"Percy? Percy Weasley?"

He looks up, and his heart seems to forget how to function. The woman is older now, dark curls streaked with silver, face lined from the years. But he would recognize her anywhere, no matter how much time has passed. "Penelope Clearwater."

A smile tugs at her lips. "The very same," she confirms, striding over, smile turning into a grin. "What's it been? Fifty years?"

"Fifty-six," he corrects, pushing his glasses up. "Heard you ran off to Germany after the war."

"Never looked back. Til now," she says, smile fading slightly. "I couldn't stay. All the pain, the loss. I needed a new start, a new life."

"How'd that work for you?"

"Like a charm." She smooths her hands over her dress, biting her lip. "I've got to go. But maybe we can get coffee sometime?"

"Yeah. I'd like that."

..

He kneels beside Audrey's grave, guilt twisting his stomach. He hadn't even thought of her when he'd seen Penelope.

"Useless," he scolds him. "Bloody useless piece of rubbish you are, Percy Weasley."

He straightens the bouquet of flowers left on the grave. She would have hated that. She'd always hated his neat compulsions.

"I'm sorry," he whispers. "Please forgive me."

..

"You stood me up."

Percy stares guitily at his feet. "I was working," he lies.

A small, almost bitter laugh escapes her lips. "Some things never change, do they?"

He looks up at Penelope. So many things have changed in the decades since they'd last met, but he doesn't know where to begin. "Some things do."

"Like what?"

"Like me."

..

"You've done something different to your hair," Lucy says.

Cheeks flushing with color, Percy awkwardly smooths out his hair. "I fancied a change."

Her brows raise. "You never fancy changes. Mum said that was your charm."

He gives a nervous smile. "It's nothing, sweetheart."

"Oh, don't give me that load of bollocks!"

"Language, Luce."

"Sorry, Dad. But you've been acting... different," she insists. "Something's happened, hasn't it?"

"Maybe."

..

"So, you were married? Blimey," Penelope says, sipping her wine. "You never seemed like the marrying type."

"Why's that?" he asks, unsure whether he should be offended or not.

"You were always sort of married to your work. Even at Hogwarts, I felt like I was the mistress and your Head Boy duties were your true love. What changed?"

He picks at his food, stabbing the steak more than is called for. Audrey had said something similar, years ago when they had first started dating. Hearing it again brings a fresh wave of pain.

"Percy? Earth to Percy."

"I did. She crashed into my life. Said I was too stuffy and boring, and that I needed to live a little."

The corners of her lips tug into a smile. "Smart woman. What happened to her?"

"She died. Four years ago. A Muggle disease. Nothing the Healers could."

Silence hangs between them. He waits for the sympathy and apologies that are still all too common whenever he speaks of Audrey. Instead, Penelope just reaches out and takes his hand, fingers brushing gently over the knuckles.

..

"It's not my birthday," Percy says uncertainly, staring at his daughters who are waiting for him at the table, breakfast set before them. "So, what are you two doing here... together."

"Lucy says you've been acting strangely," Molly explains. "We were worried."

"Worried?"

"Dad, you're not... You're not dying, are you?" Lucy asks, earning a groan from her sister.

"Subtle. We agreed to be subtle, Luce. Not blunt," Molly grumbles.

"Why would you think I'm dying?"

"When Mum got sick, you acted weird. You tried to keep it a secret or whatever," Molly says, piling eggs onto a plate for him. "We weren't kids then, and we're not kids now. You can be honest with us."

"I'm not dying," Percy assures them.

Both women visibly relax.

"Then what's going on?"

Percy hesitates. He doesn't know how to tell them, how they might react. His own father had gone to his grave, never loving another woman after his mum had passed away. And here's Percy, a few years after his wife's death and seeing someone new.

What if they hate him for it? What if he is somehow dishonoring Audrey's memory? Or if they think he'd been seeing Penelope while Audrey was dying?

"Dad?"

"I've been seeing someone. An old friend. Well... we dated at Hogwarts, and... I'm sorry. We reconnected recently, and I- I'm sorry, girls."

He braces himself. Waits for them to yell at him, to get angry.

"Seeing someone?" Lucy asks quietly.

"Yes. I should have-"

"Dad, shut up," Molly cuts across. "Sorry. But shut up. This is good."

"It is?"

"Mum would have wanted you to be happy," Lucy says.

"You are happy, aren't you?" Molly adds, folding her arms over her chest and giving her father a piercing look that reminds Percy too much of his own mother.

"Yes."

"Good. Otherwise I might have to try out an Unforgiveable Curse."

"That's not funny, Mol," Percy says, though he can't hide his hint of a smile.

..

"Sometimes I wonder what things would have been like if I'd never left you," Percy admits as they walk along the beach.

Penelope shrugs. "I wonder what it would have been like if I'd stayed after the war. Then I remember that you can't change the past, and it's illogical to dwell on it."

"Spoken like a true Ravenclaw."

She smiles, and Percy finds himself thinking how beautiful she is, after all these years.

"If those things hadn't happened, I wouldn't have this," he says.

"What?"

"A second chance."