Isaiah was not pleased—in fact, he could hardly recall a day that had irritated him more than this one was proving to. Not that he would ever let that show, as he knew that there were too many eyes on him for him to ever lose control of his emotions. No, he would remain outwardly calm—even when he made it to his location to talk to his head of Aurors. Although he liked having people he trusted and handpicked in positions of such power, Isaiah had not been able to remove the man from his position, irritatingly enough. He couldn’t just fire everyone that he didn’t place in jobs, or he would have more enemies than allies. So for now, he’d have to tolerate the continued presence of Benjamin Duncanson, even if he didn’t like it. After all, better him in charge than Potter—the fact that the infamous boy-who-lived worked at the Ministry still irked him. He was a meddler, and Isaiah really didn’t bloody have time for his type—especially in such an important part of the Ministry.

At least he’d been able to oust Potter’s wife from her position in the Beast Division, he mused, as he strolled into the Auror Office. His work there was going far better than he’d expected, and he almost rather enjoyed contemplated just what his workers got into with the beasts there. He supposed the thought of torture shouldn’t amuse him, but it did nonetheless. It was what the beasts deserved, after all, and it was for the greater good. Besides, they were law-breakers, or his employees wouldn’t have had an excuse to bring them in.

Keeping a semblance of politeness, even though it was irritating him to do so, Isaiah knocked briefly on Duncanson’s door before stepping inside, “Duncanson,” he stated, letting the door close behind him before turning to glance at the man, “How are you?” Isaiah asked, deciding that the façade of pleasantries with this one was still important until he could get a better read on him.

@benjamin

Benjamin had been slaving away, completing various paperwork that seemed to be piling up by the hour. Sometimes, the paperwork just didn’t appear to stop, annoyingly enough. Of course, he supposed he added a lot of the work onto his own plate, too concerned with the changing tides against the Death Eaters and their families. Something seemed amiss, and a part of him wondered if the Minister had a hand in any of this, or all of this. Just the thought of the man was infuriating, Benjamin contemplated, having decided that the bloke was a ponce from their first meeting. Luckily, Benjamin had enough pull to remain in his position, fully aware that the Minister was interested in having him demoted somehow. Benjamin was bloody good at his job so naturally, he was able to convince enough people that he was the best in that position.

Hearing a brief knock on the door and having the door open almost immediately after, Benjamin knew exactly who that was before they entered. It was the same greeting that the man had every time, though Benjamin supposed he hadn’t known. Finishing off a signature on one page, he finally glanced up to see his accurate determination standing in front of him.

“Durant,” Benjamin smiled, almost tightly, with a slight nod. It was amusing to him why the Minister even bothered with the small talk. They both knew that their relationship was less than pleasant. “I’m as well as possible, and you?”

This man was a thorn in Isaiah’s side—as he concerned anyone that he couldn’t control an unnecessary annoyance. There were too many of them around, but there wouldn’t be for long. He would say he’d been doing a superb job of steadily placing people he trusted in positions of power. The head of the auror office clearly couldn’t be someone that he didn’t trust, that was a daunting thought indeed. Isaiah needed someone that he could trust to deal with the trash that they worked with. Their interrogations would go nowhere if Duncanson was running them—and that was the damn reason that Isaiah had had to put together his own interrogations, ones that weren’t led by this Death Eater sympathizer. He would never understand people that didn’t want the criminals to get exactly what they deserved; but having his type as the head auror, and Potter in the department, was a blight on the entire Ministry. Of course, there were still the official interrogations, as the criminals were the responsibility of the Auror Office, which was the only reason he had come here to begin with. Why the hell wasn’t there a damn way to get the man out of this position?

Isaiah paced momentarily, irritated that the man was still focused on whatever the hell he was looking at, though he didn’t let the aggravation show on his face. He couldn’t recall the last time she’d actually been openly mad, finding it much more prudent to focus on that anger internally and figure out how to solve issues that way. Besides, he didn’t want to be deemed erratic by blowing up at people all of the time—not that there were many that would speak a word against him. At last, not loud enough for anyone to hear. “Not well,” he replied, pausing for a moment in order to determine the politically correct way to word this. He was a politician, after all, even sometimes people were so bloody stupid that he felt as though they deserved to be talked to like they were a child—particularly when they weren’t doing their damn job the right way, “The interrogations your department is in charge of,” he began, keeping his face impassive, “Have you learned anything of importance or are your Aurors incapable of effectively questioning the crimi—families?” As far as he was concerned, all of the pureblood families were in this together, almost as much as a criminal as a Death Eater, even if they didn’t bare the mark. He would certainly figure out what they were hiding, though more than like in his secret interrogations than these ineffectual ones.

