Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

90.

After the unpleasant journey from the toilet and into the main hall of the Ministry, Sophia kept her head low as workers bustled around her. She tried her best to appear professional when she came out from the transportation bays on the side but could barely walk in the heels she wore. She had only ever worn two inch and below heels and these were at least four inches. Whoever Jane Mumpher was, she liked to be tall and above everyone else.

Sophia put one foot in front of the other as she gripped the briefcase in her hand, making her way towards the huge fountain that was made of what looked like gold. What was horrible to see was that they had now put statues of Muggles being suppressed by the Wizarding figure. Sophia had to force herself to stay calm at the awful sight before spotting multiple posters that she could see lining the walls of the hall. There were two different variations of these posters and the pictures moved subtly enough for her to see from her distance.

Undesirable No. 1
Harry Potter

Undesirable No. 2
Sophia Lupin

The pictures of their faces blinked at her and she forced her attention away from them, focusing on the guards that she could now see randomly checking identity cards. Sophia felt her heart pick up its pace as she saw one of the guards look directly at her, motioning for her card and stopping her from going any further. She stopped obediently and pulled out the small one page book that held Jane's fingerprint, picture and basic information. The guard looked down at it and glanced up at her, reading her information and seeing if her face perfectly matched the picture.

"When's your birthday Ms. Mumpher?" the guard asked and held the card away from her so she couldn't see. Sophia began to rack her brain and try to picture what she had read on that very card minutes before entering the Ministry. She nearly blurted out her real birthday, but had enough sense to stop herself before the words could get past her lips.

"6th of June," she said in her most grown up-sounding voice and the man handed her back the identity card, no longer acknowledging her as he went on to the next poor soul. Sophia inwardly sighed in relief and started to hurry towards the elevators that she could see positioned all around the back wall behind the fountain.

Already inside the elevator were three Ministry workers standing as stiff as boards while waiting for the doors to close. Sophia hurried in before they could do so and stood among the three, feeling the eerie and awkward silence that hung inside. From her quick glance while entering, Sophia noticed that it was two men and one woman inside. One wore a long black trench coat and had a scowl on his face, while the other man looked unusually nervous with fidgeting hands and upper lip. The woman stood in the back with her hand gripping the handle bar above her tightly, her wide eyes watching her as she stepped into the elevator.

"Cattermole," a voice intervened as a hand prevented the doors from closing. A man stood there with his bleach-blonde hair tied back into a low ponytail and was glaring at one of the three people that stood behind Sophia. "It's still raining in my office. That's two days now. Considering your wife is currently downstairs, I expect it done by today."

As quick as the man had come, he left and the doors to the elevator shut with a clang. Sophia peaked over her shoulder to see the once fidgeting man now wore a gob-smacked and panicked expression. She presumed that he was the supposed Cattermole the man had been referring to, and she suddenly felt a great sympathy for him. She had been under the impression that everyone who was still working at the Ministry had been doing so on their own accord and free will. But this however, proved that this was incorrect as the man's poor wife was being used as a form of black mail.

Regardless of her sympathy, the elevator came to a sudden stop and she had to physically straighten herself in order to stay standing from the sudden jolt. The heels on her feet were beginning to become extremely painful and she hoped that the pain couldn't be seen on her face. But somehow she doubted the three people in the elevator even noticed that she had entered in the first place.