On Hold [Leonardo]

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December 12th, 2025

Harper was only good at a few things: riding motorcycles and charming muggle objects to work under magical pretenses. Other than that, she really didn’t have much going for her. Or at least that was what she had convinced herself of. And Ondina too. Her younger sister had done plenty of damage over the years, striking down the elder Weasley’s self-esteem, and enjoyed it too. Harper had grown accustom to it by now, but that hadn’t mattered much in her formative years. So unfortunately that led to a lot of issues like the current one she was having at work.

See, there was an issue with her Ministry issued magic-tech laptop. One of the same ones that she spent forty hours a week charming to work in the Ministry and other magical hotspots, like Diagon Alley. She knew all about what charms were necessary to allow the internet to be accessed but also prevent magic information from leaking out. But what she didn’t know about was why it had a blue screen and refused to turn on past that. She had prided herself for years about being one of the Weasleys that knew the difference between a rubber ducky and a rubber bath stopper (her grandfather always perpetually confused by the two), or as the one that could ride a motorcycle before she could ride a normal bike. And yet this problem with her laptop stumped her.

Having used one of her current charm projects to look up what the issue could be, she decided the best idea would be to take hers down to the IT department, since apparently that was what one did when their work laptop didn’t work. So she spent most of the morning wandering around the IT floor, not knowing who it was she was supposed to talk to, first doing a sort of pantomime with her hands and laptop to the department secretary, who had no idea what it was Harper wanted. From there, it only got more confusing.

After what seemed forever, she stopped in front of a random desk that a guy was at, and placed her laptop down on it. “Are you able to fix this? I’m supposed to take it to an IT person if it doesn’t work, according to the internet.”

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December 12, 2025
@harper

Leo shuffled through some paperwork, the still existing remnants of the old Ministry systems from individuals who refused to embrace the changes. Also, there were still physical items that were enchanted and 'connected' with some electronic systems, at least when mice were not chewing up the electrical wiring. Leo was taken out of his concentration when a laptop was placed on his desk with an audible thump. A woman with red hair quickly asked him if he could help with the computer. Leo put his papers to the side and grabbed the device, opening the lid and immediately seeing the blue screen with its ominous sad face emoji--something he figured the operation system's developers thought might soothe the user after a computer crash. Leo disagreed and found that most users were quickly frustrated by this. Leo read the small print and read the error code 'SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED' and nodded his head. He was used to seeing the standard error, and he had the hunch it was just part of the conversion process as an intermittent bug.

He held down the power button until the laptop turned off. "Did you install anything recently on it?" He asked, glancing up at the girl, she looked young, but Leo couldn't recall a name at the moment though he recognized her face. "You can usually boot in safe mode and remove whatever you installed that might be causing the issue, or if it's not a software, a disk check should fix it." He spoke. It was all so natural for him, though typically wizards or witches would just stare at him like a deer in headlights when he explained these tips and tricks. Occasionally, he found the one or two that had at least a little bit of knowledge. He pressed the power button again and repeatedly pressed the 'F8' key to get him to safe mode, and once he saw the loading bar, he took his hands off the keyboard. It would take a minute or two to boot up. "That will take a minute." He mumbled, pausing and then remembering his manners. "Do you want to sit down while I work on this?"

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Had she installed anything on it? No. But she typically tested out new charms on it, only because it was easier to get a replacement than it was to explain why she had messed up F. Nottingham’s in the International Aide department with an untested information suppressing charm. “I’m usually pretty good with this sort of stuff,” she stated, not directly answering the IT man’s question, a nervous and not very convincing laugh quickly following. “Uh, no. I haven’t done any of that, and don’t know how to do the safe mode thing,” Harper added. Apparently there were still things she needed to learn about computers. Researching the pieces of technology that they were currently experimenting on was part of her job, but it also wasn’t required. Typically all they needed to know was how it worked, and then finding a charm to appropriate to it. Knowing why something wasn’t working on the tech end was beyond her.

By this point, the IT guy was hammering down onto one of the keys repeatedly, and she watched him go through the steps with morbid curiosity, taking a seat when he recommended she do so, but still leaning close enough to see what he was doing. “If it helps,” she spoke up, realizing that she still hadn’t told him what she was doing when the blue screen appeared, “I was trying out some new spells on it. I’m in the Magical Artifact Development and Testing Office, so yeah…” But would that really cause this? Once again, she was only the one that helped create the charms that worked on technology. She understood absolutely none of it past that. Which was exactly why the Ministry had an IT department. To handle all the muggle problems. If someone had an issue with getting their internet to work inside the building, she would be the one to check up on it. So in a way, this IT guy was her opposite. Or something like that.

