Finally!

Dorian eased back into his chair, behind a desk that was finally clear and clean, in an office that, while having seen better days, was in a better state than it had been after he had moved into it.

Well now, he thought to himself, what to do......

He stood up, walked over to the drinks cabinet, and poured a measure of his family-whiskey into a glass. Dorian looked at the glass for a moment, deciding what to do.

He walked back to his desk, picked up one of his files from the top of one of his cabinets, and sat back down. Dorian took out his wand and waved it in a little maneuver over the glass. the working-day wasn't over yet, so a small decrease in the alcohol-level was the best option.

He'd be back in London at least a month, and if he was to not go mad he'd have to figure out something to do, and soon.

As he perused his lists and notes he imagined he could hear the pouring of sand in the Department of Time Regulation, or whatever it was called. Weird folk, who should definitely figure out some more tenses for whatever they're doing in there....

And whether it was because of a residual accident or maybe because that's how it always smelled, but the offices of the alchemists with their research on potions and Herbology sure hit you in the nose walking down some of these corridors...

Ah, what good a chair and a glass does you!

Whistling a few bars of the most recent song in his head, Sissel made his way back from the Hall of Prophecies after adjusting the importance level of a few off the cuff prophecies that had the potential for coming true. Possibly. His future self had yet to send word of which ones actually came true and how horribly, so that probably meant the next few weeks would be clear.

Taking a shortcut, he passed an open door then stopped. He walked backwards until he could see inside again. Dorian MacCullen was sitting at his desk, drink aside and perusing files. Sissel had to stick his head in: or rather, his whole body leaning past the threshold at a 45 degree angle, his arms anchoring him to either side of the doorframe.

"Dorian! They finally got you a better office, eh? Private too. Lucky stiff, I don't even have a cubicle." Sissel just had a desk in the Bureau's open floor plan. Desks in rows and columns almost like being in school but at least there was plenty of space between them.

Halfway through his notes on a particularly crazy South-American shaman who specialized in Acrumantulas, Dorian started hearing whistling rise above the sounds coming from the direction of the Time-offices, or at least in that direction.

It grew louder and louder, and, glancing up briefly he saw somebody walk past his door. Seeing as they passed by he looked back at his notes, but the whistling had stopped, and he saw above his notes someone literally hanging on to the doorframe and leaning into his office.

"Dorian! They finally got you a better office, eh? Private too. Lucky stiff, I don't even have a cubicle."

Dorian looked up and smiled at the intruder. Who working in the DoM wouldn't know the tones of Sissel Jowd's voice bursting suddenly upon oneself.

"Sissel! Well, I'll be! Yes, it finally happened. Though it didn't look this nice when they gave it to me. One of the conditions was that I had to clean it all and fix stuff that was broken, and such. But now it's done, finally!"

Dorian got up from his chair and walked over to the drinks, while gesturing Sissel inside.

"You wouldn't believe the size of the boggart I found in the corner-cupboard! Anyway, would you like something to drink?"

"Cleaned it out yourself," Sissel said as he stomped back into a standing position. He licked his fingers then poked him into the hall as if feeling for wind. "You're far enough away from the Bell Jar apparatus that your cleaning shouldn't get undone, though have extra cleaning supplies about just in case."

Sissel noticed the whiskey on the desk. Sadly no Canadian brews about. "Just a shot of that, no more. Unbelievably sized boggart, you say? Big fears then?" Well, Dorian was a big guy, so by the minimalist of inferences it would need to be something big to scare him.

"Undo my cleaning? Oh, you wouldn't! Fine, I'll check by with Magical Maintenance....."

Dorian filled one of the smaller glasses with the rich amber liquid and handed it to Sissel. Turning back to his desk he also pulled out his wand and Transfigured a Chesterfield chair in front of the desk, just like the ones back home.

"Well, I don't know if big is the right word, the fear was the same as always." Dorian Sat down in his chair and looked slightly accusingly at Sissel, conveying that they'd leave it at that. "You know how it is, some memories persist. But it did take a few more rounds of Riddikulus than I'm used to."

"What?" Sissel asked, confused. "No, I wouldn't dirty up your office, nasty prank, nor would anyone in the Department. Just keep an eye out for things traveling in reverse since you're so close to the Time Chamber. Ever since that Potter incident, the Flux time in the bell jars have been known to leak on occasion."

