27. Bias

"Sir, a top hat and a dress – that's not appropriate Muggle attire."

"But it looks festive and I'm on my way to a party."

Minerva sighed. She hated cases like this. She hadn't graduated top of her class at Hogwarts and trained to become a fully-fledged member of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to argue about fashion.

"If you insist on the hat and want to dress up, you should wear a tuxedo or a tailcoat. Those are the appropriate choices for men."

"I've seen Muggle men in skirts!" The wizard persisted.

"Those would have been kilts, a traditional piece of clothing in Scotland. What you're wearing is not a kilt. It's a girl's dress with kittens on it!" Minerva couldn't keep the exasperation out of her voice and her mood didn't improve when she noticed that her colleagues were secretly laughing their heads off.

The wizard refused to see reason. "I know, but I think I look rather fabulous in pink, don't you?"

Her colleagues guffawed, and Minerva had enough. "Sir, either change your clothes right now or I have to arrest you."

"Arrest me? As in... go to Azkaban?"

Minerva hated threatening people with the wizarding prison because most witches and wizards were absolutely terrified of it, and rightly so. Minerva had visited it once during her training. Afterwards, she had slept with the lights on for a week and had eaten her body weight in chocolate. It was an awful place. Unfortunately, that was also why it was such an effective threat.

"Failing to don appropriate and inconspicuous Muggle attire is a breach of Clause 35 of the International Statute of Secrecy, so yes, if convicted, you'd serve your sentence in Azkaban."

The wizard started to undress so fast, Minerva saw a flash of his equally inappropriate underwear before she could stop him. "Not out here!" she hissed, grabbing his wrists.

"But you said right now..."

Minerva closed her eyes in a mute prayer for strength while her colleagues kept snickering.

Sometimes she really hated her job.

When she had finally dealt with that insufferable man, Minerva looked forward to getting back to the office. But they got another alert about a Muggle-related incident, which was a description that fit more than half of all their cases.

"I know Alan Heggarty," said Bainbridge, one of Minerva's colleagues, when they were given more information about the wizards involved. "I can deal with this one."

Giles, the third member of their little squad, nodded, glad to get off duty. But Minerva said, "I'm coming with you."

Bainbridge shot her an exasperated look, but he couldn't stop her. It was against regular procedure to go alone and he knew it. So they all went.

They Disapparated and reappeared near an open field where they spotted a whole group of people, some of them wizards and some Muggles. The two were easily enough to distinguish. The witches and wizards were wearing Quidditch gear in broad daylight. The Muggles, who were dressed for hiking, were huddled around a map and seemed completely lost.

"This doesn't look so bad," Giles said.

Minerva disagreed and strode purposefully towards the wizard who had to be Alan Heggarty. Bainbridge and Giles hurried to follow her.

"What happened here?" she asked sharply. There was no need to introduce herself as a member of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad because the insignia on her chest did that for her. Plus, as Bainbridge had already mentioned, he knew these people.

Which was probably why Alan Heggarty looked at him and not at Minerva. "Lance, thank Merlin! We're in a bit of a pickle here."

"I can see that. What happened?" Bainbridge repeated Minerva's question, which annoyed her greatly.

"Well, you know it's my birthday this weekend and we're having a bit of a family gathering and we always put on a little Quidditch tournament when we get together..."

"Playing Quidditch in the presence of Muggles is forbidden according to Clause 64 of the International Statute of Secrecy," Minerva interrupted him briskly. She would have been more polite if Heggarty had been polite enough to actually talk to her.

Now he did look at her, but only to protest, "This is my land! I can do whatever I want on my land!"

"Not if you haven't made sure that there are no Muggles on your land," Minerva informed him.

"They just came wandering in! We tried to get rid of them..."

"Excuse me?" Minerva cut across him, appalled. "How exactly did you try to 'get rid of them'?"

Heggarty looked more upset than chastised. "Confundus Charm. Problem is now they seem to have forgotten where they are and where they were going. Can't even tell us where they are from. Stupid Muggles."

Minerva was already having a bad day, so her anger was hot and fast. "You can't just go around and put Confundus Charms on people! Or would you like me to put one on you and find out if you still remember that it's your birthday then?"

