September 1, 1997
There was a kind of pervasive sickness in the air.
If it had a taste it would be one based on the metallic taste of blood and the sensation of being watched with all of one's hair standing on end for reasons that could not be explained.
The Minister's Office was quiet, it was only Percy and I and the scratching of our quills as the search for a suitable replacement for Umbridge as the Senior Undersecretary continued. If Yaxley was not so devoted to his idea of the law, I was sure he would have taken the job himself, but no, he needed a loyal hound to manage the office as a whole, someone with skills in paperwork and tyranny. Yaxley was probably more concerned with internal investigations at the moment, perhaps hoping to find someone to fill in as the Senior Undersecretary through a combination of known Purist sentiment, trustworthy enough to report suspicious activity in the Minister's Office directly to him, in possession of respectable bloodstatus, but was also not a moron.
Best of luck to him.
I fiddled with a letter I had received from Elihu a couple of days ago, apparently he said Voldemort's name outside the embassy and was set upon by Death Eaters for the offense. Quincy and Cassandra valiantly defended him from the result of what he had quickly realized was a folly of speech. There were no injuries aside from scrapes and bruises on Elihu's person due to Cassandra tackling him to the ground and out of the line of fire before flinging herself into the fray alongside Quincy and Auror Mankiller. Per Elihu's letter, Cassandra had very much earned her third place ranking in dueling during her Auror training.
I was so happy they were safe and alive, it seemed such a simple thing in the grand scheme of things but simple joys were something to aim for under these conditions.
The second letter Elihu sent me was a warning, he believed there to be Americans who had joined with Voldemort's cause. There had been no sign of Marcel Whitlock since the last Azkaban breakout and it seemed as if he was laying low for the moment, which made me nervous for Elihu as I recalled the pair's last meeting in the jail cell in the Ministry holding cells, Elihu was too smart to overlook the potential loose dragon who could very well make Elihu the focus of his ire.
Elihu enjoyed antagonizing too much to be quiet for an extended period of time.
There was a kind small storm at the door that made Percy and I flinch as it came closer, blustering itself against the door until it flew open as the clock struck nine revealing an obscenely happy Umbridge, which came far too close to causing my stomach to rebuke my coffee.
The simpering giggles from Umbridge as she stepped into the room with her new secretary, Jasmine Rosier who looked suitably snooty for Umbridge's taste. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail with a delicate spring of curl that bounced with each step. I was half surprised she had not married out of low level Ministry work by this point, but she was a pale imitation of Vanessa and not all social climbers could achieve Vanessa's level of success.
"Is the Minister in?" Umbridge waved some papers around as I should know what they were.
As Yaxley demands it of him.
"Of course, Madam Umbridge," I said in a voice as saccharinely sweet as her own, a vague impression of gentile southern manners falling over my person like a cloak.
Sorry Aunt Araminta…
The pair shot past my desk, Umbridge looking gleeful, her wide, froggish mouth smiling in a way that reminded me of a shark as she knocked twice on the door without asking either myself or Percy to engage in the politeness of checking on the Minister's availability.
Thicknesse had no opinions on his time and was essentially an automaton who sat in a closet and stamped parchment for fascism until told otherwise.
"No need, Weasley," Umbridge said as she stepped into the Minister's Office as Percy sputtered about the Minister's schedule. "Miss Rosier, you can wait here. I'm sure you all can find something to talk about."
I have better things to do than stroke her ego.
"Of course Madam Umbridge," Jasmine fluttered her eyelashes and smiled so sweetly I almost rolled my eyes. "Would you like me to fetch some tea to your office when you have finished here?"
"Hm, perhaps not to the office, I'll know where I'll be having that shortly."
Huh, that was odd.
The door clicked closed, leaving Percy and I alone with a smug looking Jasmine who was looking us both over carefully. Her eyes focused on me like a hawk's on its prey and I braced myself for the bite of talons at my neck.
"Heard from your little friend lately?" Jasmine hissed as she leaned over my desk like a vulture the same way Vanessa used to do and I felt myself tense for a moment, my fingernails digging into my palms before I regained control of myself.
"I have a lot of friends, Jasmine. You'll have to be more specific."
Ugh, Umbridge just had to leave this cretin behind.
"The little goblin accountant," Jasmine leaned a little closer, still hovering over the desk with a malicious grin, her ponytail falling over her shoulder like a cascade of wheat. Her voice was too soft for Percy's hearing, though he was watching the exchange over the rims of his glasses from his desk. "The two of you spent a lot of time together."
