Chapter 851 - Prickle

Unlike many of the families that were at home resting or burning a Yule log for old times' sake and enjoying a pitcher of spiked eggnog, the Ministry of Magic is filled with a skeletal interdepartmental staff. Down a long corridor, the main division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is the offices of the Auror's. The cubicles are largely empty filled with scowling wanted posters and family portraits or that of their favorite Quidditch teams. Among the various posters is that Ludo Bagman, a popular Quidditch beater, who had signed onto an American Quidditch team overseas for quite the lucrative galleons contract. The moving image showed Ludo Bagman in his dashing new Quidditch team uniform roguishly grinning and winking periodically at anyone within the vicinity.

The cubicles are two-thirds empty mostly filled with fledging's on active duty and a few senior and veteran Auror's. Among those is a long-haired wizard with his hair in a ponytail and a witch with a pirate eyepatch over her missing eye lost during the attack at Damocles Belby's cottage. Most of the senior and veteran Auror's were not in attendance as many had been required to participate in the Prince family presentation ball by their families. Still, the Auror Department always had to be staffed in case of an emergency. As such the senior and veteran Auror's still on duty are reading the Daily Prophet or Witch Weekly or some other rag magazine, while sipping mugs filled with tea and the occasional brew of coffee. Unfortunately, the remaining office paperwork is left to the fledging's and the recently partnered Auror's with senior companions.

The Auror's were not the only ones on active duty, but also the second main division, of the A.P.D. division, are also on duty further down the hall. The A.P.D. was the most recent addition to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and had become a crucial integrant. Unlike the Auror's department, the A.P.D. is half full. Those not on active duty are at home or enjoying the Yule celebrations. Almost none of the A.P.D. officers had sufficient status to attend the Prince presentation ball as such they were not understaffed. If an emergency should arise the A.P.D. would be able to easily summon almost the entire force for active duty.

It was a relief to the senior-most Auror in command, the recently promoted Senior Officer, Alastor Moody. The middle-aged Scottish wizard can be seen pensively sitting in his rather plain office with minimal decorations. There were some additions to his office that were out of character, but they were mostly gifts.

The Scottish wizard's wavy brown hair is lopped at his collar. He possesses a deep jagged scar on the side of his cheek that goes faint over his eyelid and ends just above his brow. There is a faint across the bridge of his nose where a curse tried to take his face off. Another thin one at the edge of his lips and just under his chin stretching towards his neck, where someone tried to slice open his jugular and failed. Despite all this, the Scottish wizard was ruggedly handsome in his own way.

Sitting across from him reading the Daily Prophet in a chair is a much younger attractive wizard with tawny hair like that of a lion's mane, Rufus Scrimgeour. Rufus Scrimgeour had also been promoted alongside his partner, Alastor Moody, and was the right hand of Moody within the department. It was quite the achievement considering Rufus's age and many within the Ministry of Magic saw the potential within the young wizard.

Seeing Alastor Moody furrowing his brow so deeply, Rufus finally raises his yellow-brown lion-like eyes over his paper. "What is wrong, Alastor?" He asked, before neatly setting down his copy of the Daily Prophet on the desk. "You seem rather tense or is it some other personal matter that is troubling you?"

Alastor ignored the personal matter jab as it was Rufus teasing him. "I just got a feeling that something's just not right," Alastor replied in a thick Scottish brough. "It's far too quiet. I jus' don't like it."

"The underworld has been destroyed and Sanderson's place of business is regularly checked and under watch," Scrimgeour firmly replied while ticking off items with his fingers. "And as for the Minister of Magic and a great deal of Ministry officials, they are all attending the Prince presentation ball. Should anything occur, they would be safe."

"That's just it," Alastor grumbled. "Elphinstone is there as well as everyone else. For the moment, I am the highest Ministry official on active duty." He paused and made a face. "Auror Clements technically outranks me, but he's still on official desk duty." Which was true.

"Alright, let's explore this paranoid web of thought of yours," Rufus drily commented as he leaned back into his chair and rested his arms on his ċhėst. "Hypothetically, suppose there is an attack, who could the culprit possibly be? Pranksters, the A.P.D. could easily take care of them. Theft, the same applies. Murder, the A.P.D. are far more useful in that regard as long as they have a scent. That just leaves dark wizard organizations."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Alastor darkly said. "The department is at only at 1/3 of strength and if there is an attack, the A.P.D. will be our sole reinforcements. I don't want to criticize nor disregard the A.P.D. for they are a great ȧsset to the Department, but when it comes to actual life and death combat the A.P.D. is only minimally trained. And I would not bet my life on them in regard to their combat skills for there is a very good reason as to why the Auror Academy exists."

Alastor frowns even further as he continues, "The A.P.D. will take severe casualties as such they will be moved to care for the wounded, evacuate civilians as much as possible, and seek reinforcements. The headquarters will be in chaos and so by the time the A.P.D. sends words of the attack sufficient time will have passed to weaken our position."

Gesturing vividly in the air, Alastor growls, "Not to mention the skill required to create an international portkey. By the time an individual is found, we come to the second challenge breaching the Verninac walls. The Verninac Chateau will not permit outsiders inside except for those with an invitation. Another costly time delay will occur as a guest will have to be found not in attendance, and only then sent to deliver the message which will cost us lives and precious time."

"To make matters worse, the reinforcements from overseas cannot simply portkey off the Verninac grounds but will have to floo elsewhere or leave the extent of the wards entirely," Alastor said in exasperation. "By the time reinforcements finally arrive the entire Ministry will likely have already fallen!"

Rufus brown-golden eyes pointedly eyed Alastor's mug suspiciously as if wondering if a bit of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey had been added to the tea. "Assuming that is the case, Alastor, then we do the next best thing," Rufus pragmatically replied causing Alastor to stare at the younger Auror.

"Whatever do you mean, Rufus?" Alastor replied in shock.

"Have you heard the muggle phrase, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend?'" Rufus asked causing Alastor to slowly shake his head. "If we are indeed surrounded as you say, then why not use the forces that we are currently already in alliance with, the Goblins."

"The Goblins?!" Alastor sputtered in disbelief. "We can't trust the goblins! There is a reason why the treaty is still in place, Rufus!"

"No need to shout, Alastor," Rufus grumbled rather disgruntled. "And yes, I do remember Goblin History with Professor Bagshot just as much as you do."

Arching his brow at Alastor Moody, Rufus drily says, "Be as it may, did you not just declare that the Ministry of Magic is under attack, Alastor?"

"I did," Alastor huffed.

"And is Gringotts's not located in Diagon Alley as well?"

"Your point is?"

"Then if we are attacked then the rest of Diagon Alley is also under attack, which would not exclude Gringotts Bank. More importantly, if the ministry falls, so will Gringotts's Bank. The Goblins need clients to ensure their business otherwise what use is their bank," Rufus plainly explained.

Alastor opens and closes his mouth, before furrowing his brown pensively. "Supposing that is the case, the Goblins will surely want something in exchange for their aid. They never act without there being anything to gain."

"Then I suggest that you best think of something just in case," Rufus crisply said, before grabbing the Daily Prophet and returning to his crossword puzzle. He had better things to do with his time than to think up hypothetical situations.

It wasn't that he believed his partner to be crazy, it's just that Alastor Moody spent an extraordinary amount of time as he colloquially put it, "Constant Vigilance!" Not that Rufus wasn't vigilant in his own manner nor just as obsessive, but he had other hobbies.. Seriously.