Sameera reasoned she had nothing to worry about as she approached the door. Okay, maybe he made her a little uncomfortable sometimes, and no amount of 'no' seemed to dissuade him. She had had to refrain from making snippy remarks about that, since she knew it would all be wasted effort, and she was familiar with the notion of picking her battles carefully.

Still there was nothing else she could do. Mordecai was busy wrangling other problems in the office, and this wasn't Dieter's position. Bringing him along would make things more suspicious, in fact. All she wanted to do was ask Glass a few questions. Yes, and a few regarding some interesting tidbits of small talk she'd been hearing from people she passed by, such as how the DMAC had been rehearsing a situation that had been very similar to November 5th.

She'd gone to look through records of the DMAC's rehearsals. Applications for such sometimes had to go through the IUM for permission unless it was taking place in an uninhabited area or a simulation. This one hadn't required a lot of scrutiny; it was a given that the DMAC needed to do these once in a while, and had only passed through the appropriate clerks. But the timing was what caught her suspicions in the first place.

Sameera made a face as she reached out to knock on the door. Just passing by, she told herself, with some need for clarifications on records. She was curious, after all. Who wouldn't be?

For many it felt like a strange bump back to earth with the department after Christmas, but for a good number of Edwin's Department, now entering into their ninth year with him at the helm. He was one of the longest serving Heads and come the summer he would have toiled fifty years in London for his country.

The realisation over Christmas had made him realise. Half a bloody century. He'd spent a bit of time considering it the night[1] he'd invited Mortimer, as the other Department Head was older and had served longer, though had only been appointed more recently to his post. Could he see himself that age and still Head? He'd perished the thought. Time to do something. The latter half of the previous year had brought new opportunities. He was intrigued to have met Ira Almasy[2] after reacquainting with Lawrence Musgrave[3]. They both brought new possibilities, and there was a renewed spring in Edwin's step that he hadn't felt since the darkest days of war when he'd come to enjoy disasters.

"Come in," Edwin called to the knock on the door. It wasn't a knock of one of his more regular callers that was committed to memory and recognisable. That morning he was pouring over a map of Glasgow, and was focused on the outskirts which corresponded to reports of the dementors there in late December. Lawrence had explained he was do to with their dispersement before the Ministry had despatched the second team but Edwin wanted to be sure the accounts matched up with the geography.

Sameera Taylor, nippy terrier of the Improper Use of Magic stepped through the opened door and Edwin straightened up, expression shifting from a frown at why she would be visiting to more of a polite smile, which in turn grew.
"Sameera," Edwin greeted warmly, as if she were a fond friend, "Good to see you, have a good time off over Christmas, or was there no rest for the wicked?" The map curled itself up as his fingers brushed it. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

1.	2 days earlier… Through Gray Mist Creeping
2.	31st July 2010, Obbligato Con Spirito
3.	28th July 2010, My Old Friend

"There's always no rest for the wicked, but I had a good holiday regardless, thank you for asking." Sameera stood in front of his desk, ever straight-backed and presentable. "If you have a moment though, Edwin? I hope I'm not interrupting you with your own affairs, I am so sorry if I am but...inter-departmental matters, you know." Sameera waved a hand. "If you don't sort them out now, it might become a mess later."

She gestured towards the folder she was holding. "According to records, the DMAC had a rehearsal for a situation that was quite similar, if not almost a perfect simulation, of the November 5th explosions at the Leaky Cauldron. The clerk who okayed the form could have been a spider jumping on a trampoline writing with a poker, I can't decipher the name of the organiser and they can't remember." Sameera double-checked, peering at the scrawl.  "So just to make sure, was it your idea, or someone else's? Would be nice to have a name you could read, and if there's credit needed at least someone needs to have it."

The witch shut the file. "I have another matter to discuss with you, so if we can confirm the name it would be great. I wish we had a handwriting test as part of the job application, it would be so much easier to decide on hiring someone or not." She sighed, and then appeared to shrug it off. "May I take a seat?"

The niceties were short-lived, but usually they were. Taylor was mostly business, and to a point he respected that being a working environment. Still, a little smile and flattery with a female colleague could improve a day.

"According to records, the DMAC had a rehearsal for a situation that was quite similar, if not almost a perfect simulation, of the November 5th explosions at the Leaky Cauldron."

She had Edwin's full attention. He was wondering when someone might start asking a few more questions about helpful coincidence. Still, he had prepared. He supposed Taylor was asking for the fact the IUM were involved in investigating the scene. Edwin's features remained placid and unbothered by the query as she continued.

