October 12, 1890 - Swallowbury District, Irvingly

In the months since Percy had first proposed Annabeth he had found some enjoyment in looking toward the future for the first time in a long time. Granted work had picked up pace so Percy hadn’t been able to see as much of his intended as he had hoped, but there were still evenings when he would host a small dinner for her, the Jennings siblings, and Cat.

After consulting with Annabeth Percy had purchased a home for him in Irvingly on the magical side, it was closer to the Goyles’ home than he would have liked, but it was also close to the Jennings. Short of building a new home it was as good as it was going to get. It was a modest house, nothing like the manor in Hogsmeade that Percy’s father had purchased. Nor was it as small as the house he had let before his father’s death. It was a respectable size and in his opinion perfect for the two of them to grow a family in. A good middle ground.

While he had not yet settled into the Irvingly home (the thought of running into Mrs. Goyle when out on an errand without Annabeth waiting at home for him was something he did not wish to risk) he had furnished the kitchen, dining room, and sitting room with under advisement from Annabeth so that she would feel like it was her home too. It also gave them a space to see each other more regularly. On nights when he hosted at the Irvingly House he brought his father’s staff, although he fully planned to allow Annabeth the right to pick her own staff once they were married.

This evening was to be a quiet evening between the two of them. Just Annabeth and her chaperon for supper with Cat to even the table out. Of course he should have known better than to expect a quiet evening with Cat involved.

An hour ago Cat had spun into the sitting room like a whirlwind a copy of that dreadful women’s rag in her hand. Percy had taken one look at the article and tossed it onto a side table with a grimace. While Cat liked Annabeth she did feel that Percy was being naive when it came to the difficulties of marrying a muggle, which she had taken the last hour to remind him of. By the time the housekeeper had managed to interrupt Cat Annabeth had been left out in the sitting room by herself for quite some time. “I’m just saying to be careful, Percy.” Cat implored him one last time. “I am.” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck, ready to be done with the conversation. Cat nodded then excused herself from the evening altogether.

Percy walked into the sitting room with a sheepish look on his face, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” He told Annabeth, only to see her reading the blasted article as well. He had hoped to spare her the worries of it by not mentioning it, but it seemed that wouldn’t be the case here.

  

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She watch her fiance's sister drag him around with a small chuckle as she sat tucked into the chair chatting with the maid who was acting as her chaperon that night. It would be nice when the girl was no longer needed, at least in this capacity, as it felt silly that she needed a chaperon for dinner but him walking her home from work was perfectly fine. She wasn't paying that much mind to the conversation though, rather most of her attention was on looking around the house she sat in. It felt weird to think of it as her house - or theirs - when they weren't yet married. But it showed why Percy was a good match for her, he thought of logical things like this. She wouldn't have had the foresight required to think of acquiring somewhere to live before they were married. It seemed just as silly though, to have a house and just let it sit and collect dust but for the occasional dinner.

It had been just under three months since Percy had proposed to her and for a little bit things were starting to feel normal again. And then everyone else - or at least everyone outside their immediate circle - had learned and suddenly she was starting to feel much like she imagined the butterflies pinned to a display board might feel if they were still alive. Watch and judged. She tried to keep how she was feeling to herself, the last thing she wanted to do was worry Percy or worse let him think she was regretting saying yes. He would do that, take her anxiety and manifest into something more. Typically, she liked the way Percy lived in a way that where if felt everything to the extremes, but she didn't want to give him another reason to stress. He was bound to hear far more of it than she had. He lived everyday in the wizarding world. She only say it in passing glimpses. To her muggle friends, she was doing nothing more than marrying a more obscure man who wasn't that prominent in the social light. A bit out of character but nothing dramatic.

She picked up the paper that Percy had so brazenly tossed aside. She'd wanted to ignore it, knowing it was none of her business what had prompted Percy and Mrs Smith's conversation but when he'd left the magazine right there and it had Percy's face plastered across the front, the cat was caught. She'd read most of the article by the time he'd come back in (and she'd promptly skipped the first article once she'd read the title, skipping to page four).

"You were on the cover," Anna offered softly, feeling his gaze upon the paper in her lap. She didn't look up to meet his gaze but instead kept her eyes glued to the gossip-rag. "I was curious what they had to say."