I'm so sorry Misty.
"She was interesting."
More than I can say about you, you vapid cow.
I shrugged and tried to look snobbish and disinterested. "Really only saw her at work. I wanted to be polite, since you Brits seem to value that."
Jasmine laughed, finally moving away from my desk in the process. "Too nice for your own good, Graves?"
"It does get me into trouble."
She did not have to say she did not believe me, it was all over her face.
"That's alright, now you don't have to sully your reputation with kindness to people who are beneath you."
I do that every day I step into the Ministry.
"I heard your aunt is still living in that big house of hers. I'm surprised she never married with such a dowry and that it will tragically have to go to her cousins and out of the family line."
Oh, I was not explaining the technicalities to this idiot. Lucinda held Thornell in trust after her brother died, holding it for my mother and her potential sons. Alex had never signed the papers to pass Thornell to him, not even for Lucinda's peace of mind and bargaining ability, she could shift the house to me if he signed the papers, but by now the Averys had eyes and ears in the estate office and would make the whole process more difficult. Lucinda's skill with legal loopholes worked best without being watched, and changing an old inheritance entailment to the matriarchal line was difficult and could not go entirely unnoticed. I did not want the house, but helping Lucinda screw with the Averys was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
"Lucinda has many fine qualities and Thornell is the least of them."
Before Jasmine could say anything else, Umbridge emerged from the office with what could possibly be a greater expression of glee than the one she had walked in with.
"Come along, Miss Rosier. We have arrangements to make."
"Of course Madam."
The pair disappeared out the door as suddenly as they arrived, newly signed degrees in Umbridge's stubby little hands as Percy and I exchanged a look of utter confusion at this strange encounter.
Oo0Oo0
Percy and I had left the office to get something to eat from the atrium lunch stations, the cafeteria was being remodeled and I had forgotten my lunch at home. There was something tense in the air from the time we saw Umbridge this morning and permeated the air. I bit into a cheap sandwich with pesto and tomato while reading through the newspaper. It was all garbage, tales of valor in the face of those who defied their crimes of the theft of magic. Reports of centaurs behaving in unruly ways to Ministry Officials (as if a badge was supposed to protect them from scrutiny) and continued rumored sightings of Harry Potter.
I hoped Potter stayed far, far away from all of this, it was not fair for reasonable people to put all of their hopes on a boy who was barely seventeen.
But where else were people supposed to pin their hopes of resolution against evil and revolution against tyranny?
It would never be on a nameless party that people rallied behind, Potter seemed to be more of a symbol to the populace than an actual rebellion leader. I doubted there had been any true sighting of Potter in months.
There was movement from the elevators as a group of Enforcers emerged and began to take up position along the walls, resting their hands on their wand holsters and wearing stony expressions. I nudged Percy with my foot to get his attention to what I was seeing.
"What's going on?"
Percy shrugged, his eyes moving slowly over the room. "Very odd."
A cold chill descended upon the Atrium as the entryways to London opened, leaving me stuck to my chair as if I had been stuck there with a sticking charm as Law Enforcement Wizards walked into the room leading a group of people of varying ages flanked by four dementors. Most of the captives were middle aged, a few were elderly and the rest were in their teens.
I gripped the edge of the table to make sure I stayed upright.
These were parents. Grandparents. Students.
People around us turned away from the sight, continuing on with their business of eating lunch or reading the paper as if none of this was happening in front of them.
Percy's eyes darted towards the clock and he hissed quietly through his teeth. "The train station."
"What?"
"The Hogwarts Express!" His voice was low as he leaned closer to me. "They required all students to go to Hogwarts and arrested the Muggle-borns!"
Morgana's cauldron!
"Deborah!" An old man from the Department of Magical Law rushed towards the group, his eyes on one of the women being brought in. The Enforcers aligned on the wall stepped forward and restrained him by his arms. "That's my Daughter-in-Law, I have proof of her magical ancestry!" The Enforcer released his arm and allowed the old man to pull out a piece of parchment with shaking hands. "See? It has Yaxley's approval!"
The Enforcer looked at it carefully and nodded his head, he released Deborah with a flick of his wand and she rushed forward into the old man's arms.
I saw a boy in the group looking at the Enforcers with a seething hatred, I was not sure he was older than seventeen and before I could comprehend what was happening, he started screaming.
"YOU BASTARDS AGREE WITH THIS?"
