FIC: "Symptoms of Family", Remus/Percy, NC-17, Pt. 1/2
For sarka in the percy_ficathon.
Title: Symptoms of Family
Author: faire_weather
Giftee: sarka
Pairing: Percy/Remus
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 14,790 (!)
Summary: Percy hates Tuesdays; he just doesn't realise it. Inspired by apples, breathing, curry and bookshops. Prompt: Trying to get re-accepted into the family, trying to prove himself, D/s, romance, fluff, angst, smut. (Everything but D/s). This was my first time writing Remus, and Percy and didn't want to cooperate for the longest time, so I was a bit nervous.
Symptoms of Family
After the war, Scrimgeour decided the Ministry needed to be reorganised, and he hosted one hell of a campaign to do it.
All Ministry employees were required to take IQ and career placement tests. The results, unfortunately, proved that more than half of the employees weren't fit to work in their current departments. (That Minister Scrimgeour rated only thirty-four percent in 'ability to lead' was a non-issue.)
The big problem was that Percy was not made for cauldron bottom regulation-or any regulation at all. Apparently. It was a Tuesday in early October when the paper airplane memo dropped off his test results at his cubicle.
2 October
Dear Mr Percival Weasley:
After reviewing your test results, the Ministry Employee Statistical Stationing Equivalency Department (Upheaval Patrol), or MESSED(UP), has come to a decision about your career opportunities. After careful consideration, we recommend the following department for your continuing employment at the Ministry.
Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
In accordance with Ministry edict SNAFU-4 (from the Statistical Nonsense Association Free Up Department) which was signed into law on the 14th of September, you are required to transfer to your recommended department within one week. Please speak to the head of your new department immediately.
If you feel that this judgement has been made in error, please reconsider. The employees of MESSED have all scored at least seventy-five percent on their MESSED(UP) tests in the delegation category.
Yours delegating,
Agatha Auntagony
MESSED(UP)
Percy stared at the letter, resigned and aggravated. He was half-way finished with his most recent report on methods to improve import relations, and now it was all for nothing.
Across the hall, Tillman lifted his head from his own letter and gave Percy a racy smile. "Finally out of this shit-hole department, I am!" he said. Tillman wasted no time with finalizing his affairs for Import Regulations. A cardboard box was conjured, he tossed in a photo of his wife and kids, and set the rest ablaze before strolling, jauntily, out the door.
Percy watched with a gut-wrenching sort of detachment as something that sounded suspiciously like his life falling apart echoed in his head. Finally, Martha Juniper rushed across the department with water spurting from her wand and shouts spurting from her mouth. Percy blinked and inhaled a mouthful of smoke.
-x-
One week later, on another Tuesday, Percy was settling into his new office which, admittedly, was much nicer than the one before. He had a magical window behind him that looked out onto beaches of the Cayman Islands and another across the hall that showed the Congo. Occasionally, when Percy was staring off into space, trying to think of new laws to pass, a gorilla would amble past. It was much better than staring at the back of Tillman's head, like he had to do in Import Regulations.
"Percy!"
Percy looked up and forced himself not to look away again. There was his father, merry as ever, ambling towards him with a huge muggle-loving grin on his face and his arms outstretched. It was such an odd sight that he fluctuated between standing and sitting, feeling awkward and looking ridiculous, until his father gave him an odd look and stopped several feet from his desk.
Percy cleared his throat and his desk in one go, straightening his back as he finally reached equilibrium and stepped forward. Eyes focusing, Percy became aware that in the confusion, Arthur had dropped his arms. He held his hand out perfunctorily, trying to dislodge the awkward situation-if it could be dislodged at all after such a ridiculous display. Stupid, Percy, stupid! He chided himself.
Arthur recovered first. "How ya been, Percy?" he asked, ignoring his outstretched hand and bring his arms up again to hug him tightly. Percy closed his eyes as his own arms did the same, seemingly of their own volition.
"Well, thank you," he said stiffly. In a situation like that, he was unable to do anything else. He felt like a trapped animal that might not have been trapped if only it had eaten the food that was offered from the hand that offered it.
Arthur Weasley was not deterred by the half-hearted reply. "Seems I'm not fit for muggle artefacts!" he said jovially. "Upheaval Patrol transferred me here to Magical Creatures! And you're here too! What about those apples, eh, Perce?"
Percy had never liked apples, he remembered. Of any kind. Not even when his mum put them in a cobbler, and it had been such a long time since he had even seen an apple that his brain automatically began conjuring different images of them. Gala, Red Delicious, Granny Smith-
"Quite the apples, Father," he said, wondering how one responded to something like that.
"Which reminds me, your mum's making apple cobbler tonight," Arthur Weasley said more soberly. Percy stared at him quietly while a McIntosh appeared in his head. That's what his mum had always used in her cobblers, and- "Why don't you come round? I know how you've always loved your mum's apple cobbler. We'd love to have you."
Percy faltered for just a-how in the world had anyone ever thought he liked apple cob-it was ridiculous! He never ate it. "Busy settling," Percy offered, feeling thrown and gesturing vaguely at his new office.
How awkward.
"Right," Arthur said quickly, nodding his head. "I understand. Well…well, I'll just be settling in as well," he offered. He pointed over his shoulder at the desk underneath the window-the one that showed the Congo. "Some other time," he added over his shoulder.
Percy followed his gesture and frowned. He had just moved from staring at the back of Tillman's head to the back of his father's head. Wrapping his arms around himself unassumingly, Percy wandered back to his desk and tried to figure out why he felt so strange after seeing his father for the first time in two years.
-x-
One month and twenty-eight awkwardly declined offers of lunch from his father later, it was a Tuesday. Percy was just finishing up a report on the new import-export regulations on jarveys-which had caused quite the scandal in the import offices when several of them escaped and insulted thirteen muggles last Tuesday-when his new supervisor, Mullins, came round.
"Weatherby," Mullins said. Mullins was a large man with watery blue eyes and a handlebar moustache in yellow ochre. He twisted one side of it as Percy stared at him, and wondered how, even with his father sitting across the hall, no one in the Ministry seemed able to get his name-even with Barty Crouch Sr. gone. Was it some sort of joke, or did no one really know that he was a Weasley?
"Yes?"
"Got a client coming in before lunch today, Weatherby," Mullins said, patting his belly apropos to nothing. "I'm having my elevenses with my mother-in-law. You'll have to handle it."
"Your mother-in-law?" Percy asked dubiously. He narrowed his eyes slightly; Mullins wasn't even married.
Mr Mullins shifted uneasily on his feet and then stared out of the window behind Percy's desk. It was a scene from Babylon, and poorly replicated at that. The tower wasn't nearly high enough.
"Not really my mother-in-law," Mullins admitted. "Mostly it's my sister, but in a round about way, you see-" He left the sentence hanging and shrugged. Percy looked back down at his report: Mullins didn't have a sister either. He didn't have much of anything really, except for rent boys in Knockturn Alley-which, Percy realised, was a bit similar to his own state of affairs, only he didn't bother with the rent- "She's in hospital," Mullins continued blithely. "Might not make it."
"So you're having tea with her?" Percy asked helpfully. "To ease her transition?"
Mullins nodded emphatically. "Helps the grieving process. There's five steps, you see: birth, life, nearly dying, denial, acceptance and grieving."
"What about the actual death then?" Percy asked, ignoring, for a moment, Mullins' inability to do simple math. No wonder he was in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He wouldn't have lasted a day in Import Regulations.
"They're not 'round for that, are they, so it can't be one of the steps."
"Right," Percy said, nodding uncertainly.
Mullins smiled at him, ruffled his hair and turned to face the other window, clasping his fat, red hands behind his back. It had been snowing outside when Percy came to work, and lately he had been wishing that he could see that instead of the jungle.
"Weasley!" Mullins bellowed.
Percy and his father both looked up, but Mullins was ambling out of Percy's office and into the one across the hall.
"Let's have a curry, yeah? My treat." Arthur Weasley scrambled to follow. Percy stared at the retreating forms of his father and his supervisor, trying not to think of how good curry sounded right then, glanced at the stack of paperwork on his desk and realised that it was a quarter 'til.
He panicked.
-x-
At eleven, Percy was frantic, which was not completely unusual given his disposition, but still exasperating just the same. He had no idea what this client would need or where he would find the paperwork he would need for the meeting.
Mullins hadn't bothered to give him a run down when he transferred from Import Regulations and he was still fairly new and he knew hardly anything about the laws concerning the department or the regulations one had to follow to-
It was then that Ron-the-Auror, who was a Weasley hero, Ginny-the-Auror, who was a Weasley heroine, and Potter-the-Auror, who was Percy's ex-boyfriend and sometimes an arsehole, all came in, laughing much too loudly for an office and making Percy feel strange in that 'I'm out-numbered and we all know it' sort of way. Percy folded his arms and glared at the wall, trying to remember what Mr Crouch had once told him to do when he was feeling overwhelmed.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Imagine your audience naked-
"What do you suppose ol' Percy thinks about not getting to regulate cauldron bottoms anymore?" Ron asked loudly as they rounded the corner.
