I hire people that are brighter than me ...
It was fortunate for their second round of interviewees that they weren't nearly so bad as the batch from the day before. Had such been the case, Mira might have resorted drastic measures that may have been questionable in their lawfulness. As it was, they only had one interview left and no promising candidates yet. They were all qualified in some way, to be sure - or overqualified - but many had been cut from the list for their questionable motivations in applying for the job and another handful had been cut because they weren't the right fit.
Mira was beginning to despair there wasn't a right fit. "I must admit that my optimism is waning," she told Harry as she dropped into the chair next to his at the conference table. "That one was probably the most promising of them all, but not a perfect fit. Is it so wrong to want a perfect match? Is that really too much to ask for?"
"Perfection is a fool's desire," Harry said, rubbing a hand over his face as he leaned back in his chair, spinning slightly from side to side in an attempt to awaken his legs, which were currently struck with pins and needles from sitting for so long. "I wasn't expecting to find any who could fill your shoes perfectly, Mira, and neither should you."
"There's got to be someone," she insisted, though a sigh slipped her lips moments later and she slumped back in the chair, head tipped back and eyes closing. "Though I'd be happy with well-mannered, respectful and bright at this point. I swear. If they don't want to jump you, they're star-struck or obviously here for something besides doing the job."
Harry frowned, turning his chair to look over at her. "They weren't all that bad," he said, frown deepening as he looked down at the list of names on the parchment in front of her, each of them crossed out definitively with several dark slashes of her quill. "They just... weren't that great, either."
She peeked an eye open at him. "'Not that great' isn't exactly what the department needs in an executive assistant, and it's not really what you need. You've said a million times how difficult you are," she pointed out, tone wry now. "'Not that great' wouldn't survive more than a few months."
"Well, 'a few months' would be right on track with everyone save you, so I'd be very happy with a few months," Harry said, reaching across her pile of papers to grab the next resume. "This one's the last?"
"For today," she replied, eyes narrowed at him. A few months? She could do better than that. If she had to spend the rest of her days in the MLE hunting down the right person herself, then she would do it.
The last interviewee was collected, and though Mira eyed his man-purse speculatively, his mild manners when he was introduced to Harry and his general alertness gave Mira hope. "So, Aaron - Mr. Landry, tell us a little about yourself?"
"Other than what we already know from your resume," Harry added, sitting forward in his chair. The younger man had given him a firm handshake and a friendly nod of his head when they'd met, and had taken his seat with resolution and professionalism. Aaron hadn't said 'what an honor' it was to meet him, or how his friends 'wouldn't believe' him if he told them he'd met 'the Harry Potter', so he was already points above any of the other applicants.
"That's a rather broad question," Aaron answered, hands folded on the table as he peered across the space at Harry and Mira. "I grew up an only child, my father a barrister and my mother an artist. My penchant for order and tidiness, especially when it comes to my profession, stems from my father drilling into me from an early age the importance of maintaining procedure in the midst of chaos. The ability to handle chaos with creativity is from my mother, who was the foil to my father in every way."
Harry watched Aaron shift in his chair uncomfortably, empathizing with the man. He didn't particularly enjoy talking about himself either.
"I enjoy hard work, and the solving of problems, whether meaningful or superficial. I am calm under pressure and am not afraid of taking on increasing responsibility when necessary or called for. While others might see an assistants job as a ladder to potentially larger things, I am content in the idea of mastering a single realm in every way possible, despite the size and perceived importance of said realm."
Mira nodded as she leaned forward in mirror of Harry, blue eyes intent on their latest - and last - applicant. She liked Aaron better than all the others thus far, but she still needed to know more. This was about who would be working with Harry day in and day out, and finding the right person was of utmost importance to her.
"Why did you apply, Mr. Landry?" she asked. "What about this job interests you in particular?"
"I'm not an Auror. I'm not a politician, or a barrister like my father. I'm a behind-the-scenes kind of person; I don't need to be in the spotlight, and frankly, I don't want to be. I have skills that are specifically suited for this type of position, and using those skills to their full potential makes me feel good. Working with Mr. Potter," he said, with a slight nod of his head, "is an honor, but I believe working for the department as a whole would be very satisfying."
Mira nearly smiled, but kept it to herself as Harry asked the next questions. Aaron's resume was not as stellar as some of the women they had interviewed, but he had the proper qualifications. Regardless, he was the one. She could feel it. He wasn't starstruck and this interview wasn't just a chance to meet Harry. He wanted to be here because the MLE was important to the wizarding world, and what Harry did was important.
The rest of the interview went by quickly and after Harry shook the man's hand, Mira led him to the front desk.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Landry. We'll be in touch very soon."
