Bill dropped Fleur off at the flat late that afternoon, and Poppy decided to Apparate to The Burrow with him.
She wished that she was Apparating with Charlie, thinking that he'd gone back to Romania already. However, upon walking into the kitchen, her heartache stopped when she saw her favourite overly-freckled redhead sitting at the table. He was talking to his mother, a mug of steaming liquid in one of his large hands.
Poppy smiled broadly and tried not to run to Charlie, who placed his drink down and stood when he noticed the newcomers. Instead, she let Bill take the lead.
"Mate! You're in England? When did this happen?" Bill asked, greeting his brother with a hug and a thump on the back.
"This morning. I was going to surprise mum and dad with breakfast," Charlie said, happily. "But Mum caught me in Diagon Alley." He moved to where Poppy stood and drew her into a one-armed hug which she returned in as 'friendly' a way as she could without raising any suspicion, wrapping her arm around his waist.
His arm still around her shoulder, Charlie turned back to Bill and continued, "She put me straight to work doing all the household jobs she's been putting off. I haven't had a spare moment since I got back." He flexed his hand around Poppy's arm as he spoke.
Poppy smiled at him, feeling any anxiousness she held within her shoulders eke away under the weight of his arm which seemed to ground her.
Her heart fluttered when his words registered, and she tried to hide her sigh - he'd left to get her breakfast, not because of Bill or Fleur.
Her chest felt tight, as if it couldn't contain the love she had for him any more. As much as she might have wanted to go back to protecting him by not being with him, she knew that she couldn't now. She'd opened the door for their relationship to begin, and closing it again would take more willpower than she currently possessed.
Charlie gave her one last squeeze and then moved away, stepping around her to pick up a small pile of dinner plates off the side, which he took over to the table.
"I needed some ingredients from the apothecary and there he was!" Mrs Weasley said, her eyes full of tears. She grabbed Charlie's arm to give it a loving shake and smiled up at him. "The perfect surprise. Now, everyone, sit, sit! I've made dinner already. Poppy," she added, throwing her arms out to Poppy, who was still standing by the door, "good to see you my dear. How are you? How was work?"
"I'm good, work was fine," Poppy muttered, accepting the hug awkwardly, still not used to motherly affection. When Mrs Weasley appeared to want her to elaborate, Poppy added, "It was hard but fine."
"Well we saw Kingsley last night and he said you were getting on well," Mrs Weasley added proudly, walking back over to the cooker.
Poppy ducked her head and smiled awkwardly. "Thanks. I was hoping, but you never know."
She noticed Charlie watching her carefully. Poppy had a strong feeling that he could see through her act.
"Have they told you when you should expect your badge?" Mrs Weasley asked, ushering her into a chair, "Tonks said that Scrimgeour's still being cautious about your appointment. She said we shouldn't expect an official announcement for a while?"
Poppy nodded. "I think they'll announce it in the summer hopefully," she said, thinking about what Scrimgeour had told her. "He said that I have to complete first year of training and then I'll get my badge and be allowed onto active sessions cases," Poppy explained, shrugging.
Mrs Weasley nodded, but didn't pry further. Instead she said, "Moody said to say sorry about his questions." She turned back to the stove, and Poppy shook her head and muttered under her breath;
"No he didn't."
Next to her, Bill chuckled.
Poppy had realised a few nights ago that Scrimgeour and Moody were the same breed of war veteran, asking question after question to reveal any inconsistencies in testimony that they could pick apart. She'd thought it was only for her benefit at first, that they both found her that untrustworthy, and that she was the common ground between them. Until, that is, she read some old files during work and found that pre-First Wizarding War, this was the interrogation technique of choice. Unable to use Unforgivable Curses, they had to rely on exhaustion and discrepancies to catch their targets.
Only, Poppy was the type of person who remembered the facts she was willing to share and only shared those - her father had taught her that particular skill involuntarily throughout her teen years, due to his distrust of her and magic and his want to know exactly where she'd been all day. Which meant the questioning with Scrimgeour had gone round and round for days, and with Moody, hours.
Post-war, times had changed and other techniques came to the forefront. Namely, complete evidence gathering as a result of new laws around how long you were allowed to keep 'prisoners' without charge.
Which, Poppy had realised, was why Scrimgeour hadn't had her brought in by force, but had asked her to come in voluntarily to 'answer questions on an ongoing case'. It had been her, Poppy, who hadn't officially asked to leave. Hadn't said the words, "You're holding me illegally. Let me leave."
