Having spent five months stuck in the muggle affairs office at the Ministry of Magic, Evangeline Kuester was pleased to be out and in a job she could confidently perform with an actual interest. Being a supervisor certainly hadn’t been Evie’s most suited profession. Witches and wizards truly could be easily offended, sensitive and pathetic. She quickly became sick of the moaning, crying and threatening to quit coming from her trainees and employees and looked into another position within the department.

Fortunately, Merlin shone down upon the blonde witch and killed the department of International Magical Cooperation’s lawyer. Well she’d have been idiotic to not apply. A few interview’s later and she was about to commence her second day on the job. Happily, the witch strolled into the department with ease, smart black heels guiding her way towards her office.

Despite having been up throughout most of the night looking over documents left by her predecessor, Ms Kuester wasn’t exhausted. Her visage was bright, blue eyes alert and ready to dive straight into the day. There was one stop to make first, however. Today she’d be questioning many an issue so far found within the documents left for her.

The muggle affairs office was quiet at the moment, the employees arriving in dribs and drabs, waiting for coffee and the morning activities to wake them from their zombified state. Eve stepped over the threshold and made her way to a familiar desk. It belonged to a wizard she barely communicated with. He’d been a hufflepuff in the same year as her at Hogwarts. Therefore the wizard must have had little going for him.

“Mr Fraiser?” she greeted him, her European accent smoothly filling the air. “I require a word.”

It was still relatively quiet when Isaac had arrived for work that morning.  He had always been a bit of a morning person, but sipping his coffee he was trying desperately to get himself into a more alert state.  Changing jobs meant shifting his schedule around a bit.  A morning jog had become an evening jog and his body was still trying to adjust to this switch.  He still considered himself more lively though then the intern who had just wandered past his desk mumbling about coffee much like a zombie in a Muggle movie would mutter the word 'brains.'

The clicking of heels on the hard floor drew his attention away from his coffee and to a co-worker who was apparently heading straight for him.  He tried not to sigh as he she approached, knowing that a visit from her could not be a good thing.  She had recently been moved from her supervisory role to that of the department's lawyer....which meant if she was approaching him she had a bone to pick about something that would make his head want to explode.  After all, it's not like he was friends with Evangeline Kuester.  Back in Hogwarts they had been content to ignore each other's existence and he had desperately hoped that would continue here.

It was too late to try hiding under his desk, she had already seen him, so instead he braced himself as she stopped in front of his desk.

“Mr Fraiser?  I require a word.”

"Good morning, Ms. Kuester," he greeted as cheerily as he could muster at that hour.  "What is it that brings you by my desk this lovely morning?"

There was no sarcasm in his voice, although he was certain if she was at his desk the morning would not be 'lovely.'  In his experience with the attorneys his publishers hired, lawyers were only good at one thing, making life complicated.  Sipping his coffee he motioned for her to have a seat in the chair across from him and awaited her response.

This strange wizard seemed too cheerful with his bright greeting for the morning. The idea of wishing him a good morning hadn’t even occurred to the lawyer and she stared at him for a moment, bright blue eyes reading his expression. The wizard didn’t look alert and fully competent at this hour and the witch resisted the urge to make it even harder for him. Perhaps she still would.

After a moment of watching him, Eve took the seat on the opposite side of his desk and pulled it in closer. From her bag she pulled out a large folder and placed it on the desk. The bag was dropped to the floor and the blonde witch opened the folder to pull out a file covered in Fraiser’s carefully inked scrawl.

The document he’d submitted was full of full of issues, legal problems that one could not swerve around if one had a brain weighing more than an ounce. But Fraiser was an ex-hufflepuff, of course his case files were badly put together and incorrect, he had no hope. The wizard originated from a house of idiots and fluffy bunnies.

“Explain this to me because, what I am seeing, a child could have made less errors. You can’t legally do that, Fraiser.” A finger was pointed at a specific bullet point as her gaze flew up from the document to him.

Isaac couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as he took the file from her.  This was going to be a very, very long day, he knew it.  Yet, the last thing he was willing to do was let this woman with her fancy, impossibly high black heels get the best of him.  Or at least ,he wouldn't be letting her know if she did.  That would get him no where after all, and it seemed women like her got off on making men feel small, like they were bugs to be crushed under one of her dangerous looking shoes.  Sitting back in his chair he took another sip of coffee, letting her attempt to talk down to him hang in the air for a moment.

"Tell me, Miss Kuester, what can I legally do?" he asked calmly.  "I am not the one with the fancy law degree and last time I checked we were supposedly on the same team.  My job is to help the families of Muggleborns, and yours is to make sure work within the confines of the law."

