Adding to the Crew

It had been a long night. Well, it was the third long night in a row Robert had had. He was overloaded, overworked, overfatigued, over-just-about-everything. Kate had been on him to get someone to help with some of the things that really could be delegated to someone else. Robert was giving Eli more authority whenever he could. Beyond that, there were things that Robert really felt he could delegate to the right person, but it had to be someone he could trust.

He knew that there had been, off and on an Advisor to the Minister that did assist with projects and assignments that did need accomplished but that could be handled by other very capable hands. He had decided to bring back the Advisor position. That would help. It was also going to help, he believed, that his daytime secretary, who wasn't measuring up to working with the highly sensitive documents and faster pace of the Ministerial office, had made a friend who was a lot happier working in the ministry mailroom where she was closer to a clerk there who seemed to be very flirty with her.

And that had opened up the opportunity for Liz to step into the secretarial job full time. She didn't mind keeping Robert's hours, so, for now, he saw no sense in replacing the night time secretary. Liz had made space for the new Advisor's office to be just across the hall from where he and Eli had their offices. The Advisor would, for the time being, utilize Liz for secretarial services as needed, unless it go to the point where another should be hired.

"Liz?" Robert called through the open doorway. "What time is it?"

"7:45, Minister. You've still got 15 minutes before we open for the day. Can I make you some more coffee? You look like you need it."

"Yes, please," he said, stifling a yawn. "I might as well sign those checks and vouchers for now."

"I hope for your sake that the new Advisor can help take off some of your load. You need a couple nights of getting done on time and getting a little sleep," she said. "You can't continue trying to be everywhere at once."

"Well, that's the plan, anyway," Robert said. He watched her check his credenza to check on his supply of cigarettes, firewhiskey, coffee and tea supplies. She was making a list of what he was going to need refreshed on, including his changes of fresh clothes that he kept in his closet. She put a fresh mug of coffee in front of him. He opened up the file of vouchers and the checkbook and started work. Hopefully Nick would be either on time or close to it.

Nick woke up bright and early on a day that would have serious ramifications on the rest of his life. It wasn't often that Nick had gone to the Ministry of Magic for any reason. In fact, the last time he'd been there was on an invitation from the Minister to celebrate the Falcons championship nearly three years ago, as it was a tradition that dated back quite some time for the quidditch league champion team to visit the Minister of Magic. Today however, would be on quite different terms.

Nick was meeting Minister Lupin for a job position. Nick could only guess at what he'd be doing as an Advisor to the Minister of Magic, but it would be a position he would take very seriously. Nick hadn't had the best luck with jobs, it seemed as if he had a new one every year. For a while he was a sensational quidditch star for the Falmouth Falcons, however injuries cut his career short. Nick then taught astronomy at Hogwarts, but was let go due to a more qualified professor taking over the department. After that, Nick lived off the rest of his quidditch earnings for a month, unable to find a job in today's market. That was when Nick had received a letter from the Ministry stating that Minister Lupin was interested in seeing Nick about the Advisor position.

Nick woke up at 6:30 in the morning and got right to work. He went through his usual morning routine, woke Emma up, fed her breakfast, and then took her to the babysitters. Nick was fortunate enough to have his babysitter available at the time, and in a mood to watch a three year old child first thing in the morning. After dropping her off, Nick set out for the Ministry where he arrived thirteen minutes early donning black dress pants, a white shirt and black vest combo, and a navy blue tie to add just a dash of color and professionalism. The Minister's secretary had Nick take a seat, and she'd call him back when the Minister was ready to see him. Hopefully the Minister would be in a good mood this morning.

Robert leaned back, taking a sip of the fresh coffee Liz had made for him. He liked French roast most when he was sleep deprived. As usual, he had been up for a couple of nights again. He was always glad to see the sunshine of a new day, and today, the wizard forecasters had been wrong. They'd said rain, and the sun was full and bright. It looked like it was promising to be a beautiful day.

Liz knocked on the door and let herself in. "Nick is here early. Do you want to see him now or do you want to finish the checks and vouchers?"

"I think I'll see Nick first," he said, already pouring more coffee in his mug to warm up the cup.

"This might be a two pot morning," she teased him.

"Very likely," he deadpanned.

"Well, hopefully, once Nick gets acclimated he can take a few of those tasks for you."

"I certainly hope so," he said. She went to the door.

"The Minister will see you now. He's having coffee. Would you like a cup while you talk?" she asked Nick.

Nick got up from the chair he was waiting in and took a breath to collect himself. He was beyond nervous for this meeting, and that was a feeling he didn't encounter very often. Not only would his short term future be impacted by the next few minutes, but so would the long term if it went well.

Nick looked to Liz. "No thank you, I appreciate the offer though." He said with a soft smile. Nick actually hated coffee. It was one of the least desirable things he'd ever drank.

Nick couldn't imagine how he looked to the Minister of Magic. He suddenly felt his right leg start to shake, and as he went the scratch the back of his neck, he felt the area moist with sweat. As much as he needed to take a seat, Nick would wait for Robert to tell him to do so. "It's a pleasure to be here this morning sir, thank you for having me.' Nick started as an attempt to ease into this meeting.

"I'm glad to have you onboard. I'm not sure what you know about the Advisor's position, but Minister Scrimgeour created it, and its been used for various purposes. However, it's always been intended to be an assistant to the Minister for any number of different projects.

"Here's my issue. I work two full time jobs. I'm also the grandfather to eight tiny children all under the age of 6. They also deserve a fair share of my time and attention. Not to mention my wife, and a hundred other things.

"I'm stretched sometimes too thin. Lately, that's caused me to be deprived of a lot of sleep. I'm tired, frankly. Eli has a huge number of things on his plate as well. I need to start delegating some things to others. Some tasks I will need to just turn over to you, period, because Eli and I don't have time. The better you do with those, the more of them you'll get. And there are others that might seem like a little busy work, but it would be helpful to me.

"This," he pointed to the thick ledger on his desk, "t--right here, what i was doing when you came in. This is one of the little annoyance things that takes me much too much time. I sign every paycheck every payday. And I'm fine with that part. That isn't the problem. The problem is running to every bloody department in the Ministry to get the approved timesheets from the Department heads so that I know the hours are verified and getting it run through the goblins down in our bookkeeping department to get the paychecks calculated and cut, so that the ledger can be sent to me to sign the checks. That takes me hours every single payday. It's not the most glamorous task, but it still has to be done.

"There are more important projects I need you to see to, but, in the scope of things, our employees do need to be paid. Now, do you think you're the right man to help me?"