Who: Alastor Moody & Elladora Guffy Where: The DMLE; Auror Floor When: Tuesday Evening What: Edgar's dead. The Aurors are missing a colleague. Moody's delayed-onset-grief just kicked in. And Elladora hates to see anyone upset. Rating: PG-13 [just in case] Status:In Progress
Ellie had been sitting with her back to the rest of the office most of the day. As much as she figured that the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office appreciated a level of attention that they didn't often receive, that wasn't why she was doing it. She had her back to the rest of the office in order to keep from looking at Edgar's desk. Whenever she had during the morning shift, she had had to struggle to keep her composure. She had been quite fond of Edgar, and there was heavy area over the whole office without him around. As the other Aurors had cleared out, either as their shifts ended or as they were sent out on assignments, she offered each of them slight smiles, an attempt to reassure than that things would eventually get better. The wound was still fresh, and even Ellie, in her never ending good humor, was having trouble keeping her spirits high.
Sliding her last file into the outbox on her desk, Ellie turned her chair back around, making a concentrated effort not to look in the direction of Edgar's old desk and ended up with her gaze almost directly on Alastor Moody. Since he was the oldest Auror in the office (as far as Ellie knew) and one of the most intimidating (everyone knew that), Elladora didn't often bother Alastor unless it was a matter of business (or unless she was intently waiting for his reaction to one of her pranks). She knew that he didn't appreciate her playful spirit or idea of what was a decent way to lighten the mood around the office so she rarely actively attempted to inflict her attitude upon him. But with the way things had been going, Elladora frankly didn't see how she could possibly make things any worse.
His shift was technically over. But there was no Order-related business tonight -- there rarely seemed to be, another symptom of the Order's distressing lack of cohesion and self-discipline -- and Moody wasn't in any sort of mood to go home and be alone with the silence.
None of us do except you and Edg
Yes, well. Except you.
Logically, his presence wouldn't have made enough of a difference, if he'd been at Edgar's when the Death Eaters attacked. Maybe there would have been fewer deaths, maybe they could have brought in one of the attackers, but it was done, there was nothing that could change it, and wasting time wondering what could have been was just wasting their sacrifice. But Prewett had been right about one thing -- Moody was supposed to know what he was doing. Supposed to.
How was anyone supposed to know what they were doing these days?
None of the usual gags were appropriate right now. She didn't want to make him any angrier than he already was, already had been the last few days. Standing and picking up all of the files that she had gone through in order to sort them and put them away herself (there was no reason to wait for it to be done tomorrow when she could just as easily do it now), Ellie couldn't see any reason that simply talking wouldn't work. Or at least, she could attempt to talk. There was really no telling how it would go. Once all of her work was filed and put away, Ellie moved back over to her desk, slipping back into her chair and leaning forward, propping her chin on her folded against as she looked over at Moody.
"Making it a long night?"
"There's a lot of work to do," he replied, his voice not as gruff as normal. There was always a lot of work to do. "You on late shift tonight, Guffy?"
"No, sir," Elladora said, running a hand through her hair. "Just don't feel like going home."
There was no reason for her to lie, try and pass it off like she was on late shift. She was actually supposed to have gotten off a few hours ago. And she supposed she would probably have to actually leave soon. She didn't have any other work to do right now, after all.
"I'm not your superior," he said distractedly. "You don't have to 'sir' me like you do with Scrimgeour."
He looked up at her, frowning. She was one of the newer Aurors, and he remembered her training period. Not half bad.
"How are you holding up?"
Like she did Scrimgeour? Ellie threw her mind back, a very slight frown on her face as she tried to remember the last time that she had called Rufus Scrimgeour sir. Boss, bossman, head guy, el captain, and various other things like that, but she couldn't actually recall a sir. Surely she had called him sir once, probably back during her training, but she couldn't remember it. Ah, well. Wasn't like it mattered much.
"I'm just a little whippersnapper," Ellie said with a slight smile. "Moody seems rude. Alastor seems to informal. And god help me if I actually start calling you Ally. I like my head attached to my shoulders, thankyouverymuch," She said, the smile faltering as he asked his second question. How was she supposed to answer that, exactly? Haven't fallen to pieces yet? Keeping up a strong front so that I don't look like a sissy? None of those would do at all.
Shaking her head out, Ellie sighed before offering Moody a slight shrug, "Hard to say. Numb, mostly." Wow. How was that for honest?
He blinked at her, actually chuckling a little.
"I don't have nicknames, Guffy. I call everyone by their surname, why should I mind if you do the same?"
That made sense, really, in a way. But there was still one major issue that had always hung Ellie up when it came to his name. It always sounded like she was making some sort of commentary on his attitude. And while said commentary was usually true, it was still one of the last things that she needed to be saying to someone that still considered a superior, even if the Ministry ranking hadn't acknowledged it. But if he was insisting... Elladora shrugged, a very slight smile on her face.
"Well, if you say so," She said. "Moody it is, then."
Even if she probably would still say sir in most situations.
"How 'bout you?"
