The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
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This is a little something for the middle of the week.
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Monica Weasley thought that there were many perks to working for the highest wizarding court in the land, the least of which was the ability to apparate in and out of her office. That ability alone was the reason she missed the confrontation that had happened just as she was arriving in her office. The lobby of the Ministry was buzzing about the reappearance of Hermione Granger/Weasley. Many bystanders heard the heated conversation between the grieving husband and newly resurrected wife. Fire is only one tenth as fast as gossip when it comes to spreading. Monica on the lowest level next to the courtroom heard the animated chatter from the law clerk bull pen before Hermione and Charlie walked off the elevator to come to her office.
Monica was waiting by her office door. "You two certainly know how to liven up a boring day!"
Charlie grinned. "Well the git was asking for it…he was furious and taking it out on Hermione. "
Monica looked at Hermione; she did not look any worse for the experience and decided to let the matter go for the moment. "I got the reports from the healer."
Hermione looked up apprehensively. Monica ushered them in to her office and shut the door behind them.
"The healer's findings together with your evidence will probably convince the court to set a trial date. But I must stress that the court can be peculiar, the date could be right away or set for months in the future. Who knows?" Monica did not wan to get their hopes up.
Hermione sagged slightly against Charlie. "I just want this over…now if possible. He has given an interview to the Daily Prophet. I am sure Ms. Skeeter will have all of her readers wishing I had stayed dead."
Charlie dropped a kiss on the top of Hermione's head. "Will this hurt Hermione's case?"
Monica smiled at the besieged pair. "No, I don't think so with our evidence…actually I was expecting him to do something like this. My suggestion is that you two lay low for the foreseeable future, stay out of the public eye. There is no need to start a battle when we plan on winning the war."
Charlie looked at his sister-in-law. "Would it be okay if we went back to Romania? Can we leave the country?"
Monica nodded and she reached for a Ministry form from her desk. "I will give you a Wizengamot authorized roundtrip portkey. It will activate once it has my signature. It will make everything much simpler. For the return trip simply activate it by adding your signatures to the bottom."
Hermione hugged her friend. "Thank you, I just don't know if I could have faced another crowded lobby today!"
Monica squeezed her hand, "Was St. Mungo's that horrible?"
Hermione laughed, "You know how much every woman loves those stirrups! It was just all the people, I have very sheltered for a while and it will take some time for me to realize that not everyone sees me as Percy does."
Charlie's face contoured with rage but he quickly gained control and turning to Hermione he said, "Soon everyone will see you as I do."
Monica grinned adding, "And they will see the true face of Percy, the git."
Hermione shuttered but taking a deep breath she straighten her shoulders and nodding she smiled. "That is worth it."
Monica activated the portkey to leave from her office and deliver the couple to Charlie's apartment in Romania. With just a minute to make their goodbyes, Charlie and Hermione held the parchment and left England.
Charlie's first impression was that Monica had made a mistake and they landed in the wrong apartment. Only the view from the window was the same as they had left it. Every piece of furniture, every book, painting, curtain, and treasured knickknack was gone. Every single item in the apartment had been reduced to dust. The walls bore scorch marks and the glass from the windows lay shattered on the floor. This was more than vandalism, this was destruction, hate.
Hermione gasped once she realized that this was in fact Charlie's place and nothing was left. Tears poured her face as she turned to look at Charlie questioning who could have possibly done this.
Charlie knew instantly who was responsible for this, only one person had that much intense hatred bottled up inside. Percy had wreaked his revenge, again.
Charlie wrapped Hermione tightly in his arms as she quietly sobbed. "It is okay, it was just stuff. We are safe and that is what is important. Everything else can be replaced."
Hermione calmed and looked around at the destruction again asked, "It had to be him, right?"
Charlie nodded and pulled out his wand. With a flick and swish he began to clear a path to the bedroom and next to the kitchen. Hermione followed suit and together they cleared the debris. Hours later the two sat on the clean living room floor surveying what they had accomplished. The apartment was spotless, empty but spotless.
Hermione groaned, "It was your life…it is gone everything you had has vanished! You did not deserve this; he is punishing you for saving me!" Charlie could hear the guilt she felt resonating in her voice.
Charlie ran his hand down her arm, comforting her. "This is not the first time that Percy has tried to destroy my world. I hadn't thought about it for years and obviously never made the connection until now but he has been sick for a very long time."
Hermione looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Charlie leaned against the wall and pulled Hermione into his chest. "A long time ago, when I maybe, fourth or fifth year at school, I was home for the summer and Percy had just learned to play chess. He was driving everyone nuts with his demands that we play a match. He was very good, especially for being so young, and his ego was over inflated. So I agreed to his challenge and we played a game. I enjoy chess as much as any Weasley but I would much rather be playing Qudditch. Anyway, the game lasted for a couple of hours and Percy put up a good fight, but I won. Percy was furious, claiming that I must have cheated and it wasn't fair. I did not give him a rematch and went swimming with Bill."
Hermione turned to face Charlie. "Why do I think there is more to the story?"
Charlie looked pensive and gave her a weak smile. "You are a very perceptive witch. When I went up to bed much later that night I found my brand new broomstick shattered into pieces on my bed. I loved that broom, Mum and Dad had scrounged up enough money for it because I had been named Captain for the next year. They were so proud. No one admitted it but I knew that Percy was responsible. Dad did not believe it because he was so young and it would have taken too much power to destroy the broom. But I knew it was him."
Hermione gently kissed his jaw. "I am so sorry," she whispered.
Charlie kissed her forehead. "My team still took the Cup that year, even without my broom."
Hermione took a deep breath, "We need to stop him."
Charlie rubbed his head against her hair. "We will."
The sun had set and Charlie was working on replacing the glass panes in the windows, when Hermione leaned against the wall and sank down to sit on the floor.
"I can't believe we got so much done!" She had a happy smile on her face as she looked up a Charlie.
"Face it we are a good team." With a flourish Charlie reset the last pane in the last window in the place and joined Hermione on the floor. "Done!"
Hermione sighed, "I can think of one more thing before we call it quits."
Charlie thought and smiled when magically an enormous four poster bed appeared in the middle of the living room.
"There…perfect!" Hermione purred.
Charlie laughed.
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Saying it is just stuff is easy. But I know from experience that stuff or not it still hurt just as bad. What the Katrina flood waters did not ruin the tornado that hit our storage unit did. Oh well it was just stuff!
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