A new job offer
James,
I’ve been talking to a few of my contacts, and as it happens an old friend of mine is about to set up a new team based in New Zealand. It’s a private venture so the resources would be nothing like what you’re used to, but it would mean you’d get a lot more responsibility early on.
He’s after a mid-level agent in a fixed-term position for 6 months. Says he can’t promise anything beyond that, but if things go well there’s a chance of a permanent job in it. There’s a bit of a ticking clock on this, he’d want you out there within a couple of weeks, so not to pressure you or anything but it needs a quick decision.
Sounds to me like a good opportunity for you to try things out and see how you like it. 6 months isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, and who knows what it could lead to. Talk it over with Teddy and let me know what you think.
Bill
The letter had come on Monday morning, after Teddy had already left for work, and it had been an agonising wait for James sitting on this all day waiting for him to come home.
It was probably the best thing James could have hoped for, given Teddy’s hesitation in all of this. He wasn’t sure that he agreed with Bill’s assessment that six months wasn’t that long an amount of time, but the key was that it was finite. It was a chance for them to test the waters, for James to see what he might be getting himself into and for Teddy to have some time to adjust to the idea of them possibly moving. It seemed like the perfect solution.
As soon as he got the letter James wanted to go straight to Teddy’s office and tell him, but he knew he couldn’t. Teddy had mentioned having a big case on at work, and he’d been taking more time off than James knew he ordinarily would have in order to be there for Luke. No, he couldn’t bother Teddy at work, it could wait until he got home. But James couldn’t just sit around and do nothing - he had trouble doing that at the best of times, never mind when the potential dream job had just landed in his lap. But everyone he knew would be at work, so there was no-one he could call on to talk about this with.
Out of pure frustration, James opted to go for a run. He had no destination in mind and turned left outside the building and just carried on running without paying much attention to the route, his brain buzzing. Six months was a long time for him and Teddy to be apart, that was the only aspect of it that James felt put a bit of a dampener on things. Two or three months might be a bit more palatable. But then, if he could take a few days off to come home for a visit half way through the stint then it would only be three months at a time they’d be apart. Or even better, rather than James coming back to the UK for a visit, Teddy could come out to New Zealand. Neither of them had ever been, it would be fun to explore it together.
It could lead to permanent position, Bill had said. New Zealand was much further away than James had envisioned, but then again, did the location really matter? The only variable as far as James could see was travel expense. Portkeys between the UK and the Pacific would be expensive, so visiting friends and family back home would be trickier. But James was probably getting ahead of himself there. They still needed to agree on him taking the temporary position first. And even if he did take it, there were a million other obstacles before they got to James and Teddy moving over there permanently together. But James couldn’t pretend he wasn’t excited by the prospect.
Fewer resources on the job, James couldn’t say he really minded about that. That would probably mean their excursion radius would be much smaller, possibly not even international. But New Zealand itself was an exotic and exciting location for James, he’d happily spend six months exploring it. More responsibility, though, that was EXACTLY what James was looking for. Maybe he’d even get to have input on the direction of the missions, if the whole thing was a start-up. Coming out of the ministry, with all its ancient rules and bureaucracy, that sounded like a dream. Not having to jump through hoops that made no sense, just because it was established tradition.
A private venture, that was curious. James had never heard of those in his field before. He wondered vaguely who the ultimate benefactor for the treasure was, and how they avoided stepping on the toes of the local authority (which according to James’s research was the national bank, owned and run by the country’s ministry). He had a lot of questions about that, but again, he was getting ahead of himself. He needed to get Teddy to agree that he could go, first.
He got back to the flat after about an hour of running, feeling exhausted but accomplished. The rest of his day was spent on a series of menial tasks, trying to pass the time. Hoovering the flat, reading the paper, going to the corner shop for a few things they were low on. Despite having gotten a lot of the jittery energy out of his system with his run, James’s combined excitement and nervousness continued to build all day, and by the time he was expecting Teddy home after work, James was practically bouncing off the walls again.
He had taken it upon himself to cook dinner, more in desperation to find something to do than for any other reason, but he was also hoping Teddy would appreciate it. He had actually put quite a bit of effort into the shepherds pie currently in the oven - much more than he would if he was cooking something just to eat himself. James generally saw food as a source of fuel and not much more, but Teddy got a lot of enjoyment out of sitting down to a carefully prepared meal.
James was just setting the table in the kitchen, laying out the cutlery as though they were in a restaurant, when Teddy apparated home, appearing in the living room with a load crack. He didn’t immediately register James in the kitchen, looking deep in thought as he went to go and take his shoes off by the door. When he straightened back up, he seemed to be muttering something to himself, which James couldn’t hear from the other side of the room. This wasn’t unusual behaviour. Teddy engrossed himself in his work, and often found it difficult to switch his brain off once he left the office. However he stopped abruptly when he spotted James, who was now putting on oven mitts in preparation to take the pie out of the oven, and looked greatly surprised by this sight. James had to admit, it was a rare one.
“This can’t mean anything good” Teddy frowned, but there was a playful glint in his eye. James laughed.
“I’ve been slaving away all afternoon” James told him. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but Teddy didn’t need to know that. “You’re going to be impressed.”
“Am I?” Teddy asked warily as he approached the kitchen. James didn’t respond, as he was quite distracted by the waft of hot air hitting him in the face as he opened the oven.
“You’re supposed to stand back when you open it” Teddy told him lazily, leaning against the counter watching him.
“Captain hindsight over here” James shot back at him, while delicately lifting the dish out of the oven with both hands.
“Head chef, actually” Teddy countered, his eyes now raking over the various pans and utensils that James had used in the preparation and cooking process, and hadn’t gotten around to tidying up yet. “What the hell have you done to my kitchen?” he asked incredulously, with a smirk.
