Disclaimer and Author's Note: I don't own them, J.K Rowling has that happy
privilege. By the way, idiotic fanfiction.net won't let me italicize
anything so anything that's supposed to be italicized will be marked by the
little star things, like this: *.
Also, this story may not seem to be going anywhere but I needed to do some stage setting. Hope you enjoy.
Lastly, my thanks to Kazza and Futon who are my faithful reviewers, you two have been my sole inspiration to keep this story up. : )
1 A Little Thing Called Ambition
Chapter 4: Back to the Burrow
By Gila Draper
About two uneventful hours (unless you counted when Ludo Bagman accidentally let a Bludger loose in the office) after Daedalus had informed him of this change to his social calendar, Percy Apparated home to the Burrow.
As he appeared with a pop in the kitchen he was blasted, full force, with an explosion of noise that was pure Weasly.
Fred and George were sitting at the cramped kitchen table collaborating over one of those ridiculous exploding something-or-others they sold in their, "Weasly Wizard Wheezes" shop.
"Now you just have to put a Combustion Charm on the jelly beans and set it for forty seconds, it'll be a riot!" Fred was saying, with his and Angelina's three -year old daughter Bethy on his lap. Then his eyes traveled to Percy and he grinned, "Hey Perce."
Percy nodded an acknowledgement to his sibling and continued looking over the kitchen.
Charlie, home from Romania, was showing Ginny the tattoo of the dragon that flew across his shoulder and arm and did loop-the-loops. Of course he did it surreptitiously so as to not catch his mother's eye and risk her fury.
Bill was flopped in a squashy red armchair in the living room cutting out pictures of the witch models from his mother's latest copy of Witch Weekly and Ron was arguing with Hermione.
This of course was nothing new since the two of them had been having "lover's spats" on and off for the past year. Percy had absolutely no objection to this as the happiest couples fought, and he and Penny had been known to face off to each other in huge yelling matches and yet were getting married in a month.
"Really Hermione, I don't see why you still visit Krum after he dumped you," Ron complained.
"Just because Viktor and I aren't seeing each other doesn't mean we're not friends," Hermione informed his stoutly.
"Besides, do I sense a note of jealousy?" Hermione continued mildly, and this shut down her friend's rant immediately.
"Well, no! No, absolutely not!" Ron spluttered, his ears reddening. Score one for Hermione, Percy thought, as with a self-satisfied smile, Hermione rose to help Mrs. Weasly with supper.
Molly Weasly who had been busy making Shepherd's Pie, spotted Percy and bustled over to him.
"Hello there dear, take your cloak off will you?" She smiled cheerily at him and gestured towards the hat rack, which stumped towards him.
"Sure Mum," he replied absently, and let the hat rack to through the motions of helping him with is cloak.
"How does it go, old chap?" George asked, blue-green eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth.
Percy gave him one of the pompous nods he was famous for, like a king greeting a peasant.
"You going to help us set up for Bethy's birthday?" Fred called from his spot at the table, bouncing his giggling, auburn haired daughter on his knee.
Percy winced inwardly, he'd forgotten that his niece's birthday was today.
"Sorry Fred, I'm going to have a couple of drinks with Daedalus Diggle after dinner."
At this remark Mrs. Weasly's eyes instantly became flinty. She remembered when her son had been, "going out to have a couple of drinks," and now he had a Dark Mark as a result. Also, it gave a sense of frustration every mother has with letting her fledglings out of the nest. And just as a matter of dignity, she didn't approve of her children getting intoxicated and despite the fact that Percy was a full grown man, she was hesitant to let him go.
"Are you sure that-" She began, but was cut off by Bill who had meandered into the kitchen.
"Honestly Mum, he's an adult for crying out loud. If he wants to get snockered, let him," Bill said disgustedly.
"Really inspiring sentiment," George grinned, as Mrs. Weasly glared at her eldest son.
"Yeah, that ought to really boost her confidence," Fred added, smothering a laugh.
"What did I say?" Bill asked, clearly confused.
Percy cleared his throat, "the part about getting snockered may not have been the most intelligent thing to say."
Thankfully, Mr. Arthur Weasly took this moment to Apparate into the hall leading to the kitchen for he had been staying late at the office to clean out his file cabinets.
"What wasn't intelligent?" Mr. Weasly asked warily, since his wife seemed to have a dubious expression on her face. She turned and opened her mouth to tell him when Ginny interjected, "letting Percy go pub crawling."
This was the straw that broke the camel's back, and Percy threw up his hands in irritation.
"Honestly, you lot act like I've never had a drink in my life! I'm going, I'll come back by Floo Powder if I have too much to drink and that's that."
And with this he stared around the room, waiting for someone to contradict him so that he could bite their head off. Or maybe bite their collective heads, both sounded appealing at the moment.
However, no one did contradict him and the rest of the family averted their eyes and acted busy.
Several minutes later, thanks to the book, "Fast Feasts In Seconds," by Kareen Kellion, the table was set and was sagging under the weight of platters of Mrs. Weasly's wonderful cooking.
