Thanks Obladi and hprocks!
Chapter 40: The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
We spent hours unpacking and setting up the house. I was completely knackered by the time the sun rose. I had helped Mum and Ellie with the kitchen and dining room and we got them set up. There were a few paintings that needed to be hung, but that was it. Dishes, silverware, and cooking implements were put away in drawers. I knew it would take a while to figure out where we put everything. The kitchen was equipped with state of the art Muggle appliances. There was even a microwave and a dishwasher, neither of which we had in Australia.
The entire house was equipped for Muggles, actually, which made sense since it was a Muggle house. Electric lighting was in all the rooms and there were electric sockets everywhere. In our house in Australia, we had a few plugs (mostly in the kitchen), but now they were everywhere. I had no idea what my parents were going to do with them.
Mum and Dad had a few arguments about where to put things. They both had different ideas about how to arrange the furniture in the living room and in the den. And about which furniture to put in both of the rooms. Eventually, Mum got to organize the living room and Dad got to take care of the den. Mum put the fancier furniture in the den while Dad put the more comfortable homey stuff in the den.
The study of course became Dad's study and was filled with all the books he had acquired over the years. Despite the fact that his study was being set up for the first time in this house, it still looked in disarray after he finished. Mum sighed and shook her head when she saw it.
Apparently one thing Mum and Dad had been thinking about was what to do with the big room upstairs. They had no plans as to turning into a playroom as the real estate agent had labeled it, since there weren't any really little kids in the house. Instead, they decided to turn it into a library and study area. They put all of the bookcases that used to be scattered throughout the Australian house in it and added a few tables and couches and desks. All in all, it looked like a very nice room when they finished.
We all collapsed at the kitchen table when we finally finished the library. Mum dug around in the bag she brought and tossed a few sandwiches and bottles of juice onto the table. I wordlessly grabbed a sandwich and some juice and started eating. I was so tired I felt like I'd fall asleep as soon as I'd finished eating. I had no idea how I'd stay awake until the evening. It was only around nine in the morning. Twelve more hours until I could sleep.
"I suppose," Dad yawned, "That it wouldn't hurt to take a quick nap before we visit the Ministry."
"It probably would have been a good idea to set up the bedrooms first," Mum replied.
I smirked. We hadn't set up any of the bedrooms yet. Mine wouldn't be set up until I painted it, but the rest of them could have been set up.
"Lack of a bed didn't stop him from sleeping," I pointed to Matt, who had fallen asleep on the table.
"I call the living room couch," Mum said as she stood up.
Dad took the couch in the den and I went up to the library and curled up in a huge armchair. Mum and Dad left Matt at the table, since they didn't want to disturb him.
When I woke up it took me a little while to remember where I was. I gazed around the library, forgetting that we had moved. I yawned and groaned. I was still tired. I knew I couldn't sleep any longer, though. I had to get used to England time.
I rubbed my eyes and stumbled out of the room. I walked slowly down the stairs and into the living room. Mum and Dad were both sitting on the couch talking. They stopped when they heard me come in.
"Morning," Dad said.
"Morning," I mumbled, "What time is it?"
"Just after noon," Dad replied, "Now that you're up, we'll go to the Ministry."
"Oh, is Matt up?" I asked as I sat down on a chair.
"No," Mum answered, "But he'd sleep all day, so we're just going to have to wake him up."
I nodded as Dad went into the kitchen. He returned a moment later with Matt, still asleep, in his arms.
"He'll wake up on the way," Dad replied and handed Mum the crutches.
"We should stop by St. Mungo's as well," Mum said.
"We're Apparating to an alley near the visitor's entrance to the Ministry," Dad said to Mum, "Put your hand on my arm and I'll guide you there."
"Are you sure?" Mum asked skeptically, "You know it's hard to Apparate with someone while guiding another person who is also side along Apparating another person!"
"It'll be fine, Julie," Dad assured her, "Just hold onto my arm."