“I’ll clean up later, don’t worry about it” James replied dismissively, setting the pie dish down on a wooden chopping board that he’d placed on the table next to the plates. “Now will you stop heckling me and come and sit down, please?”
“I can do one of those things” Teddy grinned, as he crossed the kitchen to sit down at the table, while James started dishing out the food. His expression turned from one of amusement to looking genuinely quite pleased and a little impressed as he saw James’s creation up close.
“Oh yeah, I pulled out all the stops” James said smugly, and Teddy laughed at him.
“Is this your way of trying to make nice, or were you just really bored” Teddy asked him with a raised eyebrow.
“Both, if I’m honest” James admitted. Once he’d given them each a generous portion he took a seat opposite Teddy at the table, leaving the pie dish where it was in case either of them wanted seconds.
“Well, I’m grateful, either way” Teddy said sincerely. “This actually looks really good.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” James replied, thoroughly pleased with himself.
They made general small talk over the meal about their respective days. James was waiting until after dinner to tell Teddy about the letter he’d received from Bill, as it was a very real possibility that they’d get into another row about it, and James thought they might as well have a nice meal together first. He was either doing an extremely good job of keeping his composure, or Teddy’s mind was still half on his work, as Teddy didn’t appear to notice anything amiss as he told James in vague terms about what he’d been up to all day. James was trying to listen, he really was, but he just wasn’t taking a lot of it in. From what did manage to make it through the buzzing excitement in the forefront of James’s mind, he gathered that Teddy was in a bit of a rut, hitting constant dead ends and unsure of how to progress his case. James did his best to say some sympathetic things, but he couldn’t really relate to that to be honest. In his line of work, the missions were either a success or they weren’t. Either way, once it was over they moved straight onto the next one.
“… maybe they just didn’t know that there would still be body parts inside the mimic.” Teddy was frowning pensively and seemed to be talking more to himself than to James at this point, who had to admit, he hadn’t really been following the conversation, but that got his attention, and he lowered his fork slowly. “Maybe Harry’s first instinct was right, I mean, it’s not often he’s wrong about these things” Teddy went on.
“Wait” James cut in, confused, and now fully focusing on Teddy. “Did you say there were body parts in it?” he asked incredulously.
“Yeah” Teddy replied giving him a grim smile, digging aimlessly at the mashed potato on his plate. “Sorry, I know that’s disgusting. I probably shouldn’t be telling you that, for a couple of reasons.”
“Body parts?” James asked again, disregarding this. “As in, not whole bodies?”
“Yeah, just parts” Teddy shrugged. “Random bits as well. One of the vics, all that was left of them was a hand.”
“So where’s the rest of the body then?” James asked warily.
“What do you mean?” Teddy asked, looking confused. James didn’t understand why he should be, it seemed to him like a fairly obvious question.
“Was it, like, disintegrated or something?” James asked, grimacing a little at the thought.
“No, there was no debris in the trunk” Teddy shrugged. “Anyway, if it did that then there wouldn’t be parts left behind, would there? It would ALL be disintegrated.”
“So then…” James frowned, sure he must be missing something. “If the rest of the body’s not in the mimic, then where is it? It can’t have just disappeared.”
“Well it was eaten, wasn’t it?” Teddy said, with a raised eyebrow.
“How?” James put to him. “It’s not a creature, is it? It can’t digest anything.”
“Yeah” Teddy said slowly, clearly thinking hard about that. “But the mimic spell must break down the body somehow…”
“Without a trace, though?” James countered. “It can’t. It’s an exception to Gamp’s Law – you can’t disappear a body, or even parts of it.”
Teddy’s face immediately changed at this statement. His frown disappeared and he looked stunned, and James could tell his mind was racing.
“Did I just crack your case?” James asked him, grinning. Teddy let out a surprised laugh as his eyes refocused on him.
“I think you fucking did” he said dazedly. “I’ve been coming at this all wrong. The rest of the body… it should be in there, shouldn’t it?”
“I would have thought so” James agreed.
“We’ve been looking for all the wrong things” Teddy said, still wearing that dazed expression and shaking his head. “How did I miss that?”
“Damn, I would have made a good auror” James said smugly. Teddy didn’t seem to be listening to him.
“Shit, I need to-“ he put down his fork and looked at his watch, making a pained face.
“No” James said firmly. He knew exactly what Teddy was thinking and wanted to quickly nip it in the bud. “You’re not going back to the office” James told him.
“Maybe after dinner?” Teddy said, making the same pained face now at James. “This could be a major breakthrough.”
“Not tonight, Teddy, please” James implored him. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Can it not wait?” Teddy asked distractedly. He still looked like he was running over several different trains of thought in his head, and for a second James considered actually just letting him go back to the office and work through whatever he was thinking, because it would be on his mind all evening one way or the other. But James was also acutely aware that he might explode if he didn’t tell Teddy about Bill’s letter soon. If Teddy did go back to the office he’d probably stay there until the early hours of the morning, and James certainly didn’t feel like his own news could wait another full day.
“No, it can’t” James told him, and he pulled the letter out of his pocket, wordlessly handing it to Teddy. There was nothing else for it, now. They had gotten half way through the meal, at least.
“What- what is this…” Teddy muttered vaguely, as he unfolded and read the letter. James watched him in trepidation, with no real clue what his reaction was going to be. Teddy’s expression was already somewhat blank when he started reading the letter, and as he made his way through it he didn’t really give anything away as to what this news meant to him, besides his eyebrows twitching and his eyes widening in what appeared to be surprise. When he reached the end he looked up at James over the top of the parchment, his face still inscrutable.
“You’ve got to give me a clue about what you’re thinking” James told him warily. “Because I really can’t tell.”
“You first” Teddy replied, his tone neutral. James supposed that was fair. He’d had a bit longer to process it after all.
