Will stood in the Level Two briefing room at the head of a long conference table, his normally cheerful face as close to stern as it had ever come as he watched the Aurors, hit wizards and secretaries file in. The hit wizards and witches were the first to take their seats; the remaining chairs were quickly snatched by some of the more aggressive Aurors (mostly the BHL; E.B. and Dillan wisely stood back). The secretaries arranged themselves behind their fearless leader, Ms. Fallon, looking anxiously from the back of Con's gloomy brunette head to Will. They usually weren't included in summonses to the briefing room, but Will felt that this...discussion required the presence of everyone in the department.

As soon as the door was shut behind the last person, Will gestured for it to be locked. There were murmurs of surprise among the assembled. Will almost laughed--almost. Didn't they know the state they had come to?

"Locked doors, Mr. Channing? Here?" Sioned Baines, seated to his right, asked quietly.

"The Ministry is very different from what you remember, Sioned," Will told her. He looked up and raised his voice, addressing the whole room. "But more importantly than that, we have business to attend to among ourselves, independent of the rest of this building. We have fallen apart. We are no longer performing at our best, and the wizarding world at large is paying the price for our laziness. Don't argue," he said firmly, holding up his hands to stop words from tumbling from the mouths hanging indignantly open. "We need to pull ourselves together and restore this department to its former position of respect, and we need to be able to do it without outside interference. That," he said, his tone become more gentle, "is why the door has been locked.

"Now," he said, sighing. "There are several things we have to discuss regarding the recent events, but before we get to them we have to deal with internal affairs. It is my heavy-hearted responsibility to inform you that our Head of Department, Benjamin Astbury, has...disappeared."

He paused to let the information sink in. He saw a variety of looks on the faces staring at him. Some of the secretaries made small noises of concern. Constance actually looked hurt; Ivy, too, looked unhappy. Lucia was shaking her head. Was Sofia trying to hide a smug smile? Dillan, strangely enough, also appeared to be hiding some satisfaction. E.B. looked shocked. Sioned shook her head too, briefly, before looking expectantly at Will. He cleared his throat.

"Ronald Weasley, the Deputy Head, has resigned and left the country. This leaves us with no clear line of succession. The politicians on Level One are too busy trying to salvage the Ministry's image after former Junior Undersecretary Garrow's defaming to select someone. We can't wait for them. We need leadership now. Therefore, the first item on our agenda is to vote for a new Head of Department."

Will was not looking forward to this business. He knew, by the sudden glint in the eyes of some of the Aurors (like Sofia), that there would be some kind of confrontation before it was over. He sighed again and ran a hand over his hair.

"The witch or wizard with the most votes will become Head, and the first runner-up will become Deputy Head," he said. "We will hear nominations now. I'll begin by nominating Sioned Baines." He turned to her; she was giving him a small, surprised smile.

"Ms. Baines is a highly experienced hit witch with great skill, not only in dueling and investigation, but also in political negotiation," he said, smiling down at her. "I believe she has the firm hand and good judgment to lead us out of these doldrums."

He turned and pointed his wand at the wall behind him. Sioned's name appeared close to the ceiling. He anticipated a lot of nominations. Satisfied with it, he turned around and sat down, bracing himself for chaos.

None of it made sense. There were pieces missing. EB had been doing some snooping, when he could, around Diagon, around Knockturn...he hadn't heard much. What he had heard wasn't good. Garrow hadn't been it. Or hadn't been all of it.

In the days since the trial, EB had been piecing together bits of information. Things he'd heard. Maybe Garrow wasn't innocent. All right. Maybe. He didn't know for sure. It also didn't matter.

The point was he wasn't whatever was behind the bigger stuff. That was something else. EB had done some digging, talked to a few people who knew a bit about the Russians. Well, it wasn't them. Wasn't their style anyway. They were in it for profit. This was something else entirely. He thought he understood the ethos. Something sort of anarchistic. Maybe pro-Purist. They'd been underground, but his parents warned him, and records bore it out: Purist sentiment never went away. It festered. Maybe someday...

But why. It was truly unsettling that they'd managed to unseat not one but two heads of the Auror department. EB hesitated to nominate his friends. Obviously he thought of Will first--Will, always level-headed, Will, running the meeting, Will, who could sort out even the most complicated threads of fact and fiction. But, well--well--it was a risk.

No, EB, don't be daft. If you think he's the man for the job then say so.

"I'm nominating Will Channing," he said, nodding at his friend, and moved back to stand with his arms crossed and shoulders hunched against the wall.

"I also think it's time we really thought about what's going on. Street-level. I don't think we need to mess about with--with minutia, with minor policing and rules. Someone's got to figure out what's going on, yeah? Do some research that's actually useful, on how they're getting people like Astbury, like Potter, for Merlin's sake. Sorry."

He tucked in his chin. "Sorry. I'm just tired of being hemmed in by meaningless rules. We need to mean something. It's nothing to do with Garrow, I know you lot think I'm silly. Maybe he is behind some of it but he's not behind it all."

