Prompt : AU: Effie is a death eater. Haymitch is an Auror. :3

I don't think Effie would ever be a Death Eater. When she starts as an escort, she's brainwashed into thinking the Hunger Games are a TV show, something that is real but happens outside of her personal sphere – for Capitol citizens it has no more tangibility than when we watch Big Brother on TV, it's real without being real – and I guess we can draw a parallel Pureblood/Muggle-Born but the two societies are too different and at Hogwarts alone she would have realized just how wrong the Pureblood mantra is (because I can't see her as anything else than a Hufflepuff with Slytherin tendencies so she would have been exposed to Muggle-borns). Aside for that, I don't see her joining anything where actual fighting is involved, she is not a physical fighter, she's good at pulling strings. Besides, Effie isn't the hate-driven kind. At all.

That being said, I thought about it and I figured if we take Book 5 set up (The Order Of The Phoenix), she could, on the other hand, be one of the Ministry fanatics. In my opinion, it's closer to canon because she would be fully committed to a cause she thinks is right without realizing just how wrong it is. So let's say she is a loyal partisan to Fudge.

To finish that author note that now looks like a one shot of its own, I have to say I really enjoyed writing that AU and wouldn't be opposed to more prompt in that verse =)

And now we roll =)

Friendly First Meeting

The woman cleared her throat for the third time but Haymitch didn't look up. She had been standing on the threshold of his office for a good five minutes now and he was wondering how much longer he could make it last. He was leaning back on his chair, his feet crossed on his desk, reading Potter's exclusive interview in The Quibbler. He had believed Dumbledore's claims since last June and he didn't doubt the boy's either, still, he wondered how the Prophet's editor-in-chief was feeling this morning, having missed such a journalistic opportunity. Knowing Heavensbee as Haymitch did, the man was probably seething and screaming bloody murder against the Ministry's directives to undermine the boy's credibility – with good reasons, it had cost him the interview of the century.

"Excuse me, Auror Abernathy." the woman said in a clipped voice that carried everything, from irritation to impatience, except an apologizing tone.

"You're excused. Go away." he retorted.

He hoped it would work.

It didn't.

The clicking of high heels came closer and prompted him to look up only to be faced with a black pencil shirt and a pink blouse completed with jewelry that must have been worth more than his house and all he had in his Gringotts vault combined. The legs were endless and pretty. His eyes lingered on the perfectly shaped calves for a second before traveling up to pause again on the cleavage – on the small side but still attractive enough that he wished her blouse wasn't buttoned so high – and finished their trip on her face. She had strawberry blond hair pinned in a complicated bun on her head, she wore artful make-up that made her appearance looked polished but slightly unnatural at the same time – her lips were painted a crimson red and the dark line on her eyelid made her eyes look wider – the eyes struck him for a moment : bright blue.

Pureblood, his mind supplied easily, or a half-blood who was trying too hard perhaps.

He sighed. "What do you want, Princess?"

The nickname obviously didn't please her. She scorned.

She was so easy to rile up he had to fight a smirk.

"My name is Euphemia Trinket." she introduced herself. Pureblood, Haymitch concluded at the sound of her name. "I am Minister Fudge's personal assistant."

"Thought that was Weasley job." he frowned. "Arthur's kid?"

"If you are talking about Percy Weasley, we both work in very different fields." she replied harshly and with a face that made him think she didn't like the young Weasley much.

"I'm sure." he snorted. "What does Fudge want with me?"

She looked appalled. "Minister Fudge."

"Not for long." he chuckled, waving The Quibbler.

"Don't tell me you believe this… this… rag." she cringed.

He wasn't in the mood for a political debate. He finally got his feet off the desk and fished his flask from the first drawer. Aside for the welcome burn of Firewhiskey, he relished the expression of shock on her face. Obviously drinking on the clock was a big no-no for her.

"What do you want?" he asked again.

She pinched her lips. "Your manners are simply dreadful."

"Does that make you hot in all the right places?" he challenged.

