The (Ministry) Magic of Christmas
Date: Monday, 17 December 2001
Time: Morning
Location: Ministry of Magic
Characters Involved: Millicent Bulstrode Morsus
Rating: G
It was really too easy, Millicent mused as she sauntered down a brightly decorated hallway towards the Minister’s Office. Now that she was a few months along in her Auror training with the Ministry, she had every excuse to be pretty much anywhere within the Ministry and virtually no one checking up on her for at least part of each day. True, the Auror training was taxing and tedious, but it was also sometimes interesting and she delighted in learning the many defensive and attack spells that were forbidden to students and that most of the magical community neither practiced nor knew. While her level of expertise in the dark arts could only be improved through home study and self-education with the many illegal books she had pilfered from her father’s library, as an Auror for the Ministry she would be privileged to learn much that was arcane and unusual. Arcane was one of Millicent’s favourite words, in word, thought and deed.
Still, all Auror work and study would make Millicent a dull girl and very poorly dressed for the holidays, so she spent her brief lunch breaks either shopping or stalking the halls of the Ministry for clandestine information. She’d learned to do it rather well of late, and the Christmas season made her life that much easier: all she had to do was carry a beautifully wrapped package with her and virtually no one even bothered to ask her what she was doing or why she was so far afield from the Auror desks.
Naturally, she had an occasional legitimate reason to be loitering near the Minister’s Office. She had rekindled her sycophantic relationship with Dolores Umbridge immediately when she’d been hired, and made sure to cultivate her favour with simpering praise of the Minister that sounded so sincere it could have qualified her for immediate employment in London’s West End Theatre District. With the onset of the holidays, there were more opportunities to roam and more to see in the environs of the Minister’s bastion of power. Just recently she had happened upon Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley in the corridor nearest the Minister’s Office. Ducking into a nearby doorway, Millicent had not overheard their conversation, but if body language were any indication she’d be pleased to wager that neither man could tolerate the other.
Today Millicent’s foray into the halls of the powerful was legitimate at least, as she carried a gift not just for decoy, but as a small expression of her gratitude to Under Secretary Umbridge for her continuing friendship. It was a set of mugs with kittens on them whose moving antics were playful and cute enough to make Millicent lose her lunch. She couldn’t get them wrapped up fast enough, even with her wand. Yet she knew the recipient would be pleased and it would give her yet another excuse to loiter in the halls of power, picking up such gossip, information and offering the chance of new friendships with the witches and warlocks who worked there.
Yes, Millicent was quite satisfied with her progress in Auror training. Who knew what opportunities the New Year would bring?
Time: Morning
Location: Ministry of Magic
Characters Involved: Millicent Bulstrode Morsus
Rating: G
It was really too easy, Millicent mused as she sauntered down a brightly decorated hallway towards the Minister’s Office. Now that she was a few months along in her Auror training with the Ministry, she had every excuse to be pretty much anywhere within the Ministry and virtually no one checking up on her for at least part of each day. True, the Auror training was taxing and tedious, but it was also sometimes interesting and she delighted in learning the many defensive and attack spells that were forbidden to students and that most of the magical community neither practiced nor knew. While her level of expertise in the dark arts could only be improved through home study and self-education with the many illegal books she had pilfered from her father’s library, as an Auror for the Ministry she would be privileged to learn much that was arcane and unusual. Arcane was one of Millicent’s favourite words, in word, thought and deed.
Still, all Auror work and study would make Millicent a dull girl and very poorly dressed for the holidays, so she spent her brief lunch breaks either shopping or stalking the halls of the Ministry for clandestine information. She’d learned to do it rather well of late, and the Christmas season made her life that much easier: all she had to do was carry a beautifully wrapped package with her and virtually no one even bothered to ask her what she was doing or why she was so far afield from the Auror desks.
Naturally, she had an occasional legitimate reason to be loitering near the Minister’s Office. She had rekindled her sycophantic relationship with Dolores Umbridge immediately when she’d been hired, and made sure to cultivate her favour with simpering praise of the Minister that sounded so sincere it could have qualified her for immediate employment in London’s West End Theatre District. With the onset of the holidays, there were more opportunities to roam and more to see in the environs of the Minister’s bastion of power. Just recently she had happened upon Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley in the corridor nearest the Minister’s Office. Ducking into a nearby doorway, Millicent had not overheard their conversation, but if body language were any indication she’d be pleased to wager that neither man could tolerate the other.
Today Millicent’s foray into the halls of the powerful was legitimate at least, as she carried a gift not just for decoy, but as a small expression of her gratitude to Under Secretary Umbridge for her continuing friendship. It was a set of mugs with kittens on them whose moving antics were playful and cute enough to make Millicent lose her lunch. She couldn’t get them wrapped up fast enough, even with her wand. Yet she knew the recipient would be pleased and it would give her yet another excuse to loiter in the halls of power, picking up such gossip, information and offering the chance of new friendships with the witches and warlocks who worked there.
Yes, Millicent was quite satisfied with her progress in Auror training. Who knew what opportunities the New Year would bring?