April 14, 2008
9: 20am

A narrow corridor in the offices of the Daily Prophet was halfway filled with the bulk of Knox Greyfriar.  He was a tall wizard and had the proportions of a bear in the summer.  The more uncensored might also say he had a bear's fur coat as well.  But today his dark beard is trimmed into two points at his jawbone, with his mustache coming only as high as the corners of his mouth.  Just how his ex-wife used to love it.

He checked his pocketwatch.  The Editor of the Daily Prophet had sworn to meet with him this morning, but she was already twenty minutes late.  He rolled his eyes, put the watch back in his pocket, and re-crossed his arms. The office door in front of him gave no hint of any life within, the office behind it being quite dark.  He had side-stepped the receptionist and planned to catch the Editor and hold her to her promise.

He could hear bootsteps coming down the long hallway, that curved just slightly way.  He smoothed his hair down and adjusted his cap.  It was important this meeting go well.  Hogwarts castle was going to be the scene of the enormous gathering on Remembering Day and all possible precautions would need to be made to ensure there were none of the events recent portents were indicating.

To be quite clear of it, Knox did not put much stock into portents. Or omens, predictions, card-readings or intuitions.  The Divination professor at Hogwarts had given him more than he cared for, and the Daily Prophet was not helping things at all.  No, Knox put no faith in them at all, but he did firmly believe in prophecies of the Self-Fulfilling kind.  If people expect something to go wrong, it inevitably will.

 It would be up to Headmaster Greyfriar to expect their expectations to cause events and make all measures to preempt both events expected and unexpected from causing anything untoward.

The bootsteps drew closer and a witch came into view.

His face fell.

"Merlin save us.  How are you?"

Ana's Clothes

With her boot heels clicking in harmony with their echo, Analiza strode down the hallway of the Daily Prophet with a purpose. Rolling her wand between her fingers, as she was apt to do when upset, she let the magic vibrating within the emerald dyed wood calm her. It had such a soothing silver tongue. She knew that the whispers coming from it were evil by nature, and only heard by her, but she liked to think that she had tamed it. Or maybe it liked her to think that way. She frowned and slid the wand into her purse, letting the handle jut out from the dragon hide just a little, in case she needed to draw it for any reason.

She hoped this wouldn't come down to a duel, but after the imflammatory article written about her "Abusive" treatement of her employees, Ana's wand was itching for a fight. So was she for that matter. Picking on subordinates only entertained her for so long, especially since she had to be just nice enough to keep them from quitting. Maybe if she, and they, were lucky enough the Daily Prophet editor would incite her rage, lest she be forced to take it out on some unsuspecting trainee or innocent bystander.

As she neared the entrance to the office, Analiza's eyes fell upon a figure of such repugnant proportions and odious airs that she was forced to flared her nostrils in disgust. Immediatly, her wand was back into her hand and rolling between her slender manicured claws, as though preparing them for a fight. His eyes fell upon her and Analiza stiffened, her expression changing from a look of disgust to one of smug superiority. There was no love lost between the young head of the Department of Mysteries and the bearish Headmaster of the Hogwarts.

"Merlin save us.  How are you?"

There was no hate lost either for that matter, since it was all contained in her tone as she addressed him. "Why hello Knox..." She started, her tone almost condescending in its cordialness. Her eyes disagreed.  "... Fancy seeing you here instead of back at Hogwarts molding the minds of the next generation..." Sarcasm was quite evident here. Pressing a fingertip to her lips, she mused worriedly "... Oh dear.. did they finally discover that you are really the bastard child of a goblin and a Yeti? I swear I didn't say anything!"

"Mrs. Yeti to you, " Knox corrected cooly.  His calm tone belied an intense hatred for witch.  She was truly sinister and a truly unwelcome sight. 

"But thank you, I'm quite well, since you asked," he responded to the empty space where her polite greeting would never in a million years land.  Her unfettered malice was a hallmark of her complete arrogance and corruption.  It was only a matter of time before the Ministry of Magic realized the harpy they'd let loose among the prophecies.  But for new all Knox and the rest of the Wizarding World need do is wait for her evil to consume itself.

He re-crossed his arms and said nothing for a moment.  For a moment, he ceased passive aggressive hostilities to ask, knowing he'd hate the answer.  "You're meeting the Editor.  Have you got an appointment?  Well good luck.  She's left the continent, I think."

With the Prophet as the Prophet tended to be, the Editor was never short of visitors, especially after the big weekend edition.  He assumed Snark was here about the article that ran about her.  He wondered which of her Unspeakables had a leak.

