On November 22nd, a Thursday, Lyla dressed in Myrtle Green slacks, pinstriped with Sea Green and a tight-waisted, Sea Green peasant top. She had even done her hair with it gathered into a braid running up the back of her head and hoisted into a high ponytail. Her upper lid was lined with a faint purple line, making her eyes even more green and contrasting the deep plum color of her lips. Despite the fact that she was required to dress more professionally on days she needed to present her monthly findings at the Ministry she would never be the long, heavy dark robe wearing kind of girl.

She scooped up her leather shoulder bag filled with her reports and case files, and sprinkled some Floo Powder on the radiator in her apartment. The section where the powder had fallen sunk into the ground as the green flames grew in its place.

"Ministry of Magic" she said purposefully after stepping into the warm flames.

In the split second it took for the Floo Powder to work Lyla had extended her foot and planted it on the black marble floor of the Ministry's atrium. She gracefully began walking, her suede, plum-colored heels clicking on the floor as she crossed to the elevators. She rode the elevator in silence, pressing her back as close as she could to the wall of the elevator as waves of people entered at each new floor.

She pushed through the warm bodies when the soothing voice announced "Care and Control of Magical Creatures" and exited the enclosed box onto the floor of her office. In the center was a large garden with multicolored water trickling down from above it and landing soothingly on the petals and leaves below. The garden took up most of the floor space because, while the department was immensely important, the amount of people that worked there all day, every day was a small fraction of the total number of employees. Aside from the greenspace in the middle, which sprouted plantlife from all over to make any magical creature that entered feel more comfortable, nothing else blocked the views from one die of the department to the other.

Lyla strode over to the far left hand corner where the Spirit Division was located. There, at the first desk, was a small, older woman with a very slight frame. Her fingers were long and you could tell that she had once been a very tall, graceful woman when she was younger. Since then however, age had made her much smaller.

"Hi Beth!" Lyla called to her, swooping down to kiss the woman on her cheek as she passed her desk. Beth said nothing in reply but the apples of her cheeks grew under her eyes as she smiled brightly and continued writing in the planner in front of her.

Lyla was the youngest person in the division; a fact that upset her quite a lot. Not because she didn't enjoy her coworkers, but because she loved and was fascinated by her job and couldn't imagine someone not wanting to be involved with the spirit world as well. She couldn't wait until the end of the year when she was going to be able to do her first Career Expo for the Seventh Years at Hogwarts. Having someone closer in age to seventh years was sure to peek some interest.

"Lyla!" a boisterous voice called from behind the glass wall across from her door. Her boss, Clive Swanson, was a robust man with a perfectly groomed mustache and consistently red cheeks. His imposing form paired with his coloring gave off a very intimidating first impression. The truth was, he was the most jovial, light-hearted man Lyla had ever met. While he impulsively honored the rules and was an effective and respected Head of Division, which he projected by wearing brown tweed suits every day, those in the division knew that his mismatched, brightly-colored socks were the expression of his good-humored nature. "Lyla!" he repeated as he waddled closer to her desk, she stood up. "Good to see you, love! So glad you'll be with us for more than a nod and a wink." she smiled at him but wasn't given an opportunity to speak. "Business as usual, business as usual today. Nothing we haven't done before! So come, come into my office and brief me quickly before we head into the Lion's Den the, shall we?"

He held his arm out and gentlemanly guided her towards his office. She sat down on one of the soft, forrest green chairs opposite his desk and flipped open her compilation of files.

"Now then," Clive huffed as he sunk into his own chair "We know that there's be a spike in activity" he shifted uncomfortably in his chair "pretty much across the board. Since last month, the board just really wants to know if the percentages of ghosts disturbed by...external forces, has fallen."

Lyla sighed as she looked down at the sheets below her. "I mean, yeah" she said finally "B-"

"Good!" Clive shouted, laughing

"BUT" she interjected, "But that doesn't change what happened those first two months afterward. Has the department even sent last month's reports to the Minister's office like everyone suggested?"

Clive grumbled and cleared his throat. "Well, um, no not as such." Lyla rolled her eyes internally; whenever Clive couldn't think of a way to prevent himself from voicing his uncertainties with the ministry he started stringing together random words to make ridiculously pompous and confusing phrases. "As it were they had much to tackle forthwith and...top of the pile, bottom of the pile; you know how it is!" He was nervously straightening papers on his desk.

Lyla crossed her arms, "As I recall, at the last monthly meeting, the Spirit Division wasn't the only division that reported a threefold increase in temporary personality disorders that spirits themselves attributed to the fear or feeling of a 'disturbing' presence stirring after what happened at the World Cup. Giant on giant brutality was up four percent, nomadic unicorns have been tracked in completely new and peculiar directions, and centaurs have begun mobilizing and there has been an increase in communication between clans that otherwise don't. None of that was even reported in the department wide memo!"

When she finished her lecture Clive was looking down at his large, sausage fingers. His dark eyes darted from his hands to her, to the opening of his office and back to Lyla again. His voice was lowered but kind as he responded, "We can't make people see what they don't want to see." His voice was strained and his thick eyebrows raised.

Lyla ran her fingers over her head and down her face as she nodded curtly, "Yeah" she breathed "Yeah, Clive-o, I know." She gave him a sideways smile and stood up. "So what time are we heading down?"

He looked at the wooden mantel clock on his desk, "Hour and half" he replied, rocking back in his chair.

