Note: Might seem like a tangant, but this chapter does in actual fact serve a purpose! Plus I just found the interactions between characters interesting to write...

I'm still snowed under with work. I doubt I'll stop being snowed under until Christmas! But I managed to find a few spare moments to write this, I have no idea how...

I hope you enjoy reading it! :-)

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers, I'm still utterly delighted to hear from you all!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

11: Office Politics

As she leant back in her chair, gazing drifting up towards the ceiling and barely resisting the urge to sigh at the increasingly agitated rantings of the man stood fidgeting furiously beside her, Dora Lupin wondered precisely when the Minister for Magic was going to put a stop to this complete and utter nonsense. There had been a great deal of nonsense since she had wandered into Harry's office some two hours earlier to tell him that she planned to take on the Beddington Case, but she hadn't quite expected things to get quite this ridiculous.

When she had explained her intentions to Harry, who had been midway through pouring over a mass of papers with a deep frown upon his brow, the Head of Aurors hadn't even bothered to look up from his work. Instead, he had laughed out loud and told her:

"Yeah, Tonks. And I'm a Death Eater."

"I'm being deadly serious."

"You're not."

"I'm telling you I am."

"And I'm telling you you're not. You can't take on another case."

"I wasn't really asking your permission..." Dora had began, and Harry had at last looked up at her, expression contorting in a mixture of irritation and uncertainty.

Dora had felt quite uncertain too, they both always did at moments like this. Ever since Harry had been appointed as Head of the Auror Department, some year after Dora had been appointed the department's Deputy, their working relationship had gotten...well...weird.

Before Harry's promotion their relationship had been through a number of different stages that were all entirely normal: Teenager and Adult, Protected and Protector, Auror cadet and Auror, Auror and Deputy.

These roles together all made perfect sense, they had both known where they stood, how they ought behave towards one another...

But these days things were simply weird.

The first weird thing had been the day that Dora had been called into Minister Shacklebolt's office to be told that the current Head of Aurors had handed in his resignation.

Quite naturally, she had felt at the time, she had waited to be offered a promotion...

And then Kingsley had announced:

"I'm going to ask Harry."

And Dora had stared blankly at him and asked:

"What?"

Kingsley's face had contorted worriedly and he'd mumbled:

"I've not offended you, have I? I mean...it's not that I don't want you to do it...it's just...well...Tonks...he's HARRY POTTER!"

Apparently this was supposed to have explained everything, which Dora later supposed it did. One couldn't simply not have Harry Potter as Head of the Auror Department, because...well, it just made sense!

Dora knew it would be a lie to suggest that for a few hours after leaving Kingsley's office that day, she hadn't felt utterly crushed and downright cheated by the whole business. But the stab of jealousy hadn't lasted long.

"I wanted to do it for Mad-Eye, you know." she'd told Remus that evening as they sat listening to a crackly tune upon the wireless. "I've always wanted to be the Head of Aurors...I want to be like him."

But Remus had merely pulled a face and muttered:

"Well I'd rather you didn't if it's all the same, darling. I like you with matching eyes, thank you very much." He'd chuckled to himself for a moment before sobering and telling her: "Harry's going to need you, you know."

And it was true, Dora had quickly realised. Harry often asked her advice, came to her for help. Harry made a fine department figurehead, he was well organised and he was good at not getting on Kingsley's nerves. Meanwhile, being older, Dora had the benefit of experience, she could quote and emulate Alastor Moody to quite a frightening degree, which ensured the deceased Auror's good, if slightly paranoid habits remained a positive influence upon the Aurors. They ran the department as a team and it had soon become clear that the titles Head and Deputy Head were little more than a formality...

Which was precisely what made some situations downright awkward.

Dora never asked Harry's permission for anything. She simply told him...

But sometimes, Harry didn't want to be told.

Just as he had today, Harry often pretended that their little conflicts were a bit of a joke, because of course life would be so much easier if at least one of them were joking.

"Have you told Remus you're going to sleep in your office for the next couple of weeks, then?" he'd asked, plastering a grin onto his face as if he found her stupidity amusing, but Dora had merely shrugged.

"Well that would be stupid. Obviously I can't keep all of my other cases."

