3pm, Improper Use of Magic Office. Only Mordecai is present and he's just standing in the middle of the office.

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It was nice to see the Office much cleaner than usual. Mordecai had never been one for keeping things tidy, but as he stood and observed the place he mentally noted that neatness had its benefits and he wished he had the same mentality about it as much as he had for his clothes. Well, he could try.

He checked his pocket watch and then his small black diary, tucking his watch into his waistcoat pocket. At this time the new intern - Jacob, wasn't it? - was supposed to arrive. Mordecai wasn't too fussed about anyone arriving late; at this time he had finished most of the work and he was taking a break after having to coordinate the cleaning up of the office for most of the day.

At least he had managed to finally get the office cleaned up, and that had been the one major worry on his mind. Talking to Admete had certainly helped[1], and he was grateful for the help. Hopefully the Office's old image wouldn't put the new intern off too much. Mordecai looked around at the torn wallpaper, the moth-eaten carpet and the yellowed old lamps, and decided that he would prowl Diagon Alley for better fixtures over the weekend.

1.	She agreed to get a cleaner for the Office in Touching All The Bases.

Jacob checked his watch right before he entered the office and sighed with relief that he wasn't too late. He'd been excited when he got the internship because he needed a better paying job now that he had two more mouths to feed.  He opened the door and walked in to see his boss standing there already.  'I can't be that late." Jacob wondered as he cleared his throat to let his boss know he was there.

"Hello sir, I'm Jacob Dorian, your new intern." he said.  Of course Jacob hoped it wouldn't show in his face or seep into his voice that this clearly wasn't his dream job.  He had wanted adventure and danger when he graduated from Hogwarts, but he met Abigail and got married, now he had to be respectable and get a decent job that had little to no dangers associated with it.  There were always accidents, but his wife felt safe with him in this office, at least she knew where he was.

Mordecai's brief vision of a much more modern-ish interior evaporated at the sound of Jacob's voice. He looked around to locate the voice, which didn't take very long. The Office was only spacious because there wasn't anyone else in it apart from him.

"Afternoon, Dorian," he said, his face breaking out into a welcoming smile. "Mordecai Hollingbury, Head of the Office." The words had just come out of his mouth as if on automatic, so he added,"Sorry. I'm sure you know me, but it's a habit. Don't worry about me standing here, I've just managed to finally tidy up the Office and clear it of all traces of the old War." He beckoned to Jacob amiably. "Do come in, don't worry about shutting the door. Everyone else on this floor has more important things to do than eavesdrop on the Improper Use of Magic Office and this place needs airing anyway."

He offered a hand to Jacob to shake. "I imagine that this isn't much of a place that you want to work in," he said, using his other hand to gesture at the outdated interior. "Or job, either. But it's not too bad when you get used to it, or you just want a regular job.

"What made you decide to take up the Office's internship, Dorian?" Mordecai was curious. "And you can call me Mord. It's a nice day today, there's no point being formal." He was aware that this was unexpected, but he was in no mood to interrogate the man and make him nervous.

Jacob stepped further into the room and realized what the man had been talking about.  The room was a bit outdated, but it mattered little to him.  "Quite alright, I'm sure I'll get used to saying my name differently soon enough as well." he replied as he shook the man's hand.  "Mord is it?  Well, you can call me Jacob or Jake, whichever you prefer."

"To be honest," Jacob started, almost unsure of what he was about to say, "My wife encouraged me to go for the internship here at the Ministry."  He paused for a moment and thought about his beautiful twin baby girls at home with his wife and continued, "I would much rather of been a dragon tamer, or a curse breaker, but the lovely wife thought that our children should grow up with two full and healthy parents instead of a possible single parent situation."  He took a deep breath, "I realize that it might not be a good idea to tell you that, but I couldn't stop myself."

"I realize that it might not be a good idea to tell you that, but I couldn't stop myself."

Mordecai smiled at his answer. "No, it's understandable. I moved here myself a few years ago after having my own fair share of unwanted fiascoes within the Ministry, so I can see where you're coming from. Maybe it's a little too quiet now, but hopefully that'll change sooner than later. And rest assured, I'm not going to go around telling people about you because that's what I don't do."

