#runyoucleverboy

When Theodora’s employer had sent her on this errand to the Ministry, to liaise with the Ministry Authorities, she hadn't expected that she would be dealing with anyone she actually knew. Most of the employees in that department were career Ministry workers who had been there for decades, and as Ministry departments went, the Ministry Authorities were hardly the most glamorous. They certainly didn't have the cachet of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Department of Mysteries, or even the Department of International Magical Cooperation. And when it came to Theo's classmates -- well, she knew what most of her fellow Slytherins were up to these days, and she also knew that most of the students in the other three Houses had fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, and thus had far more prestigious options available to them.

Being greeted by a face she recognized came as something of a shock, at least at first. But then she realized who it was: Zacharias Smith. The lone member of Dumbledore's Army who hadn't fought in the battle. The one who had turned tail and fled.

He and Theo had never been friends. Really, they had never been more than classmates, had never spent enough time together for Theo to even consider that they'd had a relationship of any sort. Their few interactions with one another had been fraught, but she had never felt like she actually knew Smith, nor that he'd ever really known her. Looking at him now, though, she found herself struck by an unexpected pang of sympathy. Gone was the haughtiness she remembered from Hogwarts; instead, he looked washed-out and lifeless, like a man who simply went through the motions every day rather than living.

It wasn't fun, being a Death Eater's daughter. And, she realized suddenly, it probably wasn't fun being the boy who'd turned his back on Harry Potter, either.

“Good morning,” Theo said, keeping her tone scrupulously polite. "I work for Garius Tomkink, and he asked me to deliver these documents and get a signed confirmation of receipt. Zenobia Zephyr requested them in regards to the complaint Mr. Tomkink lodged last week against Ministry employee Thaddeus Fitzgerald."

Some people might have found being sent on such an errand by an employer to be flattering, a show of confidence in their skills, but Theo knew better. Garius Tomkink was less interested in her own work with Common Brittonic and her ideas regarding the material culture of the ancient Wizarding world than he was in her ability to answer the door and to sort and file his papers. Mr. Tomkink had only sent her because he didn’t want to deal with the matter himself.

Ben Chaplin

Ben looked at the Hufflepuff student in front him, did Professor Snape also mention that Ben wasn't exactly a nice guy. However he was good at potions, so it made sense.

Working in government was exhausting. Sure, Orion knew what he was doing, both as a politician and as a top official, that still didn't mean he enjoyed it much. On top of everything, he had to be extra discreet when it came to paying for things he most definitely shouldn't be, but it gave him a way to pass the time and some enjoyment to boot. A guilty pleasure, if you will.

How do you describe writing / rp to others?

Questions for the Mun

Noooooo.

So growing up, I really dont think that people in my social circle would have understood or supported the idea of role-playing. I recall once that my roommate saw a file I had with lily collins icons and she immediately thought I was VERY weird. Hell, I remember getting sideeyed for liking static shock 😅

"Are you, now?" Bucky said, looking the reporter up and down with an appraising eye. She'd heard of Smith, and had even read some of his articles, but she'd never actually crossed paths with the man. He had a reputation for being persistent -- annoyingly so, according to some -- but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, he'd been the one who had broken that story a few years ago about how Roxxon's CEO was letting some alien feed on his employees and turn them into cyborgs. And he was some kind of magician, too, at least according to Doctor Strange.

"Not a bad choice for a story," she continued. "I can see why you'd feel compelled to dig into it." She wasn't lying to Smith, either. Despite her line of work, Bucky did actually believe in the free press, and she respected the role that they often played in holding the powerful to account. And the truth was that there had been a few powerful people involved in the whole debacle that was the Raft who hadn't been held accountable in quite the way they should have been.

Thaddeus Ross was still Secretary of State, after all.

Looking Smith over once again, she said, "I dunno how much I can tell you, since I wasn't ever in the Raft myself and I wasn't involved in the breach" -- also not a lie; Steve had handled that particular operation entirely on his own -- "but if you wanna hit me with a question or two, I'll see what I can do."