make her smile. Slowly, though, she was getting her life back together.

She had left Hogwarts and everyone that had meant the world to her as soon as they graduated though. This included her uncles and aunt, her best friends, and her first love. When Audrey was sixteen, she was told that she was a Skepsi, a very powerful wizard or witch. Only one at a time lived. She went to Clemson, a university for both muggles and wizards in America, where she had grown up. There, she lived her dreams of being a cheerleader and joining a sorority. She was popular and involved, but still longed for what she had left behind after Hogwarts, though.

At the end of her freshman year, she met someone, though, and soon was no longer pained by the memories. After Oliver Wood, Audrey thought she would never love again. After sometime, she let Chris into her heart and once again felt all that she had felt the first time she ever fell in love, nothing more, and nothing less. They were married as soon as they finished school, though. It was the ideal marriage. The school newspaper came up with headlines such as "Homecoming Queen to marry Student Body President" or "Head Cheerleader and All-Star Pitcher". It was the All-American marriage of the ultimate fraternity boy and the sorority president. Everyone knew they would live happily ever after. And for a short while, they did.

Somewhere along the way, the marital bliss in their relationship left. Audrey became busy trying to finish graduate school in just two years and Chris, who was drafted into the minors right out of college, was getting caught up in all the extras that went with the game. They begin seeing less of each other and Audrey knew that he was not going home when she would be in the library until the early hours of the morning working. After she finished graduate school, Chris agreed to go to marriage counseling and it looked like they would work things out. The All-American couple was back to everyone's ideal marriage.

Things were going great. Chris was getting to pitch big games and Audrey was making a name for herself in the competitive career of Financial Planning. The top businesses in America were asking for her by name. After only two years with the firm, Audrey was called into a partner's meeting. They told her it was quite possible she would be the first employee to make partner in less than five years, they were going to consider her for partnership next year. Partner after only three years? Audrey knew that while she was doing great, she would have to prove a lot in the next year so that there would be no doubt in anyone's head that she was the right choice for partner. She began working long hours at home. At the same time, Chris was called up to the majors and was gone from home a lot more. The couple talked on the phone and e-mailed everyday, but slowly, things started slipping again. Five years after they were married, a magazine printed pictures of Chris having an affair.

Audrey, who had been away on business, flew home the night the pictures were released. She was going to confront Chris about everything that was wrong between them. They were going to settle things once and for all. If they couldn't fix the marriage 100 percent immediately, they were going to a divorce lawyer.

Chris was not home yet when Audrey got there. When she got in, there was a message from Chris telling her that he never meant to hurt her. He had loved her from the moment he had laid eyes on her eight years ago. Things had just gotten out of control and both their lives were going in opposite directions. He wanted to fix it the best he could. He would do anything if she would just forgive him.

She never had a chance forgive him, though. The reports said that some of the guys saw him going out drinking early that afternoon and about eight that night, he had called his brother to tell him he was driving home to talk things over with Audrey. He knew she was probably going through hell at the moment. Two hours after he called his brother, his body was found in the rental car just off the interstate. His blood alcohol level registered high above the legal limit. Chris Gunter was proclaimed dead from injuries due to a single car drunk driving accident at 10:30pm in the emergency room of the Atlanta Memorial Hospital.

While Chris left her with a lot: a great house, a large insurance policy, and a new appreciation for the two most important things he left her, he didn't leave her with the great memories. Sure, they had shared a lot of great times together, but regretfully, Audrey just couldn't dwell on those. She felt bad for not being able to look back on him with the fondness she looked back on Hogwarts. However, it was she that walked away from Hogwarts and Chris that walked away from her.

Audrey went to her jewelry box. She looked over her ring selection. Her engagement ring and wedding band were still there. She planned on giving them to Chris' mother. They had belonged to Chris' great-grandmother and Audrey wanted them to stay in the family. She reached right over the two extravagant rings and put on a simple ring that she received while at Hogwarts. The only time she had taken it off in the last ten years was her wedding day.

Audrey grabbed her bag and headed towards the garage. She looked at her house as she drove away. It was a great house, she had moved to it shortly after Chris' death. Without him, she felt she needed somewhere smaller and closer to her work. Still, something seemed to be missing. Ever since her parents had married and Lisa had joined Bill in Europe, Audrey had felt like there was nothing holding her in America anymore. All she had was her job, and she didn't even find that intriguing anymore. But then again, what did Europe have to hold for her? She walked away from everyone there a decade ago. They couldn't possibly still want her around, could they?