Co-workers of Coolness (LUCY!!!!)

As Hunter stepped through the doors to the Ministry of Magic, his attention was drawn by the huge, magnificent architecture of the Atrium. It was already the end of his second week, but the strangeness of his new situation hadn’t even come close to wearing off. Winding his way through the ministry, training with the Aurors – it was like being a first year at Hogwarts all over again. Except, a much less friendly first year, stuck in a much more boring place. Not that the ministry didn’t have it’s nice qualities. It was huge, for one, easily rivaling the castle. And it had its own sense of grandeur – but it just wasn’t the same. It was all business, while Hogwarts was all magic. It had a few strangely named floors, but it lacked Hogwarts’ towers and secret passages. His awesome friends and quirky teachers were replaced with professional adults, most of who seemed to have a stick up their ass, and Hunter really hoped that he didn’t end up like that after a few years on the job.

Although, to be fair, of all the departments he could be a part of Hunter was pretty sure he’d chosen the best one. For the most part, all of the Aurors seemed to be pretty amiable. A lot of them were like him, with similar skillsets, though he was possibly one of the less cheery of the bunch. Not that Hunter hadn’t come miles from where he was years ago after Jack’s death – but that didn’t mean he had to suck up to strangers. Still one to prefer the friends he already had, Hunter got along well enough with his co-workers, but wasn’t exactly the one suggesting a night out. Not that he wouldn’t go if someone else brought it up – he wasn’t one to turn down a party. He just wasn’t one to care much one way or the other. Either way, in general, he couldn’t complain about his co-workers. It could be worse – the people who worked in Law were pretty awful, and Hunter was sure he’d explode if he was forced to work with them. At least he didn’t have to sit in an office all day, or in a courtroom listening to idiotic people decide the unfortunate fate of some would-be criminal.

Agnes actually had the easiest job – all she did was stand in the front and say hello to people. He grinned at her as he entered, but swung into the café instead of heading past her. The time he had to arrive at work was surprisingly undemanding, and Hunter usually  was up far before he needed to go in. Today was no different, so he grabbed a cinnamon roll and a coffee – which felt far too adultlike, but the café didn’t serve butterbeer or haribos – before he headed upstairs. As he turned to finally find his way up to his department, he just caught the back of a familiar head. Jogging to catch up – and expertly not spilling his coffee in the process – Hunter flashed Agnes a quick smile as he went by her but didn’t stop to chat. ”Lucy, wait up!” he called, finally catching up to her as she reached the lift. He stepped onto it behind her and grinned. Of course, the best part about being an auror was working with Lucy, who was by far his favorite to train with – for obvious reasons. ”You’re training me today,” he reminded her as a few memos floated onto the lift as well before the doors closed. ”And thank Merlin, because yesterday was terrible. I was with Aisha yesterday, and we were doing concealment, and I’m pretty sure if I was being graded, I failed.” Hunter took a sip of his coffee  before continuing. ”I don’t know how I’m going to pass the disguise part of the aptitude test,” he added. ”Transfiguration isn’t my strong point.”

Greeting the Welcome Witch was always something. Lucy liked the girl because she was friendly, but she didn't understand why there was often a baby around her. Despite the fact that the kid probably belonged to the witch, Lucy was crossing her fingers that she was just a babysitter for the kid because she looked awfully young to have to put up with that burden. A she passed the girl, Lucy gave her a smile and headed for the lifts. The familiar faces blurred past her, always in a hurry to get to work, and the architecture everyone fawned over in the beginning of their Ministry career was simply a that: architecture. It no longer held any meaning, at least not to her, so walking past it was like walking past the Big Ben in the city. Today was probably the worst day to pass by it, however, as she had barely slept the night before trying to write a report on one of the wizards they had caught a few days ago. The man, who was around his thirties, had set multiple fires around gas stations near Nottingham, and both wizards and muggles were concerned.

The arsonist had been dealt with, however, and Lucy had filed that report. Now, sleep deprived and mildly hungover, she carried a cup of coffee. Suddenly her hand met her for head as she remembered that today she had to do two very important things. 1) Train Hunter. 2) Go get drinks with the some of the other Aurors to celebrate someone's birthday. She was most definitely not in the mood for either, regardless of how much she liked Hunter and the rest of the team. Lucy wasn't about to cancel on either of the two, however, so she looked down at her drink and realized she might need more of those. Her mind was all over the place: from Nathan getting a job at yet another pub - a Muggle one, this time - to meeting Wade later on, to trying to ask the Senior Aurora for a few weeks off. The last one was probably the scariest on her list. The sound of someone calling her name made her look back, and found Hunter running to catch up. Smiling, she moved away so he could step into the lift.