The Enforcers went to restrain him but the boy continued to shout as he fought off the Enforcers, breaking through their silencing charms in sheer rage and indignation. To look away from this boy would be the ultimate disrespect. I imprinted his face in my mind, a round, youthful face with blond hair and fierce brown eyes, he had a sturdy frame to back up any promise to the threats he made to the Enforcers and the Ministry employees doing their best to ignore this injustice happening before their eyes.
"GET OFF!"
The boy lurched forward, hitting an Enforcer and broke away from the crowd of victims towards an exit, his hands still bound with a dementor following behind him.
Fortunately for the boy, an Auror on his lunch break hit him with a stunner, sending him to the floor so hard that he bounced off his shoulder before turning his wand on the dementor with a wall of misty light from his wand. "No, you're not going to ruin my lunch." He looked at the Enforcers with a dark stare. "If you can't control these people, hand in your badge!"
The Enforcers quietly levitated the boy down to the courtrooms and holding cells with the rest of the captives, a low hum over the Atrium as people pretended not to have seen something that would disrupt their day.
"We need to learn the patronus charm," Percy said quietly, his voice barely a whisper.
I nodded slowly as I caught my breath and door that led down to the courtrooms and holding cells slammed closed with a sick finality.
From now on, we were going to eat upstairs in our breakroom, if I forgot my lunch again I would go hungry. No sick curiosity would bring me back to this room unless I had to pass through here to come to work or go home.
I was sure why I knew why the cafeteria was suddenly undergoing renovations. Umbridge and the administration wanted people to see this and cement their rule in the minds of the people, crushing all doubts about their reach and power.
"Tomorrow." I said quietly as I pressed my foot against his under the table. "I promised you an occlumency lesson tonight."
Percy nodded slowly, looking pale as he stared at the door that had taken the Muggle-borns from the train station down to the dungeon courtrooms with a ferocity in his eyes that kept my attention.
I was not sure I could muster the will needed to begin learning the patronus charm tonight.
Oo0Oo0
I arrived home that evening, managing to keep myself composed for another two minutes while Percy wandered to his home office to collect himself and look for some old textbooks he said he had laying around. Once he was out of sight, I immediately threw up in the sink from what I had seen and heard about from the train station and the sham trials that Umbridge was running.
Children who had their wands snapped and banished to who knows where. The old man who saved his daughter-in-law with what I was sure was a fake family tree. The boy who almost had his soul sucked out by a dementor if not for an Auror's sense of mercy. The rumors of what had happened at the train station that I was struggling to sort through. Was it true they killed someone there?
As I rinsed my mouth out with water I was interrupted by a persistent tap, tap, tap, at the window. I wiped my mouth as I looked over at the noise to see a small dark shadow sitting on the window ledge. Hermes made an annoyed hoot from his roost, opening one of his eyes to peer at the intruder with a judgmental stare.
"Erebus?"
I moved quickly to the window and opened it, allowing Erebus inside where he flapped on the table and eyeballed Hermes with a mischievous intent I was not sure I could place before he held out his leg where a letter was dangling, his beak in the air in a snooty manner as I took the letter. Once the envelope was in my hands, Erebus was in the air, swooping over to Hermes' perch, almost pushing him off to have a few bites of leftover food and a few mouthfuls of water as Hermes looked at him with as shocked an expression as an owl could manage at the presumption and indignity of almost being pushed from his seat.
Erebus looked over at the open window for a moment before suddenly shoving Hermes off the perch entirely before flying out the window while Hermes screeched in indignation over the offense as he flew up and out the window to ensure Erebus had truly left before beginning his evening flight.
After the bird drama had concluded, I moved into the living room as I fiddled with the wax seal of the envelope, my fingers tracing over the quill and moon shapes in the wax. I heaved a sigh and opened the envelope slowly, this was a very nice envelope. Was this cardstock? What on earth was my brother writing to me about?
I pulled out the letter and something fell out and drifted down to the coffee table, catching my attention to put the letter aside and pick up what appeared to be a photograph.
It was a picture of my brother and Thalia with a No-Maj judge and a pair of stray clerks. They both looked happy and the Judge looked both pleased and confused. Thalia was wearing an ivory dress that stopped at her knees while my brother wore a very black wizarding suit which seemed to only emphasize his gray hair. The picture was frozen in time, something so strange to me I tilted the picture in an effort to get these lifeless mannequins to move in some manner, a twitch of the finger, an upturned smile, anything at all to remind me that these people were alive.
Then what I was looking at truly sunk into my consciousness.
Oh.
