April 30th, 1890 — Lupin's Office, Ministry of Magic

Julius Scrimgeour had woken up on his twenty-eighth birthday earlier in the month and realized that his life was...less than fabulous. By twenty-eight, he had always expected to be engaged to be married, or already married with his first child on the way. He would, of course, be an auror (or investigator, as his role had eventually evolved), and have a protective, albeit arms-length, relationship with his now-married sisters.

Thus far, however,

• He was no closer to marrying at twenty-eight than he had been at eighteen; all the families of sound reputation seemed to want little to do with the Scrimgeour name.
  
• He did not know where Annabelle was.
  
• Between their father and their sister, Araminta was as painfully unattached as Julius himself.
  
• He had allowed his shame to drive him from an occupation he loved and into one that made him question whose life he was even living.
  

While there were few items on that list that he could do anything about, Julius had made up his mind to address the last...

...and proceeded to take a number of days to work up the courage to actually do so. But now, here he sat, in the office of one Lionel Lupin, the man who had once been his superior and who, Julius hoped, would welcome the opportunity to take up that mantle once again.

"I appreciate your granting me an appointment," Julius said conversationally, his smile betraying his nerves. "I imagine you must be busy, given the investigation into the Pictish artifacts."

— Lionel Lupin —

  

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Lionel's life was decidedly filled with Pictish artifact related things and frankly when this was all over, he never wanted to see another Pictish related thing for his entire life. It was troublesome getting them all tracked down and then fixing whatever misfortune had befallen the holder of the artifact. Luckily, that part he did not have much to do with as it wasn't his department.

This was a diversion from that, at least. Between his father and sisters scandalous actions, Lionel was a little surprised that Scrimgeour had made an appointment to see him. It was probably in the other mans favor that Lionel chose to focus more on the fact that Julius Scrimgeour had been an asset to the department. The scandals were the only thing giving him any sort of pause.

"Very much so," he agreed when the man commented on how he must be busy due to the Pictish Hell. "Now, what was it you wanted to see me about?" Lionel always thought it best to get right into the matter at hand. And besides, he thought he could guess.

  

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"Well," he started, hesitating a moment before answering, "the Pictish artifacts. And serial murderers, fraud... investigation. I was, er," Julius hesitated once more, feeling his initial trickle of adrenaline ebb away, "hoping, actually, that I might return to the investigation department."

There. He had said it. It could not be unsaid, but instead, lingered between them, demanding attention.

— Lionel Lupin —

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Lionel folded his fingers together on his desk as Mister Scrimgeour spoke. "I see. And you have thought this through completely and will not change your mind?" They could definitely use the help and Scrimgeour had been reasonably good at his job. Frankly, Lionel thought his intelligence to be wasted on the Portkey office.

  

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"Yes," he answered confidently, the most confident he had been about anything in some time. Julius was figuratively (and technically, literally) dying in the Portkey Office. He had been foolish and rash to ever leave, and the fact that Lupin was even considering his request was a welcome relief.

— Lionel Lupin —

  

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Lionel nodded to himself when Mister Scrimgeour answered him in the affirmative. He took a moment to think on it a bit more - after all, this was a major thing that the other man was asking for. But men left work for personal time off and returned all the time so one could say that this was kind of the same thing. With the only difference being that the other man had gone off to work in a less mentally exhausting occupation while dealing with the aftermath of his familys scandal. "I'll give you a week to wrap up any lingering duties in your current position and push through the papers for a transfer back," he finally said. "I hope that will be enough time for you?"

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"Thank you, sir," Julius affirmed gratefully. In this one exchange, the trajectory of his life had returned to its former course, and even the prospect of leaving the blasted Portkey Office elated him.

"I shall see myself out."

  

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