He sat in the conjured chair. Plush. "Boggarts are always a nasty surprise. Odd that one was hiding down here but I think that might have been from a fear experiment the Thoughts Chamber had ages ago."

Sissel pointed to the desk. "That has got to be the smallest amount of paperwork I've ever seen. No fair, I would think Spell Experimentation would have loads. Patents, experiments, reports, studies, that sort of thing."

"Ever since that Potter incident, the Flux time in the bell jars have been known to leak on occasion."

"Ah, yes, I understand. We still feel a lot of that incident, it's true. I was in the Death Chamber a few days ago, and over half the room still bear marks of the battle.. But I'd have liked to see the Hall of Prophecy before a bunch of kids undid probably a couple centuries of work....." Dorian shuddered at the loss of such knowledge, and gave a heartfelt sigh.

"Boggarts are always a nasty surprise. Odd that one was hiding down here but I think that might have been from a fear experiment the Thoughts Chamber had ages ago."

The smile returned to Dorian's lips, and he gave Sissel a sly look.
"Well now, it wasn't THAT scary. Or maybe for lesser wizards, you know." He gave Sissel a wink.

"That has got to be the smallest amount of paperwork I've ever seen. No fair, I would think Spell Experimentation would have loads. Patents, experiments, reports, studies, that sort of thing."

Dorian looked at the single file on his desk and smiled. It had taken him ages and ages to file everything that already was here and everything he added of his own records didn't exactly decrease the amount of paper.
"Yeah, well, you know I like be tidy, Sissel. The office didn't use to look like this, believe me. That's why I added the biggest Extension Charm I knew on those filing cabinets to your left. They are actually just as you said arranged after Patents, experiments, reports, studies, and so on. It's just that each holds about the same amount of files and books as half the Ministry's Library." Dorian gave a small self-satisfied chuckle, and another sip of his drink.

The most surprising point of the conversation had to be the lengths Dorian had added to his cabinets with Undetectable Extension. "Get out!" Sissel said, turning to look at the cabinets. He rose. "So am I going to want to try to open one of these file drawers?"

Half the Ministry's Library? That was no small feat. Sissel had never thought that all of the DoM Research Departments, let alone just the Spell Experimentation sector, could generate that amount of material. He finished his drink. Something seemed fuzzy and it wasn't the whiskey.

"And Ward[1] let's you keep all of that in your office?" Sissel didn't interact with the DoM Head much, his main priority was the Research Departments. Dorian must really be collectable if he was getting so many perks so quickly.

1.	Head of the DoM, Dante Ward

"So am I going to want to try to open one of these file drawers?"

"I'm sure you would like to try, but a certain someone, and I'm not naming names, might have placed a lock on them, that only a certain someone may open."

Dorian loved the incredulous look on Sissel's face. It was reactions like this Dorian had almost grown to expect when showing other people his work, though he had to admit, he shouldn't have told Sissel about this. There were files and books in there that though in Dorian's possession, might not be strictly called legal.
And heck, having copied sizable amounts of all the other departments records might be frowned upon.....

"And Ward let's you keep all of that in your office?"

Dammit, Dorian thought, now you've done it.
"Weeeeeell, allowed is such a strong word...... I mean, you know those forms you have to fill out for the smallest thing? Imagine what I'd probably have to fill out and do to be allowed this. Extension Charms on this scale may also be rather..... explosive when handled without care, but as you can see there hasn't been any explosions."

Dorian gave a little smile, not being able to stop himself bragging. Just like always. That's how he got chased out of that village in Tasmania...

"Right," Sissel said, poking a cabinet with the empty glass. Probably touch activated and hopefully not like the stuff the Goblins did to the Gringotts vaults. Talk about finding skeletons in your closest.

Sissel grinned. "Permission is the strong word, Dorian. Permission tells you what, officially, you can and can't do. You could be allowed to do anything until it comes into question." It's like a powder-keg of DoM secrets in here. Edgy. He made a mental note to have TTI and the Workshop watch their paperwork.

"Off the record," Sissel looked if there were any self scribbling quills about, "I run into nasty stuff in the field all the time. So I know where to push a loophole." Or literal loopholes, although tricking time like that usually gave him migraines.

"You could be allowed to do anything until it comes into question. Off the record, I run into nasty stuff in the field all the time. So I know where to push a loophole."

"Exactly! So, you know, this doesn't have to end up in a report to Ward, ey?" Dorian gave a slightly nervous smile.
"But speaking of something more pleasant, now that I'm back in England for a while, what have you been up to these days?"