Oh!
Sweet Merlin in the cradle, they're married!
Well, it was a legal marriage in the Muggle world, but not the wizarding one. Even before the war, No-Maj weddings were considered a lesser, more desperate affair and not considered a true marriage in wizarding society. For wix to marry in the muggle fashion was considered a desperate, quiet affair. Quiet being what the two of them wanted, if only so Alex could ensure Thalia had enough grounds to be taken care of, she would still have to fight in court for recognition for several reasons if something happened to Alex, and it offered the two of them some degree of privacy considering Alex and I's position of having Jack as our father. It was not as safe as not being married, but this administration would never want to get close to No-Maj marriage records.
I turned the picture over, to see if there was anything written on the back, shaking slightly as I readied myself to call Percy over to see it. The dark blue ink and recognizable lack of tilt in the writing caught my breath. It was definitely from my brother.
Thought you might like this.
A.A.
August 30, 1997
The joyous laughter that bubbled out of me with such force I found my knees giving way to deposit me onto the couch with a muffled thump before I was able to open the letter that accompanied the picture.
Hope this finds you in good health,
My wife says hello. We know it's not a marriage that will be acknowledged, celebrated or seen as legitimate by wizarding society, but it was the simplest option we have available considering our… unique circumstances. Despite the involvement of the nonmagical world, -which I would have preferred to avoid entirely- it is a relief to finally have some kind of formalized commitment, even if it's not viewed as such by our own society.
No name changes at present, (fantastic to explain that to the No-Majs), we're having a lively debate about hyphenation or me taking her surname, frankly I am leaning towards the latter. It's a silly debate.
Things are getting… interesting with my work. I'll be out of touch for some time. Please don't worry.
I'm sorry you could not be there, but it was safer for all of us. We'll correct that at a later date.
Love,
A.
I'm so happy! It does not matter that I could not be there! That it's an illegitimate marriage in the eyes of the wizarding world! My brother married the love of his life and I am so proud of him!
I need to give them a wedding gift. Um… nice china? No. Something they'll use, they're practical people…
Percy stepped into the room and I jumped to my feet to push the letter from Alex and the wedding picture in his face with an excited noise at any kind of good news after everything that had happened today.
"He's married!"
Percy leaned back at my sudden move and adjusted his glasses before taking the letter and the picture from me to look them over.
"Is… is this a muggle photograph?"
"Yeah, I've never seen one before. He must have sent it in a hurry."
I rested my hand in the crook of Percy's elbow as I leaned against his shoulder to reread the letter with a happy sigh.
"I did not know your brother had a girlfriend," Percy said slowly as he looked at the picture, taking in the contrast between Thalia and my brother. Thalia's short stature, sweet round face and sharp almond eyes contrasted with my tall, graying brother who looked a decade older than his true age. They both looked tired, careworn, but happy at that moment.
"Her name's Thalia. I really like her."
"What does she do?"
"Herbalist and potioneer. She's very talented." I was not going to mention the furry little problem, if I introduced them, Thalia could handle that. She would enjoy it.
Percy made a noise of approval and pressed himself a little more firmly against me and kissing the top of my head affectionately as he gave me back the contents of my brother's letter. "Well, that's one spot of good news today. What exactly is your brother working on?"
Oh, oh that was a loaded topic.
"I don't know all the details. I just know he's investigating some things and he's afraid it would be risky to everyone if he's too specific about the details."
Percy nodded and kissed me on the cheek before he stepped back to pick up a book he had placed on the fireplace mantle titled, 'Creatures Most Foul and How to Counter Them', that had several pages marked with some of the bookmarks he kept in a drawer.
"I thought I should pull this before I forgot I had it."
Oh, he had been doing some research apparently.
"Great! America doesn't have Dementors and we use the patronus charm to protect us from rarer threats or guides through the woods if it's corporeal."
"How big are your forests?"
"Too big. If you can't apparate and don't know how to navigate with the stars, specialized navigation charms or a patronus you'll probably die there."
"That's horrifying."
"It is, we lose at least one a year. Those are the ones who probably get eaten by a rogue Bigfoot."
That earned a dark chuckle from Percy. "Is there a plural for Bigfoot?"
"No, Bigfeet sounds stupid and they travel alone unless they're in juvenile groups or meeting to mate, which only happens every two years. So, Bigfoot works as both the plural and singular, a Bigfoot, a herd of Bigfoot. It's very regional. Sometimes they're just called Sasquatch, really depending on where you are in the country."
