THE FIRST DAY IN LONDON WAS SPENT EXPLORING THE NO-MAJ CITY OF LONDON. He wanted to avoid as much of the wizarding world as possible. The most he involved himself with the wizarding world was being at the Leaky Cauldron and looking for the best way to get to to the Ministry from his apartment; which he found was a old red phone book just two blocks from his apartment.

That night, instead of unpacking he spent his time at the Leaky Cauldron. He had two drinks that he made last longer than usual, and another meal that Ramona had recommended. The Leaky Cauldron definitely picked up with its business as the sun went down, and Ramona worked the whole time. He couldn't help but watch her demeanor change from cheery and welcoming whenever she'd help a costumer to drained and exhausted as soon as her back was turned. He admired her work ethic, it wasn't that common to meet someone who could work a full day like that.

Once Leo thought it was time, he left and went to his apartment. And by the time he got to his door, he could already hear the couple arguing about something— from the way it sounded, it was about someone's family member. Leo wasn't sure how much of that he could take, so he made a mental note to work on some silencing charms to keep their voices from leaking into his apartment. But since he didn't work on that right away, he noticed just how paper thin his walls were— he could hear the no-maj traffic outside his windows too. So the next morning, he wasn't exactly well rested.

Leo got ready for the day, and grabbed a light jacket that he draped over his arm and tucked his wand in his hand under his jacket as he left his apartment. The building was still quiet, no yelling neighbors or verbally colorful old women— nice and quiet. So he made his way out of his building and then joined a handful of no-maj people who were walking the streets. The street he lived on was narrow and winding, but was just wide enough for cars to go zooming by. Once he made it to the phone booth, he took a step in and pressed in the the code for the Ministry; 62442.

     As the floor beneath him began to lower him down into the Ministry, he couldn't help but find himself missing the simplicity of MCUSA. For the Magical Congress, to enter it, it was like how you entered the Leaky Cauldron. You just had to know what door to find. That was all there was to it, and there was no need to worry about any no-maj seeing a phone booth change before their eyes. However once he was able to get a good look of the Ministry instead of just the concrete tunnel— he thought the Ministry looked much more extravagant than MCUSA. Although he was used to magic and everything you could do with it— there were some magical places that were still stunning, even to him.

     While MCUSA was well lit, and had natural lighting from its walls of windows— the Ministry had no natural light and was made up of tunnels. The walls were tiled to match the floor design, and there were golden candles along the walls. Golden statues stood tall down the hall he was being lowered into. And below him was a crowd of witches and wizards, all minding their own business and going to their proper departments. Some wore business casual clothes like Leo had chosen, while others wore colorful cloaks. Some had a briefcase in their hands, some had a newspaper tucked under their arm. Older witches and wizards looked tired, others looked agitated with the crowd around them. And as soon as the phone booth landed, he understood why. He couldn't even open the door and step without detouring people who were walking by him.

"Damn," Leo pushed himself into the crowd as they made their way down the hall.

      The hall came to an end at a huge circular area. There looked to be offices up and down the walls, and a large banner hung above all of the of the Minister of Magic, Cornilious Fudge— possibly the most idiotic man that Leo had ever even heard of when he would make visits to the the President of MCUSA. from what Leo could recall, nobody was exactly fond of the man. Then in the center of all of it  was a tall golden statue that doubled as a fountain, that portrayed a rather unheard of reaction of a centaur and a second creature looking up in awe at two wizards who stood tall above them...

However instead of picking apart the statue for its obvious misrepresentations of centaurs, he followed the poorly placed signs to the elevators.

Once he stepped onto one, there was a gray haired wizard in the corner of it, "Which department are you heading to today?"

"Magical Law Enforcement, please."

The man nodded and pressed the presses a button. "Are you the American Auror people have been talking about?" he asked, looking at Leo as he leaned against the wall of the elevator just before it jerked into motion.

Leo chuckled, "Well I hope they've been saying good things about me if they're already talking about me."

The old man chucked as well, "So it is you," he said, "Well, welcome to the Ministry of Magic, Mister..."

"Black."

The wizard stared at him, his eyes looking him up and down for a moment. "Black as in Sirius Black?"

Leo frowned, "There's always a bad apple in the family," he replied, "or as my mother says, there's always that batch."

"It's brave of you to come here, Mr. Black..." the wizard mumbled, "especially in the law enforcement department."

"Why is that?" Leo sighed, watching the wizards expressions carefully. Watching as he avoided making eye contact with him. "Because a few of my cousins are mad?" he asked, forcing himself to chuckle a bit to lighten the mood.

"There's that," he replied, uncomfortably chuckling a bit as well. "but a lot of people think that Sirius Black went to America. Hiding out there. Starting a new life and all that."

