October 24, 1995

I spun in front of the full length mirror I had found under a sheet in my bedroom. The work robes were nice, long with little bits of decoration on the sleeve in gold thread. I spun again like a little girl in a new dress feeling the fabric fly up over my knees from the force of it. I felt like an adult, but in a way that was uncomfortable, like I was wearing a second skin, like I was pretending and merely playing dress up.

At least these clothes fit and are not black.

Lucinda's comment about my looking like a crow came back to my mind and made me giggle. I looked more like a parakeet now, but so did everyone else.

I pushed my flyaway bangs out of my eyes and smiled. It looked unnatural on my face, too many teeth and too American as Lucinda had been telling me during what she had called her lessons.

Stand up straight. Don't hunch! Look people in the eye when speaking with them. Repeat someone's name after meeting them to help you remember it.

I thought I already did those things, but I guess it was not up to her standards.

Pulling my black hair back into a low bun at the nape of my neck to help complete my illusion of adulthood. I looked much different then the girl who had been featured in the papers every five years for father's reelection campaigns. That girl looked awkward and gangly, her thick hair was long and hanging down around her chest like a curtain.

If I saw anyone from the MACUSA embassy, I would step away and they wouldn't think anymore about it unless I opened my mouth to speak. I could just say I was a… relative. A third cousin! No one knows all of their third cousins and my great grandfather was prone to stepping out on his wife. Perfect!

I stepped away from the mirror

I may have to learn the English accent.

...Oh, boy.

All I'm afraid I am going to hear from my new coworkers is the loud or lazy American joke, both of which have been done to death. Okay, I will be calm. Relaxed. And quiet.

No different from normal.

There was the sensation of New Audrey crawling back into the cocoon she had made an effort to remove herself from once she stepped onto the soil of England. Was I content to come here across the world to continue acting like a houseplant with the personality to match? No, I could still be professional and be more… something. Strong? Open? I wasn't sure yet.

I dropped into an hard, upholstered chair with a design like tapestry in brilliant blues and whites to complement the room, my hand immediately moving down to touch the fraying edges and the stuffing inside.

It was odd, Lucinda had money but this room and others outside of the main rooms on the ground floor had chipped or fraying furniture, were these from her parents or ancestors? Was that why she was reluctant to replace? Why not find someone to repair, reparation charms never stuck to anything very long. Which may explain why these were getting frayed.

Perhaps Lucinda was on a wait list to have everything reupholstered? I knew it was hard to find a good upholster for fabric of magical origin, there were a lot of charms a wix would place on their furniture to preserve it in the long term and make it softer.

The clock chimed the hour and I suddenly found I had no more time to spare on thoughts of Lucinda's home projects.

Oo0Oo0

"The Potter boy talks to snakes you know."

I felt myself freeze next to this group of people next to the newspaper stand inside the Ministry, I immediately picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet and began turning pages looking for any kind of international news while I listened to them talk.

"Really?" A woman whispered as she leaned in with her coworker to better hear what the man was saying. "I heard rumors but I was not sure I believed them!"

"My daughter was at a dueling club at Hogwarts a few years ago and Potter was egging on a snake to attack another boy. I thought it was a childish story until Rita Skeeter put published that article last year."

What?

"Can't trust a snake talker. They're all Dark Wizards waiting for their opportunity."

I fought not to turn and stare at this group of people.

I knew parseltongues had an uncommon ability, I just did not know it was feared in this part of the world. Snake talkers were more common among the Native American tribes or the various African and Indian immigrants. There were not a lot of snakes here, it was too cold for them to thrive. I knew of MACUSA employees who worked in magical wildlife conservation that could talk to snakes, it was something they tested all of their recruits for even if it was rare. Having someone who could calm a scared, venomous snake was of real value in more desolate areas where medical care was hours away or to treat injured Horned Serpents that dwelled in various deep rivers in the U.S.

I bit my tongue, the pain keeping me focused.

Father did not like my claims that the garden snake was hungry. The ball python at the zoo wanted to see the world. Father would cuff me over the head and tell me to hush because I was worrying my mom. My father would just tell her I had a wild imagination and I quickly learned to keep those things to myself.