Sioned was looking forward to this meeting. When she'd asked Will for some real answers at the end of the previous week, he'd asked her to wait a few days, explaining his intention to hold a department-wide conference to clear everything up and get on the path back to effective police work. She was eager to get apprised of all the available information and start working on fixing the problems of the wizarding world. She had been out of the country for far too long. If she had known--if Marcus had written her earlier--she sighed. Would her presence in England have been enough to save Judy?

Will pointed at one of the Aurors near the door, who locked it. Sioned looked back at Will, a trace of concern on her features.

"Locked doors, Mr. Channing? Here?" she asked quietly.

"The Ministry is very different from what you remember, Sioned."

Sioned folded her hands in her lap. She was reserving judgment on where the Ministry now stood until she saw more of it. From what Sydney had told her, the government was as ineffectual and corrupt as it had always been. That wasn't a surprise to her. What was a surprise was the state of the MLE. They seemed incapable of getting anything done thoroughly and punctually. They were distracted, easily flustered, prone to squabbling amongst each other.

As Will spoke, she surveyed the people before her. Many of them were young, less than thirty years old. What kind of experience had they had? What did they know? What had they dealt with? There were some there whose faces showed their experience: Ivy Ballantine. Though her face still looked young, though Sioned had seen her smile, her eyes were dark. But Ivy was the exception. Many of the faces just showed insecurity (the Scottish brunette, Constance), naivety (Elior, the young man leaning against the wall), arrogance (Sofia, another from the Robards family).

"We will hear nominations now. I'll begin by nominating Sioned Baines."

Sioned's gaze snapped back to Will. He was smiling at her, so she offered him a small smile. The nomination was a surprise. She'd only just returned to the country, after all, and felt the position had better go to someone with more thorough knowledge of the current situations...but the gesture was appreciated.

"I'm nominating Will Channing."

E.B. had spoken. There were some murmurs of assent. Sioned looked back at Will. He looked somewhat taken aback, but with a sigh and a friendly smile at E.B. Will turned and added his own name to the list on the wall.

She looked back to E.B. as the young man continued to speak. He certainly had a point. Sioned had always favored intense investigation; not policing, but actually getting to the core of things. That was why she was a hit witch rather than an Auror. Her job required her to connect the dots, fill in the blanks, and break the chain at the most crucial link. Her job required such street-level knowledge as E.B. demanded.

"I agree with E.B.," Sioned said. "In both his nomination and his statements. I will not judge the behavior of this department in recent months, since I haven't been here to witness it; but our job is not to maintain an image. Our job is to discover the truth and bring justice to those who deserve it. The most dangerous criminals will not be stopped by paperwork."

Astbury’s disappearance had thrown yet another wrench in the already disrupted workings of the Magical Law Enforcement offices. The department had staggered on without a head, trying to make sense out of the chaos. It was good for him in a way; everything was so confused that no one paid him any mind whatsoever. But now Will had gathered them all together in a conference room to discuss the matter. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and no one could deny that these were desperate times. Wendell was a survivor; he knew that he would find a place in the world no matter how it fell to pieces. But that didn’t mean he was looking forward to seeing it all disintegrate. On the other hand there was no lost love between he and Astbury, and he couldn’t deny that he got a grim satisfaction seeing his rival disappear into oblivion. And now they were all gathered together to decide who would replace him.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure why anyone would want the job at this point. Clearly, the Head of the Auror department was a marked man (or woman) and whoever was behind these disappearances had no qualms about whom they went after. If someone had the guts to abduct the legendary Harry Potter, than the rest of them stood no chance. But even as Will declared that they would vote on who would take the position, Wendell saw a gleam of ambition in more than few pair of eyes. Sofia of course looked especially determined. He knew that she had been vying for the position for ages. She had been thoroughly miffed when Astbury had gotten it instead of her all those months ago. Wendell glanced around at the various aurors and tried to decide which one he would want to lead the charge.

His eyes first settled on Will. One of his best friend’s since childhood, he was a stand-up guy that would no doubt do his best to lead the department. But more importantly (at least in Wendell’s view), he would also do whatever was necessary to protect his friends who were slightly less law abiding than he was. He saw Constance Fallon standing, watching the proceedings, and considered her for a moment. But he could never see her as the new head. He tended to agree with Sofia, that the girl was a little mental. And he couldn’t count on her to help him, if necessary. Sorry Constance, but no cigar. Next his eyes flicked across E.B. Wendell nearly cracked up in the middle of the very serious meeting at the thought of E.B. trying to run the department. He’d be devoured by the end of the day, and not by these mysterious kidnappers either. Next he spotted Ivy, the Irish terror. No way in hell would he let her take over as the head. She’d lock him up in Azkaban and probably try to find a way to bring back a couple of dementors to sic on him. He’d as sooner scrape his eyeballs out with a spoon than see her become the new head. Next the new girl, Sioned. She was pretty, and seemed competent, and Will voted for her, which Wendell supposed said something about her character. He didn’t know very much about her, but what he had observed struck him as very idealistic. And he couldn’t help but feel that if she took the head, it probably wouldn’t bode well for him. Plus, I mean the girl hadn’t even been in the country for several years, who the hell would put her in charge in the middle of this crisis? And that left only one person, Sofia.