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December 12, 2025
@harper

Leo nodded. He was just going through his typical list of questions he asked most employees. Since it was a laptop, he skipped the “is it plugged into power?” question. Most tended to try and hex their devices out of frustration, some tried charms to cut corners, and others did a combination of both. Leo took a second to collect himself. He sometimes went into a daze when working and mainly operated on auto-pilot, asking the same questions and repeating the same solutions all day when he wasn’t working on the servers. It was monotonous at times, and yet he still enjoyed his work. The computer booted up, the user interface looked a bit different as safe mode tended to strip the “extras” from the system so you can do what you needed to do.

The first window Leo opened was the Event Log. He scrolled through to see if there was any evidence of the crash or why it would have happened. She explained that she was from the Magical Artifact Development office, and Leo’s expression changed. This was different than the typical user in the Ministry. ”Oh, ok.” He skimmed a few logs and noted that there had been a power issue between the battery and the motherboard that had caused an early interrupt of a background system process. ”What kind of charm was it?” He was curious about the process of conversion, he was familiar with most of it, but his knowledge was still lacking since it was not an everyday task for him.

”I don’t see anything in the logs. So, probably nothing permanent.” He noted, clicking through the different categories. ”Sometimes blue screens just happen, these operating systems aren’t the best…” If he’d had his choice, they would be using something more robust, but the idea was to have something user-friendly. 

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Standing patiently was hard to do when she had no idea what was going on with her computer, or what the IT guy was doing to it. Personally, she would have preferred to have been looking over his shoulder, in an attempt at trying to figure out what the exact process and checks that were required to get to where the laptop needed to be fixed, should it happen again. She knew that the IT department was constantly bogged down, mostly because she was pointing other Ministry workers to them. If it was a charm issue, and solely that, she was the one to help out. But more often than not it had something to do with the laptop or the phone, and the technical stuff was far beyond her.

What looked to be a couple concentrated clicks, were not interrupted by Harper’s declaration about working in the Testing office. Instead, the man asked what charm it was that she had been working on when the blue screen occurred. “We’re trying to hide the devices when they access muggle internet. But that’s proving to be difficult for some reason.” Her alternative to that would be to install magical wifi all over the place, so then the charmed devices could just hook onto that instead of being bounced around between muggle public wifi. The devices were already ‘hidden’, in the sense that anyone trying to look that wasn’t magical wouldn’t be able to discern what was on the screen. The problem here was that she wanted to create a charm that even eliminated that possibility to begin with. Whether that was with a muggle repelling charm or a mask of sorts, she wasn’t sure yet.

“I wish Google would just say that then,” Harper let out a long sigh. “So just do that thing you first mentioned if it happens again, and it should be good?” She had already forgotten how he had explained the different way to start the laptop. It would have been nice if they could charm them to be self-repairing. On the list of things the Testing Office had to test, that charm was at the tippy-top, and most likely a feat they wouldn’t accomplish in her lifetime. Then again, she didn’t think the Ministry would go online either. “And is there a way to tell if the blue screen isn’t bad like this one, or if there’s an actual serious problem?”

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December 12, 2025
@harper

Leo worked with the Magical Artifact Development and Testing office often as there was quite a bit of overlap in their duties and tasks. The difference being that IT helped everything keep running. All the machines and laptops connected to the network and the systems that the internal offices used. Sometimes the servers went down, but that was normal from what Leo knew, but no matter what he told other employees or his bosses—it could be much worse. In the time before technology, such mishaps could still happen. Whether it was a poorly placed charm on rolls of parchment or an enchantment being broken by an arrogant intern trying to re-enchant HR scrolls when employees moved departments, Leo had seen it all.

He nodded while he was listening to her explanation. ”Okay…uh—I’m sorry, I don’t think I got your name.” Leo admitted there hadn’t been much in terms of formalities or introductions. But that was also the day-to-day for him. Knowing the names of other employees came with time unless they were a ‘regular’ to IT. ”I’m Leo.” Introducing himself might help, and since she worked in that department, it would probably streamline things to just at least know each other’s first names. ”Not all the charms take with no-maj technology. I’ve seen issues with specific laptop models. I’ve had some luck transfiguring the internal wi-fi antenna to match the models that do work.” Well, now he was rambling a bit, but Leo didn’t talk much he did when it came to these types of topics.

