"Five Auror's Albus?" the man asked as he looked at the newly published front page for tomorrow's Daily Prophet.
It beheld a devastating sight of a demolished building with pile's of ashes slowly disappearing in the wind. He didn't want to think about what or possibly who, those were. His brow furrowed in disbelief at the thought of who could actually do such a thing.
"The prophet won't keep quiet about it, but at least they were polite enough to let me tell you ahead of time to inform other ambassador's" Professor Albus Dumbledore input as he watched the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Felix Argtris, pace back and forth at his desk.
The man's dark hair had been gone for year's now but still seemed to have a youthful sheen to it even with it's peppery color, granted his hardened and round face definitely showed his age. However, that was his best feature for this job. It was what allowed him to be so friendly and cooperative with other wizard's of their world while still making sure people knew he was still a force to be reckoned with. It was how he passed along negotiation's created by the minister that made sure that everything was staying calm and that all of these different cultures could work together as one.
"Fear is going to be spread quickly if what you say is true. That this is Grindlewald, and he's not just mercilessly killing muggles now. It'll be anyone who stand's in his way" Felix realized.
"It's not something I'm proud of to know the answer to but yes, thing's like that most likely will happen. But, that's why services like your's will be needed, you need to tell other wizards around the world what to prepare for, to stand together and be strong in this time of darkness" Dumbledore advised the worried man. Felix quirked an eyebrow at him humorously.
"Do you always speak in well versed speech?" he asked the professor. Dumbledore let out a chuckle at the statement, it was very similar to questions he had received from various snarky students before.
"I find it wise to always make use of a strong vocabulary and strike up rousing speeches of encouragement when necessary" Dumbledore answered.
"Thank you for bringing this to me, I'll send an owl out to the embassies and several other employees that are here at this hour to start spreading the news. Then we will begin planning with the minister on what we should do next," Felix told him as he leaned back against his desk now and started pouring himself a glass of Firewhiskey.
"It was no trouble, I was at the Prophet anyways to help with their relationship advice columnist on a burdening question she received. It was about the romanticism of side apparating with a significant other" he answered as he declined an offered up glass from Felix. The mood was lightened now which was a good relaxing distraction from the grief situation at hand.
"Well I'm intrigued, what was the final solution?" Felix asked, smiling again.
"We both decided that although it could quite literally bring a pair closer together the threat of splinching does put a damper on relationships"
Felix nodded in agreement at the satisfactory answer.
"That's why me and my wife stick to driving and portkeys if we can. Also she never liked side apparating. The first time I showed her what it was, she said it reminded her to much of being back in the womb" Felix agreed as he laughed at his own joke and Dumbledore politely joined in.
"How is your daughter by the way? She works in this department, doesn't she?" Dumbledore recalled, wanting to know more about the previous student of his at Hogwarts.
"Charlotte? She's great, like's to keep herself busy and run all over the place. She'll probably be back soon from the World Cup" Felix summarized, and then a thought hit him.
"Is it bad that I'll want to keep her away from this? More of as her father then as her superior," he asked Dumbledore.
"I'm not a parent myself Felix, but I do work at a school and can confidently say that children will often find a way of getting themselves into even worse trouble when you're trying to protect them" Dumbledore answered with a nod.
"There you go again with that well versed speech. I was good with a yes or no Albus" Felix said trying not to roll his eyes.
"No, it's not at all a terrible thought to have. With her mother being a muggle I wouldn't want to have my daughter have an encounter with Grindlewald either" Dumbledore told him.
As if on cue there was a quick knock on the door to Felix's office.
"Anyone there?" A young female voice called on the other side of it.
"Would you mind if Charlotte came in and said hello?" Felix asked Dumbledore.
"Not at all" Dumbledore gave a small smile.
"Come in dear" Felix answered back. There door was opened by young woman with long dirty blond hair and ice blue eye's that had a certain life to them, her pale skin held a slight pink to it of a growing sunburn, but it did nothing to keep her holding back the excited smile on her face. It was no guess that her looks most likely came from her mother's side but she had clearly gained everything else from her father.
"Professor, what a surprise?" Charlotte came in completely caught off guard at the sight of her old school professor.
It was an odd sight to say the least, to see him outside of Hogwart's grounds, she wasn't sure how to react. Her old student side wanted to be respectful and slightly felt the need to impress him with some sort of knowledge, while another side knew she was an adult now that didn't have to look to him as a teacher still.
"Good evening, Charlotte. How was the match?" he asked of her as they politely shook hands. Charlotte blushed and gave a glance to her father.