"Pop?" Charlie whispered when she didn't answer his question. She'd heard him say something but it hadn't registered properly.
"Sorry," she muttered, frowning. She shook her head to stop herself from reliving it all. . "What did you say?"
Once she had been able to answer Charlie's question, Bill asked his mum, "Where's Dad?"
"Oh, Bill! Guard duty! You know that. He's going to eat at the office," Mrs Weasley explained, bringing over a large vat-like saucepan. "It's sausage and mash tonight, hope that's alright."
"Merlin, Mum, still cooking for the whole seven?" Charlie asked.
"She was doing better," Bill answered weakly, peering into the saucepan that Mrs Weasley was now scooping mashed potato from.
Poppy tried not to laugh at the expression on his face, and hid her smile behind her hand. Charlie, who was now sitting across from her, kicked her foot and she mouthed, "Fleur's been feeding him up."
Charlie smirked and happily accepted four sausages, setting the standard for Bill who looked queasy at the thought.
"You alright, Bounce?" Charlie asked halfway through dinner, looking at Poppy intently. "Mum told me what happened. The gist at least."
Something in the way he said it sounded so honest, and it finally clicked into place - he'd come as soon as he could after her reply about the love knot. He'd had no idea about the Auror interrogation. It just so happened that he'd turned up when she really needed him.
Poppy paused, and bit her lip.
She didn't know if she wanted to talk about it still. Under the table, Charlie's foot stroked the side of hers, and she closed her eyes for a beat. When she opened her eyes, she found his, and he repeated his question. Only, this time Poppy knew that he needed her to answer. It was there, the look of desperation in his eye. She couldn't leave him to worry about her even more.
So she sighed and nodded, then launched into her true feelings on the matter, surprising Mrs Weasley and Bill who, it seemed, had expected her to simply move the subject on again.
Charlie listened intently, leaving his half finished dinner to grow cold. His foot on hers moved every so often, as if reassuring her that he was there for her.
As Poppy spoke, she knew she was revealing too much, but she also felt as though she was speaking only to Charlie. And so she let everything out.
"But I know it's my fault for even mentioning the holding cells to Scrimgeour. If I hadn't I'd've been left in that room instead," she sighed, "and while that would have felt worse, they probably thought I was being argumentative by choosing the cells and kept me in for questioning longer.
"And I didn't ask to leave… So I can't hold anything officially against him or the department," she said finally, sadly, stabbing a bit of sausage with her fork absent-mindedly. "And I know I'm just complaining and other people have gone through worse, and Dumbledore needs spies in the Ministry. I know all of that, but…
"I just feel let down by the whole thing," she said, dropping her fork and interlacing her fingers. "It's not how I thought things would go. It felt never ending, like I was on trial. And now I feel so… so scared that no one noticed I was gone, which also sounds stupid, I know… I guess I keep thinking about Sturgis. Tonks said they thought he'd just not turned up for duty or to take everyone to the station on the First, but he was probably Imperiused and then in holding and sentencing. And no one noticed. Not until it was in the papers. Is this what the Order's meant to be? What's going to happen when people start disappearing again?
"It's… it just… yeah. It just sucks I guess. And I- I just can't get past the fact that it was my fault," she finished. She groaned and placed her head in her hands.
When she finally looked up, Charlie nodded slowly and leant his elbows on the table. "It wasn't your fault," he said, his voice betraying his anger. "Scrimgeour preyed on the fact that you didn't know that you could just leave. He didn't give you a way out."
"No, I-" Poppy tried.
"No, Poppy," Charlie said, his voice softening, "That's why he took your wand. He was testing to see if you'd ask for it back. If there was a way to leave, you would have taken it."
"No-" Poppy tried.
"Bounce, you see things most people don't," Charlie said. His hand jerked back and Poppy thought he had gone to hold hers but stopped. "You saw the clause in the Dragonologist theory paper that said all you had to do to pass was sleep. You noticed when they were trying to put you off during the Gringotts chess exam. Trust me. If there was a way out, you would have taken it."
Poppy glanced down at her hands, but nodded slowly.
"D'you reckon He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named had anything to do with it? Giving you a horrific second chance, I mean," Charlie asked.
Poppy, shook her head and chuckled, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "No," she said, still smiling. The look on Charlie's face said that he had intended to make her laugh. "Well, maybe. But I don't think so. Not directly anyway."
