Ministry of Magic - June 25

4:00PM

A pair of bright red stilettos clipped across the sleek marble floor as Miriam Matthews maneuvered her way through a throng of smartly dressed wizards.

Her neatly polished nails glistened in the artificial light as she clutched onto a thick manilla folder in one hand and a cup of recently purchased, steaming tea in the other.

She smiled at a few familiar faces as they flew past, but was in too much of a rush to stop and chat to those who opened their mouths in greeting.

Already five minutes late to the meeting she had arranged with her boss, she walked as fast as she could past the Obliviation Offices towards Accidental Magic, her calves burning from the prolonged use of her traitorous shoes.

Awkwardly jogging the last few steps, she reached the translucent glass doors and yanked fiercely on the handle.

Miriam slipped inside, sweating slightly and desperately hoping to find her desk to set the burning cup of tea down- perhaps she should have opted for a cold drink.

"Ah, Mitzy!" The strong, deep voice of Winston Ermine broke through the air as Miriam shuddered at the nickname. Ermine was the tall, handsome head of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. "I see you had time to stop for a cuppa," he admonished, raising a golden eyebrow at her. "And you didn't even care to get me one!"

Miriam tried to force what looked like sheepish smile at her boss.

"Alright, what's so important that you've interrupted my schedule?"

Just as she pulled out the bursting file from under her arm, two figures emerged from around the corner - an exceptionally thin, older woman with grey streaked hair and an ancient looking man dressed in solid purple robes of crushed velvet - neither of whom belonged on the third floor.

Mathews reigned in the folder at once.

"This is Perpetua Hodgkins and Professor Saul Croaker," Winston explained cordially. She noticed, with a slight pang of irritation, that he didn't bother to return the introduction. "Department of Mysteries," he added with a sidelong glance at his secretary.

Suddenly nervous, the young witch fiddled with the paper in her hand. The two Unspeakables nodded politely in her direction before striking up a hushed conversation about the latest Puddlemere United match as though it were of utmost importance.

"Come on love, spit it out. I haven't got all day," Winston tutted impatiently.

Miriam quickly set down the scalding cup of tea on a nearby planter before handing the file over to her boss as she began to explain.

"Accidental magic in the presence of two Muggles -"

"Then why is this coming to me?" He asked brusquely, peering up at her from under his pale lashes with a look that made it clear he was questioning her competence. "Send this to Underage Magic." He declared, trying to rid himself of the unopened work as fast as he could

"But sir, the subject is 26 years old and -"

"Obliviators then," he interjected once more, brandishing the file at her as though it were about to catch fire.

Trying not to lose her patience, Miriam tried again, knowing Ermine's attention span and appetite for challenging work was about the size of a pea. "Sir, please just read it."

The blonde man gave her a pointed glare before reluctantly ripping out a pair of spectacles from the breast pocket of his expensive navy suit.

"Yorkshire, England, June 25th at five past three in the afternoon, employee at Tinsley's Tally - blah blah blah…" His blue eyes glazed over frighteningly fast as he lost interest, skimming the document until he stopped, suddenly frowning. "Remus John Lupin...Lupin. Why does that sound so familiar?"

"Lyall's boy?" The austere witch broke off in mid conversation with the purple robed professor, her thin eyebrows piqued with sudden interest as she turned her cold gaze onto Ermine.

Miriam could see her boss' eyes flick back to the top of the page to properly read through the document this time.

"Yes...I suppose it is his son." The fully grown, six foot man before her abruptly looked intensely uncomfortable. He held the incident report gingerly, as though it were a contagious disease.

Miriam stared at him curiously before opting to speak. "I didn't think anything of it at first, but then I saw his age and how unusual it is for a fully grown wizard to lose control of magic like that...so I did some research."

Hodgkins and Ermine both glared at her, a strange look settling upon their features as she continued, not caring for the Unspeakable who had wedged herself into the conversation - at least Professor Croaker had taken to examining the paintings on the walls. "This Remus - he's a Hogwarts graduate with ten O.W.L's, a former member of the Order, and his father was one of the most brilliant minds on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions."

"So?" Ermine challenged, still glaring condescendingly at her.

Miriam's eye twitched in annoyance.

"So...I was wondering what in Merlin's name he was doing working at a Muggle grocery store."

"Maybe he fancies it there," Her boss concluded, flipping the file shut with extra force as though the pages were threatening to jump out and attack him.

"Well, no - because then I remembered coming across his name on an application a few months prior. So I borrowed his personal file from public records..."

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Perpetua seemed as though she were cautioning Miriam with her eyes.

"Er...he's applied for over forty different positions in the past two years and-"

"Ah! Simply not qualified for a ministry job, eh?" Ermine countered again, looking somewhat smug as he tugged on his lapels.

