With apologies to Mundungus

[averygoodun42]

Remember around the time of your last birthday, I said I was working on a present for you? Remember how that present never appeared? Well, I wasn't lying. I was writing a fic, and then **poof** inspiration fled. I have determined that I am never, ever going to finish it, which I apologize for profusely, but I thought I would share what I did write.

It's not exactly DH compliant (not surprisingly, since it was abandoned well before the book came out) but it isn't really non-compliant, either - at this stage. It was going to be completely AU and a crossover to boot, but...

I'm sorry that this is all I have to offer you at this very, very late date, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.


The Ministry of Magic was quiet. Not so quiet as to make the wary witch or wizard suspicious, but quiet nonetheless. It let out a comforting creak here and groan there to ease its old foundations. It allowed the odd rat familiar to scurry around its halls and rustle in their owners’ cluttered inboxes. It even let a charmed window or two go on the blink, letting the sounds of thunderstorms leak their way into the building.

Yes, the Ministry was quiet, but it wasn’t resting.

It was watching one young wizard with more than a passing interest. The Ministry had watched this wizard’s forebears from its infancy, and the family was always good for general amusement. However, this young wizard, the Ministry suspected, was something special.

He looked so very young hunched over his parchment at his tiny desk, quickly scribbling out the last inches of the report that was probably due in a week’s time. He was only barely out of Hogwarts, if time hadn’t been playing her tricks, as she was wont to do. He didn’t look more than two decades at the oldest, but then again, the Ministry was surprised the other day when the Head of the Auror department celebrated her century mark. It still so clearly remembered her as a newbie in the training program, regularly getting lost in the lower levels.

This young man was a bit like her. He was diligent, possibly overmuch so, but every now and again he would show the signs of having an adventerous streak to suit his red hair. Red hair that currently had black streaks through it from where he ran his ink stained fingers in his absentmindedness.

The Ministry had seen the youngster wander aimlessly, obviously lost in solving some problem or another. It wasn’t about to admit it, but the Ministry often guided the young man, opening passageways and doors, knowing the youngster would get lost.

The first time it had done so, it had waited with an eerie stillness for when the young man finally became aware of himself and found himself lost deep within the magical building. It had been a test, and the youngster had managed not only to find his way back, but had taken pleasure exploring the passageways the Ministry had opened up for him.

It was pleased to have another youngster who was willing play with it, however unaware he was of its involvement.

But the child was on the zealous side. Those playful spurts were becoming quite rare as he got bogged down with more of his superior’s work. The Ministry hadn’t been able to coax him down a strange corridor for nearly a year.

It was true that the youngster hadn’t seemed in good spirits lately, though. He had a slight stoop to his shoulders that belied a problem, maybe a grief, that was bothering him. That bothered the Ministry.

So, that night, the Ministry waited. It waited while the young man finished his report. It waited as the young man heaved a sigh before donning his black travelling cloak. It waited and watched as the man doused the lights with a distracted flick of his wrist, and made his way out to the corridor.

As soon as the young man closed the door behind him, the Ministry stopped waiting.

It let the young man walk down his routine path, knowing that the timing wasn’t quite right. It let the wizard reach the main corridor. It allowed the man to call for the lift and offered no resistance when the doors opened. It didn’t, however, let the lift take him where he wanted to go.

Instead of going up, the Ministry sent the lift down. He could feel the wizard's unease grow as floor after floor slipped by and peak when the doors opened on a forbidden corridor. The man got out, as the Ministry knew he would, but it could see the wizard's shoulders tense.

It watched as the man tried to make up his mind on what to do, and decided to make it easy for the boy. It shut the lift doors, trapping the child where he was. All that was left to do was to wait and see what course the boy's path would take.

Comments

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I find Sparrow very difficult to write, too, for all that there's nothing I'd like to do in PotC more than write a post-AWE fic and slash him with Norrington :D. I'm so curious as to how you had initially planned to bring Sparrow into the story- I'm constantly in awe of skillful crossovers, especially when they're done in fandoms I know and love.