Muggle Summer
A/N: I've decided to skip a 38 as a chapter number, so that the author's post numbers match chapter numbers. Doesn't affect the story…just didn't want folks looking for missing text.
This chapter is a bit short, but it is nicely self-contained and I did try to keep the techno-plot meanders to a minimum.
Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.
Chapter 39: Percy's Problems
Thursday, June 28
Ministry of Magic
Special Assistant Weasley strode into his Special Assistant's office and barked at the small wizard painting mounted behind his desk.
"Tell the muggle Prime Minister that he should make himself immediately available for Minister Scrimgeour's arrival."
The echo wizard scowled at the live wizard's arrogance and stomped out of his frame in a huff. The portrait had never heard so much as a "please" or "thank you" since it had been moved to Percy's office two months previous. Special Assistant Weasley was oblivious to this reaction, as he was busy arranging parchments in his portfolio. It was the first time the Minister had invited him along to one of these meetings, and Percy didn't want to give him any reason to make it the last time he did so.
He was all packed-up and halfway to the Minister's office when the portrait returned to its frame with some disturbing news. "I was unable to determine whether the muggle minister heard my announcement."
Percy frowned. "What do you mean, you were unable to determined if he heard you? Did you make the announcement?"
"Yes."
"Did the muggle minister notice you were speaking to him, or say anything in reply?"
"I was unable to determine that."
"Why not?"
"Because my other portrait is covered with some sort of black cloth and no sound is coming from the muggle minister's office."
"What?" Percy yelled. "Since when?"
The wizened old wizard echo snorted, then replied, "Two days ago."
Percy's face turned pale. He then shouted, "Two days ago? Why didn't you report this to me?"
The echo smiled as Percy's knickers twisted. "You ordered me to spy on the muggle minister and report back if I saw any wizard in the office besides Auror Shacklebolt or heard any discussion of the wizarding world," the painting explained. "I have neither heard nor seen anything that required me to interrupt your busy day doing very important things."
Shocked at this response, Percy sat down on his desk, put his head in his hands and fretted. This was bad. Very bad. Minister Scrimgeour was expecting to floo straight away to the muggle Minister's office once he returned from lunch, and Percy didn't even know whether the muggle Minister was in his office.
"Well if the portrait can't deliver the message, I'll have to do it myself," he muttered. Percy rushed down the hall to the Minister of Magic's office. Brushing aside questions from the receptionist and Aurors that stood guard, he burst into the empty executive office and grabbed a pinch of floo powder. Kneeling in front of the hearth, he threw the powder into the fire, confidently yelled out "muggle minister's office," and stuck his head into the blue flames.
A few seconds latter Percy's head was forcefully cast out the flames with enough momentum to throw his entire body ten feet back from the floo. As he painfully pulled himself up from the floor he heard a tinny female voice announce, "The floo destination you have requested is no longer in service, or has been disconnected. Please check your address and try again."
Special Assistant Percy closed his eyes and sighed. It wasn't as if the muggle minister's floo was paid on subscription, so somebody must have magically shut down the floo connection from the other side.
"The muggle Minister's office has been attacked," Percy immediately thought. "Or worse, Potter shut it down." With second thoughts, Percy discounted the former, as they would have heard from the Auror stationed there. "Unless the Aurors are betraying the Ministry as well," he worried. That there might be some disloyal Aurors wouldn't have surprised Percy one bit, given just how unhelpful Head Auror Robards had been the past couple of weeks. The chances that he would be given an Auror team to check in on the muggle minister's office were nil (especially after Auror Dawlish's team performed so dreadfully for Madame Umbridge).
Percy thought of a way to potentially circumvent the Auror department, and scurried towards the Magical Surveillance Office, where records could be checked for magic use anywhere within the British Isles. While the MSE was part of the MLE and worked closely with the Aurors, Percy knew that he could trust at least a few of its staff. After all, they had been hand-picked by the Minister's office just last week to replace the Fudge-hired traitors that used to work there.
As he impatiently waited for a lift, Percy's thoughts drifted to the other replacements the Ministry had been forced to place. He'd been shocked to find that so many of the covert Death Eaters had been seemingly high-performing loyal Ministry employees. They were, of course, Fudge-hires and not at all Minister Scrimgeour's responsibility, but still….a rather radical shake-up, and not just in the MSE. Lots of new hires taking over the running of the magical transportation network, too. As he entered the lift he realized that this was probably the reason why the Minister's Office wasn't notified about the shut-down floo connection.
Percy reached the desired floor and stormed the surveillance office with an expectation of immediate respect and immediate answers. What he received was grudging confusion. As best as they knew, no magic had been used within the muggle minister's office for the past week. Which didn't make any sense, since magic would be needed to shut down the floo connection and (possibly) shroud the portrait with magical silence.
Special Assistant Weasley returned to his little office and ordered the portrait to check again for the muggle minister. While the echo was gone he leaned against his desk and tried to catch his breath. The dashing about had tired him, and he was very much looking forward to having interns do the running for him.
The thought of Ginny doing some of that running brought a small smile to her older brother's face. Receiving her tear-stained owl-post that practically denounced her former boyfriend and begged for Percy's forgiveness was, without a doubt, the highlight of his past week. Minister Scrimgeour had been most pleased with the development, and Madame Umbridge had been more than happy to have Ginny's internship switched from Centaurs to the Minister's office. Percy himself would manage his sister's development as a loyal Ministry employee.
The portrait returned with nothing new to report, forcing Percy to take drastic and decisive action (mainly because he was too afraid to reveal his mistakes by asking the Minister for direction). He walked over to the corner of his office that had been specially cleared for outbound-only apparition, drew his wand, and disappeared with a loud crack.
