Greg entered the little police station warily, although not warily enough, because even on tiptoe, the tall, robed confused-looking wizard still attracted loads of attention.

"So," said a man in a dark suit. "You must be the new witch."

"Er, I'm a wizard, actually," said Greg. "Witches are the girls."

"You mean witches are wizards ... but wizards are not witches?" said a stout woman. "Seems a bit sexist then."

Greg looked about and realized literally every one of the seven people in the room was looking up from his or her desk in amusement. It was a small room, cluttered with dirty mugs and affectionately neglected cacti. Rubbish bins overflowed with old reports, and sticky notes covered the bulletin board. This here was a place of doing as one liked.

"Right," said the man in the suit. "I'm James Harvey. Welcome to Lower Tadfield; you'll be working on the Howeth case."

"Shouldn't take long with your help!" said the lady. "They say crime's already down forty per cent in police stations that have a wizard-for-hire on the staff. Frightens potential criminals, you know."

"Yes," said James. "I shouldn't wonder if that was the point ... In any case, Greg, why don't we find you a desk, and you can get on with it." After brushing an enormous stack of papers off the desk near the window, he added, "You've brought your own supplies, I hope?"

Greg gulped. "Supplies? What supplies?"

"Well, you'd know that better than I," said James, chuckling nervously. "Whatever it is you need to do your work. Now I've got a file here with all the important facts in the Howeth case, but of course you'll want to talk to many of the suspects in person, read their auras, that sort of thing."

"There must be some mistake. Were you expecting an auror?"

"An ... I'm not sure what the correct word is for you lot, but we were expecting somebody who solves cases with magic," said Monica. "A wizard-for-hire, right? You are a wizard, aren't you?"

Greg clenched his right fist. "Of course I am!" And to prove it, he shot a spark of Slytherin colors right over Monica's shoulder.

James breathed in relief. "Right then, there's no need for that! So you'll be able to do the tea leaves and the crystal balls and such? I've heard the crystal balls are quite effective."

"Oh, you mean divination!" said Greg, as the situation slowly dawned on him. "You want me to work out who did murders and robberies and that sort of thing, but with divination!"

Monica nodded. "Yes, Gregory. Divination. Will you be able to do some divination for us?"

"Sorry," said Greg. "Never took that class. I did Care of Magical Creatures instead ... You haven't got a hippogriff around I could tend, have you?"