Shakin' Up the Newbies

With the graduation of Hogwarts done, the department was recieving their annual start-of-summer influx of new employees and interns. Jack was incredibly busy and she would be the first to admit that she preferred working with blood-curtling banshees and blood-thirsty manticores rather than people, new or old. But she also hated politics and she felt that by developing communication with each employee, she could cut through the red tape and basic protocol and actually get things done.

She had hand scrawled all of her appointments. She still had a bit before her next intern, one Monroe Ashcroft, would be squirming in the seat opposite her desk. She pulled a soda out of the minifridge from her little kitchenette and downed half of it. She was trying to hide the fact that most of her nights had become rather sleepless since the death of her friend Chase. The caffeine in soda was more necessary than ever.

She gave her office a quick look. It was not cluttered, but it did appear full. She had her filing cabinets, stacks of papers placed about her desk, a small couch, a closet full of the various gear she needed, and the much needed kitchenette. Anyone who entered might think Jack used the place as a home sometimes. And they would be right too.

The interview was with the Head of Department, which surprised Monroe. He'd expected it to be with some underling, perhaps even a clerk. He was only applying for an internship and hadn't expected to even meet the head of his department until he'd at least been offered a real position.

The tables had turned somewhat, but that didn't put Monroe off over-much. He concentrated on his breathing and went over some possible answers to questions in his head. Monroe hadn't studied magical creatures after third year, so that would count against him unless he could show he had a passion for the position.

Up on level four, Monroe was immediately accosted by an over-eager receptionist. After informing him about the interview, he was directed to a door down the hall.

Which Monroe then knocked politely on.

Jack was about the check the time again when she heard a knock at the door. This had to be her scheduled intern, so she pointed her wand at the door and it opened, revealing a boy that looked like he was steeling himself- yes, he was in the right place. Jack grinned at him and motioned for him to come in. "Come on in. Sit right on down and don't be shy." She motioned towards the seat opposite her and stretched her foot to push the chair out.

She threw out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Jack Dyllan, I am the Head of this Deparment, as that little plaque on my door so neatly told you, I'm sure." When she withdrew she pointed her wand casually at the kitchenette. "Want something to drink?"

"Thank you," Monroe replied as he moved toward the chair offered him.

So, Jack Dyllan had managed to get herself made head of department within the space of a year. It was both heartening and disappointing to Monroe, like so many things were, of late. On one hand, Jack's meteoric rise meant Monroe would doubtless become the youngest Minister for Magic in history. On the other, it also meant he would have less time to learn, just like Amelia.

The way she introduced herself was a little formal, however. Did she think nobody knew who she was? Even if Monroe hadn't had a virtual rolodex inside his head, her actions in her final years of her schooling had made her somewhat notorious around Hogwarts. Certainly notorious enough for anyone applying for a position directly out of school not to need to be referred to a plaque.

Monroe was happy to play her game, though. Her ignorance of his identity seemed genuine, for all they'd gone through five years of school together only separated by a single year, but one could never know.

"I'm Monroe Ashcroft," he introduced himself with a winning smile and shook the extended hand firmly. "I have an interview for the intern position."

As she doubtless knew, but there was nothing wrong with making things perfectly clear.

He was polite, and seemed quiet. Jack, while not judgemental, was calculating when it came to this job. She immediately began trying to sort out where a person might shine the best, or where they might be challenged, and which of those two seemed to be more important to that person. Jack could not claim to be an expert at this, but she was getting better and better and constantly amending mistakes and things were beginning to run pretty smoothly.

A polite intern was a likable intern, but could potentially become too caught up in regulation to be an inventive intern. The same was of a quiet one. He gave his name and smiled, sure that he had no idea she had been given his name. Interns applied elsewhere and did not even come onto her desk until the day they interviewed with her. She had learned his name seconds before. Jack had always been ond of shaking hands, though- it told her a lot. He matched her firmness and she was impressed; she prided herself on a very strong hand shake.

"Good to see you, Monroe. We all go by first names here, unless no one likes you, and then we give you a really demeaning nickname." A voice suddenly said, "Thanks" and she glanced up to see Teddy walking in with a file. She grinned. "This is Teddy. He was my first intern and is now apart of my personal team. I only named him Teddy because his real name is Theodore and that is such a tragic name for any mother to bestow upon her son." Teddy rolled his eyes and Jack smirked, taking the file. "Now get out of here, you're making us look like a free-for-all." Teddy shot Monroe a look and mouthed "Get out while you can" very seriously before cracking into a giggle and winking before exiting.

