Aileen Reid hadn't set foot inside the Ministry of Magic in years. The atrium bustled with wixes, their pointed hats and sweeping cloaks looking small below the platform of golden statues. She was just another cog in the clock today, come to meet the new Head of the Department of Mysteries. She passed underneath the huge brick archways and into one of the lifts, and checked her watch.

10:00 am, on the dot. Her shoulders tensed, waiting for a clanging and chiming of clocks that never came.

That was why she was here. Her memories and her reactions belonged to someone else, a pentral that had been trapped inside a frame at the Lilly Lakehouse. Through Aileen's eyes, the pentral cringed at all the grandeur and authority of the Ministry, retreating to the back of Aileen's mind, where her worry caught on Aileen's already frayed nerves.

...Don't belong.

Leave it to me, Aileen thought firmly.

Aileen hated the idea of yet another person poking around her head, but if Yavin Morgenthau could help, she was willing to suffer the indignity of it. She would at least try.

The lift doors opened onto Level Two. A few minutes later, she found the waiting area of Carstairs' office, and her little sister Abby at her desk. The girl's changed appearance always startled Aileen. She paused in the doorway, the red hair a reminder that she hadn't made it to her sister in time.

Abby stood. "What are you doing here?" She shoved a box inside one of the drawers. Aileen glanced around the empty waiting room. It smelled strangely sweet.

"Surprising you," Aileen moved forward, her brows inching higher at the 'cute' accumulating atop the desk's surface. Were those bobble head pens? Bowls of candy? And a plaque about unicorns? Good Merlin!

Her sister flitted around the clutter and gave her a light hug.

"You look like pumpkin spice," Abby teased, stepping back to assess Aileen's muted red and orange dress.

Aileen ignored the comparison to a pumpkin, fished inside her purse for the gift she'd brought, and set it on Abby's desk, nudging aside one of the three unnecessary candy bowls. The glass paperweight shimmered, picking up the red in her dress, the pink in Abby's shirt, and the gold color of the plaque. It had a subtle sparkle that nonetheless anchored the desk with a bit of class.

Abby burst into giggles. "A pyramid paperweight? Trevelyan will flip."

Aileen tilted her head. "Don't tell me he would want one, too."

Her sister pursed her mouth, looked at Aileen, then back at the pyramid. "I don't know. I just get the feeling that I've seen something like it before."[1]

The sisters shared a look. Aileen understood that feeling well. Confusion, apprehension, knowing something you weren't sure how you knew, forgetting something that felt important. For a moment they stood there, lost in their own thoughts.

"If you don't like it, you can hide it with the box of chocolates in your desk," Aileen said dryly. "I just stopped by to say hello before I head to Level Nine. Perhaps we-"

"That's today?"

"Yes."

"It has to be today?"

"Yes, Abby. I have an appointment at 10:30." She studied Abby's worried face. "I will be fine. Are you well?"

Abby paused for a long moment. She plucked a blank memo from the pile of parchment, and pasted on a grin. "I'm wunderbar!"

Aileen rolled her eyes. As she left, she heard Abby rummage for a bobble-head pen.

The lift doors opened on Level Two, depositing two laughing Aurors, their faces flushed as they clung to each other's arms. Aileen stared, moving around them. Once inside, she pressed the button for Level Nine. The doors began to close.

Then Eddie Pratt entered the lift.

Aileen's eyes narrowed. She looked straight ahead, and tilted her chin up, urging the lift to move faster.

1.	She is referring to the pyramid artifact that caused so much trouble for Trevelyan in the British Museum.

Virgil!

E-mer-gency!

My sister is here! Today! She's meeting with your boss on Level Nine. Oopsie! Keep an eye on her, will you? Don't let her near the sweets! Tell her they're terrible and nothing like your baking.

Ta,
Abby

When Abby was finished penning and sending the memo, she glanced at the glass pyramid Aileen had given her. Moving aside several folders and a desk calendar, she placed the pyramid front and center. It reflected the lamplight with a soft, warm glow.