“I think it sounds like a really great opportunity” James said carefully. “I think, honestly Ted, it sounds like a dream come true for me. But I also think six months apart is going to be a long time.”
“Yeah, it is” Teddy frowned pensively, looking back down at Bill’s letter. “And it could be longer. Could lead to something permanent, he says.”
“Well, that’s not definite, is it?” James said reasonably. “I’d think of this as something like an internship. I’d get to try it out, learn some stuff. And then I decide where to go from there.”
“New Zealand…” Teddy let out a long and slow breath. “Did you know that was on the table?”
“Not specifically, no” James admitted. “I think Bill did mention the Pacific, but he listed off a whole bunch of places.”
“You realise this is literally the furthest place you could possibly go, right?” Teddy said, a little bit of that pained expression returning to his face. “You’d be on the opposite side of the planet.”
“I know” James replied quietly. “Letters would take ages. Portkeys will be expensive. But we do have a phone now, that’s something.”
“Six months…” Teddy said again, frowning down at the letter again. “If it was just a couple of months I’d tell you to go for it, but…”
“I know” James said earnestly. “I know it’s a lot to ask.”
“It isn’t really though, is it?” Teddy said with a grim smile. “I mean, I lived in Thailand for six months when I was younger. And it was fucking incredible, one of the best experiences of my life. I’d be kind of an arsehole if I told you couldn’t go.”
“But…?” James prompted him. There must be a ‘but’, because Teddy still looked like he was in actual physical pain at the prospect.
“But” Teddy went on, sighing. “It would be really fucking hard for me to be apart from you for that long.”
“Me too” James told him, placing a hand gently on top of Teddy’s on the table. “Believe me, I’m not taking that lightly.”
“But you really want to go, don’t you?” Teddy said, looking at James seriously.
“Yeah, I do” James told him simply. Teddy gave him another grim smile but said nothing in response.
“I wouldn’t even think about going if I thought our relationship couldn’t handle it” James offered. “But I think it can.”
“Oh, I KNOW it can” Teddy replied calmly, and James couldn’t help but smile at the confidence with which he said it. “But it IS going to be hard, James. We need to be realistic about that.”
James noticed the shift in Teddy’s language from talking about a possibility to talking about something that was going to happen, and felt his level of excitement rise.
“If we plan a trip half way through then that would help, I think” James put to him. “Either I come back here, or you come out there. Then it’s only 3 months at a time. And I’ll get a mobile phone, so we can talk.”
“I could get one too, then we could text” Teddy mused, looking thoughtful. James nodded.
“And this would look good on your CV?” Teddy asked him seriously. “It’s not going to come off as a six month detour, is it?”
“I mean, I can’t say for sure how a prospective employer is going to take it” James shrugged. “But it’s not like I’m taking six months off to sit on my arse. I’m working in the same field, getting experience. That can only be a good thing, right?”
“I guess so” Teddy replied, looking pensive again. “Might even put you in a position to be more picky about the next job, location-wise. Maybe somewhere commutable?"
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves” James told him. “But yeah, that would be ideal, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, it would” Teddy’s smile was warm and genuine, but turned quickly to wistful, and James gave his hand a squeeze.
“How soon will you need to leave?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t know” James told him. “All I know so far is what’s in that letter.”
“Sounds like it could be soon” Teddy said, glancing down at the letter that he’d dropped onto the table some time ago.
“Would you be alright with that?” James asked him seriously. “I know it’s not great timing, with Luke still being…” he trailed off, not wanting to use an unkind word to describe Luke in his current grieving state. But the truth of the matter was that he’d probably be next to useless to Teddy in the form of emotional support while he was still getting over the loss of his mother.
“I don’t think we’d ever be guaranteed six months without some sort of shit going down” Teddy countered.
“I guess not” James conceded. “But I’d feel better about it if he was… I don’t know, more able to be there for you, I suppose.” Even as the words came out of his mouth James felt awful for thinking this. They all ought to be there for Luke right now, not expecting him to be a rock for them. Teddy appeared to share this thought, and looked rather taken aback.
“I’m sorry, I know that’s shitty” James muttered, frowning to himself. “I must sound like a right prick. I know it’s not his job to be propping either of us up, especially right now.”
“I think he’d disagree with you on that actually” Teddy replied, with a wry smile. “And you don’t sound like a prick. But I would like you to give me some more credit here, I’m not going to go round his and unload all of my shit onto him while he’s grieving.”
“That’s what I mean, though” James insisted. “You’re going to need someone who you can do that to.”
“What, I can’t phone you and tell you about it if I have a shitty day?” Teddy asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or if I’ve had a really good day but just really fucking miss you.”
“Of course you can” James said warmly.
“And I DO have other friends, you know” Teddy went on. “I’m not as much of a sad case as you make me out to be.” James couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“I just want to know you’ll be alright” he said earnestly.
“Of course I’ll be alright” Teddy replied, smiling in amusement now. “But I will fucking miss you” he added sincerely. “How about we make it two trips? I’ll come over there for a weekend and you come back here for a weekend. Long weekends, if you can get a day or two off. Then it’ll only be two months I have to go without seeing you.”
“Alright, deal” James grinned. That was the best damn deal he’d ever heard of. “Does this mean I’m going then?”
“Guess so” Teddy replied with a small smile, and James felt his own grin widen in excitement.
“You’d better write back to Bill I suppose” Teddy added, gesturing to the letter. “Find out more, so we can start figuring out the logistics.”
“Yeah, I guess” James said, feeling a little overwhelmed all of a sudden. He hadn’t really thought this far ahead. Part of him had thought he was going to have to turn it down. Now he was faced with actually following through on it, a lot more anxiety was bleeding into the excitement. Teddy must have read some of this on his face, as he turned his hand underneath James’s so the palm was facing up and gave his hand a squeeze while he shot him an understanding smile.
