workin' overtime on a runaway train [Percy]

Joanna wrinkled her nose in frustration as she exited the lift on the third floor of the British Ministry of Magic. The Department of Magical Accident and Catastrophes. While her father worked for this department and she had friends and acquaintances across the teams, she was not feeling much good will towards this level of the Ministry at the moment. The source of this was down to one employee. One incompetent, useless, arrogant man who was a blight on the proud face of the Ministry. Donn Sinnoway, or Bane. Whatever he was calling himself. He was the entire reason she was on this level on this particular morning. More time that she had to devote to dealing with him when she had an already hectic schedule.

She had all but demanded a meeting with Percy Weasley to discuss the younger man’s actions. As far as Joanna was concerned, the man-child needed serious retraining and definitely should not be allowed out in public until it was ensured that his entire attitude had readjusted. And, despite never wanting to see him again, Joanna was willing to selflessly help out with this adjustment if needed. Since he seemed to think she was such a horrible person and slave driver, she was perfectly happy to prove that, no, that was just called working. He had to learn that he wasn’t entitled to things, they had to be earned. And she would do this for the good of the Ministry.

As always, Joanna was internally calming herself as she walked. She was determined that Percy would see reason, and so was trying to put aside the thoughts that whispered that she would be dismissed and talked down to. Percy was a Department Head after all, and she was only a senior member of Magical Law Enforcement. The two former Prefects had very few dealings with each other, and rarely met in person. In fact, she was certain this was the first ever meeting she had arranged that would not be attended by other members of staff.

Part of her wanted to turn back, apologise and say she was being hasty. What if he didn’t appreciate Joanna butting into his department’s business? She would have no authority to do anything in retaliation, apart from childishly refuse to help when requested. But, Joanna would not do that, she was too much a stickler for protocol for that. She would certainly lose all respect she had for Percy Weasley if he did that, not that that would likely count for much in his eyes. Percy had always seemed like a hard working individual who wanted a better Ministry, same as her. Proper staff was the start of that. And currently Donn Bane was a long way off being a proper employee.

Percy better not act all high and mighty during this meeting. Joanna could not stand not to be in control, and she certainly hated it when someone held their status above her. She was so proud to be Lead Hit Witch, but sometimes she wanted more. Why should she have to take orders from others. Especially when they did stupid things like releasing convicted Death Eaters? She would have held firm against Sweden and refused. Britain was much better than a country run by maniacs. But even the thought of being Minister of Magic was anxiety-inducing. Being that much in the public eye, having your every move scrutinised sounded awful. Joanna was much happier behind the scenes. She would just prefer to be in charge behind the scenes.

Her thoughts having taken a serious detour from their original focus, Joanna attempted to regroup as she approached the office. She was going to be very to-the-point. Both herself and Percy were busy people. They did not have time for idle chit chat. They would discuss Donn’s attitude and actions, Joanna would make sure Percy understood how inappropriate it was for staff members to behave like that and find out what he was going to do about it, then she would return to her own office. She had a million other things to be doing that were currently being delayed. Benjamin Walpole had been spotted impersonating a muggle street seller flogging hexed necklaces to unsuspecting tourists outside Buckingham Palace. That would be her first task post-meeting - finding and dealing with him. The last thing they needed was an international muggle/magical incident on their hands.

The assistant almost sprung out of her desk as Joanna came to stand at the entrance of the office. “I’ve got an appointment,” she said briskly as she continued walking. Joanna paused only to make sure there was no one else in the office before striding inside. They had a scheduled meeting time, which she was there for. She wasn’t going to be kept waiting like a visitor with unlimited time on her hands. “Good morning Percy.” She greeted as she entered. Joanna looked at the redhead behind his desk and took her own seat opposite him. The whole situation grated on her and she dispensed with the usual, unnecessary pleasantries. Joanna just was not in the mood for politicking.

“I trust you have read the case report?” The Department Head was competent, she was sure he would be fully prepared. “Well, let’s start with the first irregularity. Donn Bane threatened to send Mr Larkin to Azkaban, ignoring our entire judicial system in favour of shouting through a door.” There was an unpleasant taste in her mouth from recounting the experience. The arrogant little pr-. No, she would not lower herself to his level with foul language. She sat patiently, awaiting Percy’s response so that she could continue her list of grievances.

@Percival Ignatius Weasley

Percy didn't wear a watch when he was working, but his internal clock was almost always correct. Right now, for example, the redhead didn't need to check that he only had a couple of minutes before a scheduled meeting with a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; a nagging sense of weary anticipation told him that she should be here any second. Unwilling to waste even these precious seconds, Percy speed-read an unrelated incident report and tried not to think about the fact that he wasn't really looking forward to the meeting. Joanna's department really was his least favourite to deal with out of the lot of them, especially with recent events.

He didn't know what the minister had been thinking.

By now, he was sick to death of jokes about things being accidents and catastrophes, but Shacklebolt deciding to release Gaius Purcell from prison almost warranted some snarky comments of that ilk. It certainly felt like something that needed to be cleaned up. The whole mess had him seriously sour about the minister's leadership in general. Had anyone thought, perhaps, that Law Enforcement wasn't the best place to draw political leaders from? The man sighed, pushing his glasses up his long nose as his blue eyes flicked to a new page. Prior to this, Percy would have expected Kingsley, of all people, to want to keep death eaters behind bars. Forever, preferably.