Friday means doughnut day. Doughnut day meant a rota. Today was Eddie Pratt’s turn to provide his aurors with doughnuts but in between getting his 2 youngest ready for their minder that morning and feeding the incredibly hungry and loud dog, he’d forgotten. so, before coffee break and the aurors flooding to the coffee area to find no doughnuts provided by their boss, Pratt felt her best get out and sort the job out. He would have sent a trainee, but then people would have found out about his neglect.

Pratt’s crimson robes had been discarded in his office and he’d instead opted for plain black robes that looked like that had perhaps seen better days. The dog on the back definitely revealed where Winston took his evening naps. The sleeves had been rolled up along with his white shirt sleeves and his top button was, as usual, undone. There was no tie to strangle him today; that was saved for important meetings.

Making an effort to brush some of the fur off the side of his robes as he walked quickly, Pratt didn’t look at who was in the lift until he stepped into it and pressed the button. They started to descend and Pratt finally looked up to see the blonde-haired troll’s armpit facing forward and clearly trying to ignore him.

“Ailment.” Ed greeted with a raised eyebrow. She did have an ailment now as well, didn’t she? Upon the information being shared with him, he’d struggled not to mention the fact that she’d clearly been possessed as a teenager too. "No stairs today.[1]"

1.	Stuck? Here, let me mock you

Ding...ding...

The lift came to a shuddering halt as it reached Level Four, and the doors slid open again.  Kurby Bagnold, his arms full of what looked to be a few file folders and the day's mail, stepped on.

It was Friday, but with the full moon less than a week away, he was resigned to not having much of a weekend.  Kurby gave a passing glance to the other two people on the lift as he reached to press the button for Level Ten.  He gave a cursory nod to Ed Pratt, who looked shabbier than usual in black robes.  And the other...

Kurby blinked, his brows knitting momentarily.  Aileen Reid.  Formerly Aileen Whitman, his cousin Oz's first wife, who had divorced Oz after a year and caused his quick spiral into misogynistic marriage-hating misery.  At one point, she'd been teaching at Hogwarts -- Oz kept all the rest of the extended Bagnold-Whitman clan up to date on his ex's life so that he could revel in her unhappiness -- but Kurby hadn't heard much of her since Oz had finally gotten remarried, and all the rest of them had gotten a respite from his acerbic lectures.

He eyed the woman for a moment longer, but kept his mouth shut, averting his gaze forwards.  Whatever the hell had brought her to the Ministry, as long as it didn't set Oz off on another reign of terror, it wasn't any of his business.

And so the lift began to descend once more.

Ding...ding...

Aileen ignored Pratt's nickname for her, though she did send him a questioning glance when he mentioned stairs. Why he thought she cared one iota for his exercise routine, or lack of one, was beyond her.

Another man entered the lift, laden with an armful of files. He glanced at her for a moment as if he knew her. Aileen faced forward, shoving down her unease that she had no recollection of him. She appreciated his silence, however, and spent the next few seconds critiquing the abundance of silver on his person and the amount of dog fur on the back of Pratt's raggedy robes. Was it dog-catching day at the Ministry? Pratt certainly barked too much and came when no one called him.

The lift descended. Ding. The doors remained closed. Ding. Levels 8, 9 and 10 glowed on the lift's dashboard as - ding! - the lift moved past Level 6.

Aileen smoothed the hem of her dress, thinking ahead to her meeting.

Then the lift lurched. The lights flickered.

Aileen started, touching the railing behind her and glancing around them.

With nary a ding, the lift lurched again, then slowed to a stop between Levels 7 and 8.

"What in the world!" She muttered.

Her heart began to beat fast. She glared up at the floor indicator, then jabbed the Level 9 button a few more times. Go, go, go.

It did not go.

Ailment didn’t deign to respond. Of course, she didn’t. She was on his turf, rather than her own predatory territory.

They descended in silence.

