Sandy looked up from the records to say good bye to another healer. His shift was nearly over. Life was almost normal again. Sandy liked normal. He liked almost normal too.

On Friday he had the day off. He was going to Hogwarts. There was a job fair. He wanted to find new talent for Witch Weekly. Or unpaid Hogwarts graduates. Free labour. He had got a memo that morning. Andy wanted him to come see her. Sandy hoped she did not want him to do the fair for the hospital.

When it was nearly quarter to six Sandy stopped working. He put away his patient records. He went downstairs to Andy's office. He said hello to Snardsworthy. She said to go in. Sandy knocked on Andy's door politely. He opened the door and went in.
"Hello Andy, how has Wednesday gone?" Sandy smiled at his friend. "You asked to see me?"

The past week and a half, with Lawrence Musgrave safely locked away on level 2 of the ministry and Hannah Bombay now in a cell in Azkaban, Miranda had finally found herself able to relax back into her job, feeling safer than she had in months, safer than she had since January when her first face to face had been with Britain’s number 1 most wanted wizard[1]. Ignan had finally returned to work this week and had become less grouchy for it. She’d gladly settled back into the routine at St Mungo’s and was powering through preparations to open the potions department at the end of the following month. Life was finally seeming normal.

With the preparations, underway for her new department, Miranda was kept extremely busy. She’d never been an efficient delegator when it came to the important things. Miranda had rather become the all-seeing charge of her hospital and it wasn’t sustainable with success. Having a week out to sit at her husband’s bedside had shown her just how important it was to have someone to fall back on in an emergency.

This was why Sandy had been summoned to her office. He was the top of an extremely short shortlist.

When he did come through the door, Miranda was filling out yet another budget proposal to the board for the new department. It was tiresome, the regular refusals, giving the already over worked witch more work yet. It gave her the distinct feeling that they were trying to blockade the new addition, to delay it until she gave up.

“This is the fourth time this week that I have redrafted the financial numbers for the potions department. The chief warlock on the board has sent every one back because I am over demanding too much money for a lifesaving and history making addition to our hospital. I’m currently trying to decide what exactly we can do without.”

The parchment was handed over to her fellow healer and she looked at him expectantly.
“Ideas?”

1.	Give me your guiding hand

"Four?" Sandy said. She looked very stressed. He walked towards her desk so he could reach the parchment. He sat down. He looked over the figures. There were lots of very useful things here. Lots of glass items. Cauldrons. Soil. Gloves. Everything you would need. Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out. She wanted his help. He had not seen these figures before. But he was not unused to dealing with budgets. The Witch Weekly budgets were very tiresome. Sandy employed two arithmancers to stay on top of them. "Ideally nothing Andy. But how much do we need to reduce it?"

“500 galleons a month.” The number was ridiculous. The board were setting her up to fail before she even made a start. “That’s the salary for two potioneers. Then we need the herbologists and, of course, materials.” The frustration was clear in Storm’s voice as she removed her glasses and sat back in her chair, folding her arms in an attempt to relax herself. It didn’t work, her shoulders were tense, body stiff, facial expression tight.

Sandy was seemingly unaware that he was being tested with this problem. Miranda had shortlisted what she would need to cut down in the worst situation but she’d also began to prepare new suggestions with reasoning for the board meeting later that week. He needed to impress her before this meeting.

“If you were in this position, if you had to choose, what would you do?”

"Alright..." Sandy said. He was thinking. "You could cut a senior and fill with apprentices or juniors. That is an investment in training. They will not be as efficient. Their pay will be lower. That is agreeing with the board." Sandy said. He looked at Andy. "Or you could tell them no. That if they want this department to work and never repeat the unnecessary deaths then they have to fund it."

One sound idea had been put forward along with the childish notion that she could just tell her superiors ‘no’ and continue regardless of their views. That would be wonderful until the money stopped coming in for it and she was left with staff or suppliers that she couldn’t pay. A lifetime of ambition and yearning to become the Head Healer of the most prestigious magical hospital in Europe hadn’t prepared Miranda for such budgetary headaches. In truth, she was an excellent healer and the unchallenged primary expert on Dementor treatment, she could handle and manage staff efficiently and with great strength; but to handle budgets and paperwork and numbers? It was the dullest part of her job and certainly the most frustrating.

This was certainly one of the reasons she needed a second, for the boring crap her position dictated that she dealt with.

“But if they accept even more budget towards this new department, where does it come from? What floor would you take it from?” Eyebrows were rose as she studied her friend and colleague. “The board meeting is on Friday afternoon. Come to me in the morning with your suggestions and, if acceptable, you’ll go to the meeting and present them as my Deputy.” Dark eyes flashed over his face, seeking out his reaction. “Think of it as a job interview.”

Sandy looked down at the figures. When she said come to her in the morning he looked up in surprise. He had not gone to a job interview for decades. He had interviewed lots of people for jobs. He did not know Andy was looking for a deputy. He looked thoughtful. He nodded.
"And how many people are being interviewed?" He asked. He was tentative. If Andy was asking half the hospital it made it different. Sandy had not considered promotion. He enjoyed research. He used skills to run the Magazine. He thought Andy would prefer to punish him because of Koko's article. It was very lucky Lawrence obliviated her.

Miranda’s reaction to Sandy’s question indicated exactly what she thought of the pointless question. Her brow rose as she stared at him. Why would she have bothered asking anyone else? Sandy was probably the only member of her staff that she trusted with the job; he was her oldest friend. He was the only member of St Mungo’s staff that would ever get away with calling her ‘Andy’, a name she hated but had, unfortunately, always stuck.

“That hardly matters.” She dismissed with a shake of the head before grasping a quill, dipping the tip in her inkpot and glancing down at the next sheet of parchment on the desk before her. “Comparing yourself to other people will only lead to failure and a sad obsession. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Sandy narrowed his eyes in thought. He did not see this coming this morning. But it was an opportunity. Why did he not trust Andy completely though?

"Very well." Sandy said. "I will meet you in the morning."

END