Falling for Percy

Oops

"Love you too, dad!" Molly ran to the bus that was about to pull away.

Grace and Percy looked at each other.

"I'll talk to him," Grace sighed.

She walked upstairs and knocked on Arthur's door.

"Honey," Grace said softly. "Arthur?"

She opened the door and saw him rubbing his hand along his bed, smoothing out the wrinkles. Grace sat against the bed and looked at Arthur. He had little glasses on and he looked adorable.

"Arthur," Grace rubbed his back.

He looked at her and she could tell he had been crying from his red eyes and teariness. Grace hugged him and he hugged her back.

"All I can think about is numbers," Arthur said softly. "Everything I do is counting."

Grace looked at her son and could see he was tired. But, she had no idea what to do. She noticed these little quirks in him since he was a baby, but the doctor never thought it was an issue.

"It's alright, darling," Grace rubbed his arms. "We'll figure it out."

Percy walked into the room. "I've got to head to work."

"Goodbye, darling," Grace said.

"Bye daddy," Arthur waved. "I love you."

"I love you too," Percy smiled and walked away and apparated out of the house.

"You didn't say, 'I love you' to daddy," Arthur said.

"Don't worry about it, honey," Grace smiled. "Why don't we play some wizard's chess?"

Arthur smiled from ear to ear. "Alright!"

***

People were running around at work and Percy's office was being swarmed by his employees.

"Percy, the floo system is down in over 24 different locations," a man said urgently.

"Alright, I'll send the repair men out in a few hours," Percy said. The man left the room just as Mary was about to enter.

"Percy," Mary knocked on the door. "The minister is here to talk to you."

"Alright, send him in," Percy said.

He looked around his office for a few seconds and tried to calm down. Life was so chaotic at the moment. He just needed a few minutes to himself. He looked at the picture on his desk of Grace and himself at their wedding. He smiled and wiped the dust off of it. His face fell and he could not remember the last time they did something alone together, except for an occasional bedroom session, which was becoming more and more sparse.

"Percy," Kingsley walked into the office.

"Kingsley," Percy stood up and shook his hand.

"What is happening?" Kingsley asked. "I come to find that 20 floo systems are down... and a whole gaggle of underage wizards are apparating without licenses!"

"I'm sorry, sir," Percy said. "My quality assurance team reported back to me that everything was-"

"Percy, I need you to level with me," Kingsley said. "I am you friend and you are mine... but, this month you have gone from being one of my top performing branches to one of the lowest... lay-offs are happening Percy, and I really don't want to see you go... you have a month to get everything back in order."