  

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thank you bee for the absolutely lovely set

One of the things that Percy loved about Annabeth was her curiosity, so of course he shouldn’t have been surprised that she would want to know what was being said about her fiance. He had hoped to spare her the stress of such an article, but the fact that she wouldn’t meet his gaze made him worried if her reaction was to the article or to the fact he’d caught her reading it. If she were worried about reading things lying around their house because she was a muggle…. Percy quite frankly couldn’t imagine inviting her into his world like this and then denying her the satisfaction of having her curiosity sated by anything in their home.

Percy sighed at her words, running his hand across the back of his neck. “Usually nothing good.” He admitted, sitting down in a chair next to her to hide his growing anxiousness. There was nothing to be done but to explain the bloody magazine didn’t have a lick of truth to it. “Witch Weekly typically only prints gossip, ill researched at that. I wouldn’t pay any mind to it.” He tried not to even though the gossip rag had now featured three cover articles regarding him as Cat had just pointed out this evening. “A few months back they even wrote that I might be a werewolf.” He tried to chuckle, but it came out a little strangled.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

He didn't seem upset she'd been caught reading whatever had stirred up the conversation between himself and Cat, but now she was more worried not so much that she'd been caught being nosy but that now there was no way not to have the conversation they'd both been dancing around for the past few months. The one she tried to have when he asked her to marry him that he'd brushed off as not a big deal. Would he still feel the same now that he'd seen what his type actually felt like rather than just been told?

Shifting, she turned towards him, finally looking. "We have those as well, muggles I mean. I know not to trust them. But still, they only parrot what everyone else is already saying. I may not be one of you but I still hear things, especially at school. At lot of the mom's talk. It is kind of silly. Especially from some of the pureblood families. They treated me just fine before, but now that I'm marrying you they want nothing to do with me. You'd think it would be the other way around. They'd feel more free to talk to me. But I'm not worried about me, Percy, I'm worried about you. I've dealt with this my whole life - you haven't."

She froze for a second at one he said next, head cocked. Then she leaned back, away from him. "You aren't are you?" Annabeth questioned, her nose wrinkled up. She sat that way for just a second, but as he started to react, laughter burst forwards and her face broke into a grin. "I'm only messing with you Percy, besides, it wouldn't matter either way if you were."

  

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thank you bee for the absolutely lovely set

Annabeth might have approached the subject of the mothers casually, but the mere mention made Percy's mouth narrow into an even tighter frown. He had never much cared for gossip about himself (after all he'd done nothing in life to actually deserve it) but to know that it was impacting Annabeth made him worry. Perhaps he should have listened to Annabeth and Cat after all. Annabeth was quick assure him she took nothing from it, but it did little to quell his own concerns about how she felt. Was this the same worry Magg - Mrs. Goyle had once felt over their proposed relationship.

Thinking of those days, not altogether as distant as he hoped they were, reminded him that Annabeth had just as much a say in this as he did. If she said she was alright with the gossip he would not tell her she was not. Would not part from her unless she wanted that. Having been told what was best for him had been the heartbreak of a lifetime, Percy didn't intend to make this another heartbreak. "Annabeth," Percy started, looking into her eyes, "If you aren't worried I'm not either. People talk." He shrugged. "What they say doesn't change my feelings about you. I hope it has not changed your feelings for me?" He had to be sure, had to allow her the chance to say she wasn't alright.

She was cute when her nose wrinkled like that, Percy noted, almost chuckling had he not found himself terribly concerned that she might believe he actually was. Only to have his concern answered by laugher. He gave her a tight smile, "No, I'm not. Although if I were it should matter a great deal to you." Muggle or not she had to know the type of danger he would put her in if that were the case.

  

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Her grin broaded when he seemed unphased by her joke. She certainly hoped he wasn't becoming immune to her teasing. That would make their relationship far less fun. "I know you would do everything in your power to make sure you didn't hurt me. I don't question that."

"I mean what I said, Percy," Annabeth started slowly, shifting forwards in her seat to peer at him. She could see what she said had bothered him. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned it. Like she feared, he was going to worry over things he couldn't change. "My mind is not going to be changed over something I've experienced nearly as long as I can remember. I wasn't even two when my first brother went to Hogwarts. You on the other hand, you grew up knowing your place in the world you wanted to be in. I grew up hoping I would be like my siblings. Magical, special. Able to summon light at the flick of a little wooden stick."

