La Fleur de la Vallée

Percy rubbed his head, causing his red hair, that was already rumpled from sleep, to tousle even more. He yawned widely and fumbled for his glasses. He straightened them on his face and stood up, stretching his arms. The sun had only just risen but Percy apparated to the bathroom and began his morning routine: shower, get dressed, gather his papers, eat breakfast.

Thin strips of light poured in through the kitchen blinds as Percy stood eating a bowl of cold cereal. He balanced the bowl in his hand and ate carefully as he tried to slip into his shoes. He walked back towards the sink and quickly shoved the last spoonful of cereal into his mouth before rinsing the bowl and putting it in the sink.

Percy grabbed his cloak and pulled it over his robes. He adjusted his glasses and picked up a briefcase. He could hear creaking upstairs, indicating one of his family members was awakening. He glanced at the strange clock in the living room and apparated.

When Percy appeared in his office there were only a few people already there. Percy nodded a greeting to a few people he was acquainted with and laid his briefcase on his desk. The office was quite large with many, many desks scattered around it, an adjacent, smaller room to eat lunch in, and a few shoulder-high partitions, dividing different sections of the office. There was also a small private office in the back, that of the new department head, Prometheus Kent. Prometheus, or Theus, as everyone called him, was a middle-aged man (just a few years younger than Percy's parents) of average build with light brown hair and a cheerful disposition. Everyone immediately liked him, and even Percy thought he was a much better boss than Barty Crouch. Theus was more laid-back, had a better idea of how to run the department, and all-together more enjoyable to work with.

Percy was standing over his desk shuffling through papers when Theus walked out of his office, sipping coffee from a large mug. "Hey Perce. Working hard?" Theus nodded towards the stack of papers on Percy's desk.

Percy nodded. "I should have it finished by the end of today."

Theus nodded in approval with a smile on his face. "Good, good...Now, your assignment was International Secrecy, right?" Theus waited for the confirming nod from Percy before continuing. "If you don't mind, though, I have something else for you to do today. Do you mind putting off finishing your report a day?"

Percy looked up from his papers curiously. "No, I don't mind. I must say, the break would be welcome. What do you need me to do?"

Theus chuckled. "Well, you no longer hold the title of youngest employee in the Ministry. I need you to show the new employee around and explain how things here work. She's waiting in my office." Theus started for his office and Percy followed after laying his paperwork on his desk.

A girl with long, silver-blonde hair was sitting in a straight-backed chair facing Theus' desk and away from the door. The first thing Percy noticed was her small hands trembling very slightly and gripping the arms of the chair.

She turned when Percy and Theus entered the office and the pretty girl looked familiar to Percy. She stood up immediately, as if used to formal ways. Percy held out his hand to shake, unimpressed by her beauty. In typical Percy manner he was more interested in whether she'd be a good employee or a simply an annoying hindrance to the office.

"Hello, I'm Percy Weasley. I understand you're the new employee." Percy's voice sounded somewhat pompous, as it does whenever he first meets anyone or wants to make a good impression. In his opinion it made him sound professional, but everyone else had a different opinion.

The girl shook his hand, which was much larger than hers. "'Ello, I am Fleur Delacour," she said carefully.

Percy recognized her name and remembered her then. "Oh, you were the Beauxbatons champion, weren't you?"

Fleur nodded again. "Yes." A slightly awkward silence followed and Theus suppressed a chuckle. These two were clearly not impressed with each other in the least. Theus stepped forward and smiled at them.

"Well, now that we all know each other, Percy show her around." Percy nodded obediently and walked out from the office, Fleur trailing behind him.

"This is the main office in the Department of International Cooperation. That, obviously, was Mr. Kent' office -- he prefers to be called Theus, by the way, over there is the lunch room. Usually people go to a diner or home for lunch, but a few eat in there." Percy gestured here and there with his hand and Fleur cast glances at each place he mentioned. He began walking through the maze of desks and partitions and Fleur followed, looking around at the large office.

"...Enchanted to automatically make memos, assignments, etcetera appear." Percy had located Fleur's desk and was explaining the various magical office products on it (currently he was explaining the enchanted inbox) when he was suddenly interrupted by Gregory Redford.

"Hey Weasley! Showing the new girl around?" Greg smiled at Fleur. "Don't you mind ol' Percy here, he's an old man at only nineteen! Loosened up a bit since Theus took over Crouch's job but still got some relaxin' to do!" Fleur noticed that Percy's jaw tightened slightly and his smile was extremely forced. Greg didn't seem to notice and rambled on. "Well, now that there's another young person in the office Perce'll start acting his age rather than my age!" Greg chuckled at his own joke. "Well, a pretty little thing like you shouldn't be wasting time in a stuffy office, but to each their own." Fleur's eyes flashed angrily but Greg had already started walking away, whistling to himself.

Fleur looked at Percy. "Is 'e always like zat?" she asked in a quick, annoyed voice forgetting to use proper pronunciation.

Percy sighed and nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Mr. Redford tends to go with his first impression and basically cannot keep his mouth shut." Percy's tone was unusually agitated. "Well, you are probably well situated now. Your first assignment should appear any moment. I'll be right over here if you have any questions." He pointed to the other side of a partition that Fleur's desk was near and quickly walked to his own, eager to begin his report again and stop talking about Redford's opinion of him.

Percy strode quickly away and made his way to his desk, which was near the door and opposite the partition. He was always annoyed by Gregory's bluntness, thinking that grown man should at least be more polite. He dipped his quill in ink and began scribbling out his report again, his mind forcing itself to concentrate solely on the report.

Fleur sat down at her desk, sitting straight up, still in habit to the proper posture she had used at Beauxbatons. A small note appeared in her inbox, and she picked it up delicately and read it over quickly. Import/Export reports on Wizard Goods. Fleur grimaced slightly, seeing the big assignment she had to do already. She only hoped she didn't mess it up too badly.

Around mid-afternoon Theus emerged from his office, flipping through a manila folder. He glanced up at the ordinary clock on the wall. One o'clock. No wonder the office was so quiet, most of the employees were still out to lunch. There were a few small groups of chattering witches and wizards gathered at various points in the office, finishing the last of their meals. Ministry employees were allowed an hour, more or less, each day for lunch and they used their full hour before having to go back to work.

Theus was only just about to take his lunch break and he noticed among the chattering people there were two people still working diligently. From his place he could see a blonde head bent over a desk on the left side of a partition and a red head on the right. Theus shook his head, thinking it somewhat ironic that the youngest employees in the Ministry were probably the hardest working and most focused on their jobs. It took Thues ages just to get Percy to take vacation days every now and then. Theus was worried that the kid would overwork himself, and forget to take for himself to enjoy. It was obvious already that Fleur was another kid who was extremely determined about her job.

Theus sighed, knowing perfectly well that Percy at least would work through the entire day without a break, and, by the looks of it, Fleur probably would too. Theus pulled on his cloak and walked out the main office door, still shaking his head slightly.