"You've got to be joking..."

"I have?"

"Yes!"

"Well...I'm not..."

They had butted heads quite unsuccessfully for some minutes, until Harry had seemingly given up on a peaceful agreement and had risen abruptly from his chair...

Dora had waited for him to pull rank, to have the guts to tell her: I'm the Head of Aurors! Shut up meagre underling and get me a coffee!

But instead he'd announced that they were going to have to go and speak to Kingsley.

Bloody coward! Dora had thought furiously as she had stalked along the corridor just behind him. Are you a Gryffindor or not? Have a bloody backbone, for Merlin's sake...

It wasn't that she liked to argue with Harry, or anybody for that matter. It was simply that if she had to argue, Dora liked to have at least a vague chance of winning the disagreement.

And how in Merlin's name was she supposed to win an argument with Kingsley without getting herself suspended, or worse, sacked?

Bloody coward...

To think she had always thought it rather nice and even amusing that Harry went out of his way not to end up rowing with her!

And we're going to be having bloody tea with him and Ginny later...

Bloody cowardly...bloody...!

Harry had relayed the whole situation to the Minister in what Dora couldn't help but feel was an unfairly biased manner, which made her suspect that she had irritated him to such an extent that he had forgotten how feeble and supposedly fragile she was at that moment in time, and then they had both sat down and waited for Kingsley to say something.

He had taken his time about it.

It was all a little awkward, if truth be told, and Dora suspected the Minister was once again wondering just how wise it had been to set up the Auror Department's leadership as he had done...

Kingsley had spent a long minute examining a chunky gold signet ring upon the middle finger of his left hand, before clearing his throat meaningfully and, gaze upon Dora suddenly piercing in a manner that suggested he had decided whose corner he was going to fight and which unlucky contender was going to get a verbal punch in the face, announced:

"Tonks, this is utterly unreasonable and entirely unacceptable."

"Exactly!" Harry had nodded, and Dora had briefly considered punching him in the face, before admitting to herself that really, violence didn't solved anything...

Except for the War, and Voldemort and the Death Eaters...

"There is absolutely no reason why MLE can't sort this case out on their own." Kingsley went on, entirely ignoring Harry's triumphant little outburst. "And if you've already got several cases on...well, there's no reason to give yourself too much work, is there?"

He had smiled, then, one of those gentle, pitying curves of the mouth that made her want to cringe.

And Dora had realised that she had absolutely no intention of explaining her motives for wanting to investigate Theodore Beddington, because the understanding and sympathy from her two colleagues and friends would utterly suffocate her.

She was just going to have to persuade them in some other way...

"Listen, Kingsley..." she'd began, impressing herself at how calm and reasonable she was managing to sound, but at that precise moment the door to the Minister's office had been flung open and MLE Commander Bernard Wattle had stormed into the room, flushed pink face like thunder.

"Minister!" he exclaimed, eyes bulging quite madly. "Really, I must insist that you do something! She's...she's...being...she's being entirely UNACCEPTABLE!"

"I'm afraid I haven't the faintest idea who you are talking about, Bernard..." Kingsley had admitted, voice the model of calm, but Wattle's pause for breath had given him just enough time to notice first Harry and then...

"HER!" the balded man practically shrieked, jabbing an accusing finger in Dora's direction. "I'm telling you now, Minister...AWFUL conduct! She's being...she's being...SPITEFUL!"

Dora simply stared at him in bemusement.

"Honestly," she said as Harry shuffled back in his chair a little as if he feared Wattle might round on him at any moment. "I don't know what he's talking about..."

"Would you like to sit down, Bernard?" Kingsley offered mildly, reaching into the pocket of his robes for his wand. "Let me conjure you a chair..."

"WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?" Wattle cried, entirely ignoring the Minister's offer. "She waltzes into my department like she owns it, throws everything into chaos by just disappearing for half the day..."

"It's not even lunchtime yet. How can I disappear for half a day when it hasn't even been half a day yet..."

"Tonks be quiet..."

"And now, if you please, she's STEALING MY CASES!"

"He's exaggerating."

"Tonks...!"