"But I wasn't. And that world actively rejects me. But you've always been accepted here. I've lived through almost fifteen years of this. You've seen two months of this, and you are getting a taste of what you are are going to get well for the rest of your life. I just want to make sure you know what you are going to get into. That it isn't changing your mind. If you aren't a hundred percent sure that this life won't chip away at you slowly, then call it off Percy. I like you but I will not be the shackles to a life that makes you miserable. I just want you to have that knowledge."

  

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thank you bee for the absolutely lovely set

She definitely should question him about that, Percy determined stubbornly. But seeing as Percy wasn't a werewolf there was little point in continuing to press such concerns on her.

Instead he focused on her words, the seriousness of them enough to overshadow any werewolf concerns he might have had. He understood what Annabeth was saying, what Cat was saying. But he had made his mind up. Perhaps rashly, but he had. While the love he had for Annabeth had been unexpected, had crept up on him, he could not shake it and he would not give it up merely because society said he should. Or because she said he should. Her words echoed too close to Magg - Mrs. Goyle's. Cutting to the quick enough to tighten the line of his mouth.

He took a breathe before he started, feeling warmth building in his cheeks as he did so. "Thank you." He acknowledged letting out his breath along with the words. "But I don't believe you will shackle me." Percy added quickly. He looked down at his hands for a moment considering just how to frame his next words.

"When I graduated from Hogwarts I moved to London on my own, away from my family and this world." He gestured around them, glancing at her before looking back at his hands resting on his legs. "When the muggles discovered us my father uprooted the family and moved to Hogsmeade. My mother begged me to join them. I refused. I've never regretted that choice." Percy looked up at her grey eyes. "I didn't care about the solitude or not being in a magical community, I didn't care about the rumors. I never have." Swallowing Percy realized the words he was about to say before they continued on and found his gaze fixed back on his hands. "I've never really felt I belonged." Something that Cat and Lissy had never quite understood nor had he enlightened them on the matter. He cleared his throat forcing his gaze to meet her own. "So I don't think I shall feel shackled by the one thing had makes me feel I do." For an English man he was being awfully sentimental.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

"I do not want to shake you, Percy. Why would I want to chase the man I love away?" She wasn't sure she'd ever actually said that out right before. Implied,  yes. Said, no. She'd have preferred a far more romantic conversation than the one they were having but the meaning was the same and it served a point. There were worse ways to tell someone you loved them. "There is a difference between shaking and just wanting you to know fully well what you are getting into."

She reached out, placing her hands over his. A soft physical assurance of what she'd said. "Thank you for telling me how you feel. I am glad I can make you feel as if you belong somewhere." How silly is it that my knight in shinning armor feels so about the world I've spent my whole life chasing after.

  

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thank you bee for the absolutely lovely set

The man she loved. That caught Percy’s attention and his eyes snapped to her own. For so long he had believed himself unloved, first with Maggie, then with Elsie. Then Maggie had walked into his life again and had flipped the last twelve years of his life upside down. Only it had been doomed from the start, he saw that now, saw that their love could not sustain them. He had never thought to find another woman who loved him, who hadn’t chosen him because of feelings that perhaps would one day grow to love. He had hoped it was love that Annabeth had felt, but until now, with her concerns over what their life would be like, he hadn’t truly known if it was love, or the practical choice and a mutual fondness she had felt. He smiled at her, feeling some of the cobwebs that had grown in his soul brushed aside by her brightness and surety.

“I know.” He agreed, refraining from any further comments when he felt the warmth of her hands on his.

Percy curled his hands around hers as she spoke, giving her a sheepish smile. “That is why I’m not worried about what they say. Feeling this way, to me, is worth the trials that may come. I am not walking into this blind, nor am I walking into this alone.” He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “If this is what you want, regardless of the troubles that may come, then I think we should give it a chance.” He could feel the blush blooming on his cheeks and his ears, but he ignored it, a feeling of determination had filled him when she spoke of love. He had not thought to find it again, but here Annabeth was, lightening his soul and showing him the way once again.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Sometimes it felt like talking to Percy was like talking to a brick wall. She'd just said she loved him. Just said that her mind wasn't going to change. But then again, she supposed she was starting to sound like a broken clock repeating the same worry over and over. "Of course I want this, Percy. Of course I want us." Even if this time last year, she hadn't even known Mr. Adlard, now sitting here, she couldn't imagine this any other way. Not when he got that look on his face when she had said she loved him.

