"Mr. Percy, or Mr. Weasley—which should I call you?" Kayson asked.
"Just call me Percy, Professor," Percy said nervously.
"Oh... what is it?" Kayson was a little puzzled. Of course he knew Percy. Not only was he a Gryffindor prefect, he was also Ron's older brother. His excellence was beyond question. Kayson had even heard Professor McGonagall mention in passing that Percy had been an absolute grind back in the day—the sort who needed a Time-Turner just to fit in all his classes.
But apparently, he had only kept that up for one semester. In the second semester, he had dropped most of his electives, retaining only those courses that would greatly help his future development.
That was right. Percy was a grinder in every sense. Electives opened up in third year, and by fourth year, Percy had already mapped out his future and begun working toward it. Undeniably impressive.
Because of that, though, Kayson and Percy had never met in the Alchemy classroom. This could be considered their first face-to-face conversation.
"Professor, I heard from the other students that when the Alchemy exams ended, you kept behind the young wizards who wanted to work at the Ministry of Magic... and introduced them to your connections?" Percy asked.
Kayson nodded. "After all, Fudge and I don't get along. If he knows they're my students and that they're close to me, there's an eighty percent chance he'll make things difficult for them. I have to take responsibility and help them out."
"Huh?" Percy stared at Kayson in astonishment. A moment later, he remembered that at the start of this term, the professor before him had stormed into the Minister for Magic's office and removed one of Fudge's arms.
"Is there anything else?" Kayson asked politely.
At that moment, Percy wished he