"Huh, I didn't know that."
That was not something I heard Percy say very often and I allowed myself a moment of satisfaction before getting back to the matter at hand.
I motioned for him to sit down at the kitchen table and he did as bid. I reached my hands out to the center of the table, smiling slightly as he placed his hands in mine with a squeeze.
"Ready?"
Percy nodded slowly as I looked into his eyes and calmly stated the spell.
I had the thought previously that being inside of someone's mind was a far more intimate experience than what the physical act of sex would likely be, and perhaps that would be something worth exploring now that everything was in the open.
I relaxed myself, taking a deep breath as I took Percy's hands, looked into his eyes and felt my mind begin to gently probe his own, testing the borders of the defenses he had been teaching himself over the last few weeks.
While Percy had been learning to shield his thoughts, I had been learning how to invade the mind, but I was not ruthless enough to do so in the way war demanded, all roughness and brutality to rip the core of a person apart at the seams. There were subtler ways to learn about a person which I vastly preferred, but I needed to know that Percy was capable of emotionally guarding himself from those who did not share my scruples.
There was a whirl of images. A large library of books that felt like Ilvermorny, but older with different carvings of the four animal representatives of Hogwarts mounted on the walls and tables with legs that were carved to look like those of animals in a fashion that was very wizarding medieval fashion. Old books rustling on the table trying futile to turn their own pages and whisper old secrets. There was a younger version of Percy, maybe fifteen, (it was hard to tell with boys in that age bracket), looking deerish and awkward through a growth spurt as he flipped through several books on Muggles and taking notes. I found myself looking at Percy in a small closet as he fiddled with a small hourglass necklace around his neck with a furrowed brow before the natural light of day that peered through the door moved backwards in time in a manner so unnatural I could have puked from the knowledge of it and the sickness of vertigo that fell over me in response.
The image shifted again, and I was outside a strange looking house that was stacked like a child's block tower and if it was not built by wizards it would have never stood at all. It was so strange and… homey looking that I immediately wanted a look inside out of some hitherto unknown interest in architecture. Really a marvelous bit of magic was at work here. American wix homes did not have this much character, we tried to live undetected and almost like No-Majs to a point. I turned away from the house to a gate at the front of the property, oh, there was charm work on the gate to help repel the nonmagical. That would keep the muggle authorities away from what they would see as a health hazard of home design. I turned to take another look at the house, taking a step forward to see if the memory would allow me inside before the image warped and shifted again
Before I could say anything I was yanked away to a room that was warm and inviting, full of deep reds and scarlets while a low fire burned in a large fireplace that added an ambience to the scene of laughing children sitting in front of it. I could see Percy clearly, all gangly limbs and red hair that was a few shades to light to match the decor of the room playing Exploding Snap with who I recognized as being a young Oliver Wood.
As suddenly as apparition, I found myself back at the table clutching Percy's hands tightly in my own.
"You okay?" My voice was low as my mind continued to sort through everything I had viewed. This was the first time I had ever seen Hogwarts. What parts I had seen were so beautiful and old and enticing in a way that reminded me of Ilvermorny and I would have to pull up my school memories to show him later because I wanted him to know that Ilvermorny was no 'rustic Hogwarts replica' the way some others had described the school in formal papers about wizarding schools and education.
"Yes," Percy adjusted his glasses with a sigh, "but we have a lot of work to do."
"I don't just think you're talking about spellwork."
"No, I'm not," Percy leaned back in his chair and looked at me with something far more serious than his usual expression. "That project Lucinda is working on, can I help?"
Fuck. I love this man.
"Learn Occlumency from me and I'll make the introductions."
Oo0Oo0
Author's Note: Hey folks! I busted my ass for three exams in April, meaning I did not get as much writing done as planned. As expected, I have also received my marching orders for my dissertation. The short version is that it is 10,000 words to be done over three months as a case study for a fictional business. It could have been so much worse. Which means there is going to be a temporary change to my update schedule before the summer is out, but I will not set a date on that until later. I'll get to build a big buffer of chapters for consistent updates through my final semester.
Also, Erebus is an asshole bird.
Finally, being organized and not having to deal with 'Harry's bullshit', means that my headcanon is Percy had a time turner to sit 12 O.W.L.s. Exams, but only to actually sit the tests and asked to study independently for Muggle Studies and one of his other elective classes.
Fun Fact: I watched several episodes of a show about people's encounters with Bigfoot to create some facts about the creature for this fic. I don't know what I've become.