She was ambitious, as he had noted before. And as he had discovered at the few disastrous social parties he’d seen her in, she was quite good with manipulating others to get what she wanted without them realizing it. She was good at her job. In fact, she seemed just as bad a choice as any of the others for him. Except that, she had helped him escape. Now for anyone else in the room, that might be a damning point. But Wendell obviously thought otherwise.

Sofia or Will?

Will or Sofia?

Well, the others clearly thought that Will was an appropriate choice. His nomination was quickly made and seconded. And then it hit him. Why not have them both up for nomination? He’d win either way! He supposed that if anyone knew they’d been seeing each other, they probably wouldn’t take his nomination seriously. How lucky, then that they hadn’t made it public? As far as anyone knew, they were friendly having worked on a few cases together. But nothing outside of a perfectly platonic, working relationship.

“I’d like to nominate Sofia Robards.” He finally said having made his decision.

All eyes swiveled to him, which was a bit unnerving considering he had spent quite a bit of effort trying to stay unnoticed. He could tell that not everyone was pleased with the idea (here meaning Constance, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen a fiercer scowl), but he held his ground with his features schooled to appear serious enough to suit the circumstance, but also a bit disinterested. There was no need to appear as though he had any vested interest in her success.

Meetings were rarely a good thing when the entirety of level two was called in for a little chat, the key word being rarely. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this one was going to be about. The department was in chaos, to much new blood coming in and to much old blood mysteriously disappearing, and they were without a fearless leader. So in this case with the position of head open Sofia was far from dreading the meeting. No she was curious. The conclusion of the meeting would determine her path, this much she knew.

Grabbing a seat next to one of the newer, possibly the newest (she had begun to loose track), members of the department Ms. Baines Sofia did her best to act like she did not know what the mysterious meeting would be discussing.

"Therefore, the first item on our agenda is to vote for a new Head of Department."

Vote? Becoming department head was not supposed to be a popularity contest, which this was sure to become. People would not be thinking about who was best qualified for the job, no they would be thinking of who they liked. Will did not like her for some odd reason, and the rest of the BHL had taken an aversion to her, but the rest, she had never been anything but polite and hard working - as if that was going to get her noticed. Or the fact that while she was one of the younger members on the team she also was one of the senior most members at the office.

"I'll begin by nominating Sioned Baines."

Disillusionment with the department was coming in waves. The hit witch had been in the woods with vampires for god knows how long and had only recently come back to the ministry. What did she know of the politics? Might as well throw EB in the position, at least he knew more about what was going on in places other than level two. The woman had been removed from the office to long to be of any use other than in the field. Show EB cleavage and he was just as useless...

"I'm nominating Will Channing."

That one she could agree with at least. After all Will was pretty much running the place and acting as head and deputy all wrapped in one nice neat package. Nice choice EB, she could think of any others that could possibly qualify.

Till the man started rambling about moving to the streets and disregarding minor policing. They needed some order. She could only imagine what Wendell would end up doing if they took all their focus off of petty crime. Need she say chaos? Paperwork blizzard? They could at least put the novice aurors on that task.

Then Baines began speaking. Stating her agreement of all things. Where those two mental? Actually no, they probably had an invested interest in idealist island. Didn't they realized that till another policing force came into play they were stuck with apprehending minor criminals, the ones that if left unchecked could easily become major ones. And no rules. Honestly what sort of world did these people live in? Rules kept a majority of people in check, take away those and their work place, while it might get done more efficiently, was going to infringe upon the common person's rights. Ironic how the pureblood would stop to think of that.

So wrapped up in thought was she that she almost missed it Dillan's words. Almost.

“I’d like to nominate Sofia Robards.”

She blinked, keeping the disbelief easily at bay thanks to years of unexpected occurrences happening at the dinner table. Of all the things she had been expecting to happen she hadn't been expecting that. No she had been prepared to fight for a nomination or worse yet fight to nominate herself. But Dillan? Was he doing this because they had gone on a few official yet hidden dates? Either way he was going on the most amazing boyfriend ever list.

She gave Dillan a stiff smile and a nod, keeping up with her well loved office persona and ignoring the less than warm glares she was receiving. "May I bring us back to Braun's and Baines' point? We can't take all our focus off of minor policing and rules are what have been keeping us afloat during our transition phase. Our system was cramped considerably by the late Minster but that can be changed and we can get rid of a majority of the paper work rules recently instated easily - what we really need however is some sense of order. Someone that can delegate who does what and when. We all have our areas of expertise and levels of experience. Those just becoming aurors could deal with the minor crime, while those with more experience can deal with more challenging and pertinent issues. We can't forget the big picture even if it feels like meaningless work."

She finished with a little shrug, consciously not nominating anyone. As things stood she had a one in three chance of becoming head, two in three chance of being murdered by a member of the BHL, and there was a three in three chance that Dillan was going to get more than a peck goodnight after their cafe outing - date - thing.