Alex instead would just smile at me and ruffle my hair when our parents walked on ahead. I think he knew it was more then my wild imagination. I often imagined sending the garden snakes from the Byrgen House vegetable patch after Vanessa when she was being particularly smug or callous with her words.

I had never met anyone else who could talk to snakes. What kinds of wildlife could I communicate with in this country? How many other people could talk to snakes here?

It didn't matter. If I said I could talk to snakes to anyone, I would not be met with any sort of kind reception, even if I thought the person could be trusted.

I paid the paper seller a couple of knuts before getting on the elevator to the Minister's office.

Oo0Oo0

Jobs were no different even in other countries. Being a secretary, (Administrative Assistant, Percy so insisted). The piles of paperwork I had was the same as when I worked in the Graves Senate Office, a lot of people wanting a few minutes of time from a very important and very busy man.

Cornelius Fudge was shorter than I expected, he wore pinstripe robes and a ghastly green bowler hat that left me hiding an amused smile behind my hand after he retreated to his office. Why would his wife let him out of the house in that silly thing? What was the appeal? Did he meet foreign dignitaries when he wore it?

Aside from his questionable taste in hats, Minister Fudge was a nice man who spoke to me about his wife's new garden, greenhouse and what exotic plants she was growing this year. Suddenly, I could understand why his wife seemed to ignore the ghastly hat. He spoke of her with a warmth and clearly deep affection that told me more about their relationship than blunt words could ever manage.

Eddie Smith was the Senior Undersecretary, a jovial man in his late thirties with twinkling hazel eyes and a smidge of trouble in his crooked smile. He was stocky and broad-shouldered, an inch or two under six feet. He had started the job a couple of months ago, apparently his predecessor was now teaching at Hogwarts. Eddie had a lot of questions about the States, if it was true about most of the wildlife being dangerous.

I told him that Australia had far more dangerous wildlife, but Hidebehinds were an among the most dangerous creatures in the country.

"Hidebehinds? That doesn't sound dangerous at all."

"They're territorial, they kill about ten wix a year and who knows how many No-majs."

"Merlin's pants, I'm taking the America off my bucket list." He gave me a hearty slap on the shoulder and a joking laugh before going back to his desk where he had a pile of paperwork waiting for him. Percy's eyes following him like a judgmental hawk.

No. This job was no different from my father's office at all. As the morning passed, I sorted my desk and filing cabinet to my liking. Eddie gave me a quill and two bottles of ink as a welcoming gift, it was apparent he was glad to have the help. It became clear why as I was soon asked to spin various excuses about the Minister's availability to visitors from other offices when Eddie and Percy were tied up with other things. A janitor who wanted to get the room specs to paint the offices and the conference rooms. Another was a clerk from the Beast, Being and Spirit Office who was running an errand for his department head.

"He's in a meeting… No, he will not be back later, he'll be in another meeting… With the law enforcement offices…. No, I don't know what they'll be discussing, I've only been here four hours…. The job! Not the country!"

After the clerk left, I had an hour of reprieve to read the handbook there was a department head who needed to check a policy. Percy took that one while I flipped to the appropriate section of the handbook to commit it to memory while listening to his quote direct passages of what I was reading.

"Section twelve, subsection B covers all policies related to parental leave and subsection C covers the specifics of pay including who you need to talk to in the accounting and payroll offices."

Heh, he was right.

The man was a policy wonk.

I was still not entirely sure what an Undersecretary or Junior Assistant did, but clearly I was just here to run a schedule and make plausible excuses to keep people from bothering a leading national figure and I was fine with that. The work seemed easy enough. I could craft some excellent excuses and flat out lies.

Minister Fudge left his office for a meeting with his department heads, Percy trailing behind him like a particularly proud dog with his head high like a… Greyhound maybe? He was very tall, but I did not get the impression he was very quick on uptakes. A labrador might be more accurate, he seemed very loyal to the position if nothing else. I saw a lot of that during my internships with MACUSA. Boys from money whose family connections got them a comfortable job right out of school.