"Now, now," Bainbridge jumped in. "A Confundus Charm is hardly the Cruciatus Curse. We can fix them, wipe their memories and send them on their way. No harm done!"

"No harm done?" Minerva rounded on her colleague. "What do you call that?" She pointed at the group of Muggles. Two of the men were arguing fiercely, another was upending his backpack, searching for a second map that was right in front of his nose, while the woman next to him looked terrified and another was crying.

"Actually, they always look like that to me," Bainbridge said with a shrug and Giles nodded his silent support.

It had taken Minerva only a couple of days of working with them to notice that they were both horribly biased against Muggles. She had tried to fight it at first, but she was growing weary of it. They couldn't understand her any more than she could understand them. Unlike Minerva, they didn't have two Muggle men in their lives whom they loved with all their hearts. Of course, only one of those men was technically still in Minerva's life – a reminder that only worsened her mood.

"Well, they don't always look like that," she snapped. "Which constitutes an attack."

"An attack?" Heggarty paled. Azkaban had just been an empty threat in case of the wizard with the girl's dress, but it definitely loomed large now. "I was just trying to fix this!"

"Exactly. You were trying to cover up your other offense, namely playing magical sports without ensuring that there was no risk of discovery." Minerva had very little sympathy for this man's situation.

Bainbridge on the other hand did his best to defend him. "Come on! Yes, they shouldn't have been seen, but they didn't mean any harm."

Being seen arguing amongst themselves was highly unprofessional, but Bainbridge left Minerva no choice. "Their intentions are irrelevant as they didn't have the necessary authority to do any of it. Both actions are serious infractions and punishable by law. They can plead their case in front of the Wizengamot."

Minerva glared at her colleagues, daring them to disagree. But they couldn't. That's what Minerva liked about this job. The law wasn't biased. The people who interpreted it and who were supposed to enforce it could choose to look the other way, but they couldn't argue with the law when it was staring them right in the face.

"Would you prefer to do the arrest or take care of the Muggles?" Minerva asked, taking her colleagues' stony silence as agreement.

Bainbridge looked as if he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but he chose to arrest his friend rather than to deal with the confused and hysterical Muggles. Just as Minerva had known he would and she preferred it this way. She could show those Muggles a lot more kindness than they would have received otherwise. Even if they wouldn't remember any of this in the end, it still mattered.

Minerva almost envied them. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss, she thought when she was finally back behind her desk at the Ministry, taking care of the paperwork. She got so lost in the menial work, she didn't even notice her boss' approach until he spoke.

"What are you still doing here, Minerva? I thought everyone had left to get a drink."

She looked up from her scroll of parchment with a wan smile. "I just wanted to be done with this. And Lance wouldn't have wanted me to join them."

Elphinstone Urquart leaned against her desk. "But he should, because if you ask me, he owes you a drink for stopping him from doing something very unethical today."

"I don't think he sees it that way," Minerva said, but she didn't really care. She wasn't working here so she would have someone to get drinks with. Though that did make her evenings rather lonely.

"Well, I do, and did I mention that it's my opinion that counts?" Elphinstone winked at her.

"In here, maybe."

"Maybe?" Elphinstone's eyebrows shot up.

"You know what I mean. It's not nearly enough if only you and I believe that Muggles deserve to be treated with respect and that we cannot make them pay for a decision we made as a community years ago."

"I hear you. But as you know, change starts at the top."

"I'm not at the top."

Elphinstone smiled. "Not yet. Until then, let's go get that drink."

Minerva opened her mouth to protest weakly, but Elphinstone cut her off. "I can and will make this an order if that helps."

"All right, all right." Minerva put away the paperwork and rose from her chair. "You do realise that being friends with the boss won't help me to get along better with Lance."

"Oh, I know. But it'll help me," Elphinstone said as he led her out of the office.

"How so?" asked Minerva.

"Because my day is always so much better when I get to see one of your elusive smiles," Elphinstone replied.

Taken aback by his answer, Minerva fell silent, but she decided that he was just being kind. Elphinstone's leadership style was very amicable. Ever since he had let her run out of her original job interview in full support of her becoming an Animagus, their relationship had been especially cordial. He was the only true kindred spirit Minerva had found at the Ministry so far.