"The clerk who okayed the form could have been a spider jumping on a trampoline writing with a poker, I can't decipher the name of the organiser and they can't remember. So just to make sure, was it your idea, or someone else's? Would be nice to have a name you could read, and if there's credit needed at least someone needs to have it."

Edwin's mouth curled into a faint smile, as if he was fondly reflecting on his staff. He knew exactly who had signed off the forms, he knew everyone in his Department and made a point of knowing. Meera took the seat with the faintest of gestures of acceptance.

"That's what happens when Level 3 take on so many interns. We take more than our fair share and the poor clerks are often lumbered." Edwin gestured a gentle shrug with both hands. "It'll be initials. EHG." He did not explain for a moment, letting Sameera make the connection. She was a clever one.

Setting the curled up map aside he settled down in his desk chair and met her gaze. "You're familiar with the Ministry's EPE's, yes?" Well, perhaps he should explain that one. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his side of the desk. "Emergency Planning Exercises[1]," he explained, "We run them throughout the year, they're either discussion based, over a table top or live." He nodded to her, "The Ministry keeps a set of plans for scenarios, dragon escape, Hogwarts becoming visible to Muggle eyes, large-scale breach of the Statute... Leaky Cauldron breach... they are constantly revised, retested to validate them, train our staff. One doesn't want to dust off a plan only to find it is a hundred years out." Edwin gave Sameera a smile and sat back.

"So yes, in early October we selected one to test, and it did happen to be the Leaky Cauldron scenario. Management of a breach of some sort - a loss of integrity to the division between magical and muggle worlds." He gestured a wall with his hands, "Possible magical and muggle casualties, breach of the statute. We put it in place on the night and the recovery plan has been in place since then, hence rerouting traffic to Diagon while the building is recovered." Edwin settled back again and curled his hands over the ends of the arms of his desk chair.

"Did you not have a copy? I can have someone send one to you if you need it for the investigation? Strange you only ask for it now though if so."

1.	For future reference...

Sameera remained attentiveas he spoke, nodding along with him. When he confirmed the illegible marks on the record, she said, "Oh, so that's what it is, thank you" and made a note in the file with her. All right, at least that was cleared up.

She listened, mostly in earnest to refresh her mind on how this department ran things. Though she'd been a Ministry employee before her leave her repertoire was law, law and more law. It was always good to take initiative into gaining insight into how the other departments worked, what oiled their cogs and turned them into an efficient machine, or whatever passed for efficient these days while they tried to rebuild.

And she was intrigued to see where he was going with his point.

"That was enlightening," she said sincerely. "Thank you for the explanation. We'll have to get our clerks to go through the process a little more carefully and make sure they deal with any messy records before it reaches our investigations. We do go through all of that stuff once in a while despite the horrible dullness of the job, but your department may spice up the job a little and make me come here on little side ventures." She gave him a coy smile. "I hope you don't mind my dropping by here."

To his last question, she shrugged and huffed a little. "Regarding only attending to this now...it's been the holidays, the time of the year when people conveniently forget the Statute exists and we're dealing with all of it. We're still in the process of cleaning up the office and the Board in the aftermath. If you want to send copies, give us a few days, because sending it to us now would just get your papers lost in the ever-flowing abyss. That would be the last thing we want, considering the last time that happened it was during the War." Sameera shook her head as she rearranged pages in her folder.

"Do you have a dedicated archive for EPE minutes? " she asked suddenly, raising her eyebrows. She felt that she wasn't going to be moving very soon, so she might as well dig a little. "Would the records be off-limits to most except for the MAC clerks, or accessible to anyone who's got the authority, including that given by department heads? Because it'd be a big help if I didn't have to come here and interrupt you from your work every time a record looks dodgy."

"I hope you don't mind my dropping by here."
"No, not at all," Edwin smiled, his ruddy round cheeks swelling beneath his eyes, "You brighten the place up Sameera."

The Department Head gave a nod regarding the copies and lifted a quill nearby to make a note. His words to Taylor would probably fall on deaf ears. She was entirely uninterested despite his approaches, and as yet he'd not confirmed why she didn't even entertain him. She wasn't top of his list of pretty ladies to pursue within the Ministry.

"Minutes?" Edwin queried, "Reports, transcripts, we do, though much of it is archived due to the volume, once it's been used to update the plans." He placed down the quill again, and rubbed at his chin with thumb and forefinger, considering. "Minutes, not so much unless you're looking for something specific you think may be minuted."

Edwin sat back and studied Sameera carefully. The warm, mildly flirtatious comments of a moment ago faded when she had said every time a record looks dodgy. This insinuated there were concerns over his Department in some sort, that she wanted to look into them and that she wanted to do it without his express knowledge.