"Were you bragging about me again?" she asked her father a bit embarrassed. She knew she was proud of her job but still didn't like her parents telling every living soul that their daughter worked for the Department of International Magical Cooperation and got to be a personal representative for the Ministry with the Minister of Magic at the Quidditch World Cup.
"Of course I bragged Charlie" Felix gladly exclaimed. She strode over to her father's desk to take a spot next to him and took a sip of his Firewhiskey for tasting purposes. She couldn't hold back the disgusted face she made as a harsh taste of cinnamon burnt her throat.
"That still tastes like Christmas in all the wrong ways" she coughed.
"Then don't drink it" Felix laughed at her.
"Well I've gotta try it every time just on the off chance I might like it someday" she joked back then decided to go back to the subject at hand.
"Anyways Professor, the match was great! France beat Brazil in an absolute landslide. Quite a few brawls broke out amongst the government officials as well with accusations of cheating for gambling purposes" she laughed at the memory of how quickly wands and fists were drawn after the final whistle was blown.
"Luckily we managed to break it all up in the end, and I won quite a few galleons for betting on a battle of fisticuffs breaking out if France won" she summarized.
"You didn't antagonize the fight did you?" Felix asked, sounding very fatherly now.
"Of course not father what do you take me for? I was just lucky" Charlotte smiled at her father's jump of an assumption.
"How is the school Professor?" she asked a general question wanting to include Dumbledore back into the conversation.
"We are all doing well, Ravenclaw won the house cup this year" Dumbledore told her smiling at the previous Gryffindor's reaction at that fact.
"What bring's you here?" she asked him out of curiosity now. There was a brief moment of silence from her father that she knew he didn't want her to notice before Dumbledore answered.
"I came with an assignment that I thought your father would take a great interest in and in fact he referred me to your expertise for it"
"Really? What is it?" she asked while Felix gave Dumbledore a confused look as to what the hell he was talking about.
"It involves a previous student of mine, same age as you actually. Would you happen to remember Newt Scamander?" he asked of her.
"Sort of, I know he was the Hufflepuff who was expelled, but other than that nothing" Charlotte told the truth.
"He works in the Beasts Division with the Department of Regulation for Magical Creatures" Felix reminded his daughter to jog her memory a bit more.
"Oh yes, I know who he is then. Never seen him,but James gave him the approval to travel and write his book or something like that. Then he highly advised him to have one of us to follow him around and maintain things, but I think he said he just ran off without a care" Charlotte recalled, then turned back to her professor to finish the story.
"Well there's been word going around that a huge item black market trade was acquired in Egypt. A very rare and majestic creature supposedly. I in-"
"Wait a black market trade? How would you know about something like that, Professor?" Charlotte rudely interrupted and then blushed at what she had done. Hearing those words come out of her Professor's mouth had truly peaked her interest now.
"I'm sorry please continue" she told him as she received a humorous look of disapproval from her father.
"I informed Mr. Scamander about the news and advised that he request the assistance of someone from this Department to possibly help negotiate a peaceful way of attaining this creature from the traders, instead of running in, in a hostile manner. He agreed gladly to the circumstances,"
Charlotte looked between her father, and Dumbledore astonished by the assignment.
"I'm flattered that my father, suggested me, but..." Charlotte had to pause for a moment wondering what seemed so fishy about all of this. She would have to go to Egypt, which was amazing but also so far away. Why was her father trying to get her out of the country so quickly after she had just returned? Maybe she was just being cautious and the look her father had tried to hide meant nothing.
"But, I think this is what you're next assignment should be" Dumbledore finished for her giving her one of those knowing smiles of his.
Charlotte let out a sigh at the excitement of this idea! This would be something so much more adventurous than what she was used to. She reached back and took another sip of her father's Firewhiskey. It still tasted like burning cinnamon but not as bad this time and made her nerves feel electrified.
"I will speak to him in the morning then, Professor" she agreed while getting up from her spot on the desk.
"I'll be back in a minute father. I just need to drop off a couple things in my office and we'll go home together" Charlotte practically skipped out of this office now.
As soon as she left Felix looked towards Albus seeming a bit awestruck at what had just happened.
"I didn't think you'd send her all the way to bloody Africa, sir, and since when were you going to tell me about this assignment of yours?" Felix asked.
"We had other subjects to talk about at the moment but, my job here is done now. I believe the phrase is that I just knocked out two birds with one stone" Dumbledore answered.
Yay done with my first chapter! Tell me what you think because I know there's not a lot of NewtxOC fics out there soo yeah. Anyways have a nice day.