"Percy, would you mind if we talked for a moment?" The party that Molly had promised to throw in honour of Charlie coming was in full swing in the Burrow's backyard – while she could approach Percy at work or simply send him an owl, talking to him at the Burrow was much more comfortable, hopefully for both of them.
"Of course not, Hermione. Why don't we go into the house seeing as most everyone is congregated out here?" Walking towards the back door of the Burrow, she watched as Percy stopped by his girlfriend's side to let her know where he'd be as she sent Charlie a wink before nodding her head towards the house.
"How have you been, Percy?" She asked, trying to find an easy way into the conversation.
"Doing well, Hermione, thank you," he said before gently continuing, "though I suggest you get what you'd like to say off of your chest, I can see how nervous you are. I'm sure that whatever it is, you and I can talk about it like adults."
"Fair enough," she replied, huffing a laugh. "When Charlie was over at mine last weekend, he brought up an interesting idea that I wanted to talk over with you. We'd been talking about ways in which we'd still like to see our world improve and he suggested that you and I form a new department within the ministry, one which solely deals with revising policy and procedures found in other ministry departments and institutions within the magical community."
"It wouldn't be too far off from what our current jobs entail," Percy mused, eyebrows drawn together in thought, "something similar to a muggle auditor, if I'm understanding correctly."
"Exactly," she exclaimed, glad to know that the main concept had come across correctly. "We'd form a separate department that answered directly to Kingsley and whoever else he thought necessary."
"Although I do think there's a lot of good we could accomplish with such an idea, I have to say I doubt that the ministry, and the wizengamot by extension, would look favourably on two fairly young people being given free reign to look over and change any policy they see fit."
"No, of course not," she agreed with a nod of her head. "Charlie and I thought that a solution for that would be for us to come up with proposals for things we'd like to look into and run them by Kingsley before we start our work. But if you have any other suggestions, please let me know!"
"Proposals could work…" muttered Percy under his breath. "But there's still the Umbridge problem to think about, Hermione, a problem that I helped create."
"Sorry, the Umbridge problem?"
"The last time the Ministry started looking into things and changing policies, Umbridge got planted at Hogwarts and the result was fairly horrific. I doubt anyone will take well to the Ministry stirring the status quo, however much we would really love to change this world for the better. And I doubt anyone would be interested in hearing my name attached to the project."
"I understand where you're coming from, Percy, but these policy changes have to come from somewhere. You know as well as I do that it's often hard for people to see the big picture from inside their own departments as they get sidetracked with the day to day errands. Stirring the status quo may not work out favourably for us but if we don't do it, we're leaving conditions ripe for someone else to come along and start inciting tensions again. And you are the only person I can imagine undertaking this with, you understand first hand how distorted ministry views can get - this project will take hours upon hours of work, and I am confident that you will not turn away at the first hiccup."
"I…" Percy lowered his head for a moment, swiping underneath his eye before looking back at her. "I wasn't expecting such a vote of confidence, Hermione, but I do thank you. I'd be honoured to work on such a proposal with you."
She couldn't help beaming at him and reaching over for a hug. "Oh Percy, that's wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that, I was worried you'd think we were completely off the mark."
"Oh no, nothing like that. Completely barmy, maybe, but not off the mark," he replied, laughing along with her. "I do have some ideas, if you'd like to sit down."
"Please, please. What do you suggest we do to combat the Umbridge problem?"
"Well, I think the press will be the biggest issue. You know how much of a problem Rita Skeeter is and since she's still at the Daily Prophet, we really have to be careful as to what we do. My suggestion would be to lean heavily on Luna and her father at the Quibbler, scoop the Daily Prophet on a huge story, as it were," Percy told her, fixing his glasses as they threatened to fall down his face. "With how nervous everyone is bound to be about the ministry extending its influence, I think we ought to encourage Luna to print each and every proposal we put before Kingsley, in their entirety. That way no one can come to us or Kingsley complaining that they didn't know what we were up to, and it will be harder for Skeeter to print any outright lies. We could have her interview the both of us, as well as the minister and anyone else he puts in charge, on why our entire initiative is necessary to forward our society."
