Chapter 2! I'm going to try to upload on a weekly basis from now on, so hopefully every Sunday. I hope you like it! :)
"I'm a magician," had been the first thing she'd managed to blurt out.
Audrey hadn't known how to respond to the man. She didn't know what Muggle etiquette was in London- was she supposed to acknowledge that she was, in actuality, a witch? Was she supposed to pretend the object he'd picked up was not a wand but just a stick off the road that had happened to fall into her open suitcase? It had been far easier to be a witch during her time at Salem; the school and its surrounding suburbs had been mostly populated by wizard folk and so dropped wands had never been cause for concern. Audrey had thus found herself resorting to her least favorite method of response: lying.
Luckily, lying had never been a problem for Audrey. Her summers had been spent with her Muggle father in New York and as a result, Audrey had grown up not only frequenting Broadway shows but also starring in several local productions in their neighborhood in Long Island (her performance in The Winter's Tale had been the talk of the town for weeks).
So really, covering up her wand was not worrying in the least.
"Birthday party. I'm the main attraction," she elaborated and, in a moment of brilliance, gestured to the shocking pink bun atop her forehead (YES! She'd known the shocking pink would prove useful sooner or later!)
The man eyed her in disbelief and for a brief moment Audrey wondered why she had even bothered to dignify him with an explanation. She should have just muttered a thank you, pocketed her wand and gone on her way- although, of course, that was a scenario that would only have occurred in a world where Audrey actually thought before she spoke.
After a pause, the man spoke. "It looks very…real." He had returned his gaze to the wand in his hand and was now rolling it over onto his palm, his fingers nimbly stroking the curved edges.
"I only purchase the highest quality material. It makes for a more believable act. I cater to a teenaged audience, you see." Yes. That would do nicely. Audrey figured she didn't look the type of magician children would like anyway, not with the black suit she'd donned for the occasion. It was a little serious.
"A birthday party for a teenager? It's eight in the morning and we're in central London. What teenagers could possibly be hosting a birthday party out of school on a Monday morning-"
"Look." His interrogation was making her uncomfortable and she knew the truth was starting to simmer near the surface. She extended her hand and nodded towards the wand. "I really don't think I owe an explanation as to the particulars of my job to a stranger on the metro. Can I have my wand back, please?"
As if suddenly remembering himself, the man blushed furiously and hastily handed over the wand, which Audrey quickly pocketed (making sure to zip the pocket up this time around). She curtly nodded to him, made to turn around and for the second time was stopped by the sound of his voice.
"I just wanted to apologize- I don't usually interrogate strangers on the tube, I just- it's been weird since Fre- never mind, you- I thought you might be someone like- someone I knew. Terribly sorry again, ah- good day."
He hurried off in the direction of the escalators and Audrey breathed a sigh of relief. She would have to do a better job in the mornings of packing her wand, lest she rouse the suspicions of half of London regarding her real occupation. She supposed her father had been right in advising her to take a look at the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, but Audrey hadn't been bothered at the time. She had made it thus far in life purely on the basis of 'winging it' and she had planned to keep on in the same manner. At least that had been her plan until she'd found herself in the rather unpleasant scenario of lying.
(Because, yes, Audrey's performance in The Winter's Tale had been the talk of the town for weeks- but only because she had been a horrific Princess Hermione).
By the time she'd managed to make it out of the station, it had started pouring. She was a little put out, having been spoiled during her first couple of weeks in England with an unexpected bout of sunny weather and only one or two days when it had drizzled. Her father had told her not to set her expectations too high and assume the rest of the year would be that lovely- "In fact, you're quite unlucky because now you have absolutely nothing to look forward to!" Audrey's father was nothing if not an optimist.
Regardless, she pushed on, momentarily berating herself for forgetting to pack her good umbrella after assuming the weak rays of shining streaming into the living room earlier that morning promised good weather. She followed the mental map she had memorized until she found herself at the telephone box and nodded to herself. This was it! This was the official start of her life in London and the moment she stepped into that telephone box and down into the corridors of the Ministry of Magic she could count herself as having fully embraced her English heritage.
As she punched the code into the keypad, Audrey thought about her rather unconventional upbringing. The product of an ill-fated romance between an American witch and an English squib, Audrey had spent the vast majority of her childhood living in Virginia with her mother, only relocating to Massachusetts to attend Salem following her eleventh birthday. Despite her father hailing from London, Audrey had spent most of her summers with him vacationing in his summer home on the Spanish Riviera ("You're going to have a real summer and that means beaches, ice lollies and scalding hot weather," he had informed her the summer following the divorce, sashaying her into a world of paella and flamenco that molded into what her definition of 'summer' became). England had never come into the picture; her father had always talked about taking her with him during Christmas vacations to visit her Nana and cousins, but the idea had never blossomed into reality. Nana had died just before Audrey had started Salem and her cousins quickly faded away into postcards and birthday gifts that came three weeks too late. She had of course never regretted her childhood; she had loved Salem with every fiber of her being and had adopted it as a home after never really being sure what home was.
