The Rookie

Frank knew people had their eyes on him. They expected great thing out of him, which he guesses was understandable. His dad may be a dufus to him, but he had been in more battles by the end of his last year of Hogwarts than most adults had been in. He had been an esteemed Herbology professor, briefly an Auror, helped manage the Leaky Cauldron, and had been apart of the Order.

And people expected something like that out of him.

It didn't help who he had company with. Everyone lumped the Longbottoms in the group with the Potters, the Weasleys, the Lupns, and the Scamanders. They were the families people watched to get inspiration and guidance from. And here he was, eighteen, and people already had the same expectations for him.

So far, he was unimpressive. He was in the Order, sure, but he was also just starting as an Auror. He was ready for field work but relatively unused. They had veterans for bug jobs, why send out the new kid. The most impressive thing about him now was that he was an accomplished musician and starting artist.

But what use were those against Death Eaters?

He decided to stay long that night, get more bookwork done. He was fairly sure most people were gone, but he was at his desk, the light clicked on, dark circles under his eyes and his hair amusingly mussed as he wrote out reports, hoping somehow, it'd help get him ahead.

Life was so much simpler when you were living on the run. Sure there was fear and paranoia welling up within you to a point where you think it might burst out of every exit out of your body but at least when you were on the run you didn’t have as much paperwork as the Head of the Department of Law and Enforcement had. Jen had been on the run many times before and she was actually considering using the Killing Curse on her secretary just to get out of the Ministry. With her brother in Azkaban it was probably a nice set up they had there. Still, she refrained and decided instead just to walk out of her office all together; something she pulled off spectacularly well considering her temper.

A quick glance out of the window when she was in the hallway told Jen that it was later than she’d first thought. It meant that the charms on the windows actually worked. Apparently the secretary thought that charming the windows so the sun was shining and birds were flying around outside was a good idea. Thankfully, the weather reflected Jen’s black mood. It was tipping it down outside and she’d just about had enough of the Ministry for the day.

Stifling a yawn, Jen looked down at her watch. She groaned when she realised the time. Fantastic. Just as Jen was considering going home, the purposeful clip clop of the secretary’s heels on the marble caught her attention. Jen grimaced and shot off down the hallway, thankful for the converse she’d decided to wear instead of her own clippity clops.

Swearing upon realising that she’d been heard, Jen darted into the first office that she came across. She shut the door and took her wand out of her robes, snapping silencing spells out. The door gave a shudder as the magic rolled over it and Jen brought the tip of her wand to her lips. She bit it with a frown before turning around. Her eyes fell on the Auror at his desk immediately and Jen couldn’t help but splutter,

“Bollocks,” in a perfectly undignified manner.

Frank usually knew better than to let himself get so focused on his work to forget his environment- the Aurors could be rowdy, and you did not want random spurts of their energy when you were completely focused. However, he did slip up every now and then, and he thought he had been alone. He was hoping the more bookwork he got done, more practical work he'd have to do.

But suddenly, his door burst open and papers went flying in the air. He pushed his chair back, which was not great seeing as he had one of the smallest offices. It hit the back wall and his filing cabinets and shelves shook, dropping more paper. Now a small storm of paper shook and floated about the room, and Frank stood, staring wide eyed at the intruder who had uttered only one word.

It was the Head of Law Enforcement... His boss. She was rather... well, unprofessional. Yet Frank had not had much face time with her, and she had a presence that demanded respect, so naturally, she sort of scared the meek-ish young man. But, still. He had to say something. So he greeted her, sounding breathless, "Hello, Ms Dent."

If it wasn’t for the fact that that sodding woman did a good job then Jen would have sacked her by now. As it was, Jen had gathered herself a reputation for going through assistants as quickly as the Lupins went through coffee. The last thing she wanted was to gain yet another annoyance but if she actually asked to recruit her own assistant then maybe someone good would crop up. It was unlikely though and Jen had feeling she’d have to put up with Eliza until she quit or until the girl had an office romance that warranted Jen sacking her. Oh, the endless possibilities, how they enthralled the Department Head.

It was unfortunate that someone else was in the room. Had it been empty, Jen would have quite happily hid out until the night was over. Perhaps she’d curl up under the desk or on the rug and have a nap. With another body in the room, that wouldn’t help her. She knew it was foolish to hide from the people on her payroll but it was necessary to function semi-normally throughout the day. This, however, was not normal; and Jen certainly didn’t look like she was the Head of the Department of Law and Enforcement. She didn’t like she was the head of anything. She looked like a street musician that had gotten her hands on a pair of expensive robes.

Jen thanked Merlin that that was not the case.