"I thought much the same," she stated. "I'm sure you know how important fair werewolf legislation is to me so I was hoping that we could make that our first proposal, seeing as Kingsley has already asked me to work on the topic."
"I agree, it would make for a natural segway," Percy told her, gesturing with his hands as he got more excited. "When we pitch the project to Kingsley, we should have the full proposal on werewolf legislation prepared but also present him with options for what else we'd like to work on, to show him that we have thought this through."
"How would you like to meet at some point this week to work out more details? I think we could put this together and present to Kingsley in the next few weeks."
"I think I'm free Wednesday afternoon, but I'll owl you tonight after I make sure with Audrey," he responded, smiling brightly at her. "I'm very excited to start working with you, Hermione, closer than we have been, at least. With Kingsley's help I think that we can achieve a lot of good with this idea."
"I hope so, Percy, I really do," she said, a bit wistfully. "Credit has to go to Charlie for coming up with it – although being handed the project to look over werewolf legislation soothed some of my worries about not being able to do more to affect real change at the ministry, I still felt that more could be done. Should this department be approved, I think it will be the way forward with tackling some of the remaining issues in our society."
"I'm ashamed to say that I don't know Charlie all that well anymore – from what I see of your interactions I can see that you are well matched to each other and his willingness to help you better the world we live in goes to show that he's grown into a good man. If you two don't mind, I look forward to getting to know you both better."
She knew that Percy would live with the guilt of not being around to help his family during the war for the rest of his life, similarly to the guilt Charlie lived with of being away in Romania for the majority of his younger sibling's lives. "Percy, I think you'll find that you're not the only one who feels separated from the family – both Charlie and I agree that we've not put in as much effort as we could have into getting to know everyone, yourself and Audrey included. I think I speak for both Charlie and I when I say that we'd love to get to know you better."
"Who are you getting to know better, love?" Charlie asked, walking into the sitting room as she and Percy were talking.
"Percy and Audrey. We were just talking about how we really don't know each other very well and resolving to change that. I hope you don't mind that I've committed both of us to the endeavour," she asked, turning to give Charlie a smile as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Of course not, love. Percy, we didn't really know each other way before you went off to the ministry and the majority of the blame for that rests on my shoulders. I was always off with Bill when we were younger and the twins were born as practically the same person leaving you the odd man out, I can't imagine that was a fun life to lead. I could have made more of an effort then and didn't and so can hardly resent you now for your own mistakes. I very much look forward to getting to know both you and Audrey better." Holding out his hand for Percy to shake he asked, "brothers?"
"Always," Percy responded, taking his hand. "I don't know what to say to you both other than thank you."
"No need to thank us, Percy," she said, reaching over to hug him again. "Now, we should probably rejoin the party, before we get accosted by the rest of the family and interrogated on what we were talking about."
"Too true," both Charlie and Percy agreed laughing, "and we should probably keep this between us. Lead the way!"
Walking back towards the Burrow garden she noted where everyone seemed to be congregated and dragged Charlie by the hand towards them to explain what was really going on. Molly had been kind of to let them explain but she could see that the woman was getting more and more excited as the party wore on.
"If we could get your attention for a minute, please!" she cried to alert all the kids and outliers in the back garden. "While it's lovely that you all gathered for the single purpose of celebrating that Charlie and I are together, we do actually have another reason for this party," she said, stepping aside to let Charlie take centre stage.
"Mum threw this party because in the next few months, I'm going to be coming home. Several of the ministries of countries that house dragon reserves have been working together to figure out how to deal with their overcapacity problem with the solution being the creation of a new dragon reserve. A location in Scotland has been selected and yours truly will be heading up the new sanctuary. So, whether you want to or not, you'll be seeing much more of me," Charlie said, clapping his hands to ease the tension, "and I am still just as bad at public speaking as I've always been. We're done here!"
Ginny was the first to rush up to him with a hug, followed by Molly, almost in tears even though they told her weeks ago already. Charlie received claps on the back from everyone in the family before being interrogated on what the new sanctuary entailed. She stepped away to give them some room, smiling to herself before picking up some of the empty plates and carrying them to the kitchen. Turning around to go back towards the garden she ran straight into Bill, throwing them both back into the doorframe before he reached out an arm to catch her as she fell.
