"I told you it was a good idea." Joselyn brushed Percy's arm, a mock hit of sorts, as Percy told her how his conversation with Fred had George had turned out.
"Well how was I to know… they've never helped me before." Percy still seemed a bit stunned by the whole ordeal. He had gone into Fred and George's room to talk to them about his work, and Fred and George had reacted by laughing and brushed past Percy en route to his room.
"Wait… wait what are you doing?" Percy followed Fred and George, fearing for all other flammable materials in his room. All at once they stopped in front of his desk. "Don't you dare," muttered Percy angrily. They couldn't possibly be that cruel.
"Percy's pissed practicality," they chanted together, and then "recrato." And all of a sudden the ashes and soot began to come together in a great cloud, and in a few seconds, Percy's reports, quite perfectly as he'd left them, were sitting on his desk.
"Come on know Perce," said George, almost sympathetically, to a shocked Percy. "It's all in good fun."
It occurred to Percy sometime later, that, had he been in his right mind he would have murdered Fred and George on the spot for putting him in that horrible state of preparatory-sacked-hopelessness. But he was so shocked at their genius, and so relieved to have his reports back on his desk in one piece that he immediately forgave them for all transgressions and threatened them with no other malady, though he did question their twisted definition of the word humor.
"You've got to admit Percy," said Joselyn. "They must have really thought it was a good one."
"Mmmmm…" Percy nodded. "Bought as funny as making Jack-in-the-boxes that look like he-who-must-not-be-named."
Joselyn put her hand on his arm, and Percy felt as though he was suddenly burning up. After being shocked out of his skin he'd needed someone to talk to, and Ginny had been taking a bath at the time. Sister or no, Percy was not of the mind to sit on the toilet and talk to Ginny while she removed hair from her legs…. Or whatever girls do while in the bathroom. So, feeling reckless at the sudden opportunity, he whipped on his cloak, and flooed to Diagon alley, hiding his face as he passed into the alley he'd found the night before.
Joselyn had seemed surprised, pleasantly, to see him, and with little difficulty they found a moderately quiet place to sit and talk. The inn, bar, or whatever it was (Percy had trouble defining it) was only horribly noisy during the night hours, and it was only five or six o'clock now. Early evening.
And Joselyn's hand still hadn't left his arm…oh my….
"Percy," said Joselyn…a little concerned, "are you alright?"
"Erm… yeah… yeah… I'm fine." He said, in a high pitched voice that was not his own. He felt funny, having told her all of this. She knew his name now, and about his brothers and sisters, and mum and dad. He had told her about his quiet (sans Fred and George) job, and about his demanding boss Mr. Crouch.
"He still doesn' t know my name you know," said Percy stiffly. "He's forever calling me Whetherbee."
"Well, at least you have a respectable job, no matter what your name is," she said. She almost sounded bitter, but when she looked up at him she smiled.
"How did you end up working here? If you don't mind my asking?" Percy looked down at his hands, that were now tracing the grain of the table.
"A friend. She wanted to come here and work, not being smart enough to get a ministry job, and not wanting to work at a simple tavern. She liked the costumes, such a tart." Here Joselyn started to laugh. "And so I came with her, and ended up workin with her."
"what happened to her?" asked Percy. He didn't have any friends he'd do that for, except maybe Ginny, and Ginny would never even think about working in a place like this.
"Oh….. she's still here." Said Joselyn, and she seemed almost angry now. "She and I aren't friends anymore. She's always accusing me of stealing her tips."
"Then why are you still here then?" Percy still could not imagine such a friend, who would drag someone down to work with them in such a place.
"See that old woman over there behind the bar?" Joselyn pointed to a cheerful old woman behind the bar, more modestly dressed than the rest of them, and wearing a tad too much makeup.
"Yes…"
"I think I'd break her heart if I left. I'm her favorite you see, and she likes this kind of thing." Joselyn looked down at Percy's hands, still fingering the wood grain.
"Can't she tell that you hate it here?" Percy was slightly miffed.
"Can you?" Joselyn looked up at Percy with eyes so bright they looked like stars. "Yes…" she didn't wait for him to answer, "I suppose you can."
"My sister," Percy began after a moment, "is always saying that things can always get better. That's the only thing I can think of to say at the moment."
Joselyn looked puzzled for a moment, and then started to laugh helplessly, her face turning red. "That's wonderful!" she said with all sincerity. And then she glanced up at the clock on the wall.
"You'd better be going Percy, or you'll be late for dinner again."
Percy glanced up at the clock, and then sighed.
"Can I see you tomorrow then?" he asked, feeling rather brave and reckless.
"I suppose so… does it have to be here?" Joselyn stood up and started straightening her skirts.
"No… I suppose not. Shall I get a room at the leaky cauldron or something?" Percy pondered this idea for a moment "We can have tea."
"Three o'clock then?" said Joselyn. She seemed suddenly downcast, and Percy assumed it was because she'd be serving drinks to a room full of scoundrels in a matter of hours.
"Better make it a late tea at four, I don't want to be late because of work." Percy practically bounced. "I'll see you tomorrow then," he said eagerly. "Goodbye Joselyn" and he whipped his cloak over his head and swept out the door, Joselyn laughing at his boyish manner.