October 30, 2009
11:25 am, Friday

Niobe blinked slowly.  The queue of witches and wizards snaked endlessly around red velvet ropes.  It forked, it doubled back, it re-joined itself in the complicated, arcane style much loved by Level Six.  The witch shook her head and laid a hand on her bundled up dreadlocked hair.  This was going to take all day...!  But there was no way around it.

She stepped to her place in the queue and crossed her arms over her chest.  She'd survived a romantic relationship with Cinead Tawse, she'd stared down a mother Runespoor, and she was Britain's most hotshot reporter - she could brave a day in line at the Department of Magical Transport. 

Oh Merlin, if only she had something to read!  Blast it all, why hadn't she thought of that?  She dug around in her bag and stunningly enough, she did not have a copy of today's Daily Prophet!  Bollocks!  But the witch ahead of her in line had one.  She edged closer.

"Scuse me," she asked, her Irish accent apparent, "Have a peek?"  She smiled winningly at the brunnette witch who seemed about her age.  If she could charm out even the Sports section, she'd have something to pass the time.

There was nothing worse than standing here, in this dreadful line in the Department of Magical Transport. Sure, Vivian had a newspaper in hand, but by now she was rereading it. For the third time this morning. She shifted back and forth on her feet, just loosening up the tight muscles in her legs and wincing from the charlie horse in her left calf.

This was going to take all day, she had figured that the day before Halloween would mean there were less people, but nooooo. There were so many... so many people.

"Scuse me, have a peek?" Said someone behind her, Vivian turned to see who it was. The woman standing behind her looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't tell. All she knew is that she'd seen her face around somewhere.

"Have at it," Vivian said, handing her the newspaper. "I've read it a couple of times already. Sure is a shame about that new body they found. Another murder, I think the articles somewhere in the middle of the paper..."

The newspaper came so freely to Niobe it was as if she had cast Accio!  She sighed happily and took it, but she didn't step away to mind her own business again as a proper queuer might.  Instead, she whipped open the paper and gave it a sharp shake to stand it up.

"Cheers! You're a lifesaver..." she said as she started skimming down the front page.  She saw her own byline a few times, and those of her colleagues at the Daily Prophet.  One would think Niobe would have no reason to read the paper, but she actually didn't often get through both editions each day.  She was so busy with her own stories that keeping tabs on all the other news was kind of a marathon.  And seeing the finished product after pages of cramped notes and marked up drafts was nice too.  She barely recognized it once it was published.

Her benefactor the newspaper lender had directed her towards the latest on the body that was found.  Niobe had put it together, but there hadn't been much to say.  The Aurors couldn't or wouldn't say more but that was typical.  Information was magic on its own, wasn't it?

"Nasty business!" Niobe agreed readily.  "Can you believe it? Just right out in the open for even muggles to see? Rotting scoundrels.  If they're trying to send a message they'd have been better off sending in a letter to the editor than to make such a mess...  Over dramatic lowlife babies...!" Niobe remarked without restraint to the other witch.

Vivian smiled at the other woman's joy over receiving the newspaper. Honestly anything that passed the time in here was of great help and a source of some pleasure while you waited for whatever it was that you needed. She caught the woman's comment about sending in a letter to the editor and couldn't help but ask... "Wait, do you work for the Prophet?"

She didn't mean to be rude or pushy or anything like that, she was just curious as to the thought behind the comment she made.

"I'm Vivian Callen by the way," she said, holding out a hand for a handshake. Something told her that the person standing beside her was more than meets the eye, in a very good way of course. A little hectic and outspoken, but she seemed like a good person to know.

"I do, yes," Niobe responded with a strange little smile.  It really depended on the person how they might react to her occupation.  Some people saw journalists like a warriors of the word; others saw them as a nuisance.  Niobe thought they were both right. 

But Vivian Callen, as she introduced herself, didn't seem one way or the other by the tone of her question, so Niobe didn't think much of it.  "Niobe Thursby," she supplied in turn and shook the witch's hand.