“I’m going to New Zealand…” James said, his voice coming out a little uncertain. But it felt good to say it aloud. It felt real. And it was pretty scary. But it was also amazingly exciting.
“I’m going to New Zealand” he said again, his voice much more confident the second time around, and he grinned again.
-
James Potter,
Hi James, my name is Yousef Mohamed (you can call me by my surname, everyone does). My old friend Bill Weasley has recommended you very highly as a curse breaker agent, and I’m pleased to hear you are interested in joining my team.
Do you have access to a muggle telephone? I think it would be easiest if we can speak, so then you can ask as many questions as you want. For now, here are the basics:
The new team I am putting together will be employed by the Museum of Polynesian History, but day to day operations will be run mostly by myself. We are mostly interested in recovering artefacts of historical significance, but any treasure we find along the way to help fund our excursions is obviously a bonus! I’m not sure what your historical background is, living in the UK I imagine you mostly deal with goblin treasure. I will expect you to have a working knowledge of Polynesian artefacts, so maybe time to start doing some reading!
The position is six months only, but if things go well the museum may want to extend the project, let’s see. I have some funding to set things up, so I can help you with travel and relocation costs. The salary is negotiable depending on experience, but I am afraid I probably won’t be able to match your current UK Ministry of Magic wage, we have limited resources here. I hope this does not put you off, because I think this job will be great experience for you. Bill says you are looking for something different, and I am sure this fits that description.
Please let me know about the telephone. I look forward to speaking with you.
Kind regards
Mohamed
-
Mohamed,
Thanks for your letter. This does answer some of the questions I had, but I agree it would be good to speak on the phone. My number is on the back of the letter, you can give me a call any time.
I’ll start studying up on Polynesian history right away!
Best Regards
James
-
James,
OK, can you do 8am UK time tomorrow? I know it’s early, but we have a 12 hour time difference here.
Thanks
Mohamed
-
Mohamed,
Yes, no problem. Looking forward to speaking with you.
Thanks
James
-
James got up when Teddy did at around 7am, wanting to give himself ample time to wake up before his call with Mohamed. This turned out to be a rather pointless endeavour, as he had barely slept in anticipation of it but he still didn’t feel tired at all. He was completely wired with nervous energy, which was only exacerbated by the cup of tea he’d had, the caffeine hitting his overactive brain and sending it into overdrive. The best thing to do to dispel the excess energy he now had would probably have been to go for a run, but there was no time for that now, so James contented himself with doing some press ups on the kitchen floor. Teddy had already left for work at this point, but James could picture the incredulous and amused look he would have on his face if he were here to witness this, which only served to spur him on.
He stopped himself with about ten minutes to spare before he was expecting the call, not wanting to sound out of breath on the phone. With the low thrum of adrenaline pumping through him James had barely even felt the mini-workout he’d just done, but he was sweating and panting by the time he stopped, so he must have been doing some work. He went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face before returning to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
The press ups had helped somewhat. As his heart rate slowly returned to normal while he caught his breath, James did feel calmer. Or less jittery, at the very least. He wasn’t sure if this exactly qualified as a job interview, but it was certainly the closest thing he’d had in a long time to one. He’d been head-hunted for all of his quidditch positions, the first minor league team he’d ever played for recruiting him before he’d even left Hogwarts. And then when he’d moved into curse breaking, his dad and uncle had pretty much gotten him into the training programme. There had been an informal interview of sorts, but it had been little more than a formality. This was the first time he’d ever felt like he would be expected to sell himself. He hoped he was up to the task.
The phone rang at exactly 8 o’clock – James made a mental note of this. Mohamed was punctual. James had been waiting by the phone expectantly, but he let it ring a couple of times before picking up, not wanting to seem over-eager (although second guessing himself the entire time he let the phone ring – maybe you were supposed be eager in an interview?)
“Hello?” James said as he picked up the receiver, pleased to hear that his voice came out calm and steady.
“Hi, am I speaking to James Potter?” a deep voice at the other end replied. The accent was hard to place, but if James had to guess he would wager it belonged to a non-native English speaker.
“You are” James replied brightly. “Is this Mohamed?”
“Hi, yes, nice to meet you” Mohamed replied calmly.
“You too” James replied politely.
“So, you work with Bill at the ministry?” Mohamed ventured. “Does he still have that long ponytail?” There was clear amusement in his voice and James couldn’t help but smile, feeling himself relax a little as he did so.
“Sure does” James grinned. “He’s had it for a long time then?”
“As long as I’ve known him” Mohamed replied jovially. “Ginger spice, we used to call him.” James burst out laughing at that. “Bloody hell, he’d kill me if he knew I’d told you that” Mohamed added, sounded unconcerned about it. “Anyway, it was good to hear from him. Sounds like he’s doing well. Family man now, is he?”
“Yeah” James replied. “Fully grey now as well, don’t think you can call him ginger spice any more.”
“Oh, that won’t stop me” Mohamed said calmly, and James laughed again.
“But anyway, enough about him” Mohamed added, his tone switching to a more business-like one, and James sat up a little straighter in his seat.
“It occurred to me just before the call that I didn’t actually tell you in my letter that the job is yours if you want it” Mohamed told him, and James smiled again. “If Bill recommends you then that’s good enough for me. I’d like you to tell me a bit about your level of experience, but this isn’t me grilling you, OK? I just need to know where you’re at to see how you fit into the team.”
“That’s- I really appreciate it, thanks” James said, a little taken aback by this. He hadn’t expected it to be quite so easy.
“Eh, even if you turn out to be a nightmare, it’s only six months isn’t it?” Mohamed replied breezily, and James laughed again.