The Ministry had gone mad. Losing bloody Harry Potter had been bad enough, but to let the Minister be killed, give Garrow an iota of trust, lose the collective Ministry balls over a spell they were responsible for creating, shove all the dirty work on directionless level two, and then expect a pile of overworked, unappreciated aurors and hit wizards to accept the menial bullshite quietly--it was madness! Complete madness. If they were expecting things to go quietly today, well, they had another thing coming to them if she had anything to do about it. Sure, they were supposed to meet and discuss, what an awful concept, about the problems they were facing and fix them, but Cliodna's cape the problems they were obvious and they didn't need to discuss a bloody thing to work it out! What they needed was strong leadership, reorganization, and a return to sensible department policy! If her granda were still here, he would have something to say about it, that's for certain. Not that the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement ever listened to Ireland's department, but even the most hardened Britocrit would have to bend an ear in the current circumstances...

Ivy continued to rant about the insanity of England in her head as she marched toward a department meeting she was dreading (Maeve help her, if someone handed her one more piece of parchment that required her signature and the signatures of sixteen of her friends and relatives, she was going to go on an AK spree), her wand spinning in her hand in such a natural and relaxed way that it made her arm look detached from the rest of her body. They'd been hiring again. People came and went so quickly now that she was starting to suspect the Ministry merely wanted fillers so no one became suspicious of low numbers.

Not that there wasn't anything else to be suspicious of, of course. She read the paper like any decent adult and had read the stories about That Man's trial. Ivy had been in such a state at the time that she couldn't remember what happened except that she had spoken, and at some point she heard the word innocent and then she was unchained and had her wand back and Kendra back. But the other witnesses had brought forth information about this spell, the fourth unforgivable, and all of That Man's other business. Something was nagging at her about it and she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She had the pieces but the picture was not clear. Something was missing.

Ivy paused outside the door to the briefing room and tucked her wand away, patting her dark Brunette Hottie's hair smooth and brushing her hands against each other. She entered and held the door for a secretary. As she held the door her eyes glanced over the occupants of the room. Only a few had arrived, including Channing and a few other hit wizards and the early bird secretaries.

"...But more importantly than that, we have business to attend to among ourselves, independent of the rest of this building. We have fallen apart. We are no longer performing at our best, and the wizarding world at large is paying the price for our laziness. Don't argue."

Ivy frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but leaned back and shut it again at his demand.

"Now, there are several things we have to discuss regarding the recent events, but before we get to them we have to deal with internal affairs. It is my heavy-hearted responsibility to inform you that our Head of Department, Benjamin Astbury, has...disappeared."

Cue another frown. She tried to recall the last time she had seen him, and remembered that she had told him to stop wasting his time following her around and chase a decent auror like Constance. What he had done after that was a mystery. He avoided her.

"Ronald Weasley, the Deputy Head, has resigned and left the country."

At this Ivy put an elbow on the table and leaned her head against her hand with a disbelieving expression. Stupid British wanker shirking responsibility.

"This leaves us with no clear line of succession. The politicians on Level One are too busy trying to salvage the Ministry's image after former Junior Undersecretary Garrow's defaming to select someone. We can't wait for them. We need leadership now. Therefore, the first item on our agenda is to vote for a new Head of Department."

Ivy could practically feel the cogs turning in each witch and wizard's head. She looked around at all of them and they all looked around at each other until finally another vote was cast. The obvious vote was Will--he was the approachable type, a decent man, and he did a good job of holding everyone together--but was there anyone else?

"...I'll begin by nominating Sioned Baines."

Ah, now there was a nice Celtic name. She had not yet worked with Baines but everything she heard about her was positive. The Irishwoman examined her face; she was very in control of herself. And she was alert of the others in the room, which is more than she could say of many of the other aurors and hit wizards...there was experience there, and wisdom. Not a bad choice at all. Then there was a Will nomination, completely expected, and then--

“I’d like to nominate Sofia Robards.”

She blinked twice, heavily, and tried not to laugh at Dillan. But then again...Robards was very good at paperwork and not so much her job. And maybe, if she became Head of Department, she would disappear too! Her mother's voice immediately reprimanded her in her head for this thought, but she still felt a smirk cross her features all the same. Maybe her boy toy was trying to axe her off.

"I also think it's time we really thought about what's going on. Street-level. I don't think we need to mess about with--with minutia, with minor policing and rules. Someone's got to figure out what's going on, yeah? Do some research that's actually useful, on how they're getting people like Astbury, like Potter, for Merlin's sake. Sorry. I'm just tired of being hemmed in by meaningless rules. We need to mean something. It's nothing to do with Garrow, I know you lot think I'm silly. Maybe he is behind some of it but he's not behind it all."

"I agree with E.B. in both his nomination and his statements. I will not judge the behavior of this department in recent months, since I haven't been here to witness it; but our job is not to maintain an image. Our job is to discover the truth and bring justice to those who deserve it. The most dangerous criminals will not be stopped by paperwork."

"...We can't take all our focus off of minor policing and rules are what have been keeping us afloat during our transition phase. Our system was cramped considerably by the late Minster but that can be changed and we can get rid of a majority of the paper work rules recently instated easily - what we really need however is some sense of order. Someone that can delegate who does what and when."