She had struggled with the idea of home for a long time. Was it Charlottesville, where she had spent the majority of her formative years with her mother? Was it her father's villa near Benidorm, where she had spent her summers tanning and attempting to mingle with the steady stream of Spanish women her father had dated throughout her teenage years? Or was it Salem, where she had met and grown with her most bosom friends and cultivated the skills that defined her very being?
None of them had really been home, she supposed. Charlottesville had been too collegiate. They had never really gotten close to their neighbors and besides trips to the farmer's market or the apple orchard, Audrey had never really interacted with it. Her mother had sent her to the local elementary school, where Audrey had never quite fit in due to her eccentric taste in clothing and inability to rear in her sudden bursts of magic. Spain was…Spain was Spain, a place where she spent her summers getting brown and improving her Spanish. And Salem? She had loved it, of course, and it had definitely been home for the seven years she'd spent there but she was doubtful if it was anything but 'school' now. Her friends weren't there anymore and Salem wasn't fun without people you knew- as she had found out this summer when it only been her and Caroline left.
London had never struck her as a place she could call home and she wasn't sure if it ever would- it was too loud, too busy, too full of people minding their own business to warm up to you and be considered homey- but she was willing to try. Her mother had certainly never encouraged her to visit (London brought back memories of Audrey's father and years that her mother very much wanted to push out of her mind) but the city had always held a fascination for her, with its ability to blend the past with the present, the old with the new- never quite letting go of one or the other but amalgamating the two into something that was inexplicably London.
The opening doors jolted Audrey out of her mental love letter to London and she shook her head, attempting to focus her scattered thoughts on the task ahead of her. As she tripped into the hustle and bustle that was the Ministry of Magic, she suddenly felt small. Everything was so big- from the towering, gleaming emerald walls to the lofty wizards elbowing her out of the way in their quest to reach the stuffed elevator at the center of the room, desperate to settle into their offices before the large clock behind her struck eight. She wasn't in any hurry, of course- a glanced at her watch reassured her that she still had twenty minutes to spare before her orientation started. She figured it was best to get there earlier rather than later however, so she hurried along the vast atrium and squeezed herself into a corner of the elevator.
As she watched the doors shut a few moments later, Audrey realized that she had absolutely no idea where to get off. The letter had told her she would know when she got there but the elevator seemed to have no buttons; no one else seemed fazed by this however, given their glazed expressions and tired sighs. But she needn't have worried: as the elevator stopped at the first floor, the operator's clear voice announced the level and the offices on that floor.
Little by little, the crowd in the elevator dispersed, with most of the wizards and witches trickling out onto the second floor, which Audrey learned was the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She figured it was one of the larger departments at the Ministry and breathed a sigh of relief; she wouldn't have liked to work amongst so many people and have to battle her way to recognition. It was far too difficult to get along with more than ten coworkers, as she'd learned from various group projects in school.
"Level 5: Department of International Magical Cooperation. Alight here for the following divisions: International Magical Trading Standards Body, International Magical Office of Law and International Confederation of Wizards- British Seats," the operator boomed and Audrey excitedly got off. The corridor she was in was fairly empty; there were a couple of witches gossiping near the elevator and one or two harried-looking wizards darting between various doors.
Audrey walked down the corridor in search of the International Magical Office of Law and spotted a sign leading to it at the end of the corridor. She made a left and continued along the widening corridor, which ended in a large, circular lobby with a splendid dome-shaped roof that must have been forty feet high. A series of golden doors lined the perimeter of the room, from which a steady stream of wizards and witches entered and exited, all dressed in magenta robes and wearing serious expressions. Pausing, Audrey took a moment to survey the different doors and spot one where people were entering who weren't dressed in magenta robes and didn't look like they were at least forty. She spotted a group of giggling witches that looked to be around her own age heading into a door on her right and she followed them into a small room where a large crowd of twenty-somethings was gathered.
She tapped one of the giggling witches. "Are you here for the orientation?" she asked.