Mum sighed and motioned for me to go into her arms. I did so and we all disappeared with an exceptionally loud crack.
We reappeared in a dank alley that reminded me of the pub we flooed from in New York City. It was dark and there was a stinky dumpster next to us.
"Dad?" Matt yawned and looked around, "Er, where are we?"
"We have to go to the British Ministry," Dad told him.
"The Ministry?" Matt squeaked.
"Yes, but the Ministry here isn't like the one in Australia," Dad assured him, "You'll be fine."
We followed Dad out of the alley and down the street. I had no idea where we were going, but the area looked a lot like where St. Mungo's was.
"We're using the visitor's entrance," Dad said, "Since the three of you are technically visitors."
Mum nodded. We kept walking until Dad stopped in front of what looked like a standard Muggle phone booth. I had a feeling it wasn't that, though. Dad wordlessly opened the door and gestured for us to follow. Mum and I squeezed our way inside and I thought about how odd it would look to any passing Muggles to see all four of us inside one tiny phone booth.
"This is the entrance?" Mum asked.
"Yeah," Dad muttered.
I have been to the Australian Ministry numerous times. Most of them were before Matt was bitten, but even after we'd occasionally visit Dad at work. Not often, though, since the entire Werewolf Control Unit would stare at us as we went by. It made all of us extremely uncomfortable.
Dad picked up the receiver and punched in a few numbers. I couldn't see what they were, but they must have worked since we soon heard a cool voice in the booth. Dad put the receiver up to his ear and talked into it, despite the fact that the lady's voice was in the entire booth. I supposed he was trying to make it look believable to the Muggles.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic," the voice said, "Please state your names and business at the Ministry."
"Walter, Julie, Amy, and Matt Eckerton," Dad said, "We just moved here and need to complete a few registration things."
"Thank you," the voice replied, "Please take the badges and proceed to the welcome desk when you descend into the Ministry."
Four silver badges fell out of the coin return and Dad took them. He pinned one to his shirt, handed one to Mum, and handed one to me. It said 'Amy Eckerton- Various Registrations'. Dad glanced at Mum and then shoved Matt's badge in his pocket. Hopefully no one would ask as to why he wasn't actually wearing his badge. That would surely raise questions.
I was about to ask Dad how we were going to 'descend into the Ministry' when I felt the phone booth lurch. I jumped and stared out the window as I saw the ground rising. Well, it looked like the ground was rising. Actually, we were literally 'descending' into the Ministry. The British Ministry was underground! That was the strangest thing ever.
The phone booth settled into a large atrium. Dad opened the door and it disappeared once we left it. I looked around the huge place and saw fireplaces lining the sides. Every once in a while, a witch or wizard would floo into one of them or floo out. There were a few people walking through the foyer, but none of them so much as looked at us. They all looked rather busy.
Dad led us through the room towards a desk that was sitting at one end. We walked past a huge gold statue of a wizard, witch, house elf, centaur, and goblin. I stared at it, but Dad hurried me along.
"Excuse me," Dad greeted the old man who was sleeping at the desk.
"Huh, what?" the man sat up quickly and looked at Dad, "Oh, er, visitors?"
"The three of them are," Dad gestured to Mum, Matt, and I, "I work here."
That was strange to think about. Dad would be working in this odd Ministry from now on.
The man leaned over the table and peered at us each in turn. He eyed Matt's crutches suspiciously and I got the feeling he was just itching to ask about them. After all, crutches weren't exactly common in the wizarding world.
"You work here?" the man asked Dad, "Never seen you here before."
"I start in a week," Dad said, "Could we get on with it? We're kind of in a hurry."
"Right, right," the man shook his head and looked at Mum, "I need your wand," then he looked at Matt and I, "And yours, if you've got one."
Mum and I handed the man our wands. He examined them, used some sort of machine to find out the information about them, verified the information, and then handed us our wands back.
Dad nodded to the man and we walked through a set of gold gates towards the lifts.
"Oi!" the man called as we stopped in front of the lifts.