King of grumpy looks and grumbles stepped into the lift and both men shared a nod. Nothing more. Pratt glanced him over, he’d always been certain the bloke could open his own silver shop should he wish. Well, if he figured out how to smile. No one wanted to buy from a grouch who’s smile made it look like he’d had an accident in his underwear.

They continued to descend in silence.

Suddenly, the lift lurched but it continued in its descent. Unfortunately, upon the second lurch, their movement was halted and Ed grunted in irritation.

“Don’t panic, Ailment.” Pratt remarked in response to her mumble. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one side. “Lifts have a mind o’there own, ‘ere.” Much like the stairs at Hogwarts.

Most people, Kurby understood, had normal sorts of nightmares.  Things like Flooing into the Ministry's atrium but forgetting their clothes, or drinking a potion and having all their teeth fall out, or realizing they'd forgotten their wand right before the start of a practical OWL exam. 

But he had nightmares about this.  The lurch.  The flickering lights.  And then, as if the prior jolt was only a precursor, a second jerk, which left them trapped without movement, suspended between two floors.

"What in the world!" Aileen Reid had exclaimed.

He didn't need to wonder.  He knew.[1]

Pratt fired a quip back at Reid, and Kurby rolled his eyes.  If Pratt didn't think this was a reason to panic, he clearly hadn't fallen victim to the Ministry's lifts before.  Unhappily, Kurby stalked forward, trying to squint up through the wire doors to the shaft above them.  He couldn't see anything.

"Goddammit," he growled.  Of course this would happen today, right in the middle of the rush to get ready for October's full moon, and with everything else he had going on. 

To make matters worse, the lights flickered one more time, and then went out completely.

1.	From prior experiences.

"The lifts might," Aileen shot at the Head Auror.

She was not panicking. Pratt was too nonchalant to care about being anywhere on time, evidenced by the sorry state of his attire.

The other man appeared to care an appropriate amount, though she could do without his eye-rolling and grumbling. And she could do without the lights going out.

She flinched, as the presence in her mind flinched from surprise. She felt grateful, for one instant, that the sudden darkness concealed her reaction. Small, dark spaces made her uneasy. That hadn't always been the case, but these days she went to bed with a book in her hand and the nightstand lamp turned bright. Sometimes she forgot the book.

Aileen pressed her mouth together, letting a breath out through her nose. She slowly reached into the pocket of her cloak, and drew her wand.

"Lumos."

It worked, thank Merlin.

Since the pentral attack, her wand had been acting up, refusing to obey a few of her commands. Conscious of her face reflected in the light, Aileen smoothed out her expression. She directed the light toward the dashboard, and the lift indicator, both dark.

"How long does this usually last, Pratt?" She asked flatly.

"The lifts might,"

Despite the irritation at being stuck in a lift with Ailment Reid and Mr Grumpnold, Eddie grinned at his old rival. He quite liked seeing her put out.

But that grin vanished as soon as the lights went out and they were left there in momentary pitch black. Instead of a focus on irritating the witch, his hand shot immediately to the holster on his hips to retrieve his wand. He didn’t however, light the tip, preparing instead for the possibility of something far worse. One never knew how bad some little problem like this could get.

Ailment’s wand lit and Ed scanned the tight space, green eyes alert.

“I’d be buggered if I knew, Ail-” Pratt didn’t have a chance to finish the witch’s nickname because the ground went from beneath them and they started to plummet, three bodies thrown towards the roof of the lift as they rocketed down. Ed’s wand was out, gripped tightly but he couldn’t fight the gravitational force as they descended.
“Impedimenta!” The auror yelled. The desired effect had been to stop the lift completely. Instead they slowed and the three dropped back down to the floor.

When you were in a lift, things could always get worse.

First, the lights went out.  Then they suddenly started to plummet, with the gravitational forces causing all three of them to be pressed against the ceiling as the lift fell. 

Pratt's quick thinking at least drastically slowed their descent, sending them crashing to the floor again.  Kurby let out a groan as he lay there for a moment, stunned.  The folders, mail, and other papers that he'd been carrying when he'd first boarded the lift came fluttering down around them in the darkness.

