Molly's robes flapped wildly behind her as she raced down the sidewalk. She weaved through the muggles, scanning the numbers of the buildings as she passed.

1444... 1446... here we are! 1448!

She had finally made it. She stopped to inspect her reflection in the window of a parked car. Her robes were covered in sand and dirt, her hair an utter disaster and the makeup she fussed over all morning was running down her face in beads of sweat.

Let's see, absolutely filthy and four hours late. Damn it Aunt Min! I should have gotten a port key like you said... Well, this should be fun.

Molly worked in the admissions office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Muggle-born Student Department. It was her job to travel across Britain meeting with and convincing Muggle parents that their magically gifted child should attend Hogwarts. Unfortunately, Molly was not particularly gifted at convincing them. 8 months on the job and she had yet to recruit a single student. So far she had only been able to get one pair of parents to agree Hogwarts was right for their child... the issue with that was she had been at the wrong address and the child in question was not even magically inclined. Luckily, something Molly *was* good at was memory charms.

Despite her many failures, Molly was actually a very competent witch. She received impressive marks on both her O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s and she had served as Hufflepuff prefect for 2 years before becoming Head Girl. All her professors agreed she would someday be a famous witch but everything she had tried since graduation had blown up in her face. This lack of success was made even worse by the fact that Molly was cursed with a famous name: McGonagall. Her great aunt Minerva was the current Headmistress of Hogwarts, a hero of both the First and Second Wizarding Wars and arguably the most revered and respected witch in living memory. Her aunt's fame meant wherever she went, people expected nothing but greatness from her and she consistently let them down. Despite this, she still loved her dear aunt, it had actually been Aunt Min who got her this job after the disaster at Gringrotts cost her yet another potential career.

Damn goblins... every coin was accounted for, and that whole teleportation mishap wasn't entirely my fault...

Even her aunt's considerable pull wouldn't protect her indefinitely though, as she had been told in no uncertain terms that this special assignment was her last chance to save her job at Hogwarts.

While the school almost exclusively catered to students from The United Kingdom, occasionally exceptions were made. Today, Molly was sent to the United States to recruit one of these exceptions, a muggle by the name of Sky Copperfield. Normally an American child would attend the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Massachusetts, but Sky had a distant ancestor who had been a prominent staff member at Hogwarts nearly a century ago.

Well Sky, it seems we both have famous relatives mucking up our lives...

Sky Copperfield lived with her parents near the American city of Las Vegas. In classic Molly McGonagall style, she hadn't bothered to check where the closest fireplace was before entering the Floo Network. Sky lived in the desert. The fireplace Molly emerged from was in a home hundreds of miles away. Even on her Nimbus 2001 it took her several hours to reach the city. She had briefly considering apparating to her destination but getting splinched would be a great way to fail her assignment before it began.

Now that she was finally here, there was nothing left for her to do but head inside and try her best to convince the girl's father that Sky belonged at Hogwarts. She used a few spells to salvage what she could of her appearance, enchanted her robes to appear as typical muggle clothing and entered the sleek office building. Mr. Copperfield was some kind of entertainer, apparently very successful and famous in the muggle world, and Molly had gotten the appointment by pretending to be applying for the position of his new assistant. Their meeting had been for this morning, but Molly didn't just fly five hours through the desert for nothing. She would have her appointment.

When she got off the elevator she was greeted by a woman sitting at a desk surrounded by muggle gadgets.

"Hello welcome to the office of Mr. Copperfield, may I help you?"

"Hi! I'm Molly McGonagall! I'm here to see Mr. Copperfield, I have an appointment."

"Let's see…. Oh Ms. McGonagall, I'm sorry but your appointment was for this morning."

"Sorry about that, I had some issues with the Floo- Err, with transportation. Could I meet with him now?"

"I'm sorry but Mr. Copperfield is very busy with appointments today, you aren't the only one he's interviewing for the position, if you would like to re-"

"Oh! Wait a minute!"

Molly rummaged around in her bag as the woman looked on, clearly losing her patience with the frazzled witch. She finally found what she was looking for, a crumpled piece of parchment, scribbled across in Molly's elaborate handwriting was a grocery list.

"Here you are, this should explain everything."

Molly's wand slid down her sleeve into her hand and she flicked her wrist as she handed the women the shopping list. The woman studied the parchment nodding her head,

"Oh... yes... of course, this all seems to be in order, my apologies Ms. McGonagall, Mr. Copperfield will interview you next."

If only I was allowed to use a spell to convince him to enroll his daughter...

Molly was directed down a hallway to a large attractive office where she finally met Mr. Copperfield. He was tall, much taller than Molly, with jet black hair and a dazzling white smile, which he flashed warmly as he shook her hand and directed her to a seat across the desk from him.

