BACKSTORY THREAD Who: Ben Savage and Callum Proudfoot. When: 21 April 1999, Afternoon. Where: DMLE offices, Ministry of Magic. Rating: Low. Warnings: Possible language. Summary: It's the day before the Ministry falls, Cal and Ben carry on normally.
Ben dropped a couple of ancient books onto his desk, their fall sending dust up into the air and several rolls of parchment onto the floor. He cursed under his breath before kneeling down to pick up the fallen parchments. It wasn't like any of them mattered-- most of Ben's work over the last year or more had been fictional for the most part-- and even then, tomorrow was going to change everything. But he went through the motions because now, more than ever, that was probably the most important part of his job.
Once he'd gathered his papers, Ben slid back into his chair. He opened the drawer where he kept his most recently finished reports and carefully placed the parchments inside with a few others. When that was done, Ben stared at his desk and the tomes he'd been allowed to borrow from the Department of Mysteries. He was tempted to perform a cleaning charm on both of them, they were absolutely filthy, but he resisted because he knew that such magic was likely to destroy the integrity of the information within. Instead, Ben raised his wand to the book and set it open to the portion which currently interested him the most-- defensive measures which could be taken to ward against memory alteration.
In all truth, Ben needed something of a distraction for the rest of the day. He knew what was coming tomorrow, he knew what he was supposed to do tomorrow, and as prepared as he was to do what was necessary, Ben was feeling anxious. He had a fresh piece of parchment on his desk, quill poised at the ready, and yet he'd read the same sentence at least three times. Vigorous exercise of the mind yields utmost control when stability of the mental faculties comes under threat, he read. Well, that seemed obvious. Ben picked up his wand and flipped through a few more pages before he found a set of more practical applications to study. At least it was something of a distraction.