Dorian had to admit that he was fascinated by the Unspeakables who managed to really wrap their minds around understanding all the aspects of temporal mechanics, and popping in and talking to some of the people in the Workshop was always worth his time. The gadgets and gizmos they have there are truly amazing!

Maybe he should choose a Time-related spell as a new research project.....

"Funny you should mention a report to Ward," Sissel said. He continued quickly, "not for the reasons you think. But I did have to send a report to him about a problem character we've been having, the Cowled Figure.[1] Usually it's the Auror Office that gets the long term criminals. Somehow, a guy in white hooded robes managed to find a Time Turner, there's at least two still with unknown whereabouts since the security issues in the '90s." Again at the hands of Potter, though admittedly the takeover didn't help as well. Sissel bet if his boss Jacqueline Lumpkin ever found the young Auror she would smack him upside the head for all the grief suffered to the DoM given that battle with his classmates, the Death Eaters and the Order.

"Whenever he got it," that being the key phrase, "during the last weekend of April we showed up on each other's radar. TTI first considered him some wannabe prophet nut. You can see how just how he would go about doing that with a Time Turner. It's been silent since then, we freak out whenever someone parades about in a bleached bed-sheet, but he hasn't acted up again or he's realized how to be much more subtle." The Temporal Tinker Tracker had a few unrelated hiccups since then, nothing that suggested the Cowled Figure's involvement.

"Other than that, I've had one date. St. Mungo's Healer, a witch named Vivienne Thorpe, though we haven't gone out again as we both get astronomically busy. And the last time we did work decided to show up anyways."[2]

1.	start here and follow the links
2.	here

"Oooo! Trouble with Time-criminals, ey? Kinda cool! Though I'm glad you didn't pull me into it, so that I didn't have to get my tenses all in a twist." Dorian was hopeless when it came to being inconspicuous, so a mission with time-travel would probably have ended in a disaster. But he had to admit he was curious about it all....
"But if it pops up again, and I can help, let me know, ey?"

"Do you have any hints to possible personality types regarding the Cowled Figure? "
Maybe Dorian should check on the black market if he could sniff out any mentions about items related to messing with time?

Sissel's other piece of information made Dorian smile. He always imagined Sissel to be quite the ladies man, with his laid-back attitude to life, and frankly, quite an impressive job.
"Well now, m'boy! A Healer, you say? I've always wanted to try out a nurse, actually. See how they are in real life, and not just when you get admitted to Spell Damage because of accidentally giving yourself three new arms....." Dorian remembered having to explain the whole episode to the Matron in charge that day, and what a look she had given him....

"I recall my last date, if you could call it that, being with a runaway priestess in Tibet. Let's just say that culture has really perfected how to keep warm up in those mountains...." Dorian gave Sissel a wink, and took another sip of his drink.

"Well, should we need some carefully timed spells I'll know who to call." Sissel could do much himself but sometimes you needed more than one man. "Otherwise there isn't much of a profile to the guy. Likes to be showy, draw attention to his schemes. Although when I dealt with him he seemed unsure about time travel, as if his stint in April was some sort of practice run. Before then he probably didn't know the Ministry had that kind of a force."

As for dating bits: "Yeah, dating while in St. Mungo's isn't all that viable. For one thing the Tea Shop is overpriced." He set the empty glass back on Dorian's desk. "Tibet, eh? Must have run into a few Yetis while up in the mountains."

"Hehe, yeah such shops are always overpriced. Makes you wish there was no Gompalott's First Law...
I actually joined a hunting party who went after a yeti. We caught it, of course, and they showed me how to use among other things his blood for a potion to never get cold. As I found out, it's also more intoxicating than Firewhiskey." Dorian chuckled at the memory, and stopped when a memory hit him.

"Speaking of Tibet, I came into contact with some monks at a monastery that was really tucked far away from the rest of the world. They specialized in learning about time and meditating on every aspect of it. I must admit, it seemed like some of the masters could even take you guys for a spin around the block. But anyways, what I remember is that there was an area of the monastery I wasn't allowed into, for it was the residence of their inner circle; a group of Seers who spent almost all their time with their mind in a state of temporal flux. They had attendants who sat by their sides and wrote down what they saw, both past, present, and future. Maybe they picked something up about your man? Do you want me to contact them for you?"