February 11th, 1889 — Dept of Mysteries
Ernest had never been much for politics; he considered it a stupid man's game, and left it to those who had ambition but no real talent for affecting change in the world. He also didn't have any sense of altruism or community duty that would force him into the fray despite his distaste for it, like someone apparently had. Urquart had always been something of an idealist, though, and it had never gotten in the way of his work when he'd been at the Department of Mysteries previously.
It had, however, gotten in the way of what had once been quite a sturdy friendship. The two had remained civil during Urquart's election (an easy feat, since Ernest had no interested in discussing the man's politics), but Ernest had felt it best to distance himself from the man publicly. His positions were not ones that meshed well with the Mulciber family as a whole, and Ernest was conscious of his reputation if for no other reason than he wanted to avoid being lectured on the subject by either his wife or his mother. Distance had, in turn, turned to stony silence when Urquart's daughter had been outed as a werewolf. It wasn't anything personal, of course, and Ernest felt that went without saying. Someone from his social circle simply couldn't be friends with the father of an acknowledged monster.
Privately, though, he had considered all of it — from the man's foray into politics down to the unfortunate situation with his daughter — a waste. Urquart, unlike most politicians, wasn't stupid, and he had the potential to be doing important things in the Department of Mysteries, which he would now never step foot in again.
Or so he'd thought. Apparently more or less hand-picking your successor as Minister of Magic had its perks, and one of them was being able to glide back in to positions you'd left ages ago. Ernest didn't mind much; he'd worked under Urquart before in the department, and he had no desire to fill the recently vacated job of Mrs. Lestrange. There was already far too much paperwork involved in his work for his tastes.
He was waiting for his new boss on Monday morning, his first day back to work. He'd shooed all of the Unspeakables off to their various tasks, so that they wouldn't be able to just stand around and gawk while waiting, and then had taken up a position leaning against the secretary's desk, sipping a cup of coffee.
"Welcome back," he greeted with a dry smile when the man appeared. "Do you think you'll need a tour?"