Dad turned around, "Do you need something else?"
"Just wondering," the man said, "Er, you're not from around here, are you? Can't quite place the accent, though."
Dad sighed, "We just moved here from Australia."
The man stared curiously at us. "Interesting. What made you move here of all places?"
"Listen," Dad replied, "We're in a bit of a hurry. I'd rather not discuss our reasons."
The old man shrugged. "All right...."
One of the lifts clanged and opened and we hurried inside. I wondered how often that would happen. I really didn't want random people asking why we moved here.
Dad punched the number 'four' and we waited as the lift started to move. A few minutes later, the doors opened and we followed Dad out into the corridor. As we left, a man wearing navy blue robes hurried past us muttering something about 'bloody weather charms'. His hair had a dusting of snow on it. I hid my laughter as he disappeared into the lift.
The corridor was quiet. I glanced down the corridor and saw three sets of double doors that were all open. I followed Dad and we passed two of the doors, which were labeled 'Spirit Division' and 'Being Division'. Next was a single door that had a sign affixed to it that stated 'Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures'. So that was where Dad would have been working if he had gotten the equivalent job. Dad led us through the third set of double doors that was labeled 'Beast Division'.
Inside of this room were six desks all situated in front of six doors that appeared to lead to other rooms. There was a witch or wizard sitting at each desk working away at one thing or the other. All in all, it seemed to be a very quiet office.
Dad led us straight to the back of the room, where two doors were leading to other rooms. One was labeled 'Werewolf Registry' and the other said 'Werewolf Support Services', where Dad would be working. I didn't see any door labeled 'Werewolf Control Unit'. They must organize things differently in Britain. I did see a door labeled 'Werewolf Capture Unit' adjacent to the Control Unit, but that was it.
"Well, this is where I'll be working," Dad said as we walked towards the Werewolf Support Services room.
"Seems like a nice place," Mum replied.
The witch who was working at the desk in front of that particular room looked up at us. "Oh, hello!" she smiled, "Mr. Eckerton, I didn't know you'd be in today."
"I'm not starting work until next week, Miss Lane," Dad replied, "I'm here on family business today." He gestured to Mum, Matt and I. "This is my wife, Julie, and my kids, Amy and Matt."
Miss Lane got up from her chair and walked to the front of her desk. She shook Mum's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"You, too," Mum said.
"Well," Dad said, "I'll show you my office."
We followed him through the door and into the Werewolf Support Services room. It was completely different from his office in Australia. In Australia, he had his own office that was the size of the entire Werewolf Support Services room. Here, there were three desks crammed into the room along with multiple filing cabinets.
Two of the desks were already occupied. One of them was cluttered beyond any possibility of organization and the other was as neat as could be. The third desk was bare.
Both of the other occupants looked up when we stepped into the room. The messy desk was occupied by a middle aged woman who was wearing a set of scarlet robes. Her greying hair was piled into a messy bun and she was wearing a tiny pair of rectangular eyeglasses. The neat desk was occupied by a tall skinny man wearing a set of plain black robes. His dark hair was perfectly combed.
"Walter," the man stuck his hand out, "We're looking forward to having you start next week. I even made Yolanda clear her clutter off of your desk."
Yolanda threw the man a furtive look. "He's not starting until next week! I had plenty of time to do that."
"Thanks," Dad smiled, "I'm looking forward to starting."
"We're glad to have you," the man continued, "That job's been available for almost a year. The two of us have been swamped ever since the last bloke quit. Nobody seems to want this job."
"Believe me," Dad said, "I plan on staying."
"Good," Yolanda grinned, "Is this your family?"
"That's them," Dad gestured to Mum, "My wife Julie, and my kids Amy and Matt."
"Yolanda Jenson," Yolanda shook Mum's hand.
"Carter Dimorio," the man did the same.
"Nice to meet you," Mum replied.