Ever since Percy's outburst the family had been slightly subdued, but then Ron perked up and told them, around a mouth of mashed potatoes, that Harry had owled him with the news that Sirius' wife was having twins.
This was greeted by much applause, and Fred and George looked very pleased, being twins themselves of course.
Charlie got a chiding from his mother about his tattoo which she had found out about, despite his efforts to hide it.
Bill got the whole family to join in a rendition of "Happy Birthday," to Bethy and Fred and George got several laughs for their adlibbing of lyrics.
Percy recalled another dinner like this one, years before. Years that hadn't been so happy for him. It had been the night of his initiation into the ranks of Lord Voldemort's followers…
* Percy felt his palms, cold and clammy beneaththe table cloth. This was the night he took the first step towards greatness. Lucius Malfoy promised him the power he wanted because it was the power alone he was in it for.
He didn't care for the killing and torture was too messy, but the pure raw power, power that was waiting for someone to wield it, someone who understood it.
He had never realized that that was part of being a Death Eater, people never glorified those aspects of it but that was what he was looking for and that was what he was determined to get.*
He shook himself slightly, this was a different night and a different time.
He glanced at his Time Keeper, it was nine-o-clock, he had better go meet Daedalus. He nodded to his mother and prepared to take his leave.
"Happy pub crawling, Perce," Ron called from the far end of the table, earning himself a very dirty look from Percy.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Fred winked at him.
Percy snorted derisively, "no problem there."
He turned and trotted up to the house and went into the living room and found the flower pot containing the Floo Powder. He peered in, noting that it was down to the bottom of the pot and managed to scrape up and handful.
He tossed it into the fire and watched as it blazed a high emerald green. Stepping forward he called out, "THE LEAKY CAULDRON!"
With a whooshing sound he felt ash swirl around him and he spun through a maze of wizarding fireplaces before he went tumbling out onto the grimy floor of the Leaky Cauldron.
He climbed to his feet, cleaned his glasses, and thumped his robes to clean off the leftover ash and then glanced up to see Daedalus already sitting on a barstool, grinning from ear to ear, and patting the stool next to him.
Percy smiled, he couldn't help it, Daedalus' joyful personality was infectious, and he walked over and slid onto the offered seat. He swiveled to look at Tom the bartender.
"What'll it be tonight Minister?"
Percy considered, he'd been in a particularly morbid mood as of late since tonight would mark the gloomy anniversary of his Burning Ritual, the night he'd had the Dark Mark burned onto him, the night of the beginning of the end.
"Tom, give me the strongest thing you've got."
Also, this story may not seem to be going anywhere but I needed to do some stage setting. Hope you enjoy.
Lastly, my thanks to Kazza and Futon who are my faithful reviewers, you two have been my sole inspiration to keep this story up. : )
1 A Little Thing Called Ambition
Chapter 4: Back to the Burrow
By Gila Draper
About two uneventful hours (unless you counted when Ludo Bagman accidentally let a Bludger loose in the office) after Daedalus had informed him of this change to his social calendar, Percy Apparated home to the Burrow.
As he appeared with a pop in the kitchen he was blasted, full force, with an explosion of noise that was pure Weasly.
Fred and George were sitting at the cramped kitchen table collaborating over one of those ridiculous exploding something-or-others they sold in their, "Weasly Wizard Wheezes" shop.
"Now you just have to put a Combustion Charm on the jelly beans and set it for forty seconds, it'll be a riot!" Fred was saying, with his and Angelina's three -year old daughter Bethy on his lap. Then his eyes traveled to Percy and he grinned, "Hey Perce."
Percy nodded an acknowledgement to his sibling and continued looking over the kitchen.
Charlie, home from Romania, was showing Ginny the tattoo of the dragon that flew across his shoulder and arm and did loop-the-loops. Of course he did it surreptitiously so as to not catch his mother's eye and risk her fury.
Bill was flopped in a squashy red armchair in the living room cutting out pictures of the witch models from his mother's latest copy of Witch Weekly and Ron was arguing with Hermione.
This of course was nothing new since the two of them had been having "lover's spats" on and off for the past year. Percy had absolutely no objection to this as the happiest couples fought, and he and Penny had been known to face off to each other in huge yelling matches and yet were getting married in a month.
"Really Hermione, I don't see why you still visit Krum after he dumped you," Ron complained.
"Just because Viktor and I aren't seeing each other doesn't mean we're not friends," Hermione informed his stoutly.
"Besides, do I sense a note of jealousy?" Hermione continued mildly, and this shut down her friend's rant immediately.
"Well, no! No, absolutely not!" Ron spluttered, his ears reddening. Score one for Hermione, Percy thought, as with a self-satisfied smile, Hermione rose to help Mrs. Weasly with supper.
Molly Weasly who had been busy making Shepherd's Pie, spotted Percy and bustled over to him.
"Hello there dear, take your cloak off will you?" She smiled cheerily at him and gestured towards the hat rack, which stumped towards him.
