Out of the Shadows // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Eight

I sat at my desk in the Ministry, half awake, somewhat daydreaming, my focus slipping in and out. I had been pouring over these papers for what felt like hours. Days. YEARS!

Okay... Okay... I knew I was exaggerating. It was just tedious work.

Before I accepted this task, Ellie was kind enough to gather what she had found in just a cursory search of the records and the Minister's own materials. That's where she had found the letter from Professor Fig. And I thought there was no better place to start than the items she had found.

Most were really nothing. Just texts about ancient powers that had fallen into obscurity. From what I could tell, they seemed unrelated to what I could do. Or what I was starting to be capable of doing... It was very frustrating.

And other than my surname, "Bennett," which I had come to realize was most likely a muggle name, I had nothing to go on for finding a lineage, a source of where this could all have come from.

I was beginning to feel like I was banging my head against a wall and expecting it not to hurt. Isn't the definition of insanity repeating the same actions over and over and expecting a different result? I sighed deeply. I was getting off on a tangent. Again.

It was easy to get distracted at the Ministry as well. My "office" as I had grown to call it fondly, was comfortable with its warm glow and fluffy seating. I had a small cart that seemed to always be filled with tea and biscuits. I could almost think to myself, "hmmm I could really go for a pasty and some pumpkin juice about now" and suddenly it would appear on the cart. Funny how that happened.

I smirked to myself thinking about that particular day when I realized the cart was special. I "ordered" some strange things indeed to test it out. It was a fun afternoon.

And then I had a stroke of genius!

I shut my eyes and thought deeply. Soon thereafter, I confidently entered Ellie's lab with my arms full of Honeydukes treats and two big butterbeers with the BIGGEST smile on my face.

"Ah, I see you've discovered your Amenities Cart." She smiled back fondly. "Officially, we cannot drink alcohol in the building. But I swear if I see Rufus Yaxley suck down one more whiskey in his office and then berate me about my files being unorganized and not in accordance with policy, I'll just slap him with my cauldron. So, I say, bring on the butterbeer!"

We sat together, giggling like little girls over the candy floss and chocolate frogs and other various treats I had ordered. It was a nice break from what had seemed like boring, tedious and non-productive work I had been doing.

I was really going to miss Ellie when I had to return to school. We had formed some kind of alliance that women form when they work together in close proximity in a male dominated work environment. Sometimes it felt like us against the world! It was nice to have an ally that didn't think of me as "The Hero of Hogwarts" or "The New Fifth Year" or "That Freak with the Strange Powers." She just knew me as Rachel. It was uplifting.

"So, how's the research going?" She said chewing on some jellybeans and smiling. "I have a feeling this little break wasn't in celebration of good news..."

I sighed. My brows pulling together. "Well. It could be better." I looked at her sideways and she was scrutinizing my face. I rolled my eyes. "Ok, it's awful. I haven't found anything of substance. Not a single thing. I've been at this for a few weeks now and I guess... I just... expected to have something, ANYTHING, a small link, a name, a description of ancient magic... FUCK, a birth certificate! SOMETHING!" I felt my voice rising and my emotions getting out of control... there was a small burning feeling building in my core and out of fear I swallowed it down as best I could and tried to close my eyes and breathe deeply. I really did not need to blow up the Ministry just because I was frustrated.