Who: Percy Weasley - Oliver Wood When: Tuesday, February 15, evening Where: The Ministry of Magic What: Oliver is brought in to be branded, which proves to be Percy's breaking point Rating: PG-13 Status: Complete log
The memo was sent just before Percy was scheduled to leave work that he was needed to return, later in the evening. Without reading the rest, he immediately knew what for, and Percy’s heart sank. Another round of suspects and another grueling night of brandings. He tried to think of it as nothing more than an inconvenience, but his conscience knew better. Taking up his position in the room, Percy was grateful that there were not many folders on the desk, this time around. The Minister was seething with rage after the bomb blew up his house the night before, and Percy supposed bringing in more people to be identified as Suspected Traitors was his way of regaining control of the situation. The brazier where the brands would be heated was magically being lit, and the Auror tending it greeted Percy with a curt nod of his head. It was just another day at the Ministry.
Oliver was trying to stay calm. It was incredibly difficult. The problem was that he had felt perpetually caught off guard by this entire experience. He had suspected that his status would eventually be bumped up, but he hadn’t thought it would be because he had decided to walk a girl home; there seemed something intrinsically offsetting about that.
Of course, he had been brought in for questioning and he hadn’t known how that had gone, although he had felt a sense of foreboding that entire time. But they had let him go. He hadn’t known what that meant. He had thought that he might be safe for the time being. He had hoped he would be, because now they knew he was with Jonathan and it was too late for Jonathan to easily leave. He could. But that didn’t mean the Ministry wouldn’t know that they had been together.
None of it mattered now though; he was so stressed. He didn’t think he’d ever been so stressed. Somehow, they had decided to bump his status up. He knew it hadn’t been good when they had arrived at his house again. The only thing he could do was be grateful that Jonathan hadn’t been at home either of the times they had picked him up.
Now, he was sitting and waiting. He was trying to remember how to breathe. He wasn’t going to fight. That would only make matters worse, wouldn’t it?
The recently branded witch was being escorted out, limp and heaving sobs that were so heart-rending that Percy couldn’t bear to hear them. The Aurors seemed callous to the suffering while Percy put on a good show.
Though his back was momentarily turned, Percy could hear the next Suspected Traitor being brought in and shoved into the chair, where his arms and feet would be magically restrained. He picked up the folder and flipped it open, but the moment his eyes rested upon the name at the top of the paper, he froze. Percy looked up and grew pale at the sight of Oliver sitting in the chair. It was inevitable that somebody he knew would be brought in to be branded. Percy knew the chances were becoming more likely, but denial kept him in a state of illusion that allowed him to mechanically go through the horrific routine. Gaping, the initial shock left him befuddled and confused.
It wasn’t hard to recognize Percy. Oliver watched as they bound him up; his arms tensed in an automatic sort of way. But when he looked back up, the first thing he saw was the shock of red hair. It wasn’t hard to figure out who it belonged to it. He looked briefly over at Percy before looking quickly away again.
He was wary of actually making eye contact; he was afraid that he had given too much away just from looking over in Percy’s direction in the first place. He wasn’t sure what his expression or reaction had been. He knew now that he wasn’t going to be able to look at Percy at all, so, instead, he looked devotedly down at his left arm, figuring it was good to focus on. The sleeve of his shirt had already been rolled up.
There was a standard procedure that took place, and Percy’s role was to call out the name of the Suspected Traitor as well as their relevant information. It was like clockwork, and everybody did their part. So when Percy didn’t, the two Aurors in the room looked at him with both curiosity and annoyance. What the hell was going on? Why wasn’t he doing his job? It was late and this was their last person, let’s get it over with and go home.
A tight knot twisted in Percy’s stomach and he thought he would vomit, but he kept his lips tightly sealed. There was no way he could go on with this, he thought. Oliver was his best mate at Hogwarts, they shared a room together for years. By continuing the procedure, he would essentially be condoning this action against one of his oldest and dearest friends. His first impulse was to pull his wand to release Oliver and get them the hell out of there, but he knew that if the Aurors didn’t overpower them in the room, there would have even more stationed at the other side of both door. The odds were definitely not in their favor, at least for that route. The likelihood that they’d be arrested or possibly even killed while trying to escape was frighteningly high.
It was then when he realized that the Aurors were staring and waiting for him. Percy glanced nervously from side to side, shameful of what the was doing in a way that he hadn’t exhibited before. When he finally spoke, his throat was dry and his voice cracked.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Whether he was saying this to the Aurors or to Oliver, it was unclear, though it was actually addressed to both. Percy set the folder down upon the table and in a stiff manner, trying very hard to remain composed, he left the room without another word to anybody.
Oliver continued to look down until the silence became almost overwhelming. Only then did he look up, because he was just as confused as the Aurors as to what was supposed to be happening. He followed their gaze over to Percy; he looked rather unwell and the Aurors were looking at him quite strangely. Oliver wondered what it was Percy was supposed to be doing.
He wondered what Percy was actually going to do this time; the idea that Percy was going to decide to act out did nothing for his nerves at the moment. While he had to confess that he didn’t much like the idea of Percy being under the thumb of the Ministry again, he didn’t know if now was really the best time for Percy to decide to mount a personal rebellion, if only because it was reacting on instinct instead of intelligence. He knew he was hardly one to talk, because he did everything on instinct, but Percy was hardly like that.
He watched in silent surprise as Percy departed from the room. It took the Aurors an additional moment to regain themselves as well. After an instant, however, one of them cleared his throat and reached for the files that Percy had left behind.