Fantastic Beasts And The Trials of Scamander

Slow Days

The clock ticked in time with the tapping of her quill as she fought back a yawn with her free hand. She had been in the office since before the sun had risen, even her current house guest hadn't dragged himself into the case yet and was sprawled across the transfigured sofa with his fringe stuck straight up in the air and his shirt caught tight around him. The cells were full of all the nighttime misdemeanours which for some reason the night shift had decided to ignore entirely. Most of them had been there for several hours without even the mention of a sobering potion so were all rowdy and definitely not receptive to a female officer. It had mostly consisted of scribbling out reports and fighting off insults on all sides.

It had been utter unbridled chaos managing the drunkards until they'd finally all been sent home to sleep it off. Thus had begun the uneasy silence of the auror department. It had been like this for several weeks and with every day that passed, it got more and more suspicious. The only time there was a lull in cases was usually followed by a maniac deciding to shake the entire grounds of morality to its very core. Providing her with her and her family's life at risk and a stack of paperwork taller than herself. Overall it made her feel quite sick and as she sucked the end of her quill she tried not to let her nerves spin into an absolute knot. There was a beat more of ear-splitting silence then the bell which signified the beginning of the thirty-minute lunch break rang and everyone slowly stood before ambling over to the lift in search of food or, most likely, a magazine to occupy the remaining hours of the day.

However she didn't move, she had to set a good example to her colleagues that no matter how slow the day work came first. So she studied the witness statement she was reading for an additional thirty seconds before leaping from her seat and hurrying to the lift. The corridor had cleared, everyone cramming into the prior lift, so she stepped on to see Red grinning at her in his knowing way.

"Will Goldstein be travelling to the cafeteria or the beast's department?"

She felt her cheeks flush as she muttered

"Beasts Department"

He grinned up at her then jabbed his staff to one of the lowest buttons and they shot away with a jolt.

They descended what felt like a hundred floors until finally, they ground to a halt deep in the bowels of MACUSA. It wasn't quite as low as the wand permit office but due to the nature of the department, it was more often pushed aside and forgotten. Until a few months ago that was at the New Years' party. She had lost Newt for five minutes amongst some of her drunken coworkers and he had been shoehorned into a conversation talking to, unbeknownst to him, some of the biggest names at MACUSA. It had only taken some of Newts campaigning and a couple of drinks and they had all but demanded Newt be taken on by MACUSA to try and fix the mess that was the Constraint and Control of magical beasts. Its first change had been the name to the Preservation and Control of Magical Beasts and the second had been Newt working tirelessly every day for the past few months. He'd insisted he'd find his own apartment and she'd insisted he stayed with her until he did. However, he didn't seem to be incredibly proactive with searching and when he did she 'accidentally' found something which meant it would be unfit for him to move into.

Leaving them essentially living together in her tiny one-bed apartment while he worked in the beast department, trying to fix it up the best he could. This arrangement meant she didn't even hesitate when she stepped off of the lifts and into the dingy hallway which led to the group of offices. Instead, she moved quickly across the warped boards until she came to a stop in front of one of only three offices.