"SHE DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO BE ON THE CASE IN THE FIRST PLACE, NOW SHE'S TRYING TO STEAL IT OFF OF ME! WHY? WELL THAT'S OBVIOUS! SHE'S DOING IT TO UNDERMINE ME..."

"Now really, Bernard..."

"TO MAKE ME LOOK FOOLISH!"

"I'm sure that's not the case..."

"HOW DARE YOU PRESUME TO THINK THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE AND TAKE OVER..."

And that had been it. He'd been ranting and raving ever since.

It was giving Dora a headache.

The Deputy Head of Aurors dared a sideways glance at Harry. He appeared to be suffering in a similar way, for he had given up on listening and had reached to bury his face in a hand instead. Kingsley was still staring up at Wattle intently, apparently listening to every shrieking syllable as if the moron stood before him was giving some sort of deeply serious and important report about some other extremely boring subject or another.

No wonder they'd made him Minister, Dora thought, and despite herself she found herself smiling at the thought.

Kingsley immediately shot her a scowl of deepest disapproval, and the witch hurriedly wiped the amusement from her face, before clearing her throat loudly in an attempt to halt Wattle's continuous rant.

"Honestly, Bernard," she said, voice raised in order to be heard. "I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of stepping on your toes. I'm terribly sorry if that's how you feel, I would hate to think you feel I'm attempting to undermine you...I honestly don't know why you would think that...I don't see what...what purpose it would serve...why you think I'd bother..."

"Give me my bloody case back, then!" Wattle demanded, a little breathless from his long outburst, and Dora flinched a little when Harry muttered:

"Yeah Tonks, give him his bloody case back..."

"I...can't do that..." Dora mumbled rather uncertainly, and Wattle's face instantly contorted in fury.

"Excuse me? What do you mean you can't? Can't? WON'T, MORE LIKE..."

"That's quite enough, thank you!" Kingsley interrupted firmly, beginning to sound quite exasperated by the whole business. "Tonks, you'll hand the case back to MLE..."

"But..."

"No buts! I'm not interested, I don't care what you have to say, you'll hand it back and get on with the work Harry has assigned to you, and that's that."

"But..."

"I said no buts! And what's this about you throwing a bunk? What sort of example is that to set to the other staff? It's unprofessional..."

"That's not really fair..."

"No, you're right! It isn't fair! It's not fair on Bernard, it's not fair on his staff, it's not fair on any of us..."

"Kingsley..."

"It's not the first time you've done it, either. I let it slide last time but really, Tonks..."

"There are problems at home!" Dora instantly flinched at her interruption. She had been fighting the need to pull the sympathy card, she simply couldn't stand it, yet things were beginning to grow increasingly hostile...

She wasn't about to land herself with a disciplinary hearing.

Not another one...

"Things are...a bit difficult right now...!" she half-squeaked, shoulders hunched self-consciously, "I um...I just...I just popped home to...to check up on...things. I was gone for an hour at most and...and you can call it my lunch break if you like. Or you can dock my wages, whatever you like...I don't really care..."

And quite suddenly the atmosphere in the room shifted entirely.

"Don't be silly, Tonks." Harry announced, reaching to pat her upon the arm in the usual cringe-worthy manner. "Nobody's going to dock your wages or anything like that. Isn't that right, Kingsley?"

"Of course." Kingsley murmured, his gaze upon the witch softening, and Wattle shifted rather uncomfortably where he stood, as if he wasn't quite sure what to say. After a long pause, he cleared his throat meaningfully and mumbled:

"Perhaps...perhaps we ought...discuss this later. I've...I've things to...to be getting on with..."

"Yes, perhaps that would be for the best." Kingsley agreed as Dora sunk down in her chair. "Perhaps you ought get back to things too, Harry. I'm sure I'll...come and visit you this afternoon."

"Right." Harry agreed, and with that he got hurriedly to his feet and before she knew it, Dora found herself entirely alone with the Minister.

"Tea?" he offered kindly as the door to the office swung shut at Harry's back.

"No thanks." Dora mumbled, reaching to rake the hair back from her eyes with a deep sigh of resignation.

"Too right," Kingsley murmured as he settled back in his chair with a smile. "After Bernard's little show I think the pair of us could use something a tad more alcoholic."