"That's why we're nominating a new department head," she interjected. "Obviously we need leadership."

"We all have our areas of expertise and levels of experience. Those just becoming aurors could deal with the minor crime, while those with more experience can deal with more challenging and pertinent issues. We can't forget the big picture even if it feels like meaningless work."

"The big picture--!" she exclaimed. "But that's exactly why we can't afford to waste our time on minor work, the big picture! The Minister of Magic is dead, Potter, Weasley, and Astbury are gone, they just revealed that man for what he is, there's another unforgivable, and that doesn't even begin to cover the sort of silent tragedies that are occurring every day, the sort of things that shouldn't be happening even with a higher crime rate. It's not a matter of it feeling like meaningless work, it is meaningless work when we have more important problems to deal with!"

She paused and realized she was accenting her words with her hands, hitting the edge of one hand against the palm of the other. Granda had a way of reappearing at strange times. She leaned forward and wrapped her fingers together.

"Aurors should be tracking and capturing dark wizards. Hit wizards should be taking out threats to magical society. And our main priority right now should be finding and stopping whatever's responsible for the disappearances. Not paperwork, or bloody doxy powder smugglers, or even the Wendell Darrows of the world. We need all the wizardpower we have, even the fresh aurors and hit wizards. I nominate Baines, by the way. But I have to say that I am highly concerned about the amount of beauructratic bullshite that is infiltrating the department. I have a very bad feeling that this--this, the 'big picture'--goes beyond the former Junior Undersecretary's work. I know very well what sort of man he was, and even he wasn't evil enough to be totally responsible for this wreck. "

Constance sat down, immediately folded her arms, and stared at the table. She did not want to be there. She had no interest in bureaucracy and discussion and she honestly couldn't stand most of the department, so she was pretty confident that she was going to get very angry before this business was over. It had already been a terrible morning and every little minor thing that had happened, from her missing shoe to her cramped neck to the poor security guard who had said hello to her was irking her to a frightening extent. Her game plan to keep from murdering her coworkers was just to sit silently and bite her tongue.

She listened to Will's speech, E.B.'s comments, Sioned's agreement all without much trouble. She agreed completely with all of them, even E.B., which was a surprise not altogether unpleasant. She wondered if maybe her one therapy session had helped a bit. She started to relax. Everyone was being calm and rational, and not saying anything stupid. Perhaps her fears had been unfounded. This is yer problem, Con, she told herself. Yer a feckin' pessimist, ruinin' things fer yerself by havin' the wrong mindset. They were all adults, after all. They could handle a little vote--

“I’d like to nominate Sofia Robards.”

Con's head snapped up, scowl firmly in place. Dillan. Was he a lunatic? He hadn't been there but a few months; he didn't know the evil that was Sofia Robards. Why lease that upon the department? There would be nothing left. The Aurors would be trapped in an avalanche of parchment, drown in great vats of ink. Was that the doom he aspired to? She had obviously charmed him, enchanted him in some way with her horrible pureblood powers--

But two Heads of Department had already disappeared. What if the trend continued? Constance relaxed a bit once more and dialed down her death glare. Better Sofia be the target than Will, or Baines. But then she was placed in an awful situation: vote for Will, the right man for the job, and put him in great danger...or vote for Sofia, her most hated arch-enemy? Con frowned and started listing the pros and cons of each option in her head. Her thoughts went back to the strange moment of camaraderie she and Sofia had shared over being sent to therapy by Will...maybe it wouldn't be so bad--

"May I bring us back to Braun's and Baines' point? We can't take all our focus off of minor policing and rules are what have been keeping us afloat during our transition phase."

--yes it would, it would be awful and was this woman absolutely mental? Constance gripped her upper arms, squeezing tightly and clenching her jaw as she struggled against the urge to reach for her wand and hex Sofia's ridiculous, arrogant, stupid tongue out of her stupid bloody pureblood mouth. She continued to stare at the table. She was too afraid that if she looked up she would see people agreeing with Sofia even though it was so obvious that she was so off-point. Luckily, Ivy started to speak, and she was not in agreement with Sofia at all.

"And our main priority right now should be finding and stopping whatever's responsible for the disappearances. Not paperwork, or bloody doxy powder smugglers, or even the Wendell Darrows of the world.

"Exactly!" Constance said. "We can afford to ease up on regulations and rules, half-arsed duels and petty crime! It's because we have been so focused on that that this whole thing was even able to happen, don't ye see?" She paused to breathe and to think. Doing more yelling, more blaming, wouldn't do anything, and she knew that. Will always said to focus on the solution, not the problem. Well then, what was the solution.

"Ye're right in sayin' that we still need order, Sofia," she said, more calmly. "An' I agree that the less experienced among us should worry themselves about that. But the rest of us; we need to be where the big players are. We can't go aroun' chasing more Wendell Darrows and Patrick Everards." She looked back over at Will.

"The disappearances go further than Garrow, but I think they may be connected," she said. "Someone oughta talk to Logan Fletcher. He knows more'n what he's sayin', or Nessie's a goldfish."

She was forgetting something.

"Oh, an' my vote goes to Baines," she added.