Leo chuckled, "Well, if he was there-" he began as the elevator came to a complete stop just as sharply as it had when it started moving and the doors opened, "-I promise my family didn't know about." he said as he stepped out of the elevator. "Have a good day, mister..." he said sticking his arm inside again so the door wouldn't close.

"Harelson."

Leo smiled a bit, "Have a good day, Mr. Harelson."

"You too, Mr. Black. Good luck."

           Leo waved a bit and turned and went on his way. The elevator dropped him off at the entrance to the department. There were dozens of desks that filled the open space; which looked over the fountain he had just walked by. They went in pairs, facing one another. Then on the opposite side was a office door that resembled the one Leo had in MCUSA.

He glanced at the door as he walked towards it, and then the desks, "maybe I am crazy for not running for the office in the states." he thought as he observed the obvious demotion he had accepted as he looked at the Auror's already at their desks. Some looked fine and well rested and were talking loudly across the other desks with other Auror's. While others looked unrested and were already working on paperwork.

           Leo took a deep breath as he got to the Head Auror's Office door. Across the dark wooden door was a golden piece of metal that read; Rufus Scrimgeour, Head Auror. He let out the huff of air he was holding a knocked on the door. Leo wasn't really one to be nervous, anxious maybe, but he wouldn't call it being nervous. However at that moment he was nervous. If Harelson was right, then being a Black at the Ministry was going to be more difficult as he imagined it would be. It didn't matter if he only lost one Auror while he was in office, it didn't matter that a group of three wizards who were causing major problems in Wyoming were apprehended by him and his second in charge while he was in office. What would matter was his reputation to go against orders...even if it got good results. If not better results.

"Come in," a voice called from inside as the door began to open.

Inside the office, it was well organised. There was a large bookshelf across one whole wall that was actually just filled with files. Three different colors filled the shelves, red, yellow, and blue. Then there was a window on the back side of the office, behind the desk that looked out into another area of the Ministry. The desk had a quill that was charms to continue to write and then the paper that it was writing on was moved to a blue folder, and the quill went on to the next paper.

"Much easier then hand writing the second report that the Minister wants in storage." the man at the desk with his eyes moving from Leo back to a paper before him. "I like to keep the original reports for awhile until I know things are over with."

Leo nodded, "Back at the congress I couldn't wait to hand them over." Leo confessed, "Are all of those files on different cases?"

Scrimgeour nodded, "Red is wide open cases, just ongoing reports. Yellow is final reports. Blue are the ones that are copied and where they need to be already." he said as he stood up and walked around his desk to Leo. "I'm glad you agreed to accept my offer, Mr. Black. But I'm sure your old department was sad to see you go."

Leo chuckled as he shook his new bosses hand, and got a better look of him. He was pale, and his eyes were a odd yellowish color. Like a cat would have, his hair was shaggy and graying— he looked like he had seen a fair amount of action and it aged him quite a bit.

"I'm sure others at the congress were glad to see me go." he confessed.

"I'm sure they weren't sad to see your success rate go." he said, "I must say, I was surprised when you accepted the offer. I thought you would have been seeking a higher position at MCUSA."

"I never would have gotten elected," Leo confessed quickly, "not with President Kole still in office. She's not that fond of my methods I suppose."

Scrimgeour smirked a bit, "Well, Minister Fudge stays out of my department. If I trust someone to come into it, then he trusts there's a good reason." he sighed, "Although, I'm hoping your partner will keep you from being too reckless." he said as they both turned to walk out of his office. "I don't mind a bit of quick thinking, however order following is something that I do hope you do here." he said, at first completely serious. But chuckled a bit to lighten the mood.

"I'll try my best, sir." Leo replied with a laugh as they approached a desk.

Leo assumed the empty one was his. Across from it was a desk cluttered with papers, and a woman sat in the chair. She had brown hair, and fair skin. When she looked up at them, the bags under her green eyes resembled the ones of the Auror's who weren't well rested.

"Ms. Corner, your new partner, Mr. Black." Scrimgeour introduces the two of them, "Well, you two get acquainted. Tonight's the World Cup, I suspect there will be a few OWL's."

"Thanks, sir." Leo said as Scrimgeour turned and began to walk away. Leaving Leo and his new partner. "I'm Leo." he said holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Lydia," she replied as she shook his hand. "welcome to the department."

AUTHORS NOTE:
Ahhh I'm so pumped for
Leo's story to unfold. Thank you
for reading! Huge shoutout to
justanillusion for creating Lydia
Corner!

I hope you guys enjoyed this
chapter! Don't forget to comment,
vote, and follow for updates!

Stay classy!
*edited 5/11*