Mum and Dad talked with Jenson and Dimorio for a few more minutes. I stood near the wall and tried to peer at the parchment that was littering Jenson's desk, but I couldn't make out her writing. Matt stood behind Dad looking scared. Neither Jenson or Dimorio seemed to be staring at him like the man at the desk had. Both of them seemed very nice.
"Well," Dad said, "We'd best be off. I'll see both of you in a week."
"Take care, Walter," Dimorio replied.
"Bye!" Jenson said.
We stepped out of the office just as a large beefy man came barging into the main room. Matt stared at him and grabbed Dad's arm. The rest of us stopped as Mum put her arm around Matt.
"I'll need that Doxy Report by Wednesday, Miller!" the man barked into a room labeled 'Pest Advisory Board'.
"Yes, sir!" a voice shouted from inside the room.
The beefy man turned away from the room and grinned broadly as he saw us. He walked swiftly towards us and Matt hid completely behind Dad.
"Walter!" the man exclaimed, "Wasn't expecting you until next week!"
"Mr. McVicar!" Dad shook his hand, "I'm actually here on personal business, but it's great to see you."
"And you, too," Mr. McVicar replied, "And please, call me Rob."
"All right, Rob, then," Dad said, "I'd like you to meet my wife, Julie."
Mum shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Rob is the head of the department," Dad explained.
"Although I sure am looking forward to hearing Walter's ideas about running the department," McVicar said, "He's certainly got a bit of experience himself."
"Not as much as you," Dad pointed out.
"Ah, but we're always looking for new ideas," he smiled and turned to me, "Is this your daughter?"
"Yes, that's Amy," Dad said.
McVicar practically crushed my hand as he shook it, but he seemed like a nice bloke. Definitely energetic.
"Is your son here?" McVicar asked, peering around the room.
Matt slowly peeked his head from around Dad.
"Ah, there you are, son!" McVicar exclaimed. Matt quickly retreated again.
"Shy one, eh?" McVicar said to Dad.
"Er, yes," Dad whispered, "We've had certain, er, issues in Australia. I'd rather not get into it."
McVicar nodded. "Well, I'll let you get on with your business. See you in a week!"
McVicar barked something else into the Pest Advisory Board room and then left. Dad sighed and turned around. Matt was still staring at the main door and was ghostly white. Dad picked him up and Mum took the crutches.
"He's a bit energetic," Mum muttered, "But he seems nice."
"He's plenty nice," Dad replied, "Doesn't have a mean bone in his body, as far as I can tell. He's just, well, boisterous."
"That's a good way to sum it up," Mum said.
I would gladly take his loud and boisterous personality if it meant he was the complete opposite of Lubar. It would be a nice change of pace for Dad to work with people who didn't hate werewolves. Judging from the way McVicar treated Matt, he did not hate werewolves.
"Well, let's go get this over with," Dad muttered as he turned towards the Werewolf Registry room.
Mum nodded. "Never thought we'd be doing this again."
Dad knocked on the door even thought it was open. Someone from inside shouted for us to come in and I followed Mum and Dad into the cramped room.
This room was quite a bit smaller than the room Dad was going to work in. There were two desks sitting alongside two of the walls and a man was sitting behind each one. There was another door on the back wall, but it was closed.
One of the men looked up as we walked in. He put down his quill and got up from the desk. He was a bit on the chubby side, but nowhere near as large as McVicar. There was a pair of round spectacles perched atop his bald shiny head.
"Can I help you?" he looked curiously at us.
"Yes, my name is Walter Eckerton," Dad shifted Matt in order to shake the man's hand.
"Darian Kadmiel," the man replied, "Aren't you the bloke McVicar just hired for Werewolf Support Services?"
"Yes," Dad said, "I'm starting in a week."
"Ah," Kadmiel smiled, "Then what brings you in today?"
"I have business with your department," Dad muttered quietly, "Could we speak in private?"
Kadmiel glanced around nervously. "Er, of course, right this way."