"Dunno," Potter laughed back. "Probably the same thing he said when he found out he wasn't the only Weasley regulating my bottom anymore," he snickered. There was an expectant silence. Potter affected a very poor imitation of Percy's voice and said, "This is unacceptable!"
All three of them laughed. Percy didn't because that was not really what happened at all. He remembered it vividly, and it had not included him saying, in any form, 'This is unacceptable'. What it had included-and this was important, Percy thought-was Percy walking in on Harry and Fred in flagrant delecto, Harry jumping up, shocked, when he saw him, and Percy running out with trembling legs and an ache in his throat.
Then, Ginny saw him. "Percy! How lovely to see you!" she said. It had been so long since Percy had even seen her that he couldn't tell if she was sincere or not. He smiled stiltedly at her, hoping that she wasn't mocking him, and effected an acceptable greeting in return. Ginny smiled at him a bit.
"Are you my eleven o'clock?" he asked after another moment. God, he hoped they weren't; if they were then Percy might have a panic attack. He wasn't sure if he could deal with any of this right now, or-
"Nah," Ron said blithely. "If we had appointments, we'd make sure to get Dad or that Mullins fellow instead."
Percy frowned, wondering why. Then Potter flopped down, uninvited, at the chair on the other side of his desk, adjusted his scarf, and Percy didn't think his day could get any worse. Several seconds later, he realised that Mr Crouch's advice was wholly inefficient and probably more of a hindrance than a help. He chanced a look at his desk calendar to keep from looking at Potter, only to realise that he had promised Penelope he would have lunch with her-as friends-next Tuesday.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
"Hey, Percy." Percy looked up to see that Potter was smiling at him hesitantly.
"Potter," Percy said flatly. He had heard what Potter said to Ron on the way in; he wasn't deaf, certainly, and even if Potter had just been taking the piss-
Potter cocked his head to the side, cheeks red with the cold, but it reminded Percy of- "So it's 'Potter' now? Not 'Harry'?"
Percy sneered because Mr Crouch's advice kept surfacing and he was seeing things that never happened and things that did and he felt anxious to get away from the situation. "It hasn't been 'Harry' since you decided you'd rather be with Fred," he said. His voice didn't waver, and that, Percy reckoned, was a good enough sign.
"George," Potter corrected with a wince. "Fred's straight. Mostly," he babbled, "And I wanted to tell you that I'm s-"
Percy shrugged, cutting him off. Where was his eleven o'clock? If he had to spend any more time with these three then Percy was going to-
"Professor Lupin!" Ginny exclaimed, much more happily than she had exclaimed Percy's own name, and he felt a shiver of embarrassment roll through him. He was out of place in his own office. Percy's lips twisted acerbically at the thought as he looked up at Remus Lupin entering the department. He was in his usual shabby attire: Percy actually itched to have him fitted for a respectable robe. What Lupin was wearing was simply unacceptable for business matters, and not nearly warm enough at that. Why if Percy had-
"Hello," Professor Lupin said kindly, nodding at each of them. He took the chair next to Potter, removed his tattered gloves, and smiled at Percy, which was totally incongruous with how Percy was feel-Lupin's hands were chapped; he needed better gloves. "Afternoon, Percy, how are you?"
"Most excellent," Percy said quickly-too quickly, in fact; he needed to work on that. Lupin probably thought he was feeling nervous-he was, but that wasn't the point. Maybe it was time he looked for work elsewhere, he thought. Somewhere with less Weasleys to make him uncomfortable-even if he was the only one who was a Weatherby; he wondered if Lupin knew about that shaming reality and hoped he didn't. Too many people knew already. If Lupin knew too, then-
"Wonderful," Professor Lupin said. All three of them stared at each other for several seconds and Ron and Ginny made a ruckus in the background until Potter spoke up, much too loudly. Had his voice always been so loud?
It had, Percy remembered. It had been particularly loud when they-and Potter had always been quiet in class. How absurd-but outside, when he wasn't in class, or a Tri-Wizard Tournament-that was so long ago, Percy remembered.
"How about that paperwork, Percy? I've got a lunch date with Ron and Ginny." Potter seemed to have decided that he would play the 'I don't care' card. Kind of like Good Cop, Bad Cop where Potter was the-which one was which?-and Lupin was-why was Percy making references like that to his family?
Potter wasn't family, he reminded himself. Nearly good as, though, he supposed. More of a Weasley than Percy himself was at any rate. He was a Weatherby, after all. Breathe.
Percy turned his head slowly to stare at Potter. "So go."
"I can't," Potter said waving a hand at the papers on Percy's desk. "Not until I sign off on this stuff."
"I don't even know what you're here for," Percy said, exasperated. His hands shook under the desk. "Mr Mullins just told me to take care of his eleven o'clock."
Professor Lupin cleared his throat. "That would be me. Harry is my legal guardian." He said this self-deprecatingly, like it was true and Lupin didn't mind so much but he thought other people might mind so he tried to make a joke about it. Potter snorted and high-fived Ron. He liked jokes, too.
"'S true," Potter said, nodding. "You know that new werewolf law? All werewolves have got to have legal guardians that make all their legal decisions. Remus wants to start a business, so here I am." He shrugged. His shoulders were too bony.
Percy furrowed his brows. He hadn’t heard even a single word about that law. "What?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Really, Percy. I would've thought you of all people would be up to date on Ministry news." She was adjusting her robes around herself as she said this, and Percy got the feeling that she was a bit uncomfortable, too. Ron didn't look at anyone except Harry.
Percy ignored it. "So what kind of business, Professor Lupin?"
"Remus," Professor Lupin corrected gently. Too gently-like he realised how prickly Percy was feeling and wanted to make it better, only it couldn't be made better because if Lupin had found him out then- "I'm not your professor anymore."
"Reeeemus!" Ron, Ginny and Potter chorused in sing-song voices-where had that come from? Professor Lupin blushed. Percy frowned. He was much better off without Potter, he decided firmly, even though he had decided that when he walked in on Potter giving Fred-he was sure it had been Fred, not George-a blow job six months ago. All three of them were so juvenile. Percy was firm in this conviction.
"What kind of business?" Percy asked again.
"A book store," Lupin said happily. He was leaning forward now in an elated rendition of something resembling enthusiasm, graying hair falling over his brows and hands rising to brace himself on the desk. It was like he was about to tell Percy the most fantastic secret, and no one, not even Bill or Charlie and especially not the twins, had ever told him a secret before-
He perked up without realising it. A new bookstore would be fantastic, of course, he thought. Flourish and Blotts was so commercialised lately that he couldn't find anything decent that wasn't a textbook-and he had already read all of those. He opened his mouth to ask more questions when Potter cleared his throat, probably rudely.
"The paperwork, Percy? I've really got to go. Shacklebolt says he's going to shackle all three of us to the wall and bolt our feet to the floor if we take anymore three hour lunches."
"Might be fun!" Ginny grinned.
All three laughed loudly and clapped each other on the backs. Percy frowned, wondering what it would be like to have friends to act like fools with. Professor Lupin smiled blandly, politely ignored their crassness, and fiddled with a loose thread on the hem of his sleeve. Percy's eyes zeroed in on it, and he fought not to clip it off.
"The paperwork, right," he said. He opened his desk drawer, trying to look organised, and was pleasantly surprised when the stack of papers on top was labelled 'Form W-3: Werewolf Business Permit Application'. Finally-something that went right.
"Here you go, Mr Lupin," Percy said, dropping the 'professor' part because he just couldn't bring himself to call any of his elders by their first names.
"Remus," Lupin corrected. He smiled.
"Reeeemus!" two of the three idiots chorused.
"Where do I sign?" Potter asked impatiently.
"Here," Professor Lupin said, pointing to a spot near the bottom after he read through. Potter nodded, snatched the quill from Percy's hand without even a by-your-leave, and signed his name messily. He nodded once, slid the paperwork back to Lupin, and stood.
"See you then, Remus. Bye Weatherby." Potter smiled foolishly at them both and left with Ron and Ginny, whistling on his way out. If Potter could be so unemotional about all of this-so unaffected-then Percy could, too. There was no reason to feel uncomfortable around his family, and it was ludicrous that he had thought so before.
Then Lupin cleared his throat. "So," he said.
Percy looked at him. "So?"
"It's all ready to go," Lupin said, gesturing towards the paperwork. "Signed in triplicate. It just needs your approval." Percy felt like he was being sold something very expensive by someone who was very good at selling expensive things.
"My approval," Percy muttered, skimming through. He had not been briefed about this, he thought frantically. He had no idea whether or not to approve it. It seemed like a good idea to him, but then Mr Mullins was an odd man and it might not seem the same to him. Percy certainly didn't want to alienate his supervisor, especially since he was so new to the department.
"Where do you plan to open this book store?" Percy asked, for lack of anything better.
"Hogsmeade," Lupin said, smiling. "Harry's giving me the start-up with a really fantastic payment plan. I figure it'll be a nice place for the Hogwarts students to buy extracurricular books. No one reads enough anymore."
"You know, there's not a single bookstore in Hogsmeade," Percy said conversationally, leaning forward as well.
"Pity, isn't it?" Lupin responded. "I'm hoping to change that."
Percy hummed to himself, imagining what his school days would have been like if he had been able to shop for light reading during the school term. Much more exciting, certainly. "And what sorts of books do you plan to stock?"
