❝ FOR FREEDOM.
FOR T R U T H.
AND FOR LOVE. ❞
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍.
1978. Where a squib and a mischief-maker cross
paths at the crux of a war that would eventually
tear apart everything - and everyone - they...
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FRANK LONGBOTTOM FELT his return to the Auror Office was far more dismal than he had predicted. True, they were currently severely understaffed, and the uproar caused by the attack on King's Cross station had not quite abated yet either, but Frank had assumed things might be closer to normal by now, if a bit more strained and busy.
"As if," he grumbled to himself, huffing as he pulled another stack of files towards him and began rifling through them.
Mad-Eye Moody had managed a cursory hello there before he told Frank to sort through the new (and so far, unfortunately, largely ignored) missing persons cases and prioritize them. There was also a stack of witness reports waiting for the younger Auror — was a job getting witnesses to speak about what they saw and who they might've seen at King's Cross that day, Moody had told Frank gruffly, scared witless, I suspect, the lot of them. Damn those Death Eaters.
To Frank's dismay, this tedious paperwork came in addition to his existing duties – handling interdepartmental communication, drafting press releases for Moody's cases, arranging meetings with witnesses, etc., etc.
"Keep your face like that any longer, Longbottom, and I bet it'll be stuck that way forever."
Frank looked around at the sound of the mellow, amused voice and saw Alice Fawcett peering over the edge of his cubicle. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was pulled into a braid that was coming apart generously by now. She looked exhausted, but she was smiling nevertheless.
"You reckon so?" he asked, the muscles in his face relaxing as he sat up straighter.
She nodded, surveyed their surroundings, then added in a whisper, "How else do you explain that scowl Scrimgeour and Mad-Eye have always got?"
"Ah, no," Frank grinned back, "I thought they were saving it for me special. They've been leading me on then."
Alice gave a short laugh, her cheeks turning pink, but said nothing further.
"Good to see you, Alice," he added after a moment's awkward pause.
"Likewise. I'm very glad you're here — out of the hospital, I mean. And here too, of course," she blustered, blinking down at him with an abashed expression. "The office has been so empty lately. . . anyways, I hope you're feeling better."
Frank ignored the flush creeping down her neck and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm loads better now, thanks. My leg's still seizing up a bit, but the Healers say it'll be gone within the week or so."