"So what 'looks dodgy' about the exercise I authorised for the Leaky Cauldron breach? Have you found much need to probe my Department's exercises lately?"

Oh, he was catching on. Glass could be an utter buttering knife when he wanted to be, but a knife he was regardless of whatever spread was on him. In what ways she didn't feel like getting to know, but she had the nagging feeling that he wasn't always that innocent.

"Dodgy as in really bad handwriting, for one." Sameera flipped through the folder. "Credit to you lot for not leaving coffee rings on the paper, but some things just get on my nerves. I'll freely admit I get tetchy when I can't read handwriting. Some of your clerks have a history of it! All right, maybe it's just my standards for writing, but at this point I'm just making a fuss out of nothing. Excuse that."

One of the paperclips was falling out from her manhandling of the folder; she quickly adjusted it properly. "All right, so you don't have minutes, but I'll definitely take reports and transcripts. I'm used to minutes, and definitely that look on your face that you had about it. Hollingbury did the same. They're so useful, though." Sameera sighed. "Oh well. I'll make do.

"But if what you say is the usual for MAC, then all right. What's the process for retrieving a record, officially?" Sameera fished out a note from the folder. "Oh, and before I forget, this. Something about having contact with a wanted criminal on the run? Specifically, receiving a note from Lawrence Musgrave? I was looking through the case file on the werewolf matter and this caught my eye. I know it's not really our department, but I was looking for precedents regarding law enforcement for werewolves in recent history and this came up." She raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "You know this guy? I can understand why he would avoid giving a heads-up to the MLE, but you are a very specific recipient. I hope you're not on someone's hitlist, it would be a loss to the MAC if someone was eyeing your life."

The more Meera protested the handwriting the more Edwin stared at her across the desk. His expression was less welcoming as the seconds ticked by. It began to register as you are wasting my time.

Edwin went to draw breath to answer the query about retrieving a record but Meera ploughed straight on.

"I hope you're not on someone's hitlist…"

"How kind of your to care about my wellbeing, Sameera." Edwin replied with a thin-lipped smile. "But I'm only on Level Two's hitlist for doing my job." He afforded a flash of teeth in a grin and blinked slowly. "Lawrence Musgrave and I were once friends my dear. Back in the days where we all thought he was a proud, upstanding auror, upholding the law. I was rather surprised to be contacted by him - further still when I discovered why - but I can only imagine he saw me as a trusted party who wouldn't jump to conclusions. Level Two were adding three and four and coming out with eleven that week from what my Deputy explained. Warrington and Gamp had Musgrave in an interrogation without arrest." Edwin tutted. "Anyhow, I've not heard from him again since, and I hope I never do."

Edwin drew his chair back a little and folded one leg over the other.
"Now, as for the correct process for retrieving  a record…" He gave her a withering look, "please don't waste my time."

Sameera could see the cracks in the hardened lava now. The glow would be...fairly dim, at this stage, a warning, but a little prickle, a little shiver, as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. There was a chase to be had, and by Merlin if she didn't at least break part of the crust to have lava fountain dangerously close to her, she wouldn't leave. That withering look wasn't enough to deter her.

"All right then, I'll look them up myself," she dismissed coolly, hefting the folder onto a hip to balance it right. "Certainly something too minor that your clerks would be well-trained to deal with. Your skills for delegation are legendary, after all." She shrugged, as if to say 'Can't argue with that.'

"Though I'm curious." Oh, she couldn't help herself. It felt like she was stepping onto a treacherous path. Hollingbury had warned her about stepping on the wrong toes (though in her defence, his tone had been fairly neutral and could have been read either way), but she knew he trusted her to know her limits. "Musgrave has been known to make moves around certain people, but until recently just you? It's like a very specific denial of sorts." She rubbed her fingertips thoughtfully. "And why would you be surprised that an old friend would contact you? He's a friend, right?" Or have you two fractured? But that was a question she left inside her head. That was toeing the line.

"Hm." She looked towards the edge of his desk, musing to herself. "Would you happen to have any mutual contacts from that age? If we do manage to bring Musgrave in, at least it would be beneficial to have a full record of his deeds for the court. We can't leave detail out of the files, that won't do for the IUM." She gave Edwin a pleasant smile in exchange for his thin-lipped one earlier. Now to pull back.

Was there a way he could have infiltrated the Ministry somehow and gotten notes on possible targets for the November 5th bombings? All I have are copies; the originals are stored down here. There's a nail in the side of the ship and there could very well be a leak. Scouting for that leak... She glanced at Edwin. No, even she had boundaries. For now, this was enough poking.