There was just something about the Minister that Benjamin hadn’t trusted. Perhaps it was the fact that the man seemed to be meddling in a lot of things that he shouldn’t have been meddling in. It was also mainly due to this bloke that the present situation was occurring as he was deadset on bringing upon another war. Benjamin understood the anger at the Death Eaters, but not at their families or purebloods. He understood punishing the Death Eaters, but not dehumanizing them. That would only cause anger to build up within the people who were being treated in that way and really, the Death Eaters had some powerful wizards upon their numbers. They wouldn’t sit by very long before they attacked. Hearing the whispers, he knew it was coming. Of course, he knew he couldn’t really investigate too much as there were far too many people watching him from both sides.

This man had been obviously trying to put only people he chose into place. Fortunately for Benjamin, the man had failed at kicking him out. The moment the man responded, Benjamin had to stop himself from audibly sighing. This man was just ridiculous, really, and Benjamin would be daft if he thought that he didn’t need to be careful to how he responded to this man. “My Aurors are fully capable of their positions, that’s why they have been given them,” Benjamin started out, folding his hands on his desk. Although he knew that he needed to watch himself, there was no way he was going to sit by and listen as someone dishonored his family because of their prejudices. He had noted the slipup of referring to the families as criminals, knowing that Durant would only be satisfied if they were all sentenced, possibly to death. Merlin, Durant probably wanted them to torture the people until they ‘confessed’. “We are doing our job and ensuring safety to the people,” he continued, not willing to really give the Minister much else, though he knew he had to be careful with how he answered questions.

What Isaiah found not at all reassuring was that Duncanson clearly did not like him either. Anyone who worked in the Ministry that did not like the Minister had to go, in Isaiah’s opinion. He didn’t have time for people he couldn’t count on, and even if Duncanson tried to mask it, Isaiah knew that the man hated him as well. Of course, that made it easier for him to not feel at all guilty for eventually firing him… once he figured out the best way of doing so—assuming that he could feel guilty, which was a rare occurrence indeed. But having a head of aurors that didn’t back the Minister was a problem that he would have to sort out sooner rather than later. This position was far too important for a man who was going to muck it up with his ridiculous opinions. He would have to figure out a way to relieve the man of this job, and suddenly a thought did come to him.

Perhaps Duncanson could have a mishap during a case, and get himself injured or killed. With the head of aurors so abruptly out of commission, it wouldn’t be at all odd for the Minister to appoint someone the job in the interim. Then, the interim would become permanent and he’d find someone he trusted in the position finally. That was certainly an idea, he mused, though he supposed it would be better used as a last resort. Did the man have any family to kill off, he wondered, knowing that a family tragedy would work as well. Isaiah was glad to be full of good ideas today, even if they were rather extreme options for most people. Organizing injuries and deaths weren’t exactly tasks that were new to him, so he would have to think on this further when he wasn’t in the presence of the man himself. Isaiah was already looking forward to having a man he trusted in this position of power, contemplating potential options already, “The results, or lack thereof, say otherwise. Perhaps I’ll have my undersecretary come by to look over pertinent files and paperwork to see how they’ve been performing,” he paused, considering. That might be a good way to get rid of Potter, “Sometimes a department overhaul is for the best in order to ensure you have the best of the best. After all, look at how well the Beast Division is doing, compared to their previous performance.” He supposed he was slightly biased in that respect, finding the secret mission of that department to be highly satisfying, “But by not getting information from these families, I’d argue you aren’t ensuring the safety of anyone,” Isaiah cut off, for dramatics, as he certainly knew the ins and outs of public speaking and holding an audience—even an audience of one, “Surely, you realize these interrogations would help to do that if only you ran them successfully. There is information out there that we need in order to prevent anything from harming the ones we care about. We all want the same end results, Duncanson… a safer world for our families.”