Percy had planned on apparating directly into the muggle minister's office (having previously scouted out the street location for just that purpose). He was therefore quite surprised when he bounced off of anti-apparation wards and landed with a crack some 200 meters east of his target…particularly as this displacement put him a few meters above the Thames River. Once there, the non-magical forces of gravity came to bear, and he fell feet-first into the murky waters.
Shouts from muggle bystanders who had heard the crack and splash greeted Percy's ears when he resurfaced. He cursed, transfigured his wizard robes into muggle clothing, and swam to shore. He had just found a relatively quiet spot to magically dry himself when an all-too familiar voice addressed him from behind his back.
"Oi Percy…nice day for a swim, eh?"
Special Assistant Weasley immediately thought to grab his wand, but realized that Harry Potter would have stunned him by now if that was his intention. He slowly turned and found the Queen's Wizard standing a few yards away, dressed in a muggle suit.
"Queen's Wizard Potter, I figured that you must have been involved in this outrageous and wanton disregard for magical secrecy."
Harry snorted. "In my opinion, your little tour of the Thames was more obliviator-worthy." He crossed his arms in front of his chest and asked, "I suppose you have a legitimate reason for trying to gain entry into the Prime Minister's Office?"
Percy frowned at the thought that Harry knew his intentions. "You're clearly out of bounds, Potter. Whatever schemes you have as Queen's Wizard have no relevance to official matters between the two Ministries."
"Ah, but I must disagree, Special Assistant Weasley," Harry said with a grin. "By right of treaty, the Queen's Wizard is allowed to defend the Crown and all members of Parliament from magical attack…used to just be the monarch but apparently some guy named Cromwell saw fit to work out an add-on."
"So?"
Harry smirked. "Percy, Percy, Percy…I would think that the Ministry employee in charge of spying on the Prime Minister's Office would at least know something about his subject. The Prime Minister is a member of Parliament."
Percy sputtered. "But, but this is an outrage…you're meddling with official means of communication…"
"Nothing of the sort," Harry replied. "The muggle Prime Minister requested that I evaluate some rather specific security issues, and asked me to shut down the floo connection. You see, he doesn't know a lot about our world, and is afraid that if the Minister of Magic can floo into his office than any old wizard might."
"But that's rubbish!" Percy exclaimed. "It's a secured floo-connection that only connects the two Minister's offices."
"Oh is that so?" Harry asked. "And has anyone bothered to explain that to the Prime Minister?" When Percy didn't respond Harry added, "Thought as much. Don't worry, though, I made sure that the Prime Minister has a thorough understanding of all of the magical objects that have been placed in his office."
Breath caught in Percy's throat. "All of the objects?"
Harry smiled. "Yes, Percy, that includes the magical portrait that has been spying on the muggle Prime Minister for who knows how many years." He then shook his head, adding, "Have to say that he was a bit peeved to learn that the painting was more than just an ugly magical doorbell."
Percy sputtered again, then tried to recover whatever dignity he could muster. "Well, I'll have you know that I was trying to conduct official Ministry business. The Minister of Magic has urgent business with the muggle Minister."
Harry straightened his own back and replied, "And the British Prime Minister is not at Scrimgeour's beck and call. If the Minister of Magic wants a meeting, he'll have to do what everybody else has to do."
"What's that?"
"Make an appointment."
Percy turned beet red at Harry's insolence. "And just how is the Minister's Office supposed to do that without use of the floo or portrait?"
Harry paused, and then fished his mobile out of a trouser pocket. Hitting the right speed-dial combination, he put the phone to his ear and soon said, "Good afternoon, Auror Shacklebolt, this is Queen's Wizard Potter, how are you?….oh, fine thanks…say, just needed to let you know that somebody tried to apparate into 10 Downing Street a few minutes ago…yeah, wards worked like a charm…who?…oh, Percy Weasley of all people…said he was trying to set up a meeting between the two Ministers….yeah, I'll tell him. Thanks."
Harry pocketed his mobile then looked over at a puce-colored Percy. "Auror Shacklebolt has been in Glasgow the past few days with the Prime Minister. They're expected back tonight, and he suggested that you provide Head Auror Robards with a meeting request and proposed agenda. He'll make sure that Auror Shacklebolt gets it to the Prime Minister."
"That's hardly an appropriate protocol chain," Percy sputtered.
"Maybe so," Harry replied, "but it's the best you'll get until the two Ministers can get together to agree on methods of communication that don't involve espionage and trespass."
Percy shook his head at the thought of just how much shouting he'd hear when he returned to the Ministry. Resigned to his fate, he couldn't resist asking Harry an additional question.
"So just how did you construct anti-apparation wards and shut down the floo without tripping the Ministry's magical-detection devices?"
Harry beamed a wide smile back at Percy and replied, "Magic."
The Queen's Wizard then escorted Special Assistant Weasley down the street to a location just outside 10 Downing Street's wards. He magically opened a pretend public loo and pointed Percy inside.
"Why do you want me to go in there?" Percy asked.
"Because you apparate too loud," Harry replied simply. "It got both magical and muggle soundproofing on it. After all, we do want to keep our secrets, right?"
"I most certainly do not apparate too loudly."
The teen-aged wizard snorted. "How would you know?" he asked. "You don't stick around long enough to hear."
Percy scowled in response, but did take care to close the door as he stepped inside. It took the Special Assistant longer than usual to focus on his destination, as he was distracted by the nagging suspicion that crossing Harry Potter would ultimately prove not to be a savvy career move.
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