The girl paused, took a look at Audrey's hair, nudged her friends and snickered audibly. Rolling her eyes, Audrey looked at her with an unimpressed expression. "Look, you're more than free to make fun of my hair- I'm flattered it's going to be the new topic of your discussion. But before you get on with dissecting how stupid it looks, could you answer my question?"
"Yes. We are," the girl muttered, blushing furiously and ushering her friends away from Audrey and her hair.
A tall, thin wizard in magenta robes suddenly appeared on the center of the stage, his face hidden behind a bundle of tightly scrunched up yellow parchment. A hush crept over the room and Audrey reluctantly pulled herself away from the whispered conversation the coterie of witches near her had been having regarding the latest cover of Witch Weekly. The wizard dropped the bundle of parchment onto the table beside him, leisurely searched through it for something, and then pulled out a scroll. Clearing his throat, he fixed the lopsided badge on his chest that read HENRY PIPPETT, and unfolded the tightly rolled scroll.
"You've all demonstrated interest in working at the Department of International Magical Cooperation," he began, briefly making eye contact with Audrey and the throng of people around her, "However, as you will all know, a job at this department requires a set of particular skills that cannot be acquired by simply sitting your N.E.W.T.s. As such, the Ministry desires only the best and brightest applicants. In previous years, interns were accepted directly into the training program but following the redesign of the department (and the alarming spike of interest in working in International Magical Cooperation), interested applicants- i.e. you all- are placed into different roles in various, carefully selected offices in the Ministry and observed for two months. Your performance in your respective offices, along with recommendations from two heads of the departments you will be working under, will be used to determine which of you will be one of the ten interns at the Department of International Magical Cooperation. If you are accepted, you will have the opportunity to choose which of the three offices you want to work under; if you are rejected, you will be given the option of continuing to work in the office you were previously placed in or transferred to our Career Advising Office."
He rolled up the scroll and stepped back to observe the sea of blank faces in front of him. "Right. Any questions before we move onto the placement process?"
A low murmur arose from the crowd around Audrey as people tried to make sense of the information they'd just been handed; didn't it go against everything the employment offer letter had said? Shaking her head, Audrey raised her hand.
"Yes- you with the pink hair?"
"I thought- and forgive me if I'm wrong- that we would be working directly as interns in this department? The letter didn't say anything about a competitive process…"
Henry shrugged. "We prefer to clarify the conditions in person so as to avoid declining interest and miscommunication through the mail. Now-"
"Wait but that's completely unfair!" a fiery redhead shot out from Audrey's left. "No one said anything about having to earn our internship position and certainly nothing about having to slave away in other offices. What am I supposed to learn about diplomacy and international relations if I'm placed in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office?!"
"It's Ministry policy I'm afraid. If you'd rather not partake, you are more than welcome to let me know following the end of the orientation and I will be more than happy to direct you to the Career Advising Office."
The redhead shook her head and glared at Henry in disgust; she didn't seem inclined to leave, however. A final observation of the room allowed Henry to push on with the rest of the program and he jumped down from his platform, cleared a path through the crowd, and walked to the back of the room where several bowls filled with paper slips sat on a long wooden table.
"Since there are no more questions, we can move onto the exciting part. There are four bowls here and you will place your hand into them and draw out your assignment. It's completely random, of course- no funny business here! Just place yourself in roughly three lines of equal length and pick a paper slip! Once you do that, you'll just step over to the metal post box over there and receive a booklet with further instructions regarding your assignment. Good luck!"
Henry waved to them and then darted out of the door. Audrey eyed his retreating figure with disbelief and exchanged an appalled expression with the wizard to her left.
"This is a right joke," he grumbled to her, as they shuffled over to the leftmost bowl and lined up. Audrey nodded. What would happen, as the redhead had demanded, if she was placed in an office that had nothing to do with the aspirations she had had at the Department of International Magical Cooperation? She would still accept the offer, of course, but what did it mean for her future? Wouldn't it just diminish her opportunity of being accepted as an intern if she lacked the skills that the department required? And really, what had been the point of coming to work in England if she wasn't going to even be able to secure a job in a field she actually wanted?
All she could do, she supposed, as the line got shorter and the rotund symbol of her future drew closer, was to cross her fingers and pray that fortune was working in her favor today. She uttered a silent prayer and dipped her hand into the bowl. She grasped the scrap of paper, pulled it out, turned it over and promptly felt her stomach sink as she read her assigned office.
Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes- Muggle Liaisons Office
I've tried to be as accurate as possible with regards to placement of the Ministry offices and various locations in London and the Ministry of Magic but I've taken a couple of liberties with the canon- I don't think the Salem Witches' Institute was intended to be an actual American wizarding school but for the purposes of this story, it is! x