"Oh, this and that," Lupin said airily. "Of course, I'll carry a few copies of each of the textbooks, in case a student loses theirs, but I'm also hoping to carry a wide selection of classical wizarding literature, history, contemporary novels and self-help books. Perhaps some monthly publications."
That sold Percy. He nodded once, signed his name with a flourish and stamped the paperwork with a big, red 'APPROVED', feeling very proud of himself. His first major assignment in this new department, and he had done a splendid job, he knew. Professor Lupin would make an excellent shop owner.
"You'll have to come back a week from today to get your business license," Percy said, passing the paperwork over and keeping two copies for his files. "I'll have it for you after lunch on Tuesday."
Lupin smiled wolfishly at him, stood and shook his hand. Percy felt something twitch in his gut at the look on Lupin's face. He had never seen someone look so excited about something before. Not even when Potter got his jollies off with Fred. George. Whichever. He didn't care right then. "Thank you, Percy. You don't know how much this means to me."
Percy smiled, without faking it this time. He felt rejuvenated. "Not at all. I think it's an excellent venture. I might stop in myself once you're up and running."
Lupin beamed at him, seemingly shocked at the proposal. "That would be lovely."
When he was gone, Percy slumped back into his chair, and realised that not only was the tower too short in the Babylon scene, but the people were also too excited. Who needed excitement like Potter had with his siblings when you had a nice book to curl up with? He would have to stop by Lupin's shop as soon as it opened.
-x-
"Potter," Percy lamented the following Tuesday, "is one of the most foul creatures to ever walk the earth. Can you believe that Professor Lupin-you remember Professor Lupin, don't you?-actually chose him for his legal guardian? He's a disgrace to humankind!"
Six days Percy had ruminated over the visit to his office, becoming more and more perturbed as time went on. Of course, he didn't believe a word he was saying, but he refused to admit to himself that the real reason he was so upset was that he didn't think Professor Lupin needed a guardian anyway.
He was an adult! And Potter was younger than Percy himself. What Professor Lupin really needed was a companion who shared his own ideals, who understood what it was like to have to fight for something and then get it taken away from them anyway, like he had.
Werewolf rights were non-existent in this post-war world, thanks to Fenrir Greyback. Of course, they had never been anything spectacular before, but never had things been so strict. Percy had never realised how bad it was.
And the fact that Lupin was okay with it was even worse. Percy pitied him because he knew that Lupin didn't want anyone's pity. That was a pitiable reason enough, he thought.
Penelope-who was now a Wood and not a Clearwater-stared blankly at Percy over her salmon salad. The salmon was out of season, but Penelope had never had much common sense. She was too intelligent for that. "Potter or Professor Lupin?"
Percy scoffed. "Potter, of course. Lupin's a werewolf anyway."
"He's still human," Penelope added helpfully.
"Do you think so?" Percy asked musingly. "I mean, of course, I consider him human, but is his DNA human, do you think?" It was something to consider.
Penelope shrugged, unconcerned. "And Professor Lupin has Potter as his werewolf guardian?"
Percy nodded mutely, completely dumbfounded, and then started. "Wait: you knew about the new werewolf law?"
"Of course," Penelope scoffed. "It was in the Daily Prophet just last month."
"Am I the only person who didn't know about it?" Percy cried. People from surrounding tables looked up to give him dirty looks. He smiled meekly at them and returned to Penelope, this time whispering: "Even Potter knew about it! And I'm in the Department of Magical Creatures and…the Department for the Control and Taxation-Regulation of…oh fuck it. They transferred me to Magical Creatures! How did I not know about that?"
"Don't use that kind of language, Percy. I'm surprised at you," Penelope chastised him blandly. Frankly, Percy was surprised himself. He never used such vulgar language.
Then, as if it had never happened, Penelope shrugged and sipped her tea. "I don't think your heart's in it like it was with Import Regulations."
Percy's shoulders slumped. "I really did enjoy that." And he had, of course.
"But your SNAFU test said you weren't cut out for it," Penelope reminded him. "Maybe you're not cut out for magical creatures either."
"I like magical creatures just fine," Percy said. "Verily, werewolves are moderately interesting. I would like the opportunity, for instance, to study Professor Lupin in detail-assuming he was amenable to the idea."
The new DNA theory was frolicking through his mind now, creating all sorts of possibilities. Of course, he didn't really give a damn about unicorns-they had never given him the time of day, so why should he?-or jarveys-they were always causing trouble (in every department)-but werewolves weren't so bad, he thought.
"That doesn't mean you're cut out for doing all sorts of forms in triplicate for them though."
"True," Percy said, but he had practiced his 'professional' signature for months in seventh year and he liked using it on the forms nowadays.
"Very true," Penelope said, just as an owl landed in her salad. She frowned. "I didn’t order that."
"Errol," Percy said flatly. How strange. The owl in question looked up at him dejectedly and hooted. "Have a letter for me?" he asked resignedly. He had been expecting this, of course. It was only a matter of time before his mother found out about him working with his father.
Errol, in turn, gave him a reprimanding hoot. Percy was reminded of his grandfather-the one who had given Ron his old Chess set even though Percy had been the better player. He hadn't played Chess since then, deciding that if his grandfather didn't think him worthy, then he should find a new interest. It was principle.
Suddenly, Penelope looked at her watch. "Oh my, it's Tuesday, isn't it? I have to meet Oliver in twenty minutes-we have an appointment at the Magical Fertilization Office."
"Are you starting a garden?" Percy asked with interest. At his studio flat in wizarding Kent, he had a small herb garden in his window box. It would be nice to have someone to talk about gardening with.
Penelope laughed. "Of course not. I hate the sun. We want a baby."
Percy gave her a funny look. "And you haven't tried…you know…," he gestured vaguely, vulgarly, "to get one?"
"Tried what?" Penelope asked, genuinely curious, as she gathered up her things and tossed a few coins on the table.
Percy paused. "Never mind."
Penelope smiled sweetly, hugged Percy goodbye, and suddenly, he was alone with his lunch and an owl that he hadn't seen in years.
"Let's have it then," he said in resignation. Errol gathered himself up and held out his leg for Percy. The letter read:
13 November
Dear Percy,
Your father tells me that now that the two of you are working together, you're getting along swimmingly. That's wonderful news. I do so miss you, Percy, and so do your father, your brothers and Ginny. Ron asked about you just the other day and the twins are always mentioning how-'bland,' I think, is the word they used-it has been since you left.
We're having a family dinner on Sunday. I made apple cider-your favourite-and Harry will be there too. He's always talking about you. I wonder if he fancies you? It would be so lovely if the two of you were together, Percy, don't you think? He's such a lovely boy.
Anyway, dinner will be at seven; I hope that you can make it. We all miss you so very much.
Lots of love,
Mum
Percy, suddenly overcome with a fit of shaking, wadded up the letter and shoved it into his pocket. It had been too long-sometimes, too much time passes and you can't fix things-this was one of those times, Percy was sure; there was no way his family would welcome him back after all this time, and, anyway, he didn't like apples and when were they going to understand that-?
Errol remained on the plate.
-x-
After lunch, Percy returned to his office, shaking snow out of his hair and breathing regularly once again to find his father chatting with Professor Lupin. He tried to ease into the office without being seen, but both Professor Lupin and his father seemed to have extrasensory vision: they spotted him at once.
"Percy!" they chorused. Looking truly pleased to see him. Strange. Strange. Strange.
Percy offered a bland smile, shoved his hands in his pockets and felt his heartbeat intensify as it brushed over the crumpled parchment.
"Your father was just inviting me over for dinner on Sunday," Professor Lupin said. "I hope to see you there."
Arthur Weasley looked expectantly at his son. Is there anyone who isn't a Weasley these days? Percy thought. But he was a Weatherby.
Breathe. Instead, he cleared his throat and said, "Mr Mullins is really counting on me to get this paperwork finished before the deadline next Wednesday. I'm afraid I won't be able to."
"Some other time," Lupin smiled.
"Some other time," Percy echoed faintly. For some reason, he was starting to feel very uncomfortable around Professor Lupin, but not the same kind of uncomfortable he felt around his family. And the werewolf was still looking at Percy with that constantly-happy, if a bit demure, smile. He choked slightly on nothing and opened his mouth hesitantly. "You're here for your business permit, Mr Lupin?"
"So you were approved then?" Arthur asked happily.
Lupin turned to him and grinned. "Indeed. Percy was a delight to work with. Very helpful. You've got a wonderful son, Arthur."
Arthur Weasley beamed and began fidgeting with his hands in excitement. "We've always been very proud of Percy's accomplishments," he said happily.
"We should really get started," Percy cut in quickly. He wasn't sure he could listen to that because the fact of the matter was that his family had not always been very proud of him. Or, maybe, they had been proud of him, just disappointed with his decisions, but weren't those the same thing-?
"There are still a few forms to sign, you see," Percy added, breathing.
"After you, then," Lupin said. Really, he smiled far too much. Surely no one could always be so cheerful.
Percy nodded once to his father and started across the hall to his office. They were just settling into their chairs when the door opened loudly and Mr Mullins strode in, looking mightily pleased with himself.
