Though it be honest ...
Percy was running late, by his standards. Jack had been oddly unwilling to make his way to school this morning, and Percy made a mental note to sit down and have a chat this evening before bed. He had a thought of sending a note off to the school nurse, to see if perhaps Jack was ill.
“You heard she was landed, didn’t ya? I ain’t never heard of the family - Ashley? - but having one ‘em taken, you know, them,” Arnold said, brows raised for emphasis as he spoke in low tones to his co-worker. He eyed the ginger man who had stepped in the lift, but continued on, “it’s ain’t going to look good for the MLE. They got that Jones chit, but having one of the gentry stolen from right under yur nose ain’t gonna do ‘em any good.”
A grunt of agreement was the only response to these statements from Arnold’s companion.
“People keep disappearin’. It just ain’t right. Maybe now that there’s money missin’, they’ll actually do somethin’ about it on Floor Two.”
Pulled from his thoughts with the words of stolen and missing and Ashley, Percy turned his full attention to the other gentlemen, though the word was loosely applied, and asked, “I’m afraid I’ve not heard the news. Who has disappeared now?”
He was hoping that Ashley was a first name, and not a surname. The feeling, the one in the pit of his stomach that got him through his other job, was screaming something different.
“Gotta keep it hush,” Arnold said, voice still low, though the brightness in his eyes made it obvious he was enjoying passing on the morning’s especially juicy news. “They say the papers ain’t got hold of it yet.”
Percy nodded his head, impatient, but didn’t say anything in hopes it would encourage the man to continue.
“Was a kidnapping last night. Some big lawyer type has been railing up in Floor Two since the wee hours with an elf and a babe in tow. His client, Ashley for surname,” Arnold informed the ginger man with some self-importance in his mien, “was snatched all violent like. There’s been lots ‘o snatchin’s, but this one’s gonna bring the papers swarming, just you see. No one cares until the money goes missin’.”
Snatched? Percy could feel what little color he had in his face drain. He nodded to the gentlemen as he stepped off the lift, three floors below what was typically his own. Usually, he approached the Department of Mysteries with a little more subtly, but time was of the essence, if Reese was gone.
*~*~*~*
The odd doors at the end of the corridor opened as he approached, the odd, vaguely slimy feeling as the wards searched him didn’t add to the feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The note was short, and to the point, and he knew Justin would receive it faster than one of the Minstry owls.
He needed to tell Lavender. He really didn’t want to take that news home. Lavender was possessive of her people, and Reese was firmly ensconced as people.
*~*~*~*
It was still early enough that he knew Lav would be home, still looking for her shoe as she nibbled on the last bit of the one piece of toast she allowed herself in the morning. The door was louder than he’d intended, but he’d been a bit distracted when he’d Apparated back to the rowhouse, and had landed outside, rather than in.
“Merlin, Percy, if I’d have been shaving I might have nicked my femoral artery,” Lavender said from the top of the stairs, heels in one hand and piece of jammed toast in the other, “and then where would you be? Lost and alone, Weasley, lost and alone.”
“Oh, thank Merlin you’re still home,” he said, peering up at her from the bottom of the stairs, bits of hair sticking out of his braid, at odds with his normally impeccable presentation. “You’d better come down then; I’ve got news.”
“News? That’s usually my area,” she said, a look of slight hesitation on her face as she took in his disheveled appearance. She made her way slowly down the stairs, stuffing the rest of the toast in her mouth as she descended. She stopped two steps above the landing and began to put on her shoes, chewing. “Out with it.”
Now was not the time for his usual politeness to soften the blow; Lavender wasn’t the kind of woman to want that anyways. He waited until she swallowed.
“Reese has been... taken. Kidnapped,” the words came out all at once, and he felt a bit deflated as he said them. “I don’t know too much more than that, but I’ll be able to find out more, and shortly.”
