Work Text:
‘Hello everyone! I’m Arthur Weasley, I’ve been appointed as interim Minister for the next two years.’ Arthur smiled towards the room, consciously trying to not channel his inner Cornelius Fudge.
No one spoke. The room was filled with thirty employees, much too few, only the ones that really couldn’t afford to quit their jobs. ‘Hello, Minister,’ a man murmured from the back. Arthur nodded, cautious, towards the employees.
He walked awkwardly out of the middle of the room, to the large office that was his. The Minister's office. He tentatively called in an employee, Samuel, who was supposed to be trusted.
‘Hello. You’re Samuel Brains?’ he asked, shuffling through papers on his desk. He looked up, eyes wide.
‘Yes, that’s me,’ the man said softly.
‘I have something I’m going to need you to do, if that’s alright. I’m going to be weeding out the corruption in the Ministry, at least that’s the plan. Will you be the head of the committee?’ Samuel looked taken aback at the request. He slowly nodded, exiting the room quickly.
Arthur frowned. That was odd. Why would he be so skittish? Perhaps this man wasn’t the best for the job. There weren’t many people who had showed up every day though. Samuel might be the only one of the handful of people with clearance high enough to actually know what was happening in the Ministry.
He was making excuses, thinking up worries and other things to distract his mind. Truthfully, Atrthur was petrified. He was going to be a terrible Minister. There were too many things that he didn’t know, too few people that did know something, anything, and he could feel his heart beating wildly.
He was going to fail all of those people out there. He hovered in front of the windows, looking out at the employees. The few of them that were up and talking to one another were tucked into a corner, holding papers that shielded their faces. This Ministry was nothing like he’d left it.
His moments of fear were tempered by the presence of other people. He called together all the Departments to the Atrium. They were terribly disorganized, with no one stepping up. ‘Hello, everyone! It’s me again. I’ve been told that the Departments are all going to need new leadership, and I’m afraid that I haven’t been here during the Ministry’s bad times. I’d like each Department to come together and submit a proposal of changes you’re going to need to make, on my desk by the end of the week.’ He looked hopefully out at the nervous crowd, desiring something more than pale faces that seemed scarred.
Was that what Percy had looked like? Arthur hadn’t bothered to see, guilt and shame providing a perfect cover to dismiss. ‘Yes, sir,’ a woman near the front said. The remainder of the Ministry, about 300 people, nothing compared to the thousand that had been employed while he was a part of the waiting crowd, scattered. He blinked twice, and after a moment, there was no one left. It was as if they’d vanished.
He returned to his office, to find two requests on his desk. One was for a raise, and the other was a question about how he would use his office hours.
Arthur didn’t know the answer to the two measly questions on his desk. How was he to run a Ministry? He didn’t know what to do, not at all. Hesitantly, he approached the Floo, sticking his head in. ‘Molly?’ he asked into the silence of the Burrow.
He was met with the dull eyes of his wife. ‘Yes, Arthur? How’s the first day going?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘Oh, Molly Wobbles, it’s terrible. Barely anyone is here, the employees are petrified, and I don’t know what to do. Can you send the boys over?’
She paused, and he saw her dusting her apron. ‘Boys! Come in here!’ she called, distantly, before returning to the floo. ‘They’re coming through, even Charlie,’ she said. ‘Take care of yourself, Arthur, will you?’
He nodded, backing away from the Floo in relief. His family was coming. He could get things done, he could take care of the Ministry. His family would help him. He rubbed at his eyes, sitting back on the desk. It was hard, dealing with this. No worse than he’d expected, but still difficult in ways he hadn’t imagined.
The end of the week came, and with it came leadership. Charlie and Bill had offered to take control of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures after Umbridge had torn it apart, and Fred and George were settling in nicely as his aides in the support staff and assisting with Magical Accidents and Catastrophes while Molly helped run their shop.
Hermione was getting started on the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with the help of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Ron and Harry. The most intact Departments were the International and Transportation Departments. Arthur could only be glad they’d held strong.