"So Molly, I understand you're here to apply as my new stage assistant. What sort of experience do you have in performing arts?"

Ok... here goes...

"Actually, Mr. Copperfield-"

"Please, call me David."

"Oh, well, Actually David, I'm not here about the job, I'm here to discuss your daughter Sky's education. I represent an academy for highly gifted children and we think we would be a great fit for Sky. I'm from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Molly went on for what felt like ages, explaining the ins and outs of the process of a muggle-born witch integrating into the wizarding world, what Hogwarts was like, how Sky's life would change... The whole time David sat listening intently, saying nothing.

"So... What do you think? Do you have any questions?"

Mr. Copperfield got up from his desk and walked over to the window. He took a deep breath and turned around,

"Well, I'll give you this Molly, that was the most interesting pitch I've ever heard, albeit rather bizarre, but clearly you're very creative. You know, you really wouldn't be doing any speaking or acting though, I just need help with a handful of illusions that I do..."

"What? No, Mr. Copperfield, I'm serious, I really-"

"Please, call me David. Molly, I don't know what it is, but I like you. That pitch was weird as hell but I want to give you a shot. Can you show me some close up magic? Slight of Hands?"

He doesn't believe me! Fine you want to see magic? I'll show you magic.

The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy severely limited what Molly could show this muggle, but surly a simple spell would be enough to prove her case.

"Mr. Copperfield, please sit down, this might be a bit of a shock."

Molly dramatically drew her wand and stood up as David watched, clearly amused. On his desk was a small statue of a dove. She touched the tip of her wand to the statue, whispered "Avifors", and the statue twitched and fell over. Then, suddenly, it shot into the air and started flying around the room cooing frantically, looking for an exit. Eventually the statue landed back on the desk and she tapped it a second time, returning it to a lifeless statue.

"Well done Molly! The wand is a nice touch, I love props."

"What? I just brought that statue to life!"

Laughing, David walked over and picked up the statue. He waved his hand in front of it a few times and when he revealed the statue but a moment later, it had been replaced with a living dove. The dove soared gracefully around the office before returning to David's hand. He folded his hands upon each other and when he revealed his palms, the bird was gone.

"You're going to have to try harder than that. Show me another."

That was… unexpected. She thought he would cry out in terror or maybe faint; she just brought a lifeless chunk of rock to life, but instead he performed a trick of his own, and a better one than hers!

"How… Aren't you a muggle? How did you do that?"

"A what now? Come on Molly, you know a magician never reveals his tricks! Show me another, I want you to wow me."

She needed to convince this man her proposition was serious, her job depended on him agreeing to send Sky to Hogwarts. She looked around the office for something else to enchant; on his desk was a glass of water. She pointed her wand at the glass, "Evanesco!" and instantly the water was gone leaving behind an empty glass.

"Oh, sorry, you look thirsty."

She put the tip of her wand over the glass, "Aguamenti!" and the glass slowly refilled. She smiled at him expectantly, surly that would convince him. But instead, he just laughed.

"I am thirsty, but I prefer something… stronger."

As he spoke, David picked the glass up and gave it a swirl. When he placed it back on the desk, it was filled with wine.

How is this possible!? This muggle is out magicking me!

On and on they went back and forth, Molly using any minor spell she thought she could get away with and David showing her up with some form of muggle sorcery of his own. It had been over an hour and David was no more convinced that she was a real witch then when they began but clearly he was amused with her attempts.

I need something big… If I can't convince this man I'm a witch I'll need to find yet ANOTHER job!

In the corner was a display case filled with awards and gleaming trophies. If this didn't work then she was out of options. She had probably already performed enough magic in front of this man to get herself arrested. She aimed her wand at the display case, "*Reducto!*", and it blew apart, all of its contents smashing to the floor.

"Hey! What the Hell?! That stuff is priceless!"

"Reparo!"

Suddenly, everything that had just crashed to the floor flew up into the air and back into its place. The cabinet was put back together exactly as it was moments before. Molly watched, quite pleased with herself, as a stunned David Copperfield ran over to inspect his belongings. Once he was certain everything was back in its place he turned to her,

"Molly that… that was amazing. I don't know how you did that – no! Don't tell me, I haven't been amazed in a long time, don't ruin it. You're extremely talented Molly, and clearly dedicated to the craft. Your story about Sky was cute and all but really, I haven't seen anything like that in ages, for a second there I *almost* believed you about that Pigwart thing. Anyways, if you want it, the job is yours."

"David, listen to me! I… I…"

Aunt Min is going to KILL me…

"I would love to. When do I start?"