"Merlin, Bill, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there at all, I hope you're not hurt," she replied, taking a step back and smoothing her dress.
"This one's on me, Hermione, I really should have announced myself. I came in to talk to you about Charlie, actually."
"Oh? Is something wrong?"
"No, no, nothing like that. I just wanted to thank you for making Charlie happy. He wrote me the longest letter I've ever received a few weeks ago, raving about you and talking about how happy he was - he's my best mate, you know, and it's nice to see you two together. You and he have a standing invitation to Shell Cottage, maybe we could do dinner next time he's in town. After you two are done shagging your brains out, that is," Bill said, grinning at her obvious blush.
"Oh please, I'm sure Charlie had to hear all about you and Fleur's courtship, you have no leg to stand on!"
"Only too true, Hermione, I thought he was going to come home and wring my neck at one point," he told her, laughing at the memory. "I won't tease you too much about it."
"He raved about me?" She thought things had been going well, but the nerves of her youth were never far from her mind - knowing that Charlie had written Bill a long letter about how happy she made him certainly helped ease the strain.
"Course he did, he's head over heels for you, Granger," he told her, smiling in the direction of the backyard. "Don't tell him I said that, he'd knock me down for telling you about that letter. And between you and I, I've gotten a bit soft since getting married."
"Your secret's safe with me, Bill," she said, leaning in with a smirk. "Did you guys fight a lot when you were younger?"
"Oh yeah, there's nothing at the Weasley household that wasn't solved with a good scrap. I used to be able to keep up with Charlie, but after he was on the reserve for a few years, he could take us all to school. Though now that he's going to be management, he might actually slow down a bit."
"Well, I'm not going to be complaining about Charlie's physique any time soon," she said, giving Bill a cheeky grin.
"Yes, yes, my brother is good looking, we all know this," Bill replied, jostling with her as they both tried to move through the door at the same time. "Alright, big brother talk is all done. Take care of him, and come over for dinner."
"Will do, Bill, thanks for everything," she called over her shoulder as she approached Charlie talking to Gin and Harry.
"Did you just get the big brother talk, Mione?" Harry asked as she joined them.
"Indeed I did, though I think Bill did something wrong because it was actually quite pleasant," she said with a smile.
"Mine fucking wasn't," Harry responded with a shudder, "I will never forget that moment, it comes up in my nightmares sometimes – Old Voldy and Bill, terrifying me until the end of time."
"You must be joking," Ginny responded, staring at Harry with a shocked look on her face. "Bill's one of the nicest people around!"
"Once you get to know him, sure!" Harry told her with emphasis. "To everyone who is trying to date his litter sister, he's a fucking curse breaker with an immense amount of field experience who fought Greyback and probably knows hundreds of ways to hurt someone if he wanted to."
"I love that Harry is scared of Bill," Hermione said as an aside to Charlie, grabbing his hand in hers.
"I should probably let him know sometime that I asked Bill to go twice as hard on account of my not being there," Charlie whispered in her ear.
"Nah, let him suffer. He needs a little fear in his life still, most people just bend over backwards when they see him these days."
"Did Bill really give you the older brother talk, Hermione?"
"Somewhat. Mostly he just told me that he's happy for us and that we're invited over for dinner in the next few weeks," she said. "Does it bother you that he did?"
"No," Charlie replied hugging her to him, "I actually think it's rather sweet. He's the only older brother I've got and even though we're fucking old, it's nice to know that he still wanted a moment with you."
"Wait a minute," Harry said, turning back to both of them, "who gave Bill a talking to when he was getting married?"
"Dad, obviously," Ginny responded. "Neither of you have ever seen Dad properly serious but it's a sight to see. He took Bill over to his shed and when they came out Bill was more whitefaced than I've ever seen him."
"Wish I could have seen that, "Charlie said, laughing. "Alright, you various degenerates, I've only got a couple of hours left with the lovely Miss Granger here and there are other things I'd rather be doing. I'll see you next time I'm in town and please remember not to tell anyone about the new sanctuary until you see the official announcement next week."
