Percy Weasley: Undercover

Read Part 1: Autistic!Percy

Read Part 2: The Rift

Read the fanfiction that started it all

I should preface this by saying that the following is purely headcanon, as Percy Weasley is an interesting and well-developed character, and thus not to be elaborated on in any meaningful* way in Rowling's interviews.

*JK Rowling's definition of 'meaningful' seems to be 'who the character married and the names of their children', rather than what they did during Voldemort's takeover, their career's post-Battle of Hogwarts, or anything relating to them as a character.

One of my biggest regrets about Deathly Hallows is that we get very limited glimpses into what the rest of the Wizarding World is up to during the Takeover, all of those glimpses intriguing and ripe for exploration, but cast aside in favour of a months-long camping trip.

So, what did Percy Weasley do during the Second War against Voldemort?

We know that he sided with the Ministry during the first year, before Voldemort revealed himself to the public, when his eyes were presumably opened. But... there were two more years between the Battle of the Ministry and the Battle of Hogwarts that ended with Voldemort's final death. What was Percy doing during that time?

Percy is in an interesting position during those two years.

The Weasley family as a whole is well-known to be on Dumbledore's side. Most of them are, if not actively working for the Order, at least affiliated with it. But Percy had a very public falling-out with his family during Order of the Phoenix, when Voldemort was still hiding, and didn't reconcile with them until Deathly Hallows.

Clearly, he kept his Ministry job during that time, but what was he doing?

By book 6, 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', there is a clear divide between the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix. Some members of the Order might also work for the Ministry, but it's clear who they're taking their instructions from, and it isn't Minister Scringemour.

Now that Voldemort is openly back, the Order of the Phoenix is probably recruiting like crazy... but Percy is not on their list of potential recruits. He chose the Ministry last year, and Scringemour is not the incompetent that Fudge was. He was an Auror, who rose to head the Auror Office, and he's a politician. He'll use anyone and anything, especially those who might not be aware that they're being used. The risk of him getting information out of Percy, even unintentionally, is too great.

Percy dated a Muggleborn Ravenclaw. Ginny might have caught them kissing in a classroom, but their Hogsmeade dates tended to involve passionate debates over butterbeer or tea, veering off into all kinds of wild tangents. Comparing Muggle and Wizarding perspectives of Historical events was one of the more frequent ones. (Merlin knows Binns was useless on that front, even before he was a ghost).

Percy knows that wars don't just start. There's a build-up to the main event. Public discontent, murmurs about how everything would be better if not for [insert scapegoat here]. Little injustices, to make people more likely to accept the big injustices that follow. He can see the little steps already taking place, in disappearences and harsh legislation. He sees it in people being arrested on suspicion, rather than hard evidence.

The question is: what can Percy do about it?

Percy is logical, another side-effect of dating a Ravenclaw. First, he breaks it down into small steps.

Who will Voldemort target? Muggles and Muggle-borns, obviously. Political rivals and supporters of Dumbledore; those most likely to stand up to him in the future. He'll reach out to werewolves and other Dark or Marginalised creatures as allies, too, and may or may not target them if they refuse.

Dumbledore's supporters, Percy will have to leave for the Order to handle. He's only one person, and it's doubtful that many of them would even listen to him. Political rivals like Amelia Bones and Wizengamot members... if they're smart, they will have already looked into wards and other security for themselves and their families. If they haven't, nothing Percy says is likely to make a difference.

Getting Werewolves, Giants and so forth to hear him out would require legislation changes that Percy doesn't have the pull for, and won't for a number of years to come. Percy hates to admit it, but they have good reason to be distrustful of anyone who hails from the Ministry. The most he can do there is a complicated charm or two over the Werewolf Registry, to make names and locations harder to find, and therefore harder to recruit.

Muggles... Percy doesn't know how much Minister Scringemour plans to keep the Muggle Prime Minister in the loop, but Percy can probably wrangle dropping by on an errand and keeping him up to date if necessary. He'll need to invest in Muggle clothing, of course, and look up information on the Muggle world to pull off the cover of a harried aide delivering a message. Maybe he'll get Penny to be a go-between.

Muggleborns, on the other hand... That, Percy can do something about.

The Dark-leaning families aren't subtle about considering Muggleborns and half-bloods as something less than 'real' Witches and Wizards. It stands to reason that Voldemort will be of a similar mindset. The families, at least, have always been very fixated on bloodlines, and Voldemort's whole thing is the so-called "Purity" of magic.

World War II, and Grindlewald's uprising, was barely fifty years ago. Well within the lifespan of the average Witch or Wizard. World War I didn't have a magical counterpart, if you don't count several Magical Courts siezing the opportunity to break away from their Monarchies and become Ministries, or taking the opportunity to expand their boarders. Both World Wars resulted in a flurry of immigration, particularly from Russia when the Tsar fell and the Communist party took over.