“Fair enough” He said. “Um, well, I’ve worked for the ministry for about three years. I’ve been a field agent for that entire duration, started as a trainee and got promoted to junior agent about a year ago. I’ve done missions all over the world really, mostly collecting goblin artefacts.”
“Ever been to New Zealand?” Mohamed enquired.
“Not the mainland no, but I’ve done an underwater excursion off the coast” James told him. “We deploy more to Africa and Asia than anywhere else.”
“Makes sense” Mohamed replied. “Not much goblin made treasure made its way over here.”
“Mmm hmm” James agreed, racking his brain for what else he could tell Mohamed about his career so far. It had been pretty unremarkable, really. “I have NEWTS in Magical Creatures and History of Magic. But the UK curriculum is quite heavy on goblin history, as you might expect. I have been reading up on Polynesia, like you said though.”
“Yeah, that all seems fine” Mohamed said a little dismissively. James knew he was stating credentials that pretty much any curse breaker agent would be expected to have, but he wasn’t really sure what else to say.
“Ever done any mission planning?” Mohamed asked.
“No, but I’d really love to be more involved in that sort of thing” James told him hopefully.
“Alright, well I reckon we can do that for you” Mohamed said calmly. “It’s not that complicated really, thinking on your feet when the plan goes to shit, that’s the difficult part, and you already do that.”
James smiled, feeling some of the nervousness that had crept in a moment ago start to dissipate again. Mohamed seemed like an extremely laid back character, the sort of boss James had dreamed of having.
“What size excursion teams would we be?” James asked with interest.
“It’ll vary depending on the bounty I reckon” Mohamed replied. “Could be as few as two. Probably won’t ever be more than five. At the moment there’s only four of us – you’ll make five, if you DO end up joining us here.”
“Would you be coming on some of the missions as well?” James asked, surprised by this.
“Well I’m not going to let you lot have all the fun” Mohamed shot back, sounding amused. “What does your boss at the ministry do, just sit at a desk all day?”
“Pretty much” James told him. Mohamed made a noise of disgruntlement at this.
“Well, that’s not how we do things here” Mohamed assured him, and James grinned. “You’ll have to put up with me lumbering around after you in the field.”
“Honestly, that sounds great” James told him sincerely.
“Glad you think so” Mohamed said, sounding pleased. Then after a pause, he added “What’s your medical training like?”
“Not much beyond basic first aid” James told him. “We normally have a dedicated medic with us, here.”
“Hmm, well we won’t” Mohamed told him. “So we’ll need to upskill you in that.”
“Is that a problem?” James asked, a little worriedly.
“Nah, not really” Mohamed replied calmly. “We have a training budget. I’m sending one of the other lads on a course in defensive magic, but I assume you won’t be needing that?”
“I don’t think so” James replied, feeling good that he seemingly had something to offer his new prospective team in that regard. “Where are the other team members coming from?” he asked.
“Oh, all over” Mohamed told him. “I’ve brought one with me from Australia, that’s where I last was. One fresh from school here in New Zealand. And the last one is coming over from the states. You’ll be the only European.”
“Oh, wow” James said. That was quite a spread of cultures. Particularly if Mohamed himself was Arabic, as the name suggested.
“Yeah” Mohamed replied calmly. “We’re very international here. We’re quite excited at the prospect of adding a Brit to the mix.”
“What level is everyone at?” James asked.
“Ah, good question” Mohamed replied. “The simple answer is, I don’t really work in clear cut levels, as such. I mean, obviously I’m not going to be piling too much responsibility on our fresh grad, but I tend to give people as much as I think they can handle. So there’s not going to be any distinction of junior or senior agents, if you know what I mean. But to answer your question, I’ll be heading up the team, but as I’ve already mentioned I’ll be rolling my sleeves up as well. My colleague coming in from the US is about my age, twenty years in the field. The guy from New Zealand is our grad, coming straight from school. And the girl who came from Australia with me is about your age, two years in the field.”
“Sounds like a good mix” James said appreciatively.
“It will be when I’ve got someone like you to round it out” Mohamed replied. “We definitely need another person with a bit of field experience.”
“Well, I’d love to join you, if you’ll have me” James said enthusiastically.
“Glad to hear that” Mohamed said calmly. “But let’s not jump the gun, we need to talk numbers first. Like I said in my letter, I doubt I can match your current salary.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem” James said carefully. He had never done a salary negotiation before and felt rather awkward at the prospect. He had had a brief discussion with Bill about it over the floo, in which Bill had advised him not to push too hard on this, as he was taking the job for the experience, not the money. And besides anything else, Mohamed was sort of doing them a favour by offering James this job in the first place. It would probably be easier and less costly for Mohamed to have recruited someone locally.
“So the offer I gave to Ella was five thousand eight hundred galleons annual salary, pro rata for six months” Mohamed said calmly. “You’ve got one more year experience than her, but in this job you’ll be performing a very similar role, so I can bump you up a bit, but not a lot. I can do six thou, with a relocation package up front of one hundred galleons, to get you set up here. How does that sound?”
“That sounds good” James replied, surprised. That was actually much more than he’d been expecting. It was a step down from his ministry salary, but not nearly as much as both Bill and Mohamed had earlier made it out to be.
“What about holidays?” James asked.
“You’ll get ten days, plus any bank holidays that occur during the duration of the job” Mohamed replied. “But I’d ask that you don’t take any leave in the first month, while you’re still getting to grips with everything.”
“Makes sense” James agreed. Ten days would be more than enough for two long weekends with Teddy so that suited him just fine. “That all sounds great” he smiled. “Yeah, I’d love to take the job.”
“Brilliant” Mohamed replied, sounding pleased. “Well I’ll send you a contract over then. Have you got any more questions for the moment?”
“No, I don’t think so” James replied, racking his brain. He was too excited now to really think straight.
