The Ministry Six are heroes, but some people's fortunes decline in their wake. Two of them, disgraced and facing possible unemployment, commiserate each other's misfortune with some Ogden's.

Commiseration

The redhead shot a depressed look at the glass in front of him. "When did it all go wrong...?"

Next to him, a squat, violently pink woman who gave everyone who looked at her an oddly amphibian vibe, sighed. "I don't know..."

The redhead, presently, but not very likely to remain so Junior Assistant to the Greatest Minister of Magic of All Times, Cornelius Fudge, shook his head. "Everything was going so well..."

"I had power!" the woman, herself in the now rather precarious position of Senior Undersecretary of the Greatest Minister of Magic of All Times, Cornelius Fudge, almost shrieked, albeit with a somewhat uneven voice - the bottle in front of the pair was showing unfortunate signs of emptying.

Which was yet another reason for the woman's sour mood. "Would you, Weatherby?"

The redhead pulled out his wand, waved it at the bottle, and watched it refilling about halfway before it stopped. He muttered a few choice words he suspected his mother would've given him a thorough mouth washing for, his status as a legal adult notwithstanding, but decided that he just didn't care and tucked his wand away while shooting the uncooperative bottle a hateful glare.

"My loyalty has always been unwavering!" the amphibian continued to shriek, waving her glass around and spilling Ogden's on her companion's cloak.

"How could he be right? His career's always been in a dead end. He's never been right before..." the redhead muttered sullenly while contemplating the single malt swirling in his glass before taking another sip.

"If only it weren't for those meddling kids!" the amphibian spat, entertaining fantasies of actually finishing her Cruciatus on the most insufferable brat of them all. They made her feel all warm and glowy inside. And a bit tingly in her feminine parts, come to think of it.

"Too right you are..." His useless, layabout excuse for a brother was now famous and a hero. His father had been promoted, his wage now vastly outstripping Percy's. And that insufferable Potter boy who'd dragged his little brother down and into trouble every year since they'd met, who'd had the unconditional support of the Greatest Minister of Magic of All Times, Cornelius Fudge, for four years straight, only to reward the Minister's loyalty by talking to the media behind the GREMMAT's back, by spreading... Well, not lies as such, but rumours... Dangerous rumours... Well, he was once again the media's darling, while the GREMMAT had to endure the public's ire. Such was the reward for six years of loyal service.

And he? He who'd gotten all the O.W.L.s and had done a formidable impression of a Slytherin (Or a Hufflepuff? No... Percy quickly banished that thought) to rise in the Ministry for two years straight? He was about to be cast away.

He glanced sideways at the woman sitting and drinking by his side, and sighed. Of course. How could he have forgotten. His older brother - the one he'd always suspected was playing for the other team, what with his long hair and earring - was engaged to a fucking Veela while he was stuck with... With Trevor's mum. Obviously.

It was all so unfair.

The pair of them looked at the once again empty bottle, then at their once again full glasses, and emptied the latter in a fashion that would've made the redhead's younger twin brothers - who, of course, were also earning more money in a week than Percy did in a month. And they hadn't even taken their bloody N.E.W.T.s - proud.

Then the pair shot the barkeep a look. "Tom?"

Tom didn't even look up from polishing one of his glasses. "Your usual room's free, folks."

The redhead and the amphibian gave silent nods and walked upstairs. Tom shook his head.

Hopefully the lady would croak a little less for once. It was bloody impossible to get some sleep when those two were staying for the night.


A/N: Originally posted on Spacebattles as an omake of sorts to Andrew Joshua Talon's Biting the Hand That Feeds You (Also found here), or rather its sequel, The Hand Bites Back. This version is edited to fit the usual canon rather than the latter's, ah... Alternative timeline, and also fixed some other stuff.