Two votes Will.
Three votes Sioned.
One vote Sofia.

Julie had a marvelous headache that day. The morning had been awful with her bumping into things in the dark of her apartment, feeling dazed and disoriented. This state of mess wasn't common in her mornings, but today things had twisted into heavy knots of distilled confusion. By the time she was in the most important meeting the department was (or would be having) in several weeks, her head wasn't splitting anymore, but she constantly found herself grinding her teeth and considering the fact of her presence in a room positively buzzing with tension, uncertainty and badly hidden conflict, a bit of an inconvenience.

Or rather, ridiculous things like headaches were the inconvenience. They proved that one never could be one hundred percent Auror or whomever for that matter, one always remained human. However professional Julie tried to be, she was still occasionally taken aback when she discovered that it was impossible to commit perfectly. That merely focussing wasn't enough on some days.

Well, the world wasn't simple and lately... Lately Julie just tried to work around the fact that nothing went as was expected or ought to. It was, in a strange way, a great source of motivation. The more things are falling apart, the greater you try to push them back together into some sort of order, right?

The department was in need of a head. And if there was someone who had any responsibility (if not power), then it was the Head of Aurors. The neat trail of disappearances was all the proof you needed. Whoever would be the best for it, though? Julie felt this was something she'd have to weigh over once, twice and maybe a third time, forcing her headache into some empty corner and and shining a mighty Lumos into its ugly face.

She glanced about the room, immediately noticing Sofia a little way off. Sofia, Julie felt, was perhaps the one person who definitely wanted this job. Sofia was determined and dedicated. Also, Sofia was her school-time friend, her Auror training companion and the person she probably new best in this department.

The last argument could go both ways and however hard Julie might have tried to disregard it as perfectly unprofessional, it was nevertheless a fact.

There were also Will and Sioned. Both, in their own ways, very competent. Will had plenty of experience handling the department and Sioned was clearly one of the most serious and level-headed people around. She could see either of them taking responsibility.

And then...

"Oh, an' my vote goes to Baines."

Suddenly, almost as if magic words had been said, Julie felt a conclusion dawning on her. The more she thought of if, the more certain she became. Confident that, however this might seem to everyone else, it was right thing to do and feeling quite unequal to adding anything to the ongoing fight over the department's priorities, she managed to say calmly:

"I vote for Sofia."

Her conversation skills needed serious warming up this morning, Julie decided. Feeling that perhaps some reasoning was required, she added:

"This department needs to give more than it ever has before and I think that is something Sofia is perfectly suited to handle."

The tone of the meeting changed as soon as Sofia spoke. E.B. and Sioned had, as expected, immediately proposed going to the source of the problems rather than cleaning up the aftermath. Sioned was a hit witch; her job was to find the ringleaders, the masterminds, and remove them from the equation. E.B. was an idealistic Auror; he still believed in the glamor of the position. For him there was still the possibility of launching a perfectly coordinated attack on enemy headquarters and deftly capturing the evil leader. Will chuckled to himself, shaking his head.

But then, Sofia.

Will agreed with her, of course. They couldn't entirely ignore the little things. The balance could easily be attained by proper delegation of duties within the department. But that simple resolution was pushed farther back in the minds of the assembled as both Constance and Ivy (a team Will fondly referred to as "The Gaelic Menace") jumped at the opportunity to argue with Sofia. Will shook his head, this time massaging his temples rather than chuckling good-naturedly. He was proud of Constance, though. The young woman seemed to be making a real attempt to control her anger and focus on being constructive instead.

He was about to stand up to break up the argument when Julie spoke.

"I vote for Sofia. This department needs to give more than it ever has before and I think that is something Sofia is perfectly suited to handle."

"Julie is absolutely right," Will said, rising and looking very carefully down the table. "I don't want this to be a popularity contest. The next Head of this department will have a lot to handle and a very poor environment to handle it in. She--or he--will need to be, not only experienced, but firm and most importantly compassionate."

Knock knock knock.

Will looked hesitantly at the door, then shook his head and continued. "They need to be someone that the rest of the department will follow whole-heartedly, so think carefully about your votes and your...nominations..."

The knocking persisted. Will sighed and walked over to the door. He pulled out his wand and unlocked it, swinging it open to reveal a scrawny messenger, who stared up at Will with a wide-eyed expression.

"For you, Mr. Channing," he said breathlessly, holding out an envelope. "From Level One!"

"Erm...thank you," he said. The messenger nodded and Will closed the door, locking it again. He gestured for the conversation to continue while he walked back to his seat, opening the letter as he went. He sat down slowly, reading the unnecessarily elegant script.

Dear Mr. Channing,

It is our fond pleasure to invite you to lead our world through these dark times and become the next Minister of Magic--

Will blinked.

--next Minister of Magic

"Will."

He looked up at Sioned, who was looking at him with a mild expression of concern.

"Are you alright, Will? What is it?" she asked.

Will swallowed. Should he tell them? No, of course not. He wasn't going to accept, so there was no point. He was no politician, after all. He hated bureaucracy. Surely there were better people for the job? His gaze fell to the letter again.