After many years on the job Elphinstone was also an excellent judge of character. He proved it by bringing her to a Scottish pub in the heart of London.

"I had a feeling you could use a touch of home," he explained when he saw the surprised look on Minerva's face.

It probably hadn't been very hard to tell. When it came to London, Minerva wasn't a fan. Even though the city was so large, it seemed very, very small to her because it was always crowded, loud and packed with Muggles. On days like today it felt as though it drained her of half of all her energy just to live here.

But the familiar voices and smells in the pub cheered her up immensely. Elphinstone entertained her by trying to fake a Scottish accent when he read the menu – he wasn't very good – and she had to explain some of the choices to him.

"I guess I have a lot to learn. I've been meaning to take some time off work to go travelling. I should probably stop thinking about it and actually do it." Elphinstone laughed. "You'll take charge while I'm gone, won't you?"

"I don't have seniority," Minerva reminded him.

Elphinstone shrugged. "No, but you have heart. That's a lot harder to come by."

And very easy to lose, Minerva thought. But she said, "The Ministry doesn't promote its employees because they 'have heart.'"

"Perhaps it will one day. One can only hope, right?"

"I was hoping to do more than that," Minerva replied.

Elphinstone raised his glass to her. He had ordered a Guinness, which Minerva had watched without comment. "Even better. Let's drink to that then."

So they did.

The next morning Minerva was still asleep when she was told to come into the office early and urgently. Apparently, the Auror Office had asked for assistance, which they never did because they considered themselves to be higher up in the food chain. But they had received a tip regarding the whereabouts of a notorious wizard they had been chasing, Eion Northcroft, and they simply didn't have the necessary manpower to cover all the ground they needed to cover.

They made sure, however, to assign any members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to areas where they thought it the most unlikely that Northcroft would actually show up. Minerva accepted her assignment and tried to remain vigilant despite her lack of sleep.

She laughed to herself when she saw a man in a kilt walk past. It made her think of that wizard she had argued with yesterday and for a crazy couple of seconds she thought that it was him. When she saw that it wasn't, she got suspicious. Minerva hadn't seen someone in a kilt since she had come to London, not even in that Scottish pub. It wasn't impossible, certainly not forbidden, but it was an odd sock, and Elphinstone had taught her never to ignore those.

After a moment of deliberation Minerva decided to make a judgment call. She told Bainbridge, whom she had been partnered with again today, that she would chase down a lead, and she handed him her wand. Before he could do more than look at her as if she had gone completely mad, she ducked into a corner where she was hidden from view. There she transformed into her Tabby cat and quickly picked up the trail to follow the man in the kilt. Thanks to her cat senses she never lost him, but she followed him for so long that she was beginning to think she had made the wrong choice. The Aurors would probably lay into her for going off script. Never mind that they did the same thing all the time.

Minerva had barely finished that thought when the man in the kilt entered an alleyway, stopped and suddenly turned around. Immediately, Minerva sat back on her haunches and started to clean herself in typical cat fashion. The first time she had done this, it had felt strange, but her cat body knew what to do and was perfectly comfortable with it. More importantly, Minerva had learned not to stare at people. For one thing, there were the markings around her eyes that someone who had checked the Animagus Registry might recognise, and for another, she had been told that her gaze could be a little too calculating for that of a normal cat.

She couldn't be sure if Kilt guy had noticed her or not, but either way her presence didn't seem to make him suspicious because he started moving again. He opened a door that had been very well hidden behind a couple of dumpsters. Minerva sprinted after him to squeeze through the door before it fell shut again.

Her tail almost got caught, but she made it. She found herself inside a bar. It was nothing like the lively and welcoming Scottish pub Minerva had been to last night. This room was shady and almost empty. Everyone who entered it (on two legs) would be noticed immediately. Then again, Minerva doubted that anyone who hadn't specifically been told that this pub existed would just venture in.

The man she had been chasing talked quietly to the bartender and then disappeared into the back. Minerva stuck to the walls and hid underneath the chairs and tables because in here she would draw attention to herself, even as a cat. But the bartender had gone back to polishing glasses with a dirty rag and Minerva made it to the back unnoticed.