Ever since the Minister had became…well, the Minister…he had been hell-bent on getting his way, no matter who he had to step on. To Benjamin, that immediately showed terrible character and he hadn’t trusted the man in the slightest. He was sleazy and Benjamin really didn’t like sleazy. He didn’t like the Minister the second questionable decisions were beginning to be made at the expense of others. The bloke was supposed to lead, and he was doing precisely that. He was voluntarily leading them all into a bloody war for whatever reason he had. Maybe the man thought he was actually doing the right thing and if that were the case, then he DEFINITELY needed to leave office. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about that.

Benjamin watched the man carefully, even through noticing the fleeting look of distraction as if he were thinking deeply about something. If there was something that Benjamin noted about the man, it was that his ideas were terrible and selfish. Anytime he was thinking about something, it seemed like a terrible decision was made. “I like to ensure individuals are properly interrogated, not scaring them into make rash statements that are far from the truth,” Benjamin shrugged, his words implying more than he was saying. “I’d be glad to meet with your undersecretary,” or rat, “and review the files,” Benjamin smiled pleasantly, not at all wanting outside sources getting involved. “Of course, sir,” Benjamin nodded in agreement, not at all believing that the man wanted a safer world for everyone…or anyone, really. “Perhaps it would be useful for me to sit in on one of your interrogations to study on how to utilize your methods effectively? I’ll send my schedule to you,” Benjamin stated, smiling slightly. Merlin, he didn’t want to be by the man more than he had to, but perhaps that would satisfy the man slightly, and allow Benjamin to do a bit of innocent sneaking around.

Isaiah didn’t like Duncanson’s type—the type of person who would passive aggressively work for him, but undermine him when he wasn’t around. Everything that he was saying was just proving this further, and gave Isaiah all the more reason to figure out a way to get the man out of his job sooner rather than later. There had to be something he was hiding, something that he could use and exploit to get his way. Everyone had secrets, and Isaiah would bet the one that Duncanson was hiding was rather large for this ridiculous front that he put up. Though Isaiah did have a few buttons he could press in order to gauge his reactions and sympathies for the purebloods and their ‘plight.’ Already he was formulating the best way to bring up these topics, knowing that it was incredibly important to get this man out of here soon. His continued presence was only doing one thing for the Ministry, and that was slowing them down in their goals. He was hindering the process, and anyone who wasn’t on board with his mission needed to go… some more promptly than others. Duncanson’s position was of far too much import for him to be around, doing everything incorrectly for the benefit of these dangerous individuals, “I find that logic to be quite backwards,” he stated, shaking his head, “When they’re scared, they make rash statements that are usually the truth.” This may or may not be true, but Isaiah didn’t care either way if the statements the Death Eater supporters were making were true or not. If they wanted to rashly admit to something when under pressure, that was fine with him. They were all equally guilty and hiding something, as far as he was concerned.

“Good,” he replied, knowing that his undersecretary was on the same page as him with all of the issues going about the wizarding world. Cleaning out this department might do it some good, “Take Potter, for instance—how long has he been on this stalking case for, with no results?” Isaiah kept himself well aware of pertinent cases in the auror office, especially ones wasting resources like this one was, “The man got this position due to his heroic actions, but that was long in the past. Now I fear his mental state is preventing him for doing his job successfully. Besides, the bint is a pureblood. She’s probably fabricating this whole thing to waste the time and resources of the auror office to propagate whatever her agenda is,” Isaiah said, raising an eyebrow. This would be the perfect time to see what Duncanson really though of purebloods, though he was quite sure that the man was sympathetic to them, “Aren’t you seeing her, as well? From one man to another, don’t let a good lay get in the way of the bigger picture. Your reputation would take a hit knowing you fraternize with that kind,” he masked the amused smirk forming on his lips with a grimace instead, letting the statement sink in. Of course Isaiah knew about that, he knew about everything of importance going around the Ministry, “I’d get rid of that one while you still can, and close that ridiculous fake case within the week,” he ordered, having no idea why they were still working on it to begin with, “Exactly—I’m glad you’re on the same page,” Isaiah said, knowing that the man irritatingly complacent tone was just an act. Duncanson was just going to continue to undermine him, “No,” he stated, as the last thing he wanted was anyone he didn’t trust witnessing his personal interrogations, “My undersecretary can help you with anything you need, but my interrogations are closed to irrelevant parties,” he concluded, shaking his head.