Transfiguration had been a strong subject for him, but in a way, it was about change and hiding, which he was good at. She mentioned Google, and he slightly grinned. Google held many answers but never gave them to you in the order that was the most efficient. It seemed that some technologies did span the no-maj and magical worlds. ”Google probably did, but in my experience doesn’t hurt to turn it off and turn it back on again and then see what the manufacturer suggests.” There was documentation for every operating system, and while having that amount of information was helpful, it was also overwhelming. Her last question was a good one, meant to save both of them time, but he didn’t have a good answer. ”Sometimes you can look up the error code, but if it blue screens often, then that’s when you should be concerned.” It wasn’t a very concrete answer, but despite the clear-cut logic of digital circuits and the structures of an operating system, it wasn’t that clear-cut in real life.

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“Harper,” she quickly gave her name as the IT guy introduced himself as Leo. He was pretty well informed on everything that her department was doing, which made sense considering it was everyone she worked with that was probably giving him a ton of problems. Not all of her coworkers were as well-versed or competent when it came to problem solving with technology. In that regard, she was thankful that her parents had been relatively relaxed about having phones and computers growing up. Most of it was to distract her and Luke from all of Ondina’s health problems; to keep them occupied during doctors’ visits and hospital stays. Her own intrigue in muggle everything came from her grandfather’s shed at the Burrow, where there bits and bobs of all sorts of things that didn’t make sense or go together. Especially the motorcycle. That was hers now, of course, but it had been a great introduction into a world that otherwise wasn’t normally bridged very well in the Weasley clan. Her cousins seemed to adapt better than her aunts and uncles, and even more so than her grandparents. Harper liked to think she knew the most out of all of them though, considering it was part of her job now.

Leo went on to explain that not all of their charms took to certain models, and that he had found a workaround by transfiguring some parts to get them to work more effectively. She listened intently while watching him do his thing, already starting to brainstorm specific fixes that she could do on her own end to avoid having some laptops from getting sent down to IT. If it was a simply transfiguration to parts that did work, she could probably do that with a little practice. “That makes sense,” she admitted, “Have you dealt with any of the concealment charmed pieces yet? Because I really want to push that if we’re going to be installing routers all over London to make these things work wherever.” It was bound to be a huge bureaucratic mess, mainly because the upper echelon of some departments didn’t see what was wrong with how things were before. She had heard it all from her department head, who was constantly whining about the restraints they were being given on meddling with specific muggle products. Anything beat being a metal charmer again though. She preferred to be able to have her hands tied here than having to charm another set of self-stirring soup spoons.

The blue screen issue seemed to be exactly what she figured - a problem, if it persisted, meant she needed a new laptop. Most likely. That was by far the least of her worries considering where she worked, and the department would be more than happy to toss a new project at her with trying to decipher ‘blue screens’. She could already visualize what the memo would look like. “Well, I hope it doesn’t come to that. I’m not a fan of having to charm up my own stuff,” Harper stated. It was one thing when it came to her personal laptop and phone, but having to do that to her work one as well was awful. She had already done that once.

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i believe I can see the future

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December 12, 2025
@harper

Leo had come to know many people all over the Ministry in his time there. Firstly because of his time in Human Resources which was a central place to get to know people whether or not they specifically knew you. Then he moved to IT, and now his job was busier than he ever was in Human Resources, and he still dealt with more people—more face time with those he had worked alongside silently for so many years. Many thought he was new because they’d never really noticed him before, but that had never bothered him. Harper watched as he tinkered with the device as if she was mentally taking notes. Leo noticed because typically, when he was dealing with someone, they had a blank stare on their face or a distant look in their eyes, and he’d have to explain himself several times, knowing they would forget the second they left his desk.

She asked him about concealment charms, and that was likely the first time he’d ever gotten that question outside of IT or from a department head. ”I’ve dealt with it some. I’m better with Transfiguration than Charms…but it's not complicated.” He’d remembered his school days and the distinction in his grades for those courses, even if he had technically done well in both academically. Leo frowned slightly. From what Harper was saying, it seemed as though perhaps some were against the idea of concealing their magical tech. ”Are some against it? If they can hide castles, then routers should be simple…” Or maybe in his mind it was—he sometimes forgot that his skill level in this area was much higher than others.