”Alright then,” Edwin lowered his chin ever so slightly to indicate a nod that there wasn’t really any discussion into this. If she wanted them, she had to do the work. ”Your skills for delegation are legendary, after all.” Edwin raised an eyebrow, a fractionally pleased expression breaking out at this compliment of sorts. As a long-standing Department Head, he had an advantage in that he knew how the system worked in and out, and created a good chunk of it in recent years.

”Though I’m curious.”

What part of Edwin which was pleased puffed out like an extinguished match. It had just been a little compliment before another poke. Glass inhaled slowly, trying not to look irritated. The door behind Meera closed properly on its own. He had been hoping she was leaving, but not answering those questions would look worse than answering them.

“I understand when Lawrence was released from Azkaban he made himself a nuisance with the likes of Admete Brown[1]. He never chose to get back in touch. From what I recall of Admete’s recount to me, he was just trying to put the wind up old Level 2 colleagues. He considered those who deserted when the Ministry became occupied by Voldemort particular cowards.”

Edwin smoothed one hand across the top of his thigh, considering his words. He figured Meera knew without asking that he had stuck at the Ministry despite being ruled by Pius Thicknesse. There were also no lies in what he had just said. Lawrence had sneered at those who had fled, initially resilient that they would see a way round it. But both of them had ended up complying to their new leaders.

“The only contact we have had, well he has had with me is directing the note to me about the werewolf fight in Birmingham in late July. I wouldn’t know how to contact him.” He looked up to Meera and blinked twice. “No, he is not a friend. Why would I be friends with a man who went to Azkaban for torturing people he should have been protecting?” His tone suggested it a silly question from her. “Though, he has done his time, and before I heard the extent of his involvement I admit I felt a minority of sympathy for the bother Level 2 put him through without proper procedure[2].”

He tugged at a memo on the edge of his desk, glancing to it before balling it up and tossing it over his shoulder where the paper basket shuffled to catch it neatly. “Mutual contacts? Half the Ministry back then, Taylor.” Edwin shook his head, and posed what sounded initially like an innocent question. “Why, do you suspect he’s got a contact in the building protecting him?”

1.	9 February, 2010 The Devil Makes Work for an Idle Hand
2.	20 July, 2010 You Have Your Hands Full

"Why would you be friends with him?" Sameera pursed her lips, eyebrows raised as she considered. "Maybe he still considers you enough of a friend to drop you a message, in the event that Level 2 will throw it out the window the moment they see it's from him? But what do I know, I'm just a lawyer in the IUM." She shrugged, and smiled. That would be enough.

“Why, do you suspect he’s got a contact in the building protecting him?”

"Do you?" Sameera smiled mischievously. "Of course there would be other possibilities. Criminals get creative with magic all the time, you and I know that all too well. For now aurors seem to be going with that as the most logical possibility right now. If auror chatter were plastic balls, Level Two would look like a ball pit right now. Perhaps it was one of the old crew who left, or even just a dead end, but any and all potential leads are the bread and butter of Level Two investigations."

She heaved a curt sigh. "I only asked that out of interest since it's such an odd, rare occurrence. It sticks out in the histories rather much like a loose thread in a tightly woven tapestry. But you have fair points to make, and I've got my answers. Thank you for your time, Glass. Would there be anything I could do for you before I leave?" There was no pressing him further, even if she had her suspicions. Battles were not won in a day, and quite frankly she'd already spent enough time down here anyway.

“He wasn’t unpopular before he was relocated to the north sea.” Edwin mused, pretending to be considering things seriously rather than just entertaining Mordecai’s terrier.

”… Would there be anything I can do for you before I leave?”

“Many dozen things, Sameera.” Edwin replied smoothly. That was a suggestive question if ever there was one. Still, Taylor was not usually forthcoming, this was likely a trap, but he could never resist a dalliance. She wasn’t a bad looking witch by all intents and purposes, a little different to his usual interests, admittedly. He was up and away from his chair swiftly, rounding the end of his desk furthest from his office door.

One arm took advantage that she was encumbered with files and lightly dropped around her shoulders, lowering gently to her waist as he escorted her towards the door.
“Should you ever wish to discuss matters at greater length, you only need ask. Barely time to speak at the office, over dinner perhaps?”

He could have sworn the corner of Meera’s mouth curled at the suggestion, as if she was truly flattered on this occasion.
”I’ll consider it, once I’ve been through your records, perhaps.” She replied too smugly for Edwin’s tastes, and shot out of the door as it opened in readiness for her departure.[1]
“Hold you to that.” Edwin called after her, tucking his hands behind his back as he watched her leave, admiring her arse.


End

1.	Oked with Neon