“Well you can give me a ring back on this number if you do think of anything” Mohamed told him. “Have a read of the contract when it comes though and see if anything jumps out at you. Once we’ve sorted the paperwork we’ll talk about getting you over here. I’m looking for you to start in about two weeks, does that work for you?”
“Yeah, that works” James replied, feeling a little overwhelmed again at the prospect turning into reality.
“You got a wife you need to talk this over with?” Mohamed asked him. James smiled.
“No wife, no” he replied. “I do have a boyfriend, but I don’t think anything we’ve discussed changes what he and I already talked about.”
“Boyfriend, eh?” Mohamed replied, sounding mildly surprised, but his tone was still casual. “He’s alright with you disappearing for six months, is he?”
“Well that’s why I was asking about holidays” James told him. “So I can visit, and he can visit.”
“Got it all figured out already, then?” Mohamed asked, sounding impressed. “That’s more than I did with my wife. She puts up with a lot, bless her soul.”
James chuckled at that.
“Where’s she based?” James asked.
“In Australia at the mo” Mohamed told him. “We’ve been settled there for about five years. If things go well and I end up staying in New Zealand she’ll bring the kids over and join me here, but we’re not going to pull them out of school just for six months. We’re waiting to see how things go.”
“That sounds more figured out than me and Teddy” James told him honestly. “I don’t really have a plan yet for what happens after this six months is over.”
“Would you be interested in staying, do you think? If it was an option?” Mohamed asked.
“I think I would” James replied. “But I’d definitely need to talk that through with him.”
“Fair enough” Mohamed replied. “Well, one thing at a time anyway. Let’s get ourselves up and running first. It’s good to have you on board, James.”
“Thanks” James replied sincerely. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Oh, you’ll come to regret saying that” Mohamed said amusedly, and James laughed. “So, give me a shout when you’ve got the contract. Or before then, even, if you think of any questions.”
“Will do” James assured him.
“Alright then. Bye for now then.”
“Bye Mohamed” James replied. “Thanks again.”
“No worries” Mohamed replied, before hanging up the phone. James put the receiver down on his end, feeling rather dazed.
-
The next twenty-four hours passed by in something of a blur. James made another trip to Diagon Alley to buy some travel guides to New Zealand, and to have another look at the mobile phones in the muggle tech shop, that he and Teddy would most likely be purchasing before James left. That evening he told Teddy all about the call, and Teddy had seemed genuinely pleased for him, although James noted there was still some note of sadness in his eyes about the prospect of them being apart for so long. James vaguely wondered if he ought to be more concerned about that than he currently was, but he was too overwhelmed and excited to devote much headspace to it. And besides anything else, there were a million things that needed to be done.
James’s new employment contract arrived in the post the very next morning, having been sent over by express mail. Nothing in it contradicted the verbal agreement he’d made with Mohamed over the phone, and James signed and returned it at once. That same morning he made a trip to ministry to personally hand in his resignation. Luckily, his notice period was covered by the rest of the time he was due to spend on suspension, meaning he could end his position there on somewhat professional terms. Anne had been disappointed, and Andrew had been completely gutted, but there was nothing anyone could have said to convince him to stay. The ministry weren’t exactly in any position to give him any incentive to stay anyway after everything that had happened. Under other circumstances, threatening to leave might have earned him a pay rise or a promotion, but as it was they just let him go.
It wasn’t until James was about to exit the building and wondering vaguely what to do with the rest of his day that it occurred to him that he hadn’t even mentioned that he was looking for other jobs to his parents, and that it certainly wouldn’t take more than a day for news of his resignation to reach his father’s desk. He stopped abruptly in his tracks in the floo lobby, wondering if there was any possible way of getting out of this. Of course, he could take his chances waiting until the end of the working day and going over to his parent’s house around dinner time, but that was a dangerous bargain. He knew his dad was probably going to blow up at the news, and it would be much worse if he felt he was the last one to find out about it. Sighing resignedly, James wheeled back around and backtracked towards the lifts.
He made his was down to the auror office with a sinking feeling. He’d been so swept up in the excitement of everything happening that he hadn’t even thought about how his parents might take it. He still wasn’t sure what their long-term feelings about it would be, but he was quite sure that their immediate reactions would be pretty much the same as Teddy’s first reaction was – that James was being rash and irresponsible. He didn’t really want to have that argument again, especially given that this was probably the least rash thing he’d ever done in his life. He’d never once agonised over a decision as much as he had when considering whether to even start looking for other jobs in the first place. And while it was probably true that once he HAD made that decision, the cascade of events that followed leading to him now resigning from the ministry had all happened pretty fast. But given how James had thought about little else since he very first got suspended, and had carefully considered all of the possibilities involved, James certainly didn’t feel as though he had made this decision hastily, or without thinking it through. The problem with that though, was that he hadn’t really made either of his parents party to any of this decision making process, so for them – for his dad especially – it was going to come very much out of left field.
“You again?” the unpleasant receptionist at the entrance to the auror office barked at James as he stepped out of the security corridor and approached the desk. He fought back a smile as he had a vivid flashback to the last time he was here, with Teddy flirting like mad with him.
“Me again” James echoed dully back to her. “Here to see Harry Potter, if I may.”
“Does he know you’re coming?” the woman asked him, frowning as though both James and Harry were making things intentionally difficult for her.
“No” James replied simply.
“Well I’ll have to see if he has time to see you then” the woman shot back irritably.
“He’s going to want to” James advised her flatly. “Tell him it’s important.”
“Every person who shows up here wanting to see him says it’s important” the receptionist countered, not looking at James while she scribble a note onto a piece of parchment on her desk.
“Well, it probably usually is” James ventured. “He’s an important man, isn’t he?”