"Will everyone please stop thinking this is connected to You-Know-Who!" Mrs Weasley cried, sending her second-eldest son a pointed look, and making Poppy (who really had forgotten she was there) jump. "Dumbledore, your father and I all think this was simply an untrusting Scrimgeour, detestable man, taking advantage of his position."
Mrs Weasley clapped her hands and stood. "Now, I thought that since Charlie's back we'd have a special dessert, and he chose sticky toffee pudding. There's a Celestina Warbeck special on the radio at seven, so I thought we'd eat in the living room. Go through, I'll be in in a moment."
Their plates and the saucepans were summoned away to the sink and once Bill, Charlie and Poppy were settled on two of the sofas - Poppy was glad that Charlie had sat as close to her as possible without looking too close - Bill leant in. "You think this is… Voldemort?" he asked quickly, glancing at the door to the kitchen.
Poppy bit her lip to hide her smile, and Charlie pursed his. If she was right, Charlie had not meant Voldemort at all.
"Uh, no," Charlie replied before he said in a dramatic whisper, "Percy."
"Mate. You can't call him that," Bill said, though his lips tipped upwards.
"I know, but hear me out. What if Fudge was saying that Poppy might still be in league with us or Harry and therefore Dumbledore?" Charlie asked.
"It would be bad optics for the Ministry if they hired me and I started spouting about Dumbledore being right…" Poppy agreed.
"Exactly. But what if then Percy pointed out that they'd used Veritaserum on the Auror candidates and you'd passed that test?" Charlie said, stretching out.
His knee grazed Poppy's and she was sure it was his way of giving her the reassuring touch she needed. She tried not to melt into his side as she so wanted to.
"He might've said to just ask you more questions to suss you out?" Charlie said.
Poppy pursed her lips and then nodded. "That sounds like something he'd do. Especially if he said something to Fudge about me being good and then they rejected me…"
Bill looked unconvinced.
Poppy watched as the brothers had a silent conversation. After a minute Bill sighed and sat back in his chair, covering his eyes with his palm. "He's a dick but he wouldn't do that, surely."
"Well… well, how about this," Poppy said, slowly, "instead of speculating, how about I ask him when I next see him?"
"How're you going to do that?" Bill asked, "'hey, Per-"
Poppy hissed and placed a finger to her lips to silence Bill. Then she plastered a smile on her face and turned to the door just a moment or two before Mrs Weasley came into view.
Bill whined at the size of the pan Mrs Weasley was holding.
Poppy tried not to laugh but couldn't contain her giggle when Charlie snorted and elbowed her in the side. She didn't miss Bill's smugly curious look, but she did ignore it.
Later that evening, after Celestina Warbeck had concluded her concert, and Bill had stopped challenging Poppy to Wizarding games every time she said it was getting a bit late, Poppy began the motions of leaving (placing her finished hot chocolate onto the table and standing). But before she could say anything, Mrs Weasley invited her to stay the night.
Poppy's first thought was to decline - she didn't want to intrude more upon Mrs Weasley and her sons' night together.
But again, before she could say anything, Charlie narrowed his eyes at her.
"When the last time you were on a broom?" he asked.
Poppy frowned and thought hard. "I guess last time I was here?" she said. "Yeah. It would have been when we played that match with everyone."
The match had been the Weasley siblings and Poppy, minus Percy who had been at work, and Poppy had been on a team with Ron, Bill and Ginny, while Charlie, George and Fred had faced them off. Poppy had argued that her team had four against three so she shouldn't play, but George had cockily countered that Charlie could have played for England, so he counted as one and a half players. Poppy assumed that he meant that her being new to the sport simply evened it all out.
Poppy rose to the challenge, using the opportunity to show off her new found Beater skill, having spent January to June secretly training most weekends and occasional mornings with Cass to get her flying up to scratch for the Auror assessment. While she wasn't up to Fred and George's standard in the least, she managed to hold her own as Cass had taught her well as she wanted, "A proper challenge."
So by the end of the game, Poppy's team had come out victorious, Ginny had been overjoyed, and everyone had seen another side of Poppy - a rather ruthless and competitive side.
She'd declined the ensuing invitations to play again, as she didn't want the Weasley's image of her to be tarnished further.
Charlie nodded. "Thought so. Then sorry, Pop, but you have to stay. That'll be two months you've been out of training. You, me, one on one flying tomorrow morning," he said, with a smile that told Poppy she should just give in and stay.
