the louder the voice the duller the mind

“Because the store assistants haven’t led me wrong yet.” Ginny replied with a smile, though her tone was a little terse. So she hadn’t grown up around fancy dresses and parties, so what? “I meet a lot of important people, you know? Interviewing stars and talking with people from the sports departments of other Ministries. It requires a few nice dresses.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, for sure. And being blonde as well, she’d never look pale, like someone with darker hair, might.”

✎

“Or they have and you don’t know it yet.” Ernie murmured under his breath, already picking up another gown from a nearby rack. He couldn’t help himself. He gwaffed, giving her an incredible amount of side eye. “Ginny, really! If you actually met any important people you wouldn’t have to say so. Important people. I don’t believe your ex-boyfriend or your brothers’ friends count.” He laughed before turning back to the dresses in bed. “Perhaps I should ask one of the store assistants if they’re the ones helping you with your sense of taste.”

“Add me to that list,” Daphne huffed. If she’d never come back from France then she would have never run into her ex again and then her life would be perfect. She should have run away with that girl from Antibes, then maybe she’d be off having fun right now. “I think you should, we could stay at my family’s estate at first while we wait for everything to settle over. You can become ambassador and I can marry rich.”

She waved her hand noting that there really wasn’t anything new that she knew and others didn’t. “Not that I know of, just him droning on and on about paperwork. He’s too uptight. Don’t even think people liked him as a prefect.”

✎

“Then it’s decided. I will. And you will come live with me and never come back to dreary old England ever again. And you will also never go into another bookshop. Enough is enough. Between you and Susan, I’m going to lose my hair before I’m thirty. Or get a wrinkle.” The ideal of ambassador was appealing and it was a position he had always wanted. He just didn’t want to have to work with Anthony every day.

“They didn’t. Paperwork? Daphne, I saw him take a spill in the lift. Does he ever go home? Or sleep? He might be taking pepper ups when no one’s looking.”

“It’s only a breach if I tell you who it is.” Which he almost had to be fair but Ernie didn’t need to know about that. Which also now meant that Terry couldn’t confirm or deny if Williams was in fact the person he had to drag out. He’d have to sneak up to the person and make sure Ernie wasn’t watching him and Merlin yeah he might as well just tell him. “I don’t think they’d send me if it was someone really important, Williams will do. That’s why you don’t skip your healer’s appointments.”

✎

“You just did. That’s a breach, Terry. Really, you think that they would teach you anything about the contracts you sign. You need to let a professional look it over next time. I only charge 20 galleons an hour for my time.” Ernie rolled his eyes and let out a huff, looking towards the door.  “Either way, I can’t just let you waltz in here and harass my co-workers. The receptionist should have stopped you. Tell me who you’re trying to find and I’ll send them a memo.”

“You mean… the red one?” Ginny asked, hazarding a guess while looking at the two dresses Ernie had been referring to. Ox blood. Bloody hell. “I’m afraid I’m of little to no help in this particular area. Not really one for fashion, me.” She admitted. “But, for what it’s worth, I think she’d look really nice in the emerald.”

✎

“Yes. The red gown.” He said dryly to Ginny. He had always known the Weasleys were uncultured but this was just absurd. “You’re not? Shocking. Why are you in here then?” He opened his mouth to continue his tirade of going into stores to simply take up space but paused. Ernie narrowed his eyes at an emerald dress across the store. “With warm undertones?”

There was viable information hidden in the pages that escaped him and Percy’s thoughts were racing faster than his hands should. “Yeah, alright,” he mumbled, barring his jaw at the unhelpful tone from Ernie as he picked up as many things as he could. It was just his luck, but at least he had a couple of minutes to spare before the meeting. Percy liked to be there fifteen minutes early to make sure he was punctual but now that necessary time would be spent clambering around looking inept at his job. “I’m doing-I’m fine-thank you,” he said promptly, taking the papers from Ernie. “Are you going to the meeting downstairs as well?”