Kadmiel gestured for us to follow him towards the door in the back of the room. We followed him inside. The room was tiny, furnished only with a small desk and two chairs. Kadmiel took the chair behind the desk while Dad motioned Mum into the other. Dad set Matt in Mum's lap and turned to Kadmiel.
"What can I do for you?" Kadmiel asked.
"Well, my son is a werewolf, so I need to register him with your department," Dad stated.
Kadmiel visibly relaxed. I stared at him curiously. I had never seen anyone relax when they found out that Matt was a werewolf.
"Oh!" Kadmiel sighed, "When you said you had business with my department, I thought you had some sort of issue with us. Good to know it's just routine stuff."
"Sorry," Dad said, "I didn't want to state explicitly what it was out there. I'd rather let as few people know about this as possible."
"Right, right, understandable," Kadmiel said as he pulled a piece of parchment and a quill out of the desk drawer. "I just have some paperwork to fill out. First, do you have his birth certificate?"
"Right here," Dad pulled a few pieces of parchment out of his robe and handed it to Kadmiel. "And visas."
"Visas?" Kadmiel asked as he looked at the birth certificate, "Oh, you're from Australia?"
"Just moved here today," Dad answered.
I was thinking the same thing Kadmiel was. Visas? I hadn't even thought about visas. Dad must have acquired them when he was interviewing for his job.
Kadmiel nodded and copied some information from the birth certificate onto the paperwork. "All right. Looks good. Date and approximate place he was bitten?"
"December 30, 2010. Outside of Brisbane, Australia."
Kadmiel jotted down the information and looked up. "Is he on Wolfsbane?"
"No," Dad sighed, "It doesn't work for him. No one has been able to figure out why yet, but he's signed up to participate in a study of the potion starting in January."
"Morris Sterling's study?"
"That's the one."
"I'm assuming you haven't set up a place for him to transform yet?" Kadmiel asked.
"Not yet," Dad replied, "But I have plans to do so shortly. I will renovate the basement of our new house and set up a safe room down there with the appropriate spells and charms."
"Sounds good," Kadmiel scribbled something else and put down his quill, "I'm also assuming he's already got a registration number from Australia?"
Dad nodded. "Yes."
"We should be able to use the same one here. I'll just have to see it," Kadmiel stood up.
Dad glanced nervously at Mum. Matt saw Kadmiel stand up and buried his head in Mum's shoulder.
"Actually," Dad stepped in front of Kadmiel, "Could I perform the viewing charm and just tell you what the number is? He had a very traumatic transformation in May that I'd rather not get into. But the gist of it is, is that he's afraid of strangers."
Kadmiel looked curiously at Matt. I could see a bit of concern and sympathy in his face that I had rarely seen in Dad's old colleagues' faces.
"Well, it's not normally done that way, but I don't see anything wrong with it. You know the spell? What was it you said you did in Australia?"
"I didn't," Dad muttered, "I was the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
Kadmiel gaped at Dad. "Was? And you decided to come work for Werewolf Support Services here? That's a bit of a step down."
"I was fired," Dad said, "And I don't think of it as a step down. I'm rather looking forward to working here."
"Oh, er, right," Kadmiel stuttered, "You know, I vaguely remember reading about you getting fired. Just didn't put two and two together."
"Well, I'm hoping most people won't. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread it around."
"No problem. Anything said in this room is always confidential."
"Good to hear," Dad replied, "I'll get you that number."
Dad turned to Matt and pulled out his wand. "Matt," he nudged him.
Matt turned to Dad. "What?"
"I need to get the number from your arm," Dad pulled up the sleeve of Matt's shirt.
Matt nodded and held out his arm. Dad muttered an incantation and a tiny row of numbers and letters appeared on Matt's wrist.
"64XF2J3847," Dad rattled off.
Kadmiel picked up his quill and wrote the number on the paperwork. "Got it."
Dad waved his wand and the numbers and letters disappeared. "Is that everything?"
"That's it," Kadmiel picked up the parchment and put the quill back in the drawer, "I'll see you in a week."
