Percy sat at his desk, head in his hands. He was ostensibly thinking about how to phrase a policy but his mind wouldn't stay focused, preferring instead to bombard him with memories and worries that had nothing to do with rebuilding the Ministry. A knock at his office door roused him from his reverie, and he looked up as his visitor decided to enter without waiting for his invitation.

"Mr. Weasley," the young woman said. "I've been sent over to assist you."

She was dressed in impeccably professional robes; in fact, everything about her looked professional, from the slim quill tucked into her neat bun to her respectably shined shoes.

"Are you all right, Mr. Weasley?"

Percy realized he'd been staring -- and on top of that, he'd forgotten to take his hands down from their head-supporting position. He snapped his hands onto his desk and looked impassively at his intruder. "I'm fine, fine. What can I do for you?"

"I believe the pertinent question is what I can do for you," she replied calmly with a pointed look at his overflowing inbox and sparse outbox.

"I really don't need you!" Percy snapped, taking umbrage at her implication that he wasn't capable of doing his own work.

She smiled implacably. "Mr. Shacklebolt insists."

Oh dear. If the Minister had noticed, his productivity must be noticeably decreasing. Percy masked his dismay by looking the young woman over once more and saying dismissively, "And he sent you?"

"Why not?" she responded, still calm. "I've got more experience than the rest of the interns running around here. I clerked for my aunt for an entire summer. Would've the next if she hadn't been murdered."

Percy didn't let his jaw drop, but his eyes were probably comically wide -- The glasses will disguise it, he assured himself -- as she raised an eyebrow and sat down in a nearby chair.

"My name's Susan Bones, by the way. What would you like me to do first?"

*

The first thing Percy thought of was tea. She obliged, but upon her return with cups for both of them informed him that she was authorized to draft memos to the Magical Law Enforcement Department as well as anything internal to his office, if he cared to make use of that information.

"I'm also fairly competent at filing," she added.

"Oh good," Percy replied. "I hate filing." He gestured to another pile of papers across the office he'd successfully been ignoring for months now. "I should say, I often find filing to be low on my priority list. And since most of my staff has been reassigned in the past year, I'm afraid my time to keep on top of it has been in short supply."

"Understood," Miss Bones said, making herself comfortable in front of his filing cabinet.

Percy watched her out of the corner of his eye for a few minutes, but it seemed she had caught on to his system and already had her wand out, ready to sort. She did her work quietly and efficiently, and Percy tried to follow suit. But it wasn't long before he felt another headache coming on.

His head prickled and pounded and he wanted nothing more than to lie down, but lying down brought dreams. Percy decided he was done with dreams.

"Mr. Shacklebolt said that you don't have any staff because you were running things quite effectively all by yourself." Miss Bones' voice jarred him unpleasantly. "And the fewer staff you had, the less you had to worry about Thicknesse catching you doing good."

"Everyone did what they could," Percy said stiffly. "And I wouldn't say that I was running things."

"You're certainly not running anything now. You are days behind in your paperwork."

There was nothing overtly critical in her tone of voice, but -- perhaps because she was speaking at all on top of his raging headache -- Percy lost his temper. "Thank you for your observation," he bit out. "I'd appreciate it if you could find something to do outside my office now."

Miss Bones stood, surprised, but upon reading the expression on his face simply nodded quickly and left.

Percy took a deep breath, then another. He had acted badly. If Miss Bones returned he would need to apologize. He liked to think he was getting better at apologies.

*

Miss Bones returned before he'd quite finished inspecting her work. He stood hurriedly and smoothed his robes, but his planned speech stuck in his throat as he stared at what she held.

"Is that -- ?" he began, before he could stop himself.

"I picked up this bottle of Dreamless Sleep potion from my dad. He's a potioneer, and he made a batch yesterday. They'll be shipped out to stores soon." She held it out to Percy, who refused to take it. She shrugged and set it on his desk. Percy looked decisively away from the bottle and found himself caught in Miss Bones' gaze. There was something different about her from earlier; after a moment of staring he realized she'd taken down her hair, and now wore it in a long plait down her back. It softened her professional appearance and made her look younger. He wondered why the Minister had sent her to him. Then he noticed she was speaking.

"This helps," she was saying, looking steadily at him. "But it doesn't solve everything."

Percy couldn't believe her insolence. "Why should -- I don't need to solve anyth -- you call this assisting?" he spluttered.