Lavender gave Percy a blank face as she processed his sentence. Slowly, a grin started to crawl onto her face. She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled forth as she descended the last two steps, face tilting up to look at his. “It’s Reese, Perce. She’s just... gone. She’ll be back. We’re having dinner on Wednesday. Livvy’s cooking. She just went to visit friends, or is staying somewhere near the sea. You know how she is.”
Percy shook his head, “No, there was a break in, and witnesses. She hasn’t just wandered off, like she usually does. She’s missing. Some bastard took her.” His hands were starting to shake again, and he reached for Lavender’s, hoping to quell the movement, as well as lend some semblance of comfort when realization hit, as much as take some of his own.
She shook her head, smile still on her face, though it’s brightness was diminishing as she looked up into his very worried eyes. His fingers were cold, trembling slightly. Despite what he’d just said, Lavender tried to make an excuse at to what had happened; Reese hadn’t been kidnapped, there’d just been an accident, and she hadn’t had the time to clean it up. The people who claimed to be witnesses were mistaken.
“We’re having dinner on Wednesday,” she repeated, as if that negated the entire situation and would solve it as well.
Percy shook his head. “No, love, she’s -” he was going to say gone, but he didn’t like the finality of it “missing. She’s not wandered off. She didn’t take Kiss.” He hated telling her this, hated knowing it was true and not some horrible mistake.
Despite her heart not willing to admit that she truly believed Reese was missing, Lavender’s breath was sucked from her lungs, a look of panic seizing her features. “Kiss! Oh, Gods, where is she? Is she alright?” She reached out, fingers wrapping around his in an effort to keep from flying out the door and finding the little girl herself. “Is she alright?”
He nodded, a small bit of relief pricking through the worry. “She’s fine. Missing her mother quite a bit, and upset, but not harmed. She’s with [Reese’s elf? Miles?], and safe. We’re trying to find out more about what happened, who took Reese, where she might be. There’s not too much to go on yet.”
Lavender sighed, a small miracle granted knowing that Kiss was safe and that whoever had taken Reese hadn’t gotten her little girl, too. Thinking about Reese out there, somewhere, without Kiss constricted her chest. She had already experienced someone being taken away from her, and though her relationship with Reese was different than she’d had with Cat and Steven, the idea that Reese had been taken and Gods knew what was being done to her...
... her heart was both riled with rage and hit with despair. When she’d found out that Cat and Steven hadn’t died in the fire like she’d been told, and had instead perished in the work camps of the Liberi, she’d at least known that they were gone, that they weren’t being hurt anymore. She didn’t have that same luxury with Reese. Not knowing was infinitely worse.
She wanted to demand that Percy find out more news - she’d never been particularly welcome in the halls of the ministry, not with her tendency to put in print everything she saw - and even though he was an archivist and not a member of the MLE, she looked up to tell him to do just that.
The look of mutual worry on his face stopped the words on Lavender’s lips, and despite her best efforts, her lower lip quaked. “Who would have taken her?” she asked, voice thick with emotion.
He had some ideas, more viable than the others, but he wasn’t sure how much he should share with Lavender. Or, rather, could. She didn’t know about his status with the Unspeakables, or that he spoke with Justin on a regular basis. His worry rested in her reaction not only to who might have taken Reese, but that he was keeping things from Lavender.
“Horrible, horrible men. I don’t know much of anything yet.”
Not knowing something filled Lavender with panic under normal circumstances, but not knowing whether her friend was alive or dead came close to having her heart stop in her chest in fear. Feeling as if her knees would give out, and having the vaguely rational thought that she shouldn’t make Percy catch her, Lavender’s hands dropped from his as she took several quick steps backward, hand reaching out for the banister as she lowered herself to a stair and sat heavily.
The biggest thing she’d been worried about ten minutes ago was whether the edits on page five had gotten to the printer on time, and now she had no idea whether her bright pixie-like friend was even alive.
Lavender looked up at Percy, hazel eyes filled with tears. It was obvious he was just as distraught as she was, but he had always had better composure. As the first tear fell down her cheek, she reached out, fingers wrapping around Percy’s like he was the only solid thing in the world.