She tried to grumble anyway, to make a show of it, but he reminded her of the flight requirements for Auror training, and she sat back in her seat with an annoyed sigh, as Bill laughed, and Mrs Weasley waved her wand to send fresh sheets upstairs.
"Uh hey, mum," Bill said, when Mrs Weasley began to show Poppy up to Ginny's room as usual. "Why doesn't Poppy stay in Charlie's room? Make her feel safe? Charlie can have Per- er, the spare room?"
Poppy narrowed her eyes at the eldest Weasley brother. She knew what he was doing, but he feigned innocence. Charlie, oblivious to the mischievous look in his brother's eye, agreed immediately.
So that night, Poppy went to sleep in Charlie's room, wearing one of his old Quidditch jerseys and a pair of his shorts.
Bill was right. It did make her feel safer.
Charlie's walls were quite bare, just like the ones at his home at the Sanctuary, but his dresser and bedside table had an array of photos Poppy had never seen before.
She smiled, picking up a photo of Percy, Bill and Charlie which must have been taken on Percy's first day of school. The brothers were waving and grinning at the camera. Though, on closer inspection she tutted - Percy was being held firmly in place and looked as though he didn't want to be in the photo any longer.
Another photo of Charlie and his friends on their last day of school made Poppy grin. She remembered them, of course, from Hogwarts. She even remembered taking the photo - Charlie had called out to her as she headed into the Great Hall for the end of year feast and asked her to take it. She had been four years younger, of course, so there had been no reason for her to be in the photo.
The next was one of young Charlie and Bill. They couldn't have been more than five and three, and were on tiny brooms, zooming around while two men, who were mounted on proper brooms, hovered, watching them closely. Poppy recognised them as Fabian and Gideon, their uncles.
She turned away from that photo quickly, feeling nauseous that she'd gone back on her word to try and protect Charlie for their sake. She felt the fear rise in her chest, as if spreading from her lungs outwards, infecting her bloodstream, stopping her from breathing.
Her legs felt weak and she sank to the ground, the emotions and terror that had plagued her all week finally catching up to her physically.
Before she hit the ground, a pair of arms wrapped around her, and Charlie pulled her to standing and held her while she sobbed into his t-shirt. She knew where he'd come from - the window was now open, she could feel its soft breeze on the tear tracks down her face.
She thought he'd leave her, once she'd begun to fall asleep from sheer emotional exhaustion and he'd placed her into his childhood bed. But she felt him settle down behind her, felt the continued warmth of his arms around her, and felt her fear ebb away.
She placed her arms over his and interlaced their fingers, pulling him even closer, revelling in the grounding warmth of his chest against her back.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, the emotional exhaustion taking her slowly into its grasp, "I shouldn't- I should have- I don't-"
Charlie pulled her even closer and pressed his lips to her shoulder.
"You know what?" he asked, his words muffled.
Poppy shook her head.
"Your hair is amazing. The curls really suit you, y'know? It smells like coconut?" he said.
"Last of my curling creme," Poppy whispered.
"But it's really itchy…" he replied.
Poppy let out a breath of a laugh. She hadn't been expecting him to say something so… normal. She reached a hand to her hair and moved it to the side, pulling it underneath her so that it wouldn't be in his face any more.
She let out an involuntary and embarrassingly audible groan when Charlie placed a series of kisses to her now exposed neck.
Charlie stopped, and then after a beat said, "And your eyes."
"You can't even see them," she whispered, her voice breaking through her sad hiccups.
"They're beautiful," Charlie said, squeezing her.
"They're just brown," she whispered, the thickness in her throat easing. "Nothing special."
"Nah. They're beautiful. Really nice. Reminds me of the colour of the Bucca Dragon. Have I ever told you about them?" Charlie said quietly.
Poppy shook her head again and wiped her face roughly to rid it of her tears.
"They're quite rare actually. Related to Knuckers, but that's a different story. They live around here. Or used to. Bill swears he saw one once when we were kids but I called bollocks on that because no one's ever seen one in Ottery St. Catchpole and there's not been a proper sighting in over a hundred years. Not since…"
Poppy's breathing slowed to an even rhythm, and she closed her eyes as Charlie spoke.
And just like the last night, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
The next morning, Poppy woke to a knock at the door, and Mrs Weasley's voice calling her to breakfast. Poppy didn't want to keep her waiting, so she launched herself out of bed and made her way downstairs with Mrs Weasley to meet the family in the kitchen.