"About as well as can be expected," he replied, shuffling some of his papers into the out box. He had a fair amount to go over, but mostly he was just avoiding going home. The Dover house was always... quiet. Usually that was what he preferred, but right now...
"Which is shitty," Elladora said as she pushed herself back away from her desk as peered at him, a frown on her face. This was a difficult situation. Ellie wasn't feeling much like herself at the moment, and Merlin knew that Alastor Moody wasn't exactly the easiest person to get through to. But there was clear suffering here that couldn't just be left to lie. Pushing herself to her feet, Ellie smiled a bit as she crossed over to Moody's desk, settling her hand lightly on top of the paperwork he was sorting.
"You've been here just as long as I have. I think we're both entitled to a bit of a break."
Ellie knew she was stepping into uncharted territory. One false move, and she could regret this whole thing. But still... If she went about this the right way, she might actually be able to make up for some of the delinquency that she'd displayed...well, since forever.
He raised his eyebrows, looking up at her.
"Was that an invitation, Guffy?"
Not that he'd object to taking a break. They were all spending too much time at work since Edgar's death, and he'd been there since the early hours of the morning, trying to find some way to pin the suspected Death Eaters down. Nothing seemed to be working so far.
"I was trying for the subtle approach this time. Need me to be a little more overt?" Ellie asked, grinning at him. "Care to tolerate my presence for awhile? Try and unwind? Shake off some of the residuals from the last few days?"
"...all right, then."
Why not? It wouldn't hurt, and aside from her tendency to pull pranks, Guffy wasn't a bad sort. And he could do with the company, really.
"Excellent!" Ellie piped, her usual perkiness back on her voice as she moved her hands back off of the stack of papers and instead held them out to Moody to help him to his feet. Not that he needed help, of course, but the response was almost automatic. Of course, now she was faced with the issue of figuring out what they would do. Drinking seemed like a solid offer, but Ellie had heard enough about Moody's habits with food and drink than to suggest that.
Maybe she should just let him pick.
"So. Where to?"
"There's a decent place we can get to by floo," he replied, getting up without taking her hands. He'd be damned if he needed anyone's help to get about. "The Fledged Griffon. They're used to me stopping by after work, and their stock isn't half-bad."
Ellie's interest perked up almost immediately. She couldn't say that she'd ever heard of that place before. She wasn't even sure what it was, and the name certainly didn't do any favors in revealing their services. When her hands were ignored, Ellie pulled back, slipping them into her pockets and offering him a broad grin that would have been, perhaps, more appropriate on the face of a hyperactive toddler, not that Ellie bared any resemblance to one even at the worst of times. But this was some place new! She couldn't help but be a little excited.
Moody led the way to the fireplaces, giving her an approximation of a smile.
"You seem to be in a good mood today, Guffy. It's good that someone's keeping their spirits up."
"It's hard to keep a good Guffy down," Ellie said in response. Even if she was still feeling rather heavy from the weight of everything that had happened in the last few weeks, the death of Edgar most of all, there was no reason for her to let it completely strip her of the only thing that really kept this balance from driving her out of her mind. "Good humor really does the heart and mind wonders," She said, reaching out and giving Moody's side a bit of a poke. "You should try it sometime."
He looked down at her, raising his eyebrows.
"Not everyone has the guts to poke me, Guffy. I'm starting to see why you decided to be an Auror."
"Awww, you might be a crazy old man, but I doubt you'd damage a valuable employee just for a bit of a poke. Boss man would never let you hear the end of it," Ellie said with a wink and a grin. Clearly, she was only joking. Well, sort of. The crazy old man part was mostly true.
"I suppose not." He took a bit of floo powder from the pot beside the fireplaces, stepping inside and stating the destination clearly.
As he disappeared in a burst of green fire, Ellie stepped into the fireplace behind in, dropping the powder that she had clenched in her hand and echoing his statement. Coughing and gagging, Ellie rolled out of the floo on the other end. "God, I hate those things," She muttered, picking herself up and dusting off her robes. Nearly twenty years worth of floo travel experience in her, and she still hadn't quite gotten the hang of the landings. It was the same way with portkeys.
"Not good with fireplaces, are you?" he asked absently, giving the bartender a nod and leading the way to his table, sitting with his back to the wall and facing the rest of the room. Every entrance point was in his sight now; just the way he liked it.
One of the waitresses came over with a bottle of firewhiskey and two glasses, Moody's usual order, and asked Ellie if she'd like anything else.
"Bloody rot with them," Ellie said as she raked a hand through her hair and pulling a disgusted face when it came back caked with soot. One of the things she both hated and loved about having black hair, the soot not showing. "It's pathetic, really. I've been traveling by floo and portkey almost all my life, and I can still manage to end up flat on my face each and every time," She said as she slipped into the seat across from him, casting a quick cleansing charm on her hair, hand, and robes. "I'm fine, thanks," She said with a grin as she eyed the bottle curiously. A whole bottle? Did he come here with other people often, or was he just some sort of secret lush who could polish off a whole bottle without breaking a sweat? Or was it just a whole bottle because the seal hadn't been broken yet, and he could be sure that it hadn't been tampered with.