"Excellent," Ross said, as if this was not a project he had made up just to get Macmillan out of his way for a few days. "Also, remind Miss --- to set up a meeting with Mr. Faustus Prewett for this week, will you? And Mrs. Skeeter. I'll also be submitting Mr. Umbridge for consideration to the Wizengamot."

He watched Macmillan carefully, to gauge a reaction.

---

  

Arrange this, and tell someone that, and Umbridge Wizengamot what? On paper the man might look reasonably suitable, but only if that paper left out the part where he'd been Assistant Head of his department for ten seconds and head of it for three! What responsibility had he had before that? None! He'd been running around after dark wizards with the Auror Office which in reality meant wasting time, Ministry money, and generally pursuing a life of navel gazing and nonsense. Meanwhile the rest of the Ministry worked hard and actually pulled their weight! The one exception being the fools in the Centaur Liaison Office who were surely doing less work than the Magical Maintenance crew.

This was blatant favoritism, perhaps the most fragrantly corrupt thing Ross had dared yet since Charles had been Junior Assistant. Was he positioning people in preparation for the election or something else? He managed to keep the surprises and outrage off his face but there was a hesitation before his response that was just long enough to be perceptible. "Umbridge seems to be quite the rising star at moment, good for him." The day he married Noelle's ghost would come sooner than the day he meant those words.

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Ross noticed the pause and was internally a little pleased about it.

"Any other thoughts, Macmillan?" he asked cheerfully.

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Was he being passive aggressive because he'd picked up on his reticence or was he genuinely asking? What a stupid question he was obviously being a dick. "None I imagine you'd be interested in, Minister," he chuckled, aiming at levity rather than snark despite his annoyance.

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"I'm very interested in your thoughts as a member of this department," Ross said, although truthfully he was not - beyond his ongoing suspicions, of course. "But we can of course move onto other topics." Like blood purity, and Macmillan's political ambitions, et cetera.

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God damn Ross, why'd he have to go and make it uncomfortable? He'd only been trying to make a humorous comment, the double entendre was for his own amusement only. "If you really want to know, I was thinking I must get better acquainted with Umbridge, it sounds as though he's a very likeable sort." Likeable because he sure as hell wasn't earning those promotions with hard work, damn it.

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Ross hummed. "I do find it's always beneficial to know those who have spent so long in our Ministry," he said, neutral, "Other than your former department, which offices would you say you are most familiar with?"

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Charles wished the conversation had ended ten minutes ago. After the raft of nonsense Ross had just assigned him he didn't think he'd be able to maintain his I Like Minister Ross façade for too much longer, at least not to the standard he preferred. "Probably the Transport department and Games and Sports, they were usually the most relevant outside departments I had to deal with on a regular basis." It felt like the first intelligent question he'd been all morning, although Charles had no idea what Ross' motive was for asking it.

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"Oh, of course," Ross said, as though he'd been expecting that answer — he had not really conceptualized any details of the answer he asked for from Mr. Macmillan, except probably not Magical Law Enforcement. "And are there any departments you think you should know more about?"

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Charles ideally wanted to know every damn thing about every single department, office, squad, and employee in the Ministry because to know all that would make ascending to the top job all that much easier and he'd be well equipped to then maintain his power. Unfortunately, he'd need a great many more years to accrue that kind of knowledge and far more inclination to obtain it than he currently had. If such knowledge came to him overnight that would please him very well but he wasn't going to wait until he was decrepit and outpaced by his adult sons to become Minister of Magic. His sons would be magnificent with a mother like Tatiana Lestrange. They'd obviously have rakish good looks and they'd be sharp as tacks, shrewd and confident. Prefect, Head Boy, perhaps even Quidditch Captain. Eventually one of them would take his place as Minister and make him proud. There'd be an opulent party to celebrate and he'd look on with deep satisfaction, Tatiana still resplendent and at his side and somewhere nearby his mother would shed a tear of pride at his legacy, her legacy.

Before Charles could distract himself too far by imagining his future grandsons, he remembered that the current Minister was still living and breathing and democratically elected to ruin his Monday mornings. "It'd have to be the Department of Mysteries." He smirked and chuckled to make sure Ross knew he wasn't being serious. That said if Ross was willing and able to give him the scoop on that department he was all ears. "The Department of Law Enforcement. I know perhaps as much as I do Games and Sports but I suspect there's a lot more to it." Which was Charles for: one day I will expose them for the lazy time wasters that they are and streamline it for efficiency. "Or Magical Creatures." There was another department that left him puzzling at what they did with their day when they were surely starved for work. What did the Spirit Division in particular even do? Fat lot of help they'd been when Noelle died. Un-died. Whatever.

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Ross cracked a grin at Department of Mysteries, and waited through the rest of Macmillan's answer. "If you have extra time this week perhaps you should shadow those departments," he said; he did not anticipate Macmillan having a great deal of extra time this week, but if he was poking around other departments then he would not have an overabundance of time to spend with Ross. This meant that Ross would have to spend more time leaning on Crouch and Miss [Secretary], but he was comfortable doing that if it ensured he had more time free from the potentially-prying eyes of Macmillan.

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Oh goody. On top of everything he wanted him to go loiter in the corner of other people's offices. At least he could bother Rosier in the Auror Office and call it work. "A good idea, sir, I'll make sure to do that. If I come across any." He smiled wryly. As if he'd get any 'extra' time.

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"I'm glad to hear it, Mr. Macmillan," Ross said. He leaned back in his chair. "I won't hold you up for too long, then — we'll check in again Thursday, at the latest." Usually he saw Macmillan multiple times in a day, because Macmillan's main job was of course to keep Ross happy — but they didn't get a chance to touch base this extensively every day. Also, Ross was hoping that this would get Macmillan a little further away from him for a few days.

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"Yes, Thursday, great." In writing and in the context of Charles this probably seems snarky but it's actually not! "I look forward to it, Minister." He absolutely didn't. Maybe he'd save magical maintenance for when he inevitably needed to vent, probably after he was finished with the Magical Jesus Church nonsense.

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