Charlie was already there, sitting with Bill and talking avidly about the European Quidditch Cup, which was starting soon.
Mrs Weasley said something about Charlie not being in Fred and George's room when she went to get him for breakfast, and Charlie said he'd gone for an early morning fly. So Poppy knew that he'd only left her at the last possible moment.
At breakfast, Poppy ate more than she had all week, and laughed when Mr Weasley returned from his overnight guard duty, did a double take, and asked when she'd arrived. She was confused by his, "I told you boys to stop stealing the car to pick up your friends," quip, but Bill and Charlie found it hilarious.
Once Bill explained exactly what they were talking about, something jogged Poppy's memory, and she relayed the story of when Ron had received a howler in the middle of the Great Hall as punishment for stealing his dad's car.
She couldn't remember everything that had been said, but the main points were covered, and the story had Mr Weasley and his sons in hysterics.
Mrs Weasley didn't look so impressed, and Poppy hoped that that was her anger at her youngest son still, and not because of Poppy's spot on howler impression.
Then, after allowing Poppy to lounge in the living room for an hour, Charlie collected her for their one on one flying training.
"Can't we just keep doing drills?" Poppy asked after a couple of hours, when Charlie decided it was time for a match.
Charlie frowned, and flew over to hover in front of Poppy. They were over twenty metres in the air, but with Charlie there, Poppy didn't notice.
"Why don't you want to play?" he asked, throwing her the Quaffle, which she caught after an embarrassing fumble. She was, she'd found, better at hitting than catching.
Charlie's laughter rang out. "You know you're meant to keep your eyes open to catch something, right?" he asked. "Oh I'm just teasing," he added, obviously trying hard not to laugh when she glared at him. "But really, you can duel back against spells but-"
"They're different, okay?" she said, glaring despite her mirth. "A spell hits all of you. A ball normally hits your face, and… okay, you would not be laughing if you'd been hit in the face by a football kicked by a seven year old, alright? Those things- I hate you!" she cried, laughing with Charlie now.
"How come you can hit Bludgers then?' he asked.
Poppy shrugged. She hadn't really thought about it. Maybe it was because she knew she could whack them away before they hit her.
"Bounce… why don't you want to play?" Charlie asked once he'd stopped laughing at her.
Poppy sighed deeply and bit her bottom lip as she thought, releasing it after a moment. "What if I get all competitive again?" she asked. "Even Cass said it's not the best trait. That's why she and-"
"Do you know what made me fall in love with you?" he asked, a small smile on his face.
Poppy didn't dare speak - her heart raced at his omission, and she didn't know what to say or do. So she shook her head. She knew he'd said it before, but not like this. Not so casually.
"Do you remember that night at Hogwarts, when you ran down to the Dragon enclosure?" he asked.
Poppy nodded, unsure where this all linked.
"You didn't think. You just saw fire and instinctively ran to help. And then once you saw the dragons you calmed down. You knew there was no true threat to you or anyone else. I could see the trust in your eyes even in the dark of that night. Then you visited the Sanctuary and got pulled into the assessment centre. Sofija says you were on your way to completing a perfect run. Said she could see the blaze in your eyes. And then you noticed Flek was injured and you stayed to help him. You ran to get him aid, then you got him out and you protected him.
"It was the same during that game. George was goading you, Ron and Ginny. That's why he didn't say who was letting the side down. And I saw the change in your eyes."
"I got competitive," Poppy said, frowning, "that's different."
"No," Charlie said, smiling broadly. There was a look in his eye that made Poppy feel safe and warm. "You got protective. You saw the look on Ginny's face. She was annoyed. Upset even. You recognised that she needed help to beat George, and you rose to the challenge. You're not a glory seeker, Pop, you're a protector."
Poppy looked away and tried to remember what had happened that day. "She feels like they underestimate her," she said quietly.
"I know," Charlie said, smiling. "And she's right, they do. But that's why I left my old Cleansweep here three summers ago. So she can use it to practice when Mum's not looking."
"You- Charlie. Why didn't you tell her?" Poppy asked, rolling her eyes. She was sure that Ginny didn't know.
Charlie grinned. "Where's the fun in that?" he asked. "So. You say competitive. I say protective. Whatever it is, it's an incredibly attractive character trait."
