𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟎𝟗 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

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𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝙺 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚜, 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 -- 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 -- 𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 <𝟹

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"𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙈𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘'𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪?"

"I have an appointment with Rufus Scrimgeour."

"That can't be right; I'm afraid the Minister for Magic has no appointments in his schedule for this morning," the receptionist said as she glanced over the Minister's schedule for that day which was packed to the brim with various cabinet meetings and luncheons with important people, "If you'd like I can reschedule for a months time at his earliest convenience?"

"That won't be necessary. He's expecting me quite urgently."

"I'm afraid without an appointment, you won't be seeing him at all," the receptionist said as she pulled out an appointment card and pulled her quill out of her pot of ink. "What I can do is mark it as urgent, and the Minister may be able to find the time to respond to you sooner, could I take a name and a reason for the appointment?"

"Certainly," said the person as they peered over the desk as she began writing, "To expose the Ministry's failed attempts to invocate power, and the name is Ophelia Le Fay."

The receptionist's scratching on the parchment stopped a moment later as she finally lifted her gaze to find the young witch smiling politely back at her; she didn't know what the appropriate reaction was -- the girl standing before her was supposed to be dead, she died in this very building yet she was living and breathing, snacking on the dish of buttermints on the desk as she waited patiently for the receptionist to come to her senses.

"As I said, he's expecting me." she said, popping the sweet into her cheek, "Can I go through?"

The receptionist nodded and opened the door for the young witch, who walked by idly with plenty of people doing double takes as she slipped through the doorway with her hands in her pockets.

The last thing Rufus Scrimegor thought he was going to see when he walked into his office that morning was Ophelia Le Fay, the living dead girl in the flesh staring back at him with her cold brown stare -- he took a step back in shock as he stared at her, she watched him closely with narrowed eyes as he walked to one of the seats opposite his own desk given she was sitting comfortably in his armchair, he thought his receptionist didn't appear as cheery as she normally was in fact she looked as though she had seen a ghost and now he understood.

"Are you real?" he asked, his legs wobbling as he sat down.

She ignored his question and continued to look at him.

"You're dead... you died right here in the ministry... there was a funeral. It's impossible for you to be here." said Rufus, shaking his head in disbelief, "This a foul trick if I've ever seen one. What is it? Charms? Polyjuice? I won't accept it -- I'll have you arrested-!"