The records from then are a mess. Even worse than the Squib registry, although that is deliberate. Pureblood families don't like to admit to having a Squib child, though they'll break out an excuse about Homeschooling should any of the Squib's children prove Magical.

As a Junior Assistant, Percy is already the one who gets sent running all over the Ministry to fetch this or that file, or run this bill to the Wizengamot, or that message to another department. The clerk in Records is more than happy to leave him to find these very specific files from half a century ago by himself, if he wants to. Percy gets to work.

If anyone asks, he's trying to get the filing room in a semblence or order so he doesn't have to spend an hour there every time someone needs to consult this or that record. He already has a reputation for being pedantic, and it's shrugged off with 'Better You Than Me'. Soon, they stop asking him at all.

Aside from being sorted into order, it's merely a matter of matching up names and timelines.

This Muggleborn? Mother was a squib from a prominant European family. Barely spoke English, so of course the records are a bit muddled. Dean Thomas doesn't know who his birth father was, so there's nothing to say that a wizard of African heritage who died shortly after his birth wasn't the absentee parent. Making up ancestors from Native heritages is also easy. Most of those governments aren't as proud of Colonial Missions and Schools as they were half a century ago, and won't talk about it either way. Of course they wouldn't practice magic the same way as Proper English Wizards, so of course their children wouldn't recognise the Proper Way Of Doing Things until they learned it at Hogwarts...

Little things that might look suspicious under close scrutiny, but that no-one can prove is factually incorrect, either. Percy feels vaguely ill and ashamed of his fellow Wizards as he changes a small detail here and there, but his own mother doesn't talk about her Squib cousin, and he is counting on Voldemort's supporters being bigoted and prejudiced.

Scringemour's idea of getting Percy to reconnect with his family for Christmas (and let the Minister talk to Harry Potter: Chosen One) is a dismal failure. Percy isn't thrilled at spending Christmas being pranked, glared at, or both, but at least it gives him an excuse to distance himself.

Time passes. Attacks become more and more blatant, and the Ministry is fighting a rearguard action while trying to convince the general public that everything is under control. Percy braces himself for Impact.

Hogwarts is attacked, and Dumbledore is killed. Percy puts a notice-me-not charm on every registry that could be used to target people. Census records, part-humans... everything he can think of.

He knows it won't be enough.

Percy's baby brother is Undesirable #3, right behind Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Percy worries, but knows that trying to contact his brother will only cause problems for Ron. Percy expected Voldemort to move on the Ministry sooner rather than later, and he's ready.

Minister Scringemour's office had been staffed with competent former Aurors, who either went down fighting or fled to try and warn others. There are exactly two people left who have the first clue how to keep things in the Minister's Office - and therefore the Ministry of Magic at large - running smoothly: Madam Umbridge, and Percy Weasley.

Percy knows that he is a lot easier to deal with for longer than five minutes than Madam Umbridge is. His breach with his family was very public, and they haven't reconciled. Voldemort's senior Death Eaters are too (self-)important to bother with secretary work, but it's work that needs doing to keep Wizarding Great Britain under control. Dark Lord Voldemort is far less tolerant of failure than Minister Fudge was, and almost impossible to bribe.

It's enough to get Percy labelled as "too useful to kill - yet."

The year passes.

Percy's prior meddling with records saves lives, and that's a happy enough thought to conjure a patronus with a message to run and go to ground when the Investigations branch out from Muggleborns to those who've managed to annoy a Death Eater and need a good scare to teach them "respect for their betters". Percy keeps his head down and sends Patronus messages to those allies and friends of Dumbledore and Harry Potter he knows of who haven't been killed yet. He doesn't talk to anyone for anything except work - he can't risk it. The Imperious Curse is no longer Unforgivable, and Percy doesn't know who to trust.

It's lonely and isolated and Percy misses his family and friends, but he grits his teeth and gets through. It's hard work, but it's necessary.

All his life, this has been Percy's job: unglamourous tasks that need doing and will help people. Fixing legislation on standard thickness of cauldron bottoms to reduce potions accidents. Looking after his younger siblings. Secretary work and running errands.

Spying and passing information and changing records. Percy has always been beneath most people's notice until they need him for something, and right now, that's a good thing. Now, it's vital to him staying alive long enough to see Voldemort fall.

On May 1st, there is a headline that Gringotts was broken into, the thieves escaping on dragon back. Whispers trickle through the grapevine: Harry Potter has been seen, alive and well and fighting. The next evening, a call goes out: Voldemort is amassing his forces to take Hogwarts.

Percy puts down his quill, sets fire to the legislation that Minister Thicknesse has been working on, and walks out of the office, drawing no attention to himself.

It's time.