"Weatherby, you're back; good," he said cheerfully. He'd had an unfortunate accident shaving that morning: One half of his handlebar moustache was noticeably shorter than the other side. Lupin tried to catch Percy's eye, silently questioning the name, but Percy steadfastly ignored him; how embarrassing. Mullins had yet to notice that Percy was with a client.
"I'll need you to stay late tonight," Mr Mullins was saying. "There's a parcel coming in from the French Ministry-an Intercontinental treaty regarding the recent Jarvey confusion. Certified post, Weatherby," he explained. "You'll have to sign for it. Use that fancy signature of yours."
Percy opened his mouth quickly. "But Mr Mullins-!" he exclaimed sharply before he could think better of it. He shut his mouth with an audible snap. He had very nearly said something unfortunate right then.
"Yes, Weatherby?" Mullins asked. He hadn't noticed the tone of Percy's response, so caught up was he in his haste to get away from the office early.
"Nothing," Percy mumbled, then cleared his throat and said more clearly, "Nothing, Mr Mullins. It was only that I thought I saw something on your cloak. A trick of the eye," he added in a downtrodden voice.
Mullins tipped his bowler hat-a new addition to his wardrobe, probably added to take interest away from his moustache-to him and left just as quickly as he had come in. "Doesn't he ever think I might have a life of my own?" Percy grumbled. "What makes him think I want to sit around this sterile office staring at my hands until some ruddy owl shows up?"
It was only when Percy returned his eyes from the empty doorway that he remembered he was not alone. Remus Lupin was staring at him intently. Percy blushed, absolutely mortified both with the things he had said and the reason he had for saying them. He probably sounded like such a brat.
"Shall we get on with it?" Percy asked very quickly. He straightened up in his chair, adjusted his glasses and put on his dullest face. Back to business.
"Of course," Lupin said just as quickly.
The business permit had only just arrived from the Licenses, Authorizations and Permits Office before Percy went to lunch, and it was still sitting on his desk. It was absurd what kind of background checks the Ministry ran on werewolves, especially when Percy himself could have applied for and been granted permission to brew instantaneously fatal poisons in his kitchen sink within an hour. All because Lupin was a werewolf.
But Lupin looked so ludicrously over-the-moon about it (which may or may not have been an appropriate idiom to use) and even a little bit scared that Percy couldn't delay the process any longer. He was sitting on the edge of the seat, leaning forward over Percy's desk and staring at the business permit with huge amber eyes.
He looked wild-in a completely natural, calm sort of way. It was so unlike the wildness Percy saw in his brothers and Potter that it caught him off guard. Until then, he hadn't even known that there was another kind of wildness in people. Werewolves were definitely people.
Percy cleared his throat. "This is it," he said. "I just need you to sign here-" he pointed, "and here, and then I'll witness it and off you go."
"Truly?" Lupin breathed.
Percy looked up uncomfortably for a split-second. He felt awkward-like he was doing Lupin some amazing favour that would be repaid and repaid and repaid until Percy felt like he owed Lupin his whole soul. "Yes," he said professionally. "Please keep in mind that this must be displayed in a conspicuous place at your business at all times. Failure to do so-"
"I know," Lupin said, still staring at the business permit. His signature was still inky-wet on the parchment and he watched, fascinated, as it slowly dried. Percy suddenly got the impression that Lupin might have the notion to not only display the permit, but…idolize it, such as it were.
"Right," Percy cleared his throat. "That's it then."
Lupin looked up at him. "Thank you so very much, Percy," he breathed.
Percy's eyes darted sideways for a split second. "You're very welcome." he said. He signed his name, passed the parchment over to Lupin, and watched, puzzled, as the werewolf nearly floated out of his office.
-x-
It wasn't until much later, when Percy was waiting for that dreadful owl from the French Ministry to show up, that he heard a knock at his office door. His fingers were sore from fumbling with them and the loose thread on the hem of his sleeve had become significantly longer due to the worrying. All of his work for the next two weeks was completed; Percy was bored and it was only eight.
He looked up slowly, half-thinking that he was going mad from all of the idle time-it had only been three hours, but Percy was not the type of person to sit idly for even that long-and saw Lupin stick his head in the door.
"Hello," Lupin said apprehensively. Percy gave him a curious look.
"I forgot my coat earlier…in the lobby," he held up the tattered coat for Percy and smiled awkwardly. "It's just that I remembered," the werewolf continued uncertainly, "that you would be staying late. I thought I might bring you some dinner."
In his other hand, which had been partially hidden by the door, Lupin held a sack of take-away. "Curry," he explained, stepping into the office.
"Curry?" Percy asked almost eagerly. He loved curry. Lupin nodded, noticing that Percy's expression changed, for the better, and took it as a sign of invitation-which, Percy reflected, it was.
Lupin set the food out and perched himself yet again in the chair opposite Percy's desk. "Thank you," Percy said, delighted. "You really shouldn't have-"
"Nonsense," Lupin waved him off. "I might not have much, but I can certainly afford the occasional curry, and anyway, I'm hoping that the book shop will change things."
"When will you open?" Percy asked, forgetting that his mouth was full of food. He promptly blushed and covered his mouth. "Sorry," he said, once he'd swallowed.
Lupin looked amused. "It's fine." He pulled two butterbeers from the sack and then continued, "It'll open just in time for the Christmas rush, I think."
"I wish there had been a book shop in Hogsmeade when I was at school."
"Me too," Lupin nodded. He took a bite of his own food. "And Harry's been a lot of help as well. He's a good lad-eccentric at times-but still a good lad. I was worried that I would have to close up shop for the full moon, but he and Hermione offered to run it then. A big relief, I can tell you, since the first weekend after I plan to open is a full moon."
"Hogsmeade weekend?" Percy asked, barely remembering to swallow this time. Lupin was chattier than he would have expected, and not only that, but it was making Percy want to be chatty as well. That was never good when you were eating.
"Yes," Lupin answered ironically. "The last one before the Christmas holidays-it would have been a shame to miss it."
Percy nodded. "Have you started ordering any stock yet?"
Lupin perked up considerably. "I just got my first order of muggle books in today-I was too eager to wait for the business permit, I admit," he added sheepishly. "I found a collection of them at a warehouse in London; bought them extremely cheap. You wouldn't believe the conversion rate for galleons."
"Really?" Percy said. "Have you read any of them?"
If Percy thought Lupin was chatty, he should have known better than to ask him a question about books he'd read. Lupin was an absolute fanatic about literature of any kind, and Percy found himself listening intently as he relayed tales of all the muggle books he'd come across at one point or another.
Lupin was waxing poetically about a book regarding a son and his relationship with his mother when there was a rustling, whooshing sound to his left. He almost didn't notice it, so caught up was he in the tale of the mother's subtle, almost natural, manipulations. The sound came again, and Percy reluctantly looked up.
In the fireplace, an owl was flapping its wings in the flame, waiting for Percy to allow admittance into the Ministry. "Approved," he said quickly.
The owl gave him a look as if to say it had taken him jolly well long enough, and soared out of the fireplace, landing with a smattering of soot on his desk. He held his hand out for the letter, but the owl looked at him sternly and pointedly proffered its other leg.
After he'd signed for the package-purposefully not using his 'fancy signature' just because Mullins had offended him earlier-the owl stuck it's beak into a small pouch around it's neck, scooped out a bit of floo powder and flew back into the fireplace, spitting the powder into the flames. It disappeared, and Percy turned back to his desk to find that the curry was long gone and it was past midnight.
"I should be going," Lupin said, standing.
Percy waved his wand to vanish the mess and stood as well. He'd never before been disappointed to see someone leave, but indeed, he'd been enjoying their talk. "Thank you for coming; you didn't have to," he said again.
Lupin smiled over his shoulder on his way to the door. "No trouble at all. I enjoyed it. Goodnight."
"Me too," Percy said, but Lupin was already gone, the door was already shut behind him and the office was suddenly very dark in his absence. He flooed back to his flat that night because he didn't think he could walk through the Ministry, as dark as it was, even though he'd done it hundreds of times before.
-x-
Percy was having a very bad Tuesday when he received a letter, just as winter was rolling in. The envelope and stationary were a matching cream colour sealed with a wolf guarding a book in red wax. Quite fancy, Percy thought. He was very near to pulling his hair out, and even though he didn't recognize the seal, he was delighted to have any sort of distraction from Mr Mullins' constant picking.
Pushing his glasses up his nose, Percy slipped his finger under the seal and unfolded the letter.
27 November
Percy,
I know that you're a very busy man, but I really appreciated all of your help the other day, so I would like to invite you over to see the new shop. Let's call it a pre-grand opening, for friends and family. Unfortunately, as I have no family, there won't be any of them there. I invited Harry as well, but he has Auror business and won't be able to attend.
It won't be much, but I thought you might like to see what all of your help has accomplished. The shop will be ready for business next week, so if you have time today, pop over. I'll be there all day.
The shop is called 'Mowgli Books'. Harry named it. He won't tell me where he got the name, but he and Hermione snicker about it a fair bit. I assume it's from some form of Muggle literature.
Remus
Percy looked at his watch, saw that it was a quarter 'til Insanity, and decided that he deserved a lunch break.
