Private Message to Percy Weasley

[alt_penelope]

Are the Malfoys going to be all right, Percy? I tried to make it up to the box but they weren't letting anyone in.

Merlin. It's already 1st September and I know I should be sleeping but. I didn't think I'd be this nervous.

I also didn't think we'd barely get to see each other either on your birthday or since.

And starting off a year with this kind of turmoil.... How did you keep everyone calm when there were Dementors on the train and all?

I'll never be able to do it, Perce. I just know I'm going to bollocks it all up.

And I'm sorry. I shouldn't be pestering you when you've got your hands full of much more important things. I'm sure the Malfoys are just overwhelmed with sympathy and get-well notes and all.

I just. I'm off in the morning. And you'll be so busy helping the Malfoys while Mr Malfoy recovers and

I really wish we were together tonight, of all nights. That's all.

I'm going to miss you this year, you know. You big silly ginger. Don't go getting yourself smashed to bits by falling marble, okay? Promise? Or any other fool heroic thing a Gryffindor would do, even if it's for his boss.

First Hogsmeade weekend, right? Butterbeer and a room above the Protector's Circle? It's a date, remember!

Comments

[alt_percy]

Mr Malfoy is...well, I don't want to say much more than what's going to be announced at the press conference about his condition. But it was a near thing. A few more inches to one side and ... well.

The thing is, because of the neck injury he isn't able to talk yet. Only temporarily, of course, but it's making him really chafe. And his healer is saying he won't be able to attend any meetings for a month, and you can just imagine how well that's going over with Mr Malfoy. He really doesn't have the patience temperament to be a very good patient.

Of course I wouldn't have wished this happening in a million year, but deep down I really am glad that it's giving me a chance to be able to show that I can be really valuable to him. There's no doubt that it's been like throwing me into a really deep cauldron to see if I can swim. I can't help but think he has to be grateful that it's me in this position right now rather than that gormless Hooper--although I don't like to speak ill of the dead. (He really was hopeless, and he would have been totally thrown by this.) I've been busier the past two days than I have ever been in my life, rescheduling meetings, synopsising reports, fetching documents--I've been splitting my time half and half between St James and the Manor.

But that's the thing of it, Penny: sometimes you don't have the chance to show what you can do until you walk through the fire. But it helps to know that the person who has put you in this position of responsibility chose you and trusts you, and it's a perfectly wonderful feeling when you can demonstrate that their faith in you was all worth it.

Don't you think I know how it feels? I was just as scared as you are last year at this time, wondering if Professor McGonagall had made a mistake when she picked me as Head Boy. But I went in there and I did my best, and I must say, I think I did quite well. I can say in all honesty that whatever Professor McGonagall's weaknesses (and she certainly has them as Merlin knows we've discussed often enough) she does have a knack for picking top notch personnel. She chose me and she chose you. And so I know you can do this. Being scared doesn't mean you won't be good at the job. If anything, it just means you'll be extra careful and conscientious, and that's what they want, isn't it?

I'll miss you too--dreadfully. I'll miss your laugh and the way you roll your eyes when I make jokes and the wild corkscrew curls that love to stick themselves up my nose when you kiss me. And yes, I am very much looking forward to that first Hogsmeade weekend. Write to me anytime you're feeling uncertain. Merlin knows I peppered Bill with so many owls last year asking for advice that I'm not going to look down my nose at you for doing so!