6 October 1952

Minerva felt as though she had been working at the Ministry for years however, in reality, it had barely been one month. Over the course of the last few weeks, she had taken on more jobs than anyone else in her subdivision - the Hit Wizard Squad. She had signed up for every training session, every watch, and every arrest. She had answered all calls ranging from ones made by the general population to those by the Witch Watch, Aurors and other subdivisions like the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts. Furthermore, she was the earliest to arrive in the office and the last one to leave.

And despite her colleagues warning that she should slow down, Minerva did not feel as though she was able to. She embraced the monotonous cycle of waking, eating, working, sleeping. Partly because allowing herself any amount of free time meant that her mind was given the freedom to drift back to the life she had left behind. Still full of all the emotions she had felt in Caithness, Minerva's newfound solution for her pain was work.

It was now her fifth week at the Ministry. Blearily rubbing her eyes, Minerva gratefully accepted the coffee her colleague Annabelle was offering her.

"You're going to need it," Anabelle said as she squeezed past Minerva and sat herself down at her desk. "That new recruit, Alastor Moody, arrested four wizards just now," she explained. "Another late night for us, I think."

"Four wizards?" Minerva repeated.

Anabelle nodded. "They attacked a group of muggle travellers," she said.

Minerva frowned. "What for?"

"Well, that's just it," Anabelle said, her forehead creasing to form a concerned expression. "There wasn't any other reason for them attacking those muggles apart from the fact that the travellers were muggles. Mind you there has been a lot of anti-muggle sentiment flying around the place," she added. "Even within the Ministry."

Minerva nodded darkly; she had noticed a certain atmosphere settle in some departments of the ministry. Teasing, and cruel jokes made about muggles and sometimes muggle-borns. It made her cross.

"I reckon Urquat is getting concerned about it too," Anabelle said, after a moment. "The head of the Auror team spoke to him last night. I don't know much about what was discussed apart from the fact that most of the wizards who have been arrested, so far, seem to all be part of a similar group."

"How odd," Minerva said slowly. "Do we know much about the group?"

Anabelle shook her head. "But I have been told it isn't like how it was with Grindelwald," she said slowly before shrugging. "Hopefully, the Aurors have most of them by now."

Minerva nodded. "Hopefully," she agreed.

26 November 1952

"Ah McGonagall, just the person I wanted to see," Minerva nearly dropped the stack of papers she was carrying back to her office. She turned around to see Elphinstone walking up towards her.

"Mr Urquat," she said, as he walked towards her.

"When will you start calling me Elphinstone," he admonished her, smiling in a tired sort of way. Minerva opened her mouth to speak but Elphinstone beat her to it, "Never mind about that," he said, waving his hands as if trying to swat a fly, "I just wanted to say excellent work yesterday. I know Hit Wizards normally handle situations with dangerous wizards but your work at the Quidditch match was much appreciated and very well executed."

Minerva blushed. "Thank you, Sir. It was a team effort."

"Yes, you all did very well," he said, smiling. "I think you and your team should take the afternoon off today. Start your weekends early," he added. "You have all worked hard enough this week and I think we all deserve one decent night's sleep."

Minerva nodded. "I'll just finish off this report first."

"No need to worry about that, McGonagall," he said, taking the file from her. "I'll do it. Next week is going to be very busy and I'd like the whole department to be in top form." He smiled. "Go home and try and get some rest if you can. I daresay we all need it."

Minerva nodded, "I will tell the rest of the team," she said, though she found herself unable to hide her disappointment. Indeed, she did not fancy spending an evening alone in her small apartment without anything to distract herself from.

Elphinstone chuckled, noticing her expression. "I didn't realise you would be such a determined worker," he said. "We all deserve some rest at some point, McGonagall," he added. "And with recent developments, I believe we should make the most of any little time we are given to get some peace and quiet."

Minerva nodded. "Of course," she said.

"Then I will bid you goodnight, McGonagall. Have a good weekend."

"You too, Sir," replied Minerva, waving before turning around and making her way back to her office.