Timeless II: Minutes of Tranquility [ATEEZ Hogwarts AU]

Sunday, January 8th

"Vice Minister Vassily Politovski," he read aloud. Another grin played across his lips. "It's officially been half a year since you got promoted. How does it feel?"

Vassily smiled. "It still feels amazing, of course. Pat told me the Wizengamot approved of the letter of recommendation I wrote for you."

"They did." David chuckled. "Thanks. Seems like I'll make a comeback as the Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic soon."

"You deserve nothing less."

A beat. David studied him again. "Are you busy?"

"A little. I am filing a report to the Daily Prophet." He couldn't stifle his grin this time. "They want to hear more about Minister Quintrell's incapability."

David snorted and took a seat on the ancient leather couch beside Vassily's desk. "Wonderful. It seems like everything is still going according to plan."

"For now," said Vassily. "Let us not get ahead of ourselves. We - "

"We still have a lot to do," he chuckled, "I know. You won't rest until you sit in the Prime Minister's chair, will you?"

Vassily nodded, his grin faltering. "I cannot. Not after how far we have come."

David smiled. "You didn't change one bit."

"Neither did you." Vassily picked up his writing feather and cleared his throat. "You cannot stay for long, by the way. I do not want you to take any unnecessary risks."

"Yeah, yeah. I wasn't planning to anyway. Like I said, I just wanted to see you."

Vassily didn't respond. They fell silent for a while.

No more than five minutes later, Vassily had finished his report. He tried to read it once more, making sure everything was in order, but the words slipped right through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind.

David's presence worried him. The plan was already taking much longer than he had originally anticipated, and the cause had suffered more than just one setback. If they raised suspicion in the final and most crucial stage of their plan, Vassily would simply lose his mind.

David, however, appeared as calm and collected as ever.

He had made himself at home on the couch, stole a sip of Vassily's coffee, grabbed a stack of documents about the missing employees, and leisurely paged through them. He let out the occasional chuckle.

"Such a big fuss about a few missing muggleborns." David spat the last word, screwing up his nose with disdain. "It's not like they're of any value to the wizarding community. They don't belong in positions of power to begin with. All they do is abuse it anyway..."

"David," said Vassily, "you said you wanted to leave soon. It is unnecessarily risky for you to stay here any longer. If anybody sees you here, they might- "

"Relax. Even if someone saw me here, I'm sure I'd find a way to silence them."

"David."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'll leave in a minute. Why are you so eager to get rid of me today?"

"I am not trying to get rid of you, I simply do not want you to get in trouble. We are too close to our goal."

David opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a firm knock on the door.

Vassily's eyes widened. "Go. Now."

David didn't budge. Instead he squinted at the door for a moment, as if trying to see through it. Then he smirked. "It's fine. It's one of us."