January 22nd, 1891 - A Ministry of Magic Elevator

A routine walkabout of the Department of Magical Accidents & Catastrophes had brought Ross to a different floor, and with everything in order he was now on his way back down to the offices. He was not alone in the lift, but that was fine - a nod and a Hello when the other individual got on was really all that was needed.

Or, it was all that was needed until the elevator's progress ground to an unceremonious halt. Ross pressed the button for his offices even as he knew - there was nothing that could be done to get the lift moving again until magical maintenance got around to it. Well. Hopefully his secretary could figure things out on her own.

"I'm not convinced I understand the point of these things when they break so frequently," Ross said, leaning against the wall. He sort of wished that he was by himself in the lift; people were often not themselves around the Minister, and not in a way that he found compelling or interesting.

---

  

It was all too easy to take advantage of a young intern; especially one as timid and taciturn as Bragi Holm. So when he mentioned he was nipping down to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, someone in his office, sleepy and lazy from lunch, ordered Bragi to take some items down for him too. Just a book. And a stack of parchments. Another book. Oh — and a Knarl, which was a suspicious little hedgehog thing that curled up quite contently on top of the pile of books and parchments Bragi was now carrying. "There's a good lad", said the lazy office worker, and sent Bragi on his way.

The slight fellow headed into the lift, on auto-pilot... then his heart sprang out of his chest and landed somewhere in the region of his throat. For there, standing next to him, was the Minister of Magic himself. Bragi had seen the daunting figure of the Minister around, but had certainly never been alone in a lift with him. He managed a quiet "sir", of greeting, then stood in the corner and kept his eyes on the Knarl, which was now snoozing on the top book.

— Only for both Knarl and boy to be shaken from their reverie by a jolt and a shudder as the lift ground to an unexpected halt. Bragi blinked up, wide-eyed. Mr Ross had evidently been in this situation before, calmly exasperated by it, but Bragi had not. "This... happens all the time then, sir?" he asked uncertainly, a little worried.

Meanwhile, the Knarl was now very much awake and began a bold attempt to descend its unsteady perch.

  

---

"I wouldn't say all the time," Ross replied to the boy - young man, maybe, if he worked here. "But it's far from a rarity." The lifts were simply never high on Ross' priority list - or anyone else's, evidently. Eventually they got set back to rights, and they were almost never stopped long enough for it to be an actual problem. Just an inconvenience. This was something that happened in a building that had magic constantly thrumming through it, or so Ross had been told. (Maybe he would set Macnair on the Lift Issue, that sounded like an entertaining use of his junior assistant's efforts.)

"I don't believe we've met before," Ross said. He might as well get to know the boy, since they were here together.

---

  

"Bragi Holm, sir. Intern in International Magical Co-operation." He introduced himself earnestly, doing his best to ignore the Knarl. Mr Ross was ignoring it, after all, even as it hopped down from its perch on Bragi's stack of papers and began to lazily explore.

He imagined the Minister was too used to this kind of nonsense to blink an eye at it. Bragi had even heard that there had been a centaur last year, right here in this very lift.

"Oh —" he noticed, slightly alarmed, that the Knarl was now sniffing at the Minister's shoe. Bragi bent down to scoop up the little creature. "Sorry, Mr Ross, that shouldn't — ouch!" It bit him!

  

---

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Holm," Ross said brightly; he almost never interacted with interns, and appreciated the boy's earnestness. He glanced down at the knarl sniffing his shoe, and quirked an eyebrow. "I hadn't realized we had creatures in International Magical Cooperation now," he said, neutral and pleasant.

His eyebrows narrowed in slight concern at the bite. "I hope he didn't draw blood?"

---

  

"And you, sir", he responded courteously through the sting of the bite, also slightly breathless at being addressed so nicely by such an imposing figure.

"It's okay, thank you sir." His finger was bleeding a bit, but not enough to cause a mess. But now he couldn't make an attempt at scooping up the little creature; especially as it was covered in pins like a hedgehog. So he watched a little helplessly as the Knarl wandered off to explore the corners of the lift. He'd wait until the lift was moving again, then would make another move to capture it.

His gaze moved from the Knarl back up to the tall politician. "Oh, we don't, we just..." he smiled a little sheepishly. Mr Ross had pointed out that magical creatures did not fall into Bragi's remit. "I was just doing a favour for someone, I suppose", he admitted, and hoped the Minister wouldn't realise that people were taking advantage of the eager young intern.

  

---

The boy was bleeding. Ross reached into the pocket of his own jacket and held out a handkerchief for Mr. Holm, wordlessly; an intern's politeness didn't mean that he had to suffer in the lift.

"Oh?" Ross said, "What sort of favor leaves one with a knarl?"

He was curious, he had to admit - and since the lift hadn't started moving again, it seemed he would have a few minutes to look into it.

---

  

Bragi graciously accepted the handkerchief with a stammered utterance of thank you, feeling a little breathless. He discretely wrapped the handkerchief around his bleeding finger, having no idea what to think of the fact that he was knowingly staining the Minister of Magic's property with blood. His blood.

Best not think about it.

What sort of favour leaves one with a Knarl? "A... a favour in which someone asks me to bring their Knarl down to Magical Creatures", he admitted. And this was indeed what had happened. He'd been on his way to drop some papers off at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, when a colleague had taken advantage of his soft, kind nature and added a living Knarl to the pile.

"I suppose I'm a bit of a pushover", Bragi realised with a faint, bashful smile.

  

---

Ross' smile, although wry, was not mean-spirited - he was a little entertained by the intern's circumstances, sure, but his first impression of Holm was that he was a nice lad. "Well, it helps to be self-aware in these circumstances," Ross said, "And there are worse things to be. Although I hope you are able to avoid Knarl-incidents as much as possible."

Ross bent down and scooped up the knarl, supporting its bottom and holding it with both hands in the hopes that that would keep the creature from biting him.

---

  

Mr Ross was not at all what Bragi expected from the Minister of Magic — he was so... human. Oh not full of flaws and foibles, not at all; just... forgiving of them.

Bragi's smile lingered a little and he gazed modestly at the floor, unsure how to respond to this kindness. Mr Ross was right, though; it was good to be self-aware. And the young intern hadn't realised until today that he was prone to letting himself be taken advantage of sometimes.

He looked up when, to his great surprise, the Minister bent down and swept up the Knarl as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Gosh, you're very good with animals!" he observed out-loud before he could stop himself.

  

---

Ross grinned at that. "I suppose I am," he said; the elevator began to move again, and he handed the knarl back to Mr. Holm before leaving the elevator to head to his meeting.

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