October 17th, 1995
This was a strange series of events that had led me here.
The heels of my shoes clicked on the floor as I stepped out of the phone booth and the Atrium, playing with my visitor pin as I admired the high arched ceiling and the crowd of people packed so tightly I was afraid I would be crushed if I got any closer to the mass of people.
It was a blur of color and noise that left my guts shriveling and squeezing inside of me in a torrent of confusion and fear mixed with the discomfort of the unfamiliar. The vague memories of the political rallies I had attended as a child filled my mind as I moved forward, Alex's words about picking a place on the horizon and focusing solely on that to press onwards. There was a desk with an old man in peacock blue robes ahead of me checking the wands of visitors and new staff. That did seem to match Lucinda's description, causing me to step in line behind a blonde witch with a press pass.
"Pick up the pace, Barney!" She snapped at the photographer in front of her. "We don't have all day for ya to gab with ya uncle!"
Her accent was a bit thicker than I was used to and it took me a few moments to grasp what exactly she said. I imagined my own accent would be as incomprehensible to these people as theirs was to me at points.
"Patience, Flora," The photographer was a younger man with a bit of dark scruff on his chin and a teasing smile. "My uncle is a wise man."
"Wise men and chatty nephews hold up queues."
I struggled not to giggle as Flora looked back at me sympathetically, causing a breathy wheeze to escape my throat instead.
Barney and his uncle wrapped up their conversation with a dinner invitation and Flora stepped forward to be checked in, continuing to sass Barney all the while as I tried to look as if I were not paying attention to the pair. They both soon were sucked into the mass of people in the Atrium leaving me and the old security wizard who motioned me forward. He had very kind eyes, I thought.
"Hello!" My voice was high and chipper, the way young women tended to talk when trying to be overly friendly or harmless. I cringed internally, my smile frozen on my face as the old man looked at me in surprise.
"The MACUSA Embassy is on the other side of the Thames."
Isolt's panties.
"I'm Canadian."
Why did I say that?
"CAM Embassy is right next door to MACUSA's."
I shook my head, one hand reaching up to adjust my hat. "I'm here for a job interview. I was told to come here first."
The man seemed surprised, but nodded. "You're the little foreign girl the upper office told me about."
Little girl?
"May I see your wand please?"
I nodded and did as I was bid, suddenly self conscious about not polishing my wand as diligently as I usually did due to the chaos of the last two weeks. The handle was very easy to smudge.
The man examined my wand with a critical eye, paying particular attention to the mother of pearl inlay on the handle.
"Very pretty," he placed it on the scale and watched it for a moment. I took in the strong nose and hazel eyes while his long fingers drummed impatiently on the counter until he reached down for something under his desk, a piece of paper which he read quickly. I leaned closer, barely able to read it upside-down.
Cedar. 11 inches. Horned Serpent core. Sturdy. In service to Audrey Graves for seven years.
He filed the paper away and returned my wand to me with a smile.
"Welcome to the Ministry Miss Graves, can I help you find anything?"
"I'm looking for the Minister's Support Staff Office Where would that be?"
"Top floor," He pointed up to the top of the Atrium. "Get up there and someone can give you better directions than I can."
"Great! Thank you!" I strode into the open space and looked around at the pristine walls and the beautiful fountain in the center. Only… something about the fountain statue left me unsettled. The witch and wizard held their wands aloft standing above the house elf, goblin and centaur who looked at them with adoring expressions.
This seemed more than a bit… well… Reeking of superiority and would not be something that would be allowed to sit at the heart of MACUSA. We had free elves, goblins ran their own businesses and worked lobbying for various laws, they were not just regulated to banking careers. America did not have centaurs but from the reading I had done in Lucinda's library, I doubted they would look at any wizard with adoration like this statue implied, much like Pukwudgies, they seemed to value their independence.
I took another look at the statue, filling it away as a cultural view that I did not agree with before following the flow of people towards the elevator.
I looked around at the golden grates that were opening and closing looking for one that was not full of people before giving up and getting into one that was filling up quickly.
It was smothering. I moved my hand out to try and touch the button I needed and could not get around the portly wizard in front of me who was pressing me back against the wall as more people stepped on the elevator. I resigned myself to taking a tour as I looked around at the other occupants as I played with the bangle bracelets on my wrist. A couple of middle aged women talking about a book, the portly wizard, another wizard holding a crate with smoke blowing out of the cracks, and lastly a balding middle-aged man next to me with red hair.
I always thought redheads aged gracefully, their color never allowed for grey to settle, instead just to change to a strawberry blond color. The man adjusted his glasses and flipped through some paperwork as the women stepped off the lift and a very old woman stepped on to take their place pushing a tray of tea.