"Wow, a burst of humor for Teddy. Remember that, Monroe, I doubt you'll see it again. Alright, then." She settled down properly and fixed her gaze on him. "I will start off with the most overused question of all time that, if answered well, can dramtically shorten our time here. Why are you here? Why do you want this position?"

He laughed on cue. Monroe needed Jack to like him enough to hire him and for that, he needed to exhibit in-group tendencies. Like the tendency to think she was amusing, rather than cruel.

"Hi Teddy," Monroe greeted the second worker as he was introduced.

He smiled while Jack explained the origins of the nickname and privately wished he could be more surprised. Of course other people's preferences had no impact on their own lives. Teddy's pantomime might have been amusing to her, but Monroe wasn't sure if it was completely in jest.

Nevertheless, he smiled along with them both and chuckled at the end when she commented on never seeing its like again.

Then it was his turn to sell himself. It wasn't hard to look Jack in the eye as he replied to her question. He'd thought long and hard about how he'd make himself the most suitable candidate for this position.

"Well, I always wanted a job at the Ministry," he replied, "but I only recently became interested in Magical Creatures.

"You see, I ran into this girl who'd been crying. She was a werewolf. Everyone in the school knew and a lot of people had been bullying her. When I ran into her, she was convinced that I was only talking to her so that I could hex her while her guard was down."

"I want a job here so I can help people like that girl."

Jack was cheered by Teddy's entrance. The two had been watching out for each other ever since she had taken him on as an intern. When she had taken over the department she had promoted him to a paid position on her private team. Carnie and Bernice has come along and joined the ranks, but Teddy and Jack had always been like partners.

She turned her attention back to Monroe and listened to his explanation. Her interest was sparked. She paused for a moment before saying, "I have started a special project here trying to improve the relations between werewolves and humans. Those of my beings and creatures specialists that work with werewolves are few and far. The job is dangerous and rarely has positive results. Do you have any ideas for informing the community about the problems werewolves face?"

"The community doesn't care about the problems werewolves face," Monroe answered. "Not so long as they think werewolves are less than human. The same thing happened with muggleborns, and look where that got us."

"Besides," he went on, "most of the problems werewolves face are caused by communal fear of werewolves and won't be solved so long as discriminating against them is socially acceptable.

Before you can inform anyone of anything, you need to give the community a reason to care. For example, if some beloved person in the public eye were to be bitten or come out as a werewolf, people would relate to it more because people tend to think they know famous people, regardless of whether they've met them or not."

Monroe paused for a moment to let that sink in, before adding a tempting afterthought.

"Of course, there would have to be other reforms as well."

Jack enjoyed listening to Monroe's assessment of the issues the department would face. Naturally, their own team had already been working for months on the issue so they knew what he was saying. It was her job to assess how easily he could assimilate into the group and how much he would need to be caught up. From the sounds of things, it would be a pretty smooth transistion.

Jack cracked a small smile and said, "Surely you don't propose we set a werewolf on one of our celebrities?" She continued on with, "But I understand what you mean. One of our objectives has been to find our spokespeople, if you will, for the cause. A supportive celebrity willing to tack their reputation to reform and a model werewolf citizen. It's hard to find either. The latter because most of the werewolves we work with that function just like any of us don't want to draw attention to the fact that they are different."

Jack paused. "Well, Monroe, I'll need you to fill this out," she slid him some paperwork that asked for medical, personal, and basic information needed by anyone hiring someone. "Is there anything else you would like to add?"

Yes, that was exactly what he was proposing. Monroe had found that as he was generally considered a "nice person," he could say exactly what he meant, safe in the knowledge that most everyone who heard would assume it was meant ironically.

And his sympathetic smile as she contradicted him doubtless did nothing to persuade Jack that in this particular case, her assumptions were anything but true.

Unfortunately, Ms Dyllan was apparently not on board with Monroe's forward thinking. He would have to move slowly as he implemented it into her department so as not to frighten her too considerably.

"Just, thank you," he replied, as he reached across the desk, swivelling the papers around to face him so that he could fill them in.