January 2000

Percy tossed the document down on his desk. His eyes moved to the door separating his office from the Minister's that stayed open at Kingsley's behest. Percy knew, knew that the document he had just finished reading, to be included in his weekly summary report for the Minister, was something Kingsley was already aware of. Percy knew it, and he wondered why Kingsley had let him find out this way.

Percy got to his feet, crossing to the open door. Kingsley had been the Minister for coming up to two years, he had become comfortable with the power he wielded. He had begun to drive forward legislation. Changes were being made, and for the most part, Percy was on board with them. But this, this Percy was not on board with.

"Minister?"

"Yes, Percy?" Kingsley sat in state behind his desk, looked up from a report Percy could swear the man wasn't reading. Percy had learnt Kingsley's mannerisms as he had learnt the two Ministers before him. He wasn't fooled, Kingsley had been waiting.

Percy stepped further into the room, the report was still clenched in his hand. "Minister, I've just seen that the repeal of the marriage law has been struck from the schedule."

Kingsley leaned back in his chair his hands steepling as he regarded Percy over the top of them. "Yes, look, Percy, I'm sorry, but a deal had to be made, and since the law is currently suspended until a full review the legality of it, the repeal is less important. We need to move forward with the changes that are going to make an immediate difference to the population."

"Minister, the law needs to be repealed, it isn't sound. The preliminary reports from the scrutinisation panel clearly show that it is in violation of the rights of the muggle-born witches. The longer it is left in place, the more the Ministry will have to do to overcome it."

"I do understand that Percy, but the Auror department needs funding. St Mungo's needs every knut it can get its hands on. The new ward for long-term care wasn't exactly free, and you know how much push back we suffered on that. This was simply a casualty for the greater good."

Percy looked down at the report crumpled in his hand. "Audrey speaks to the Grangers regularly. Once a fortnight or so. When they ask because they will, shall I tell them that you decided that the new department at St Mungo's was more important than their daughter's rights as a witch? Shall I tell Phil Mills that his niece is going to be forced to marry in less than five years? Shall I tell Audrey that any daughter we have will still run the risk of being subject to this travesty?!"

"Percy, I am not in the habit of defending my decisions to anyone. I am the Minister for Magic, this decision, while not palatable for everyone, was the right one at this time. The marriage law is no longer a threat to Muggle-born or half-blood witches, it's suspended. No one is being forced to marry anyone. By the time any child you have is of age, the law will be a distant memory. We will address it as soon as we are able. Once there is an open slot it will go on the docket."

Percy nodded knowing there was no point in arguing. "Yes, Minister."

He turned to return to his office smoothing the crumpled parchment out. He completed the report he was drawing up for the Minister and sent it through to Kingsley's in-tray by magic rather than hand delivering it and going over the highlights as was his habit. Percy knew Kingsley would see the snub for what it was, a show of Percy's disapproval, but it was the only thing Percy could do. Audrey wasn't the only one that spoke to the Grangers after all, and he was the one with a fiancée awaiting the law being repealed so she could start planning her wedding. He was the one who wanted a family, and he was also the man who might have to explain to his daughter that she was to be married off. The more he thought about it, the more it grated, it wasn't just him, Mills' niece wouldn't be safe, neither would her cousin. Mills had told Percy over drinks that Suzanna, while having never displayed accidental magic had received her Hogwarts letter on her birthday surprising everyone. How many more half-bloods and muggle born would have to have this threat hanging over them, waiting for the day they no longer had a choice? How could he face his own hypothetical daughter and explain that this law existed?

Kingsley left on time a curt nod and a simple 'good evening' marking his exit from the office. Percy returned both just as curtly. He tided his files and reports away clearing his blotter and lowering the lamps, so he was sat in semi-darkness.

Percy didn't believe Kingsley. There was always an amount of wheeling and dealing to get things done. That was just how things were, and Percy had seen it done for good and for ill. The marriage law was relatively unimportant to most. The numbers of those affected were small, and as a suspended law it was no longer in effect. But that wasn't the point. It was still law, suspended or not. One word and the law would become active again, and the affected witches would back where they started. Riddle had instigated it to trap one witch, to gain ground in his fight with Harry Potter. They had won, Riddle was gone, the Death Eaters had been rounded up and arrested. The British Ministry for Magic had patted itself on the back for a job well done and capitalised on Riddle's defeat. Yet this law was still hanging on, a shadow of a regime they were slowly irradiating, a reminder of how far they had fallen.

Percy pulled a piece of parchment towards him. If Kingsley was going to let it be used as a bargaining chip to get what he wanted from the stauncher traditionalists within the Ministry and the Wizengamot, then there was nothing Percy could do about that. That was Kingsley's right as Minister.