PART TWO.
Title: Symptoms of Family
Author: faire_weather
Giftee: sarka
Pairing: Percy/Remus
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 14,790 (!)
Summary: Percy hates Tuesdays; he just doesn't realise it. Inspired by apples, breathing, curry and bookshops. Prompt: Trying to get re-accepted into the family, trying to prove himself, D/s, romance, fluff, angst, smut. (Everything but D/s). This was my first time writing Remus, and Percy and didn't want to cooperate for the longest time, so I was a bit nervous.
Symptoms of Family
After the war, Scrimgeour decided the Ministry needed to be reorganised, and he hosted one hell of a campaign to do it.
All Ministry employees were required to take IQ and career placement tests. The results, unfortunately, proved that more than half of the employees weren't fit to work in their current departments. (That Minister Scrimgeour rated only thirty-four percent in 'ability to lead' was a non-issue.)
The big problem was that Percy was not made for cauldron bottom regulation-or any regulation at all. Apparently. It was a Tuesday in early October when the paper airplane memo dropped off his test results at his cubicle.
2 October
Dear Mr Percival Weasley:
After reviewing your test results, the Ministry Employee Statistical Stationing Equivalency Department (Upheaval Patrol), or MESSED(UP), has come to a decision about your career opportunities. After careful consideration, we recommend the following department for your continuing employment at the Ministry.
Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
In accordance with Ministry edict SNAFU-4 (from the Statistical Nonsense Association Free Up Department) which was signed into law on the 14th of September, you are required to transfer to your recommended department within one week. Please speak to the head of your new department immediately.
If you feel that this judgement has been made in error, please reconsider. The employees of MESSED have all scored at least seventy-five percent on their MESSED(UP) tests in the delegation category.
Yours delegating,
Agatha Auntagony
MESSED(UP)
Percy stared at the letter, resigned and aggravated. He was half-way finished with his most recent report on methods to improve import relations, and now it was all for nothing.
Across the hall, Tillman lifted his head from his own letter and gave Percy a racy smile. "Finally out of this shit-hole department, I am!" he said. Tillman wasted no time with finalizing his affairs for Import Regulations. A cardboard box was conjured, he tossed in a photo of his wife and kids, and set the rest ablaze before strolling, jauntily, out the door.
Percy watched with a gut-wrenching sort of detachment as something that sounded suspiciously like his life falling apart echoed in his head. Finally, Martha Juniper rushed across the department with water spurting from her wand and shouts spurting from her mouth. Percy blinked and inhaled a mouthful of smoke.
-x-
One week later, on another Tuesday, Percy was settling into his new office which, admittedly, was much nicer than the one before. He had a magical window behind him that looked out onto beaches of the Cayman Islands and another across the hall that showed the Congo. Occasionally, when Percy was staring off into space, trying to think of new laws to pass, a gorilla would amble past. It was much better than staring at the back of Tillman's head, like he had to do in Import Regulations.
"Percy!"
Percy looked up and forced himself not to look away again. There was his father, merry as ever, ambling towards him with a huge muggle-loving grin on his face and his arms outstretched. It was such an odd sight that he fluctuated between standing and sitting, feeling awkward and looking ridiculous, until his father gave him an odd look and stopped several feet from his desk.
Percy cleared his throat and his desk in one go, straightening his back as he finally reached equilibrium and stepped forward. Eyes focusing, Percy became aware that in the confusion, Arthur had dropped his arms. He held his hand out perfunctorily, trying to dislodge the awkward situation-if it could be dislodged at all after such a ridiculous display. Stupid, Percy, stupid! He chided himself.
Arthur recovered first. "How ya been, Percy?" he asked, ignoring his outstretched hand and bring his arms up again to hug him tightly. Percy closed his eyes as his own arms did the same, seemingly of their own volition.
"Well, thank you," he said stiffly. In a situation like that, he was unable to do anything else. He felt like a trapped animal that might not have been trapped if only it had eaten the food that was offered from the hand that offered it.
Arthur Weasley was not deterred by the half-hearted reply. "Seems I'm not fit for muggle artefacts!" he said jovially. "Upheaval Patrol transferred me here to Magical Creatures! And you're here too! What about those apples, eh, Perce?"
Percy had never liked apples, he remembered. Of any kind. Not even when his mum put them in a cobbler, and it had been such a long time since he had even seen an apple that his brain automatically began conjuring different images of them. Gala, Red Delicious, Granny Smith-
"Quite the apples, Father," he said, wondering how one responded to something like that.
"Which reminds me, your mum's making apple cobbler tonight," Arthur Weasley said more soberly. Percy stared at him quietly while a McIntosh appeared in his head. That's what his mum had always used in her cobblers, and- "Why don't you come round? I know how you've always loved your mum's apple cobbler. We'd love to have you."
Percy faltered for just a-how in the world had anyone ever thought he liked apple cob-it was ridiculous! He never ate it. "Busy settling," Percy offered, feeling thrown and gesturing vaguely at his new office.
How awkward.
"Right," Arthur said quickly, nodding his head. "I understand. Well…well, I'll just be settling in as well," he offered. He pointed over his shoulder at the desk underneath the window-the one that showed the Congo. "Some other time," he added over his shoulder.
Percy followed his gesture and frowned. He had just moved from staring at the back of Tillman's head to the back of his father's head. Wrapping his arms around himself unassumingly, Percy wandered back to his desk and tried to figure out why he felt so strange after seeing his father for the first time in two years.
-x-
One month and twenty-eight awkwardly declined offers of lunch from his father later, it was a Tuesday. Percy was just finishing up a report on the new import-export regulations on jarveys-which had caused quite the scandal in the import offices when several of them escaped and insulted thirteen muggles last Tuesday-when his new supervisor, Mullins, came round.
"Weatherby," Mullins said. Mullins was a large man with watery blue eyes and a handlebar moustache in yellow ochre. He twisted one side of it as Percy stared at him, and wondered how, even with his father sitting across the hall, no one in the Ministry seemed able to get his name-even with Barty Crouch Sr. gone. Was it some sort of joke, or did no one really know that he was a Weasley?
"Yes?"
"Got a client coming in before lunch today, Weatherby," Mullins said, patting his belly apropos to nothing. "I'm having my elevenses with my mother-in-law. You'll have to handle it."
"Your mother-in-law?" Percy asked dubiously. He narrowed his eyes slightly; Mullins wasn't even married.
Mr Mullins shifted uneasily on his feet and then stared out of the window behind Percy's desk. It was a scene from Babylon, and poorly replicated at that. The tower wasn't nearly high enough.
"Not really my mother-in-law," Mullins admitted. "Mostly it's my sister, but in a round about way, you see-" He left the sentence hanging and shrugged. Percy looked back down at his report: Mullins didn't have a sister either. He didn't have much of anything really, except for rent boys in Knockturn Alley-which, Percy realised, was a bit similar to his own state of affairs, only he didn't bother with the rent- "She's in hospital," Mullins continued blithely. "Might not make it."
"So you're having tea with her?" Percy asked helpfully. "To ease her transition?"
Mullins nodded emphatically. "Helps the grieving process. There's five steps, you see: birth, life, nearly dying, denial, acceptance and grieving."
"What about the actual death then?" Percy asked, ignoring, for a moment, Mullins' inability to do simple math. No wonder he was in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He wouldn't have lasted a day in Import Regulations.
"They're not 'round for that, are they, so it can't be one of the steps."
"Right," Percy said, nodding uncertainly.
Mullins smiled at him, ruffled his hair and turned to face the other window, clasping his fat, red hands behind his back. It had been snowing outside when Percy came to work, and lately he had been wishing that he could see that instead of the jungle.
"Weasley!" Mullins bellowed.
Percy and his father both looked up, but Mullins was ambling out of Percy's office and into the one across the hall.
"Let's have a curry, yeah? My treat." Arthur Weasley scrambled to follow. Percy stared at the retreating forms of his father and his supervisor, trying not to think of how good curry sounded right then, glanced at the stack of paperwork on his desk and realised that it was a quarter 'til.
He panicked.
-x-
At eleven, Percy was frantic, which was not completely unusual given his disposition, but still exasperating just the same. He had no idea what this client would need or where he would find the paperwork he would need for the meeting.
Mullins hadn't bothered to give him a run down when he transferred from Import Regulations and he was still fairly new and he knew hardly anything about the laws concerning the department or the regulations one had to follow to-
It was then that Ron-the-Auror, who was a Weasley hero, Ginny-the-Auror, who was a Weasley heroine, and Potter-the-Auror, who was Percy's ex-boyfriend and sometimes an arsehole, all came in, laughing much too loudly for an office and making Percy feel strange in that 'I'm out-numbered and we all know it' sort of way. Percy folded his arms and glared at the wall, trying to remember what Mr Crouch had once told him to do when he was feeling overwhelmed.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Imagine your audience naked-
"What do you suppose ol' Percy thinks about not getting to regulate cauldron bottoms anymore?" Ron asked loudly as they rounded the corner.
"Dunno," Potter laughed back. "Probably the same thing he said when he found out he wasn't the only Weasley regulating my bottom anymore," he snickered. There was an expectant silence. Potter affected a very poor imitation of Percy's voice and said, "This is unacceptable!"
