Curiosity

Sofie strode into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, her visitor's badge neatly pinned to her dress. Her blue eyes took in the scene as she stepped in gracefully but with intent. She had wavered on her excuses- whether or not to say she was here for an interview or for an article. She had decided to water down the former, say she was considering taking a job as as Auror but she needed more information.

She had a name- Danny Thompson. A relatively involved young man in the community, and one rumored to be in the Order of the Phoenix. Naturally, there were no rumors about Sofie, as she kept a low profile, and had been in the country hardly a few months. Even now, she had done well to mask her Russian accent completely as well as the Dark Mark on her arm. She was not dangerous, merely curious.

She asked a secretary for Danny Thompson and the woman went to fetch him. She turned and looked at the employee placards on the wall, reading the names in case they ever came in handy as she waited for Danny.

Somewhere in the Auror's office, Danny sat with his feet up on his desk, a map in his hand, and a rather abnormal frown upon his face. Sure, being an auror could be exciting at times, but right now there was nothing special going on. He wasn't chasing bad guys or hunting down any magical enemy to the state, he was just sitting in an office, his nose stuck into maps and other notes containing information about dangerous criminals. Given the fact that he was new to the office, and that he was still somewhat known throughout the offices as an ex-criminal, he was never given any position of power...or anything interesting for that matter. No, he was mostly tasked with giving information about tracking down certain suspects, just so the more higher-up guys could go and deal with it.

What a wonderful freakin' life he had at that point.

But, it wasn't all darkness and gloom for him, he was still pretty glad he got a new girlfriend and met up with some of his old friends. It kept him sane in these meaningless positions he held, something he knew that he wasn't going to get out of any time soon. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a co-worker of his, a fellow named Fred, approaching his cubicle. "Hey Dan," he said, holding a new edition of the Daily Prophet in his hands "Boss has a new assignment for you. He says he wants you to check out the killings of a muggle village, apparently someone destroyed the entire village; nearly a thousand killed." Danny immediately turned his body towards Fred, practically throwing his legs back down to the ground. "Let me see that," he said, catching the newspaper that Fred had thrown to him.

A small village in the South-Eastern corner of Britain was brutally attacked. Population was barely over two thousand people. The death toll is unknown but it has to be rather high since there was only one known survivor.

"Jesus," he muttered, mostly in utter disgust. Who could've done such a thing? He looked back up towards Fred and said "So the boss is finally giving me a real assignment? As in, tracking this son of a B**** down?" Fred shrugged "I don't know for certain. He just wanted me to tell you to get the investigation started. I wouldn't screw this up though, this is really going to help you out if you do this right." Danny nodded in acknowledgement and said "Thanks Fred, I'll let you know more later." Fred gave him a small salute, mostly as a friendly gesture, and then left. Finally, Danny had a real assignment, new determination on his face.

Before he could get anything started though, the secretary came up to him, peaking her head over the top of the small wall. "Mr. Thompson," the woman said "A woman at the front wants to see you." Danny paused for a second, not looking back up. Who the hell could that be? He didn't know anyone would be visiting him. "Alright, thanks Martha," he said, pushing himself up from his seat and walked out towards the main lobby.

When he got there though, he was surprised to find the woman that had asked for him was a complete stranger to him. He rubbed the side of his head, his mind in deep thought. How the hell did she know him by name? He shook the thought off his head and continued on, knowing that he would get to the bottom of this. He approached the woman in the rather tasteful looking dress and put on a workplace smile. "Hello there," he said, stepping to the front of the woman "I am Danny Thompson. Martha said you wanted to see me?"

She did not need to wait too long- interesting that he was so ready at hand. She figured with all the stunts the Death Eaters had been pulling, the entire department would be chaos. Perhaps she could inquire as to that too. The man reached her and she gave him a warm smile, holding a hand out to shake his. "Yes, my name is Sofia, though you can call me Sofie." She smiled again and released his hand.

"Actually, I was inquiring because I am considering getting into the Ministry. I am unfamiliar with this part of the country, however, and I was hoping to get more information. I have a rule never to get a job unless I know the full scenario- conditions, authorities, etcetera. I found your name after inquiring around Diagon Alley. I was hoping we could step into your office and talk?"

Danny, out of habit, reached out and shook the strange woman's hand, the woman's name apparently Sofie. Didn't ring a bell, he was just glad it wasn't an officer or something to question him. Why that would happen, he wasn't sure, but he was still paranoid about the jailbreak. Couldn't help it really. He rubbed the back of his neck after she had released his hand, still questioning of her appearance here. She seemed innocent enough though, so he never figured to keep his guard up. "Well, I don't have an office unfortunately," he said, feeling a little embarrassed by that fact "I'm only a recent addition to the team. If you want, you can follow me to one of the processing rooms. It's private there."

He took her answer for a yes and made a gesture for her to follow. After a minute of walking through the area, he opened the door for Sofie to enter, the room itself consisting of a table and two chairs, each on the opposite sides. He couldn't risk bringing her back to the offices, that was for authorized personal only, and he didn't want to get fired as soon as he began. That would just suck. He closed the door behind Sofie and gestured towards the seat in front of him. "Have a seat," he said, as he went over to the opposite chair and sat down. "So, what is it that you wanted to know specifically?" he asked the woman "but I do hope that you know that most information is classified. I can't talk about any recent events or anything like that."