--the next Minister of Magic. Mr. Chaning, no one knows the workings of the Ministry better than you. You have connections everywhere. You work well with everyone. You're a natural politician. You're smart; you know what needs to be done.

But the most important thing, Will, is that the wizarding world trusts you, and they will follow you.

Will looked up and gazed at the faces of his friends and colleagues. He thought of how often people came to him for help, how much his friends depended on him. He turned around and looked at his name on the wall with two votes beside it.

Could this really be happening? Was this something he could really do?

next Minister of Magic

"Friends, I'm...somewhat shocked to inform you that I'm out of the running for Head of Department," he said slowly. He stood up and gave a small incredulous laugh, brandishing the letter. "They've made me Minister of Magic!"

At first EB thought the letter had said something horrible. Will looked so incredulous, his face contorted.

Minister of Magic.

Maybe it was horrible. Minister of Magic? The first thing he felt was a surge of totally misplaced pride--good for Will. The second thing, as usual, was suspicion. Why would they choose Will? He was an Auror. He was a good Auror, and he'd been second-in-command, but he was young, just EB's age. Why... and while he knew it didn't matter for practical purposes that Will was gay, it couldn't be a good PR move.

Irrationally, he thought of the film Blazing Saddles, which he'd seen with Eric on Muggle Night last weekend. If they'd put Will up to this just to set him up for failure, or just to let him be killed... well, he just wouldn't allow that. Thoughts of the Head of Auror office aside, he stepped forward, shaking out one leg uneasily, his hand on his wand-hilt.

"They've got to give you time to think it over," he said, flatly.

EB was always sanguine, always chipper, always ready to see the bright side. EB, he rather thought

had a few things wrong. Dead wrong.

There had been too many accidents. "They can't just--we need Aurors. The Department's shaky as it is--" And he needed him. Who else was there? The BHL. He didn't trust Sofia. He didn't trust Sioned, for all he was inclined to--she hadn't been here long, and had come at a most mysterious time; and Con... EB had begun very rapidly to realize that the list of Aurors he did trust was short. He hadn't nominated Will for Head of Department because he was fantastic, though undoubtedly he was. He'd nominated him because he was the only choice.

Sioned watched the exchange between Sofia, Ivy and Constance carefully. The older woman felt a little bad for Sofia; she certainly wouldn't have wanted to trade places with her, being ganged up on by the other two women. She had a valid point, after all. Everyone had valid points. Sioned supposed that was the point of the discussion: not to determine the validity of opinions, but to delineate the department's priorities.

She was about to open her mouth to mention it when Will announced the contents of the letter he'd been given. E.B. immediately protested; he seemed to be very fond of Will and not at all keen on the idea of losing him to the sea of bureaucracy that made up Level One of the Ministry. Sioned didn't blame him, but she doubted that if Will did accept the appointment he would completely leave Level Two behind after spending eight years of his life there, and spending them well. She reached out and squeezed Will's hand once.

"I think you should take the job," she said to Will. She didn't know Will very well yet, but she got the impression that he was a man who could be trusted; obviously, Level Two looked up to him and respected him. She was only worried about one thing: his age. He was only twenty-five, an age perhaps acceptable for Head of a department he'd spent all his Ministry career in--but the top job in the Ministry at such a young age? It was suspicious, and Sioned feared that Will was being set up either as a figurehead to draw fire away from the real leaders, or as a scapegoat to place all the blame on for the continued disagreeable state of things.

Nevertheless, her impression was that Will could overcome the machinations of cowards.

"And in that case, my vote now goes to Sofia," she said, addressing the whole room. She smiled at the younger woman. "I worked for your father. He was a good Auror, and he would have been a good Head if he'd had the chance, I'm sure. I believe the same of you.

"Now," she continued. "I think the real question being debated here is one of priorities. What, as a department, is our most important objective? Correct me if my suggestion is superfluous; I'm somewhat short on information. I agree with Ms. Fallon. It seems to me that we should follow up on the Garrow case, tie up every possible loose end, and make sure we find out if it's connected to anything bigger."

"Friends, I'm...somewhat shocked to inform you that I'm out of the running for Head of Department. They've made me Minister of Magic!"

The room erupted with mutterings, EB loudly protesting that Will simply couldn't leave the department, Sioned giving him words of encouragement. Wendell stared at his old friend with a little bit of shock. Back in Hogwarts, they used to sit and wonder what they would be like in ten or twenty years. They had laughed that Wendell would be running some sort of crime ring, Jasper would have the largest collection of designer suits in the world, and Apollo would have developed his own clothing line. As for Will, he would be slaving away in some boring job and probably love every minute of it. Never could they have expected that they were best mates with the future Minister of Magic. He was proud of what his friend had accomplished.

"Congratulations Will!"

He patted him on the back with a genuine smile. His best friend was going to be the Minister of Magic, wonders never ceased! He wished that he could properly congratulate him, take him out for some drinks but, taking him out as Dillan was not quite the same as being Wendell. Sadly it would have been his last chance for some fun before he turned into some stiff, boring old politician. But Will wasn't exactly the common politician, and Wendell knew that if there was one incorruptible person in England it was Will Channing. After all he had been best mates with the likes of Wendell and Jasper for years and still had a spotless record.