"Hey!" Usually there was a more exciting tone in her voice, but Lucy was beyond tired. There were deep bags under her eyes, which weren't exactly from staying up late just last night. With the most contagious grin, however, Hunter reminded her she was supposed to train him. Which, she already knew about. "I know." Lucy nodded. She listened as he spoke, mostly talked about how he wasn't good at Transfiguration, and sipped her coffee. "That I can help with." She beamed proudly. Because out of all the subjects at Hogwarts, Transfiguration had by far been the best. "Oh, hey. Guess what animal I can turn myself into?" She had been getting animagi training, which had been drianing in every sense of the word, but she had finally completed the course and had passed with excellent scores, no less. As the lift went up, Lucy looked to the other side of her and smiled at the older woman who she knew worked in the Education Department.

"I never asked you, why us?" There had been no doubt that Hunter was one of the best Aurors in training the department currently had, and even though Lucy had a vague idea of why he had chosen the department, she never asked him if her suspicions were correct. "I guess I wouldn't have chosen this if I knew how much sleep it would take away," she laughed, not sure why she was even laughing in the first place. Damn, she was tired.

The ministry had a ton of floors, each one more unusually named than the last. And as the lift started to move, Hunter couldn't help but think of how convenient it would have been if Hogwarts had thought of installing an elevator instead of stairs that did everything in their power to keep you from getting where you wanted to go. When Lucy said hello to him, her voice was a bit more hollow than normal, and Hunter turned to look at her. "You okay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You look hungover," he observed. Hunter knew that look well, because he'd spent more time than he'd care to admit trying to hide it on himself. And also a lot of time not giving a shit. "Long night last night?" He was pretty sure Lucy's long night hadn't consisted of being out drinking until the morning - it was probably something within the department that had happened that Hunter wasn't allowed to help with yet, because he was only a trainee. "If you don't feel like training, we can always work on potions. I don't think they've caught on yet that I already know how to make everything on the list for the test."

Yeah, Lucy always was good at transfiguration. And Hunter always was shit. He just nodded gratefully when she said that she would be able to help him. "That's good, because I'm pretty sure I'll never make it through as of right now." Although Hunter definitely wouldn't call himself an expert on the other things - except potions - and training wasn't easy, he was pretty confident in his ability to master them by the time he needed to. Though, he'd be lying if he said it wouldn't be nice to be back at school in Hogwarts, where he could slack off and still manage to pass his classes with at least decent grades. There was no such thing as slacking off in Auror training, unfortunately.

What animal she could turn into? Hunter had known Lucy was training to be an animagi, but didn't know that she'd finished her course. "A skunk," he deadpanned instantly, the moment she asked, but then cracked a grin to show he was joking. For a moment, Hunter thought back to years ago, when he'd run into Lucy as a first year and she'd made him guess what house she was in. He'd guessed Hufflepuff and had been completely off. So now, he should probably guess the least likely animal she might turn into, and maybe he'd be right. But, it wasn't really fair because there were thousands of animals and only four houses. "It's probably some sort of cat," he said, shrugging. "Though, knowing you, it's something really weird, like a narwhal or something - you know, that would suck, turning into a sea creature. You'd have to have water to change." It would also suck to find out that the animal you were destined to turn into was like, a guppy or something. He was pretty sure Lucy didn't turn into that, or she wouldn't be bragging about it. "Well, whatever it is, you'll have to show me!"

Hunter hesitated at Lucy's next question, waiting for a witch to step off at her floor, before answering. "I mean - after what happened to Jack, I guess I was always going to end up here," he replied, not really wanting to elaborate any more than that. And anyway, he was sure that Lucy already knew. It was the same reason he'd joined the Order. Truthfully, Hunter's reasons for being an auror were entirely selfish, in a way. He'd always been terrified of losing anyone else the way he'd lost his brother, and it wasn't for other people's families but the rest of his own that he'd made the decision. If there was a way to keep them from meeting the same fate, he knew he would do it, no matter what it was. And right now, this was the best he could do. The best way to put himself in the right place at the right time - to give himself a chance to do something, which he hadn't had when his brother had been killed. But her next statement was lighter, and Hunter smiled again. "Tell me about it - I spend all of my time studying for this shit. I had no idea it would be this time consuming." It was basically his whole life. "What about you though? Why did you join?"