"Fair enough, I'm surprised you both stayed this long," Ginny said, reaching over to hug them both. Don't forget to see mum or she'll skin you both."
Landing in her living room like always, she was immediately swept into Charlie's arms and properly snogged. "Fuck, that never gets old," he told her when they separated a bit later. "Come on, let's get a drink. I need to leave soon and I'd still like to take some time to talk with you."
"What about?" she asked, accepting a glass of Macallan from him and sitting down on the couch.
"About anything, really. Talking to you is always the best part of my day. What's something I don't know about you?"
"In sixth year at Quidditch tryouts, I used the confundus charm on Cormac McLaggen so that he failed his last catch and Harry picked Ron for keeper instead of him.
"Did you really?" he replied smiling. "That is definitely one tidbit I haven't heard. I should spread it around, I can imagine Skeeter would pay good money to learn that about you."
"Not even as a joke, Charles," she said shuddering, "that woman is absolutely awful. I know I should regret what I did but to this day I most certainly do not. Cormac McLaggen, the handsy bastard, can go fuck himself. What about you? Any juicy tidbits about your life?"
"Oh, I'm sure there's much more about me that you don't know. But I'm more interested in your hatred of McLaggen at the moment, Granger," Charlie said, concern clouding his features.
"No need to worry, Charlie, the guy was just an idiot. Wanted to get into my pants and had a bit of a mouth on him," she replied, eyes rolling at the memory of the man. "I was so invested in getting Ron to notice me that when he was an asshole about Slughorn's party, I invited McLaggen to make him jealous. I'm not proud of most of my sixth year but that one takes the cake for me. Naturally, he got the idea that I was interested in him and tried to get a bit handsy at the party, I spent most of it and the rest of the year avoiding him."
"Fantastic situation you created for yourself, Hermione, though if we ever do meet him again, I would like to give him a slap for getting handsy. Now let's see here, something about me… first night on the reserve I got fired and rehired within the span of 30 minutes."
"You must be joking, how on earth did that happen?"
"My first night there, a Chinese fireball got spooked by something and started a bit of a rampage, thrashing her entire area and causing an emergency on the reserve. I defied my handler's direct orders to stay in my hut and joined in the fray, flying straight at the dragon to try to distract her. It worked for a few minutes so I landed and started throwing stunners with the rest of the keepers. Handler came over and fired me on the spot, told me that if I couldn't follow orders, I had no place on the team. Right after that the fireball managed to snag one of the keepers with her tail, throwing the bloke about twenty feet up into the air. The rest of the team obviously got distracted trying to levitate the guy back to the ground so I took the chance and ran towards her, catching her around the snout and wrangling her to the ground so that I could send a stunner to the underside of her neck, one of the only places that it usually takes. After we got her back under control, my handler came back and re-hired me, saying that I'm the craziest and most talented fucker he'd seen in years. His exact words, actually."
"My god, Charlie, that's like something out of an adventure novel. Have you pulled any stunts like that since then?"
"I like to believe that I've grown up since then, but every once in a while, a move like that is still necessary. Dragons are unpredictable creatures and rules and regulations can only take you so far. What's necessary is to make sure that your keepers are as knowledgeable as can be so that the risks they take have lower consequences. That's the aim in the new place, at least. A team of well trained but still daring keepers."
"I can only imagine. You at work must be a sight to see, Charles Weasley," she said, leaning over to kiss him.
"It's been helpful a few times, I must admit," he replied in between kisses. "I'm really looking forward to having you visit Romania – there's not many people that have shared both sides of my life and I can't wait to introduce you to my mates, both the co-workers and the dragons."
"I'm looking forward to it as well, my only experience with dragons so far has been that event at Gringotts – it would be nice to be introduced to the creatures in a safer environment without the threat of imminent death and torture on my shoulders. Only one more week to go!"
"Well, I pledge to do my best to give you a much better experience," Charlie told her, getting up to give her an immense hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I've got to run to catch my flight but I'll see you soon. Text me your flight details and I'll be at the airport to pick you up."
"See you soon, Charlie."