Standard disclaimers apply!
I do not own Harry Potter. I have nothing to do with Scholastic, Warner Bros or Bloomsbury. I'm not JKR and I am certainly not making any profit out of this.
8.15am, 20th December, 1998.
The Office of The Head of Muggle Relations.
Arthur Weasley perused the headline news from the muggle news papers. Only two things to worry about today.
A group of teenage boys had had a run-in with "Aliens From Another World!" according to The Real Story. Kappa's, by the looks of it. What on earth they were doing around Briston-on-Wold was completely beyond Arthur, so he sent a quick memo to Emil over at the Department for Magical Creatures. Other than that, the boys had admitted to having a few drinks during their "fishing trip" and common opinion (aside from that of the paper) was that they were probably quite drunk and imagined the entire thing.
He HAD had to send a team out to the young couple in Ffestiniog. They had been picnicking when a Common Welsh Green decided it liked the look of one of the sheep in nearby field ... and another memo to Emil, because they really couldn't have dragons flying about taking farm animals for lunch.
The rest of it seemed to be usual muggle business. Extortionists trying to blackmail money from a multi-national company. The US President impeached. A New Zealand couple somehow involved with identity theft. Church goers being make ill by some sort of fumes in France. A member of the British Monarchy wanting to save the world.
Pushing the papers to one side, he leaned back in his chair and reached for his personal diary. Molly wanted him to drop into Glad-Rags to pick up his new robes - they'd needed to be let down a little in the hem - and Bill had asked him to visit Gringotts over lunch to sign off on a new vault. At some point during the day, he'd also need to meet up with Harry.
Then there was a 2pm meeting with Kingsley and the Wizengamot; in regard to the upcoming trial of Dolores Umbridge, specifically about the witnesses to be called forward in prosecution. Arthur rather hoped that her filing cabinets and records would speak for themselves, but such was life ...
All things going well, they would be free of the Ministry by 3.30pm. Molly and Harry had decided that this year, this Christmas, a great big bang-up bash was in order ... and the guest list was intimidating to say the least ... The Burrow really wasn't up to it, so the current renovation works at Grimmauld Place were concentrated on the ground floor.
Eamon and Stan had risen to the challenge wonderfully; but there was only so much that two men could do. Naturally, Arthur offered his services whenever he could and was thoroughly enjoying the experience – as was Kingsley, who couldn't take time off quite as often as he would like. The entire family had been roped in, at one point or another, so progress was good ... but the next few days would be vital if the Parlour and downstairs bathroom were going to be ready.
Shaking his head at himself, Arthur decided that procrastination would get him nowhere and that if he wanted to achieve anything, he'd best get on with it.