The boy greeted her and Jen sized him up, mentally putting his face, height and approximate weight into her mental fact file of people and let her mind draw up a match. Frank Longbottom. Oh, the irony. Jen smirked and folded her arms over her chest. She drifted over to the desk and sat down in the chair in front of it, keeping her eyes on the boy quite intently. He was an intriguing specimen, not at all like his bumbling father. He was a lot more self-assured and that was useful in the Department. She was worried that he was impressionable though and that was a flaw that only needed to be exploited for a second in the Ministry. The poor lad.

“Good Evening, Mr. Longbottom.” She raked her eyes across the desk and raised an eyebrow. “My, my...you’ve been a busy little beaver haven’t you? May I remind you Mr. Longbottom that you can’t hurl your quill at Death Eaters? Throwing spells or at the very least rocks does tend to work better. Now...what are you doing here this late? Isn’t there some pretty little thing hanging off of your arm that needs to be walked home?”

Frank blinked beneath her hard gaze, feeling as though he was being mentally picked apart by the Head of Department. He knew that he was under constant scrutiny. He was the newest Auror here, people were looking at him. And now with his second job as the career counselor people had an interest in him. And it didn't help being Neville Longbottom's son...

He smiled weakly, saying, "Yes, I have been rather busy lately, actually." It was all self-induced, however, which was pretty clear to anyone. He grinned. "I know that Ms Dent." At her questions, he blushed a little, but he blinked again and the blush faded from his cheeks. He usually did not blush, but she was a lot more intimidating than he had originally thought.

"No, I do not," he said. "Must have to do will all the work," he said, sort of sheepishly. Truth was, he was not attempting to get a girl either. "I'm here because I'm sort of bottom of the totem pole here. I get stuck with all the paperwork. I figure that if I get all the paperwork done, I'll get some actual work to do. Maybe I'm just being idealistic."

He was so sweet – so cute and so innocent. It was easy to believe that he was a Longbottom. There was a lot of Neville in him – just as much as there was of his mother. It did make Jen smile although she had no desire to do so. He had a lot to learn if he didn’t want to get himself killed. Perhaps the first lesson would be to never question his superiors hiding in his office from their OCD-afflicted secretaries. The thought of that sodding woman made Jen shudder and so she reached into her pocket for a cigarette, one which she had been putting off for a few hours. Now seemed like the perfect time – if there ever was one – and so she lit the end of it with a match and flicked said match into one of the glass candle holders. She watched as the flame ignited the wick and smirked before taking the cigarette from between her lips.

“I can see that, actually,” Jen remarked, sweeping her eyes across the desk again. “You silly sod. If you spend too much time with the likes of Bittel and Smith, you’ll start thinking like them. Which, ultimately, probably isn’t a bad thing. Merlin only knows you’ve got more promise than the rest of those idiots claiming to have ‘experience’. Not that you strike me as the type to ferry your siblings across India to escape a hanging mind you. Still, it is a good pastime if you’re into curry and shanty towns.” Jen tapped the ash into the candle and looked at Frank again. “Immobilizing spells are fun if you’ve got the time. Then just sever bits of them off. That’s even better.”

She smirked again and raised an eyebrow when he said that he didn’t have a girlfriend. “Good. They’re far too distracting and too soppy at your age. Get yourself a bookworm or someone with a sensible head on their shoulders. If all else fails do us all a favour and bag yourself a Death Eater. I think I might have to up your pay if you do.” Jen laughed and shook her head, blowing smoke into the air. “Idealism ruins people. I wouldn’t do that. Why hope for work when you can pursue it? You have a little bit of greatness in you, Longbottom. I shouldn’t waste it. Your father was a bumbling fool until the height of the war. Then had firmer bollocks than you could ever hope to have. You can achieve the same. I have faith in that. So tell me...what exactly have you been doing and who have you been stalking via paperwork?”

Jen seemed to have him pegged; she was either very perceptive or he had not fallen as far under the radar as he had thought. She may have been spending more time paying attention to him than he had originally thought, which was reassuring. Maybe he was not forgotten, maybe he was not as invisible here as he had thought he was.

At her words regarding women, he nodded bashfully, dropping his gaze back down to the files on his desk, shuffling them as the smell of smoke worked its way into his nose. He looked up as she began to speak, mentioning his father. He could be sensitive about his dad- most of what he had heard about his dad were barbed words- insults mingled with some admiration.

Here it was the same, but he could sense the honesty and sincerity in the good parts of what she said about Neville. Frank nodded, feeling incredibly grateful. She asked who he was reading up on and he held up the folder. "Oh, Sandra Archer. She seems clever and not exactly deranged like the others. She was Dark Lady for awhile, but I've just started here."