Then the proposals landed on his desk. ‘Fred, George?’ he called, frowning at the documents in front of him.
‘Yes, Dad?’ George asked, popping his head in. Fred followed suit.
‘These say… these say that there aren’t any changes needed in the organization of the Department. Almost all of these say that,’ he said anxiously.
Fred sat across from him, flipping through the documents. ‘Well, the problem is the employees, isn’t it? Every single one of these Departments has put in a request for almost fifty more employees, and the power and organizational structure is going to have to come from the ground up. There can’t be a new organizational structure because the Ministry is going to be rebuilt and the people there are going to know what to do.’ Arthur nodded in relief.
‘Yes, that makes sense,’ he muttered, pulling the papers closer and settling in for another day of work. Fred patted him on the back as he left, a tiny comfort against the mounting wave of overwhelmed fear that was approaching the calm of Arthur’s office.
Percy put on his best robes. He put on his shoes that clicked when he walked, long abandoned during the dark days of the Ministry when he needed quiet, obsequious Percy to fill his clicking shoes and keep him safe.
‘Percy? Where are you going?’ Audrey asked him, curled up on the couch with a book. Her hair was tied back, the riotous, curly black coming out from the back. He had moved back in once he’d gotten fired, and though he was loathe to admit it, it was better to be around her again than alone. He would have done something stupid, otherwise.
He straightened, rummaging through his closet for a case. ‘I need my job back,’ he said. Straightforward, for once, when he was really determined.
‘You were fired,’ she said, appearing behind him and passing him his umbrella.
Percy sighed, tapping his fingers on the tile counter. ‘I know. God, I’m stupid. I’m so fucking stupid, but I need to help. You remember, don’t you?’ he asked, accusing.
She glowered. ‘I was there, Percy. For all of it. But you can’t just walk in and start working again, or take control. Doing this will get you nowhere,’ she said.
‘How blunt,’ he said dryly, before steering around her and walking out the door. She still had two hours before she had to get to work in her new job as an architect. She’d been busy lately, of course, now that the war was done.
‘I worked at the Ministry, too, Percy. I know what it is. I was there. But now that your father is in charge, that’s changing,’ she said, leading him into the living room.
He sighed. ‘Exactly. The Ministry is changing, the entire Wizarding World is changing, and I know how to change it. I know what to do, Audrey! What we do now is going to impact generations, and my father is going to be keeping his head above water,’ he said, standing again.
Audrey paused, stepping back to let him through. ‘Never mind, you’re right. You’re right for once, Percy. This is what you do, isn’t it? I guess it’s just hard to not think about it like the war anymore. You know what happened back then,’ she said, kissing him on the cheek as he left.
He turned around. ‘Yes, I do. But you don’t need to worry now, Audrey! I’ll see you after work, hopefully,’ he said, lifting his briefcase up and leaning his head back so that his glasses fell down his nose. She laughed at the sight.
‘Goodbye, Perce!’ she shouted after him.
In the Atrium, he went back to shadow Percy on instinct. It was just as deserted as it was during the war, each tile covering the walls and floor coated in shine instead of the usual dust that came from the morning commute. During the war, he’d stayed late enough that the house elves who did the cleaning knew him by name.
He jumped when he heard someone arriving from the floo behind him. He turned around, meeting the girl’s eyes. ‘Penny!’ he said, scrambling to drop his briefcase and rush into her for a hug. She squeezed him back.
‘Oh, Percy! I didn’t know what had happened to you! I checked your flat, but it was empty, and so was Oliver’s. I was afraid that you had… that you had died,’ she said, hushed. He drew back from the solemn words, clenching his hands into fists.
He shook his head for far too long as they fell into step beside each other. ‘No, Penny,’ he said carefully, ‘I’m just fine right now. I was fired, actually. The new regime thought I was corrupt.’
He laughed, dry and sharp, as she dug her fingers into his hand. ‘Your family is shit,’ she hissed, pulling him into the lift.