Summary: When Percy get’s into work, the Ministry is abuzz. He finds out Reese was abducted and goes home to break the news to Lavender.
“You heard she was landed, didn’t ya? I ain’t never heard of the family - Ashley? - but having one ‘em taken, you know, them,” Arnold said, brows raised for emphasis as he spoke in low tones to his co-worker. He eyed the ginger man who had stepped in the lift, but continued on, “it’s ain’t going to look good for the MLE. They got that Jones chit, but having one of the gentry stolen from right under yur nose ain’t gonna do ‘em any good.”
A grunt of agreement was the only response to these statements from Arnold’s companion.
“People keep disappearin’. It just ain’t right. Maybe now that there’s money missin’, they’ll actually do somethin’ about it on Floor Two.”
Pulled from his thoughts with the words of stolen and missing and Ashley, Percy turned his full attention to the other gentlemen, though the word was loosely applied, and asked, “I’m afraid I’ve not heard the news. Who has disappeared now?”
He was hoping that Ashley was a first name, and not a surname. The feeling, the one in the pit of his stomach that got him through his other job, was screaming something different.
“Gotta keep it hush,” Arnold said, voice still low, though the brightness in his eyes made it obvious he was enjoying passing on the morning’s especially juicy news. “They say the papers ain’t got hold of it yet.”
Percy nodded his head, impatient, but didn’t say anything in hopes it would encourage the man to continue.
“Was a kidnapping last night. Some big lawyer type has been railing up in Floor Two since the wee hours with an elf and a babe in tow. His client, Ashley for surname,” Arnold informed the ginger man with some self-importance in his mien, “was snatched all violent like. There’s been lots ‘o snatchin’s, but this one’s gonna bring the papers swarming, just you see. No one cares until the money goes missin’.”
Snatched? Percy could feel what little color he had in his face drain. He nodded to the gentlemen as he stepped off the lift, three floors below what was typically his own. Usually, he approached the Department of Mysteries with a little more subtly, but time was of the essence, if Reese was gone.
*~*~*~*
The odd doors at the end of the corridor opened as he approached, the odd, vaguely slimy feeling as the wards searched him didn’t add to the feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The note was short, and to the point, and he knew Justin would receive it faster than one of the Minstry owls.
He needed to tell Lavender. He really didn’t want to take that news home. Lavender was possessive of her people, and Reese was firmly ensconced as people.
*~*~*~*
It was still early enough that he knew Lav would be home, still looking for her shoe as she nibbled on the last bit of the one piece of toast she allowed herself in the morning. The door was louder than he’d intended, but he’d been a bit distracted when he’d Apparated back to the rowhouse, and had landed outside, rather than in.
“Merlin, Percy, if I’d have been shaving I might have nicked my femoral artery,” Lavender said from the top of the stairs, heels in one hand and piece of jammed toast in the other, “and then where would you be? Lost and alone, Weasley, lost and alone.”
“Oh, thank Merlin you’re still home,” he said, peering up at her from the bottom of the stairs, bits of hair sticking out of his braid, at odds with his normally impeccable presentation. “You’d better come down then; I’ve got news.”
“News? That’s usually my area,” she said, a look of slight hesitation on her face as she took in his disheveled appearance. She made her way slowly down the stairs, stuffing the rest of the toast in her mouth as she descended. She stopped two steps above the landing and began to put on her shoes, chewing. “Out with it.”
Now was not the time for his usual politeness to soften the blow; Lavender wasn’t the kind of woman to want that anyways. He waited until she swallowed.
“Reese has been... taken. Kidnapped,” the words came out all at once, and he felt a bit deflated as he said them. “I don’t know too much more than that, but I’ll be able to find out more, and shortly.”
Lavender gave Percy a blank face as she processed his sentence. Slowly, a grin started to crawl onto her face. She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled forth as she descended the last two steps, face tilting up to look at his. “It’s Reese, Perce. She’s just... gone. She’ll be back. We’re having dinner on Wednesday. Livvy’s cooking. She just went to visit friends, or is staying somewhere near the sea. You know how she is.”
