Who: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Augustus Rookwood When: Monday, January 25 1981; early morning Where: Ministry of Magic Atrium What: Kingsley weighs Rookwood's wand and has him turn out his pockets. Because it is protocol. Ratings/Warnings: PG Status: complete
When Kingsley arrived in the Atrium Monday morning, the queues from the makeshift security kiosks extended twice each from the fireplaces in large, looping lines of aggravated witches and wizards. Cutting his way to the front where his own wand was weighed and his person examined by regular Ministry security, Kingsley drew not a few envious glances. Yeah, this'll be a real party, he thought tiredly. Afer clocking in, he went to relieve a blond, buxom hitwitch he did not recognize from queue 5. "Wotcher. You're off."
"Cheerio," she said, scrubbing her eyes as she headed to lifts.
Suppressing a sigh, Kingsley drew his wand and faced a portly wizard who looked as though he had been there before sunrise. Not that sunrise had been particularly long ago. "Wand please." The weighing itself took about a minute, but then there were the questions.
"Department?"
"Magical Catastrophes."
"Name?"
After another minute on this vein, the wizard passed, grumbling and sipping at his near-empty mug of tea.
"Next," Kingsley called.
Augustus Rookwood would have been less annoyed by the prospect of standing in line for inspection if he hadn't known perfectly well how Gilbert Vance got into the Ministry. As it was, he was aware that the Ministry's new security measures were really theater that would do nothing to protect anyone from anything. There were other uses for the information they were obtaining, Augustus was certain. He had faith in his Lord's plans.
On the other hand, that didn't mean he was going to enjoy having his wand weighed and a round of inane questioning from an Auror, or from the look of him, Auror trainee. He passed over his wand for inspection wordlessly, refraining from any outward expression of the boredom he was feeling.
Probing the wand with his own, the previous spell- nothing remarkable- arose from the tip of Rookwood's wand. Kingsley then laid it in his palm, which was flat, and rolled it gently back and forth. What information this gave him was a rough idea of the wood and core of the wand, based on the smoothness of the motion and moving weight. A roll of parchment arose into the air beside them.
"Name?" Kingsley studied Rookwood, and by his attire expected a name of blood status, or at least of wealth.
"Augustus Rookwood," Augustus said, and, having watched the previous questioning, added "Department of Mysteries" before Kingsley could ask. He was glad he didn't have a time-sensitive experiment waiting for him in the Love Chamber just now.
Not the Department of Mysteries, but the Head of Mysteries. Kingsley, unsmiling, at least looked faintly apologetic. "Sir, as you know, your Department is high security and thus has exceptional status here. Would you please empty your pockets?"
"Of course." Augustus did as he was requested with efficiency, if not with particular speed. Soon the contents of his robe pockets lay on the table beside Kingsley: his wallet, some small everyday personal effects, a small roll of parchment with notes he'd made at home last night on some Departmental matters. Fortunately that last was properly sealed; Augustus hoped there wouldn't be a fuss about it. He'd hate to have to call Mulciber or Selwyn to deal with this./tag *cracks up*
Kingsley did not immediately attend to them, but first performed a series of noninvasive charms (excluding Accio, of course) for detection of yet-concealed items. For each one, Rookwood was clean. Presently, he turned his wand on the items, particularly the wallet, and performed similar incantations. Also clean. "Sir, what is on this parchment?" Though not himself a legilimens, Kingsley for the first time looked fully and boldly into Rookwood's face.
"Departmental business. Unfortunately, due to the nature of my oaths, I can't divulge exactly what it is." Augustus gave Kingsley a mildly apologetic smile and shrugged, hands up. "Mysteries requires a lot of confidential work."
After giving Rookwood a long searching look, Kingsley seemed to relax and cracked a half smile in return. "Of course." This was a point on which Kingsley's opinion differed with his superiors- on the manner of questions asked and the thoroughness of the security checks. "You can take these back- and..." Kingsley skipped the next question he'd asked the previous man: his blood status. "Expected time of departure?"
"I don't have anything scheduled after five. Let's say five-thirty to six, just to be safe. Will we be undergoing similar procedures on our way out this evening?" Augustus asked it as a matter of idle curiosity; unless he was summoned by his Lord, he had no reason to rush anywhere.
"You are expected to formally clock out. We worry less about what is brought out of the Ministry, if you understand me," Kingsley replied calmly. It was instinct to avert his eyes from the Purebloods, but in a uniform he was at ease enough to resist the compulsion. "You won't miss supper."
"Supper will wait. I'll just build an allowance into my schedule for clocking out." Already Augustus was calculating how much time in the exit lines waiting an additional five minutes would save him at various points, based on his knowledge of the schedules of various departments, the speed with which the line had moved this morning, and the known proclivities of Ministry employees to slack off early. After a few days of obtaining data, he was sure he'd have the optimal time for his departure to leave at the earliest hour possible with the minimum time spent in line calculated.
Meanwhile Kingsley was calculating, based on the length of the line and the speed of his two transactions, how long he would be standing here repeating the same questions and weighing wands before he'd get relief. Fires still flared green in the back of the hall, and it was unlikely he'd get cut off before his shift ended. Rather than what he wanted to reply, Kingsley said, "You're free to go. Be well."
"Thank you." Augustus picked up his things and hastened on his way to the elevators. The one good thing about this new routine was that it meant having gone through one crowded wait at a chokepoint, he was unlikely to suffer another on his way downstairs.