There was a narrow hallway and the man in the kilt entered a room at the end of it and then closed the door behind him. No chance to get in there as a cat this time. Minerva still didn't know for sure if her hunch was correct. But she could have sworn that this man, wizard most likely, was only wearing a kilt because he didn't know any better. Because he didn't care to know about Muggles and their clothing habits. And this establishment was definitely not of an honest nature.

Despite the risk of humiliation in case she was wrong, the smart thing to do would have been to go back and tell the rest of the team. In fact, she was obligated to do just that according to the protocols for operating in the field.

Instead, Minerva changed back into a human and charged through that door into the unknown.

This morning they had all been told to exchange their work robes for something that allowed them to blend in. So Minerva had planned to pretend that she was just a Muggle who had stumbled into the wrong room on her way to the loo. But she quickly changed her mind when she saw that it truly was Eion Northcroft who was sitting in a corner booth of this back room, staring at her. The man in the kilt was standing by the door, also gaping at her.

Minerva acted before he could recover from his surprise. She snatched the wand he was holding right out of his hand and stunned him with it.

Northcroft was a lot quicker on the uptake than his companion. Before his friend had even hit the ground, Northcroft was on his feet and he sent a curse of his own Minerva's way. And not just any curse. The jet-green light of his Killing Curse missed her by a hair. She should have known that he would be aiming to kill. It got her heart pumping and served as a reminder to get her head back in the game.

She wished for her own wand when she sent back a curse of her own, but this one would have to do. Northcroft blocked her curse with a Shield Charm, but it threw him off balance. Minerva transfigured the coat rack behind him to come alive and grab him.

Before she could follow that up with another curse, Northcroft simply blew the coat rack to smithereens – and with it half of the room. Minerva instinctively changed back into a cat to minimise the chance of getting hit by the debris.

When the dust had settled, she could see that Northcroft had been hit by the blast from his own spell and he seemed a little dazed – and confused that his opponent had disappeared. Then his eyes found the Tabby cat and Minerva could see realisation dawn on his face.

She knew she didn't have long. Northcroft sent one more Killing Curse her way; Minerva launched for the wand she had dropped, transforming mid-launch. Back to being human, she landed on the floor a lot less elegantly than her feline self, but she grabbed the wand and bound Northcroft with an Anti-Disapparation-Jinx, followed in quick succession by the Incarcerous Spell – to make absolutely sure that he couldn't get away.

Once Northcroft was secure, Minerva got up and walked over to him to pick up his wand. He started hurling insults at her, so she silenced him with "Silencio!" He thanked her by rearing up and half throwing himself at her and half rolling into her, as that was the only way he could still move. Minerva toppled over and once she was down, Northcroft tried to bite her. She kicked him in the face to get away from him and then sent a Stunning Spell at him.

Northcroft went slack and Minerva huffed. For a moment she wondered what she was doing here, lying on the dusty floor of a half-demolished dirty pub with two criminals who had put up a considerable effort to kill her. Then she decided that to get rid of these vile men was the only thing that mattered right now.

She lifted the Anti-Disapparition-Jinx and used the two wands she had conquered to contact the Aurors. One after the other they appeared, with reactions that ranged from anger and disbelief to grudging appreciation and approval. There was some backlash because of Minerva's decision to do this on her own, but no one could argue with the result (except for the damage done to this pub, but no Muggles seemed to have taken notice). The Aurors insisted on taking over from here and Minerva was perfectly fine with that. She just wanted to go home.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option because there was procedure that needed to be followed, reports that had to be made, and eventually, there would be paperwork, and lots of it. More importantly, Minerva couldn't go anywhere without her wand. When Bainbridge finally showed up, he seemed torn between resentment, because she hadn't taken him along, and admiration. But all she really wanted from him was her wand.

He handed it to her with a nod and a, "You okay? Need someone to go to St Mungo's with you?"

"I'm fine," Minerva replied, thanking him for her wand.

"Want to get a drink later then? To celebrate that it was the Magical Law Enforcement Squad who got this guy and not the Aurors?"

Technically, this hadn't been a team effort, but if thinking that he had been involved in this made Bainbridge like her more – and thus easier to work with – Minerva would take it. But she wasn't in the mood for another night out.

