Daily Interruptions

Hugs to Madbrilliant and Alliean for the beta of this chapter!

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Chapter 25 - Daily Interruptions

The halls at the Ministry were strangely silent that day, and this was something that made Arthur Weasley feel out of his element. He was used to the hustle.

He looked down at the sheet of parchment in front of him on his desk and sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his eyes. This notice had been sitting in his drawer for nearly a week now, and he had, up until that morning, been unwilling to even look at it. It was, of course, the papers to file for a divorce – this one, conveniently being between Ronald and his lovely wife, Julia. All that was left to be done was for him to sign the pages and then send them off to the Office of Marriage, Divorce, Birth, and Death. On reflection, he thought that the office could use a better name than that long-winded title, but cast that inane thought aside quickly.

He sighed once more and picked up his quill, shaking away the nasty feeling eating him up on the inside, and dipped it into the red inkwell. He had to do it some time, and by the looks of things, his Ronald had been just as eager, if not more so, to sign the document. It really puzzled him how anyone could let a jewel like Julia get away, but then again, that was his son. Applying quill to parchment, he signed it with an official flourish and then folded it back up and dropped some purple wax on it before pressing his seal into it and closing the documents.

He was just about to summon an owl to deliver it to the office for him when there was a knock at the door. He stood and walked over to the door, opening it only to find Bill on the other side waiting with a handsome smile on his face. Arthur was often baffled by the way that, even though he had a tough time of it, Bill always managed to summon the energy and feeling to smile.

'Hello, Dad – I was just popping in for a spell before I headed back to Gringotts,' he said as his father opened the door wider to let him in.

'Hello there, I was just about to finish off my paperwork for the day and go down to the Auror's department to meet Kingsley for a pint,' Arthur said, walking back to his desk with his son and beginning the process of tidying it up.

'Ah, well, far be it for me to keep you from your lunchtime pint,' Bill said teasingly, helping his father tidy a little. It was as he did this that he noticed the folded parchments on the table. 'What's this for? Do you need it to be posted?'

'Ah, I just needed to get that down to the MDBD,' Arthur answered. 'Actually, if it's not too much trouble, could you take it down there on your way out? I'd much prefer you take it than an owl.'

'Another birth?' Bill asked with interest.

'Another divorce, I'm afraid,' he answered, shaking his head as he pulled on his Minister's robes. 'Ron and Julia's divorce, as a matter of fact. I've been putting it off for a week, but I finally caved in this morning.'

Bill's eyes widened as he picked up the small pile of parchments and nodded. 'I'll make sure they get there,' he said seriously. 'Although, you probably shouldn't have tried to put it off like that.'

Arthur nodded. 'I know that,' he said in frustration. 'I suppose there was just some part of me that wanted to give it a little more time to see if Ron and Julia could come to a compromise.'

Bill shook his head. 'Julia has more sense than to make the same mistake twice, Dad,' he said with a sigh of his own. 'I know how you cared for her and want her to be a part of our family, but it was not to be. Wouldn't you be happy for her if she were to be unburdened as a result of leaving our family?'

'You know I would,' Arthur told his son seriously as they walked out of his office, warding the door behind them on the way.

'I'll say goodbye here, and maybe I'll drop by home on the weekend to see how Mum is doing,' Bill promised, walking in the opposite direction to his father.

He walked at a leisurely pace down the hall before boarding the first elevator to open and took it down four floors before getting out, pleased that he had managed to escape being assaulted by the memos flying around inside the lift. He stopped quickly by the MDBD main office and stood in the short line-up for the secretary's desk. As he waited, his stomach was doing somersaults inside him, making him feel a little jittery and nervous about work. He didn't know why he should feel nervous. It was only work after all, and he would only be seeing Julia, his younger brother's recent ex-wife, whom he happened to be great friends with.

Of course, it didn't really help all that much that he was attracted to Julia, and had been for the past year. He had beaten himself up many a time for being so repulsive as to covet his brother's wife. Fleur, up until his sudden realisation that he had feelings for Julia, had been the only woman who had managed to attract his attention. At Hogwarts, he had not dated because he had not desired to, and afterwards, when he had first entered the working world, he had simply not had time to, and then he had met Fleur the summer after her graduation.

They had what most would have called a whirlwind romance, but to them it had been truer than any long and dragged-out affair. It had ended well between the two of them – they were still in contact and owled every so often. Fleur had moved on and had gotten engaged again. Bill was labeled a black sheep of sorts in the family and had fallen for a women who was already taken by his brother. It was not exactly the most promising of starts to a new life.