✎

With a raised eyebrow, Ernie didn’t hesitate to take a second glance at the papers before holding them out to Percy. How rude could someone be? There had to be something Percy Weasley was good at besides kissing Kingsley’s boots that kept him employed and it certainly wasn’t organization. Or staying standing on his own two feet. “Oh. You are? My mistake.” Puffing his chest out just the slightest, Ernie beamed. “Of course I am. They expect someone from my department to be there. Don’t tell me the Minister’s office sent you.”

“That true. You should come with me next time Ernie, you’d love France.” To be fair she thought everyone would love France but Ernie might be a good enough friend for her to take with her. The list of fun people who she wanted to go on vacation with was growing. Would he mesh well with Pansy and Georgina though? Debatable. 

Tuning back into whatever Ernie was saying Daphne scratched her head. There had been some big incident? Maybe she should have been paying more attention to what the people in her department were doing. She’d been in such a good mood lately she’d hardly looked up from her daily desk reorganization. “Sadly no, I think everyone in my department tries to avoid Percy. He tries to take control of everything and international relations is a little more delicate than what he’s used to. Probably just bore all the important politicians and then England would be in big trouble.”

✎

“I know I would! We went to the Pyrenees Mountains on holiday a few years ago. I should have never come back. You know, there’s word that the ambassador for the French Ministry is stepping down. Do you think I should apply and just get out of here? You could come with me! We’d have to bring Hannah along, of course, but I think we’d all have fun”

Ernie leaned in closer to Daphne, his eyebrows raising in curiosity. “Please. Spill. Is he trying to seize power or something? You know, the public would never vote for him. He’s too...I can never put my finger on what it is.”

“I’m not sure,” she said dejectedly. She hadn’t actually been to the bookstore since late September and it was completely reasonable that he may have just been camping out there the whole time. There was no way she could have known. “I was returning some unneeded books. No use keeping them around my house, unless you wanted them? They were about France and had some boring big words and complicated things in them. Hardly any pictures.”

It made her a little happy knowing that Ernie would go out of his way to come to her aid if she needed. He was a pretty good friend, of course no comparison to Pansy but Daphne really liked him. “Some files were taken? Always knew the security in this place was rubbish. Last week my pink stapler was taken from my desk and none of the security guards even cared about it.” She pouted. She still wasn’t feeling completely herself but already this short chat with Ernie was starting to take her mind off of Theo. Yes, she should be focused on pink stapler thieves and general Ministry gossip instead of how much her heart hurt. Pansy would be proud of her. “Also had too many words but if Skeeter wrote it I believe it. I really thought he’d be more generous.”

✎

“Well, then we don’t need to speculate.” Except Ernie would find out. He always did. Especially when it concerned his friends and Daphne was by far his best work friend. He would go as far to say work wife if it wasn’t a slight to Hannah Abbot. “You’ve been there. You don’t ever need to read about it again.

“No! Nothing? And yes. They were. I heard right from the Minister’s office in fact. I’m surprised you weren’t questioned about it. They got so serious over it that it must have been important. And just that terrible rumor that won’t stop that Percy is the one pulling the strings on the Minister. You don’t know anything about that, do you? You must see a lot in your office.”

*

“You’re far too kind, sir,” Hannah played along with Ernie with a smile. When he mentioned the weekly brunch that they attended, she immediately replied, “Yellow, of course.” It was one of their many traditions that she loved. Pushing one of his drinks towards him, Hannah continued to mix the other. She thought about his question, before answering, “What do you have on Percy Weasley? There can’t be possibly anything worth mentioning. Unless…?” She trailed off, giving him a look that showed she was on the fence about believing anything. He seemed to reserved. So boring. “Susan and her sad week? Elaborate please.” 

✎

“Honestly, he was in such a state last week. Just totally flustered. Have you ever seen Percy Weasley misplace paperwork because I haven’t and let me just tell you, I saw something good. There’s this rumor going around that he’s been playing Minister but of course I never said that and never would. That would be ridiculous.” Ernie winked, taking a large sip of his sidecar and holding it out for Hannah to try. “You’ve got too good. Oh! And I saw one of those stuffy pureblood women going into the Minister’s office and let me just say those types never go to see Kingsley if you know what I mean.” He was practically off the ground with how far over the bar he was leaning at this point. “I ran into her the other day and she just seemed, well, depressed? Off? I bet Avery has something to do with it. Do you think she’s done with him yet?”

starter for @dramaticboar​

It had been a quiet winter. No new whispers of some evil takeover plan Terry Boot had in store and no appearances of a blonde boy sporting bloody noses or bruises under his shirt. That had been the last time that Terry had seen Ernie. In the bathroom of the Flint Estate all beat up by Terry’s two best friends.

