who ? bethanie dunstan and zac smith when ? thursday afternoon where ? ministry of magic what ? bethanie and zac get stuck in a lift together. nothing can go wrong. status ? complete
Zac hated the Ministry. He hated everything and everyone in it. If it had been up to him, he would've never stepped a foot in the place. Sadly, however, he needed to have some paperwork signed for allowances to deal with Muggles. For all of the Ministry's failings, the one thing it seemed to control reasonable well was banking. Perhaps it was the influence Gringott's had, certainly the monopoly, but the Ministry did seem to want to make sure that licenses were issued, papers signed and so such. It was a pain in the arse but Zac did see the point. You couldn't just let anyone trade between the magic and Muggle worlds, it would end it a fucking disaster and a potential economical meltdown.
Two hours after arriving, Zac was about three more 'oh, you need to go to office X' away from actually getting the paperwork cleared. This was why he hated the Ministry. Everything always took at least three hours and that's if you knew where you were going. The first time it had taken Zac six and he had gotten lost somewhere in the lower levels.
He needed to take the lift three levels down, find another holder of red tape to signpost him elsewhere after stamping the paperwork Zac was carrying. At least the place wasn't overcrowded, this illustrated by the fact that Zac was the only person actually waiting for the lift. Or, well, perhaps that thought had come too early because just before the empty lift could close, someone pushed the door open and Zac sighed. He should have made more effort to get to the close button. He recognised the woman, he thought. From school, perhaps? Probably. B-something. Or C-something? Zac wasn't sure he cared enough to remember.
Leaning against the back wall of the lift, Zac stared at the numbers as they changed, waiting for his floor. Until they stopped changing. There was a shake and the lift just stopped. "Oh, for fuck's sake," Zac muttered leaning over to press some of the buttons. Nothing happened. "Great, that's fantastic," he added to himself, with a shake of his head. "I don't suppose you know how long this sort of thing usually goes on for?" Zac asked glancing over at the woman, before pressing the emergency button on the lift only to be met with a pathetic whimper of a sound and then nothing.
They could be here forever. Die in here. Zac was eating her first if it came down to it.