"Do you know the Department well?" Zabini asked. Now there was a great deal Bernard couldn't say, the substance of the work being most of it - most of society guessed the sort of themes of the departments work but the detail...well that was a different matter entirely. If you thought of something icky, dangerous, weird or disturbing - chances are the department had some finger in the pie, and yes icky was a technical term.

'Intimately' he acknowledged with a mirthless smile, 'They are my bread and butter so to speak', his humourless smile remained. He chuckled, at the others comment about library requests. 'We keep all the good stuff to ourselves' he joked, 'Usually no access to it for those outside of the department.' he explained, the later was self evident and the department was notorious for it.

'You've no interest in formal work in the area?' he queried and took another long drag on his cigerette.

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