That’s why when he ran into Ernie again he felt, maybe underwhelmed. The Hufflepuff looked just the same as anytime Terry had seen him before and maybe in the mood to fling insults. Couldn’t be worse than Michael. “Um, how have you been?” he asked, rocking a bit on his feet. He wasn’t getting paid enough for this. “I’ve been told I need to convince one of your coworkers to go to his checkups.”

✎

“What?” He snapped, head turning to Terry in surprise. “Who?” He rifled through the people in his office for a moment. “Isn’t that a breach of your healer oath or something?” He cleared his throat and returned to his browsing of the parchment at the stall in front of him. “Williams has been looking like he could keel over any day now. Is that who you mean?” Ernie asked, instantly forgetting that medical history was something that should be private. “Or are you asking about a more important person in the building?”

status: open

“Is emerald really the best choice or should I go with ox blood?” He asked the person standing nearby. He had been trying to decide between a few clothes for Hannah for the next Ministry gala for ages and the earlier customers hadn’t been any help at all. Ernie was not getting himself into another situation where she refused his gifts and she ended up wearing the same dress as the last event. He had put some things on hold for her to pick up. A few pieces of jewelry. A purse. “She looks stunning in periwinkle. That might be a better option.” Fashion was truly out of control these days. “What would you pick for a blonde? Warm undertones. Petite.”

Hannah’s smile grew when she heard the voice of her best friend, laughing when he planted a kiss on her cheek. “Oh, it’s Hannah Abbott, sir,” Hannah played along, holding her hand out for Ernie to kiss. She knew that he didn’t particularly approve of her working at the Leaky Cauldron, but she wanted to pave her own way. He’d offered many times to pay for her to train at St. Mungo’s and every time, Hannah refused. “Not only am I the loveliest bartender, I’m also the most apt, so you’re in luck,” she teased, before grabbing the things she’d need to make each of the drinks. As she was preparing them, she asked, “How is work?” 

“Hannah Abbott? What a beautiful name. I almost feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before. Where was it? Oh! I remember. The most beautiful girl at Hogwarts. The best bartender that Diagon has ever seen. The woman attending a lovely brunch with me tomorrow wearing, what color was it again?” Ernie dropped his bit and sighed, leaning wearily on the bar top and giving Hannah the best side eyes he could manage. “Terrible and brillant all at the same time. Who do you want to hear about first? Kingsley, Percy Weasley, or Daphne Greengrass? Or do we talk about Susan and her sad, sad week?”

“At the bookstore, ignoring me.” She knew that one would rile Ernie up but it was just something she felt the need to tell everyone. About how her lost love had dared to come back and just simply pretend she didn’t exist. “The secretaries said he’s been happy or something. Even smiled once. Don’t know what it’s about or anything but that’s just been the rumors.” With her free hand she started lightly drumming her fingers on the desk watching Ernie do his work. She didn’t know how he read even two of those pages in a day, seemed like an impossible task. “That’s tragic, isn’t he friends with Potter? He’s got money he can lend to him surely. A child should never be separated from their parents in my opinion.” 

“This entire time?” Ernie’s mouth dropped open, as he looked around the room as if the paintings would explain more than Daphne had. He never liked Theo Nott. He had heard terrible thing about family from his parents and others and wasn’t he living with the likes of Draco Malfoy? Disgusting. Not that he would ever voice this to Daphne. “What were you even doing in that bookstore? You should pretend it’s never existed. If you need to go back in there, I will do it for you. Floo or owl me immediately, do you understand?”

