Two Lives

Chapter One:

Percy Weasley entered his small, spotless apartment slowly. He placed his bulging briefcase neatly next to the kitchen table and headed for his bedroom. Sighing heavily, Percy walked into his tiny bathroom and systematically began removing his clothes. First, the plain black robe, still immaculately pressed even after thirteen hours of sitting behind a desk. He folded the robe and placed it on the bottom of the hamper. Next came the Muggle suit jacket, also perfectly pressed and unsoiled. This too was neatly folded and followed the robe into the hamper. This continued until Percy was down to his white cotton boxers, starched so they too wouldn´t wrinkle.

Staring at his reflection in his mirror, he sighed softly in discontent. He would never win any beauty contests he thought. Pale skin, stretched almost too thinly over sharp ribs, large blue eyes lost behind wire-rimmed glasses and dark shadows beneath them. When he went home to the Burrow, his mother always complained he was skin and bones. That´s why he hardly went home anymore. He couldn´t face his mother´s expression of worry, nor his brothers´ teasing.

Turning away from the mirror, he pulled his boxers off, folded them and added them to the pile of folded clothes in the hamper. Percy turned to the shower and adjusted it to the perfect temperature, not too hot, and not too cold. He cleaned the day´s sweat from his body with a manner born from living 18 years with brothers who hogged the bathroom.

He stepped from the shower and dried himself with business like efficiency, and then proceeded to wipe down the tub, and make sure no water was left on the floor. He wrapped the spotless white towel around his thin waist, and proceeded into his bedroom, where he pulled a fresh pair of white cotton boxers, and a white nightshirt. He pulled them on and began to towel his dark auburn hair dry. Returning to the bathroom, he folded the towel and added it to the hamper, and then quickly brushed his teeth. Turning his attention to his hair, he brushed it until the soft waves lay perfectly against his head, with no stray curls daring to make their presence known.

As he made his way to his neatly made bed, sheets tucked ruthlessly under the mattress, and the bedspread smooth over the sheets, his stomach growled lightly, but Percy dismissed it. He was too tired to make dinner, and he had to get up in a few hours anyway, so would eat then. Percy turned back the covers, slid between the sheets, and lay still, eyes closed and willed sleep to come quickly tonight. He pushed back the feeling of loneliness that swept over him briefly, and if his eyes burned slightly, it was from exhausted, not any messy emotions. As Morpheus claimed him, his last thought was, I am so alone.

****

Several miles away, at the Leaky Cauldron, Quidditch Captain and Keeper Oliver Wood laughed loudly at a joke told by his best mate, and fellow Chudley Cannon teammate, Harry Potter. Oliver slapped Harry on the back and took a long swig from the mulled wine in front of him. Oliver, Harry and the other members of the Cannons were celebrating their newly one title of League Champions. It was the first time in over 100 years that the Cannons had had won such a title. "Good one, Harry. Anyone up for another round?"

"Not for me, I´m afraid. I´m for home," Harry said, a gleam of anticipation in his eyes.

"Ah, the little wifey expecting you, is she Harry?" Jack Greenly, one of the team´s Chasers, teased.

Harry blushed a shocking shade of red and glared at the rest of the team. "Just because I am deeply in love, doesn´t mean you all have to tease me every time I mention `home´. You all should think of settling down."

Groans and good-natured insults followed Harry as he said goodnight and headed home, where his lovely wife Ginny was waiting, probably with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. With a noticeable increase of pace, Harry rushed out the door to the Apparition point.

Oliver laughed with the rest of the team, but part of it was forced. He saw how contented Harry was, with Ginny to come home to after a long day of Quidditch training. Part of him, admittedly a small, mostly ignored part, wanted what Harry and Ginny had. But, he knew it wouldn´t be happening in the foreseeable future. He had little time to date, let alone form a serious relationship with anyone with his rigorous Quidditch schedule.

"Another round, Tom, if you please," Caitlin Ambrose, another Chaser, called out. "This one´s on me, fellows." Cait was the only woman on the team, and one of the best Chasers Oliver had ever had the pleasure of working with. It didn´t hurt that she was incredibly nice to look at either. But, she was out of his league. Not to mention, if he ever made a move on her, he would find himself in the critical ward of St. Mungo´s with two broken legs, as her fiancé´ and Cannon Beater Eric Harris would beat him to a pulp.

"Thanks Cait, but I think I am going to call it a night. I have a couple of things to do tomorrow before I can properly enjoy our time off for Christmas, so I am for bed. Have a good night fellas and lady," Oliver said as he stood to leave. Cries of good-byes followed him to the door, and he waved cheerily to his team and Apparated home to his large, comfortable apartment.

He stripped off his clothes on his way to the bathroom, leaving a trail of rumpled clothes on the way. He hurried through nighttime rituals and flung himself, naked onto his unmade bed. He was soon snoring softly, the silver moonlight streaming in through the window and splaying over the hard muscles on his broad back.

****

Percy opened his eyes at precisely 5:45am. He sat up and reached for his glasses on the bedside table before getting out of bed. A quick Charm and his bed was made as perfectly as it had been the night before and Percy headed for the bathroom. A repeat of last night´s rituals took exactly one half hour. Ten minutes later, Percy was dressed in an exact replica of yesterday´s outfit and helping himself to one half of a bran muffin, a half-cup of orange juice, and several multi-vitamins. Some Muggle items were perfectly suited to his life-style, he decided, as he spread some papers from his briefcase in front of him. As the head of the International Magical Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Magic, his work was never done.

At exactly 6:50am, Percy neatly placed the papers back in the briefcase and left the apartment, carefully checking to make sure the Locking Charm was in place. At precisely 7:00am, Percy was sitting behind his desk, reading reports on the Standardization of Cauldron Bottoms.

Two hours later, when the rest of the office appeared, they were not surprised to see their boss pouring over numerous, long, reports and looking as if he had just arrived. They all wondered how he did it. Most of them were only in this department because there were no other openings. But Mr. Weasley genuinely seemed to enjoy his work. It baffled the rest of the Department to no end.

At 12:30pm, Percy looked up as his assistant, Pansy Parkinson (a schoolmate of his youngest brother Ron, if he remembered correctly) entered his office, her face set in her usual expression of distaste, and said "Sir, the Minister of Magic here to see you."

Percy looked startled for a moment, before schooling his expression into one of serenity, and told Miss Parkinson to let his father in. "Father, hello. What can I do for you?" Percy asked.

Arthur Weasley looked at his 3rd child and sighed at the dark circles under his eyes, the strain of his mouth, and overall paleness of his face, and sighed quietly. His wife had been correct. Something was wrong with Percy. "I stopped by to see if you wanted to have lunch with me. You haven´t been by the Burrow lately, and your mother and I are worried about you."

Percy glanced away from his father´s concerned expression and replied, "I thank you for the invitation Father, but I have a lot of work to do. And I´ve eaten already," Percy said. The last wasn´t exactly a lie. He had eaten today.

"Oh, ok, Percy. Will you come for supper tonight, then?" Arthur asked.

"I am not sure I will be able to make it, Father. I do have a lot of work to do. But give mother my love, and I will perhaps see you this weekend," Percy said, wishing his father would just leave him in peace. That´s all he wanted: to be left in peace for once in his life.

Arthur sighed and shook his son´s hand (his hand for crying out loud, Arthur thought), and made to leave.

"Father, thanks for the offer," Percy said softly, just as the door closed behind Arthur.

At 5:00pm the rest of the staff left, leaving Percy still brooding over his reports and memos.