July 22, 1891 - Ministry of Magic

What in the bloody hell was going on? Percy wondered as he pushed his way through the throng of people back toward his office. He had only been gone for a quarter of an hour, perhaps half an hour at most, surely not long enough for something to go wrong. But as he had begun to return down the corridor toward his office it had begun to grow hazy. Then that had turned into a smoky fog, white curliques of smoke twisting around in the air. And then there were the people. Lots and lots of people, much more than he'd like to deal with in actuality and they were all blocking the way to his office door. So Percy had been left with no better option than to push through them.

Now, as he managed to get to his office door, the smoke had grown even thicker. Why all these people were here was beyond him. He made his way into the office only to find someone sitting there, across the desk from his chair, copious amounts of smoke streaming from their ears. "What - ?" Percy found himself at loss for words. Was this a prank? Or a serious diaster?

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Alexander didn't know what had caused the smoke to come from his ears. One moment, he had been doing his work, the next smoke was coming from his ears. Like when he took pepperup potion. Was he coming down with something? He had been ushered into the office of one of the higher ups and he was relieved when the man finally showed up.

"I was told to come see you about this, sir," Alexander said, unaware that he was actually a pawn in a much bigger prank on the older man. For the moment, Alexander just sat there clueless as to why they had been insistent he see Adlard about this.

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Why in Merlin's name would they send Mr. Echelon to him and not St. Mungo's? "Who sent you?" Percy asked, buying himself time to figure out a way to appear professional inquired why the bloody hell the man hadn't gone to the hospital? Finally he found the right words and allowed his brow to furrow in concern. "Take the afternoon and head to St. Mungo's." If someone thought he was in charge then he was going to be. Later he'd sigh and figure out the mess, but as with much of his job, this moment required quick action and then retrospection.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

"The blokes in my department," Alexander explained. He nodded when the man said he should head to St. Mungos. He had barely stood up, his hands on the seat to boost himself up when the chair seemed to collapse beneath him. "I'm so sorry sir. It was sturdy when I sat down!" How was he to know that it had been jinxed?

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*feel free to make up random, not-life threatening, stuff to be happening to Alexander in your post to make for a fun for us, headache for Percy thread XD <3

  

Ah, pest division. Yes, he'd be having a word with them. But then the chair under the young man broke and he was looking at Mr. Echelon flat on the wood of his office, smoke almost obscuring the space between them. As if that wasn't enough the door began slamming open and closed on its own accord adding a cacaphony of sound to everything else around them.

"Right. Did you go on any calls this morning?" Had the man brought a magical pest back to the offices with him?

And then it started to snow in his office. Of all the times for the weather charms to break this was it. Fuck.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Alexander looked around in confusion as the door began slamming open and closed. He got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Yes, there was a small outbreak of a type of pixie in Wellingtonshire." They hadn't been typical pixies either, at least nothing Alexander had seen before but he had thought he and his partner had gotten a hold of them well enough.

"You don't suppose one managed to get loose into our offices, do you?" It would explain a whole lot.

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"What type of pixie precisely?" Merlin help them if that was what this was. "I think we do need to consider that option, yes." Percy was doing his best to focus on the task at hand but the smoke was turning to fog in his office as the snow melted in the air from Mr. Echelon.

As if something wanted to answer him, Mr. Echelon began to be pulled upward in the air almost as if by his ears.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Some of the things going on couldn't have been done completely by the Pixies but that hardly occurred fully to Alexander. Next thing he knew, he was being pulled upward. "It was a bunch of pixies that had been experimented on so that their breed was not distinguishable. I thought Cornish but they were able to blend into their surroundings like a disillusionment charm was on them," Alexander answered like he wasn't dangling four feet up in the air.

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Bloody hell. Why did people feel the need to experiment on any creature - let alone pixies?

"I see."

That was all Percy had time to say before he two was being lifted in the air by his ears. If the whole thing weren't taking him away from his work (and perhaps if he hadn't been in front of someone who reported him) it would have been laughable.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Alexander did not laugh so much as wheeze due to desperately trying not to laugh. Hanging in the air was not a good look on his superior. Never mind the fact that Alexander was in the exact same predicament. He managed to get his wand out and cast a quick Immobulus on the room at large, figuring that was the easiest way to freeze unseen pests.

Fortunately, it worked. Less fortunately, this meant that both meant were sent sprawled on the floor below them.

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Percy was just reaching for his wand when the two of them went falling back to the ground. He hit it with an ooph and for a moment allowed himself to rest his head on the floor and breathe before righting himself and then standing up, brushing his robes off. Every part of his body stung from the impact. He held out a hand to Mr. Echelon.

"Immobulus?" He guessed looking at the wand in the other man's hand. It was definitely beginning to seem like pests.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Alexander accepted the help up and dusted himself off. "Yes," Alexander confirmed. It was one of the few spells he could do with his eyes closed due to how many times he had done it by now.  "That should make finding them and getting them caged so we can release them where they are meant to be a lot easier."

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At least that answered the question of what was going on in his office. "Right. Well let's get to it." This, he reflected as they began the work, was precisely the reason he had wished to work in the pest department even in the early days of his career.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3