Benjamin just wished the Minister would have found that he had no need to be here any longer, though he knew kicking the bloke out of his office had to be sly. Regardless, though, he knew that as long as the Minister wanted to stay, he would be staying. Simple as that, really. Sometimes, Benjamin really despised the politics of things. More often than not, he supposed. He was certain that the Minister wasn’t stupid enough to actually believe that he believed the Minister to be correct in anything, but he just needed him to have no reason to be around all the bloody time. “Fantastic,” Benjamin nodded, keeping his face neutral. How the hell was he expected to do his job as the Head of Aurors if he had to combat with the Minister at every decision for Merlin’s sake?

“Oh?” Benjamin asked as if he were surprised that the man had stated that. As long as there were still purebloods free on the street, he was certain that the Minister would find that the Auror Department was failing at their duties. To believe that some purebloods were actually innocent was apparently completely ludicrous. “Davina McCrae,” Benjamin repeated, nodding once. “Yes, well she has been questioned once or twice before, has she not? She’s that professor at the school, correct?” Benjamin inquired, trying to put a face to the name. He hadn’t been the one to interrogate her at the time, but he did remember reading over her file a time or two. “We can adequately question her, if that’s the need, no need for you to call her in yourself.” There was absolutely no need to call her in, though he knew that the harassment that the Ministry was placing on purebloods was nowhere near the end.

Anytime that Isaiah had to come into the aurors’ office, he knew that he was going to be in for an irritating time. It just seemed that Duncanson made everything more complicated, wanting to prove that he had power when he didn’t have nearly as much as he seemed to think he did. Isaiah could have him out of his job if he so desired it, the same way that he had emptied out the beast division the moment that it had suited him. There were official roads to take to do something like that, but it was certainly something that he was capable of doing whenever he wanted to. Right now, he simply had other issues to focus on that would keep Duncanson safe for now… as long as he continued to do his damn job, which he supposed the man did do—even if he did waste his time trying to help purebloods and hiring useless aurors. It hadn’t escaped his notice, of course, that a pureblood auror had been rehired after returning from Russia. Everyone knew that Russia was full of people who practiced the dark arts. Unfortunately, there was little to do about that at the current time, having to focus on his own region without thinking about the questionable practices in other ones. That showed that Duncanson’s hiring practices were incredibly dubious as well, and that would only help him if he did decide to boot the head of aurors.

The McCraes were a long line of dark wizards, having been with Voldemort from the beginning and probably having practiced dark magic since before then. Although the woman had been questioned before, Isaiah knew that she had to be hiding something, since her family was in the work camp and she was out free. There was simply no way that she was innocent, that much he knew for a fact. However, there was the irritating problem of proof, which he didn’t have even a bit of at the current time. “Yes, by aurors who are apparently incredibly incompetent to not have found anything,” he stated, sharply, as he had not been happy to hear about the last interrogation turning up nothing. Partially, he wanted Duncanson to turn him down so he could use his own methods of questioning, as they were far more effective than anyone in this office would be. “She has somehow tricked her way into a position at the school,” Isaiah confirmed, nodding. Isaiah had no idea how McGonagall had let that one fly, but it surely meant that her own hiring practices were questionable as well. “I want you to question her personally. I’ll oversee.” Isaiah told him, leaving no room open for negotiations. He wanted to see how the man questioned someone that was clearly guilty, seeing if he was effective in the slightest. If not, then Isaiah could just bring her in again, he supposed.

Benjamin knew that he would have to pull Tatiana aside and talk with her as he really wouldn’t want the news to come from Potter…at least, not without Benjamin giving her a bit more detail about it. He didn’t want Tatiana to feel that it was anything that she had done that caused this case to drop and he wanted to talk to her about different safety precautions he would like to see her implement for her own personal safety. He wasn’t certain that she would allow all of them, but it was his hope that she wouldn’t be completely stubborn to the ideas. It made Benjamin irritated that this case was being dropped, but he wouldn’t show it at the present moment, especially since he knew it was coming. He drug it out long enough until the Minister came back. To his disappointment, the Minister came back much earlier than he was expecting.

Questioning Davina McCrae sounded partially like a waste of time, except that Benjamin was also partially interested. Her story that he had read didn’t seem to have everything in order, though that could be blamed on the aurors questioning her. Particularly, Benjamin preferred to do some things himself, not that he didn’t trust the aurors. It was simply that people, he hoped, would be more open to certain types than others. He let the snide remark roll off, though he really didn’t prefer the bloke talking down about aurors. “I will look in my schedule, schedule her, and then inform you. Please, sit in,” he commented, motioning for the Minister to sit during the interrogation. If he had any hope, the Minister would not speak during the interrogation at all. That was very obviously doubtful.