The receptionist had no response for this, and ignored James entirely as she used her wand to send the note zooming down the corridor, presumably towards Harry’s office. James continued to loiter at her desk, more to annoy her than for any other reason. He leant casually against it for a moment or two, before she gestured pointedly to the seats against the opposite wall. Smirking to himself, James took a seat. As the receptionist went back to ignoring him, James felt some trepidation creep up again. He felt like he was sitting outside McGonagall’s office back at school, waiting to be called in so she could tell him off.
He’d expected his dad to send back a note, but to James’s surprise Harry appeared in person, stopping short of the reception desk, and looking surprised to find James there, which James couldn’t help but laugh at, because surely the receptionist’s note had told him that James was here.
“James?” Harry said, looking at him inquisitively.
“Hi Dad” James replied with a small smile. “You got a minute? I need to talk to you about something.”
Harry’s face hardened with concern at these words, and James could tell he knew bad news was coming. James couldn’t really say anything to dissuade him of this notion, as he probably would take it as bad news. At first, at least.
“Come on then” Harry said simply, gesturing for James to accompany him into the office.
“Hang on” the receptionist interjected. “I haven’t given him a visitor’s pass yet!”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Angela, he’s with me” Harry told her, waving dismissively.
“But that’s not-“ she sputtered. “He could go wandering off anywhere!”
“Well if he tries, I’m the head of the auror department, I think I can tackle him” Harry told her calmly, before walking back down the corridor away from her, gesturing for James to follow. James caught a glance of the receptionist’s offended expression before he did so, and snickered as he followed his dad.
“She’s a nightmare, her” James said to his dad once they were far enough away from reception to be out of earshot.
“She has to put up with a lot” Harry shrugged in response. “You’ve been showing up here a lot, recently” he added pointedly.
“Not pleased to see me?” James asked his dad playfully.
“I dunno, should I be?” Harry replied sceptically. He had a point there.
“Probably not, I suppose” James conceded. “Did Teddy tell you how I cracked his case, though?”
“He did” Harry replied calmly. “Made the pair of us look like idiots, truth be told.” James laughed at that and Harry smiled warmly at him. “You’d have made a good auror, if you only had the patience for it” he added thoughtfully.
“Teddy’s better suited for it than I am” James told him. “You’re better off with him.”
“I wasn’t thinking it had to be either/or” Harry replied, looking amused. “Mind you, I’m glad you don’t both work for me, we’d never get anything done.”
“He’s a bad influence on me” James smirked, knowing full well that if anything, the opposite of that was true.
“You’re bad influences on each other” Harry argued, and James laughed again. They reached his office, and Harry gestured for James to enter first, following him into the room and closing the door behind them.
His office looked much the same as it always did. Most people would have described it as messy, but James knew that it was organised chaos. There were towering piles of books and files, random bits of parchment scattered just about everywhere. On the walls there were mugshots, maps, spider charts and general notes that had been pinned up. Notably, there was a labelled diagram of a pair of vanishing cabinets on the same wall that also displayed several photographs of different types of mimics.
“You think this is where the rest of the bodies went?” James asked with interest, pointing at the cabinet schematic. “They were transported somewhere?”
“I shouldn’t really tell you that” Harry replied. “But yes, that’s our current working theory.”
“Cool…” James muttered, more to himself than to his dad. He looked over the pictures on the wall for another minute or so before his dad coughed pointedly, and James remembered where he was. His dad had taken a seat at the desk and was gesturing for James to do the same.
“Right, yeah” James muttered, sitting down opposite his father, wondering where to start.
“So, go on then. What’s happened now?” Harry asked, looking as though he was steeling himself for whatever was coming.
“I think I should probably start at the beginning” James said slowly as he mulled it over. Just coming out and telling his dad without any background information that he had resigned his job would not go well, so he probably ought to lay out the context first.
“Is this about your suspension?” Harry asked, frowning.
“Yeah, it is” James replied grimly. “I told you all about how that happened, right?”
“You did” Harry said rather warily. “But I thought you managed to smooth things over at the hearing?”
“Well, as much as they could be smoothed over” James shrugged.
“So there’s still a problem?” Harry frowned.
“Well…” James gestured vaguely as he struggled to find the best way to put it into words. “I got to keep my job without any real consequences on paper, apart from the suspension itself being on my permanent record. So in that sense no, there wasn’t really a problem.” James made sure to look his father in the eye for the next bit, so that Harry could see how serious he was being.
“But the proviso for me keep this job was that in the future I better damn well keep my mouth shut. Meaning if someone gets hurt on one of my missions in a set of entirely avoidable circumstances, I don’t get to say shit about it. And if my friend gets sent to the hospital with a head injury and the team leader wants to give themselves a pat on the back for it, I have to just let that happen.”
“I’m sure it’s not as black and white as that, James” Harry replied, still frowning. James disagreed on that point, but he didn’t particularly want to get into a debate about it.
“I talked to Bill about it” James ploughed on. “Or rather, he talked to me about it, I suppose. He said this sort of thing happens all the time. That people about my age start to butt heads with the higher-ups about the way the department is run. He said he even went through it himself. It’s a known problem in the department, Dad.”
“Alright” Harry said slowly. “Well if it’s a known problem, how is it dealt with?”
“People leave” James told him bluntly. “They look for jobs abroad. I talked to Bill about that too.”
“So you’re thinking of leaving the ministry, is that what you’re telling me?” Harry asked, his expression hard to read, but certainly not anything positive. James took a breath. Better rip the plaster off now.
“I just handed my notice in” James told him, pausing for a moment to let that sink in, watching the shock appear on his father’s face. Harry opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but didn’t seem to know what, as no noise came out. Fighting back his own amusement, James went on.