"I don't really do drinking on the job." Dora muttered, fixing the desktop before her with a stare, and the wizard flinched a little, shifting uneasily in his seat.

"Of course not...Mad-Eye would've flayed you alive, for one thing."

"Mm."
"And you're far too professional for the likes of that."

Dora let out a soft snort, glancing up at him disbelievingly.

"You don't have to say nice things about me just because you think I'm an emotional broom crash. I'm rather tired of being patronized."

"I'm not patronizing you, Tonks, I'm being honest. I don't think you unprofessional in the slightest..."

"Of course you do. You've just said so. You can't just take it back because you're worried I'm going to burst into tears and make you feel awkward."

Kingsley merely smiled.

"I wish I could have the nerve to be as frank and honest as you." he said, sighing heavily. "If I did I would have told Bernard to shut up whining and stop making a mountain out of a mole hill. I'd have pointed out that he's clearly completely deluded, you've not a spiteful bone in your body! But I can't do that...I'd much rather verbally batter you instead. Because I know you'll just bounce right back. I know you'll forgive me and not go stirring up trouble...unlike him."

Dora said nothing. She was too busy coaxing her lips to twitch towards a smile, she could manage little else, and quickly went back to staring at the desk.

"Obviously you've not tried to take the case just to piss Bernard off..." Kingsley murmured thoughtfully, eyes upon her scrutinizing. "But you must've done it for a reason. A serious one, I suspect, because you must've known Harry would have none of it and you'd get yourself into trouble with Bernard and me. If you didn't have a serious reason you simply wouldn't have bothered to try."

"I'm not giving the case back." Dora told him, ignoring his probing entirely.

"I can't allow you to keep it."

"I won't give it up."

"You don't really have a choice..."

"Are you going to sack me if I refuse?"

"Of course not..."

"Well then...!"

"But I might have to suspend you."

Dora clenched her jaw against protest. Kingsley offered her a raised eyebrow.

"But I'd rather not, of course. I don't want to hurl you up in front of the Wizengamot and have them all turn on you for something as silly as this."

Dora merely stared at him with steely eyes. After a long pause, the wizard let out a heavy sigh, reaching to scratch his head.

"Come on, Tonks." he murmured pleadingly. "Don't be like this, you're making my life difficult."

"Let me keep the case." she said, folding her arms firmly across her chest.

Kingsley reached to rub a hand across his eyes, frowning into the blacks of his eyelids for a moment before straightening up in his chair, leaning forward to rest his elbows upon the desk.

"I don't understand," he mumbled, gaze once again scrutinizing, "why you...care..."

Dora shrugged evasively, and silence dragged on for a few agonising minutes as the Minister mulled over the confusing scenario. When realisation seemed to materialise upon his face, Dora felt her mouth go dry.

"The boy's name is Theodore Beddington, I hear." he recalled slowly, frowning deeply. "Eleven years old...orphaned..."

Dora remained mute.

Kingsley leant further forward in his chair.

"Tell me about home." he requested softly, and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"What, so you can go and tell Harry all about it?" she asked accusingly, feeling her cheeks redden.

"If it's appropriate...yes."

"Sod off."

He pursed his lips together for a moment, and for a cringe-worthy moment she thought he was going to reach across the desk and do that awful patting on the arm that she hated so much. But instead he wet his lips carefully and told her:

"You're not a one witch army, you know."

Dora eyed her boots with a rather disappointed smile as she agreed:

"No, I'm not. But I've re-enforcements enough at home, thanks."

"I rather doubt it. That's rather like the blind leading the blind, isn't it? It's Remus' loss as well as yours, you're both hurting..."

"We're fine. You make it sound as though we're the only grieving parents in the world! What about Molly and Arthur? What about Fred? He wasn't only a baby, he was grown up, he had his own ways and his own personality to be missed. Why don't you all go and offer them tissues and hugs instead?"

"Obviously...but...but it wasn't the same. Fred died fighting, he...he died for a cause...at least Molly and Arthur have that! Teddy...Teddy's murder was an act of pure hatred and spite...it was mindless! He was your only child..."

"We're going to have a funeral." Dora announced, keen to stop the flood of sympathy before it could get any worse. "That's what I went home for earlier, to have a proper talk about things. We've decided, Remus and I, that really we ought have a proper funeral and...and a place for him. It's going to help us, you see. We're going to have a funeral and then that'll be that. We'll...start to move on. Properly."

