The news had fallen to unexpecting ears, but that wasn’t to say that Ted was surprised. It was only a matter of time from the minute Yaxley took over. Having the Ministry in the wrong hands was dangerous, so it came as no great shock to hear that it was under siege. He wasn’t happy about it, but not as horribly stunned as others seemed to be.
Some of the lost, though. That was hard. Friends, gone.
He had made it a habit, so tightly formed after twenty years that he couldn’t shake it. When things got hard, he poured himself into work. First into studies, but now into his career. Taking far too many orders, helping with too much, but it was a good way to distract himself. Besides, people needed herbology regardless of the circumstance. Work meant not having to think too hard about who he’d lost.
But the work began to blur together if stared at too long, so Ted had forced himself to take a break, apparating to the Leaky Cauldron. With a nod to Tom as he sat a drink in front of him, Ted let his shoulders slouch. The stress wouldn’t keep him still long but he would take what he’d get.
Arthur had been lucky enough to pick up two jobs, neither full-time but part-time enough to make up for all the missing hours and benefits he used to get at the Ministry. One job was as a mediwizard, and once he was out of this probationary period - six months, though it felt like a lifetime - he could focus all of his attentions there. However, until then, he'd have to figure something else out to fill in the gap, and that something else was bussing tables and washing dishes at the Leaky Cauldron.
He couldn't complain about it, though it gave him far too much time to think about everything that was going wrong.
In fact, right before Ted showed up, Arthur had been dangerously close to crying. He had thought too much about Fabian again. The watch stil weighed him down, heavy in his pocket because he couldn't bear to leave it in the house, where Molly might find it and start spiraling. Instead, he carried it with him - he allowed himself to spiral instead.
So, he was grateful to see Ted walk in, moving instead to the back of the bar with the bin of dirty glasses balanced against his hip as if it was one of his children before he set it down right behind the bar and leaned forward to talk to Ted. "Boy, am I glad to see you, mate. I was starting to go crazy." He couldn't remember if he had told Ted or not he had been fired - the last few weeks felt like a terrible, blurry nightmare.