Duncanson was just an impossible person to be around, it seemed. Every time that Isaiah had to come to the aurors’ office, he was reminded that the man in charge was certainly not someone he would have chosen himself. It was important to Isaiah to trust the people in the Ministry in positions of power… and by trust, he obviously meant that he wanted to handpick them and know that they would do what he said when it came down to it. As far as Duncanson was concerned, it seemed like the man just wanted to disregard anything that Isaiah said, simply to complicate matters. The fact that he had told him to drop that ‘stalking’ case weeks ago was proof enough of that, since he was back here ensuring that it truly did get dropped this time. Isaiah really didn’t have time to tell the bloke everything twice, but that was what always happened apparently. Duncanson wouldn’t make anything easy, clearly, and had his own opinions about nearly everything. If the man had his way, Isaiah was sure that the aurors’ office would go in a completely ridiculous direction, spending their time helping purebloods and other disgraces as opposed to helping to protect the innocent members of the wizarding world from those very people. A pureblood sympathizer in a position of power… it was absolutely unacceptable.

Sitting in on this interrogation would help Isaiah to see just how serious the problem was. There was no way that Duncanson would be able to hide how much he sympathized with purebloods in a situation like that, which meant Isaiah could note how badly the man needed to be replaced. He could also see how the head of aurors fared interrogating a witch, thinking that he probably backed off the second a conversation got a little bit serious and the woman got a little bit upset. He was dating a pureblood after all, which meant that he was obviously blinded by a pretty face. Seeing if he could interrogate this woman correctly would be incredibly helpful for Isaiah. “Good,” he stated, nodding. “Sooner rather than later, obviously. This woman is teaching our youth and who knows just how dark her agenda really is?” It was a wonder that she’d gotten the position, but he knew that McGonagall was ridiculous in thinking the best of people. She was getting far too old for her position in his mind, as she wasn’t thinking clearly, bloody obviously. There were so many people in the wizarding world that just made Isaiah’s job so much more difficult by doing theirs incorrectly.

Benjamin was irritated that the Minister was still in his office, but it wasn’t like he was going to flat out state that. He was also irritated that his hands were tied and he had to drop the case for Tatiana. It wasn’t going to be easy to explain, though he knew she would probably brush it off as no big deal. It was a huge bloody deal and even if professionally the case had to stop, he would still be looking into the matter at hand. Tatiana was his girlfriend, after all, and he had to look into it. Of course, not having the department’s resources would slow it down a bit, but he was confident in their ability. A part of Benjamin wished he could read thoughts because he would really like to know what even went through the Minister’s mind when he was being crazy as he was. It really did seem like Benjamin would need to be on top of things when the Minister was around, knowing that he would have to bloody cover up a lot so that things looked in order.

The fact that the man wanted to sit on in an interrogation meant that Benjamin really hoped he got contagiously ill before that interrogation. It was sure to go horrible and he did feel bad for this McCrae woman, knowing that she was going to have a hell of an interrogation. It was clear that he and the Minister did not see eye to eye as the Minister was simply far more discriminative than anyone that Benjamin had ever met. His hope was that the man would lose his position of power, but he really hadn’t held that much hope for that. Benjamin wasn’t daft; he knew that the interrogation was more about himself than who they were questioning, and he wanted to just tell the Minister to go ahead and bloody interrogate him if he bloody wanted to, though he wouldn’t. “I will set it up immediately and let you know when it will take place,” he said, writing a brief note of a reminder in his calendar. “It is important that the youth are not taught corruptible values,” Benjamin nodded in agreement, though he really felt like the Minister would teach them horrible values if he were to teach a class.

There were far too many purebloods that were walking about free and that was something that Isaiah found to be incredibly unacceptable. They needed to be regulated before they all just joined in with the Death Eaters, assuming that they all weren’t partnered together anyhow. It seemed more probable by the day, which was why these interrogations were so important to him. Each pureblood was hiding something, as they were all guilty of some crime or another, no matter how much they tried to cover it up. They thought that they were superior because of their pure blood and thus thought that they could get away with anything. The wizarding world had done nothing but prove that true for years letting pureblood families get away with absolutely anything—the Malfoys came to mind on this one, as well as the Notts, the Crabbes, McCraes, the Goyles… families that had tricked the wizarding world into thinking that they hadn’t been apart of the first war willingly and thus got to keep their money, prestige and power. Now that they had none of that, Isaiah hoped they would slowly be learning their damn lessons; but he was sure that they wouldn’t until he ensured that they had absolutely nothing left.