She turned back to her paper.  "So, you think it was goblins? I've heard rumors it was goblins.  They'd be mad to murder a wizard, wouldn't they," she chirped on, happy to talk crime and politics wherever she was, polite company be damned.

"Goblins? I don't think so... but that's an interesting theory. But to leave all the evidence out where everyone could see it, that's crazy. Most criminals I meet seem to know that they should hide everything that'll get them in trouble..." she said trailing off at the end.

"Did you write any of the articles in here?" Vivian asked, "I know you wrote the one about Baddick being apprehended. That was a day for celebration when we finally took her down, although I will admit, cracked ribs suck." She said chuckling, remembering that she had thought everything was broken, when really it was just a few simple fractures.

She was only glad they didn't put pictures in of her after the apprehension, probably because she was out of commission in St. Mungo's for a couple hours getting bones fixed and burns healed.

"That was you!"  Niobe exclaimed with a dawning of realization.  "Cracked ribs and all - you're Vivian Callen.  Well done on that." 

There was absolutely no controversy around the case of Vesta Baddrick - she'd mugged innocent people for no good reason and flung around Unforgivable Curses.  Everyone could agree there was one place for people like that, and charms and cheers for the Aurors who put her there.

Niobe nodded then, "but yea - I do a lot with your departmernt when I can.  It's the most exciting stuff usually.  I like to write about what matters most, not all that boring celebrity gossip.  Dolly St. James, Laney Irving, Cuddyer-whatever so-and-so - who cares?  Have to say I'm bored to death with the Tournament up at Hogwarts.  I'd be grim to wish for that to get more interesting, though, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, that's me. Thanks, it's weird having so many people say congrats on taking her down. Everybody else in the department just wishes it was their name in the paper." Vivian replied, and it was mostly true. Sure, a few coworkers gave a nod or something like "nice one," but really they wished they could have been the one given that case.

"It would," she said in regards with the Tournament. "Nothing really happens with that, sure magical cooperation and all; but the students are the only ones having a good time hearing about it. It's just their buddies running around with a bunch of spiders and all, they need to shake it up a bit."

"So you don't like celebrity gossip? Because I don't, it's all about people's lives and their clothes and their looks... seriously? They just need to cut the act." She said, and it was true. All the gossip was about who was pregnant with whose kid, or who just bought this fantastic new dress, or who was dating who. It got boring after about three minutes.

The queue budged a few inches!  Niobe and Vivian were now able to advance two steps forward along the red velvet rope cordoning them off and keeping everyone orderly.  Score.

Niobe nudged forward and checked her silver pocket watch.  "Blimey," she muttered.  They'd never get out of here. 

Now Niobe might never admit how she loved attention - she might even currently be in the tabloids from time to time because she did date Quidditch's biggest thug Dominik Wiedman and had even dated Cinaed Tawse - but she would certainly admit as the day was long how obnoxious it was to oogle and faun over what a couple of stuffed shirt fancy people got up to after breakfast.  It was a waste!  She was a finder of truth!   It was honorable.  It was important.  It was the stuff of history.  And she couldn't bear a boring life.

"With Baddrick locked up, what's next, then?"  she asked casually, keeping her eyes casually skimming the sports section.

"With Baddrick locked up, what's next, then?" Niobe asked. Well, to be honest, Vivian hadn't thought much of what was coming next. Sure she had a murderous criminal selling bewitched jewelry, but she didn't know how much information would be appropriate to give Niobe at the time.

She thought it over, and realized that maybe she could collaborate with the reporter. A warning could be published in the Daily Prophet about the attacks and what women and men alike should look out for. Maybe they could make the victim list shorter and cut it off completely if they made people aware of the situation.

"Actually, I do have another case going on, and a proposition for 'ya if you'd like. I've got a criminal selling cursed jewelry, and so far it's only been female victims. I've had one woman die from being killed by the enchanted objects... it was really terrible. Anyways, I had an idea, would you be willing to write up a warning for the paper, just so that we can make sure people know about the attacks and what to look out for to protect themselves?" Vivian paused, "And if not, then I'm sure I could find someone else to do it."