He looked around. "Well, I don't think you might find much danger working here, unless you happen to unearth an enchanted snapping folder. The most exciting thing that's happened to me so far is the Prophet getting a quote from me on the Halloween Muggle-baiting[1]. Part of your internship will involve dealing with the press, but that'll come later on."

The older man paused for a minute, and then asked, "Do you have any questions before I move on to what you'll be doing here? You can ask anything, just go ahead." He leaned against his own desk casually. "We all have to start from somewhere, and I'm curious about what you want to know. Feel free to take a seat if you wish."

1.	Prophet article here.

Jacob looked around the office and found a chair which he sat down in.  "No, I'm just ready to work.  I honestly couldn't stay cooped up in my house any longer. I needed this."  He'd pulled the stay-at-home dad card for three weeks while Abigail got over a lenghty illness and couldn't take care of the kids.  It wasn't something he wanted to repeat.  "Just tell me what I'll be doing and how to do it and I'll get right to work."

"Just tell me what I'll be doing and how to do it and I'll get right to work."

He was slightly taken aback by this, but more or less Mordecai was not one to deny work to people. It meant he had a lighter workload and didn't have to keep coming home late, and he knew exactly what workload it was. Mordecai cast his gaze at the paperwork sitting on a long desk against the wall next to the door, under a magical window.

"The paperwork over there," he gestured to the pile, "are reports of minor illegal magic usage. But the MLE is not known for being that organised when it comes to pushing paper to other areas, so it's in a mess. I don't suppose you have experience in wizarding law? No? This is a good place to start, then."

He picked up a file on his desk and handed it over to Jacob, along with a long list attached to the cover with a paperclip. "Each file contains compiled reports on a certain party and coded to the offences they've committed. This is an example of such a file. The long list is the codes for each offence, and you have to sort them according to the list. Separate piles will keep things neat.

"Then you have to sort each code in alphabetical piles and put it aside." Mordecai indicated the cabinets lining the wall on his left. "I put them in there, and the names of the offenders will appear on the paper stuck to each cabinet. This is for quick reference just in case someone commits a repeat offence."

He leaned back on his desk. "There's only one problem you'll encounter during this. The reason why it's a mess is because sometimes you'll find someone's papers in the wrong file, so you have to skim through each one to make sure the papers according to the code and name on the file. I strongly recommend you use your wand, otherwise we'll be here until the end of the world."

Mordecai paused for a moment, and then added casually, "And if someone tries to dump paperwork through the window, please stop them and ask them to use the door. If they run off you have my full permission to cast the Impediment Jinx on them, and they can't blame you for anything." Magical windows, he thought. Who in their right mind thought that was a good idea?

Jacob listened intently to Mordecai's instructions and looked around the room at the pile of paperwork.  "Would you like me to start now?" he asked his new boss as he walked over to the pile and started rummaging through it to get a sense of how to start.  "Unless there is something else you'd like to go over with me, that is." [1]

1.	Sorry it's short, I'm running short on ideas for Jacob

"Would you like me to start now? Unless there is something else you'd like to go over with me, that is."

"I think I've given you all the instructions you need." He wasn't telling Jacob how to do the more complicated tasks. "It's enough for now. But if you don't mind...I'm always interested in getting to know my employees." Mordecai smiled as he shifted against his desk slightly. "Go ahead, tell me more about yourself. I just hope I'm not intruding on your personal life."

Jacob shifted in his seat and immediately got excited.  He wasn't actually used to people he worked with being interested in getting to know him better, normally it was, "Hello, I'm so-and-so, here's the job, here's what you do, get to work."  So when his new boss asked to tell him a little bit about himself, he jumped at the opportunity to brag about his baby girls.

"Well, I've been married almost two years now, my wife works in the tearoom at Mungo's." he thought for a moment before digging around in his pocket and pulled out the picture he always carried with him, " And we have twin daughters that recently just turned one."  He debated on handing the picture over, but his pride won and he got up and handed the picture to his boss, "I'm excited being a new dad, but it's a little hard with two." His goofy grin was back. 

