Disclaimer:  I do not own Harry Potter or any of the character creations by J. K. Rowling.  However, I do own whoever I make up.  Heck, I should own Penelope's personality.  Rowling should have no claim on undeveloped characters!

Half of an hour had scarcely passed before Percy managed to all but remove himself from Penelope's visit.  He again threw himself into Valentine's notes, determined to impress Matthias Dormand.  It was difficult, at first, but gradually the shock and horror evaporated into a misty surrealism that might have been explained away, if Percy desire.  Yes, it could easily have been an episode brought on by stress and that damned paranoia.  Such an idea was plausible.  Even if it had been real, what did it matter?  Penelope had every right to be in Dragon's Tooth.  True, he did not expect to see her, but coincidences happened everyday.

            One question distressed Percy slightly longer than the others:  With whom was Penelope with?  But, like the rest, this worry did not last long.  As he knew from his own experiences, devotion to a cause had to be powerful to be called such.  Penelope would stay nothing; he was sure of that.  After all, they had dated for two years.  She was too willful to entirely give herself to anything like Brown. 

            That left only one alternative.  She had always been interested in medicine and healing.  He doubted the St. Mungo's people would remain in the village very long.  Soon Penelope would no longer be a problem.  She would vanish from his life again.

            And so his attention fully returned to his work.  It was just past noon when he finished.  He gazed happily at the report that was now clean, organized, and completely un-Valentine-ed.  Yes, that would please Dormand.  The smile slipped from his face.  Not that it really mattered.  He sighed and flopped back in the chair.  He probably should find something to do, but there was no one around to instruct him.  He considered looking for Dormand.  Yes, that would be wonderful.  Keep up the eager puppy appearance.  They all loved that.

            More out of boredom than actual curiosity, he decided to explore the desk's drawers.  The middle one he now knew quite well: bottles of ink, raggedy quills, and a stack of blank parchment.  Two more drawers were placed above and below the middle.  He tugged the first one out.  It came unwillingly with a low, grumbling howl and spat out its own volume's worth of dust.  Percy coughed and gasped for clean air, then pulled off his glasses for cleaning.  He saw a gleam, alien in the dusty drawer, as he put them back on.

            It was a knob.  A small brass knob rejected from someone's old dresser.  Except it didn't appear loose.  It sat upright, firmly attached to the drawer's bottom.  Percy fingered it and passed it off as some sort of sticking charm.  Why anyone would want to use it on a single knob was beyond him.  He pulled the drawer out further and tugged on the knob.  A small door opened, revealing a compartment about a foot in depth, theoretically passing through the middle drawer.  At the bottom was a thick reddish-brown envelope.

            Percy glanced at the front door and Dormand's wall.  No one seemed to be coming.  Then he pulled out the envelope and slammed the drawer shut.

            The envelope wasn't spectacular, neither old nor new.  There was no name or address, but the remains of a seal were still attached to the flap.  He turned the envelope upside down and dumped the contents into his lap.

            The Head Boy in him wasn't pleased.  Percy was invading someone's privacy.

            Yeah, well, it was his desk, another part of him replied.

            There were three pieces of parchment, clean and displaying no sign of intense reading.  A fleeting look at the date of one told him it was about two months old.  He skimmed the rest of it, not really reading.  There was an ink splatter here and there; next to one was The Order of the Phoenix.

            Then the door flew open.  "I'm back!" Winston Morsley sang.

            Percy swore and buried the envelope in Valentine's report.  "I'm so glad for you," he muttered.

            Morsley raised an eyebrow but said nothing.  "Secretary", Percy distinctly heard him say under his breath.  The enthusiasm for friendship was clearly gone.

            "I finished Valentine's report," Percy said.  "Is there anything else I need to do?"

            "She'll be back soon with more notes, I bet," Morsley replied.   He had returned to the doorway, eyes intent on the street outside.  "She quite loves those dragons, the nutter."

            Percy knew the feeling.  His elder brother Charlie had born the obsession for as long as Percy could remember. 

            "Oh!"  Morsely spun back to Percy.  "Dormand said someone from St. Mungo's might stop by to bug him about research areas.  Did anyone come?"

            Penelope again. "No," he lied.

            "Hmm.  Well, I'm off again.  Got important stuff to do.  I'll take Valentine's report with me."  Before Percy could stop him, he had whisked the stack from the desk and was out the door.

            The envelope had been in that stack. Percy considered summoning it, but there was no real point.  Let Valentine get blamed, if indeed there was anything deviant.

            Yet it left him with no means of entertainment.