"I look forward to hearing from you, Ms. Montgomery." Aaron nodded his head one more time at the pair of them before making his way towards the lifts.
When the man was out of earshot, Harry turned to Mira with uplifted eyebrows, a wary expression on his face, trying to gauge her reaction. "Yes? No? Not perfect? Too perfect?"
Harry had liked Aaron well enough, but for some reason, even though she wouldn't be the one working one-on-one with whoever they hired, it was very important to Mira that they find the right replacement for her. He didn't want to question her, but it did seem to be added some unneeded stress on her already stressed shoulders.
"Perfect is a long shot," she said, lips twitching because she knew she had made somewhat of a big deal about perfection, "but I think Mr. Landry will do. You think?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he turned towards their offices, hands slipping into his pockets. "He was alright. I could work with him. He doesn't seem too much to handle, has a good reason for applying." He looked over at her, one half of his mouth turning up in a smile. "Seems like he'd remember to bring me tea if we scheduled it for a certain time every day."
Her smile mirrored his. "I'm not sure he could tell off an Auror, but I do believe he'll be capable of the tea."
"Being able to tell off an Auror is a rare talent, and if we were looking for someone who could do that, we'd be searching for a very long time," he said, holding the door open for her, eyes bright behind his glasses.
"Mmhmm," she hummed in agreement. "We're far and few between. Though I think it's better he lacks that talent. It's not a particularly healthy one." She shifted her gaze away from Harry's then, color touching her cheeks.
"Healthy or unhealthy, it was rather amusing to think about, after the fact." Setting his notes on her desk, fairly certain she'd already decided that Aaron would be getting an owl come Monday morning, Harry crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorway to his office.
"Maybe a little," she admitted, "though I've felt the need to avoid Auror Savage since."
Her eyes found Harry again, quickly flicking from his usually mussed hair to his forearms where his shirt was rolled, and back up. "I'm glad we found him though. If it'd taken any longer, I wouldn't have been able to properly train him."
"Well, if anyone knows how to train someone, it's you," Harry smiled, enjoying the careful tease. Her cheeks still looked rosy with the memory of ordering Savage from the office, the pink somehow emphasizing the blue of her eyes. "He'll fall in line quickly enough, or risk your wrath."
"I'm sure he's perfectly pleasant and will do nothing to deserve my wrath," she said archly. "Unlike some people I know," she added, brow rising at him.
Harry rose a brow in return. "Have you ever seen me unleash my 'wrath' on anyone?" he asked.
"I was thinking more along the lines of you inciting my temper," she said, lips curling slightly. "Though I'm sure your capable of quite a fit if you put your mind to it."
"Hope you've never around to see it," he answered, nodding his head in her direction. "You'll let Mr. Landry know he's got the job on Monday?"
"First thing. I don't want anyone else to snatch him up." Her gaze flicked to the papers that had piled up on her desk over the days they'd spent interviewing and she sighed. "I'll have to get to that first thing Monday as well. Family dinner tonight and if I'm late this time Mother will happily flay me. She's vindictive like that."
"Well, as long as you're fine for work after the weekend," Harry said, a small shrug of his shoulders joined by a smile on his lips.
"I see I won't get any mercy in this quarter," she said, smiling in return as she grabbed her handbag and flicked her lamp off. "Some friend you're turning out to be."
"To have some sort of mercy when it comes to family, I've found you need to be a member of the family, real or adopted. As I'm neither, I wouldn't be able to help you, even if I wanted to."
The outer office was darker now, the only light coming from the open door to his office, and through the pane of glass leading out into the hallway. He knew she had places to go, but he kept talking, drawing her leaving out. Possibly because he realized there wouldn't really be many more nights like this, when the halls of the MLE were quiet and they stayed late, working and talking nonsense to keep the other sane.
"Tell your sister I said hello," Harry added, pushing off from the door frame, knowing he shouldn't keep her any longer, even if all he had to look forward to were the bags in the training room.
"I will," she said, lingering despite the obvious opening he'd left her to leave. She felt like she should give him a hug, a kiss on the cheek. She had called him friend and that's truly what Harry was to her now. If she occasionally lingered on his mussed hair or muscled arms, it was easily enough dismissed. She cared about him as a person; but for the fact that he was her boss, she would have shown him the physical affection she did with people she cared about.
But Harry was her boss and so she just offered him a last smile. "Don't work too late, boss. It's Friday." She paused for a second longer before turning to go. "Night, Harry."
"Night, Mira."
He watched her pass through the outer doorway and out of sight. The MLE would steadily grow more quiet until they were running a skeleton crew of aurors, on staff just in case something happened and they needed to be dispatched. Harry knew that if he worked for another hour, the training room would be completely empty when he went, giving him a chance to work without prying eyes.