“I’ve been offered a position in New Zealand for six months and I’m taking it. I signed the contract this morning.” He knew that his dad usually struggled to process big news quickly, and might not be taking all of this in, but he also knew that his dad would tell him to shut up if he was piling on too much, and he hadn’t yet, so James kept going. “And me and Teddy have already worked it out. He was a little uncertain at first, as I’m sure you are right now. But we talked it over and I convinced him it’s the right thing for me to do right now.”
Harry’s face went through a number of different emotions at this, including shock and something that looked like annoyance, but his expression eventually settled on confused.
“You handed in your notice?” Harry asked slowly. “And you’ve signed another contract already? How long has this…? Your hearing was only a couple of weeks ago!”
“I know this seems sudden” James said firmly, wanting to get ahead of what he knew was coming. “But I promise you Dad, it isn’t. I probably should have told you sooner, but the details weren’t really finalised until last night. I’ve thought this through, I really have. I really think it’s the right thing to do.”
“Leaving the ministry is one thing, but… New Zealand” Harry looked at James like he was slightly worried he might be going mad. “That’s a big jump, James.”
“I know” James admitted. “If it was a permanent position then obviously there’d be a lot more to consider before I thought about taking it. But it’s only six months.” Harry looked as though he was taking a moment to consider this, frowning as he stared into space, then focusing his eyes on James again.
“How long has Teddy known about this?” he asked, looking rather unimpressed. James huffed a small laugh.
“Dad, don’t get on his case about it, he wasn’t going to tell you behind my back, was he?” James implored him. “Anyway, like I said, nothing was confirmed until yesterday.”
“And he thinks this is a good idea, does he?” Harry asked, looking rather sceptical about it. James huffed a laugh again. As though there would have been any point in him lying about that.
“Believe me, everything you’re thinking right now about me rushing into this or making a mistake, I guarantee you that Teddy has already said it to me” James told him. “I’ll convince you too, if I have to. Go on, give me whatever you’ve got” James challenged him. Harry looked rather taken aback.
“I’m not…” Harry shook his head, as though trying to clear it. “I don’t tell you what to do with your life, James, I’m not that kind of parent” Harry told him earnestly. “I learnt my lesson on that one” he added, looking pensive, and James knew he was thinking of Albus. “But resigning from the ministry is a big deal” Harry went on, looking at James seriously. “You do understand that, don’t you?”
“Yes” James replied, biting back his mild irritation at his dad stressing this point. He knew it would be remiss of his father not to at least make sure that James was taking this seriously enough, but at the same time he felt like he should have earned enough trust for that not to be in question. “I understand Dad, I do. But I’m going to end up getting fired if I stay here. I can’t do what they’re asking me to.” James heard his own tone soften at these words. That hadn’t even really occurred to him until right now, but as he said it, he knew it was true. Harry’s expression also softened at this, and he leant back in his chair, letting out a long and slow breath.
“Did you know that your brother is moving to Godric’s Hollow in September?” Harry asked James, who felt extremely wrong-footed by the abrupt change in subject.
“What?” he asked, confusedly. “No, I didn’t know that.” Apparently both James and Harry were out of the loop with each other lately. “What’s he going there for?”
“Scorpius has gotten some sort of research job down there” Harry told him. “Albus is going with him.”
“That’s…” James felt a bit wrong-footed by that news as well. He still tended to think of Albus as being a child. But he was eighteen now. “A big step, isn’t it?” James put out there.
“It is” Harry agreed. “So do you understand that you telling me that you’re moving to New Zealand in the same week that I find THAT out is rather a lot to take?” James let out a surprised laugh.
“Yeah” he said breathlessly, while Harry looked like he wanted to laugh as well, but was still quite overwhelmed. “I’m sorry, Dad” James said honestly. “I didn’t know.”
“Well, it’s not your fault is it?” Harry said, waving a hand dismissively. “But I hope you’re not expecting me to be the one to tell your mother about this” he added, pointing at James accusatorially, who laughed again.
“I’ll tell her” James assured him. “I’ll come over tonight. I’ll tell Al and Lily too, while they’re there.”
Harry nodded, letting out another slow breath, clearly envisaging the shockwave this would create. For his part, James thought his mother would probably take the news quite well. Better than his dad, at least, who hadn’t really taken it that badly himself all things considered. But then again, James didn’t really know what happened behind closed doors. He could also imagine that his mother would be kind and supportive to James, but then later privately weep to Harry about all of her children flying the nest.
“Is she alright about Al leaving home?” James asked seriously. Harry shrugged.
“She’s the same way she was when you moved out for this first time” he replied calmly. “She knows it’s time. But she’ll probably always think of you all as her babies.”
“Hmm” James frowned pensively, suddenly feeling quite guilty about not having visited more often. “Wish I had more time before I leave” he muttered, more to himself than Harry, but Harry picked up on it anyway.
“When do you leave?” he asked.
“Week after next” James told him, with an apologetic smile.
“That soon?” Harry asked, looking surprised.
“I know” James replied. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind.”
“You’re telling me” Harry muttered, running a hand through his hair, in a gesture identical to that often used by Albus, and James smiled at the familiarity of it. He wondered vaguely which one of them had picked it up from the other.
“It’s only six months, Dad” James assured him. “And I’ll be coming back for a visit somewhere in there. Probably at Christmas. That was part of the agreement me and Teddy made.”
“Oh, well you HAVE to come back for Christmas” Harry agreed. “It’ll break your mother’s heart if you don’t.”
“It’ll break yours, you mean?” James replied shrewdly, with a smirk. Harry made a conceding gesture.
“I’ll be in touch” James told him. “I’ll write you tons of letters. And you’ve still got Teddy around to keep you company while I’m gone.” Harry chuckled at that and James gave him a broad smile.
“Well that’s where I draw the line, at you taking Teddy with you” Harry replied, an amused glint in his eye. “I need him here to work on my cases.”
“I always knew you liked him better” James joked, and Harry laughed again.