‘Well, I’ve always known that. A benefit of being the black sheep, I suppose.’ He pressed the button for level two.
She was ramrod straight, glaring darkly at the shadowy corners of the lift. ‘We need you. All the Departments thought that you were coming back, they really did. It isn’t the same without you here. Everyone’s more scared than usual.’ She said it matter of fact, but there were trembles in her voice and along her hands.
He tensed. ‘Oh,’ he said. Ineloquent as always, he didn’t say anything else.
Penny filled the silence. ‘I’ve been lost. Oliver quit so that he could go rejoin his Quidditch team, you know that Audrey’s become an architect after her breakdown. I’m the only one of us four that’s left, we aren’t even in the house anymore,’ she said tightly.
He brushed his shoulder with hers. ‘I actually moved back in. I’m sure that Audrey would like you back if you wanted to move in again,’ he said lightly.
She gasped. ‘Really? I’ve been so lonely,’ she sighed.
He grinned. ‘We’d like to have you back. I think Audrey’s doing a bit better, at least I hope she is.’ he grew worried. ‘I’ve been self centred.’
Penny shrugged carelessly. ‘She’s whatever. She ran off, she thought she could take care of herself.’
Penny was bitter, of course she was. Percy led her out of the elevator. ‘She still needs us, she just can’t deal with the Ministry. We know what happened to Audrey, we should understand.’
Penny shook her head, keeping her head firmly up. ‘I don’t care. She abandoned us, Percy, and kicked us out, and I miss her, of course, but it isn’t going to make it better. She just isn’t strong enough.’
Percy stepped away, unlinking their arms. ‘You can’t say things like that, Penny. She’s dealing with it, and just because we were all broken doesn’t mean that she, since she broke worse, or something, it doesn’t mean we’re better. I’m still terrified of coming here,’ he whispered furiously.
Penny didn’t show an ounce of chagrin. Instead, she shot a vicious look at him. ‘We shouldn’t talk about this anymore. I really, really don’t want to fight.’ Her voice cracked as they slipped into an alcove, just like during the war.
He shook his head, as tired as a summer storm that left five minutes of rain. ‘We won’t fight.’ He paused. ‘Is there anything that she can do?’
Penny shook her head. ‘I don’t… no. There isn’t anything yet. Did I tell you? The Department of Transportation’s made me the Head officially. I’m not ready for it, of course not.’ She leaned her head against his shoulder.
‘I think you’ll be fine. There’s not much that we can’t take after the world threw it all at us,’ Percy said quietly. There was a sudden feeling of darkness in the air, like all the lights had gone out.
She shook it off, and pulled him into the hallway, traversing the rooms with a familiarity lent by the dark, when it was night and black and they couldn’t bump into things. The Minister’s office, at least, seemed to be similar. He wouldn’t put it past his father to change it into a sort of wonderland of bureaucracy.
He smiled fondly at the thought, stopping abruptly in front of the doors to the Minister’s office. Where he had been fired only a week ago. ‘Why don’t we go in?’ he asked, opening the door for her.
Inside, there were a few employees sitting in clumps around desks, and the rest of them writing reports of some type, cauldron thickness perhaps. He recognized the web they’d set up this time, most of the girls clustered around one man’s desk and the rest of the boys sitting in seats away from the door into the office.
He blinked, his breath carried away by the remembrance he had. He had designed these floor plans, the webs that kept them safe and intact. He could recognize the two new employees, not by the absence of any weight carried through the war, but because they weren’t protecting themselves. He swallowed through a dry throat, and Melody looked up, blue eyes dulled and terrified.
‘Percy?’ she asked, drawing the attention of the others that had worked during the war. ‘You’re back,’ she said in relief.
He nodded, looking around the rest of the office. ‘Yeah, Melody, I’m here again.’ She furtively pulled him down into the throng of women to sit next to her.
‘We’ve needed you,’ she said bluntly.