"You know me well enough by now to know I wouldn't be here if I didn't want this. That would be unfair to us both." Not when he so clearly loved someone else before her. He hadn't needed to tell her that he had, she could see it. She could see in the times they met before when they were just friends and she could tell by the defeated way he always seemed to expect her to leave at any time. "I want this and I am not going to leave even if it takes a million chances."

  

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thank you bee for the absolutely lovely set

The side’s of Percy’s mouth (so frequently creased into a frown) turned upward. “Then we’ll show them all how wrong they are.” He determined giving her hands one last squeeze. They may think him naive, but when it came to love wasn’t everyone?

Percy stood up, his face lightening slightly as he walked over to the sideboard to make himself a drink. “Now that that’s settled,” Percy started, turning back to face her with two glasses of wine in his hand. He cleared his throat feeling slightly nervous as he addressed what else was bothering in what he hoped was a light tone. “I won’t have you feeling guilty for reading something in your own house.” It certainly wouldn’t do for her to have that guilt ridden expression every time he came into a room and she had so much as a book open in her lap. “You are curious and it would be unfair of me to invite you to share in this life and not expect you to look at what is around you.” Thank Merlin the words weren’t tripping over his lips. “This,” He gestured at the room around them, “Is yours too. Please don’t apologize again for ....” Percy found he was unsure exactly how to phrase it, “Looking into things.” And there had been trying to be such a gentleman with how he addressed the matter only to stumble with his words at the end. Attempting to cover up the awkwardness he handed Annabeth her glass of wine.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

"No one will doubt us," Annabeth agreed, her tone now cheerful. Getting Percy out of the rut he worked himself into wasn't always the easiest conversation, not when he tended to be so determined to self-sacrifice. Even if she put him in the rut like she had this time. Regardless, she'd rather they had this conversation now than after the wedding. After the wedding there was far less they could do about a different answer than Percy had given than they could now. She stood, after he took back his hand, following behind Percy as he made his way to the drink cart. She'd meant to pour her own drink after he finished pouring his own, but then he started to reach for a second glass and started to speak again.

"It wasn't worried about that, not reading it." Annabeth shook her head, a few strands of hair coming loose from their pins. "Reading in general, I mean. If you leave something I know you don't mind if I look. I guess I was just embarrassed. You and your sister were arguing - what about clearly had something to do with this -" she gestured loosely to the magazine that had been discarded on the couches behind them. "When I looked, it was pretty obvious that I was the source of that argument. I don't want to come between you and your family, I can tell you care greatly for them. I guess I just don't want you to think I don't respect your privacy or your relationship with your sister."

She took the wine, looking a little sheepish, glad for something to do with her hands, and took a sip, sort of wanting to just tip the whole glass back, but not really wanting to concern Percy either. On top of all of that, she wasn't entirely sure that Percy's sister even actually liked her, even if she'd accepted the dinner invitation. But they'd never really gotten the chance to know each other either, she supposed.

  

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thank you bee for the absolutely lovely set

Percy's face softened as Annabeth explained, her sweetness surrounding each word and sentence with the reminder of why he loved her, of why his heart had healed so quickly. Somedays he woke up wondering if he had moved too fast, if he hadn't pressed Maggie enough, or if he ought to have asked Annabeth to court rather than dive right into an engagement. But the friendship that had formed first, the kindness and thoughtfulness she'd always had, her natural curiosity and her ability to make him laugh, it had only seemed natural to take the steps he had.

He set his glass aside and claimed Annabeth's slender hand between his own, meeting her gaze with his own. "I am sorry to have placed you in that position." He told her sincerely, he'd need to mention it to Cat the next time he saw her. Set some ground rules for her. In the years past there had never been anyone in the house he ought to have worried over hearing Cat and Lissy's outbursts, but now there was Annabeth to consider and he wouldn't have her feeling uncomfortable in the house that would become her own home. "Catherine has always been....protective." Percy admitted as he let go of Annabeth's hand and took his own wine glass back up with a shake of his head as if trying to think of a way to explain it so Annabeth might feel more at ease. Failing, he looked at her with a smile, "Shall we go in to supper?" He could hear the footsteps of the housekeeper headed their way to inform them the meal was ready.

  

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