"Well. Yes." She clearly didn't enjoy being shouted at. If Percy wasn't so angry he might have felt bad about the tears that sprang into her eyes, or even impressed that she was standing firm in the face of his temper -- lost again in a matter of minutes -- but this anger felt so good, so refreshing. He didn't want to stop feeling angry.

"Well I don't!" he yelled. "I call it meddling and not even remotely helpful and -- and you're fired!"

It felt immensely satisfying to stomp to his office door and hold it open for her with a sarcastic bow. Miss Bones lifted her chin defiantly but swept out with relative grace. Percy resisted the urge to slam the door on her braid. Who wore braids anymore anyway?
Only after he closed the door did he realize his mistake; she'd left him alone with the potion.

Dreamless Sleep potions were in exceedingly short supply these days, with a number of wizards suffering from nightmares. As one might imagine, the black market was having a field day with the demand, but Percy could see that what Miss Bones had left him was a legitimate version. And he wanted to take it. He wanted to sleep without dreams, just for a while, so he wouldn't have to see his mother battle a Death Eater, see Thicknesse sprout spines, see his brother fall over and over.

But Percy knew he didn't have it nearly as bad as George, and it wouldn't feel right to take this away from him, if he needed it. Besides, Percy told himself, straightening his spine and adjusting his glasses, he was used to working on little sleep. He'd worked through the night more times than he could count. Miss Bones didn't know anything. I'm fine.

And to prove it, he attacked his inbox with vehemence. (And also accidentally set an incoming memo on fire, but not only was he able to salvage the important information, he even followed up on it immediately.)

*

Percy realized he'd fallen asleep at his desk at approximately the same moment he noticed the morning light shining through his office window: a few seconds after a knock at his door.

He hadn't even taken the potion. He'd dreamed about goblins, which would be a nice change if he hadn't been frightened of goblins his whole life. (Not a rational fear, nor a helpful one for a high-ranking Ministry official. One couldn't control everything.)

As if to illustrate the point, in walked Miss Bones again, this time bearing scones with the tea.

"I've spoken to Mr Shacklebolt," she said before Percy had even formulated a thought. "He says I am to continue to assist you. So you'll need to take up any additional concerns with him."

She set down the breakfast within reach, glanced with eyebrows raised at the untouched potion, then settled down to continue filing as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you," Percy said, which caused her to look up in mild surprise. "For the breakfast," he qualified. He really was hungry. "Also for the potion," he added. "Even though I can't in good conscience use it. May I give it to my brother?"

She shrugged. "I really think you should use it for yourself, but it's yours now. I suggest following the recommended dosage."

He wanted to be annoyed at her, but he was so tired. Why was he so weary? He'd just slept for many more hours in a row than he'd gotten in days. But he couldn't summon the energy to snap at her. He could barely summon the energy to eat his breakfast.

Miss Bones filed on, apparently unperturbed.

Later that morning, Percy was graced by a visit from the Minister himself. It wasn't all that unusual for Mr. Shacklebolt to run his own errands on occasion, though he didn't have time to stop and chat much. Percy was never sure if he was impressed at the man's determination to keep tabs on his organization or uncomfortable with the attention.

"Good morning," Mr. Shacklebolt said, letting himself in after two brief knocks.

"Hello, Minister," Percy replied, standing up hastily, suddenly very aware of how little progress he'd made so far that day.

"How are you getting on, Susan?" Mr. Shacklebolt asked Miss Bones.

"I am making progress," she responded calmly, looking the Minister in the eyes for a moment before returning to her task.

"Excellent. I've got another packet for you, Percy." He placed an intimidatingly large pile of paper onto Percy's desk. "I know restructuring requests are not exactly under your purview, but if you squint it almost has to do with that Floo policy you worked on." He smiled grimly. "I'm being unfair to everyone with all this, but I'm confident you will do great work."

"Of course, Minister." Percy hoped no one could hear the dismay in his voice. "I'm happy to do everything you need."

The Minister raised his eyebrow at him for a moment, then transferred his gaze to the corner where Miss Bones worked.

"Don't forget, Mr. Weasley, that I am authorized to do quite a bit more than filing, if you feel that would be helpful to accommodate the Minister's request."

Percy turned toward her irritably, but she met his gaze with her usual calm expression, eyes flickering momentarily toward Mr. Shacklebolt. It was then Percy realized he'd been neatly caught. Of course the Minister would want to ensure his assistant was being used to her potential.

He looked back toward Mr. Shacklebolt, who was looking back at him, expressionless. Percy knew his pride would not win, not with the two of them staring at him like that. He took a deep breath.