All three of them laughed. Percy didn't because that was not really what happened at all. He remembered it vividly, and it had not included him saying, in any form, 'This is unacceptable'. What it had included-and this was important, Percy thought-was Percy walking in on Harry and Fred in flagrant delecto, Harry jumping up, shocked, when he saw him, and Percy running out with trembling legs and an ache in his throat.
Then, Ginny saw him. "Percy! How lovely to see you!" she said. It had been so long since Percy had even seen her that he couldn't tell if she was sincere or not. He smiled stiltedly at her, hoping that she wasn't mocking him, and effected an acceptable greeting in return. Ginny smiled at him a bit.
"Are you my eleven o'clock?" he asked after another moment. God, he hoped they weren't; if they were then Percy might have a panic attack. He wasn't sure if he could deal with any of this right now, or-
"Nah," Ron said blithely. "If we had appointments, we'd make sure to get Dad or that Mullins fellow instead."
Percy frowned, wondering why. Then Potter flopped down, uninvited, at the chair on the other side of his desk, adjusted his scarf, and Percy didn't think his day could get any worse. Several seconds later, he realised that Mr Crouch's advice was wholly inefficient and probably more of a hindrance than a help. He chanced a look at his desk calendar to keep from looking at Potter, only to realise that he had promised Penelope he would have lunch with her-as friends-next Tuesday.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
"Hey, Percy." Percy looked up to see that Potter was smiling at him hesitantly.
"Potter," Percy said flatly. He had heard what Potter said to Ron on the way in; he wasn't deaf, certainly, and even if Potter had just been taking the piss-
Potter cocked his head to the side, cheeks red with the cold, but it reminded Percy of- "So it's 'Potter' now? Not 'Harry'?"
Percy sneered because Mr Crouch's advice kept surfacing and he was seeing things that never happened and things that did and he felt anxious to get away from the situation. "It hasn't been 'Harry' since you decided you'd rather be with Fred," he said. His voice didn't waver, and that, Percy reckoned, was a good enough sign.
"George," Potter corrected with a wince. "Fred's straight. Mostly," he babbled, "And I wanted to tell you that I'm s-"
Percy shrugged, cutting him off. Where was his eleven o'clock? If he had to spend any more time with these three then Percy was going to-
"Professor Lupin!" Ginny exclaimed, much more happily than she had exclaimed Percy's own name, and he felt a shiver of embarrassment roll through him. He was out of place in his own office. Percy's lips twisted acerbically at the thought as he looked up at Remus Lupin entering the department. He was in his usual shabby attire: Percy actually itched to have him fitted for a respectable robe. What Lupin was wearing was simply unacceptable for business matters, and not nearly warm enough at that. Why if Percy had-
"Hello," Professor Lupin said kindly, nodding at each of them. He took the chair next to Potter, removed his tattered gloves, and smiled at Percy, which was totally incongruous with how Percy was feel-Lupin's hands were chapped; he needed better gloves. "Afternoon, Percy, how are you?"
"Most excellent," Percy said quickly-too quickly, in fact; he needed to work on that. Lupin probably thought he was feeling nervous-he was, but that wasn't the point. Maybe it was time he looked for work elsewhere, he thought. Somewhere with less Weasleys to make him uncomfortable-even if he was the only one who was a Weatherby; he wondered if Lupin knew about that shaming reality and hoped he didn't. Too many people knew already. If Lupin knew too, then-
"Wonderful," Professor Lupin said. All three of them stared at each other for several seconds and Ron and Ginny made a ruckus in the background until Potter spoke up, much too loudly. Had his voice always been so loud?
It had, Percy remembered. It had been particularly loud when they-and Potter had always been quiet in class. How absurd-but outside, when he wasn't in class, or a Tri-Wizard Tournament-that was so long ago, Percy remembered.
"How about that paperwork, Percy? I've got a lunch date with Ron and Ginny." Potter seemed to have decided that he would play the 'I don't care' card. Kind of like Good Cop, Bad Cop where Potter was the-which one was which?-and Lupin was-why was Percy making references like that to his family?
Potter wasn't family, he reminded himself. Nearly good as, though, he supposed. More of a Weasley than Percy himself was at any rate. He was a Weatherby, after all. Breathe.
Percy turned his head slowly to stare at Potter. "So go."
"I can't," Potter said waving a hand at the papers on Percy's desk. "Not until I sign off on this stuff."
"I don't even know what you're here for," Percy said, exasperated. His hands shook under the desk. "Mr Mullins just told me to take care of his eleven o'clock."
Professor Lupin cleared his throat. "That would be me. Harry is my legal guardian." He said this self-deprecatingly, like it was true and Lupin didn't mind so much but he thought other people might mind so he tried to make a joke about it. Potter snorted and high-fived Ron. He liked jokes, too.
"'S true," Potter said, nodding. "You know that new werewolf law? All werewolves have got to have legal guardians that make all their legal decisions. Remus wants to start a business, so here I am." He shrugged. His shoulders were too bony.
Percy furrowed his brows. He hadn’t heard even a single word about that law. "What?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Really, Percy. I would've thought you of all people would be up to date on Ministry news." She was adjusting her robes around herself as she said this, and Percy got the feeling that she was a bit uncomfortable, too. Ron didn't look at anyone except Harry.
Percy ignored it. "So what kind of business, Professor Lupin?"
"Remus," Professor Lupin corrected gently. Too gently-like he realised how prickly Percy was feeling and wanted to make it better, only it couldn't be made better because if Lupin had found him out then- "I'm not your professor anymore."
"Reeeemus!" Ron, Ginny and Potter chorused in sing-song voices-where had that come from? Professor Lupin blushed. Percy frowned. He was much better off without Potter, he decided firmly, even though he had decided that when he walked in on Potter giving Fred-he was sure it had been Fred, not George-a blow job six months ago. All three of them were so juvenile. Percy was firm in this conviction.
"What kind of business?" Percy asked again.
"A book store," Lupin said happily. He was leaning forward now in an elated rendition of something resembling enthusiasm, graying hair falling over his brows and hands rising to brace himself on the desk. It was like he was about to tell Percy the most fantastic secret, and no one, not even Bill or Charlie and especially not the twins, had ever told him a secret before-
He perked up without realising it. A new bookstore would be fantastic, of course, he thought. Flourish and Blotts was so commercialised lately that he couldn't find anything decent that wasn't a textbook-and he had already read all of those. He opened his mouth to ask more questions when Potter cleared his throat, probably rudely.
"The paperwork, Percy? I've really got to go. Shacklebolt says he's going to shackle all three of us to the wall and bolt our feet to the floor if we take anymore three hour lunches."
"Might be fun!" Ginny grinned.
All three laughed loudly and clapped each other on the backs. Percy frowned, wondering what it would be like to have friends to act like fools with. Professor Lupin smiled blandly, politely ignored their crassness, and fiddled with a loose thread on the hem of his sleeve. Percy's eyes zeroed in on it, and he fought not to clip it off.
"The paperwork, right," he said. He opened his desk drawer, trying to look organised, and was pleasantly surprised when the stack of papers on top was labelled 'Form W-3: Werewolf Business Permit Application'. Finally-something that went right.
"Here you go, Mr Lupin," Percy said, dropping the 'professor' part because he just couldn't bring himself to call any of his elders by their first names.
"Remus," Lupin corrected. He smiled.
"Reeeemus!" two of the three idiots chorused.
"Where do I sign?" Potter asked impatiently.
"Here," Professor Lupin said, pointing to a spot near the bottom after he read through. Potter nodded, snatched the quill from Percy's hand without even a by-your-leave, and signed his name messily. He nodded once, slid the paperwork back to Lupin, and stood.
"See you then, Remus. Bye Weatherby." Potter smiled foolishly at them both and left with Ron and Ginny, whistling on his way out. If Potter could be so unemotional about all of this-so unaffected-then Percy could, too. There was no reason to feel uncomfortable around his family, and it was ludicrous that he had thought so before.
Then Lupin cleared his throat. "So," he said.
Percy looked at him. "So?"
"It's all ready to go," Lupin said, gesturing towards the paperwork. "Signed in triplicate. It just needs your approval." Percy felt like he was being sold something very expensive by someone who was very good at selling expensive things.
"My approval," Percy muttered, skimming through. He had not been briefed about this, he thought frantically. He had no idea whether or not to approve it. It seemed like a good idea to him, but then Mr Mullins was an odd man and it might not seem the same to him. Percy certainly didn't want to alienate his supervisor, especially since he was so new to the department.
"Where do you plan to open this book store?" Percy asked, for lack of anything better.
"Hogsmeade," Lupin said, smiling. "Harry's giving me the start-up with a really fantastic payment plan. I figure it'll be a nice place for the Hogwarts students to buy extracurricular books. No one reads enough anymore."
"You know, there's not a single bookstore in Hogsmeade," Percy said conversationally, leaning forward as well.
"Pity, isn't it?" Lupin responded. "I'm hoping to change that."
Percy hummed to himself, imagining what his school days would have been like if he had been able to shop for light reading during the school term. Much more exciting, certainly. "And what sorts of books do you plan to stock?"