"That's the thing sir, not only is he exceptionally overqualified, but he's not even being properly rejected either." Her boss huffed loudly, quickly losing his mirth. "All of his documents are stamped void." Miriam reached over and opened the file again, pulling out an enormous stack of applications, her finger showcasing the bright red stamp which blotted out the entire page. "It's like no one is even reading past his name…"

Ermine's face was slightly pink and he was chewing the inside of his cheek in irritation. "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

Miriam was slightly taken aback. She'd expected to be shut down or shut up five minutes ago, but Winston was actually asking her opinion. "Well...his father still works here doesn't he? On the seventh floor? The very least we could do is ask him to get in touch with Remus and offer the man an inter-"

"Absolutely not!" Ermine hissed, his eyes suddenly blazing like flecks of blue fire. "I will not have someth- someone like that working within ten feet of Whitehall!"

Miriam felt the bottom of her stomach give way at the image of her boss positively beside himself with anger at such a seemingly innocuous request. What the bloody hell did he mean someone like that?

"Calm yourself, Winston," Perpetua warned, stepping forward to place a hand on his padded shoulder. She forced a smile at the young witch that made it look like her face was about to crack.

"Clearly you've got a very intelligent secretary on your hands - nothing to get your knickers in a knot over," she stated, reaching over and grabbing Remus Lupin's file delicately from Ermine who had nearly bent the folder in half.

"Young master Lupin got himself caught up in the wrong crowd awhile back," Hodgkins explained calmly, flicking through the stacks of paperwork Miriam had accumulated in the past hour. "Dangerous fellow...if provoked."

"But he has no criminal record, I went through and checked."

At this, the old witch gave the young woman a glare that could blister paint before resting her gaze on Ermine. "Clearly you need to be giving her more work if she has time to do all this... snooping." Perpetua concluded before brandishing the bursting folder at him.

Mathew's face flushed at the remark - but it was clear that Ermine and Hodgkins were hiding something.

"If I give her anymore work to do, the rest of the department would be out of a job within the week," Winston praised, suddenly defensive over the woman he had just lost his temper with seconds ago.

The secretary smirked slightly - her boss was incorrigible, but at least he had some redeeming moments.

Perpetua rolled her cold, grey eyes at them before turning back to the file in her hands.

"Well, Miss…" the Unspeakable paused, waiting for the other witch to respond.

"Mitzy," Ermine interjected, completely disintegrating any ounce of gratitude Miriam felt towards him.

Perpetua nearly scoffed, but kept her eyes down, now perusing the incident report.

"Were these Muggles threatening him? Which spell was used?" She asked curiously, turning over the page in hopes of finding more information.

"The circumstances were unremarkable, ma'am. And there wasn't a specific spell - he lost control -"

"At the age of twenty-six?" The older woman's posh, condescending sneer made Miriam want to smack the wrinkles off her wizened face. "That's unheard of."

"And why, I believe, she began to investigate in the first place," the hoarse, throaty voice of the forgotten professor suddenly chimed in.

The young secretary wanted to reach over and give him a hug - he wasn't even a part of the conversation and he'd been listening better than these two.

"Well that still doesn't explain why..." Perpetua trailed off, her steely eyes suddenly widening as though a great epiphany had rammed itself into one of her bat-like ears.

A few seconds of silence passed before Ermine exchanged a confused glance with his secretary. Croaker sighed, checking one of the three pocket watches he wore before tucking it back into his robes.

"I must get going," he announced, already halfway out the door. "Ermine, Hodgkins, young miss - it's been a pleasure." And with a great flourish of purple, the Professor was gone.

Perpetua seemed to have returned to reality as she began stuffing papers back into Lupin's file. "I'll be taking this from you - for research purposes."

"What? You can't confiscate someone's personal file!"

"Young girl, you do not tell me what I can and can't do," Hodgkins challenged dangerously, tucking all of Miriam's findings under her bony arm.

Mathews had half a mind to rip the folder out of the old hag's gnarled hands.

Ermine seemed to sense her violent thoughts and put a hand on her elbow, shaking his head. His pale blue eyes were wide and wordlessly warning her not to press the matter.

Silently fuming, Miriam nodded tersely at the old woman who smirked in reply.

"A good day to you Winston, and to you Mitzy."

~~O~~

Clicking her tongue in impatience, Perpetua waited for the lift attendant to open the doors as the small box came to its final stop on level 9.

"Department of Mysteries," a pleasant, bodiless voice announced as a few inter office memos flitted out ahead of the old witch.

As fast as her dark polished pumps could take her, the veteran Unspeakable flew down the shining black corridors towards a single room at the end of the hall that remained perpetually locked.

Pulling out her sleek, unyielding wand, Hodgkins pointed it straight at the centre of the keyless door.

"Ego sum Clavis."

A bright red streak of light appeared in the centre of the smooth, stone facade and then vanished just as quickly - a small, golden doorknob magically appearing in its place.

Quickly casting a bubble head charm on herself, Perpetua pulled the heavy door open and deftly slipped into the Love Chamber.