Kingsley gave a slow nod, still very much staring at her, before asking:

"Is that the point, then? Is that why you want the case? To...to prove what? You can work yourself to death because you're not spending time grieving?"

Dora leant forward in her chair, plastering a wide grin upon her face in an attempt to smother her unease that his assumptions were not all that far from the truth.

"If I say yes, will you let me keep the case?"

When Kingsley mere made a rather irritated grunting noise, she fixed him with an equally piercing stare and told him:

"I need this, Kingsley. Don't take it away from me...please."

Kingsley frowned deeply, shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

"Please. Let me keep it and I'll be better. I'll be so much better...at everything! I'll be better at work, I'll...I'll be better at home..."

"I don't see how." the wizard admitted, quite bemused. "Doesn't sound at all healthy for you to me..."

"You can't know though, can you?" Dora insisted stubbornly. "You're not me."

"What does Remus say?"

"I haven't told him yet."

Kingsley puffed his cheeks in exasperation and shook his head.

"You're utterly unbelievable..." he muttered, crossing his arms firmly across his chest, and yet he sat straighter in his chair and informed the witch: "Well you best make sure you tell him then, hadn't you? And whilst you're at it you better take the morning off tomorrow, to make a start on arranging the funeral. I'm sure somebody somewhere can take on a case or two to give you a spare few hours."
For a long moment, Dora stared at him in surprise at her sudden victory. When he merely offered her a raised eyebrow she jumped to her feet, utterly beaming.

"You're a diamond!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in triumph, and his face contorted in annoyance as he reached to snatch up a quill pen from the desk.

"I rather doubt the others will agree with you." he muttered, reaching for a sheet to paper so that he could scribble down a memo. "Still...there's hope for them yet."

Dora opened her mouth to ask quite what he meant by this final, rather cryptic muttering, but before she could utter a word he shot her a scowl and instructed: "Now wipe that smug look off your face and get out of my office, before I forget that you're my favourite."

It was just twenty minutes later, back in the Auror Department, that a shadow fell across her desk and a crumpled ball of memo paper was flung down upon the paperwork in front of her.

Dora looked up from Theodore's files to find Harry stood before her, expression utterly livid.

"You're unbelievable." the Head of Aurors informed his Deputy as she leant back in her chair and smiled up at him pleasantly. "Utterly unbelievable..."

"So Kingsley tells me." she agreed, doing her very best not to look smug and failing somewhat dismally.

"I've put you down for babysitting the cadets on Friday." Harry informed her, looking a little smug himself. "I'm taking Ginny and the kids to watch the Quidditch."

"I'm busy." Dora pointed out, gesturing to the mass of papers upon her desk, but Harry shrugged.

"You say you're busy now." he reasoned, worryingly cheery. "But just because Kingsley doesn't have a backbone, doesn't mean nobody else does."

Before Dora could ask what he meant, he had turned and headed back towards the door, only to pause to offer her a bright grin and remind her:

"It's Stealth and Tracking on a Friday! See you this evening, then!"

Dora rolled her eyes at his retreating back and went back to her paperwork, frowning at the thought of office politics and how easily people seemed to get tangled up in them. Sometimes it was terribly lucky that she had a sense of humour...

It wasn't until lunchtime, when she had left the Ministry and walked to meet Remus at the cafe on Victoria Street, that Dora realised quite why Kingsley and Harry seemed confident that she hadn't beaten them yet.

She had arrived to find their usual table empty, and so had gone to order them each a cup of coffee. She waited for Remus for some ten minutes, resorting to filing her nails and humming tunelessly to herself to pass the time, when quite abruptly a couple of opened letters were dropped down upon the table before her. Blinking, the witch was just observing the familiar handwritings of both Harry and Kingsley upon the envelopes, both addressed to Remus, when her husband dropped down into the chair opposite her and inquired:

"What in Merlin's name have you been saying to Harry and Kingsley?"

Dora scowled accusingly at the tell-tale letters before swallowing the lump in her throat.

She may have won the battle, but apparently she had yet to win the war.