How this man got voted into his current position, Benjamin wasn’t certain he’d ever figure it out. The man was sneaky and rash, he was heartless and he was cold. Really, Benjamin wasn’t certain he could determine any good trait that the man held, especially since the man was so devious and sly. He had successfully managed to convince the wizarding community that he was the best man for the job, but he had never convinced Benjamin. He didn’t like shifty people who seemed to be hiding something and to Benjamin, it had always seemed like the bloke was hiding something. Of course, looking into the bloke’s past and anything involving the Minister would be a sure way for Benjamin to lose his position, something he couldn’t give up given the circumstances. If Durant had his way, every pureblood would be behind those walls, working for pathetic wages and being treated like the ants on the street. Durant would probably punish the children, too, which was unfathomable.

“Well, that is why I have been given my position as the Head of Aurors and you are the Minister,” Benjamin replied, smiling slightly. “I’ve been trained in interrogation, and you’ve been trained in politics,” he shrugged, laughing heartedly to lighten the mood. However, he felt anything but joyous, really just wanting the Minister to stop wasting his time. The undersecretary was a dunce, someone that Benjamin wasn’t worried about. They could easily send them on random rabbit trails, getting them some information they “wanted”. Benjamin kept his face neutral at the mention of his girlfriend’s case, taking things in stride. “The man got this position due to his skill and capability, but I can understand the misguided knowledge that it was due to his heroic, which certainly would have been enough of a reasoning to hire him, anyways,” Benjamin explained, smiling proudly. “Potter did more for the safety of people before he was eighteen than either of us can claim in our entire lives,” he defended, really not liking when his subordinates were questioned as if they were the problem. “If you’d like to conduct an assessment on his mental state, feel free, Minister. But I guarantee the psychology of the situation will merely prove that he is a damned good Auror.”

Benjamin hated this man with a passion, he realized, thankful that he finally said something that indicated that he was against purebloods. “Do you have evidence of her fabrication? If not, then I suppose I will continue to do my job in solving cases, regardless of the blood status of the individual, yeah?” Benjamin stated, quirking an eyebrow at the Minister. Benjamin continued to keep his face perfectly neutral at the bloke, except for letting out a soft chuckle at his statement about not fraternizing with that kind. “Thank you for your concern; I’ll definitely consider it. We will get the case closed,” he agreed, really wishing there was an appropriate time to knock him to his arse. “Okay, sir. I will certainly come by to set up a time to work with your undersecretary.”

Duncanson never stopped irritating him, and never stopped proving how unsuitable he was for this position. Isaiah was finding that perhaps the Auror office was the next one in need of a complete overhaul, but that was a bit tricky. He couldn’t just fire an entire department and take his time in rehiring to his specifications—there needed to be aurors around or the Death Eaters and purebloods were surely to take advantage of the opportunity to do something treacherous when there were less law enforcement agent around to stop them. However, he wasn’t sure that the Auror office was doing anything to stop this from occurring as it was. After all, Duncanson was obviously a sympathizer. Isaiah knew that the man wasn’t a pureblood, and so he really didn’t understand why he would give a shit about these criminals. It was surely preventing them from doing the work that needed to be done in this department. He raised an eyebrow smoothly at the man’s poorly masked rude comment, but otherwise didn’t react to it. Duncanson had become the head auror while Shacklebolt was still Minister, and therefore had been in this position longer than Isaiah had even been Minister. But the man should be wary, because it had been easy enough to discredit Shacklebolt as incompetent, even if no one was aware that he’d had a hand in that. If Isaiah wanted the Death Eater sympathizer out of his position, it would be all too simple to make it a reality.