Merlin, what would he do without Daphne around? The things she noticed in her department filled him with joy even if she was currently suffering. “Happy? Well, it can’t be over Kingsley.” Leaning in, Ernie began whispering. “Have you seen him lately? Off his rocker. I’m starting to think it’s not even him in there. Of course, it could be about those files taken.” He conveniently left out that he was the one who couldn’t stop them from leaving the building. “I don’t believe Harry believes in handouts. Something about his tragic childhood, I think? I never read the Skeeter novel. But you think if there was a child involved he would care more.”

starter for @dramaticboar​

Things were strange to say the least. With the emotional strain of the past few days Daphne didn’t feel like herself, though her trip to see Pansy had helped a little bit. She’d always thought that girl time was the best therapy and second best was a good talk with Ernie. He always knew what to say. “Theo’s back but I’m ignoring him. Pansy says he’s a flobberworm.” Daphne rested her head on her hand, the usual excitement in her voice still missing. “Any exciting gossip to get my mind off of things? The rumor mill’s been so dry lately. Heard even Percy’s been exciting.”

Ernie looked up from his pile of paperwork, a look of shock coming across his face at Daphne’s words and not her sudden appearance. Her visits were a mandatory part of his morning routine. “What!? Tell me that arsehole didn’t come back groveling. Where was he?” He didn’t know what was up with the men in Britain at the current moment. He would never dream of treating Hannah like this. Relationship were work but that was what made them worth it. “Mmm.” Ernie would have rather talked about this Nott nonsense all day but Daphne did seem sad. Fine, he was the best at distracting. “Percy Weasley? Doubt it. Though he did seem more of mess that usually the other morning. Why do you know something? I ran into Professor Lupin the other day. I think child services had been sniffing around him. You know he can’t even afford to feed his son.”

location: diagon alley status: open!

after the holiday rush, the narrow street of shops looks nearly abandoned and different. remus had thought of getting out of his house for the day with teddy as it was the weekend and he needed some distraction instead of being in the house. there was a stack of papers and books he still needed to go through, but that could be saved for another day. it was fine to postpone his work if he actually knew he would return to it. he held teddy’s hand in his, walking along the street and glancing at the shops. teddy had insisted on going to the weasley joke shop and remus had complied but now a quack kept coming from the shoes that teddy now wore that were slowly getting more annoying and making remus irritable. he suggested taking a break to get off their feet and also so remus could stop hearing that insistent sound. 

“uh, one please,” he said when someone came over with water and gave it to teddy. the tiredness seemed to pull at him once he sat down and his face fell for a moment, knowing he had his hands tied. teddy asked for a slice of pie and remus knew how much money he had and didn’t have, knowing he would have payments due by the end of the month. “not today, alright? we can do something at home later.” the assurance didn’t seem to diffuse teddy’s need for pie and pouted. there were days that being a father was hard and he knew that it was made harder with a war going on and not being to tell teddy everything he could. “one then…” remus caved in and walked to the front. “sorry, i dont mean to bother you but would you-do you think you could cut some pie out? i dont have the money on me now but i promise to pay you back.”

Ernie had to find a good cake to bring to his parent’s for the following day. It was their weekly brunch after all. Really, he’d need to go see Hannah once he had it. They had to do something about Susan and decide what it was they were even wearing tomorrow to see his parents. Not matching wasn’t an option. He might also do some good by telling Hannah why a cake was so important but she would find out the news sooner or later. Or, sooner, when his mother decided to inform Hannah that she had picked out their wedding date already.

Tapping his fingers on the counter as he dwelled on when it was he would let his know that Hannah was his platonic wife, not romantic one, Ernie was drawn in by the conversation next to him. So someone could get service in here. Ridiculous. He had been standing by the counter for ages and now someone in such a shabby jacket cut in front of him. It wasn’t until he heard the voice of the neglected older man that Ernie realized who he was insulting in his head. “Professor Lupin!” 

Bustling his way over, Ernie sidled up to the side and put some galleons down on the counter. “He’ll take the whole pie, please. No need to cut just one slice. Professor Lupin, how are you?” Not well if he was begging for a slice of pie. And in front of his son no less. How sad. “What’s Teddy’s favorite flavor? Pumpkin? Or would he rather have a cheesecake?” It was out of the goodness of his own heart, and perhaps a rather strong admiration for the best defense teacher he had ever had, that Ernie covered the pie. And, if he happened to know why a fellow Order member couldn’t spare a knut that didn’t hurt.

where: the leaky cauldron  status: open to all !