One of the other girls, Samantha, nodded quickly. ‘I’ve no idea what to do. The Minister’s been assigning work, and he keeps calling us into his office. I panic every time, Percy. Where were you?’
He held his head up high, Penny already gliding away to his dad’s office. ‘I was fired, actually. My father fired me,’ he said stiltedly.
Samuel and Corrie exchanged a look. ‘You need to be hired again,’ Corrie said plainly.
‘That’s why I’m here. Anyways, I have to go,’ he said. He stood suddenly, gathering his briefcase and his courage, so he could walk confidently into his father’s new office.
‘Percy?’ Arthur asked, flanked by the majority of Percy’s brothers. ‘You’re fired,’ he said blankly.
Percy narrowed his eyes. ‘I know. I’m here to apply for a job.’
Arthur sighed, eyes darting around, uncannily Snape-like. ‘I can’t do that. I fired you.’
Percy flinched, sitting down as his legs began to shake. He was tense and slumping and unable to admit that he was fired. Posture, Percy, he reminded himself.
Straightening, he donned his most imperious persona. ‘I know you did. But frankly, you have no idea how to run the Ministry. And I do. Ask anyone out there,’ he swept a hand behind him, ‘and you’ll hear exactly what I did. The only reason this godforsaken bureaucracy is still surviving is because I ran it.’
Fred bristled, leaning forward in an arrogant display of assumed moral superiority, backed by the rest of Percy’s family. ‘Don’t go lecturing to us, Percy. We know exactly how you work. We’re rebuilding just fine.’
Bill nodded defiantly. ‘This is hard for you, Perce, I know that. The Ministry was sort of your thing, but we’re going to do it. You need to go home. You don’t work here anymore,’ Bill said, voice softening towards the end to placate him.
It didn’t work. Percy was vibrating with anger and unconcerned with consequences. ‘I know that, Bill. What I’m saying is I don’t want to work at the Ministry, I need to. The Ministry needs me. That’s what I’m trying to explain, I’m trying to explain that I ran every Department in this building during the war except for the shitshows that were the DMLE and Magical Creatures. I’m the most competent person this place has ever seen, because I did everything. If you can show me an actual plan of future action that you have to fix this, I can bow out.’ He drew back, resigned. ‘I will bow out. But if you can’t show me exactly where you’re planning to take this, I will plan a coup and not one of these employees,’ he jerked his head to the door, ‘Is going to stop me.’
Arthur glared. ‘You want to see what we’re doing? Fine.’ He summoned a sheaf of papers, laying them out around Percy. Each of them was a careful page of paperwork, showing him the path to felling his father’s regime.
He looked up after scanning each page and met Arthur’s eyes. ‘Dad, I’ll help. I can do this, I promise.’ He was pleading, staring into Arthur’s eyes.
Arthur sighed finally, breaking their eye contact. He looked at the wall and recited an apology. ‘I’m sorry, Percy. I was rash, I suppose. I’ve been hearing that you’re vital and important and perfect for this Ministry, and I didn’t know any of that, just a stupid old man, so you can harangue me all you want. Just as long as you make certain that you come back to work for me.’
Percy held a hopeful breath and let it burst all out of him, grinning widely. ‘Perfect. That’s perfect. First things first, you need to dismantle the nepotism,’ he said, eyeing the twins, Bill, and Charlie’s places near his father and Penny.
Arthur nodded wearily, guard slipping away like silk against a stretch of smooth stone. ‘Yes, Percy,’ he said.
Fred stood up first, leaving the room with a look in his eye that Percy couldn’t quite calculate. He turned back, almost bumping his long freckled nose into George’s. ‘Just so you know, I don’t trust you yet. I wanted you to leave,’ he said shortly.
Fred turned on his heel, George right behind him. Percy stared after them, wanton longing in his face. They might never trust him again, and what if they didn’t? He had a Ministry to save.
He twisted back to the table. ‘We can start anytime you want,’ he said softly. The Ministry needed him, and he only wanted his family.