Her eyes widened and a soft blush crept on her cheeks. "This is a sexual harassment remark. I could report you and have you arrested. I doubt you would enjoy Azkaban at this time of year."

"I don't know, I hear you can get out of it easily enough lately." he shrugged. "You just have to have the right pals. Shame I'm more used to put Deatheaters behind bars than hanging out with them."

"There are no more Deatheaters, Auror Abernathy." she sighed – the kind of long suffering sigh that one would use with an unruly child. "I am in the Minister's confidence and I can assure you those are nothing but lies. Sirius Black…"

"Yeah, yeah…" he waved her little speech away. "You came all the way down here for what again?"

She cleared her throat, eyed the chair in front of his desk, obviously pondering how rude casting a scourgify would be, before deciding against it and conjuring a heavy folder that obediently hovered next to her.

"It has come to our attention that you have ties outside the Ministry that could be detrimental to your work as an Auror." she stated, flipping pages in her folder. "According to our archives, during the last war you used to belong to a secret organization known as the Order of the Phoenix and…"

"I don't know where Dumbledore's gone." he cut her off. "I've had no contacts with anyone. I plan on avoiding the new war, sweetheart, I've seen enough death."

"Miss Trinket, not sweetheart. We are aware you had no contact with suspicious people, Auror Abernathy." she continued without a pause. "You are not being accused of anything. If you were, there would be another Auror standing in my place. This is a friendly meeting, you have to understand."

"Friendly." he repeated with unhidden sarcasm.

"Friendly." she insisted. "Your work as an Auror hasn't been outstanding as of late and there are rumors about your drinking habits that… Well…" She forced a bright smile on her lips to soften the next blow. "We are willing to overlook those flaws, Auror Abernathy, Minister Fudge isn't heartless and we understand that there are circumstances."

"Don't." he growled in warning. He wouldn't discussed what had happened to his family with a little Ministry drone like her. He wondered where Fudge found all those brainwashed people ready to believe all the shit he fed them.

She didn't bat an eyelash. "However, we cannot tolerate you badmouthing the Ministry's policies. It has been reported by a certain number of people that you were quite liberal in your opinion of Minister Fudge's…"

"Okay." he interrupted her. "So what's the deal? I'm fired?"

The goblin in charge of his bank account wouldn't be happy.

"No." she tempered. "As I said, this is a friendly meeting, completely off the record, but the next one won't be."

"So that's a threat." he snorted, standing up slowly and walking around his desk. "They used to send threatening people for that."

"Don't underestimate my wand work, Auror Abernathy." she grinned.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sweetheart." he snorted, leaning against his desk. "I'm sure you're very good at wand work. The name's Haymitch by the way."

She shook her head, looking disbelieving. "I just told you you are susceptible to be fired if you don't watch your words and you are hitting on me? Are you drunk?"

"Maybe." He hadn't bothered to count how many drinks he had downed that day. It was possible he was smashed and hadn't noticed. When you lived your life more drunk than sober, there was a point you stopped noticing. "You're blind and your political convictions suck but you're also very hot."

She worked for Fudge but it wasn't like she was a Deatheater – and she didn't look like the pureblood fanatics kind.

"You are not." she pointed out. "How long was it since the last time your chin saw a razor?"

He laughed at that but it soon turned into a smirk. "You like the scruffy look. I'm an Auror, I notice things. You've been staring."

"Perhaps I was staring because you didn't have the courtesy to look at me." she said but there was a teasing smile tugging at the corner of her crimson lips. "If you will excuse me now, I have other matters to attend to."

"More people to threaten?" he mocked.

"Goodbye, Auror Abernathy."

She would have turned away and left if he hadn't reached for her arm. He didn't grip, he barely touched but it was enough to stop her. She clearly didn't have the good sense to be intimidated so he figured it meant she was interested.

"How about a drink later?" he asked.

She batted her eyelashes and looked him up and down with pinched lips. "Perhaps."