"See you then," Dad shook his hand.
Kadmiel opened the door and gestured for us to leave before him. I followed my parents and Matt out of the tiny room and through the Werewolf Registry into the main room.
A few of the secretaries glanced up at us as we left, but nobody said anything.
"That went well," Dad said as we walked towards the lifts.
"Yes," Mum agreed, "I like it here already."
"We've got to go register our place of residency now," Dad said as we got into one of the lifts, "Level five, I believe."
I punched the number five and the lift rattled shut. The doors opened again on a similar looking corridor. There was a sign that said 'Department of International Magical Cooperation.' We followed Dad down it and he stopped in front of a door labeled 'International Relocation'. Dad knocked on the door.
"Come in," a voice said.
We entered the small room and there was a young woman with long brown hair sitting behind a desk. "May I help you?" she asked.
"Yes. We just moved here from Australia," Dad pulled the visas out of his robes, "I've already got the visas, but I just need to officially change our place of residence."
The woman pulled out a piece of parchment. She took the visas and copied down some information. "All right. I just need to know your current address."
Dad rattled off our new address. I made a mental note of it. It would be a good thing to know.
The woman waved her wand over the visas and then handed them to Dad. "You'll need to go register with the Department of Magical Transportation in order to have your house registered as a wizard's dwelling. They'll get you hooked up to the Floo Network."
Dad pocketed the visas. "Actually, we'd rather not be connected to the network."
The woman raised her eyebrow. "Can I ask why?"
"I'd rather not say," Dad replied, "But I will stop by the department and let them know myself."
The woman nodded and stared at us as we left. Well, not everyone was going to not pay attention to Matt's crutches. It had been nice while it lasted.
"Mum, I'm tired," Matt sighed as we started down the corridor.
"I think this next floor is our last stop, honey," Mum replied.
"Yeah," Dad agreed, "Then we'll get out of here."
I was definitely ready to get out of there. It was rather boring to follow Dad around while he did all these errands. I wanted to go shop for the stuff to decorate my room.
We went back into the lift and Dad hit the button for level six. I leaned against the wall as the lift moved. Matt wasn't the only one who was tired. That nap I had taken earlier had long since worn off and I wanted to go to bed. Not before I got supplies to decorate my room, though.
The next floor again looked exactly like the others. I was surprised Dad seemed to know where he was going. He led us to a room that was labeled 'Floo Network'. It was a large room filled with cubicles and various witches and wizards walking around.
Dad went up to the first cubicle we got to. The woman inside was smacking her gum loudly and doodling on a piece of parchment.
"Excuse me," Dad said.
The woman looked up. "Yeah?"
"I need to talk to whomever is in charge of connecting houses to the Floo Network," Dad answered.
"Oh, you'll want Chuck," she pointed to another cubicle, "Chuck!"
A man popped his head out of the cubicle. "What is it, Nadine?"
"This bloke needs to talk to you!" Nadine shouted back.
Chuck beckoned for us to go to his cubicle. There wasn't nearly enough room for all of us in there, so Matt and I waited outside while Mum and Dad went in. We could see and hear everything, though.
"We just moved to England and bought a house that was previously owned by Muggles," Dad began, "But we do not want to be connected to the Floo Network."
Chuck looked at Dad oddly. "Er, all right. We won't connect you, then."
"The witch in the International Relocation office said we had to talk to you about getting our house registered as a wizard dwelling," Dad went on.
Chuck groaned. "She's always doing that. You actually have to go to Magical Law Enforcement to do that. There's a bloke there who deals with this sort of thing. Second floor. I'll have to talk to International Magical Cooperation again. I don't know why that witch always sends people here for registering their houses...."
Great, I thought, another place. We'd have gone to every department in the entire bloody Ministry by the time we were done! This was getting ridiculous.
Mum and Dad left the cubicle and we followed them out of the room. Dad let out a loud sigh as we proceeded to the lifts once again.
"This better be the last place," he muttered as he pushed the number two.