"Mrs. Yeti to you, But thank you, I'm quite well, since you asked,"

"Well that is unfortunate..." She muttered with disinterest, nonchalantly cleaning her nails with her wand. She enjoyed few things in life more then baiting and bickering with the old bear of a headmaster, though she would never admit to HIM that she enjoyed anything to do with his company. A fact she made readily apparent in every facet of her body language, from the stiff and unwelcome way she stood, to the distance and angle in which she did so. If anyone were to walk by, they would think that he was a carrier of the plague.

"You're meeting the Editor.  Have you got an appointment?  Well good luck.  She's left the continent, I think."

This comment struck a different note within the slender redhead, reminding her of her rather unsavory reason for being there. Instantly, her mind switched from her attempts to annoy the headmaster to her plans of vengance against the moronic Editor. A grumble rose in the back of her throat as Analiza halted and switched gears. "She had better be here." Analiza quipped hotly, her eyes glittering with barely contained anger. As she was also prone to do when irritated, Analiza pulled a slender cigarette case from her purse and from it produced a cigarette wrapped in gilded paper (As most wizarding ones were). Lighting it with a silent tap of her wand, Analiza took a drag and suddenly burst into a rushed tirade. "It's ridiculous... what she wrote about me... Abusive... Ha!"

When she snorted, a burst of smoke puffed out from her lips before fading magically away, only the soft scent of cherry tobacco remaining "... People see an unspeakable with bruises and they automatically assume that i am somehow torturing them... They should be so lucky to only leave with bruises... there are far worst things that could happen when dealing with experimental magic..." She said this knowingly, her free hand touching her right shoulder unconsciously, pressing for a moment against the scar under the green silk. Shaking her head, she dusted some ash off onto the floor, where, like the smoke, it slowly faded away.

Knox took his wand out and shook it, the Sunday Edition flapping out.  He'd pretigitated it from where he'd left it back in his office at the castle.  Snark's unguarded ire seemed sincere and that made Knox feel a bit better about having to wait.

"I thought that's why you are begging an audience.  Bright and early Monday morning, here to offer your response to this little gem..."  Knox knew where it was in the paper and had smiled wide yesterday, knowing that perhaps some of his former students had been responsible for yet another series of reports about the controversial Department of Mysteries and their bizarre head. 

"Ooh, they haven't given their names, I see.  Shining stars, that must be quite a bother.  Which of the Unspeakables has spoken? Better give them all the pointed end of your wand to be sure.   Perhaps they've all got it in for you?  Perhaps you should be more interested on the content of page 15."  The Help Wanted.

Another success in dodging paperwork often led to him going to different places to not be found.  But actually he did have some buisness that he should take care of while he is out.  So that would mean stopping by the Daily Prophet n which he was supposed to answer some questions for some upcoming article.  Normally Alex wouldn't even bother to even attempt and show up but at the moment it meant more time away from the office, and considering the large stack of paperwork he had waiting there...not something he wanted to deal with.

Entering the building it didn't seem very...active.  In fact it seemed the whole staff was out to lunch (though it was damn early.  And lunch was more of Alex's constant excuse).  Now if only he could get his own department to do the same disappearance trick when he didn't feel like being bothered.  All it ever was is look at this, sign that, listen to this...and it goes on and on.  Just because he was the Department Head didn't mean he had to deal with all the tiny crap did it?  Sadly, he knew it did, and there was no escaping it.  And it wasn't like he didn't do the work...he just never liked to be told when to do something.

As he walked in he saw two different people that most likely should never be placed in a empty place together.  He had a choice now, he could make a swift retreat and go back to the office where a large stack of papers he had to sign needed to be attended too, or he could see the proverbial sparks fly in this encounter.  What else could Alex say?  He was perplexed and always intrigued to a situation he couldn't easily predict the outcome.

"Ms. Snark and Headmaster Greyfriar, judging by the situation I'm guessing the one that wanted me here is the same as you two...and she's not in," Alex said non-chalantly.  He could have added any amount of other comments but instead decided to gauge the reactions before adding anything additional.  Alex would pick his battles as he needed.

"Ooh, they haven't given their names, I see.  Shining stars, that must be quite a bother.  Which of the Unspeakables has spoken? Better give them all the pointed end of your wand to be sure.   Perhaps they've all got it in for you?  Perhaps you should be more interested on the content of page 15." 