"Morning Arthur."
"Hello Gertie, what do you have this morning?"
"Earl grey, jasmine, some exotic tea that the Nightspur girl from accounting asked for which is surprisingly good."
They're talking about tea. She delivers tea around the Ministry. Is there a coffee witch? If there is, I really need to find her!
The elevator opened on the second floor and the two of them stepped off the lift. It was just me and the two wizards left, the two of them getting off on the fourth floor. I finally got to press the button for the top floor and begin my prayer that the person interviewing me was not an animal of international politics.
Oo0Oo0
I stepped off the lift brimming with newfound hope and confidence. If I said it enough, it would eventually become true.
Absolutely nothing will go wrong today!
The corridor was a long white hallway with occasional pictures for decoration. I walked past a door labeled Conference Room where I could hear low voices in a meeting. There were a couple of restrooms. The letter had said the support staff office was just one room so it sounded like the Minister kept his staff close for convenience.
My life was finally starting in some fashion and I couldn't have been more excited!
I felt myself hit something solid right as I went to turn the corner, causing me to fall backwards as I was eclipsed in a hurricane of paperwork and quills. I sat on the floor for a minute, afraid to look up at the damage I had caused.
A man's voice broke through my scrambled embarrassed thoughts with a clearly angry muttering that was obviously louder than intended.
"I am so sorry!" The words flowed quickly from my mouth as I looked at the brown shoes in front of me. The man's shoes. Those definitely belonged to man. The rest of him was around the corner in the same position I was.
Isolt's panties! Please don't be the guy I'm supposed to interview!
The feet disappeared around the corner as the man seemed to be trying to get back up. I started following his lead, wanting to be on my feet when I looked this person in the eyes. I pulled my wand out of my sleeve and started summoning my paperwork and my hat, which had flown off my head during my collision.
There was the noise of rushing parchment behind me as I put my hat back on my head and turned around ready to make more apologies.
The man who had stepped around the corner was tall and thin, maybe 6'2 and he had the reddest hair I had ever seen. His eyes were blue behind the wire frames of his glasses and his face was covered in freckles, which offered a contradiction of youthful boyishness with the condensation of an old man about to chase a teenage hooligan off his property.
My face grew uncomfortably warm, I always did like red hair. Though the tightlipped, peevish expression was quick to stop my admiration cold. I fixed my hat and patted down my robes to flatten the wrinkles.
"Are you alright?" His voice was low and rich to my ears, though I thought that about most people I had met in the last couple of weeks.
"I'm fine, I'm looking for Mr. Weasley-" His shoulders tightened, "-in the Minister's Support Staff office? I'm supposed to interview with him in fifteen minutes." He visibly tried to relax, his shoulders making an effort to move back to a more natural position.
"That's me."
Oh, hell!
I immediately stuck my hand out with a bright friendly smile that I hoped did not make me look like a psychopath.
"I'm Audrey Graves, nice to meet you!"
He's no older than I am!
I kept that comment to myself.
"Percy Weasley," his tone was polite and clipped as he shook my hand. Appropriate since I just put him on the floor.
Well, I did not think I would be getting this job now.
Time to make my home in a cardboard box by Lucinda's front gate. Maybe Thacker would make room in his hut if I volunteered to work in the garden? He seemed to like me.
"Follow me please."
I did as I was bid, following this… teenager.
That would make me a hypocrite, I turned eighteen yesterday.
He's either very good at his job, or like me, he knew someone who got him the job. As curious as I was, it would be rude to ask.
The young man opened a door into a large office as spartan as the hallway outside. It had white walls, a large window showing a rainy fall day and some impersonal artwork of flower vases that moved in a non existent wind. I assumed Mrs. Fudge had picked them out in an effort to brighten up the place. Not even that thought could remove my opinion that the whole room reminded me of a Healer's office.
Weasley, (I can't call someone Mister if they're my own age, it's gross) took a seat at the large oak desk. It was as spartan as the rest of the office. I took note of the two empty desks on the other side of the room, one obviously vacant the other clearly in use. I wondered how long the last secretary had lasted. A couple of days, weeks or months?
I snapped back to attention at the sound of a chair moving across the carpet. I smiled awkwardly and sat down in the chair at the other side of his desk and pulled the folder with my resume and letters of recommendation from my expanded purse, laying the folder on the desk nervously before placing my purse on the floor.
"Now, as Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic," his tone was one of pride and pomposity, complete with a smug little smile. "I have been asked to fill the office's Administrative Assistant position. You came recommended by the Minister's wife."
I was hoping she just threw it on his desk.