"Oh, this and that," Lupin said airily. "Of course, I'll carry a few copies of each of the textbooks, in case a student loses theirs, but I'm also hoping to carry a wide selection of classical wizarding literature, history, contemporary novels and self-help books. Perhaps some monthly publications."
That sold Percy. He nodded once, signed his name with a flourish and stamped the paperwork with a big, red 'APPROVED', feeling very proud of himself. His first major assignment in this new department, and he had done a splendid job, he knew. Professor Lupin would make an excellent shop owner.
"You'll have to come back a week from today to get your business license," Percy said, passing the paperwork over and keeping two copies for his files. "I'll have it for you after lunch on Tuesday."
Lupin smiled wolfishly at him, stood and shook his hand. Percy felt something twitch in his gut at the look on Lupin's face. He had never seen someone look so excited about something before. Not even when Potter got his jollies off with Fred. George. Whichever. He didn't care right then. "Thank you, Percy. You don't know how much this means to me."
Percy smiled, without faking it this time. He felt rejuvenated. "Not at all. I think it's an excellent venture. I might stop in myself once you're up and running."
Lupin beamed at him, seemingly shocked at the proposal. "That would be lovely."
When he was gone, Percy slumped back into his chair, and realised that not only was the tower too short in the Babylon scene, but the people were also too excited. Who needed excitement like Potter had with his siblings when you had a nice book to curl up with? He would have to stop by Lupin's shop as soon as it opened.
-x-
"Potter," Percy lamented the following Tuesday, "is one of the most foul creatures to ever walk the earth. Can you believe that Professor Lupin-you remember Professor Lupin, don't you?-actually chose him for his legal guardian? He's a disgrace to humankind!"
Six days Percy had ruminated over the visit to his office, becoming more and more perturbed as time went on. Of course, he didn't believe a word he was saying, but he refused to admit to himself that the real reason he was so upset was that he didn't think Professor Lupin needed a guardian anyway.
He was an adult! And Potter was younger than Percy himself. What Professor Lupin really needed was a companion who shared his own ideals, who understood what it was like to have to fight for something and then get it taken away from them anyway, like he had.
Werewolf rights were non-existent in this post-war world, thanks to Fenrir Greyback. Of course, they had never been anything spectacular before, but never had things been so strict. Percy had never realised how bad it was.
And the fact that Lupin was okay with it was even worse. Percy pitied him because he knew that Lupin didn't want anyone's pity. That was a pitiable reason enough, he thought.
Penelope-who was now a Wood and not a Clearwater-stared blankly at Percy over her salmon salad. The salmon was out of season, but Penelope had never had much common sense. She was too intelligent for that. "Potter or Professor Lupin?"
Percy scoffed. "Potter, of course. Lupin's a werewolf anyway."
"He's still human," Penelope added helpfully.
"Do you think so?" Percy asked musingly. "I mean, of course, I consider him human, but is his DNA human, do you think?" It was something to consider.
Penelope shrugged, unconcerned. "And Professor Lupin has Potter as his werewolf guardian?"
Percy nodded mutely, completely dumbfounded, and then started. "Wait: you knew about the new werewolf law?"
"Of course," Penelope scoffed. "It was in the Daily Prophet just last month."
"Am I the only person who didn't know about it?" Percy cried. People from surrounding tables looked up to give him dirty looks. He smiled meekly at them and returned to Penelope, this time whispering: "Even Potter knew about it! And I'm in the Department of Magical Creatures and…the Department for the Control and Taxation-Regulation of…oh fuck it. They transferred me to Magical Creatures! How did I not know about that?"
"Don't use that kind of language, Percy. I'm surprised at you," Penelope chastised him blandly. Frankly, Percy was surprised himself. He never used such vulgar language.
Then, as if it had never happened, Penelope shrugged and sipped her tea. "I don't think your heart's in it like it was with Import Regulations."
Percy's shoulders slumped. "I really did enjoy that." And he had, of course.
"But your SNAFU test said you weren't cut out for it," Penelope reminded him. "Maybe you're not cut out for magical creatures either."
"I like magical creatures just fine," Percy said. "Verily, werewolves are moderately interesting. I would like the opportunity, for instance, to study Professor Lupin in detail-assuming he was amenable to the idea."
The new DNA theory was frolicking through his mind now, creating all sorts of possibilities. Of course, he didn't really give a damn about unicorns-they had never given him the time of day, so why should he?-or jarveys-they were always causing trouble (in every department)-but werewolves weren't so bad, he thought.
"That doesn't mean you're cut out for doing all sorts of forms in triplicate for them though."
"True," Percy said, but he had practiced his 'professional' signature for months in seventh year and he liked using it on the forms nowadays.
"Very true," Penelope said, just as an owl landed in her salad. She frowned. "I didn’t order that."
"Errol," Percy said flatly. How strange. The owl in question looked up at him dejectedly and hooted. "Have a letter for me?" he asked resignedly. He had been expecting this, of course. It was only a matter of time before his mother found out about him working with his father.
Errol, in turn, gave him a reprimanding hoot. Percy was reminded of his grandfather-the one who had given Ron his old Chess set even though Percy had been the better player. He hadn't played Chess since then, deciding that if his grandfather didn't think him worthy, then he should find a new interest. It was principle.
Suddenly, Penelope looked at her watch. "Oh my, it's Tuesday, isn't it? I have to meet Oliver in twenty minutes-we have an appointment at the Magical Fertilization Office."
"Are you starting a garden?" Percy asked with interest. At his studio flat in wizarding Kent, he had a small herb garden in his window box. It would be nice to have someone to talk about gardening with.
Penelope laughed. "Of course not. I hate the sun. We want a baby."
Percy gave her a funny look. "And you haven't tried…you know…," he gestured vaguely, vulgarly, "to get one?"
"Tried what?" Penelope asked, genuinely curious, as she gathered up her things and tossed a few coins on the table.
Percy paused. "Never mind."
Penelope smiled sweetly, hugged Percy goodbye, and suddenly, he was alone with his lunch and an owl that he hadn't seen in years.
"Let's have it then," he said in resignation. Errol gathered himself up and held out his leg for Percy. The letter read:
13 November
Dear Percy,
Your father tells me that now that the two of you are working together, you're getting along swimmingly. That's wonderful news. I do so miss you, Percy, and so do your father, your brothers and Ginny. Ron asked about you just the other day and the twins are always mentioning how-'bland,' I think, is the word they used-it has been since you left.
We're having a family dinner on Sunday. I made apple cider-your favourite-and Harry will be there too. He's always talking about you. I wonder if he fancies you? It would be so lovely if the two of you were together, Percy, don't you think? He's such a lovely boy.
Anyway, dinner will be at seven; I hope that you can make it. We all miss you so very much.
Lots of love,
Mum
Percy, suddenly overcome with a fit of shaking, wadded up the letter and shoved it into his pocket. It had been too long-sometimes, too much time passes and you can't fix things-this was one of those times, Percy was sure; there was no way his family would welcome him back after all this time, and, anyway, he didn't like apples and when were they going to understand that-?
Errol remained on the plate.
-x-
After lunch, Percy returned to his office, shaking snow out of his hair and breathing regularly once again to find his father chatting with Professor Lupin. He tried to ease into the office without being seen, but both Professor Lupin and his father seemed to have extrasensory vision: they spotted him at once.
"Percy!" they chorused. Looking truly pleased to see him. Strange. Strange. Strange.
Percy offered a bland smile, shoved his hands in his pockets and felt his heartbeat intensify as it brushed over the crumpled parchment.
"Your father was just inviting me over for dinner on Sunday," Professor Lupin said. "I hope to see you there."
Arthur Weasley looked expectantly at his son. Is there anyone who isn't a Weasley these days? Percy thought. But he was a Weatherby.
Breathe. Instead, he cleared his throat and said, "Mr Mullins is really counting on me to get this paperwork finished before the deadline next Wednesday. I'm afraid I won't be able to."
"Some other time," Lupin smiled.
"Some other time," Percy echoed faintly. For some reason, he was starting to feel very uncomfortable around Professor Lupin, but not the same kind of uncomfortable he felt around his family. And the werewolf was still looking at Percy with that constantly-happy, if a bit demure, smile. He choked slightly on nothing and opened his mouth hesitantly. "You're here for your business permit, Mr Lupin?"
"So you were approved then?" Arthur asked happily.
Lupin turned to him and grinned. "Indeed. Percy was a delight to work with. Very helpful. You've got a wonderful son, Arthur."
Arthur Weasley beamed and began fidgeting with his hands in excitement. "We've always been very proud of Percy's accomplishments," he said happily.
"We should really get started," Percy cut in quickly. He wasn't sure he could listen to that because the fact of the matter was that his family had not always been very proud of him. Or, maybe, they had been proud of him, just disappointed with his decisions, but weren't those the same thing-?
"There are still a few forms to sign, you see," Percy added, breathing.
"After you, then," Lupin said. Really, he smiled far too much. Surely no one could always be so cheerful.
Percy nodded once to his father and started across the hall to his office. They were just settling into their chairs when the door opened loudly and Mr Mullins strode in, looking mightily pleased with himself.
