The Transfer

As expected, probably, Heather was early. A good fifteen minutes early, in fact, to stave off the inevitable anxiety that would creep over her, otherwise. It only made her more serious and focused to know that she was about to start a new job in a new place. The people working beneath her would undoubtedly feel jilted. Brining in a woman from America rather than promoting a current employee would not make them happy. She could really only hope that someone would realize how out of place she felt and make some attempt - however small - to make things alright.

It took her a couple of tries to figure out how to get to the department's floor, but she made it to what was meant to be her office with five minutes to spare. Perfect. At least she wouldn't have to worry about that happening again.

So Heather looked around, unsurprised by the questioning looks and words uttered under breaths between employees. That was fair enough. But she knew when and how to put on a stern look, and put it to use until she knocked on the door of the office, looking forward to meeting Monroe and learning about the dynamics of their team.

Monroe had been hoping for prompt, in the way he hoped for most things at the Ministry. With the expectation of disappointment. So the knock at the door, five minutes early, was a pleasant surprise. Not that there was any reason for her to know that.

"Ms Ellison," he greeted her, opening the door and stepping back to let her into the room.

She had red hair. If Monroe had believed in a higher power, he might believe it was an omen. It wasn't that he didn't get along with redheads, so much as they had a habit of getting in the way of his plans. But Monroe didn't believe in higher powers, and he wasn't a superstitious moron, so he put his irritation down to how the colour reminded him of people like Jacquelline Dyllan.

"Would you like something to drink? Tea, coffee, some kind of carbonated beverage?" he asked.

The first key question, of course, was whether she ought to be friendly or serious. Upon seeing the man in question, she figured it would be best to go for the latter. The fact that he used the word 'beverage,' for example, surprised her enough that she kept her demeanor polite but relatively stoic.

"I'm pretty partial to coffee," she replied. She wasn't thirsty, really, but it gave him something to call for while she settled in, and it gave her something to fidget with if they didn't get along. So that would be good.

Heather stepped forward so she could sink into the empty chair in front of his desk, and decided that, since this wasn't really an interview, she might as well make the most of it. "Have things been busy around here, lately? It must be exciting to be moving up in the ranks, but I imagine it might involve a fair amount of paperwork."

"I hope you don't mind instant?" Monroe asked, knowing most coffee drinkers minded it terribly. "There's a cafe upstairs, but we have to make do with what we have down here."

He turned away, to a table behind his - her's now - desk where a pot of water had been waiting to be boiled.

"Things are always busy in this department," Monroe replied. "It may be called Improper Use of Magic, but this office covers almost all interactions between the Wizarding and Muggle worlds."

He turned back and set Heather's coffee in front of her.

"Everything in the Ministry involves paperwork," he went on. "I think you'll find this department is at least more efficient than the others on that score."

"You'd be surprised," Heather replied with a restrained smile. "Our office's coffee was completely awful, so I would bet yours can't be worse."

She nodded in understanding, but then the end of his sentence surprised her. She'd known that this department had more responsibility than her previous one. Heather knew that it was involved in Muggle relations. But it seemed far more broad than she had expected. They must have merged two programs together at some point or other, but she couldn't help but feel that fate must have had something to do with her placement. After all, her mother had initially taken Scottish lore seriously, and Heather still wasn't sure it was all crazy talk. Perhaps fate was real in some capacity as well.

Because this was precisely what she had always wanted: To work with those who can't protect themselves, and to help those who either don't know better or need rerouting. Not all of them would be the kind of wanted to mold and change, but she could do her best.

"Thank you," she said, reaching out for the coffee and wrapping her hands around the mug. "That's good to hear. I ended up doing most of the paperwork back Chicago, and while it wasn't the worst thing I could've spent time on, it certainly grew tiring when the hectic days came."

She took a sip, (unexpectedly) pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was decent. She nodded a little, unaware that she was even doing so. "Back in the states, we had some.. well, usual suspects," Heather went on, holding back her smirk with everything she had, "as far as adult crimes went. Is that true here as well? Or are the actions typically more random?"

Of course, she was one of those people. Monroe wasn't at all surprised, since most people were, but he made a mental note to keep an eye on the department while she was in charge.