Of course there was a great deal of danger inherent in the position of Minister of Magic. A danger that had been only exacerbated in recent months, the good ones had disappeared off the face of the Earth, the bad whisked away to Azkaban. He made a mental note to take more of an active interest in the disappearances. His best mate would not be the next victim of a group of power hungry terrorists, if he had anything to say about it.

Things weren't looking to well - it seemed as though she was loosing the popularity contest elections, which was predictable, seeing as she was relying on the other brunettes to get her into her dream job. That was to much to ask for, they would never get past their dislike of the british to nominate someone from their own country.

Two votes for Will.
Three votes for the outsider.
One vote for herself.

But then Julie, that wonderful woman, added her vote. Things were looking up. She could have hugged Julie if she had been a more hugging orientated person. Instead she was taking her out for drinks - lots and lots of drinks. Millions of drinks if She got the position. Now as it stood there were two votes Will, three votes for the outsider, two votes for herself. She was gaining ground...

Then Will suddenly got a note followed by...

"They've made me Minister of Magic!"

Shock. The ministry was going insane. That much was certain, Will was far to young far to young... which actually gave her more of a chance. If they put him in the position of Minister then there was a slight chance of her becoming department head. After all now she was guaranteed a chance and a position - it was just a show down to see who would become head and who would become deputy head. Either way she was a shoe in now!

The office buzzed with the news, everyone had their typical responses, Sofia among them - she kept silent and expressionless, or attempted to. She wasn't prepared for Sioned's next words.

"And in that case, my vote now goes to Sofia, I worked for your father. He was a good Auror, and he would have been a good Head if he'd had the chance, I'm sure. I believe the same of you."

Sofia was in shock again, this time for a completely different reason other than self gain. Her father. He would be so proud. She would have to tell him - he would accept that she was his daughter, the one to bear the Robards name through history as the next and worthy in the line of family aurors.

She gave Sioned a small smile, suddenly feeling very shy in the presence of a woman who had worked with her father.... remembered the man as more than a showing figure at meal times that was always playing with her brothers.

"Thank you." she whispered, before giving herself a little mental shake. Dillan gave her a moment to recover as he added his congratulations, reminding her she should do the same.

"Congratulations Will. I am sure you will make a just Minister of Magic. "

Before they could get more off track Sioned the outsider Sofia now had the urge to talk with more about her father was quick to get them back on track. "...What, as a department, is our most important objective? Correct me if my suggestion is superfluous; I'm somewhat short on information. I agree with Ms. Fallon. It seems to me that we should follow up on the Garrow case, tie up every possible loose end, and make sure we find out if it's connected to anything bigger."

That was a very good question, especially if Will was going to be leaving to be Minister of Magic - Aurors had the advantage of having one of their own in the minister position and they should act accordingly. As much as she disliked admitting it the outsider was right. Actually she wasn't going to verbally admit it. She still had her pride after all. Instead she gave a nod of agreement. Simple yet effective.

"They've got to give you time to think it over. They can't just--we need Aurors. The Department's shaky as it is--"

"I think you should take the job."

"Congratulations Will!"

"Congratulations Will. I am sure you will make a just Minister of Magic."

Will listened faintly to the comments fading in and out of the general murmur. He was almost afraid to look up at the faces of his friends and colleagues, although he certainly knew their expressions well enough to envision them. EB; well, EB would look confused, indignant. His entire world was Level Two. Will sometimes imagined that he forgot about the rest of the Ministry entirely. Sioned would be calm, almost impassive, taking it in stride and offering support with a friendly degree of warmth. Dillan--Dillan's voice almost made him look up, just because the inflection sounded so familiar; like someone else. But Sofia distracted him from those thoughts with her congratulations. Her face would be as polite as ever; perhaps a little more polite than usual, if Will flattered himself.

"Thank you, everyone," he said. He looked up, at EB. "I will speak with the politicians, EB, before I make any final decisions, but I think I must take the job. They wouldn't have offered it to me unless there was no one else." He looked down at the letter and folded it up as Sioned spoke.

"Sioned is right. Tying up loose ends will prevent further mistakes from being made. The vote is now tied, three and three, yes?" Will asked, twisting around to look at the wall. "Has everyone voted? Right. In that case, I am making an executive decision. Sofia will be Head of Department, and Sioned will be Deputy Head," he said, standing. "Sofia is one of the most detail-oriented people in this department. Now that we have determined that our course of action must focus on the details, I believe no one will be better able to guide the department in that course than her."

He looked down at Sioned.

"This is acceptable to you?" he asked. She smiled faintly up at him.

"Of course. I'd be uncomfortable leading when I'm still being briefed," she said. She smiled next at Sofia. "I'll support you any way I can, Ms. Robards."

Will nodded, purposely avoiding Con and Ivy's gaze. "Very good," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must speak with Level One." He smiled at them all once more, wiped the back wall clean of names and votes and leaving the conference room.

(This can either be the end of the thread or Sofia, you can post to finish it. Whichever. :D)