He gave her a small smile, letting her smug and superior attitude roll off his back.  No wonder this woman was in Slytherin in school.  She was like the very prototype for the stereotype of what Muggles might call 'Slytherin Barbie' right down to the blonde hair and blue eyes.

"So, Madam Attorney, what would you have done?" he asked, hoping to disarm her hostility with a bit of charm.  It couldn't hurt...much.

Ms Kuester did not appreciate Mr Fraiser’s attitude when she quite plainly informed him he’s made errors in a document. She didn’t expect people to hug her for pointing something similar out, which would be unbearably unpleasant, but Eve did expect them to accept it graciously as she was the one in knowledge of wizarding law procedure and they were quite plainly not. It was disappointing she had to receive a smug smile and snarky attitude from someone so Hufflepuff when she was simply endeavouring to perform the requirements of her job.

“That’s not the correct question, Mr Liason Superviseur,” Eve could play this game.

“I asked you to explain this to me. What do you actually wish to gain from it? What aim is yours? When I have a clearer understanding of this…” Eve’s gaze shot down to the parchment and she pulled a face, waving a hand “report then I can direct you how to go about it in a fashion that is within the requirements of international wizarding law and the statute of secrecy.”

“From what I understand of this document at present, Fraiser, is that you show a blatant disregard for a statute mis en place for protecting both our wizarding and the muggle kind.”

Isaac sighed, leaning back in his chair and pinching the bridge of his nose.  This was going to be an extremely long day.  If she truly wanted an explanation then perhaps simply asking for one without treating him worse then a trained chimpanzee.  As a lawyer he figured she was therefor a master of spin, so he wasn't sure why he was surprised when suddenly he wasn't the one asking the correct question.  He chose to not point out the hypocrisy.

"My intent is to actually help Muggle families who suddenly find themselves thrust into a world they do not understand," he told her.  "The system so far has been focused solely on the protection of the Wizarding community.  Is there a need for our world to keep it's secrets, yes.  However, given my experience at Hogwarts I've seen first hand what happens when a student is suddenly thrust into this world with very little help."

He took a sip of his coffee regarding her for a moment.  He really didn't know that much about the woman, even though they had been at Hogwarts together.  Their house rivalry had meant never traveling in the same social circles.  He was quite certain she was still holding on to the assumption that all Hufflepuffs were a waste of space and to be treated as if they were a speck of dirt to be brushed aside.

"So, what is the best way to go about my job in helping ensure that Muggle relatives are better educated about our world while still respecting the law?" he asked.  "Contrary to your assumption, Ms. Kuester, while I do dislike bureaucracy I accept that there are certain things that I simply will not be able to do in manner of my choosing because there is a reason behind every law."

“Very good, Monsieur Fraiser.” Evangeline congratulated him, a patronising tone perhaps evident in her accented voice. “There is a reason behind every law. But I am not the one who made them and therefore not the one for you to get snarky with. My intent is to make sure that you do not get lost from your job because you cannot follow the law or accept the criticism.” It was still early in the morning. Apparently Eve’s knowledge of English grammar would come to her after the second coffee. Perhaps this morning it would be after the third or fourth.

Pulling the document closer to her once more, Eve glanced over it, over her notes scribbled beside several of Fraiser’s points. Her rouged lips pursed together in thought.

“Well primarily, Fraiser, you need to limit what information you actually give to these families. Or give me more evidence for why you insist this information is essential.” The witch leaned back in the chair and removed the hat from atop her blonde hair. It fell down, resting upon her shoulders. “I am not here to make this difficult for you. So let’s start again without the attitude? I need exact reasons, aims of this proposal, Fraiser. Not general ideas without back up.”

He ran a hand over his face.  He was the one with the attitude?  That was perhaps one of the most hypocritical statements he had heard in quite a while.  It was clear to him that she was blind to the fact that she had created the conflict the moment she opened her mouth with that rather condescending tone, but it was his experience that people like Evangeline rarely ever allowed for enough navel gazing to realize the other person was not solely in the wrong.

Giving a slight nod, he folded his hands on the desk in front of him.  Confrontation was not his thing, and so he did what he was best at....accepting the blame and trying to go along to get along.

"You're right," he said.  "I apologize.  I just believe that the paranoia caused by out laws has led to so many misconceptions among Muggle families.  I have seen children faced with their family treating them as some sort of leper.  I think with more education we can ensure both the safety of the Wizarding community and the well being of Muggleborn youngsters."

Taking a sip of coffee he added, "Each case is going to be different, as all people and families are different.  The problem I'm facing is that our laws assume society functions in a one size fits all sort of way...it's been my experience in my research that this is simply not the case."