Naturally, he'd advised the minister against the move with Purcell. But despite being from the department that had to deal with the consequences of other people's messes - the DMLE in particular, when they weren't doing their jobs correctly - it wasn't as if he had much pull over such lofty international dealings as the release of a former death eater. What was it that they were trading with Sweden exactly, that was worth this? Percy was all for international magical cooperation but he thought Kingsley had made a mistake. And he clearly wasn't the only one.

Perhaps if he was older, his opinion would have more weight, he mused. The average age  for senior ranking ministry officials had dropped considerably post nineteen-ninety-eight. Percy couldn't shake his own mild disapproval of all of the younger high-ranking officials - excepting himself obviously - and it irked him to think that others might think of him in a similar way. There was a time when he would have put his blind faith in the minister's decisions, trusting him to know best, but Percy was disinclined to do that these days. He didn't want to dwell on the thought.

The man glanced up as the door opened. She was right on time. Excellent. "Good morning," he replied with a terse smile, straightening up a little and resting his quill back in its holder. "Please, take a seat." He straightened the front of his shirt, then folded his hands together on his desk as she took her seat across from him. There wasn't much to look at in his rather plainly decorated office - his new assistant had convinced him to let her buy the room a plant, but aside from that one thing, it was mostly plain furniture and bare walls. She had his full focus.

He nodded, a serious expression on his face; of course he'd read the case report.

Percy didn't have a deep personal knowledge about every single person in his department; it wasn't a small department after all. With muggle technology advancing at a frustrating rate, and a general lack of respect for safety legislation - like the international statute of secrecy - accidents and catastrophes abounded, and staff numbers reflected a growing need for coverups and misdirection. Still, when he'd received this particular incident report, he'd used some of his rather limited time to do some digging on Donn Bane. Naturally, his surname - surnames - were a red flag already, though there wasn't much to be done about that. Too many old, pureblooded families had some kind of ties to nefarious things, confirmed or otherwise. It looked like he'd gotten this job with recommendations from other people, though, names that also sparked familiarity, and not necessarily in the good way either. It all gave him a bit of a headache.

"I'm not sure where he got the idea that he had the power to send anyone anywhere," Percy said plainly. It wasn't their job to catch criminals. Firing someone was a lot of paperwork but when he'd skimmed the report, Percy almost couldn't believe what he was reading. He was going to have to go through all of Donn Bane's cases now, one by one, looking for irregularities. Perhaps the man had had some kind of mental breakdown, leading to delusions, he thought distantly. Maybe he'd inhaled a flock of wrackspurts and they'd induced some sort of temporary madness. He wondered if Joanna was going to list every single thing that had happened one at a time; she might have time for that, but he certainly didn't. "Please continue," he said.

She almost wanted him to say more. Percy Weasley wasn’t exactly known for deferring conversation. And, honestly, if it was just Joanna listing off fault after fault then it would begin to feel less like a meeting and more like she was venting. And while Joanna did enjoy ranting, she could do that with her friends. She could do that in her office. She could rant endlessly at her employees who couldn’t go anywhere. She did not need to do it in the Department of Accidents and Catastrophes with a man that she didn’t know very well. Why wasn’t he saying more?

His level tone had removed some of her rage, leaving her feeling like she was being unreasonable. Was Percy sitting there judging her for wasting his time? She wasn’t being unreasonable at all. She was legitimately concerned for the good of the Ministry and the future if someone like Donn Bane could get a job there. The Ministry may be the biggest employer in magical Britain but that didn’t mean it was any less of a privilege and honour to work there. Ministry workers were responsible for upholding the values and laws of their society. They were not little upstarts who thought they could bend the rules to suit themselves!

Surely Percy understood the importance of this? Why was he sitting there so calmly? Joanna didn’t expect him to jump up and down and promise to hand over Donn for immediate interrogation and arrest. Of course she didn’t… but, some reaction wouldn’t have hurt.

She could continue to list the many, many problems she had with both the case report and Donn’s behaviour or she could change tactic. “Honestly, when I arrived Mr Bane had his wand displayed in a muggle neighbourhood with absolutely no wards or charms up to repel or distract muggles. Is that standard operating procedure?” Should MLE be interfering in Accidents and Catastrophes to see that the Statute wasn’t being broken by Ministry staff?

She hoped she wouldn’t have to prompt Percy to explain what the standard operating procedure was. “I am concerned that I cannot send my staff out to assist on Accident and Catastrophe call outs if this is what they might expect.” She took a pause, almost for dramatic effect. “It was lucky that I chose to attend the call out with Mr Bane, I don’t know what would have happened in my absence. As I am sure you are aware there is a lot of new recruits in MLE, particularly in the Hit Squad. It would not be right for them to have to police Ministry staff as well as civilians.”

Joanna was well aware that she was disparaging Percy’s Department rather thoroughly. She definitely wasn’t winning any friends here, but that wasn’t what she was good at. Politicking was not her strong suit. Joanna did not believe in sucking up to the people in power. No, she would work towards a better future, but with complete honesty and openness, not through ass kissing and posturing.

She looked almost challengingly at Percy as she continued. She couldn’t actually refuse to help Accidents and Catastrophes but she could certainly kick up a fuss. “How do you suggest we resolve this going forward?” One thing was for certain. She wasn’t leaving this room until she was assured that Donn Bane would be receiving suitable disciplinary action.