where: percy’s office, ministry of magic
“It’s bloody ridiculous. Like I’m a fucking liability or some shit. I know what I’m doing, Perce. I’m not some green kid going there trying to get my first burn and my chance to ride a dragon.” Not counting that he had been that kid once upon a time. Charlie’s hands moved to pull a book off one of the shelves, scowling at the cover of The Intricacies of Rappaport’s Law for a moment as he caught his breath, the near non-stop rant he was on not having ceased since he entered Percy’s office.
If he wasn’t so hot under the collar, a patented Weasley flush creeping up the back of his neck and to his ears, he might have taken a moment to notice just how large his younger brother was living at the moment. He had always wrongfully assumed that most offices here were like their dad’s, cramped and messy. Filled to the brim with flying memos and leaking ceilings of spell damage gone wrong. The charmed windows depicting the backyard of the Burrow when they were working properly. Or more like the Creatures Division, not this well organized and spacious. Large enough that Charlie had made his way to nearly every bookshelf lining the walls. When did Percy even get these many books anyway? Magical Misdemeanours and the Modern Law was the next tomb in his hand followed by Spell Casting in the Age of Rappaport’s Law. Who the fuck was Rappaport anyway? He ditched the Misdemanour hardcover on Percy’s desk, putting the other books in hand away with little care for where they were even supposed to be and continued looking for a title that seemed like it would be any help to him and his issues. If Percy didn’t know everything about creature law then he ought to have a book that did.
There was something just utterly wrong about the absence of Percy in his life. The familial strain of a missing sibling, ignoring self-imposed distance and time spent away from the whole lot of ginger terrors created by their parents, didn’t lessen a bit in person. Charlie had questions (A list of them after getting biased tales from their family, the real story from Tonks, and picking up what he could from the papers), accusations to throw and insults to hurl, but it all evaporated at seeing his brother again. The few times he had tried in the past, to actually have a straight and frank word, had been crap. No resolutions. No answers. Letters hollow or too accusatory on his own part to ever open the doors to a conversation where he could finally understand why Percy had turned his back on everything they had been raised to know. There had to be a reason. There always was with Percy. You just had to unravel a whole spool of shite to get to it.
He was fucked. He knew the second he had been escorted off the reserve and the owled temporary restraining order had been unnecessary confirmation of that fact. If he hadn’t totally cocked up his entire life he wouldn’t be here. There’d be no need for this horse and pony show of his career current standing to make Perce grasp how desperate he was for help. Legal help. Ministry help. It’s not like there was anyone left in this building with an ounce of moral standing except for their dad.
“All I want is to get back to work and they’re saying I’m not fit for the job. I’m fine. Better than fucking fine. So what’s the problem? It’s not like they’re not in need of help because those bloody poachers aren’t going to stop just because– They don’t give a rat’s fucking ass about us, Perce. And no one will listen to me. The dragons don’t deserve to wait around to get picked off one by one so some rich prick can get a new dragonhide jacket for the spring, alright? They need their fucking gloves and their heart-string for their wands for the September rush and they don’t care how they make their production quota. It’s fucking unethical, yeah? It’s illegal!”
Books chucked with wild abandon, Charlie was ready to look until he found the stupid bound words that would make his brother actually listen to him. He could pretend it was like old times and strive not to think that the man sitting down and watching his little piss fit had changed that much. Like everything, people were blowing it out of proportion. Had to be one big misunderstanding on everyone’s part and if they just all sat down and talked (after the yelling and the crying that was natural to occur) they could get to the heart of the issue. People were too complicated, ready to muck up what should be a simple decision with extraneous choices, and Charlie didn’t have the patience to navigate a mediation. He needed a lawyer’s help. His brother was a damn good lawyer in the eyes of some. That’s all that should matter at the end of the day. “If I’m unfit, if that’s what they want to fucking claim, then why aren’t they doing shite about it? I know what I need. It’s to go back. How do we make that happen?”
Flushed and reeling, wielding the hardcover book on the legal intricacies of the unforgivable like a wand with no concept of exactly how much time had passed since he arrived, Charlie waited for an answer. After not even a beat, his mouth was open again as he revered up to continue the shaky case of how the hell he had ended up in Percy Weasley’s posh office in the first place.
Percy was having an... alright sort of day. It was one of those days where nothing of note was happening, but he was feeling productive regardless. Most of his meetings went smoothly, and those that didn’t were able to get patched over relatively quickly. His coworkers didn’t seem to have any particular problem with him ( not today at least ), and he had a packed lunch waiting in his office that he was ready to dig into. Just an alright day, and Percy was perfectly content with it.
He hardly expected to walk into his office, take his lunch out, and have his day disrupted by his wayward brother not five minutes into his break, ranting about dragons ( as he was wont to do ) and needing... legal aid?
Out of all of his siblings, Percy got along most with Charlie. It wasn’t that he was picking favorites -- though he wouldn’t hesitate to do so, if asked -- but more like Charlie was the brother that was there for him the most as they grew up. He could still remember Charlie coming back from Hogwarts in his first year, handing his textbooks off to little Percy to read and listen to knowledge he already had once Percy was done with the book. He knew now that it probably helped him write his essays sometimes, but Charlie still listened to Percy, and that meant more to him than he cared to admit.
Even that history, though, couldn’t stop Percy from staring at his brother warily as he went on about restraining orders and the rights of dragons. Honestly, Percy was only half-paying attention; why was Charlie in his office of all places? When he cut himself off from his family ( and his family ultimately did the same in turn ), Percy never expected to hear from any of them again. Why would he come to him looking for help? Like he was crawling back on his knees with the Weasley name in tow, looking for help from the all-but-disowned brother when he had no other choice? Irritation flared in him at the thought; no, he refused to be a pawn in his family’s game, only being used when they needed him and sacrificing his place among them a moment later. Percy refused to play their game, whatever it was.
“... I don’t handle magical creatures cases,” he finally said once he realized Charlie was done spewing his nonsense, taking a bite from his sandwich and chewing slowly as he thought his words through carefully. “Nor is there much I can do for you. They make the rules for their establishment, do they not? What goes on there is under their watch and regulation. You’re no longer working there -- let it go.”
Not that what was going on wasn’t unethical. The legality of it all... Percy really should step in. Maybe if it were anyone else but Charlie asking for help, he even would have, but there were plenty of attorneys who undertook magical creature cases, and he wasn’t one of them. That was the excuse he’d operate under if questioned -- he absolutely was not using his grudge against his family as a way to say no.
“I can’t do anything for you, Charlie. You’re better off looking elsewhere to help your dragons get back to work. Now, if you’ll excuse me? I’m on my lunch break.”