Analiza's smug expression flickered to a grimace for a moment and she cast a sharp glare his way. She knew he was baiting her, and probably enjoyed it as much as she did, so she forced a smile and retorted "... I think I would be worried about myself if I were you. I heard you lost another teacher..." Her voice was so sweet it could give you a heart attack. At least... she hoped it would. Continuing, she recalled the newspaper story she had read not too long before "... Something about the Onderdonk woman's 3rd eye being clouded by your negativity and malignant aura...?"

Grinning now, she was about to go on when the pair were joined by another irate customer. The poor receptionist was quite lousy at her job apparently. Glancing up, her gilded eyes raked over the newcomer, identifying him as the well known Belisario, from Level two. She had little interaction with the man aside from the few department meetings that Annwyl randomly held, so she had yet to decide if he was worth her time to hate.

"Ms. Snark and Headmaster Greyfriar, judging by the situation I'm guessing the one that wanted me here is the same as you two...and she's not in,"

"Astute." Analiza's reddened lips curled at one corner as she tried to keep her sneer to a minimum. It was two on one at this point, if Belisario decided to side with Knox, so she bit back a snappy retort. Instead, the smile she cast him was warmer then usual, as she said lightly "... So... What are you here for? I'm here because some of my employees are a bunch of lackwits who can't take the repercussions of their job... all new graduates of course..." She caste a disdainful glance towards Knox, as though to clarify.

"Not in yet!" Knox said with an almost threatening optimism.  In the past, Knox Greyfriar had little occasion to interact with Alexander Belisario, but that was not a condition that ever left Knox without something to discuss.  He was not one to be star struck.  A queue was a queue and Knox Grefyriar chatted in queues.

"But yes, what brings you? I've an appointment to make sure we get some less... dour predictions of Remembering Day into the Prophet.  Perhaps you'd be helpful there - The Department isn't expecting any trouble are they?  Smooth sailing, plenty of Aurors on duty? They've all gone so swimmingly in the past.  I don't give much credence to all this talk of omens.  Not a one of them stands up to proof."

Knox shook his head.  He dearly hoped the hype wouldn't overshadow the true meaning of the holiday.  It would take good examples and goodwill from all agencies involved.  He felt he could count on Annwyl's Ministry with one glaring red-headed, hawk-eyed exception.

"... So... What are you here for? I'm here because some of my employees are a bunch of lackwits who can't take the repercussions of their job... all new graduates of course..."

Alex was always careful with his interactions with any of the other department heads.  Well mostly.  His interactions with Covadonga weren't exactly very careful.  But that seemed to be just as well.  Ms. Snark, however was a different story.  She had worked with Ariella, and he wasn't quite how to approach that.  Since his wife's death was still one of the unsolved cases from the 2nd Rise of Voldemort.

Honestly he just didn't know anything about her, only what was said in rumors, and Alex never put faith in something by word of mouth.  He had tracked too many Dark wizards to let words get in the way.  Actions spoke louder and rarely did they lie to you.

"I can agree there..." he muttered thinking of all his new trainee's.  It was one thing to have a dream to be an Auror...another to not realize the kinds of work it entailed.  Something that great grades don't prepare you.  There was a reason it was a three year training program.  You just didn't get it till you started.  And a few of them always drop out cause its too tough.  "Apparently I am supposed to answer a few questions for some article.  They were going to just send an owl.  But I keep burning up their letters, so instead they want me to come down here.  Though they should be coming to me.  On the plus it keeps me out of the bloody office."

"But yes, what brings you? I've an appointment to make sure we get some less... dour predictions of Remembering Day into the Prophet.  Perhaps you'd be helpful there - The Department isn't expecting any trouble are they?  Smooth sailing, plenty of Aurors on duty? They've all gone so swimmingly in the past.  I don't give much credence to all this talk of omens.  Not a one of them stands up to proof."

"Remembering day huh?  There isn't anything to worry about, I plan for the day to be nice and utterly boring.  No explosions, threats on anyones life.  Quite boring actually.  I suppose I should be happy about that,"  Alex of course wasn't.  He was worried about the next generation of Aurors.  Sure there was still plenty of time for them to gain experience, but there were things you couldn't prepare them for.  Sure Voldemort had been the most successful and most powerful dark wizard in history.  But that didn't mean there isn't more that might get somewhere close to that level again.  There was always that chance.  And if he had a department of book smart Aurors with no real combat experience...that would be bothersome.  Alex couldn't fight ever battle, no matter how much he wanted too.  "Aside aren't there always some bad omen, saying something like some dark force will do this and that on a regular basis?  I mean how many prophecies of world destruction must be in your department Ms. Snark?  Obviously you can't see anything but you get my sentiment."