That didn't mean, however, that Percy was going to do nothing. He had controlled the Ministry once before. He had spent months curtailing Thickenesse from being a competent Minister. He had worked under both Scrimgeour and Fudge doing the heavy lifting, so the Ministers didn't have to. If Kingsley wasn't about to repeal this law, well then, the answer was obvious, Percy would do it himself.

The list of contacts he had was a significant number. Those that would be of use for what he was planning would be fewer, the number willing to help probably fewer still. But that didn't matter, sometimes the wizarding world forgot that those with muggles in their ancestry weren't always born in isolation. Some had half-blood relatives. Any number of first-generation half-bloods had non-magical siblings, it wasn't a stretch to point out a comparable situation and drum up sympathy and outrage. Sympathetic, outraged witches and wizards were concerned citizens. Concerned citizens who could be motivated to bring the right amount of pressure to bear on a Ministry they saw as slow to act.

Percy spent his evening at his desk plotting. When he finally finished he gathered up the sheets of parchment and placed them in a drawer under a secure ward that Kingsley couldn't break, even with his access to the Ministry wards.

Percy wouldn't be able to get the law repealed in the next six months. He probably wouldn't be able to get the law repealed in the next twelve, but he would get it done.

March 2001

"A word," Kingsley said as he came through the door. Percy stood up from his desk and followed the Minister into his office. Kingsley dropped the folder he was carrying on his desk and whirled on his aide. "Just what in the name of Nimue was that?"

"I'm afraid—,"

"Don't," Kingsley barked. "Don't stand there and prevaricate. You damn well know what. This has your fingerprints all over it."

Percy tipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. "I am unable to, as an aide to the Minister for Magic, raise issues to be discussed for a vote in the Wizengamot."

"So you got Wallace to do it for you?" Kingsley demanded. "Do you know what I just walked into? I just had to defend this office for an hour! An hour! While that uptight windbag berated me for the discriminatory actions of the Ministry of Magic. I didn't even put the bloody law in place."

"No," Percy replied icily. "But you didn't repeal it when you had a chance either."

"So you went over my head? For Merlin's sake, what were you thinking?"

"I thought that the law was a travesty! I thought that there is a large portion of our society that forgets what half-blood means. I was thinking that I didn't want to speak to John and Helen Granger, and Hermione and Harry one more time without being able to tell them we had done something! If I had to tell them one more time, that this government, the government which they fled and returned to save the arse of, had still not managed to collectively get its shit together enough to repeal this ridiculous law, then I was going to pack up, and bloody well join them." Percy stepped towards Kingsley, his hands waving for emphasis.

"The Ministry of Magic is making headway, headway that three years ago was a pipe dream. But this notion that Muggle-born and half-blood witches are somehow to be controlled to stop the dilution of the bloodlines is still hanging over us. Our international standing is not going to get any better. We are not going to attract investment and overseas workers with laws like that. And you played it like it was nothing. You used it as a barging chip, every time it was raised by this office you sold it to the highest bidder. So, no, I wasn't going to watch you trade on the lives of British witches. I wasn't going to stand aside and do nothing, I've never stood aside and done nothing when it has been in my power to help, and I wasn't about to start now. You've brought this on yourself."

Kingsley stood silent and still as Percy declared his defiance, his face a hard mask of anger. "And this, you think, will get you elected to this office? This was your play for power. Fuck, Percy, no one is going to elect you with this tied to you. We've come a long way, yes, but the traditionalists still have a hand on the reins. How are you going to convince them to elect you when your name is all over this repeal?"

"It wasn't about getting elected. It was about doing the right thing."

"The right thing?" Kingsley scoffed. "The right thing would have been letting the issue be dealt with in due course and due process. Not even the influence of the Malfoys could get you in power now, and yes, I know about the aid you gave Draco Malfoy just after he graduated."

"That wasn't about power either," Percy retorted. "It was about giving a disaffected young wizard, with nothing but time and money on his hands to brood about how the world had done him wrong, something else to focus on. You knew the risks the same as I did."

"Oh, so you're the better man, is that it?"

"It's not a bloody pissing contest," Percy snapped. "I did what I could. I believe in a better future. I believe that the magical society of Great Britain can be better. Maybe that makes me an idealist, maybe it's never going to happen, and I'm deluding myself. But there will always be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right."

Kingsley made a sharp gesture with his hand. "If you had any notion of becoming Minister next year forget it. While your plan has worked, and the law is due for repeal at the next Wizengamot session, I was hounded on the way back to this office. Damnit, Percy, three years of laying the right foundations and you threw it over for this."