When Hannah left Hogwarts, she had dreams of being a healer. However, she didn’t have the confidence to go along with it. She had the debts left to her after her mother’s death and chose to go into work instead of training. The job that she secured at the Leaky Cauldron was purely by chance. The innkeeper took one look at her, more than likely took pity upon her, and immediately gave her the job as a barmaiden. It was a learning curve at first. The patrons of the Leaky Cauldron liked things a certain way and it took her a little while to learn that. Now, a couple of years later, Hannah was still on the job, but she excelled at what she did. 

“Evening,” Hannah greeted the latest person who had sat down at the bar with a smile. “What can I get for you?” 

Ernie hummed, leaning over the bar until he could plant an over-the-top kiss on Hannah’s lovely cheek. “I don’t know. What’s good? What’s your favorite drink, Miss...? I don’t believe I caught the name of the most lovely bartender in the entire world?” He hated seeing Hannah working like this, instead of studying her healing books like she should have been, but Ernie didn’t mind spend most nights after work here. The crowd was a little dirty and brash but the drinks Hannah made were divine and her smile could convince him to do anything. Besides, the gossip! He learned more about the world here than at work. Who was sleeping with who. Who fought who. Even rumors on the little more sinister side! “Do you do sidecars? Martinis?”

location: ministry of magic status: open!

there was never a dull moment working in the minister’s office and sometimes percy thought it might be the job that he was the most appreciated in. kingsley had always liked him and percy had always respected his boss. some days it didn’t feel like working for the minister of magic but instead a decent man that knew what he was doing. other days, it felt like he was an assistant doing busy work for the minsiter of magic. percy loathed the days that made it feel like there were more hours in the day than there were. 

percy got off the lift but a moment later realized he left his briefcase in the lift, turning around and grabbing it. he wasn’t looking where he turned and was faced with the busy foot traffic of a crowd. “i’m so sorry-” percy apologized immediately and to make the situation worse, the briefcase seal released and papers scattered themselves around the scene. this was one of percy’s literal nightmares and he scrambled to secure the government papers as it was critical nothing was shared with anyone. 

Ernie rolled his eyes and attempted to help Percy pick up his papers. He couldn’t help himself and glanced a few of them as he did, a smirk appearing on his face as he did so. “Why, Percy! You really ought to be much more careful. To think anyone could have seen these.” If it had been a different member of the Minister’s Office, Ernie would have attempted to take care to not let his voice carry but he hadn’t forgotten how Ron’s brother hadn’t even recognized him. He insinuated that Ernie’s own position wasn’t essential. Like the Ministry would function without the Department of Magical Law. “Are you feeling alright? Perhaps you should take it easier.”

Unlike previous years before, on her birthday Daphne was not having a big party for herself. She stood outside the Greengrass estate, dawned in all black and patting her eyes with a handkerchief below her black veil. It had taken a little time but she’d planned a funeral for Theo, sent out invitations, and spent a large part of the day terrorizing all her friends into coming. It had been a beautiful service if she had to say for herself, Cupcake’s speech being a real highlight though Daphne couldn’t hear the pygmy puff much over her own wailing.  

She’d calmed down a bit since then now moving from her spot to travel back towards the reception, greeting the first person she saw. “Thank you for coming, I’m sure Theo would have really appreciated it.” She sniffled again. 

Ernie handed over a monogrammed handkerchief and reached a hand to rub Daphne’s back. “Mmhmm. I’m sure he would have.” Ernie hadn’t even known Daphne and Nott were ever dating. The last he had heard from Daphne is the man wouldn’t make a move. That’s what she got for falling for someone so utterly boring. Ernie was really starting to suspect Nott hadn’t died at all. It’s not as though there was an announcement in the paper or even a mention of attack. What had even happened? A stack of books fell on him? “Everything looks gorgeous You did a wonderful job planning.”