"How do you know each other?"
"She was a friend of my mom's, I've never met her before I came to England."
"And you've been in the country how long exactly?"
"A couple of weeks."
It was not my credentials that got me in for this interview. It was Lucinda's connections and Mrs. Fudge who was so taken with my mother. I never applied for this job and I now had to sell my skill set to this… boy no older than I was but who seems to think he's forty-five.
That knowledge did not boost my confidence at all
Weasley was looking over my paperwork with a critical eye, the light from the ceiling refracting off his glasses in a way that could be seen as quite menacing.
No, not entirely menacing. The shocking red hair and the freckles make him look very young, which may explain some of the pretentious old man behavior I had seen in the hallway. He more reminded me of an intern or assistant clerk, having had a taste of power and recently taking a course on management or reading a book or three on such topics.
It must be odd to be a Junior Assistant (whatever that was) to a leading world figure while still looking like the lanky teenager he was.
"Miss Graves," I felt my face color, I didn't think he noticed my looking him over. "What brings you to England?"
I had practiced this in the mirror this morning until it told me to shut up and have some tea to calm my nerves.
"My great-aunt offered to let me stay with her after graduation. I have dual citizenship so it was simple enough to arrange."
He nodded and looked over my resume again.
"I'm not familiar with the American education system, what exactly is a Horned Serpent?"
Not familiar with the wildlife either apparently.
I tucked a stray strand of black hair behind my ear. "They're large water snakes, some of them have crystal scales, large gems on their head instead of a horn." I sighed, remembering an encounter I had with an old serpent several years ago. "They're beautiful creatures."
"Then why does it say Horned Serpent as your attended house on your application?"
Oh.
"I graduated from Ilvermorny, Horned Serpent was my house." I thought for a moment, debating on letting an educational opportunity slip by. "Each of the houses at Ilvermorny are said to represent an aspect of a wix, the mind, the body, the heart and the soul."
"I'm afraid I don't know much about American magical education."
"I don't know anything about Hogwarts, so that seems fair," I smiled and adjusted the collar of my jacket.
"What does a Horned Serpent represent in your school system?"
"The mind."
"I see." He went back to examining my papers.
Horned Serpent house produced many fine wix, Maria Begay who was now a Senator for Texas and an activist for Native American rights specifically for allowing tribes a form of statehood that would provide them permanent representation in MACUSA. Another was Amos Fitzgerald, an acclaimed writer from the Civil War era who wrote a famous novel about family division and political strife in the backdrop of war.
I had a feeling that none of that would be too interesting for anyone interviewing me, so I settled back in my seat and waited for more questions. There was something inside of me that screamed at me to open my mouth for once, to take turn the conversation to take control of the conversation and put some effort into getting this job.
"I have government experience," I said quickly. "I did an internship at MACUSA for Senator Weathers, I enclosed his letter of recommendation. The green folder with the white label."
He flipped through the paperwork again.
"Mr. Weathers asked me to write several press releases and speeches for him in regards to his various projects related to urban expansion and how to hide it from No-Majs."
There was a serious, questioning look from Weasley before he clarified "Do you mean muggles?"
"Oh, is that what they're called here?" Muggles. I think I liked that better. It seemed to roll off the tongue. "I have samples of things that I have written during my internship if you would like to read them, along with project outlines and notes as well."
He nodded and opened the file with the letters of recommendation from Senator Weathers, his secretary and from Cassandra who wrote me a personal one to affirm that I was a decent person outside of work and that she could back up any claims made by the senator and his secretary.
There were a few questions from Weasley, why this wording. What kind of projects exactly? Explain the details. Explain the differences between MACUSA and the Ministry of Magic with regards to political systems.
It was like an Ilvermorney oral exam.
"And this latest internship for Senator Graves?" He looked at me with something akin to suspicion, the question seeming to come out of nowhere.
I collected myself quickly. It was not an unexpected question. I had practiced this.
"Senator Graves is a third cousin of mine, I never met him before the internship." Nope. That was a lie. "The internship was offered to me on the basis of my grades, not one of familial relations." It wasn't, quite the opposite. "The senator offered me the position as a favor to Senator Weathers who had to step away from politics due to his wife's sudden passing." Poor Mr. Weathers. "Four months was the arranged end date of the internship." It wasn't. "I covered various secretarial duties for the senator and arranged several meetings with lobbyists, other political figures and ensured the smooth running of meetings by creating itineraries and researching laws other tasks that aided in the smooth running of a busy office." All true, and I did it for free!
He opened up my transcripts from Ilvermorny that I had to pay to get translated to the UK grading system. My A's became O's and my B's became E's which was very jarring and made me feel like an idiot for about thirty minutes.