I can't say I'm any different, but ending up in essentially a president's office right out of school spoke to a level of corruption I was not sure I wanted to dwell on too much.

Maybe he was older than he looked? I wasn't sure anymore.

Eddie and I were left to our own devices as the door closed behind Weasley. I heard Eddie begin to rifle through his filing cabinet, muttering to himself as he did so about the organizational skills of someone called Umbridge, I assumed that was his predecessor. I ignored him, it sounded like a thinking aloud sort of chat.

He stopped muttering and there was the scratching of a quill on paper.

"Psst! Audrey!"

I looked up from the policy guidebook I was reading towards Eddie who was smiling at me, his eyes glimmering with excitement. We looked at each other for a moment before he sent a memo flying through the air to land perfectly in my intake tray.

"Want to run an errand?"

I nodded and opened the memo he sent me.

Accounting Department

Pick up spending logs for all departments the latest accounting period. Ask for Misty Nightspur.

Also need the finance reports for the last two years for the Minister's Office, ask for the head accountant Nobby Clark.

He had drawn a little smiley face at the bottom that made me chuckle.

"Wait? Nobby?"

"It's short for Norbert, he is as dull as he sounds."

He sounded very dull indeed.

"Accounting office is in the Wizengamot Administrative Office on the second level," Eddie added, "I would send Percy, but he's taking notes for Fudge somewhere."

"I thought I was just supposed to stay here?"

"Walking is good for you. Besides, this place is boring. You'll miss nothing."

"I would like a walk."

"Oh, While you're there, thank Misty for requesting that fancy tea for Agatha's cart. I thought it was delicious."

"I'll be sure to do that."

Oo0Oo0

I stepped into the accounting office, the many voices merging together in a mostly meaningless clamor mixed with the sounds of clicking and whirring from various devices around the room. It was a calm spaces with eggshell white walls and dark blue curtains at the windows. I ambled over to the office with the oak door the secretary pointed me towards.

I knocked on the door and was told to enter.

The woman inside was small, maybe five foot two if I was being generous, through it was hard to tell as she was sitting behind a desk. She had an absolute shock of curly red hair that flew out in all directions as it made a valiant effort to escape the bun at the nape of her neck, the color of her hair contrasted sharply with the olive tone of her skin in a way that was unusual and attractive in an exotic way. Though, it took me a moment to register her slightly pointed ears. I was very taken with her hair.

The small woman looked me up and down as she moved the papers on her desk, the piles of number covered parchment to one corner, memos to the other corner, the abacus in a place of honor right in the middle of her desk. She then resumed her scratching of notations and numbers like she had not seen me at all.

"Um…"

I took notice the nameplate on her desk. Misty Nightspur- Junior Accountant.

I was definitely in the right place.

"Can I help you?" She had a stern voice with careful enunciation on each syllable. It was a radical contrast to her slight stature.

I introduced myself quickly, feeling a little intimated by this woman. She could not have been much older then me but so established in her career… I hoped to be such in a few years.

"You're here to pick up the spending reports for the last fiscal period, right?"

"Yes."

Misty pointed to a filing cabinet behind me with a long, knobby finger. "Third drawer from the bottom, it's the fat file with the label on it. Can't miss it." She looked over me one more time and picked up the abacus to go back her calculations.

I did as I was bid and quickly left the office with a hurried thank you.

A blonde woman moved past me as I stepped out the door with a toss of her head, the door closing behind her leaving a small crack. I moved off to the side to ensure I had the right paperwork. I could hear the tittering of the secretaries off to my left.

At least some things were still the same on foreign soil.

Voices rose in the office behind me, an irrational fear that they were talking about me, laughing at my accent or already knew who my father was somehow kept me frozen in place.

No! None of that, Audrey.

I mindlessly flipped through the files I had received, not really seeing anything distressing or unusual.

"I can't believe they let a halfbreed back in to handle finances after what you did?"

My eyes widened and I leaned in closer to the door.

"I thought you would have gotten a job with Gringotts with your relatives but clearly they don't want you around either."