He'd tried every day since the twins were born to get rid of said grin.  It made him look too Cheshire Cat - - according to his lovely wife.  And now with a new job, he couldn't go around looking like a cat that'd just gotten away with something, it wouldn't set well with many at the ministry.  But now that he was talking about his two little bundles of joy, he couldn't hold it in any longer.  He just hoped his boss wouldn't think him insane or something.

Usually when he asked that question the reply would usually be a casual answer based on some info but not all of it, in a formal manner. So when Jacob immediately answered excitedly, Mordecai was taken aback for a few seconds or so.

As he recovered quickly, but just barely, Jacob started talking about his daughters and handed over a piece of paper. Mordecai wasn't used to people handing him things without telling him what they were beforehand but he automatically took it before it dropped to the floor. He let Jacob continue to chatter as he looked at the picture.

He smiled at Jacob's grin. He'd been worried before about having an intern -  Mordecai had never really had an intern in this office before - but at this point he was of the opinion that perhaps his worries had been pretty much unfounded. "Well, as a father I can relate," he said. "You have very beautiful children, and I can see why you want to take this job on so badly. Good luck with the parenting, it'll be worth it in the long run." He handed the photo back to Jacob.

"My son might know your wife, he works in St Mungo's as well. Healer," Mordecai clarified. "Small world. Though given how busy he is he probably hasn't said more to her than a brief 'good morning'. I don't suppose you'll ever see him either."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Any plans for the future? I'm sure you don't want to be stuck in this internship forever; it'll help you learn the inner workings of the Ministry and after a year you can work in relevant departments." Possibly with better pay too, but he wasn't going to say that. The only reason why Mordecai had better pay than he used to was because of his Head status. "Heading anywhere after this, for the sake of your family?"

Jacob thought for a moment before answering his boss' question.  "I don't know, I thought for awhile after Hogwarts that I'd try to be an Auror, or a Dragon Tamer, but now that I have children, I really don't want to do something that dangerous. I haven't thought of what I would like to do now. Too much other stuff on my mind." He didn't know what else to say, "I don't go to St. Mungo's all that much, it's really a bad situation...."

He remembered being at Hogwarts and being a bit of a playboy, in fact, when he met his wife he still was.  When he found out that Abigail was pregnant he suppressed his playboy actions and married her, but even though he didn't mind her being a squib, the whole idea of marriage was grating on him, but now that he had twin girls, he couldn't find himself able to leave Abigail.  "They changed my life, those girls." he said, indicating the picture that his boss still held.

"Children usually do." Having Alethea and Arcturus around the time of the First War had been an unforgettable lesson. "Like I said, I think the IUM's the least exciting place around here. The most dangerous thing you'll ever get to deal with is talking to the Prophet." He chuckled.

"But you get a lot of stories from the rest of MLE. When you start getting to know everybody else on this floor, you'll find some entertainment in those tales." Mordecai jerked a thumb at the open door, towards the rest of the floor. "Do you do well with people you've never met before? Some of these Aurors can be quite touchy after a long day so it might be a bit off-putting on first meeting; at least the Auror trainees haven't got to that stage yet."

Jacob thought for a moment before replying, "To be honest, I think I'm rather good with people, but I've always had a charm for the females. It didn't go away when I got married." He smiled a wolfish grin as he thought of his past playboy days at Hogwarts.  "But I can't do anything now, I've got kids."

Mordecai snorted in amusement. "No, I don't mean that," he said, grinning. "Don't try to flirt with the women here, they're probably too tough for your liking. They're agreeable at a minimum, though, so maybe you won't have much of a problem with them."

He leaned back against the desk, picking up a folder from its surface behind him. "Well, if I'm any judge you'll get along with everyone just fine. Take your time getting to know people on here, but don't just spend the rest of your life in this office doing paperwork. Get out, have a breath of fresh air in one of the other departments if you wish." Mordecai leaned forward. "If I were you, I might head down to Magical Accidents and Catastrophes during lunch once in a while, get to know what they do down there.

"But for now, I think I've stalled you enough." He clapped a hand on Jacob's shoulder good-naturedly. "I should leave you to get used to the work instead of holding you up with chatter. Ease yourself in. If you have any questions, feel free to ask...I'm going to be right here most of the time anyway."