It took him a split second to realize that despite the Head Auror's best efforts, the lift was still falling -- albeit at a much slower speed.  Kurby fumbled uncertainly for his wand, finding it in time to cast a silent Arresto Momento to finally halt their plunge. 

"The goddamned --" 

He launched into a fluent string of forceful profanity.  Several of the words were probably not appropriate to be employing in the company of his cousin's ex-wife, but the werewolf hunter didn't care.  Growling, he flicked his wand to cast a silent Lumos, giving them a little more light, and then tried to peer up at the ceiling of the lift to figure out what else they could do.

"I swear to bleedin' Merlin, I am going to string up Magical Maintenance and leave them for the wolves!" Kurby snarled.  Still glaring at the ceiling, he tried to untangle himself so that he could climb to his feet again.  His shoulder was aching from where he'd slammed into the floor, and his right foot was tangled with someone else's leg.  He kicked at whoever it was to try and free himself.  "What the hell happened?!"

Aileen Reid was not a superstitious person, but this must be a sign. The one day she’d visited the Ministry, the one day she’d returned to Level Nine in several years, the lift plummeted, trapping her with two hotheaded wizards. One man spouted profanity that would make her mother faint in horror, the other – well, he was Edward Pratt. Pain in her arse. Grinning ghoul. Pratt, at this very moment, lacked the overt obnoxiousness of the other one, but she felt certain he would live up to his reputation in a minute or so.

She felt absolutely certain as she pushed against a pile of rubble, only to realize that pile was a person. The grumbly one casted a light, and Aileen recoiled at the sight of an armpit hovering inches from her face, draped in shabby robes that smelled of dog.

“Can you not?” She snapped at whoever had the audacity to kick at her leg. Slowly, she wriggled out from underneath the tangle of limbs in a sly, Slytherin-esque fashion. Aileen plucked a folder jabbing into the crook of her elbow and let it drift to the ground. She stood, resting her hand against the wall for support.

“Everyone in one piece?" She adjusted her dress, straightened her cloak, and only then rubbed at the bruise forming on her hip. She ignored the pounding in her head.

"I’m just fine, thank you both for asking."

Sarcasm dripped from her voice. Today of all days! The grumbly one was still grumbling, but what the wizards lacked in manners, they made up for by thinking quickly and halting the lift. Not that she would admit that aloud. Aileen patted the pockets of her cloak. Empty.

      @&*!#&!!!

“Shit,” Aileen muttered, then inwardly cursed the pentral for making her curse.

Aileen peered down, nudging the clutter of envelopes and papers with her foot. The dim light of Bagnold's wand directed at the ceiling did little to illuminate the messy floor.

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, she pressed a hand to her forehead. Her wand must have fallen out of her hand as she’d braced herself against the ceiling.

"Has anyone seen my wand?”

Aileen pursed her mouth, fully expecting a smart retort. Why did this situation feel so familiar? Someone else had lost his wand, hadn't he, and instead of picking it up and handing it to him...

She'd kicked it away.[1]

1.	Yes, she did!

Well Eddie had never anticipated Aileen Reid to quite literally fall for him, or rather, on him. She fumbled about, shoving against his chest and Ed grabbed her arms, pushing her off him gently while Bagnold explored every profanity he’d learnt since childhood. It took a few moments for the three to untangle themselves from one another and Ed was the last to stand, wand still tightly gripped in hand.

"I’m just fine, thank you both for asking." Reid muttered pointedly and Pratt couldn’t help but smirk.
“Maybe we should have asked you once we’d crashed at the bottom of the lift shaft?” She was only fine thanks for his and Bagnold’s quick wand work. It didn’t matter how possessed Ailment Reid was, she remained a stuck up snotty nosed cow.

After the sarcasm, Reid started fretting over her lost wand, and clearly remembering his own time in need of some help, Ed ignored her presence, turning instead to his colleague from Level 4.

