Malignant ••• George Weasley

Chapter 39 - Disbelief

Juna's feet landed softly on the pavement outside the Ministry toilets. She took a moment to steady herself, taking a deep breath and packing away her feelings on the ever moving train inside her mind. She didn't want that run in with George to tarnish the work she was doing to get him out of her mind.
She wasted no time tapping her wand the correct way on the toilet and flushing herself into the MIU.
Once inside, she beelined to Jack's office keen for the mission he had promised - something, anything, to refocus her mind.

He hadn't actually told her who the Surveillance mission was on or what exactly she was being ordered to do, but anything was better than moping around thinking about the red-headed twat.

"Cove! Excellent, please come in." Jack chirped as he spotted Juna walking quickly toward his office.

The aging man rifled through his messy desk as Juna sat down, eventually producing the Manila file that held the information for her.
"Now, this is a sensitive one." He began, waving the file in front of her. "The father of this person works at the Ministry and is quite high up in his particular department. I would never in a million years guess this could come from this family, but I guess you never know, do you?"

Juna bounced her leg as she grew impatient, Jack tended to go on rants.
"No, you never know." She agreed as she tried to grab the folder being waved around, but missing.

"I remember back in the Voldemort days, so many good families became embroiled in his horrific ways thinking it would keep them safe from the noseless bastard, but they were always wrong. Life always got worse for them, and Godric knows some of them even lost their lives for a simple slip up."

Juna made another grab for the folder as Jack prattled on and on, missing each time.
"Jack! Focus!" She finally cried, standing up and using both hands to secure the folder into her arms.

Jack looked up at her in shock as she snapped him out of his wandering mind.
"Right, of course. Sorry about that Cove. Where were we?"
She flapped the folder impatiently in front of her, raising her brows, waiting for him to remember.
"Right!" He sat up straighter. "Sensitive and all that. We believe this man to be high up Perseus's ranks. Our other Agents have seen him passing through Perseus's usual spots, popping in and out of where he usually meets his followers and all the rest of it. We haven't seen him commit a crime, but it doesn't take a genius to assume correctly what's going on."

Juna nodded absently and let the folder drop open. The page flapped down showing a brief write up of what's been noticed about this particular person, with a moving photograph of them attached to the corner with a paper clip.
The photo was what immediately caught her attention. She stared at the person for a moment, disbelief turning to anger as she watched the movements. They clearly didn't know the image had been snapped from a distance, they turned their head this way and that suspiciously, before entering into a shop in Knockturn-Alley

"Is that-" She began, her voice quiet.

Jack cut her off, nodding as he spoke.
"A Weasley. I know you've been mingling with some of them, I thought you'd be a good one to have on the case seeing as you've spent some time with them."

Juna tore her eyes from the photo to the name printed in large bold letters underneath it, wanting to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. To her dismay, she was correct in what she saw. It read very plainly;

FREDERICK WEASLEY

••••

By the time Juna left the MIU it was dusk. Her back hurt from spending hours hunched over a desk, reading the notes in the file Jack had given her and scribbling out her own. She wanted to ensure she had everything sorted out and firmly implanted in her mind before she went out and followed Fred.
She couldn't believe that this is what her new assignment was, following the identical twin brother of the man who she had been sleeping with and who had only this morning hurt her worse than any scar a Dark Wizard could give her.

Juna sighed dramatically as she stood and bid goodnight to the other stragglers who remained at their desks. She made her way up and out of the building and apparated home.
She placed the folder with the old and new notes she had just written onto the kitchen island. Waving her wand at the kettle, Juna decided she needed a strong brew so straighten her head.

As the kettle boiled, she made her way to the coffee table where the still photo George had crudely sent her this morning still lay. She picked it up, walked to her junk drawer and threw it inside, slamming it shut. Not wanting to see it was fair enough, but she didn't want to throw it away, not yet - and she had no idea why.
She desperately wished Audrey were still alive, she would know what to say to make Juna not feel so shitty. She would know wether Juna should tell George about what's going on with Fred. Deep down though, she knew she couldn't breath a word, it would only complicate her assignment.

She sighed as she collapsed into her couch with a steaming mug of tea. Flicking through the channels of the TV, her heart fluttered momentarily as she saw 'Friends' land on her screen. Of course it was Chandler who had a scene right now - George's favourite character. Juna couldn't help but smile slightly at what was going on on the screen.

Kathy: The kiss was good.
Chandler: Ok!
Kathy: But that's bad!
Chandler: Right! Yes! Here's what we do! We forget it happened.
Kathy: What?
Chandler: We swallow our feelings, even if it means we're unhappy forever, sound good?

Juna didn't even notice a tear slip down her cheek as she watched the show unfold. 'We swallow our feelings, even if it means we're unhappy forever.' The fact that this line resonated so deeply within her chest made her feel unsteady. It wasn't fair, none of this was fair.

••••

The surveillance of Fred Weasley officially started as the sun came up. Juna had risen bright and early, dressing in comfortable, dark clothes and made her way down to her favourite cafe to purchase a large triple shot coffee - she was going to need it.
Jack had given her Polyjuice potion with the hair from a middle aged muggle woman to take if she felt she needed it. It likely wasn't a bad idea seeing as Fred knew very well what she looked like as well as the fact that he would probably be spending some time around his twin brother and friends who also knew what she looked like.

Ducking around to shelter in a dark alleyway, Juna held her coffee in one hand and the bubbling mess that was the potion in the other hand and quickly shot it back, using the coffee as a sort of chaser. Not that it was much help though as the formidable flavour of the Polyjuice overpowered every one of her senses, the revolting taste making her mouth water, sending prickles through her veins, unpleasant churning in her stomach and shoots of pain into her skull. She struggled to not make a sound as her body popped and changed, growing shorter but wider. No matter how many times she took this crap, it never got any easier.

Eventually the changing stopped and she looked down to survey her new image. She was rounder through her middle and a foot shorter, but otherwise it wasn't all that bad. Perfectly cable to duel a Dark Wizard if the occasion called.
She rounded the corner and took a quick peek into a reflective shop window, curious as to what her part time face looked like. The woman she saw staring back at her had mousy coloured hair, a prominent nose and blue eyes that could rival her own. Not an ugly woman, but not someone Juna would find attractive.

Shrugging with satisfaction, she made her way down the cobbled street of Diagon-Alley making her way toward Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. If Fred was going to be anywhere this time of morning - it would be there. The sun had only come up 45 minutes ago and she knew the shop wouldn't open for another half hour. Seeing as it was a Sunday they'd only be open half the day too, giving Fred the afternoon to go about whatever dumb shit Perseus had probably asked him to do. She still couldn't believe Fred was stupid enough to fall for these ploys, surely he wasn't doing it willingly.

Juna settled onto a wooden bench a couple of shops down from the twins', ensuring she had a full visual of the shop front. This was the worst part of getting surveillance assignments and why nobody ever wanted them. The boredom was truely something else, but from now on, all she could do was wait.