"Thank you, Miss Bones. We shall discuss the distribution of tasks a little later."

The Minister nodded briefly, then made to leave the office. "Sorry to drop off more work then run, but I have a meeting in just a few minutes. Have a good day, both of you."

"Bye, Kingsley," Miss Bones called. Percy did not move or speak until the door was safely shut behind the Minister.

"I didn't realize you and the Minister were on a first-name basis," he snapped, then abruptly changed tack. "If you wouldn't mind taking a look at these restructuring requests and ascertaining exactly what you can do to assist me in them, I would much appreciate it, Miss Bones."

She smiled serenely. "It will be my pleasure, Mr. Weasley. Will you be continuing work on your Floo regulations for the time being?"

"Yes," he replied, surprised that she had paid so much attention to his tasks at hand even while filing. Was I ever that efficient? "I'll be cracking away at that for a while more today."

The visit from the Minister had momentarily galvanized him out of his weariness, and he felt almost engaged as he worked for a while. When the fatigue began to set back in, he reminded himself of how closely she must be watching him, perhaps preparing to report his every move back to the Minister.

After a while, Miss Bones stood and left with a quiet, "I'll be back in a few." She returned with a midmorning tea for both of them. Percy's surprised gratitude brought a smile to her face -- the first truly happy expression he'd seen her wear.

All at once, she became a little more human to him. Not that he'd consciously been thinking of her as an emotionless automaton, but other than the time the day before when he had nearly brought her to tears, she had only shown him an imperturbable, professional exterior.

"What do you do with your life, Miss Bones?" he found himself asking as he poured some tea.

She looked sharply at him, clearly shocked at the unexpected question. "I'm not sure what you mean. I'm assisting you."

Percy smirked a bit. "When you're not babysitting an unproductive Ministry employee, what do you do?"

"I wouldn't call it 'babysitting,'" she retorted, "and I just left Hogwarts, so for the time being this is a large part of my life."

Percy had just decided she was determined not to tell him anything about herself when she added, "I am studying to join the Magical Law Enforcement team as well."

"Oh, as an Auror?"

She bit her lip. "I never took N.E.W.T. Potions. And the whole 'fighting evil wizards' bit didn't appeal to me...until this past year. You could say I've got some experience, and I think I could do well. But I have to work quite hard before they'll even consider my application. If not, there are other positions in that department. I'd even take the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, though I hope my aunt's name would do me more favors."

Percy winced. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office is more important than we sometimes give it credit, but it is small. I am sure they would find somewhere else for you -- if you don't succeed at becoming an Auror." He changed the subject quickly, before she could make the connection of just who worked at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. "So if you've just left Hogwarts, you must know my brother?"

"Of course. I was in Ron's year, though we never spent much time together apart from Dumbledore's Army. I knew Fred and George as well."

Percy's wince was more pronounced this time, and she immediately went white. "I-I'm sorry for your loss," she stammered.

He couldn't respond. He'd heard that platitude so many times in the past few weeks it had lost all meaning. But he could tell she meant it, and the sight of her pale, stricken face unstuck his throat long enough for him to say, "Thank you."

She looked down, fidgeting with her teacup. Percy was about to suggest they head back to their work -- effectively ending the conversation, allowing him to descend into the sorrow he was once again teetering toward -- when she looked up again.

"Mr. Weasley, I also remember you at Hogwarts. You were an excellent Head Boy."

With that, Miss Bones blushed scarlet and scurried back to her corner. Percy couldn't help but smile, and her kindness brought him back from the edge. He glanced once more toward her, studying the page in front of her as if it was the only interesting thing in the world.

"Thank you," he murmured, before turning his own attention to his work.

A sound at the door startled Miss Bones more than Percy, who recognized the knock.

"Come in," he called, looking around quickly and noting with pleasure that not only did he appear to be working, he actually had been.

"Percy, I -- oh, hello," said Dad, noticing Miss Bones. "I'm Arthur Weasley." He crossed the office to shake her hand.

"This is Susan Bones, my new assistant," Percy told him.

"It's very nice to meet you, Susan. I'm glad to you're here to keep my son in line."

Miss Bones smiled briefly, and the expression once again caught Percy so off guard he neglected to complain that his father was embarrassing him.

"I'm glad to be here," she said. "Can we assist you in some way?"

"Oh, you are a very good assistant," Dad exclaimed, grinning at her. He glanced at the tea things leftover from earlier, then turned to his son. "I'm here to invite you to dinner, Percy."