"Adult perpetrators," Monroe corrected. "As to usual suspects, it's a thorny issue. There are a few families who think they're above the law, too influential to be put away. At the other end of the scale there are the underclasses - unregistered werewolves and the like, who break the statute by accident. It's the ones in the middle, those who do it for mischief, or through carelessness that you'll have a chance of prosecuting. But they're also the least likely to reoffend."

Heather lifted an eyebrow - gently, though, so she wouldn't come off as fully horrible. But she couldn't help it. She'd meant precisely what she said, but perhaps he'd misunderstood. Or perhaps they didn't separate things the same way they did back in the states. But she kept her mouth shut about it; there really wasn't a point in focusing on something so small.

"Sounds about right," she mused. "I'd considered taking a job in New York, but gangs and the like made it easier to guess at who had done what. But, then again, I always thought that things like that would be rather dull."

She paused, but decided she needed to ask regardless. "I've heard a lot about the werewolves here. Not recently, really, but there are rumors running around MACUSA that things are still uncomfortable between rogue packs and the general wizarding community." Okay, so it wasn't quite a question so much as a prompt. But if werewolf rule-breaking was partly under the department's jurisdiction, she needed some kind of certainty on the matter.

If nothing else, she supposed that she always had a higher-up like Monroe, who she could go to if things got horribly dangerous like it had in the past. At least he would have some experience with it.

Monroe didn't know what he'd said that she thought was so surprising. Surely there were people in America who thought they were above the law. He wasn't well acquainted with magical society across the pond, but the muggles seemed to apply their laws selectively enough.

Her question allowed him to be diverted to other matters, and Monroe was more than happy to comply.

"If anybody asks, I didn't say this," he told her, "but all part-humans, including werewolves, are treated as second class citizens by The Ministry. So, of course there are tensions."

"A couple of years ago, there was some in-fighting in the Wizengamot, which resulted in a law to contain all part humans in Azkaban. That didn't help matters.

"Right now, there's only one wolf pack that's really rogue. It's led by Fenrir Greyback, but he was already old when the Battle of Hogwarts happened. The one you really have to watch out for is James Blood."

"But they mainly target other witches and wizards, which makes them the Aurors' problem. You'll be more concerned with clean-up work if a lone werewolf attacks or is seen by muggles. The obliviators are part of this department, you see."

"I wish they would have told us about all of that back in Chicago. I guess they thought it wasn't relevant." Heather shook her head. This had suddenly gotten much more frustrating. "Here's the thing, Mr. Ashcroft. I'm good at the job I was assigned to. But if I'm going to be effective in the event that one of those packs or werewolves does something rogue, I'm going to need time to learn about them. Can you think of anyone I ought to talk to? Maybe within the Aurors or something?"

She understood, of course, what he was saying about the odds of her involvement in their attacks being low. But if anything changed or attacks in front of Muggles became frequent, she needed to understand them. Back home, she would learn about gangs and groups that she probably had nothing to do with, because if anything started getting out of hand, they would just end up wasting their time on trying to understand the attackers in hindsight.

Monroe was the only person she knew in the U.K. that knew anything about the job she had agreed to take. And the job had its benefits - it was probably temporary, she got to return to Scotland, and it was not only a promotion but also an adventure. After this, she could surely get any job in the department back at MACUSA.

"I realize I likely can't do anything to alleviate the problems myself, but while I'm in this position I'd like to do whatever I can to protect people."

"Please, call me Monroe," he said as he finally took the seat opposite her.

He looked at Ellison for a long moment. So far, he'd evaluated her as enthusiastic and not unintelligent. Though, like most people, a little too willing to accept whatever line she was fed. But perhaps he could work that in his favour.

Unlike most people, she didn't yet know the official Ministry stance on every issue, and she was an American besides. People would excuse a little eccentricity as a quirk of nationality. Besides, being in the Deputy Minister's good graces would give her a measure of immunity.

"Oh, I'm sure you can alleviate more problems than you suspect, if you have access to the right people," he eventually said. "I used to work in the Department of Beasts and Beings. Specialised in werewolves, as a matter of fact."