Chapter 3 : Different ideals
She sighed as she opened her eyes. Today, her team would hold a departure party for one of her employees. Again. This time, it's her main co-worker who was leaving her department to join that of the Magical Low Enforcement, which recently announced the retirement of a wizard (she could not remember the name) in the Improper Use of Magic office. Before that, it had been one of her secretaries who obtained another secretary job for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. And even before, one of her other co-workers had left for the Department of Magical Transportation. In all, five of her employees had left (and thus had to be replaced) since she started this new Depatment, three years ago. Oh, they were not unhappy with her, she treated everybody with respect, was very understanding whenever they had to take a day off for family reasons, and though she indeed was strict, she did not complain all the time, she prefered to explain equably when she thought things needed to be done differently. But, as Janeth Faucett, her second secretary (and the only employee who never left her), explained : « This Department is quite new, and most people still don't see the point of it. Thus, they don't think it as glorious to work in here as for the other Departments. So they come here only to wait for a « better option » to come up. » And when the curly-haired witch had exclaimed that people should not work in the Ministry for glory but only to do good to the magical comunity, she had simply added : « I can't say I disagree, but that's just theory meeting reality fame will always attract the majority. You'll have to find a way to sort those who seek it from those with better intentions. »
Sipping her tea, she rolled her eyes as the discussion came back to her memory. Easier said than done. And especially when the timing was as short as it was now. In three monthes, she was to go on a journey through several other countries to convince them to create their own Deparment of International Cooperation and Justice for Magical Beings (when they didn't have something similar already), and to discuss a few difficult laws regarding some magical creature with the Hungarian Minister (for a local subspecies of Runespoor). For this journey, she would need someone from her Department with her, so that they would both learn different languages and customs from the countries they would travel to and then share their knowledge with each other, and she had chosen her main co-worker, as he was good with languages (he already spoke four English, French, German and Spanish). He had agreed with the idea, even had seemed quite enthusiastic about it, so it came as a shock to her when she learned that he was leaving the department, what's more that close to the departure. It meant that now, she had to find a replacement who could learn what her former colleague had learned even faster than he had, and who would be willing not to change department before or during the journey (which would be about two monthes long) even if a greatest job was offered to them. Yeah, right, chances of finding someone like that whithin a month : awfully close to zero.
As the « see you » party went on, she didn't really manage to enjoy it. She had met two candidates already, and both refused to promise not to leave before the end of the journey, strangely enough both using the same non-funny joke : « You know, if I'm offered to be the next Prime Minister, well, this is not an offer that can be refused now is it ? » And she had answered that yes, it could be refused, as Dumbledore had refused it in his time. Both left with a rather sulky look on their face, and she had thrown away their application files.
Word of her demand must have spread, for she did not recieve any other candidates after that no one seemed ready to accept a contract binding them to her « not famous enough » Department at the risk of missing an opportunity in another one. Fearing she might have to go alone (no one in her current team could be ready in time for the journey, they were more into paper work than into field fork), she had already started to study some of the things her ex-colleague had learned before leaving, at the price of very shorter nights and almost no breaks to relax a tiny bit. At this pace, she should be able to get the basics of three new languages, but she would be exhausted by the time she'd leave England, and it would still not be enough for the whole trip. A week after having started her new rythme, as she was reviewing some new vocabulary before having to meet with the Prime Minister to discuss the current situation, she heard shy knocks on the door. Rising her head from her book, she reluctantly invited in whoever knocked, as she had asked not to be interrupted when she was sudying for the journey. Janeth opened the door a crack and slipped her head in :
« Sorry to interrupt you, there's someone here who says he has come for the vacant place in our Department... Did you expect someone ? »
« No, I haven't recieved any letter regarding a job interview... Have you told him about the fact that I refused people who could not promise not to leave the department before at least five monthes ? »
She did not want to waste more time with a candidate who would leave as soon as she mentioned it, and was more than anxiousto go back to studying.
« Yes I have, and he says he knows already, and that it suits him well because he does not want to go to any other Department. »
Now, that was unexpected. She asked :
« What do you think, does he seem truthworthy ? »
« Well... » The secretary seemed to hesitate in the answer to give. « I think... it is best for you to be judge of that. He is a bit... special I'd say. But not necessarily in a bad way. Do I send him to you ? »
Hermione pondered a few seconds before answering :
« Yes, I'll meet him. Does he have a name ? »
As Janeth answered while leaving to invite the newcomer in, the mahogany haired woman regreted having agreed that quickly.