What is this woman's issue?

"Go away, Jasmine."

"Why? Are you hiding something? Going to tell the goblins all our secrets? The Ministry barely allows you a wand. I'm just supervising."

I did not like this woman's tone.

The way she spoke to the small redheaded woman reminded me of my stepmother. A casual, quiet kind of cruelty laced every word. Something that she seemed innately familiar with through practice and study.

I took a deep breath. I did not want to get involved. I was new here, I had no standing, a funny accent, and the smartest thing I could do would be to walk away and file an anonymous report.

I opened the door again, something pushing me against my better judgement. The door swung wide open and I strode inside with a measure of confidence that I did not feel.

"Sorry to interrupt," I allowed my voice to carry as I moved into the room, feeling the eyes of the red haired woman and her antagonizer settle upon me. "I'm afraid I forgot to pick up the last two years of finance reports for the Minister's Office, and I seem to be missing some paperwork in these spending reports. Would you be able to help me with that?"

I watched the blonde woman's face pale as she stepped away from Misty's desk where she had been leaning over to look more intimating to the smaller woman. I guessed she heard about the foreign girl in the Minister's office.

Misty's eyes were wide with surprise, "Sure." She opened her desk drawer to check some other files, her long fingers moving each file as she looked for reports.

"I don't think we've met." The woman behind me spoke, "I'm Jasmine Rosier."

Something came over me, I was weak in the knees and turned my back to the woman who reminded me of Vanessa in more then a few ways.

"How are things here in accounting, Misty? Eddie Smith from upstairs says he likes the tea you recommended for Agatha's cart." I ignored the Rosier woman and continued to attempt to engage Misty, her brown eyes moved between her tormentor, me and the files in the drawer.

"I'm glad someone else enjoys it! As for accounting, I get to work alone and do math which is really most of what I want in a job." I did not miss the pointed glance she gave to Jasmine.

"You're the Minister's new secretary, right?" Jasmine seemed to insist on talking and not take a hint. "The American?"

Administrative Assistant.

"That sounds really nice actually, I have to socialize and make nice with all of the people who want to see Minister Fudge because Percy is not very good at it."

"No he's not!" Misty perked up immediately. "My friend went to school with him and he was a nightmare! He's not subtle!"

Oh, there's a story there!

There was a huff from Jasmine Rosier and the click of her heels on the wooden floor before the sounds of a closing door brought Misty and I to silence.

Misty looked up at me with sparkling brown eyes. "I don't handle those finance sheets, but you knew that." She smiled and I noted the extra point on her canines. Misty pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled down her name and some other information before sliding it across the desk towards me. "I'm Misty Nightspur, my friend Zara and I like to go for drinks at the Leaky Cauldron on Fridays and I'd love it if you could join us! As a thank you."

I picked up the paper, it had the name of the bar and the time of the meeting and I felt my face flush with nervous excitement. Was I making friends?

"You mean drink alcohol? Aren't we underage?"

"Drinking age here is seventeen." Misty's smile widened as my face grew redder in embarrassment. "You should come, better you learn your alcohol tolerance with a couple of girls than some man on your first date. That would just be embarrassing!"

Yes. Yes it would.

"We'll see you Friday then?"

I nodded and agreed to the meeting as I stepped out of Misty's office and into the bustling, clicking whirr of the rest of the floor.

I read the paper again when I stepped into the hallway, feeling like it would disappear out of my hands in an instant. I hung out with girls at school, but they never invited me anywhere. The impression I got was that they found me boring after the initial introduction, a Graves with no interest in fighting Dark Arts? How pedestrian. Other times people seemed too intimidated or impressed by my family to try and get to know me as a person.

Coming to this country and getting away from all of that was looking like a better choice with every day that passed.

Oo0Oo0

Author's Note: Misty is fun and sensible and mean girl culture lives its worst incarnation in office settings.

Audrey makes a lot of assumptions.

I'll be taking November off to get the next few chapters done and do some applications for a master's degree. Updates should resume in December. I have pieces of this done, but it needs editing, refining and more writing.