"Okay," she said, smiling as she returned to her desk.

At eleven thirty Lyla and Clive convened in the front of the elevator doors with two other representatives from each division waiting to go down to the Wizengamot trial room. The Care of Magical Creatures Department was comprised of incredibly interesting wizards. In school, they had all been a nerd for one thing or another. It didn't necessarily impede their abilities to socialize but it did make them incredibly interesting. The two representatives for unicorns had shimmery, light blue hair with porcelain skin. The male of the two constantly wore round-rimmed sunglasses, even indoors, which made him look even paler. The female, head of department, was much older and wore pastel, pearlescent stockings with all her suits. Ironically, all the representatives for goblins were very tall where the giant trackers were all petite in height. Lyla looked down at herself, back towards Beth sitting in her desk in her violet suit garnished with a large peony on the lapel and down at Clive's socks, lime green and cream polkadots on the left foot and raspberry socks with snitches on the right, and thought about how contradictory they were as well: refusing to blend into the shadows in which they spend all their time.

After the group of misfits boarded the elevator it sped down towards the Wizengamot; due to the capacity being met it surpassed all other floors. When it reached the lowest level it jolted and the doors pinged joyfully as they opened.

As expected, the ministry committee was running behind with their briefings so the heads of each division brought their employees together to discuss their findings and find any commonalities between them. With each new piece of information shared and compounded on you could see the heads becoming sullen.

"We have to show a united front!" the head of the centaur watchers growled frustratedly. He had pale amber eyes that stood out against his dark skin and amplified his intensity.

"They didn't listen last time, they won't see it this time" the head giant watcher croaked in a deep, toad-like voice. "It's just a damn formality."

With the truth hanging in the air everyone fell silent. As though sensing the group's frustration the door opened and the Underage Regulatory Committee filed out. As the door began to slowly close when the last person left the head for unicorns swiftly stuck her foot in the way so that it couldn't completely close then kicked it back open for everyone to follow her in without being called first.

"We haven't called you yet." Cornelius Fudge stated indignantly.

The end of his sentence was drowned out by the head of centaurs bringing his tangerine-faced watch up to his eyes and saying, "My, is it one o'clock already?" Their appointment had been for twelve and, suddenly, Fudge was quiet.

He cleared his throat authoritatively. "Well then. First, all of you must hand in your paperwork to the clerk." Lyla had already gotten in line behind her department peers and handed in the copies of her case summaries before Fudge had even begun speaking. After roll had been painstakingly called and they reviewed the pressing points of last month's meeting each head stood up to give an update from their department on the advancements that had been made since last month. No one had anything reassuring to report other than the fact that the three goblins who had gone missed weeks ago turned up in a creek in Ireland, hiding under a bridge and scaring children on their way home from school. They had been drinking quite a lot.

The ministry members asked about population growth of the giants and for an updated lineage form for the elves to see if any had changed ownership or been freed recently. All they wanted to know from the spirit world was the accumulated price of remedies for the two cases of Mist Rot that had been dealt with in the last month. Then, just like that - after the goblins had given their final report on banker training classes, the meeting was over.

They all obediently exited the chamber but, before the last representative closed the door behind him, he looked directly at the clerk who had taken and was responsible for reading and storing their summaries and said in a high-pitched voice, "I think you'll want to take note of the common theme and phrase I'm sure we've all included in our findings for this month...'He's back.'" With that, he let the door close behind him with a loud thwap! He was a lower level representative for goblins and when they were in the privacy of the elevator again his superior clapped him sharply on the shoulder and exposed his large white teeth in a smile as everyone else congratulated and thanked him for speaking up. Lyla was exhilarated by the experience but knew that there would be some kind of reprimand in the boy's future. If she wasn't mistaken, Dolores Umbridge had been in one of the higher rows and she would not let Fudge let the sting of his embarrassment wash away without demanding reparations.

When the door dinged and opened onto their floor once more they all adjusted their eyes from the darkness of the Wizengamot room to the bright, freshness of their office. A few paces closer to their office Beth had bolted up from her desk and was now hobbling toward Lyla and Clive, waving a piece of parchment in her hand.

"Request from Hogwarts" she said in a gravelly voice, as she placed the message in Clive outstretched hand.

He place his other hand on her shoulder and guided her back to the office, both of them walking slowly. "There's no bit of news that's so important that you need to run a race to deliver it Beth" he chuckled "Just sit on back down at your desk now." He smiled at her, a twinkle in his eyes, as he unfolded the parchment she had given him.

His eyes darted back and forth as he read the word written in dark green ink, the corners of his mouth turned upwards the whole time. "Right then" he said, folding it again and turning to face Lyla, "You were personally requested by Dumbledore to leave for Hogwarts immediately to attend to the Fat Friar's Mist Rot."

Lyla furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side to indicate her confusion. "Me?" she asked, "Why me?"

"Do I look like Dumbledore, dear? I don't know! That man always has an inkling more than the rest of us." Clive winked at her. "Well" he exclaimed after her long silence, "off with you then! He's expecting you at five, just in time for dinner."

"Alright, alright," she said defeatedly "I guess it will be good to see Alicia...even if it is on a weekend."

Clive chuckled and put a hand to his stomach, "Tell her I said hello!" he called after her as she bent down to kiss Beth goodbye and headed toward the elevators again.