New chapter and sorry for the delay. I hope that you are all well. I wanted to post this chapter sooner but I had a little break down.
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xx
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Charlie did not wait for his brother to tell him to come in to open the door. Actually, he was pretty sure that Percy was not answering because he was still upset. Fred was right, Percy and Ron were more alike than he would have ever imagined.
However, Charlie was wrong. Indeed, Percy was just too concentrated to hear that someone was knocking.
...
As Charlie was making his way into his brother's office, Percy was raising his gaze to see who had come in. Surprised he was when his eyes met Charlie's blue eyes.
...
Staring at Charlie, Percy, angrily, asked him what he wanted. He was busy and did not have time to attend his brother's request.
Not listening Charlie sat in the free chair and begged his brother to give him few minutes while he was checking his pockets. Percy rolled his eyes but gave him five minutes. However, he warned his older brother, his visit better had to be justified by something urgent.
Charlie who was still checking his pockets, affirmed that it was highly urgent and important. Percy raised an eyebrow and admitted to himself that his brother really looked worried. He readjusted his glasses on his nose, he was ready to listen.
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Few seconds later, Charlie had taken out of his pocket a little pink box that Percy had instantly recognized.
Percy frowned wondering why Charlie had it in his pocket. He knew that Charlie liked men so may be the young man was exploring another part of his sexuality.
Percy sighed, he did not care about his brother's sexual orientation. Nor, did he want his brother to share his sexual life with him. If Charlie had come to him to talk about that, then he had chosen the wrong person to talk about it.
Since their feud about Audrey, Percy had promise to himself to never listen to Charlie speaking about his love's problems ever again. Just like Ron was jealous of Fred, Percy was jealous of Charlie as Charlie was the one that Audrey had laid her eyes on. Their mother would be thrilled when she would learn that another girl had come in between two of her sons...
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Percy's gaze was going from his brother's face to the little pink box. How could this thing justify anything important and urgent at the same time, Percy was very desirous to find out. His annoyance was just growing and growing.
He was sure that Charlie would just try to convince him, again, that he was not feeling anything for Audrey and that their relationship was purely platonic. He was ready to bet that Charlie was about to serve him a foolish story about another one night stand with a guy that had gone wrong because of the little pink box.
Percy did not have the intention to believe his brother until Charlie had not spoken with Audrey. As long as Charlie would not make anything to push away Audrey or at least make her understand that he was not interested in her, Percy would distrust his brother.
He, and the rest of the wizards and witches working at the Ministry, had overheard Alicia and Audrey babbling about Charlie so many times that Charlie could not pretend that he did not know that the girls liked him. The recent fight between the two ladies was just another proof.
Obviously, Percy did not care about Alicia but Audrey that was another story...
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Percy, still staring at his brother, was waiting for an explanation. He was wondering what could have happen with that little pink box...
The little pink box, and the candies that were inside, were one of the twins' products. A product that had got the legal authorization to be sold less than a month ago. Percy had even signed the authorization as Kingsley was busy that day.
The twins had named it, call me by your name. It was a wonderful product that belonged to the new no polyjuice needed kit.
One of those candies had the power to change your voice for many hours. Actually, it was doing more than just changing your voice, it was giving you the voice of the last person that you have spoken with. It was so efficient that Hermione had said that people using real polyjuice should consider using one of those candies to be sure to get the right voice and all that it included like accent, pronunciation, speed and more as those little details were the only problems, with the use of the wand, of the polyjuice potion.
The twins had created two versions. The pink box was to give you the voice of a woman, the blue one was to give you the voice of a man.
When Percy had validated the product, he had reckoned that it was another amazing invention.
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Percy shook his head, it was not the time to start dreaming. He cleared his throat and ordered his brother to speak. More than five minutes had passed already so if Charlie really had something to day, it was now or never.
Charlie took and deep breath, he had to do it, lives were in danger.
He told Percy that he had found the box in one of Audrey's pockets. Before Percy could imagined things that did not occur, Charlie raised his hands and explained in details what had happened.
« I had lunch with Audrey today. Bill had left us to eat with Fleur, so we were alone. Audrey was gone to the loo when the waitress came but I had no money to pay our lunch. I had not realized that my wallet was empty. Audrey always advances as she gets the money back from the Ministry, from the financial department »
An angry Percy interrupted his brother. Had Charlie seriously come to his office, when he had a lot of work to do, to tell him about his lunch date with Audrey.
Charlie begged his brother to let him finish. He swore for the hundredth time that nothing was going on between him and Audrey. He even mentioned that he was not finding Audrey attractive. She was too short, her hair too blonde and her boobs too big besides he was finding her american accent annoying. Obviously his description of the witch upset Percy. Indeed, everything that Charlie disliked in Audrey were the things that Percy were very fond of.
Terribly annoyed, Percy crossed his arms and ordered Charlie to get to the point or to leave his office right away. Confused Charlie stared at his little brother. Why communicating with his brothers was so complicated. They were brothers, not ennemies...
He could not understand why Percy was not believing him. He really could not care less about Audrey's feelings for him and Percy should trust him. He would always trust his brother before anyone else, they were family for Merlin's sake.
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As Percy had started to mumble, Charlie rolled his eyes. He already had enough to deal with Alicia. He was even thinking about confessing what had happened with Alicia so Percy would really see that he was not trying to nail Audrey but considering that Percy was glaring at him, it was better to make his story short and skip the Alicia's chapter. Besides, he had not lied to Percy, he really had something extremely important to say.