Apparently, Duncanson also supported Potter being an auror, which only further proved his incompetence. Potter was a fame chaser, trying to save the world again somehow with his ridiculous auror work. He was hardly even good at his job, and had clearly peaked at seventeen when he had defeated Voldemort. Yes, of course that was something that all of the Wizarding world needed to be thankful for, but that was a long while ago. Being grateful for what Potter had done would not stop Isaiah from rendering him irrelevant in the Wizarding world. “And he’s done nothing of importance since. How long will you allow him to ride on his past successes when he’s clearly done very little to help this office in the past years?” Duncanson had a soft spot for Death Eaters and for Potter, and that was simply unacceptable. Next he would be talking about how werewolves were misunderstood, or something ridiculous like that. “I’ll call someone in to do an assessment,” he stated, ignoring any word coming out of the man’s mouth after saying that he was free to conduct an assessment. It wasn’t as though Isaiah needed his permission, after all, but this might be the push he needed to get Potter out of the Ministry.

No, he really didn’t think that it could get worse, but Duncanson just became more deplorable by the moment. He sympathized with Death Eaters, was defending Potter, and was apparently seduced by some ridiculous pureblood bint who was quite obviously up to something, “And do you have any evidence that she isn’t fabricating it?” He countered, crossing his arms across his chest. The bloke was obviously distracted from any reason because of some bint flashing her bits at him in order to get her way. Isaiah did note the irritating comment that Duncanson made about solving cases without keeping in mind blood status, which was the opposite of his goals at this point, “Perhaps focus on individuals that deserve the help, then,” Isaiah commented, casually, as purebloods obviously did not deserve assistance from the Ministry. Most, if not all of them, were criminals. Isaiah kept himself from reacting to the man saying that they would get the case closed, which was not at all implying that he would close it within the week regardless. Duncanson didn’t know how to bloody listen, with that thick damn skull, he was surprised any words got through. Isaiah would simply have to keep a close eye to make sure that the head auror didn’t waste resources for much longer, “Good, I’m sure that will be quite the help for you. After all, there’s no time like the present to start making improvements,” and this office could use a hell of a lot of improvements, he added, silently.

They hated each other, that much was clear. They would really never see eye to eye on anything and it was a bloody good thing that the ponce couldn’t get whatever he wanted, abusing his power too greatly. Benjamin seemed to get along with most people, though he definitely tried to stay out of the politics, not that that was exactly easy to do. The more Benjamin stayed in this conversation, the more he really just wanted to conduct his own investigation on the dirty little secrets of Isaiah Durant, as surely a man this sleazy had them. Lately, it seemed like the Minister forgot his job title, mistaking it as some superior being over the entire world. It was as if he truly believed he was irreplaceable and untouchable, wanting to have everyone follow his every demand. Unfortunately for him, Benjamin was simply not one of those minions.

A part of Benjamin slightly worried for what this man was willing to do, knowing that there were quite a few purebloods in his life that mattered to him. Namely, his girlfriend, and his practically adoptive family. Merlin, even one of their Aurors was a pureblood, someone he had to pull strings just to get transferred over again. There was so much growing discrimination and hatred towards purebloods that it was getting out of hand. History did seem to be repeating itself in a sense, the rolls slightly reversing to allow this to occur. Purebloods and Death Eaters were treated worse than dogs, it seemed.

“I’ll take a careful look at Potter’s yearly accomplishments and deficiencies, put it altogether in a nice report, and send them your way for careful review, if you’d like, sir,” Benjamin stated, a rough smile crossing his features, his hatred growing for the man. “Potter has been a great asset to my team, hence why he is still there. If you have issue with anyone on my team, I’ll be sure to send you their yearly progress as well. And I very much look forward to that assessment. Please ensure that this one can handle seeing someone walk into our office who is bloody, yeah? I don’t need another repeat of last year in having to call a healer because the woman passed out,” Benjamin smirked, the memory playing forth in his mind.

“I understand your attempt at a point, Minister, but that is not the way the law works. We have letters and photographs and that is enough at the present moment. If she were to be fabricating it, that would have been discovered already, but I do thank you for that suggestion,” he stated, feigning sincerity. “Oh, I’ll be sure to keep an open mind for those who deserve our help, and treat them all the same,” Benjamin finished, really wishing he had taken a late lunch at this point with how irritating the Minister was. “Most certainly agreed, Minister. Anything else? Surely, a man of your position is rather busy.”