Leo shrugged. He didn’t think this blue screen was going to be a big problem. ”Every laptop will blue screen once in its life. If it starts happening more often, I can try to figure out why.” It could be many things. The installed software, a hardware component, the possibilities seemed endless, but it also added to his own knowledge of failures for the laptops. Plus, he could share the knowledge or even modify laptops to prevent failure if it wasn’t too invasive. Between the paradigm shift for the magical community and the clash between no-maj science and magic—it hadn’t been an easy road for either of their departments, it seemed.

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Leo was right. The concealment charms they had been using for a lot of their hardware was almost stupidly easy. The larger charms that covered Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and the likes of the wizarding world were infinitely more complicated. And a muggle wasn’t going to really second-guess an internet router sitting around. Especially if it was on the side of a building. All they had to do was either conceal it or make it look different. “Uhh, sort of. I think it’s more than some of the higher-ups understand things working in our world, because that’s how the wireless radios always have. But the second we start trying to explain routers and why they’re necessary in certain places, their eyes glaze over.” She hated being brought into those meetings, because it was literally like talking to a wall. Anything she and her coworkers used to explain, like diagrams or real examples, were essentially dead on arrival with some department heads and Wizengamot members. Some even refused to want to understand, which was almost easier than those that didn’t get it to begin with. “I’m kind of hoping we just get the green-light to do it without all of the necessary approval. As long as we know where all of them are and maintain the spells on them, it should be fine…”

Of course the answer was that. In her research prior to coming down for help, that had been brought up in multiple message board threads and info articles about blue screens. Sometimes it just happened with little explanation. Those sorts of things exasperated her, mostly because she was used to cause and effect by now. Casting a new charm on a phone was experimental, but she knew there could be a response from it. A laptop simply blue screening for no good reason (or one of many things) frustrated her. It probably came with not fully understanding the muggle tech side of it. “That’s easy enough, I guess,” she responded. “What’s the best way to get ahold of you properly if it happens again? That way I don’t slam it down in front of you like this again?” Harper laughed. She sort of felt bad now because of how helpful he had been, and that he hadn’t been a jerk about her sudden appearance and demands to have it fixed.

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i believe I can see the future

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December 12, 2025
@harper

Harper had a valid point. The world of technological, no-maj or magical, could be very complex. Leo tried his best to break down the concepts so that people could possibly have a chance at understanding, but it didn’t always work that way. Even magical concepts were hard enough to explain, and maybe they could integrate it into the curriculum at Magical Schools as they had in his primary school as a boy. Leo could only nod in agreement. ”Tell me about it.” The number of times he’d tried to explain how the servers worked to some of the Department Heads using drawings, figures, and whatever else he could think of—only for them to get frustrated and leave. At least some higher-level employees came from no-maj backgrounds and had some experience with a cell phone or computer.

”You kind of have to be persistent.” Leo responded. His department had to be pushy to get the equipment it needed and at some point, whoever was the approver gave up on understanding what devices or machines they needed and just signed off. ”I saw a few articles in the paper about some apps.” Leo added, typing some notes quickly on his own computer regarding this IT visit. ”As long as all this tech gains traction, they’ll have to support it.” That was just his thoughts. But he knew the machine didn’t always abide by logic. It was why he preferred computers to people. They were logical and reasonable in that way. But he kept his beliefs about the faulty machine where he was a cog to himself.

Harper didn’t seem thrilled from his answer, but it was all he could give her at the moment. Leo had long ago stopped being bothered by people’s dissatisfaction with his answers. Much like the binary world of a computer, it was, or it wasn’t. And in this case, it just was. Closing the laptop, he handed it back to the redhead. For coming from such a well-known magical lineage, she seemed to have a knack for this stuff. ”Uh--you can just drop by or email.” While there was the ‘official’ system of IT requests and tickets, sometimes it was just faster to drop by.

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The fact that the Ministry could possibly be forced to continue working on something it had so actively tried to ignore would be a sight to behold, and she had a front row ticket to it all. Everything she had known about the government prior to working for them was that they moved at a snail’s pace and required an obscene amount of paperwork to get even the easiest things going. Like self-cleaning toilets in all the bathrooms. Why was that something that needed discussion and debate? The janitorial department probably loved that they didn’t have to go elbow deep into the hundreds of porcelain thrones every couple of hours anymore. She had been hearing these sorts of stories since she was little from her grandfather though, who probably had the coolest job at the time. And yet here they were, with functioning phones and laptops inside the Ministry of Magic. Somehow persistence had won out, and Leo seemed to think that more was still necessary. All she really wanted was carte blanche for the whole department. It wasn’t like anyone in positions of power actually knew what they were doing to begin with, so they couldn’t get in trouble for testing outside of their parameters.