Only a few more weeks and he'd be fit enough to let Kingsley know of his plans.
SUMMARY: Day two of interviews to fill Mira's position is fruitful. She and Harry agree that they've found the right man for the job.
Mira was beginning to despair there wasn't a right fit. "I must admit that my optimism is waning," she told Harry as she dropped into the chair next to his at the conference table. "That one was probably the most promising of them all, but not a perfect fit. Is it so wrong to want a perfect match? Is that really too much to ask for?"
"Perfection is a fool's desire," Harry said, rubbing a hand over his face as he leaned back in his chair, spinning slightly from side to side in an attempt to awaken his legs, which were currently struck with pins and needles from sitting for so long. "I wasn't expecting to find any who could fill your shoes perfectly, Mira, and neither should you."
"There's got to be someone," she insisted, though a sigh slipped her lips moments later and she slumped back in the chair, head tipped back and eyes closing. "Though I'd be happy with well-mannered, respectful and bright at this point. I swear. If they don't want to jump you, they're star-struck or obviously here for something besides doing the job."
Harry frowned, turning his chair to look over at her. "They weren't all that bad," he said, frown deepening as he looked down at the list of names on the parchment in front of her, each of them crossed out definitively with several dark slashes of her quill. "They just... weren't that great, either."
She peeked an eye open at him. "'Not that great' isn't exactly what the department needs in an executive assistant, and it's not really what you need. You've said a million times how difficult you are," she pointed out, tone wry now. "'Not that great' wouldn't survive more than a few months."
"Well, 'a few months' would be right on track with everyone save you, so I'd be very happy with a few months," Harry said, reaching across her pile of papers to grab the next resume. "This one's the last?"
"For today," she replied, eyes narrowed at him. A few months? She could do better than that. If she had to spend the rest of her days in the MLE hunting down the right person herself, then she would do it.
The last interviewee was collected, and though Mira eyed his man-purse speculatively, his mild manners when he was introduced to Harry and his general alertness gave Mira hope. "So, Aaron - Mr. Landry, tell us a little about yourself?"
"Other than what we already know from your resume," Harry added, sitting forward in his chair. The younger man had given him a firm handshake and a friendly nod of his head when they'd met, and had taken his seat with resolution and professionalism. Aaron hadn't said 'what an honor' it was to meet him, or how his friends 'wouldn't believe' him if he told them he'd met 'the Harry Potter', so he was already points above any of the other applicants.
"That's a rather broad question," Aaron answered, hands folded on the table as he peered across the space at Harry and Mira. "I grew up an only child, my father a barrister and my mother an artist. My penchant for order and tidiness, especially when it comes to my profession, stems from my father drilling into me from an early age the importance of maintaining procedure in the midst of chaos. The ability to handle chaos with creativity is from my mother, who was the foil to my father in every way."
Harry watched Aaron shift in his chair uncomfortably, empathizing with the man. He didn't particularly enjoy talking about himself either.
"I enjoy hard work, and the solving of problems, whether meaningful or superficial. I am calm under pressure and am not afraid of taking on increasing responsibility when necessary or called for. While others might see an assistants job as a ladder to potentially larger things, I am content in the idea of mastering a single realm in every way possible, despite the size and perceived importance of said realm."
Mira nodded as she leaned forward in mirror of Harry, blue eyes intent on their latest - and last - applicant. She liked Aaron better than all the others thus far, but she still needed to know more. This was about who would be working with Harry day in and day out, and finding the right person was of utmost importance to her.
"Why did you apply, Mr. Landry?" she asked. "What about this job interests you in particular?"
"I'm not an Auror. I'm not a politician, or a barrister like my father. I'm a behind-the-scenes kind of person; I don't need to be in the spotlight, and frankly, I don't want to be. I have skills that are specifically suited for this type of position, and using those skills to their full potential makes me feel good. Working with Mr. Potter," he said, with a slight nod of his head, "is an honor, but I believe working for the department as a whole would be very satisfying."
Mira nearly smiled, but kept it to herself as Harry asked the next questions. Aaron's resume was not as stellar as some of the women they had interviewed, but he had the proper qualifications. Regardless, he was the one. She could feel it. He wasn't starstruck and this interview wasn't just a chance to meet Harry. He wanted to be here because the MLE was important to the wizarding world, and what Harry did was important.
The rest of the interview went by quickly and after Harry shook the man's hand, Mira led him to the front desk.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Landry. We'll be in touch very soon."
"I look forward to hearing from you, Ms. Montgomery." Aaron nodded his head one more time at the pair of them before making his way towards the lifts.
When the man was out of earshot, Harry turned to Mira with uplifted eyebrows, a wary expression on his face, trying to gauge her reaction. "Yes? No? Not perfect? Too perfect?"