“Merlin knows. I only wanted some blasted doughnuts.” Moving himself into the center of the lift, Ed peers up through the gap in the ceiling. “If we levitate the cage up, we can’t guarantee accuracy with more than one wand and I know I can’t bloody lift the whole thing alone. Could be pretty dangerous.”

He still felt like exploding at someone, but at least Pratt was quick about getting to the heart of their predicament.  Kurby rolled his eyes with exaggerated effect in Aileen Reid's direction.  His former in-law or not, if she couldn't keep her hand on her own wand when trouble struck, it was her own goddamned problem.

"No tellin' how long the bleedin' spell's going to hold, though," he grumbled, joining Pratt to stand at the center of the lift.  Whenever something went wrong with these goddamned contraptions, it seemed like everything did.  With their luck, the golden cage had suddenly become enchanted to want nothing more than to plummet them to their deaths at the bottom of the lift shaft.

It was hard to see anything in the darkness through the gap above them.  And Pratt had quickly identified the very real danger in trying to levitate their current prison upwards.  They had no way of knowing how far they were from the nearest platform, or whether another lift might come crashing down on top of them.  And here in the heart of the Ministry, they couldn't apparate.

Kurby grunted, clearly unhappy.

"We could try levitatin' one of us up to the nearest platform, if we can see it," he suggested sourly.  "Or sit around and wait for them to get around to findin' us.  Although who the hell knows how bleedin' long that is going to take."

Aileen's eyes narrowed, realizing they were both ignoring her. One of them could easily shine a light on the floor as they discussed their dangerous ideas, but neither did.

There was a reason, with Pratt. She remembered leaving him dangling from a... balcony? Staircase? She'd no idea what she had done to the eye-roller, or if he was normally like this. Or if they were just marinating in their own testosterone.

      I don't like them, we need to go, shouldn't have even come here...

A dull ache pounded in her head as Aileen continued to nudge papers and folders around with her foot before finally resorting to kneeling and picking the files off the floor.

      It's too dark. Find your wand already and cast Lumos-

You are not helping, Aileen snapped, pausing to direct that thought.

"We could try levitatin' one of us up to the nearest platform," the grumbler grumbled, and Aileen let out a scoff. No. She was sure as hell not volunteering for that.

      ... It's against the wall. There, see it?

Her fingers felt along the wall, and then closed around the handle. She casted Lumos again. Her wand flickered slowly with light, and both she and the pentral let out a sigh of relief.

She stood, straightening her back. The glow of her wand highlighted her pale face and the thin set of her mouth.

"One of you could send a message," she suggested coolly. "A patronus, perhaps. That would be a sight on Maintenance."

She would do it herself, without asking either of them, but she didn't trust herself to, not in the best of times and not now. She would send up a whole fleet of runes if she thought it would help, but as it was...

Aileen lowered her wand as frustration flickered over her face.

So many suggestions but nothing that Ed could see working too well. No one was going to nominate themselves to being levitated up to the nearest level. Neither Kurby nor Ed would trust Reid and she wouldn’t trust either of them. Rightly so considering she’d left Ed hanging in a faulty staircase. Not a nice woman at all. Not a nice stuck in a lift companion.

Now, if Ed were to choose who he’d be stuck in a lift with, he’d make sure it would be someone funny, with conversation skills (that rules out Bagnold), and perhaps pretty, kind and attractive (sorry Ailment). It really was clear that he needed to get out fast.

“Not mastered a patronus yet, Ailment? Can’t summon up enough joy in that cold stone heart of yours?” For a very brief moment, Ed wondered where in the world such unpleasant feelings towards her had emerged from. He didn’t, however, dwell. She wouldn’t.

“I’ll do it.” Wand raised in the air, Ed cast a patronus spell, a great fluffy cloud of a dog emerged from his wand and began to bound up through the lift shaft above them. Ed then looked to his companions.

“Now we wait.” He dropped himself down to sit against the wall. “Anyone got food? I’m bloody starvin’.”