He went on with his story, starting where he had stopped few minutes ago:
« I looked for money in her jacket, the box was in her pocket along with an empty bottle that was definitely smelling like polyjuice. Bewildered, I thought about what you said and many things came to my mind. Giving you details would be too long so with that being said, I do admit that she could be the spy, well whoever had taken her identity could be the spy. » finished Charlie
Percy's jaw dropped. He asked his brother if he was sure about the polyjuice. Charlie confirmed , he was positive. Even though he was not a potion expert, polyjuice's smell was just too perculiar too be mistaken with another potion. Moreover, the twins were breeding cauldrons of polyjuice to work on their counter potion so he had the pleasure to smell the disgusting potion every day. He could not be wrong.
He finished saying:
« I hope that you are wrong Percy, I really do but Mum always says that no polyjuice can fool a heart in love so you might have sense something that we could not. I am scared. » confessed Charlie worriedly
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Percy seemed to be more tensed after listening to his brother. Even if he was glad to see that someone was finally paying attention to him, he could not calm down. For him, just thinking that Audrey could have been kidnapped was making him shivering. He questioned his brother about those other details as they were no longer details for him.
He also asked his brother why he had come to him first instead of going to Kingsley. It was not like if Charlie needed his permission to speak with Kingsley.
It was a question after the other with no time in between for Charlie to answer.
...
Finally Percy asked Charlie if he had told Alicia or Harry or Bill or Ron or anyone else about his discovery.
Charlie shook his head, he had not said a word to anyone yet.
« I had to tell you first. I owe you an apology Percy. Also, I knew that you would believe me, not sure that Bill or Ron would have. » he said with a weak smile before to pursue
He said that he could not remember what exactly happened when they had been attacked but that it was probably the day that someone had taken Audrey's identity. Everything had happened so fast. Alicia had been stunned first, then he had been stunned and when he had awoken, he was at St Mungo.
He had believed Audrey when she had said that she had been stunned too. Why would he have thought that she was lying. They had faced the Death Eaters before and everytime they had lost. The last fight had been no different from the others. Besides, Neville, Seamus and Dean had found her unconscious so who would dare to say that Audrey was not telling the truth.
Percy agreed, they had no valid reason to distrust her. Charlie interrupted his brother:
« But it doesn't mean that I should have not listened to you. If I had listened to you, I would have seen sooner that something was wrong with her. For example, lately she is having problems with her wand. Until now, I did not think that it could have any explanation other than misspelling or the undesirable effects of a jinx. I should have been on my guard. I am sorry for yelling at you the other day. »
After that sentence, a miracle happened: Percy smiled at his brother
« It is ok Charlie. It is not your fault and I am sorry for yelling at you too. I am just so worried about her. At least, she is alive. They are using polyjuice so they need her alive. We have to go to Kingsley, right away. » said Percy
Charlie approved but before to leave he had one more question. He wanted to know if the presence of a Death Eater undercover at the Ministry could have something to do with Mr Lovegood's time turner. He had heard the rumors about the Death Eaters being after the time turner...
Percy lowered his gaze, looking at the papers on his desk and mumbled that he could not explain. Charlie sighed and then he asked if Percy's weird attitude and theories had anything to do with Hermione and the twins.
Percy bite his tongue to do not choke. How could Charlie have linked everything already?
Yes, Charlie was intuitive, something that was not a quality among the Weasleys, so he could have sensed that something was going on and as he was currently living with the twins, he could have overheard or eavesdrop something but still that was impressive.
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The quartet was trying to act as normal as possible but deep down, Fred, George, Hermione and Percy knew that people were starting to wonder what was wrong with them. Harry had even tried to confront Hermione several times but he had always failed. Lately, Percy was also wondering if Kingsley had not shared his theories with him to force him to confess...
Charlie asked again and Percy answered again that he could not explain. Annoyed, Charlie told his brother that they were family and that they had to trust each other. He gave him a sermon until Percy gave up.
« Yes, it has something to do with whatever is going on between Hermione, Fred, George and I. But it is Hermione and Fred's business and I cannot tell you, they have to do it but we still have to speak with Kingsley, right now. » urged Percy who had turned betroot.
Charlie sighed and revealed that he believed to know what was going on. He had seen some books about time turners on the back shop, just like he knew that Hermione was one of the very few persons who knew about McGonagall's time turner. From there, he said that it was not hard to guess that she might have stolen it during the battle of Hogwarts. He had no idea why though which relieved Percy.
« Let me sum up before we go. Percy, please. »
Percy nodded.
« So Hermione had taken what the Death Eaters have been looking for weeks. However, they don't know that she has it and now they want to steal Lovegood's time turner as they can't find McGonagall's. They knew about Lovegood's, I have read the repport. Bad luck for them, the Lovegoods' house is under protection 24/7 so to get it, they need to infiltrate the Ministry, take the appearance of someone to get it incognito. Twisted but fair. »
« Yeah twisted, very twisted Charlie. » answered Percy evasively
« I am still far from the truth, am I not. » asked Charlie perplexed
Percy did answer his brother's question:
« Yes, far from the truth I am afraid. I wish your version would be the right one but it is worst »
And then Percy asked where Audrey was. If she had lunch with Charlie, where was she now. Charlie gulped before to reply:
« Well this is the part that you aren't going to like. We had to escort Yaxley, Greyback and two others Death Eaters to Azkaban. I went to the loo, told her to wait for me but when I returned to her office, she was already gone with a couple of dementors. This is when I understood that something was definitely wrong. »
Percy had turned white. He could not believe it. He did not even ask his brother why he had not mentioned that first, he would ask later but for now, they had to run to inform Kingsley.
They jumped out of their chairs and left Percy's office running, they were all in danger, the girls were in danger.
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I am sorry for the lack of fremione in the latest chapters but they will be back next chapter :)
xx