"Well what are you then?" she asked, ignoring his compliment. "A glory seeker?"
Charlie shook his head.
"Elaborate, Weasley," Poppy said, and Charlie smiled broadly.
"On the whole, good Seekers, truly good Seekers aren't playing for glory. They're strategic, fast, want to be on their own for long periods, but they're thinking about the team always. I'd say that's why we work so well together. On and off the pitch."
Poppy bit her lip and smiled, shaking her head. "Fine," she said, tossing the Quaffle back at him. "But what if I'm a rubbish player when no one needs my help?"
"Well then," Charlie replied, slowly backing up, "first to ten goals wins, and we'll see how you go."
He winked at her and took off. Poppy shouted after him, "You didn't say whose goal was which!" and turned her broom, zooming after him.
Poppy was losing eighty-nil when Bill came to get them for lunch, and said something that made Poppy want to cry; "You seem happier."
And she wanted to cry not because it wasn't true, but because somehow, Charlie had taken her mind off everything that had happened to her over the past week and a half. He'd made her feel safe and loved, excited about becoming an Auror and her future career, and he'd made her laugh, all without her being conscious of his effort.
Behind Bill's back, when she was sure they couldn't be seen from the kitchen window, she grabbed Charlie's hand and gave it a squeeze.
And by the time Charlie left for Romania that evening, Poppy felt hopeful.
When she saw Percy the next week, she insisted he have coffee with her in the Ministry cafe, despite him saying how busy he was, and managed to confirm that while the intense questioning was not his idea, he did know why it had occurred.
Apparently Rikkark, the Auror she'd reported to back at the World Cup, had put in a good word. As had his partner. When Poppy hadn't been picked for training after her assessment centre, they'd been overheard voicing their disappointment.
Percy also said that he'd been in touch with Glynnis Griffiths of Holyhead Harpies fame who offered a letter of support for Poppy. While Poppy was surprised by this since she'd not heard from the retired witch since the Quidditch World Cup (where Poppy had saved her from a rather nasty jinx during the battle against Death Eaters), it made her heart swell that he had done something so kind as to ask Glynnis for this.
Until, that is, Percy mentioned that the truth was that he'd bumped into her outside the Department of Sports and she'd asked after Poppy as she'd seen her in the Atrium. When he'd explained Poppy was there for Auror assessments, she'd written a letter praising the Ministry for hiring her. Something, "The Minister couldn't ignore."
And then the cherry on the top of the cake was Esther's father. A prominent member of the Wizengamot and Head of the Obliviator Squad at the Ministry, he had spoken to Fudge about her application, "Following Potter's trial," asking if she'd been accepted into the programme. He had mentioned her friendship with Esther and the fact that she'd been a lovely guest when she'd stayed with them a few years previously.
"Obviously the Minister recognised that your appointment could be good optics for the Ministry, as your recommendations came from such a large pool of influential people," Percy explained, sipping his coffee between certain words. "And I had to agree. It would have been foolish to let your application pass by, especially now. And, well, I thought you might take it as my apology for making such a heinous assumption the other week. So I made sure to let the Minister know of our friendship and that I held you in high regard. I reminded him that Aurors typically began training in September, and he said that he would have a chat with old Scrimgeour."
Poppy frowned. Since her appointment was influenced by so many people, she felt that she couldn't take it out wholly on Percy.
"Why?" Poppy asked finally, looking down at her untouched cup of tea. "I mean, why would Fudge be foolish to let me pass?"
"Why?! The country needs good news, Poppy! Dumbledore's trying to spread his rhetoric around the world and, between you and me, letters with anti-Muggle-born sentiments have been owling in to the office every day despite our denials of Dumbledore's scaremongering. Even shop owners who I'd think were above all that have asked if they should stop hiring certain people just in case He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back and decides to target their establishments."
Poppy pursed her lips.
Percy rolled his eyes. "Oh don't worry. We're keeping it all hush hush and have assured everyone not to worry."
"Wait," Poppy said, frowning deeply. "So what you're saying is, 'what's better to show the world the Ministry's supportive of all kinds of Wizarding folk than appointing a Muggle-born Auror-in-training'?" Poppy asked.
At the look on his face, she knew that she was right, and her heart dropped. It hadn't been her grades or her aptitude that had won her a place. That was why Scrimgeour said they wouldn't announce her appointment until she'd passed a year's worth of training. He had no faith in her and thought she'd embarrass the department. It was worse than she'd thought. It was… "Just like Moody said."
