Auscultation: the act of listening to sounds within the body as a method of diagnosis

February 12, 1996

Percy Weasley pushed his glasses up his nose importantly as he stepped out of the lift. He couldn't keep the smugness out of his expression as he carried the stack of files – straight from the Minister's office – down to his old department. Truth be told, he had never hit it off with anyone from the Department for International Magical Cooperation. They seemed to think he was a suck-up. For those few weeks after the whole – er – affair as he thought of it, before he'd gotten his promotion, he had hardly been able to face coming into the office. This place had made him burn with shame and humiliation.

But now here he was, working in the office of the Minister of Magic himself, bringing important paperwork down that had to be signed today. And fully intending to let them know of the Minister's impatience. He couldn't deny that he was rather pleased to be sent down here again, to show them all where he'd ended up. He hadn't been a screw up after all.

Percy marched through the maze of desks, nodding stiffly at his former colleagues when they glanced up. He made sure to knock smartly on the door to the new Head's office, putting as much formal importance into the sound as he could. Nothing happened. Percy waited, tapping his foot impatiently, nose in the air. After two minutes, he was beginning to feel a bit foolish. He thought he could hear some snickers behind him. He knocked again.

"Urgent business from the Minister's personal office!' he announced. "Please open up. Minister Fudge is on a tight timeline!"

At last the office door clicked open and Crouch's successor (he often thought of it as his successor as he had been essentially doing all the tasks of running the office for several months, but no one remembered how well he'd managed that in their inquiries) appeared. Percy knew her vaguely. Audrey something-or-other. She'd been in Charlie's year at Hogwarts, a Ravenclaw he thought. Mostly he remembered that he'd expected her to be smarter than the rest of these buffoons and support him while he was trying to keep things running in Mr. Crouch's absence, but she'd disappointed him.

She surveyed him now from behind her wire-rimmed spectacles without the faintest hint of apology for keeping him waiting.

"Well?" he said impatiently. "May I come in?"

She stood aside and he brushed past her. "Mr. Fudge needs these back by three o'clock this afternoon," he informed her, dropping the heavy stack of folders on her desk with a satisfying thud. She was probably regretting her delay now.

Audrey something-or-other went around her desk and pulled the first folder towards her, taking out a quill. Percy turned to leave, straightening his Personal Office of the Minister tag, which gave him official clearance. Mostly just to the memo room, but Percy usually just said that gave him official clearance.

"You were always very smart," Audrey said as he reached the door, making him wheel around.

"What was that?"

"You were always very smart," she repeated thoughtfully, surveying him over the top of his quill. "I remember Charlie's little brother was always in the library. We used to tease him he'd be going to you for tutoring. So it just surprises me that you don't see it, is all."

"Don't see what?" he snapped, nonplused. His impressive moment was being ruined.

"That something is going on out there with Dumbledore and You-Know-Who," she said earnestly.

Percy's temper flared. This was too close to home for his liking. "Don't tell me you're part of that lunacy as well. If there was any possibility of danger, the Ministry would be doing its utmost to put a stop to it."

"But sometimes your most reliable tools fail," Audrey went on calmly, unfazed. "Listen to the people, Weasley. What do you hear? Disappearances, mysterious deaths, mass break-outs. People are afraid. Usually that's the surest sign that something is wrong."

"Preposterous," Percy spluttered. "Dumbledore is spreading rumors, that's all there is to it. That's why people are afraid."

Audrey merely studied him. "As I say, the best way to assess a situation is to go outside your honed tools and actually listen to what is happening."

Percy turned on his heal and marched from her office, all smugness replaced by outrage. He didn't have to listen to this nonsense any more….

The wanted posters that had been plastered all over the ministry a month ago caught his eye. His eyes found the picture of Antonin Dolohov automatically, the man responsible for his uncles' deaths all those years ago. What sort of mess-up could let a man like that free…?

He shook himself and kept storming down the hall. It was all nonsense. The Ministry would find him again and clear up this whole mess soon.

A/N: I'm really not very good at this 'short' thing, am I? Well, I hope you liked reading about Percy. I don't know why, but I've found I rather like writing him. I've got a soft spot for the guy, even when he's being a total prat… especially when he's being a total prat. It's just so much fun to get into his personality. But anyway…

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