Percy was exhausted. He was sitting in his office at the Ministry of Magic, trying to keep his eyes from closing, his whole body stiffened from hours in the same position. He knew that he had too much paperwork, but contrary to what others thought, he listened quite well to what his colleagues said about him, the teasing and the jokes. But unlike when he was younger and just starting out in the ministry, this was more important than moving up the ranks or pleasing his boss.
As a junior assistant to the Minister of Magic, many of the papers that passed to the man also passed through him. The documents had a spell to prevent them from being copied, but as always wizards failed at one thing, they could be copied by hand, without using magic. This is what Percy had been doing since the Ministry fell into the hands of the Death Eaters, Minister Fudge was removed and replaced by Scrimgeour, who was under the Imperius Curse.
Percy would get more paperwork than necessary, finish his work, and then copy down anything that might be important to his contacts. That day he had been quite lucky, he had a whole folder of information about future Ministry plans and three lists of names of Muggleborns, half-bloods and wizards with creature blood. As he finished copying the last name, he sighed in relief, stretching out in his chair.
Suddenly, one of the alarms that warned that someone was approaching began to beep. With a wave of his wand, everything that would be considered illegal is stored and secured in his drawer just in time for the door to open.
“Oh, I’m sorry sir, I didn’t know you were still here,” says one of the house elves who clean the ministry. Percy almost sighed in relief.
“Yes Minty, but I just finished and I was leaving,” he says, trying to smile at her as he gathers his things and quickly puts what he had copied into his bag. “My office is all yours, good night.”
He quickly leaves the office and looks at his watch, it's five to nine at night and he was supposed to pass everything to his contact at nine, shit. He practically runs through the hallways, there are few people at that hour but those who are there look at him strangely as he passes, but this is not the time to worry about what others think. When he has finally arrived at the Apparition point, he appears in the direction they had decided for the day.
He looks at his watch again, it's exactly nine o'clock, he's on time. He sighs in relief when he sees his contact, Oliver Wood, leaning against the wall of the alley.
“I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it,” he says, smiling at him and moving in for a hug. “Do you have anything new or the usual?”
“Sorry I left late,” he apologizes, hugging him back and passing him the folder. “I’ve got some interesting new information and three lists of names, you’ve got work for weeks.”
Oliver picks up what is passed to him and skims through it.
“Everything seems fine, have you thought about what I told you yet?” Oliver asks, looking up from the papers. “About getting involved in other ways, we need people to transport, as you have already said, we have a lot of work to do on this.”
“Oliver, you know how risky it would be for me if I were caught, my position in the ministry…” He repeats as many times before.
“We are always careful, it’s not even a risky job if it’s done quickly and discreetly, try it with me tomorrow, I have to transport a family from London to a port to go abroad and I need an escort,” he asks, giving him that look that he’s perfected over the years and that Percy has never been able to refuse.
Percy pretends to think about it, but ever since Oliver asked him the last time they saw each other, he knew what his answer would be in the end.
“Okay, I’ll help you,” he relents, sighing, “but it’s just this once.”
And seeing the smile he receives, he knows that those last words aren't true. Because even though Percy Weasley is publicly at odds with his family and a loyal supporter of the Ministry, he knows that he will use any opportunity he is given to save as many people as he can.