The Ministry.

Blaine entered the room and clapped his hands together. "We have to take a quick apparation to Hogsmeade, there's been some protests against the fixings of Hogwarts. Come on, we've got to get going." he made his way over to Nicolas. "Ahh, it's going to be your first time out in the field, eh? Don't worry, it's not too bad!" He put his arm around Nicolas, but pretended he wasn't able to stoop down so low to his shoulders. He gingerly recoiled his fingers. "But... of course, it'll be rather harder for you... hah."

Nicolas gritted his teeth and shoved his hands into his cloak pocket. He hadn't even gone half a day and he already loathed his boss. And his boss loathed him. At first sight. This was ridiculous--since when had height ever stopped Nicolas? He survived the battle of Hogwarts! Surely he could survive a trip in the field with other Aurors. "I'll do my best," he said through his teeth, grinning falsely, and Apparated with the other Aurors.

Nicolas was back at work one day, filing away paperwork at his desk like usual.

In Blaine Bradford's office, he was being ordered to do something by his boss.
"I'm telling you, the kid's not set yet--"

"There's not need to object. He's ready for it, I know it. Don't decline it, Blaine. The kid's got talent. Hell, he's not a kid anymore. He's a fully grown man, a legal wizard. I mean, give him a couple more years and he could be ready to have an assistant! Now come along now, Bradford, let's go tell our dear friend the great news."

And so, they entered Nicolas's office. Blaine looked at dear Nicky in a look of utter annoyance.

Nicolas looked up from his work to see the PO'd face of Blaine Bradford. His heart skipped a beat when he saw his boss' boss standing nearby as well. Oh, gosh, he was going to get fired. No, worse--probably honorably discharged. This was great. No, maybe it was good news. He couldn't--shouldn't--jump to conclusions.

Besides, if he were getting fired, Blaine wouldn't look like he were about to strangle Nicolas--no, he'd be fighting back the sheer joy. As Rachel said, they were just jealous lost souls.

"... May I help you?" he managed to get out.

Blaine's boss nodded happily, his small eyes closed together from a wide grin.

"Congratulationsduetoyouramazingworkandaurortasticabilitiesyou'vebeenpromoted. Ifyou'llfollowmetoyournewofficeandwe'llgetrighttobusiness." Blaine said boredly and unenthusiastically. And yes, he did say aurortastic.

Nicolas stood up so he could be closer to Blaine's eye-level. Of course, there was the dramatic height difference and how Nicolas left a few feet of space between them, but nonetheless. "Pardon?" he asked. "You mumbled a bit."

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "You showed amazing work skills and your ability in battle is quite recognizable. You have been promoted to an official auror status, therefor get your own office. But don't worry, I'm still your boss." He said this a bit louder, but it was still quite the mumble.

Nicolas tried to keep the massive grin from approaching his face, and managed to turn it into a modest smile. This was a great achievement. Did many Aurors get their own office after only a year of working? Not that he knew. "Thank you," he said, shaking the hands of both Blaine and his boss. He quickly gathered his things and followed Blaine into one of the empty offices. He felt quite... proud of himself. Especially when he saw some of the other Aurors staring at him out of the corner of his eyes.

Once the boss left, Blaine returned to the office. "Here's yourpaperwork. Just because you got a promotion doesn't mean it's bliss. I'm still your boss, Sawyer. And trust me, promotions means more work." He walked over to the dusty desk- the room hasn't been used for over a year, and slammed a huge pile of paperwork in front of Nicolas. The pile was so tall that it hid Nicolas (if he was sitting in the seat behind him) and a cloud of dust lifted up a few inches before disappearing into the air.

Blaine was waiting annoyingly, his hand on his watch. It was a Saturday- And Nicolas was late for his interviews. There was a long line outside.

Nicolas appeared. "I'm sorry I'm late, I had fa--" he cut himself off mid-sentence, staring at the long line of people. "I'll just get right to work, then," he murmured, gesturing for the first person to follow him into his office. It was better not to make excuses and waste time when you were late and Blaine was your boss.

"That's a good choice, Sawyer." he snapped, and left for his office.

The first person came in. It was some big and hairy guy who had like, no hair and he was a bit old for the job. "... Hi." Despite being huge and bigger than Nicolas, his voice was quite high.

Nicolas shook his hand, a bit nervously. When he sat down behind his desk, he wiped his hand on the side of the desk. Eurgh, sweaty palms, he thought to himself. He felt rather self-conscious as he asked this older, bigger man, "So, why are you interested in being an assistant?"

"So I can get a fair amount of money, and pay for my apartment, obviously."

"... Just for the money?" Nicolas raised his eyebrows. "That's it?"

"Yep. Oh, I'm Bill Willus by the way. Is this all? I've got some other interviews to do in case I don't get this one."

"Erm, yeah, that's... it," Nicolas said nervously. He was immediately out. "When you leave, send the next person in. Thanks for the interest."

And so, quite a few people went, each one worse than the other. Then, entered some scrawny dude with bulgy eyes, and extremely sweaty palms. He entered in, and smiled at Nicolas. He jutted out his hand- wrong one, the left one, to shake his hand. It was shine and such. He had dark brown wirey hair that had side burns on the sides, and was kind of balding. "Hello," he said in an amazingly nasally voice similar to the one of Violet's from The Incredibles. Only even worse.

"Hello," Nicolas greeted, shaking his hand. Oh, gosh, his palms were even worse. He sat down behind his desk again, and asked the typical first question; "Why do you want to be an assistant?"

The poor guy froze up. "Hold on, I know this... Wait a second." He turned around and faced the wall. He nodded his head and counted to ten under his breath, and turned around, raising his hand in the number one position. He looked really pale. "Ummm..." With the other hand, he pulled at the collar of his shirt. "I feel as though I fit for the job?" he mumbled.

"Okay," Nicolas nodded, prodding him on. "And why do you feel that, Mr....?"

"Dwayne. Call me Dwayne. We should be on first name turns, considering how we're both like, going to be partners- shit, I shouldn't be like that. More modesty, Dwayne!" he said in his nasally voice and hit himself on the forehead. "See that? I just lost a few brain cells."

"If you know you lose brain cells, surely you wouldn't want to hit yourself on the head. If you're trying to train yourself, then you're going to get negative results by losing brain cells," Nicolas reasoned, then smiled. "You should think things through, logic is a very important skill if you're planning on going into this field."

"Logical! Okay, I got that. So when's my first day here?"