Percy shrugged. "It was worth it."

"It had better have been." Kingsley snapped. He dragged a hand down his face and took a deep breath in and out, releasing some of his anger. "No, you're right, it was worth it. Perhaps it should have been done sooner but never the less its done now. Just, next time, just, tell me, will you?" Kingsley requested looking tired and drained.

Percy felt a fluttering of remorse, the meeting had obviously been hard on Kingsley, and he had had no prior warning it was coming. It had been delivered as fait accompli to remove the risk of it being cut again. Which was also why it had taken longer than Percy's estimation of twelve months to be delivered. "Yes, Minister."

Percy went home that night and called America on the large mirror they used to contact the Grangers and Ginny. John answered the mirror promptly making Percy think the man might have been waiting for his call.

"Well?" John asked eagerly. "Did you do it?"

Percy nodded. "Yes," he said his voice hoarse as a lump swelled in his throat.

John jumped off the edge of the desk he was perched on, approaching the mirror. "Goddamnit, Percy I want to hug you! Hang on, stay there, Helen is downstairs, let me get her." John moved from the visible range of the mirror and Percy heard him faintly calling for Helen. John returned to the room. "She's coming, you need to tell her yourself."

"Tell me what?" came the familiar sound of the woman Percy held dear for a number of reasons.

"The law, it's going to be repealed at the next Wizengamot session," Percy dutifully informed her.

Helen clasped her hands together and jumped slightly in delight. "Oh, Percy! That's wonderful! Thank you. I wish you were here, I could just hug you."

Percy smiled at Helen's reaction. "John said the same thing, perhaps you should hug each other instead."

Helen followed his instruction and hugged her husband tightly. "So? Who knows? Have you told Audrey? Or Fred and George yet?"

Percy shook his head. "No. Until it goes before the Wizengamot I wasn't going to."

"But it is on the docket?"

"Yes, and it will pass once it gets there, we've tied everything up. I'm sorry it's taken so long."

"No Percy, you did this. It was going to get pushed aside again and again because of the suspension but this way she's finally free."

Percy nodded unable to find anything to say at the moment.

"Will you come to the wedding? The both of you? We can send Dobby to collect you."

"Wedding?"

Helen nodded. "Once the law is repealed Harry and Hermione will be getting married. They didn't want to until they could freely."

"I'm sure if you give me notice we could get away. Without having to get on a plane, travel time will be significantly less, we could perhaps make mini-break of it."

"That sounds like a plan only it won't be here. The chap we work for has a house in the Bahamas we borrow it every so often. They want to get married there, it's private, so Dobby is able to come with us, it has own stretch of beach that is cut off from the rest of the island. We won't have to worry about stray muggles wandering in and seeing Dobby or any magic."

"If I say no I think Audrey will be most upset with me so I will say yes for both of us. I'll let you have the Wizengamot date as soon as its set. But it's likely to be the week commencing the ninth of April with what I know of the current schedule."

"Shall we say the fourteenth? That gives us just over two weeks."

"Can you plan a wedding that quickly?" Percy asked.

Helen laughed. "Goodness probably not, but most of it is done. Dobby will be doing food, and we aren't going to do much more than put tables and chairs out with a few decorations and with, you know, magic, it takes very little time to accomplish these things."

"I suppose," Percy said. "I confess I haven't really thought about it."

"Aren't you and Audrey getting married?"

"Yes, summer this year. I am extremely lucky this law is set to be finally repealed, if she had to wait any longer I might have found myself short a bride."

"Wait for what?"

"For Harry and Hermione to be able to marry."

"Why? It's a nice gesture I suppose, but you shouldn't have held off just because of this law."

Percy shook his head. "it was Audrey's way of showing solidarity. She also thought, rightly so, the law was atrocious and was not happy it would impact on our future children, but that wasn't all of it. There were questions as to what it might mean when it comes out that I have driven it through."

"You won't lose your job, will you?" John asked worriedly.

"No, no, nothing like that. While I cannot put forth motions to the Wizengamot, I have instead used what influence I have to push it through as you know. There is a cost to that, and it is simply that I will not be able to run for Minister next year as was Kingsley's plan."

"You never said. Percy, I'm so sorry I didn't realise it was going to impact your career." Helen said clasping her hands together in concern.

"Don't worry about it. I was aware of what it would likely mean, and I accepted the fact long before we got to today. I won't be able to run for Minister next year, but I will be able to get married this year without having that pressure so shortly afterwards. I'll have three more years before I have to decide if I'm going to run, and in that time Audrey and I can take a look at when we want to start a family, that sort of thing. I would not want to stand for Minister if we had just had a child, it would be grossly unfair to Audrey."