"Sure Mum," he replied absently, and let the hat rack to through the motions of helping him with is cloak.
"How does it go, old chap?" George asked, blue-green eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth.
Percy gave him one of the pompous nods he was famous for, like a king greeting a peasant.
"You going to help us set up for Bethy's birthday?" Fred called from his spot at the table, bouncing his giggling, auburn haired daughter on his knee.
Percy winced inwardly, he'd forgotten that his niece's birthday was today.
"Sorry Fred, I'm going to have a couple of drinks with Daedalus Diggle after dinner."
At this remark Mrs. Weasly's eyes instantly became flinty. She remembered when her son had been, "going out to have a couple of drinks," and now he had a Dark Mark as a result. Also, it gave a sense of frustration every mother has with letting her fledglings out of the nest. And just as a matter of dignity, she didn't approve of her children getting intoxicated and despite the fact that Percy was a full grown man, she was hesitant to let him go.
"Are you sure that-" She began, but was cut off by Bill who had meandered into the kitchen.
"Honestly Mum, he's an adult for crying out loud. If he wants to get snockered, let him," Bill said disgustedly.
"Really inspiring sentiment," George grinned, as Mrs. Weasly glared at her eldest son.
"Yeah, that ought to really boost her confidence," Fred added, smothering a laugh.
"What did I say?" Bill asked, clearly confused.
Percy cleared his throat, "the part about getting snockered may not have been the most intelligent thing to say."
Thankfully, Mr. Arthur Weasly took this moment to Apparate into the hall leading to the kitchen for he had been staying late at the office to clean out his file cabinets.
"What wasn't intelligent?" Mr. Weasly asked warily, since his wife seemed to have a dubious expression on her face. She turned and opened her mouth to tell him when Ginny interjected, "letting Percy go pub crawling."
This was the straw that broke the camel's back, and Percy threw up his hands in irritation.
"Honestly, you lot act like I've never had a drink in my life! I'm going, I'll come back by Floo Powder if I have too much to drink and that's that."
And with this he stared around the room, waiting for someone to contradict him so that he could bite their head off. Or maybe bite their collective heads, both sounded appealing at the moment.
However, no one did contradict him and the rest of the family averted their eyes and acted busy.
Several minutes later, thanks to the book, "Fast Feasts In Seconds," by Kareen Kellion, the table was set and was sagging under the weight of platters of Mrs. Weasly's wonderful cooking.
Ever since Percy's outburst the family had been slightly subdued, but then Ron perked up and told them, around a mouth of mashed potatoes, that Harry had owled him with the news that Sirius' wife was having twins.
This was greeted by much applause, and Fred and George looked very pleased, being twins themselves of course.
Charlie got a chiding from his mother about his tattoo which she had found out about, despite his efforts to hide it.
Bill got the whole family to join in a rendition of "Happy Birthday," to Bethy and Fred and George got several laughs for their adlibbing of lyrics.
Percy recalled another dinner like this one, years before. Years that hadn't been so happy for him. It had been the night of his initiation into the ranks of Lord Voldemort's followers…
* Percy felt his palms, cold and clammy beneaththe table cloth. This was the night he took the first step towards greatness. Lucius Malfoy promised him the power he wanted because it was the power alone he was in it for.
He didn't care for the killing and torture was too messy, but the pure raw power, power that was waiting for someone to wield it, someone who understood it.
He had never realized that that was part of being a Death Eater, people never glorified those aspects of it but that was what he was looking for and that was what he was determined to get.*
He shook himself slightly, this was a different night and a different time.
He glanced at his Time Keeper, it was nine-o-clock, he had better go meet Daedalus. He nodded to his mother and prepared to take his leave.
"Happy pub crawling, Perce," Ron called from the far end of the table, earning himself a very dirty look from Percy.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Fred winked at him.
Percy snorted derisively, "no problem there."
He turned and trotted up to the house and went into the living room and found the flower pot containing the Floo Powder. He peered in, noting that it was down to the bottom of the pot and managed to scrape up and handful.
He tossed it into the fire and watched as it blazed a high emerald green. Stepping forward he called out, "THE LEAKY CAULDRON!"
With a whooshing sound he felt ash swirl around him and he spun through a maze of wizarding fireplaces before he went tumbling out onto the grimy floor of the Leaky Cauldron.
He climbed to his feet, cleaned his glasses, and thumped his robes to clean off the leftover ash and then glanced up to see Daedalus already sitting on a barstool, grinning from ear to ear, and patting the stool next to him.
Percy smiled, he couldn't help it, Daedalus' joyful personality was infectious, and he walked over and slid onto the offered seat. He swiveled to look at Tom the bartender.
"What'll it be tonight Minister?"
Percy considered, he'd been in a particularly morbid mood as of late since tonight would mark the gloomy anniversary of his Burning Ritual, the night he'd had the Dark Mark burned onto him, the night of the beginning of the end.
"Tom, give me the strongest thing you've got."
