Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable Characters They and the world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. Any Original characters were created by me and anyone who wants to can use them. Not making any money off of this please don't sue.

Note: This is another fic in my Disillusionment verse. This is set during Order of the Phoenix during the time Voldemort was still in hiding and while Percy was being a prick. This is a Two-Part Fic dealing with Percy Receiving an Invite to a wedding he doesn't want.

Warning: Mentions of Percy/Penelope, Percy/OFC, and Penelope/OMC

Invitation to a Wedding.

Part One of Two.

Percy Weasley was not having a good day it seemed an extremely vocal minority of people in the wizarding world were not overly happy about the appointment of a Hogwarts High Inquisitor and they kept sending howlers making their displeasure known.

So he was less than thrilled when Malinda Donaldson arrived as his desk carrying a letter for him. "Percy, it seems this young lady thought you still worked in our department." She said handing him a letter that had been addressed to him care of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. As he took the letter, he noticed her leering at him and quickly looked away. When he first joined the ministry, she had been rude and obnoxious but after his break with his family she had suddenly seemed interested in him.

"Thank you Malinda." Percy said calmly. "You could have attached it to an interoffice memo instead of taking time out of you busy schedule." He added a slight tone of reproach hoping she would leave quickly.

She merely smiled. "Oh I was just on my way to lunch when it came in so it hasn't affected my work at all." Leaning in slightly she continued. "It's so nice of you to worry about my productivity." Then whispered so no one else would hear. "You should join me for lunch we can have a bit of fun to ease your tensions."

After only a few short dates Percy had learned her idea of fun was a bit too extreme for him and made it clear that well connected through her pureblood mother or not. She was not a suitable dating prospect if he meant to be the minister of magic some day. "No thank you Malinda I really have far too much work to do." She didn't seem that disappointed and calmly walked away. He saw out of the corner of his eye her stopping to ask another man to join her.

Frowning slightly at the injustice that he had to fight against his fathers lousy reputation to even be taken seriously in the office while she was free to be as wild as she wanted thanks to being related to Fudge and several other well placed ministry officials threw her mother. He stopped himself from crumbling the letter in his hand and taking a deep breath to calm himself opened it. His day went from bad to worse as he read it. He couldn't believe Penelope was getting married some part of him still thought of her as his girlfriend. This relationship had ended shortly after graduation by mutual consent since both felt they'd be too busy with their new careers to keep a relationship going.

However he admitted deep down he'd always thought once they were both established things would have gone back to how they were at Hogwarts. "I need a drink." He said out loud and noticed several workers looked at him. He quickly busied himself as he felt the blush creeping up on him. He hated letting any cracks appear in his carefully crafted image it felt like a betrayal of all he'd worked for. When he had composed himself to look up again no one was staring anymore and he hoped no one would ask about it.

Deciding he could not dare to skip it, he promptly wrote Penelope informing her he would be glad to attend her wedding to David Hornby provided the Minister's office could spare him for the necessary amount of time. Privately he hoped they wouldn't, but knew that he would probably be allowed to go.

He spent the rest of the day feeling sick a feeling he had only experienced three other times in his life the most recent of which was when he had to choose between his misguided family and the ministry. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind trying to work but he found himself thinking the second time He'd felt this bad. When he'd heard Penelope had been petrified even though she wasn't muggleborn or just a short while later when he'd learned that his little sister Ginny had been taken to the chamber. He attempted to stop thinking about it at once since he would have to think about who saved her and that would lead right back to thinking about his family.

He was relieved after several hours of only slightly productive work it was time to leave. Normally he'd stay for several hours more and be sure to have all of his work perfect but he was still dealing with his Penelope marrying someone else and having to watch it. He was shaken out of his thoughts when a young man got on the lift. "Wow Weatherby you look down?" The blond haired man said with a hint of surprise.

Percy fought down the flash of irritation. "My name is not Weatherby Cole as you very well know." He had very little patience to deal with Elliot Cole, the assistant to the Officer in charge of the Animagus Register. While he supposed, Cole was friendly enough even slightly attractive in the same wreck less way his elder brother Bill was Percy simply had no use for him.

The other man smirked. "But Malinda said you loved being called Weatherby in bed." Percy furiously got off the elevator at the next floor and walked away. He was shocked to find Cole following after him. "Sorry Percy didn't realize you were in that bad a mood." Percy slowed and looked at the other man privately wishing he would go away. "I know come on let me buy you a drink to make up for teasing you?"

Percy had every intention of saying no and thanking Cole politely as was proper. However just then he happened to catch sight of Malinda coming down the hall and knew it would be quicker to say yes than a polite refusal. "Yes that would be fine." He hurried himself and Cole into the lift before Malinda could catch up he was in no mood to deal with her advances most especially not with a witness present.

Percy returned to his home that night in a much better mood. The fire whiskey he'd consumed had certainly helped as had the fact that he had actually enjoyed conversing with the other man. He normally avoided any at the ministry who couldn't help him advance and a lowly assistant to an aging Witch that was extremely unpopular in the ministry would normally be beneath his notice. He had enjoyed the evening and even admitted privately he wouldn't mind doing it again it was nice to have someone to talk to sometimes who didn't have any bearing on his future career.

End of Part One:

Part Two will focus on Percy and Penelope actually talking.