“I saw one for Blishwick Matchmaking…” Harper groaned. “In the paper, I mean. If Jimbo Blishwick can make an app for dating, I’m not sure what that means for the official things the rest of us are trying to do.” She didn’t even want to think about the dozens of calls that applications were bound to drive to her department. Mostly with people not understanding that her group only made the objects work in magical areas, not actually developing the apps that people were going to have issues with. It would be like dealing with old muggles and their inability to get with the times, except even worse. She could already feel the impending headache coming and dreaded that day that it did.

Right. Email. The thing that really confused the Merlin out of people that didn’t grow up around phones and computers. They got the mail part of it but not the electronic bit. Some thought they had to type their message on their phone or laptop and then have an owl transport it still. While it was funny the first few times it happened, the fact that she still saw it getting into the elevator every morning made her wish she stayed home sometimes. “Easy enough for me. Can’t say it is for most though,” Harper rolled her eyes. “Thanks again though. I’m sure we’ll be working on things together a lot more often going forward.”

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i believe I can see the future

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December 12, 2025
@harper

Leo shook his head. ”That guy is everywhere…” At least the entire time that Leo had lived in London he’d seen his name and heard about his matchmaking business. It was such an odd thing to see but an arrangement of marriage, while an odd idea, wasn’t entirely foreign. At least if he wasn’t the black sheep of his family, his future wife was someone that would have been needed to be approved by his parents and grandparents, and her parents and the idea was exhausting. ”Blishwick…has he always been so…” Leo paused to think of a word. ”famous?” He looked like he was in thought. Was famous the right word? At the moment, his thoughts were in Spanish, so thinking of the appropriate word was a struggle sometimes.

He had learned to be observant, raised in one country, attended school in another, and now resided in a third. Leo had seen quite a bit, and it was a bit unfortunate he’d left Cursebreaking without really seeing the world. In any case, Leo knew firsthand how technology and the internet could make the world a smaller place. Even things like apparating, portkeys, and floo powder didn’t compare to the internet's reach. Though his perspective was uniquely from his no-maj background, so something he innately understood very well. Leo gave a light shrug in agreement. Many requests still were sent via the now antiquated internal memo system or occasionally an owl from a very frustrated Ministry employee. But he also agreed that this would not be his last trip to this department. ”No problem…I’ll see you around.” Leo offered up a bit of an awkward smile, his only trademark really.

[ end leo ]

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The business prowess of Jimbo Blishwick was not something that Harper completely understood. Some said he was a genius, others rolled their eyes. She didn’t inherently see the interest in fully utilizing his matchmaking services but knew of people that swore by it. Now, that didn’t mean she completely balked at the blind dating events he put on. A few of those had been extremely entertaining and always sent her and her date on an adventure that was worth telling other people about. No romance had come out of any of those, of course, though she was sure it was more the advertising portion of it that Blishwick wanted. Send two completely random people on a crazy date, they’ll probably get along since they put money down for it, and then they’ll tell their friends. There had to be some people that walked out of there and immediately signed up for his full matchmaking services. How could you not when he was supposedly one-hundred percent accurate in his placements? Harper preferred the old fashion way, whereas Ondina apparently didn’t. Used Blishwick to make her engagement to Renard Goyle official and everything. They were perfectly horrid together. Imagine that.

“They say he’s never gotten a match wrong,” Harper answered. “Local legend maybe? I know he also keeps track of the lineage for pureblood families. You know, to make sure there aren’t intermarriages anymore.” Which if she ever decided to use the matchmaking services and got paired with another pureblood from the UK, would be something Blishwick would have to check. She’d looked into his complete set of services following one of her dates, mainly to see if it was something she was willing to drop a couple bags of galleons into. Just in case.

Collecting her laptop up and making sure everything she’d brought was on her person somewhere (the power cord was looped lazily around her neck, despite not even needing it), Harper gave a small wave to Leo before turning to leave. That poor man was going to be so busy in a few months or so. Maybe even on Christmas itself when parents started giving their children magic-tech phones. Hopefully they’d give him a couple more employees to help out. She’d offer herself up if she knew anything technical about computers or wifi routers. Charming things was easier.

[THE END]

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