Percy shook his head, “No, there was a break in, and witnesses. She hasn’t just wandered off, like she usually does. She’s missing. Some bastard took her.” His hands were starting to shake again, and he reached for Lavender’s, hoping to quell the movement, as well as lend some semblance of comfort when realization hit, as much as take some of his own.
She shook her head, smile still on her face, though it’s brightness was diminishing as she looked up into his very worried eyes. His fingers were cold, trembling slightly. Despite what he’d just said, Lavender tried to make an excuse at to what had happened; Reese hadn’t been kidnapped, there’d just been an accident, and she hadn’t had the time to clean it up. The people who claimed to be witnesses were mistaken.
“We’re having dinner on Wednesday,” she repeated, as if that negated the entire situation and would solve it as well.
Percy shook his head. “No, love, she’s -” he was going to say gone, but he didn’t like the finality of it “missing. She’s not wandered off. She didn’t take Kiss.” He hated telling her this, hated knowing it was true and not some horrible mistake.
Despite her heart not willing to admit that she truly believed Reese was missing, Lavender’s breath was sucked from her lungs, a look of panic seizing her features. “Kiss! Oh, Gods, where is she? Is she alright?” She reached out, fingers wrapping around his in an effort to keep from flying out the door and finding the little girl herself. “Is she alright?”
He nodded, a small bit of relief pricking through the worry. “She’s fine. Missing her mother quite a bit, and upset, but not harmed. She’s with [Reese’s elf? Miles?], and safe. We’re trying to find out more about what happened, who took Reese, where she might be. There’s not too much to go on yet.”
Lavender sighed, a small miracle granted knowing that Kiss was safe and that whoever had taken Reese hadn’t gotten her little girl, too. Thinking about Reese out there, somewhere, without Kiss constricted her chest. She had already experienced someone being taken away from her, and though her relationship with Reese was different than she’d had with Cat and Steven, the idea that Reese had been taken and Gods knew what was being done to her...
... her heart was both riled with rage and hit with despair. When she’d found out that Cat and Steven hadn’t died in the fire like she’d been told, and had instead perished in the work camps of the Liberi, she’d at least known that they were gone, that they weren’t being hurt anymore. She didn’t have that same luxury with Reese. Not knowing was infinitely worse.
She wanted to demand that Percy find out more news - she’d never been particularly welcome in the halls of the ministry, not with her tendency to put in print everything she saw - and even though he was an archivist and not a member of the MLE, she looked up to tell him to do just that.
The look of mutual worry on his face stopped the words on Lavender’s lips, and despite her best efforts, her lower lip quaked. “Who would have taken her?” she asked, voice thick with emotion.
He had some ideas, more viable than the others, but he wasn’t sure how much he should share with Lavender. Or, rather, could. She didn’t know about his status with the Unspeakables, or that he spoke with Justin on a regular basis. His worry rested in her reaction not only to who might have taken Reese, but that he was keeping things from Lavender.
“Horrible, horrible men. I don’t know much of anything yet.”
Not knowing something filled Lavender with panic under normal circumstances, but not knowing whether her friend was alive or dead came close to having her heart stop in her chest in fear. Feeling as if her knees would give out, and having the vaguely rational thought that she shouldn’t make Percy catch her, Lavender’s hands dropped from his as she took several quick steps backward, hand reaching out for the banister as she lowered herself to a stair and sat heavily.
The biggest thing she’d been worried about ten minutes ago was whether the edits on page five had gotten to the printer on time, and now she had no idea whether her bright pixie-like friend was even alive.
Lavender looked up at Percy, hazel eyes filled with tears. It was obvious he was just as distraught as she was, but he had always had better composure. As the first tear fell down her cheek, she reached out, fingers wrapping around Percy’s like he was the only solid thing in the world.
Summary: When Percy get’s into work, the Ministry is abuzz. He finds out Reese was abducted and goes home to break the news to Lavender.