However, he soothed himself with the thought that even though he was sad that Ron and Julia had not found happiness, he no longer coveted a woman who was someone else's. It was bad that he had in the first place. But he knew that she would never be able to see him that way. After all, she had always told him that she was grateful that he was the big brother she had always wished she'd had.

Sighing, he moved forwards as the line did and soon ended up at the front. 'Please ensure that you file this properly – the Minister's priority filing,' Bill said, handing the parchments to the clerk.

'Right you are, gov'ner,' the witch said through her thick Cockney accent.

Bill nodded and turned on his heel, leaving and striding to the lift once more. He took it down another two floors until he finally reached the main entrance hall with the fountain and restored statues. He Flooed directly to Diagon Alley, and briskly walked in the direction of Gringotts, arriving soon after and heading straight to the communal paper office. There he found Julia, flipping through books and examining something. He went to her with a small smile on his face. She was very pretty when she was busy concentrating on her work.

'Hello, hello,' he greeted cheerfully, pulling her up onto her feet and into a tight hug, lifting her and spinning her around.

Julia emitted a tiny squeak when he had first lifted her feet off the ground, but relaxed after a moment and simply smiled at Bill and his outrageous ways. When she was settled back to her feet, she took a moment to take him in. He was still as handsome as ever, although it looked as though he had shaved that morning because his chin was smooth, and he was smiling at her as if something brilliant had just happened.

'Hello to you too,' she greeted. 'And just why are you so happy today? Did the Goblins finally sell Gringotts to the Ministry or something?'

Bill shook his head. 'That is something that would never happen, my dear,' he answered, still smiling. 'Actually, I just came back from the Ministry and had stopped in to see my father. He had me take some papers down to the MDBD office for him. Can you guess whose papers?'

Julia frowned in concentration for a moment before it finally clicked. 'Oh, he's finally signed the divorce papers!' she exclaimed in surprise.

'He certainly did,' Bill replied, pulling her in for another short hug. 'You are now Julia Crittenden-Ainsworth again.'

Julia let out a soft laugh, hardly able to believe it. She had hardly even been a Weasley to begin with. She really had always been an Ainsworth at heart. The news made happiness bubble up inside of her, and she smiled widely, setting down her work brush and casting a charm to put all of her artifacts back to the storage shelves. She was going to take the rest of the day off and go shopping, she decided. Then she would go back to her London flat and take a nice long bath and drink a glass of wine.

'I'm going to take the rest of the day off,' she announced for him to hear.

Bill nodded and helped her tidy up. 'I'm sorry that it didn't work out between you and my brother,' he said sincerely. 'It took a lot of guts for you to leave our family, and I just wish he could have been a man about everything, and then you wouldn't have had to. It was the same with Fleur – and I supported her and whatever she wanted to do.'

Julia smiled sadly at that. It had been a tragic thing when Fleur had left Bill. She had been told by Ginny that he had only ever loved one woman and she was the one woman who divorced him. It had always been a sad tale to think about, but even then, she didn't pity Bill. He was a really special guy, and she was sure that someday he would sweep a really lucky and lovely lady off her feet.

'You're good to me, Bill,' Julia said, patting his cheek before collecting her things up in her arms and walking towards the exit.

Just as she was about to close the door behind her, she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him and saw the mixed look in his blue-grey eyes. 'Come over for dinner tonight? I'm having Ginny and Harry over, and Hermione and Severus might be coming too,' he said seriously.

Julia smiled. No – Bill would not let her fall out of the Weasley fold. 'Alright, is there anything I should bring along with me?' she answered.

'Just bring yourself, that's all' he said with a charming grin, releasing her.

Julia nodded and continued on her way, smiling as she went. She wasn't married to Ron anymore. Her world hadn't fallen apart. She was not going to lose her job, livelihood, or friends over the entire thing. Ginny and the majority of the Weasleys would still talk to her and be friendly with her, so she had very little to worry about. Their house had been sold, and everything split evenly between the two of them. She still had her flat in London from before she had married Ron. Everything would be fine.

She told herself that as she walked down Diagon Alley, towards the Leaky Cauldron, out into Muggle London, and while she was busy shopping and buying a pretty navy blue dress that she doubted she would have occasion to wear. She wasn't shopping because she was depressed. She just needed the time to think. And think she did as she Apparated home and drew herself a bath. She even did some serious thinking while she was lounging in the scented, bubbly water. It wasn't until she was dried and getting dressed in jeans and a jewel blue blouse that she realized why she was thinking. As much as he had hurt her, she didn't hate Ron. She wanted him to move on quickly and be happy with someone more suited to him. But what she wanted the most was for him to move on first so that she felt justified that she could move on herself.

She nodded and then Apparated to Bill's house for dinner.