"Dad, I -- "

"I think we'd both prefer not to leave your mother worrying. It's been over a week; just come by tonight."

Percy sighed. "You're right, of course I'd be happy to come, if I get everything done. The Minister has just given us an enormous assignment and -- "

Dad tilted his head at Miss Bones, who nodded. "I'll see you at 7," he said firmly. Before he turned to leave, he placed his hand on Percy's shoulder. "Glad to see you're not starving, but Mum will want to see it too."

"Thanks, Dad. See you tonight."

After the door closed behind him, Percy put his head in his hands. He didn't want to go to dinner; it wasn't something he'd done before the War, and now they were always haunted affairs. But Dad was right: Mum needed to know her children were okay. He couldn't begrudge that.

"Mr. Weasley?"

He didn't look up. "Yes, what is it, Miss Bones?"

She took a deep breath, then hesitated. She was quiet so long that he finally looked at her.

"I feel like I am in an awkward position here," she said finally, meeting his gaze for only a moment before looking down at her tightly clasped hands. "Obviously I am here to assist you both in your work and in ensuring your productivity and well-being. Kingsley made no secret of my assignment in that manner, though he left it to my discretion whether to tell you."

"I figured it out," Percy remarked.

She nodded. "I am not telling you now because I think you are unaware of the situation. I just want to let you know that while I am trying to help in the ways I have been ordered, I don't wish to have an uncomfortable working relationship with you. I report to the Minister, but my daily work is under your direction, and I don't want you to ... feel like I am merely a babysitter and treat me as such."

"I've been giving you work," he protested.

"Yes, and I do appreciate it, because I like to think I am good at what I do. But the implicit trust your father just showed in me, as well as Kingsley's confidence, makes me uncomfortable if it damages your trust in me."

For a moment Percy didn't know what to say, but what came out was, "But you'll do your job for the Minister regardless of whether I hate it, so does it really matter?"

Miss Bones looked back up at him; her gaze was steady and it rocked him off balance. "It matters to me," she said quietly. "It's probably unfair of me to ask you to accept my help in whatever form it comes. I know how Gryffindors are about pride."

Percy bristled, but it was a half-hearted attempt. Her words were ringing true.

"But, well, I ... want this to go well. This time last year a job like this would have been a dream come true, and just because I want a different career now doesn't mean that I don't still want to do it justice. And I want you to like me. Give me a good reference if necessary," she added, smiling a little.

"Miss Bones, I'm sorry," Percy said, before realizing he would have to articulate what he was apologizing for. "I...am not at my best, which I think you have noticed. But it's hard for me to admit to that. It may take some time for us to come to that comfortable working relationship you would like -- but you should know that I would like it too." He smiled; his face didn't crack open. "Thank you for your help today, Miss Bones. Now, there's still plenty to do before -- "

"Susan."

"Pardon?"

Miss Bones was blushing. "You may call me Susan if you like."

"All right then. Susan, if I must head to dinner this evening, there's much to be done."

"Let's get to it," she replied, nodding firmly.

They worked in companionable silence for the rest of the day. Percy was well into the zone and determined to finish his project when Susan cleared her throat.

"Dare I draw your attention to the time?" she asked politely.

"I just need to finish one last thing," Percy responded immediately. "Give me a few more minutes."

"Very well." Percy hoped he was imagining the less-than-meek tone in his assistant's voice, then simply tuned out her presence entirely.

She became impossible to ignore when she stood over his desk and placed her hand over the paper he was reading.

"Miss -- Susan, please!" he snapped, grasping her wrist and trying to throw it away from his work.

"Mr. Weasley, I must insist," she replied. "Your mother is expecting you." She removed her hand and Percy hurriedly bent over the page again.

"Just a moment," he muttered, but found his view obstructed again, this time by the vial of dreamless sleep potion Susan had given him the day before.

"You said this morning you might give this to your brother. Will he be in attendance?"

"Probably."

"Then go," she said firmly. "And take this. Your work will still be here in the morning."

"Very well," Percy said, echoing her earlier words in bad humour. "No doubt you'll be here in the morning too." He picked up the vial and headed out of his office. On his way he saw Susan, holding her wrist where he'd grabbed her earlier and biting her lip.

"Oh." He felt a twinge of regret. "Did I hurt you?"

She met his gaze and graced him with the tiniest of smiles. "No, sir. Now, go!"

He nodded acquiescence. It was time to go home.