"What?" Percy asked.
"My blood status got me through the door?" she asked quietly.
"Well… no, not wholly," Percy said, backtracking again. The tips of his ears turned pink and he looked away from her. "It's a competitive job," he said after a beat, holding his head up. "Everyone knows that. But as I said, after your additional letters of recommendation, the Minister asked me to look into your test scores and we were all pleasantly surprised.
"You tested highly in all categories, and were a favourite with multiple examiners for your general demeanour and perseverance," he explained, either ignoring her look of disgust, or choosing to think it was a look of happiness. "That added to your blood status made you a perfect hire. By the looks of things, your only downfall, apart from the hiring freeze, was something I admit has plagued me in the past as well - your connection to Harry Potter. But I managed to convince the Minister that you were a hard worker and wouldn't slack, and he in turn convinced Scrimgeour. Pulled a couple of favours."
Percy took a long swig of his coffee and shook his head jovially. "See, Scrimgeour may seem hardened, but he understands public relations well enough. Only, he didn't trust that you had drunk the right drink at your assessment centre, whatever that meant. So I suggested they question you again."
"He questioned me for four days," Poppy hissed instead, leaning in.
Percy had the decency to look horrified. His face paled and he spluttered slightly. But then he pursed his lips and puffed his chest out again. "Well, Poppy, I had thought it would be a matter of hours, not days, but it seems you persevered. In any case, you're wearing the robes of an Auror-in-training now, aren't you? You have the job you've wanted for years."
"How do you know I've wanted this for years?" she asked, frowning. "I never told you that. I just said I didn't want a desk job post-Hogwarts."
Percy's ears were fully red now, and his cheeks began to turn an even darker pink as well. "I asked Charlie last Christmas if you were serious about the job at the Dragon Sanctuary. I was hoping you'd stay around London if I'm honest. He explained your plan to be an Auror. Can't say I've heard him speak on someone else's passions quite so animatedly before. He usually reserves that kind of thing for Quidditch or dragons, so I understood that this was extremely important to you."
Poppy pursed her lips and looked away. She felt her anger eke away from her at the mention of Charlie's enthusiasm for her dream. It made her think of the Order, and reminded her that she shouldn't be letting her emotions get the better of her - not when she could be mining for more information.
So she took a deep breath and then said, her voice calmer, "I find it hard to believe that the Minister for Magic himself didn't know that someone was being held for over a day by the Auror Department." She lowered her voice to a whisper, looking around quickly. "Does that mean that Scrimgeour isn't passing things by the Minister?"
Percy frowned and shook his head slowly, "No, I don't think that's right. Scrimgeour is in full support of the Minister. I can only think that we were too busy passing an important piece of legislation and Scrimgeour didn't think this was enough to warrant an interruption."
Poppy held her tongue and nodded. "You're right," she said. "What piece of legislation was so important then?"
"Ah, educational reform," Percy said, smiling proudly. "Did you not read last Monday's paper? Oh Poppy," he said, shaking his head condescendingly when Poppy looked on, blank faced. "Here," he said, pulling a small newspaper clipping from his pocket. "I have spares of course. I'm sure Mother will want a copy once she's come to her senses about this whole thing."
Poppy scanned the headline and first paragraphs. "Percy… this is… this is…" she whispered, trying to find a word that wasn't 'horrible'. The text said that the Ministry would have more control at Hogwarts. She couldn't think of anything worse. Not after what happened in her sixth year, when the Ministry invited Dementors to guard the gates of the school.
She could only think that Charlie and Bill hadn't talked about this over dinner because they hadn't wanted to speak about Percy and upset their mum.
Poppy felt sick. "The Ministry is-"
"Brilliant isn't it? I'm pleased to say that we'll have a firmer hand in how Hogwarts is run nowadays. About time someone took back control from that crackpot," Percy replied, looking proud. "I sound quite good don't I?" he asked, pointing to a specific paragraph in which he was quoted.
Poppy nodded slowly and fixed a fake smile on her face. She tried to control her voice. "Yes. Really great, Percy."
"Oh and Poppy, thank you, your support means a lot to me," he said, standing. "Be careful and stay safe. Don't worry, you can keep that. Oh, and in case you didn't see, Sirius Black has been sighted in London."
"I know," she replied, standing also. "I do work for the Auror department now."
She made a mental note to avoid Percy for a while. For as long as she could at least.
