InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "They're coming to take me away"

Percy Ignatius Weasley (youngestmformev) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2012-01-12 20:56:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: november 11 2003, character: ernie macmillan, character: hermione granger, character: percy weasley

Who: Percy, Hermione, and Ernie
What: Smoothing along Hermione's transfer
Where: Percy's office, Ministry of Magic
When: November 11, 11:15 AM
Rating: PGish

Percy could respect taking one's work seriously. He could respect a person who appreciated the meaning of hard work, and would give his or her all to it. He could respect a person whose duty involved protecting the many magical persons in society from a grave threat.

That didn't mean he had to like said person being his bloody shadow all day long.

Not only did Percy not believe he needed any sort of 'babysitting', but he had work to do, work that was difficult when there was someone in his office who was always bloody well there. Percy tried to give Ernest Macmillan space to do his job, but bristled easily despite himself. Perhaps he was still emotional after yesterday's ordeal, but there were time he only just managed not to dump an ink pot over the bloke's head.

Thankfully, his musings of near-homicide were interrupted by his secretary's announcement of a visitor. He stood up as the door opened to admit Hermione, whom he had expected.

"Good morning, Hermione. I hope you are well," he said politely and diplomatically, his voice not letting on that he himself had been far from well for many days now.

(Post a new comment)

hermoniny
2012-01-13 02:57 am UTC (link)

Hermione had easily talked her way out of work for about an hours time. Simply saying "I have a meeting with the undersecretary" did wonders to get her out of the office. She felt a little guilty though, as this transfer thing was so sudden, and only her boss was aware of it happening, as he'd had to sign the transfer request. He'd been understanding though, and had even seemed to be expecting it. In the last few years, he'd gotten to know her well enough to know she had to jump into the middle of a problem and not sit back and let someone else solve it. Still, she would miss her department, she really enjoyed working there.

When she reached Percy's office, she spoke to the secretary, who informed him she was there. When he opened the door, she smiled. "Hello Percy, I'm doing well, and yourself?" She gave him a concerned look, knowing now that he'd been keeping the dreams from all of them. She felt the slight weight in her pocket where the vial of the dreamless potion sat that Michael had sent to her. She had a good feeling he wouldn't use it, but at the same time she wanted to try. "I really appreciate you taking the time to see me, any help you can give would be wonderful."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

youngestmformev
2012-01-13 03:08 am UTC (link)

"I'm as well as can be," he said simply, as it was the most honest he would be willing to get in front of an audience. "I believe you said you knew Mr. Macmillan," he motioned off to the side where the hit-wizard had been sitting all morning.

He motioned to the spare seat across from his desk and moved to sit down himself, reaching for a folder he had taken out earlier for the purposes of meeting with her. "It's my pleasure to help, Hermione. Friends and family don't often find the need to avail themselves of my services, but when they do, I am always pleased to help."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

hermoniny
2012-01-13 03:48 am UTC (link)

Hermione followed him into hisnoffice, offering Ernie a small wave as he came into sight. "Yes I do, hello Ernie, nice to see you," she said. Of course seeing him reminded her of the last time she had, when Ron had punched him at the meeting. She still felt bad for that, whether it was her fault or not, she felt like she'd played a part in it by not telling Ron earlier what her plans were. Badly handledon her part.

She sat down in the chair he'd motioned towards and noticed the file he picked up, not sure what it was. And his words, while she believed them, were a little surprising. He'd never made it terribly obvious that those were his intentions, but she was glad they were. "So what have I to do in order to speed this process up?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

youngestmformev
2012-01-13 03:59 am UTC (link)

What Percy hadn't told Hermione was that he rarely made the offer to his family, knowing they either didn't require it, or would simply assume any offer of help would be his way of 'lording his job over them' or some such shite. Not to mention the fact that his personal career ambitions, having been a factor in the break with the family years ago, was still a rather touchy subject with his family. Often, it was safer to simply not speak of things.

"I've a form here for you to fill out," he said, handing her a piece of parchment, then handing her his spare quill (as nobody used his quill). "It is a specialized form for expedited staffing transfers. Only select individuals in the Minsitry have the authority to utilize them, including myself on the Minister's behalf. Once completed and signed, I will send it to the staffing office along with a memo that this is to be addressed immediately. I believe you should have a response tomorrow."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

hermoniny
2012-01-13 04:24 am UTC (link)

"Brilliant," she said, accepting the form and quill from him and filling it out quickly. It was fairly simple, and didn't take her long to finish. She handed it back across the desk to Percy, and while she was sure he expected that to be the last of things, she had one more thing to talk to him about. She glanced back at Ernie before continuing.

Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled the vial out, placing it carefully on his desk before saying anything. "I wanted to talk to you about one more thing. I know that things have been... Difficult as of late for you," she refrained from actually mentioning the dreams with Ernie right there, but he would know that Percy was having them after seeing the vial, if he wasn't already aware of it. "You may remember Michael Corner? He's a rather talented potions maker, and he cooked this up to try and help with the dreams. Anyways he's been giving them out to people to try, and I thought you might want one as well." Before he could refuse it, because she was fairly certain he would, she pressed on. "Look I understand if you're reluctant to try it, but once I hear about how it works for others, and it works well, I'll let you know."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

youngestmformev
2012-01-13 04:30 am UTC (link)

Percy stiffened immediately at the mention of his 'difficulties'. It also reminded him of his weakness at the Burrow on Sunday, in front of her and his brothers no less, and he couldn't help a momentary flash of shame at the memory.

Therefore, instead of looking at her and allowing her to see how uncomfortable he was at talking about something so personal, he looked at the bottle, almost as if it were a snake about to bite him.

"I presume this Mister Corner does not work for the Ministry Research and Development, and that this potion has been neither tested nor officially approved for consumption?"

He didn't want to be rude, however he couldn't count the number of times over the years he'd been given something 'to try' by the twins. Percy was a man who learned from his mistakes.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

hermoniny
2012-01-13 04:41 am UTC (link)

Hermione expected the reaction, and was prepared for it. "No he doesn't, he's just trying to help people, which is why I offered to let you know how it works before you take it yourself. If it does work, wouldn't that be better than the nightmares? Even if it isn't officially approved by the Ministry? Some of the greatest potions in history were discovered and used long before any official approval was given them. I'm just worried about you, Percy, and clearly your family is as well," she nodded towards Ernie, as if to remind him what Ron had set up for him.

"Just don't rule it out completely, please. You and your family, well, you're all pretty much all I have these days, I don't want to lose any of you." She might not be a Weasley by blood, but they had always felt like close family to her, and that included him whether he liked it or not.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ernsthename
2012-01-13 05:24 am UTC (link)

Ern nodded back in response to Hermione's words. He wondered what would've been worse, continuing to remain assigned to supervise the case where he was sure he almost lost it, or to ask to be reassigned for the time being. He wasn't particularly fond of surveillance duties, but took them in stride, managing to word some of the paperwork on his desk done mentally and to figure out what will bed for lunch and supper every evening for the next two weeks. It had managed to take away from the feeling that hung in the air that just told Ern that he wasn't really really wanted right here, right now. He didn't bother to ask the Senior Undersecretary why he didn't care to be protected as it was pretty much his job to shut up and leave the man alone. And to survey the area both physically and magically about every half hour. It still wasn't a particularly stimulating day until Hermione dropped by at least. He tried his best to just not interfere with the quite personal nature of the conversation, but observed enough of it to know what was going on.

"With all due respect, Senior Undersecretary, your safety is of utmost importance--it would be an awful loss to the Ministry should something happen to you." These were his first words of his in the past couple of hours. While at work he couldn't shake the formality, even with Hermione present. "If you are concerned about potential side-effects affecting your work, perhaps it would be wise to take it over the weekend. I think the lack of sleep can be just as dangerous, if not worse than what may happen. Knowing Mr. Corner, he would at the very least be aware of ingredients that would be toxic in combination."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

youngestmformev
2012-01-13 03:27 pm UTC (link)

Was it better than having the nightmares? Perhaps it was, but how could he explain to Hermione how in many ways, he felt the nightmares were the penance he must pay for the past? A cold shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the dream he'd had that night, a remembrance of the lives extinguished because of him. No, he didn't deserve to have his nightmares taken away. This, however, could not be properly explained to his audience.

"That is an excellent idea," Percy complimented Macmillan's logic. I will keep it under advisement. If none of the other volunteers show ill side effect, I will attempt it this weekend." Or not, but they need not know that.

"I don't believe I've ever met this Mister Corner. I hope he and his work are worthy of the regard you both place in him."

Something tickled in the back of his mind as he thought of their names. Granger, Macmillan, Corner... There was a link between them, and that link was somewhere in his filing cabinet. Not in his own personal files, he would have known had that been the case, but in the files he'd 'inherited' from the previous Senior Undersecretaries. Perhaps those of... Dolores Umbridge, that was it. He would look them up later, if only to gain some insight on this individual who was brewing up potions.

(Reply to this) (Parent)