Three Edged Sword
Disclaimer: It's all J. K. Rowling's, not mine.
"Understanding is a three-edged sword. Your side, their side and the truth."
Kosh – Babylon 5.
"They're blood, Percy. You owe them more than that."
Blood. It always came down to that in the end. This whole damned war was over something as stupid as that. As if it made any difference really. My family had left me over it, deserting me because my choice lay with those who appreciated me and not with those who shared my blood by default. And so now I get labelled blood traitor in both senses of the word. How nice.
"You're loyalty should be to them, no-one else."
My attention returns to the... girl I suppose, in front of me, who is still almost shouting at me about loyalty to family. I have to hide a wry smile about that, she'd only shout louder if she saw. Loyalty? To the family who is distinctly not here? Who sent a friend to speak for them, mind you, I suppose not one of them don't hate me enough to argue on their own behalf. I'll stick with those who appreciate me, even if they are only my employers/.
"Are you even listening to me?"
No, not really, I reply mentally, my answer to her out loud is slightly different.
"Of course, and you do have a point. They are my family, and family is always important but you have to remember that they abandoned me, not the other way around. I think I stayed far longer than most would have to be honest..."
Amazing, I seem to have confused the mighty Hermione Granger. She bites her lip, considering this point I've made.
"Why?" she starts slowly, and this time I do allow myself a small smile. "What makes you say that?"
"Could you live with people who... let's be honest and say bullied me about every single achievement I've ever had? Who wouldn't even let me work in peace? Their claiming my promotion was nothing to do with my hard work or qualifications was just the straw on the camel's back. I was planning on moving out of there soon anyway, that incident just made it come quicker than I had intended."
"Oh." I suppose she'd never looked at it that way before, never seen it from my point of view. I can hardly fault her for that though; Ron was never the most unbiased of people. I see sympathy cross her face and I know that I have won this argument, her plea for me to return to torture has failed and she knows it. She won't try again, I know that now, my counter has hit too close to home for her to even try.
"I'm sorry Percy, I didn't know."
"I know." My view turns back to the pile of papers on my desk. Even though it is my lunch hour, I still would like to get some things done. "But if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do." To be honest, it's nice to have this time to myself, usually uninterrupted by explosions or pranks in my inbox.
She smiles, I expect that she also knows this situation intimately. In that moment a streak of jealousy runs through me, she's the same but my 'family' let her do what I was never allowed to do - succeed.
"Of course, I'll let you get on now. It was nice talking to you, Percy." Talk? When did we do that? I remember a lecture about family and loyalty, neither of which count for me any more. Perhaps another time though, I could try to find out how she manages to cope where I failed utterly, why it is that she has what should rightfully be my place in my family...
No. I don't want that anymore, too many bad memories lie that way. She can have them.
"Indeed, perhaps we can actually do that another time." A small blush runs across her face as she realises the same thing I did.
"Er, yes. Sorry about that. Umm, bye." She leaves now, in a hurry. No doubt wanting to think over this new information, the second side to the story. Somehow, I doubt this will be the last I see of her.
Now... the DMLE wants a five percent rise in their budget which means that it'll have to be moved from the MRC and the...
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