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Monday Morning: Padma

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"What is it, Percy?" I asked when I left Colin and came into Percy's office.

"Where's the speech Alicia wrote?"

"The one the Minister's giving in Scotland?"

"Yes." I went over to one of the filing cabinets and pulled it off the top.

"Here," I said, handing it to him.

"Okay. Um, thanks. That's all." I watched Percy open the folder and stare down at the pages. I could tell he wasn't really reading it because his eyes weren't moving. I shut the door before coming to stand next to him.

"Do you need something?" He asked, looking up from where he was sitting.

"Percy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You don't seem like yourself."

"I'm just a little tired today." I put my hands on my hips and looked down at him. I'd known him long enough to know when he was lying and right now, he was definitely lying.

"Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong! Why do you always think that something's wrong?" He demanded.

"Percy."

"It's just.I had dinner with my family last night," he replied. I sat myself on his desk and waited for him to continue. "And it didn't go so well." He finished, turning back to Alicia's speech and marking phrases he wanted changed.

"And?"

"And what?"

"The dinner, Percy!" I replied with exasperation.

"It didn't go so well."

"We've already established that part. How did it not 'go so well'?"

"I just ended up getting into an argument with the twins and Ron," he replied quietly before continuing on in a burst of anger, "I couldn't help it! They're always saying things about how I sided with Fudge! They can't get past it! Does it matter that I was the youngest person to ever work in the Minister's office? Does it matter that I worked for the most respected people in the Wizard's Council? Does it matter that I'm the Deputy Chief of Staff to Spencer Harrison who is arguably the greatest Minister of all time? Does any of that matter? No! They can't get past the fact that I sided with Fudge instead of them!" We were both silent after he said this.

"It's still a little awkward," I pointed out.

"Still? When it was years ago?"

"Give it time, Iggy."

"Iggy?" He said, smiling.

"Iggy. You know, for Ignatius."

"I'm not the type people give nicknames to."

"Do I seem like the person who'd care?"

"No."

"Cheer up. I'll get the coffee and if we hurry, we may catch Colin getting beat up by the big bad reporters."

"You're different, you know," he told me as I left to grab the afore- mentioned coffee.

"That's why you love me," I called back.