Harry had liked Aaron well enough, but for some reason, even though she wouldn't be the one working one-on-one with whoever they hired, it was very important to Mira that they find the right replacement for her. He didn't want to question her, but it did seem to be added some unneeded stress on her already stressed shoulders.
"Perfect is a long shot," she said, lips twitching because she knew she had made somewhat of a big deal about perfection, "but I think Mr. Landry will do. You think?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he turned towards their offices, hands slipping into his pockets. "He was alright. I could work with him. He doesn't seem too much to handle, has a good reason for applying." He looked over at her, one half of his mouth turning up in a smile. "Seems like he'd remember to bring me tea if we scheduled it for a certain time every day."
Her smile mirrored his. "I'm not sure he could tell off an Auror, but I do believe he'll be capable of the tea."
"Being able to tell off an Auror is a rare talent, and if we were looking for someone who could do that, we'd be searching for a very long time," he said, holding the door open for her, eyes bright behind his glasses.
"Mmhmm," she hummed in agreement. "We're far and few between. Though I think it's better he lacks that talent. It's not a particularly healthy one." She shifted her gaze away from Harry's then, color touching her cheeks.
"Healthy or unhealthy, it was rather amusing to think about, after the fact." Setting his notes on her desk, fairly certain she'd already decided that Aaron would be getting an owl come Monday morning, Harry crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorway to his office.
"Maybe a little," she admitted, "though I've felt the need to avoid Auror Savage since."
Her eyes found Harry again, quickly flicking from his usually mussed hair to his forearms where his shirt was rolled, and back up. "I'm glad we found him though. If it'd taken any longer, I wouldn't have been able to properly train him."
"Well, if anyone knows how to train someone, it's you," Harry smiled, enjoying the careful tease. Her cheeks still looked rosy with the memory of ordering Savage from the office, the pink somehow emphasizing the blue of her eyes. "He'll fall in line quickly enough, or risk your wrath."
"I'm sure he's perfectly pleasant and will do nothing to deserve my wrath," she said archly. "Unlike some people I know," she added, brow rising at him.
Harry rose a brow in return. "Have you ever seen me unleash my 'wrath' on anyone?" he asked.
"I was thinking more along the lines of you inciting my temper," she said, lips curling slightly. "Though I'm sure your capable of quite a fit if you put your mind to it."
"Hope you've never around to see it," he answered, nodding his head in her direction. "You'll let Mr. Landry know he's got the job on Monday?"
"First thing. I don't want anyone else to snatch him up." Her gaze flicked to the papers that had piled up on her desk over the days they'd spent interviewing and she sighed. "I'll have to get to that first thing Monday as well. Family dinner tonight and if I'm late this time Mother will happily flay me. She's vindictive like that."
"Well, as long as you're fine for work after the weekend," Harry said, a small shrug of his shoulders joined by a smile on his lips.
"I see I won't get any mercy in this quarter," she said, smiling in return as she grabbed her handbag and flicked her lamp off. "Some friend you're turning out to be."
"To have some sort of mercy when it comes to family, I've found you need to be a member of the family, real or adopted. As I'm neither, I wouldn't be able to help you, even if I wanted to."
The outer office was darker now, the only light coming from the open door to his office, and through the pane of glass leading out into the hallway. He knew she had places to go, but he kept talking, drawing her leaving out. Possibly because he realized there wouldn't really be many more nights like this, when the halls of the MLE were quiet and they stayed late, working and talking nonsense to keep the other sane.
"Tell your sister I said hello," Harry added, pushing off from the door frame, knowing he shouldn't keep her any longer, even if all he had to look forward to were the bags in the training room.
"I will," she said, lingering despite the obvious opening he'd left her to leave. She felt like she should give him a hug, a kiss on the cheek. She had called him friend and that's truly what Harry was to her now. If she occasionally lingered on his mussed hair or muscled arms, it was easily enough dismissed. She cared about him as a person; but for the fact that he was her boss, she would have shown him the physical affection she did with people she cared about.
But Harry was her boss and so she just offered him a last smile. "Don't work too late, boss. It's Friday." She paused for a second longer before turning to go. "Night, Harry."
"Night, Mira."
He watched her pass through the outer doorway and out of sight. The MLE would steadily grow more quiet until they were running a skeleton crew of aurors, on staff just in case something happened and they needed to be dispatched. Harry knew that if he worked for another hour, the training room would be completely empty when he went, giving him a chance to work without prying eyes.
Only a few more weeks and he'd be fit enough to let Kingsley know of his plans.
SUMMARY: Day two of interviews to fill Mira's position is fruitful. She and Harry agree that they've found the right man for the job.