Sofie responded, "Oh, that's okay. I use the term office loosely- just somewhere where I can get a few questions asked. If everyone had an office, there'd be no room to move." She chuckled lightly and nodded her assent to go to the processing room. "That's fine by me. I'll follow you there." She did just that, following him to the processing room and taking the opportunity of to look around as she did.

He led her into the room and she thanked him as she slipped past him, pulling her chair out and settling down, folding her hands and settling them in her lap. He got right into it and she nodded. "Understandable. Though I noticed the office seems to be in a lull. I was expecting quite the opposite, after reading the Daily Prophet. I sure hope all is going well."

She paused, hoping he would at least touch upon the inactivity. "I was just curious to know about how this department runs. How is the Head? And the Minister? Do they treat their employees well? Or do they sort of sacrifice the well being of the workers for the security of the community?"

Danny nodded his head towards her comment about the seemingly inactivity at the Ministry and said "Well, this is only just the Aurors Office, most of our fellow aurors are off tracking other dangerous criminals and providing useful intelligence on the field. Only some stay behind to go over the evidence and other trails that we are provided, and others are just busy sticking to their desk and going over the mountains of paperwork that constantly pile up. I'm sure you know how that is.

The working conditions here are fine, if not a little hectic. We deal with most of the problems the magical world comes upon, many of the people here worried about that sickness that is spreading. And no one is sacrificing anything here, we all know that with being an Auror comes with a lot of responsibilities, many of us working numerous days a week and spending most of our brainpower on other cases. We all treat each other here fairly." He hoped he wasn't sounding like he was responding to an interviewer, he was just trying to sound political so he wouldn't look like an idiot.

She listened attentively, though she kept her face casually passive, as though her interest were temperate, mild. Sofie had a good memory that she was planning on using, but she also had a very dis-attached nature, which greatly helped her in such instances. It seemed as though there were a veil between the scene before her and the processing mechanism within her skull. The painted picture of politeness on her countenance masked the fact that she might have any motives for... well, for anything really. She was not one upon which suspicion was saddled.

His words had yet to tell her much. She needed to prompt him. "I've heard your Head, Nemo Omara, is a character. But I imagine most of your orders come from the Minister, right? With such a busy and dangerous climate and all. What's he like? I honestly know nothing about your Ministry, as I've been out of the country for so long, but I need a steady career."

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "As I have said earlier, I'm only a recent addition to the team. I'm not that familiar as to who the superior really is, I'm still just trying to learn the ropes of the hierarchy we have here. I assume that the Minister is involved with the juristication in terms of placing assignments, but seeing as how the Minister is well...the Minister, most of the authority goes to Nemo Omara.

And to be honest, I don't know the Minister all that way. We've only exchanged a passing glance or two whenever he comes to check on the situation, but other than that, I have no idea of who he truly is." He was curious about this woman, she seemed to speak fluent English without as much as a foreign accent, and she was asking questions about the Ministry and the Minister? Something didn't seem to add up here, but he had a feeling this wasn't too good. "So Sofie," he said calmly, locking his fingers in between each other "you say you have not been in this country for long. Where do you hail from?"

Sofie had been told that Danny was an active member in the Order, a real warrior for good and justice. He seemed like a greenhorn, though, a foot soldier with no information and one unwilling to trust or share his own impressions. Sofie was a nanny, therefore, she was patient and she knew how to be calm and polite. So far, his information was mostly useless. She needed to try to get him to delve.

Just one piece of information. Just one.

He turned it around on her and she said. "Oh, I was born here, but I have been living in Bulgaria for the past nine years or so. I was working with the Ministry there and I heard tales of trouble from our Minister regarding your Ministry. It seems the Death Eaters have made a comeback. I was sort of an information analyst there, so I was hoping by coming over I could offer my services. I can usually help turn information into a plan." She smiled. "But that is why I am so guarded regarding the authorities. One corrupt official could turn information into a weapon. If an authority cares more for their family than their duty, or have side workers working under the table- an entire Ministry can collapse."

Her story made sense, so it eased Danny on his mind a little. He was still paranoid though, a random woman from another country coming up and asking for him directly? He would've assumed she'd talk to Nemo, or hell, the Prime Minister himself. Not an FNG. He allowed himself to relax a little, figuring it'd be better to shed his political correct attitude. He felt like throwing up whenever he did that, and she didn't seem to fit the look of some reporter, so it wasn't like he'd be revealing anything important that the Prophet would end up using.

"That's very kind of you," he said "the more help we get, the quicker we can deal with the bad guys. But I'll be truthful with you Ms. Elkin, there's nothing wrong with the Ministry from what I've known so far, and the Minister seems to be doing a fairly good job. Considering this whole sickness that has shown up, things have been kept under... control. As for the rumors of Death Eaters, I have no clue, but I believe most of the department is coming up with a plan to deal with them. Just a rumor though." Half truth within itself, but he wasn't going to reveal anything within the Order and from what he really knew about their plans.