Duncanson seemed amiable to the idea of this interrogation, but Isaiah knew that the man just about never meant what he said. If he did, then he wouldn’t have had to come down here to ensure the head auror drop the case that he said he’d drop weeks prior. It seemed like there was a potential for Duncanson to abuse his power here, thinking that he was invincible and unable to get sacked. But if Isaiah found out that the man was working against him behind the scenes, he would have him out of his post so quickly. Hell, he’d gotten rid of people for less—but for now, this was too important of a position, so he needed it to be filled by someone who was at least vaguely competent as opposed to leaving it open while he looked for someone else. That would just be an illogical route to take. “Glad to hear it.” Isaiah nodded, hoping that the man was being serious this time. This wouldn’t be the first time for him to say he was going to do something and then not—as that was why Isaiah was here to begin with. “Yes, we’re quite on the same page with that; who knows what that woman is actually teaching them there?” He stated, shaking his head in irritation. She was up to no good, clearly, and she was in a position to do significant damage. Isaiah supposed that he could leave now that Duncanson was going to do his damn job, and felt like this had gone more productively than he'd been anticipating. "Well, that's all I have for you, unless you have anything you require my assistance on?"

Benjamin honestly didn’t know how Isaiah remained in his position when he was such a hateful person. He apparently was charismatic enough that he had gained the support of many, many people, convincing them of a better life. What they were actually doing was enslaving those that had tried to enslave them, making no real improvement towards the bettering of society. It had only been seventeen years since everything had happened and that seemed to be quite a short period of time to allow this society to crash so quickly. It was as if the Minister were purposefully trying to single-handedly take out the magical world, creating such strong friction that a war was the only thing that would actually make any sense to anyone. Perhaps the purebloods and the Death Eaters were partnering up to rebel, something that honestly, Benjamin wouldn’t be all that surprised to hear about and it definitely wouldn’t be something he would blame them for given their treatment. Even those that were not being officially punished, were still being punished, like with the death of the DiTraverso’s or the rejection of help like for Tatiana, or the intense repetitive questioning that was ongoing. There was only so much that people could take before they fought back and it was only a matter of time, in Benjamin’s opinion.

“I’ll also question her co-workers, off the side, of course,” he replied with a firm nod. Even if he didn’t agree with the harassment of continual questioning, he himself hadn’t questioned McCrae before and that certainly was a name that was good for joining the side that Durant thought of them. Benjamin couldn’t even consider it the wrong side anymore because what was wrong, really? It certainly was important that there were no moles at the school, teaching the students something extra that wasn’t approved. “Nothing that I can think of at the moment. If something comes up, I won’t hesitate to come to you,” he stated, standing from his position behind his desk and holding out his hand for the Minister to shake firmly. “Have a good day,” he stated, thankful that he was finally leaving.

Isaiah knew that he had doubters in the Ministry, and he did have a problem with that. He didn’t trust nearly anyone, and he particularly didn’t like those who did not support him. He knew how to play the part, for the crowd and for whatever company he found himself in if necessary. After all, he really did believe that he was doing what the wizarding world needed in order to get back on track—he was also just simply away that there were others that wouldn’t see it like that, hence why he had to keep himself outwardly charming, backing up his decisions with logic and making sure that the wizarding world only saw that side of him. Truly, he was doing what was best for everyone; his methods were simply ones that most wouldn’t understand. Duncanson didn’t like him, clearly, and so Isaiah saw no reason to completely hold back his opinions on purebloods and the like, knowing that he needed to be aware of the evils of purebloods as opposed to ridiculously thinking that they even had the potential to be innocent and contributing members of society. “Yes, good thinking. Surely if anyone at that school even has half a brain, they would see her for what she really is.” He did find it odd that people hadn’t before, though perhaps she really was that good at playing the part… but Isaiah wouldn’t fall for it, obviously. If she was doing all that she was doing, it was for some malicious purpose.

“Somehow I doubt that,” he added, getting to his feet. As far as Isaiah was concerned, Duncanson did absolutely nothing the way he should, and that meant coming to Isaiah with any pertinent information. It seemed like Isaiah was the last to know anything if Duncanson had anything to say about it, which was the sole reason that he came here with no announcement to make sure he was being kept aware of anything that was going on. It was why he made sure that his undersecretary came around enough as well, keeping track of what they were doing when obviously they didn’t want to tell him. That was why they were spending so much of their time helping ridiculous purebloods. Isaiah shook the man’s hand in return. With that, Isaiah headed to the door, glad that at the very least there had been a bit of productivity in this meeting. The head auror would be dropping the case of the pureblood ‘stalking,’ as well as scheduling an interrogation for McCrae. Isaiah had had worse meetings.

-END OF THREAD-