"Weatherby, you're back; good," he said cheerfully. He'd had an unfortunate accident shaving that morning: One half of his handlebar moustache was noticeably shorter than the other side. Lupin tried to catch Percy's eye, silently questioning the name, but Percy steadfastly ignored him; how embarrassing. Mullins had yet to notice that Percy was with a client.
"I'll need you to stay late tonight," Mr Mullins was saying. "There's a parcel coming in from the French Ministry-an Intercontinental treaty regarding the recent Jarvey confusion. Certified post, Weatherby," he explained. "You'll have to sign for it. Use that fancy signature of yours."
Percy opened his mouth quickly. "But Mr Mullins-!" he exclaimed sharply before he could think better of it. He shut his mouth with an audible snap. He had very nearly said something unfortunate right then.
"Yes, Weatherby?" Mullins asked. He hadn't noticed the tone of Percy's response, so caught up was he in his haste to get away from the office early.
"Nothing," Percy mumbled, then cleared his throat and said more clearly, "Nothing, Mr Mullins. It was only that I thought I saw something on your cloak. A trick of the eye," he added in a downtrodden voice.
Mullins tipped his bowler hat-a new addition to his wardrobe, probably added to take interest away from his moustache-to him and left just as quickly as he had come in. "Doesn't he ever think I might have a life of my own?" Percy grumbled. "What makes him think I want to sit around this sterile office staring at my hands until some ruddy owl shows up?"
It was only when Percy returned his eyes from the empty doorway that he remembered he was not alone. Remus Lupin was staring at him intently. Percy blushed, absolutely mortified both with the things he had said and the reason he had for saying them. He probably sounded like such a brat.
"Shall we get on with it?" Percy asked very quickly. He straightened up in his chair, adjusted his glasses and put on his dullest face. Back to business.
"Of course," Lupin said just as quickly.
The business permit had only just arrived from the Licenses, Authorizations and Permits Office before Percy went to lunch, and it was still sitting on his desk. It was absurd what kind of background checks the Ministry ran on werewolves, especially when Percy himself could have applied for and been granted permission to brew instantaneously fatal poisons in his kitchen sink within an hour. All because Lupin was a werewolf.
But Lupin looked so ludicrously over-the-moon about it (which may or may not have been an appropriate idiom to use) and even a little bit scared that Percy couldn't delay the process any longer. He was sitting on the edge of the seat, leaning forward over Percy's desk and staring at the business permit with huge amber eyes.
He looked wild-in a completely natural, calm sort of way. It was so unlike the wildness Percy saw in his brothers and Potter that it caught him off guard. Until then, he hadn't even known that there was another kind of wildness in people. Werewolves were definitely people.
Percy cleared his throat. "This is it," he said. "I just need you to sign here-" he pointed, "and here, and then I'll witness it and off you go."
"Truly?" Lupin breathed.
Percy looked up uncomfortably for a split-second. He felt awkward-like he was doing Lupin some amazing favour that would be repaid and repaid and repaid until Percy felt like he owed Lupin his whole soul. "Yes," he said professionally. "Please keep in mind that this must be displayed in a conspicuous place at your business at all times. Failure to do so-"
"I know," Lupin said, still staring at the business permit. His signature was still inky-wet on the parchment and he watched, fascinated, as it slowly dried. Percy suddenly got the impression that Lupin might have the notion to not only display the permit, but…idolize it, such as it were.
"Right," Percy cleared his throat. "That's it then."
Lupin looked up at him. "Thank you so very much, Percy," he breathed.
Percy's eyes darted sideways for a split second. "You're very welcome." he said. He signed his name, passed the parchment over to Lupin, and watched, puzzled, as the werewolf nearly floated out of his office.
-x-
It wasn't until much later, when Percy was waiting for that dreadful owl from the French Ministry to show up, that he heard a knock at his office door. His fingers were sore from fumbling with them and the loose thread on the hem of his sleeve had become significantly longer due to the worrying. All of his work for the next two weeks was completed; Percy was bored and it was only eight.
He looked up slowly, half-thinking that he was going mad from all of the idle time-it had only been three hours, but Percy was not the type of person to sit idly for even that long-and saw Lupin stick his head in the door.
"Hello," Lupin said apprehensively. Percy gave him a curious look.
"I forgot my coat earlier…in the lobby," he held up the tattered coat for Percy and smiled awkwardly. "It's just that I remembered," the werewolf continued uncertainly, "that you would be staying late. I thought I might bring you some dinner."
In his other hand, which had been partially hidden by the door, Lupin held a sack of take-away. "Curry," he explained, stepping into the office.
"Curry?" Percy asked almost eagerly. He loved curry. Lupin nodded, noticing that Percy's expression changed, for the better, and took it as a sign of invitation-which, Percy reflected, it was.
Lupin set the food out and perched himself yet again in the chair opposite Percy's desk. "Thank you," Percy said, delighted. "You really shouldn't have-"
"Nonsense," Lupin waved him off. "I might not have much, but I can certainly afford the occasional curry, and anyway, I'm hoping that the book shop will change things."
"When will you open?" Percy asked, forgetting that his mouth was full of food. He promptly blushed and covered his mouth. "Sorry," he said, once he'd swallowed.
Lupin looked amused. "It's fine." He pulled two butterbeers from the sack and then continued, "It'll open just in time for the Christmas rush, I think."
"I wish there had been a book shop in Hogsmeade when I was at school."
"Me too," Lupin nodded. He took a bite of his own food. "And Harry's been a lot of help as well. He's a good lad-eccentric at times-but still a good lad. I was worried that I would have to close up shop for the full moon, but he and Hermione offered to run it then. A big relief, I can tell you, since the first weekend after I plan to open is a full moon."
"Hogsmeade weekend?" Percy asked, barely remembering to swallow this time. Lupin was chattier than he would have expected, and not only that, but it was making Percy want to be chatty as well. That was never good when you were eating.
"Yes," Lupin answered ironically. "The last one before the Christmas holidays-it would have been a shame to miss it."
Percy nodded. "Have you started ordering any stock yet?"
Lupin perked up considerably. "I just got my first order of muggle books in today-I was too eager to wait for the business permit, I admit," he added sheepishly. "I found a collection of them at a warehouse in London; bought them extremely cheap. You wouldn't believe the conversion rate for galleons."
"Really?" Percy said. "Have you read any of them?"
If Percy thought Lupin was chatty, he should have known better than to ask him a question about books he'd read. Lupin was an absolute fanatic about literature of any kind, and Percy found himself listening intently as he relayed tales of all the muggle books he'd come across at one point or another.
Lupin was waxing poetically about a book regarding a son and his relationship with his mother when there was a rustling, whooshing sound to his left. He almost didn't notice it, so caught up was he in the tale of the mother's subtle, almost natural, manipulations. The sound came again, and Percy reluctantly looked up.
In the fireplace, an owl was flapping its wings in the flame, waiting for Percy to allow admittance into the Ministry. "Approved," he said quickly.
The owl gave him a look as if to say it had taken him jolly well long enough, and soared out of the fireplace, landing with a smattering of soot on his desk. He held his hand out for the letter, but the owl looked at him sternly and pointedly proffered its other leg.
After he'd signed for the package-purposefully not using his 'fancy signature' just because Mullins had offended him earlier-the owl stuck it's beak into a small pouch around it's neck, scooped out a bit of floo powder and flew back into the fireplace, spitting the powder into the flames. It disappeared, and Percy turned back to his desk to find that the curry was long gone and it was past midnight.
"I should be going," Lupin said, standing.
Percy waved his wand to vanish the mess and stood as well. He'd never before been disappointed to see someone leave, but indeed, he'd been enjoying their talk. "Thank you for coming; you didn't have to," he said again.
Lupin smiled over his shoulder on his way to the door. "No trouble at all. I enjoyed it. Goodnight."
"Me too," Percy said, but Lupin was already gone, the door was already shut behind him and the office was suddenly very dark in his absence. He flooed back to his flat that night because he didn't think he could walk through the Ministry, as dark as it was, even though he'd done it hundreds of times before.
-x-
Percy was having a very bad Tuesday when he received a letter, just as winter was rolling in. The envelope and stationary were a matching cream colour sealed with a wolf guarding a book in red wax. Quite fancy, Percy thought. He was very near to pulling his hair out, and even though he didn't recognize the seal, he was delighted to have any sort of distraction from Mr Mullins' constant picking.
Pushing his glasses up his nose, Percy slipped his finger under the seal and unfolded the letter.
27 November
Percy,
I know that you're a very busy man, but I really appreciated all of your help the other day, so I would like to invite you over to see the new shop. Let's call it a pre-grand opening, for friends and family. Unfortunately, as I have no family, there won't be any of them there. I invited Harry as well, but he has Auror business and won't be able to attend.
It won't be much, but I thought you might like to see what all of your help has accomplished. The shop will be ready for business next week, so if you have time today, pop over. I'll be there all day.
The shop is called 'Mowgli Books'. Harry named it. He won't tell me where he got the name, but he and Hermione snicker about it a fair bit. I assume it's from some form of Muggle literature.
Remus
Percy looked at his watch, saw that it was a quarter 'til Insanity, and decided that he deserved a lunch break.
PART TWO.