A Woman Of Ice

LXXIII- Confident and Ready

Four Days Later

Diana Black's music blasted in her magical earbuds as she headed to work on her first day. She was mostly ready for her first day working at the Ministry of Magic. In her opinion, the word 'ready' was the perfect word to use in this instance. She wasn't dreading the first day of the job, nor was she particularly excited about it. She was simply just 'ready'. Diana Black dressed in black and a dark blue today, which reminded her of being Killer Frost. She did not at all enjoy having a mere passenger in control of her body, but what she did enjoy was being able to express the deepest, darkest parts of herself and to be free, and also to have someone else to blame for her wrongdoings. But Killer Frost was also extremely and almost overly confident, as well as cold and uncaring, almost like Diana herself, which would probably come in handy. Diana was the new intern, and as if that wasn't enough, she was a girl, who had only been alive for about fourteen years, even if her body had physically aged to about seventeen, and she also just had one of those faces that looked mature. Work wasn't going to be easy, but Diana Black always loved a nice challenge. To her, being completely comfortable was boring. And so, that was why, when he asked, she had told Professor Dumbledore to place her into the Auror Office, which was probably the most difficult office to work in, not even including the challenges that Diana specifically would be facing. But she was ready, and for anything. Diana reported to the sign-in for interns up on the second floor, which was a bit of a hassle and quite a long wait. She was given a simple but nice and professional-looking badge, and headed up to the Auror Office once she was completely accounted for and signed in. Diana was to sign into the actual Auror Office, and then report to her boss, the head of office, Mr. Calvin Greyhill's office. She knew very little about the man; only that he was a bachelor and very sharp both as an Auror and a businessman. For some reason, she had suspected the boss to be the most difficult person in the office to satisfy and impress. Nevertheless, she was up for it, and would surely face whatever came her way head on, no excuses, no whining. Just like always.
Diana Black knocked confidently upon the door of the currently empty office of the Head Auror. "My Greyhill? My name is Diana Black, I'm your new intern, and I've been told to check in with you."

The man looked up. He was far different than Diana had imagined. He was a very young man, couldn't have been older than twenty-five, with nicely styled carrot-colored hair and a slight beard, which was both welcoming and intimidating all at once, perhaps like his personality. He had a very intelligent and calm look on his face; the type that sometimes made it difficult to decipher emotions by facial expression. She had expected some pot-bellied, brandy-drinking bald old twat with a permanent stern expression and an odd mustache upon his face that smelled of cigars or of liquor, or perhaps even excessive and old fashioned cologne. But this man, he was professional, and clean, and he only slightly smelled of a nice, decent cologne and of cleanliness.

"Ms. Black," he nodded. "Have a seat, please."

He seemed polite, and perfectly professional. As Diana sat, she began to realize that this handsome young man working at the Ministry was probably that very special type of person; the type of person who was very attractive indeed, and also attracted very many people, but bored them once that person learned of their disinterest in romance. As she surveyed his office, she realized that this man seemed to have no personal life whatsoever. There were no family pictures, no self portraits or anything; nothing. Not even souvenirs or paraphernalia. He didn't even have his various awards and certificates that he'd received displayed prominently; they were either on his back desk stood up, or hanging very discreetly on the wall behind him. Mostly what his office was was a collection of very plain and generic objects; a couple of simple scenic paintings, a map of the world, and some very neatly organized office supplies on the desk. Diana found this refreshing and relaxing; not so cluttered like many office spaces that she had seen over the years. Mr. Greyhill, pulled out Diana's file from out of one of his drawers.
"Now, Ms. Black, before we begin to discuss yourself, I would first like to clear up a few things; I earned my post, and did not, in any way, get anything simply handed to me because of my father's name. I am purely self made and will continue to uphold my professional integrity," he promised.
"I'm sorry, your father?" Diana asked.
"Erm, Bruce Anderton," he supplied.
"Oh, him," Diana nodded at the famous wizard, who also happened to work at the Ministry.
"Yes," Greyhill nodded. "Now, just so that you are aware, this entire office, as long as I am in charge of it, is intended only to be completely professional and moral. No misconduct or dishonesty within this office is ever without appropriate consecutive or allowed to simply slip by. Trust me, Ms. Black; I do my best every single day to ensure that the Auror Office is a perfectly fine place to work, even if the rest of the Ministry might not always be," he promised genuinely.
Diana nodded appreciatively. "Of course, Mr. Greyhill. I appreciate that very much."
"Thank you," he nodded. "But please, feel free to call me 'Cal', or simply 'Greyhill' if you prefer."
Diana nodded. "Of course. But, if you don't mind my asking.... if you would have us all addressing you by first name, why address me by my last?" she asked curiously.
She swore that he could've just smiled slightly, for a quick second. "That's a very good question. You don't meet many people so intuitive. I prefer to address people professionally in order to accommodate all possible preferences," he complimented.
Diana nodded. "Thanks, and in that case, you may of course call me 'Diana', or 'Black' if you prefer."
"Thank you," he nodded. "Now, as the intern, I'm afraid to say, you are to be doing simple, yet tedious, paperwork for today, until I can get you onto actual Auror work tomorrow. Don't worry, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape have already sent your letters of credibility for field work waivering our standard field test."
"Thank you, Cal," Diana nodded. "And before I go, I just hope that you know that I am also entirely self-made myself, and that my accomplishments are completely my own and have nothing to do with my being a Black by blood or a Potter by association or a demigod."
Cal Greyhill nodded, understanding from experience. "Of course. That's good to hear. Oh! And if Aurors Collins or Tate are of any trouble to you.... feel free to give them hell. Magic is occasionally allowed as a simple punishment around this office."

And just then, Diana Black knew that Greyhill had just briefly smiled. She walked out of his office with absolute satisfaction, and sure enough, there were two Aurors waitIng outside for her. She already knew who they were by reading their badges.
"Alfred Collins and Michael Tate, your guides," Collin, a blonde man, grinned.
And so did Diana Black that day. "Collins.... f**k off."