"Rain check?" she offered to let him down easy.

Perhaps she looked as knackered as she felt because Bainbridge agreed right away. "Sure thing."

If she was completely honest, Minerva wasn't too keen on taking him up on that rain check. The next couple of days she tried to run into as few people at the office as possible because everyone asked her to recount her capture of Eion Northcroft.

The only friendly face, as always, was Elphinstone. He greeted her with a particularly large grin when he asked her to come talk to him before going home a few days later.

"What's going on?" Minerva asked, feeling suspicious for some reason.

Elphinstone knew her well enough to tell. "You look as if I have ever given you bad news."

"Sometimes that's a matter of perspective," Minerva told him.

"True, true," Elphinstone nodded. "And this might be one of those times. But you definitely brought this on yourself."

"What exactly is it that I did?"

"That's not the real question, is it? You know what you did. We all know. You are an extraordinarily brave woman."

As always when he complimented her in a voice that was just a little too hopeful, Minerva winced. But this time even more so than usual. By now she had admitted to herself that going after Northcroft alone and unarmed hadn't been bravery but recklessness. She had always toed the line, as she supposed all Gryffindors had, but she had never crossed it without a very good reason. The other day she had blasted that line to kingdom come.

"Of course, it was always only a matter of time," Elphinstone continued.

"Until what exactly?" Minerva asked, not sure that they were on the same page in this conversation.

"There's going to be a new department, a bit of a hybrid between us and the Auror Office, with a focus on profiling. That you followed that guy because he was wearing a kilt, well, it got people thinking... Anyway, they need someone to run it, and they want you."

Minerva stared at her boss, who was beaming right back at her. "Me?"

"Who else?" Elphinstone laughed. "You're perfect for it. You're definitely way too gifted to stay where you are now, as much as it pains me to lose you. I would give you this office, but I'm not quite old enough to retire just yet."

"There's a lot of room between where I am now and being a department head," Minerva pointed out, still trying to process this.

Elphinstone wasn't deterred. It hadn't been his decision, but if they had asked him, he would have given her a glowing recommendation. "It'll be a very small department. You wouldn't be running all of Law Enforcement yet. But it's a first step in that direction, and then there's nowhere to go but up, right? Up one floor, to be exact."

As hard as she tried, Minerva couldn't stop staring blankly at him. Not because it was sheer madness to mention her name in a conversation about future Ministers for Magic next to the likes of Albus Dumbledore (though it definitely was).

She stared because she had just finally realised that she was completely and utterly miserable.

She had been ever since she had started working here. That wasn't entirely the Ministry's fault – other than being responsible for the status quo between wizards and Muggles – and Minerva had hoped that her feelings would pass or at least get better.

They had not.

Eventually, the long silence and the misery on her face seemed to register with Elphinstone. "You can take some time to think about it," he said haltingly. "And if there's anything you want to talk about, Minerva, I'm here..."

His voice trailed off or maybe she just wouldn't let him finish. She never had.

"Thank you," Minerva said and she meant that. But she turned around and left to go home and be alone.

It was Friday night, which turned out to be a blessing and a curse. It meant that she could stay locked up in her flat all weekend without the need to talk to anyone or make a decision.

It also meant that she stayed locked up in her flat like a prisoner without getting anywhere near making a decision.

She thought about it all day and night. What to do about this promotion. It was an honour and a great opportunity. There was no doubt about that. Elphinstone's opinion of her was way too high, but he was right insofar that accepting this promotion would lay out a clear path for her.

A path that was as clear as her unhappiness when she thought about actually taking it.

Or any path she could see right now.

In her desperation, Minerva tried to think back to the last time she had known true happiness. A spectacularly bad idea because it led her right back to Dougal. That door was closed to her forever.

Clearly, she had to go further back. Which left her with only one almost painfully obvious answer. Before she could lose her nerve, Minerva grabbed a piece of parchment and an owl.

A/N: Thank you for all your wonderful reviews on the last chapter. I'm really glad you enjoyed it despite Albus' absence. This is probably the only time in Minerva's life when Albus Dumbledore was not on her mind, at least not very often. But obviously that's all about to change…