"Outstandings in History of Magic, Charms, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology-"
The herbology grade was not deserved, I was just very good at getting the garden snakes to protect my plants with rocks charmed for perpetual warmth. They were very grateful.
America is still full of dangerous creatures and Ilvermorny wanted to ensure none of the students died due to ignorance of how to handle encounters with the most common of them. The exams for both of those classes were probably far more difficult than it would be here because we had to learn about the non magical dangerous creatures also. Though the venomous snakes held no real worry for me, they were generally nervous personalities.
"Exceeds Expectations in Arithmancy, Potions, Ancient Runes and Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Which was equal to ten NEWTs here according to the woman who officiated the paperwork. It was such a long year of exam preparation that my final year of school just flew by. I dropped Astronomy after my Fifth Year, and it was so nice not to have that dangling over my head.
He flipped the paper over, he appeared to be looking for anything labeled Acceptable for my final year exams. Good luck to him.
"You've done very well in school." He sounded almost surprised.
"Thank you."
The conversation seemed to dry up as the interview came to its natural conclusion. The clock on the wall chimed eleven and Weasley got to his feet, signaling the end of our interview.
"Thank you for your time, Miss Graves. We'll be in touch."
I smiled, shook his hand again (his hands were cold!) and thanked him for the opportunity as he escorted me to the elevator. The ride down was long and gave me time to think, I did not think that interview went well and it may be wise to go fill out applications in Diagon Alley. From what I remembered there was a bookshop that was hiring and I had an errand to run anyway.
Oo0Oo0
This was it. This was the moment. I stood in on the roof of the post office in Diagon Alley holding a particularly fat tawny owl. The four letters I had written for Alex were tied to it's leg and the owl was looking at me with judgmental eyes. The rooftop was pretty, it had benches, stone and several perches for returning owls. Owls were very useful, but sometimes it was not convenient to have one if a person lived in the city as it could attract muggle attention.
"Don't look at me like that," I said firmly as I checked the security of the letters. "You have been fed, I gave you two treats so you won't have to stop for food, and this will be the easiest delivery of your career."
The owl gave a low hoot that still seemed to speak of not being impressed.
My previous letters to Alex when I was living in the states were all returned. Though that may have been because I was addressing them to Alex Graves, not Alex Ainsley. If he changed his name and Alex Ainsley was not just a pen name, then that would be enough to deter an owl from delivery due to being unable to find him. I also did not have any of his addresses or knew where he would be working from week to week, so I had written four letters. Two with the name Alex Graves for both the Modernist, and the Egregious Erumphant. The same had been done with the other two letters under the name Alex Ainsley.
Being in the same country was going to make this a lot easier.
I took a deep breath.
"Alright, there is nothing else to be done. Peck him until he answers me." I raised my arm into the air with the fat owl aloft. "Now go! Fly my pretty!"
The owl's wings flapped silently as it took to the air. I watched for a few seconds as it circled over my head, attempting to even out and catch an updraft.
Alex and I would be having scones with Lucinda before the month was out! Maybe he knew about a good coffee shop? I hoped so!
The owl flew back down and landed on a nearby bench, giving me an absolutely filthy look before holding out it's leg with the letters dangling freely.
"I used both names! What gives?"
There was an irritated screech from the bird as if I was intentionally wasting it's time.
Did… Did Alex make himself unplottable? I dropped down on the bench with a sigh. This had just gotten so much more complicated.
The owl gave a mocking hoot.
I was going to have to go backwards from the latest of Alex's articles that I had and start there, but where were these newspaper offices? If I went in person, Alex would have a harder time avoiding me if avoiding family was what he was doing.
"Ugh…"
Oo0Oo0
The following morning I received an owl with a start date and some additional paperwork to begin working in the Minister of Magic's Support Staff Office the following Monday. Lucinda was absolutely thrilled. I was just relieved to be getting some form of income, even if it was more government secretarial work.
Maybe I could find a record of Alex somewhere in the immigration offices? It would be a place to start.
With that thought in mind, I hastily filled out the paperwork alongside a note stating my agreement to the offered salary and the start date.
Oo0Oo0
Author's Note: Alrighty- Have these crumbs about the Magical US. Slightly more equalitarian, but not really. Also these other crumbs about Alex, a mysterious man.
Getting a job is not about what you know it's about who you know, something Audrey seems to understand quite well in a way. I don't think she knows what she wants to do as a career yet, but I think that will fall into place for her in time. It will have nothing to do with astronomy- her worst subject.
We'll see Percy more later, and meet the Senior Undersecretary.