abbotting:
There is little Hannah can do to stop herself from gaping like an idiot at the man in front of her, trying to work out exactly how she was supposed to deal with a situation like this. Small children, she could deal with. The lunch rush, she could deal with. Customers who had had a little too much to drink, she could deal with. There wasn’t much in this job that she hadn’t become pretty equipped to deal with.
This, on the other hand, was something else entirely.
Did this man even know where he was?
“You have…reports for the minister?” she asks slowly, moving further into the room. She wasn’t sure that the minister had even set foot into the Leaky in the last few years, let alone set up shop to take meetings here. “Sir…do you…do you know where you are right now?”
So help her, if he had a concussion.
At least, Hannah thinks, a cup of tea was something she could also deal with.
Barty raised an eyebrow at her. “I am in Waiting Room 1. The Offices of-” Barty hadn’t been a slytherin for nothing, and no-one came out of that house without a healthy dose of suspicion as well as confidence. He turned on the seat to look at the fireplace. Now that he was taking it all in...No Ministry signs anywhere. No notices about making personal Firecalls, or about the possibility of the Floo being monitored. “I can assure you I didn’t mispeak. I did say “Offices of the Minister for Magic.” “ He gathered the stack of parchment, lining the ends up and set it down next to him before rising.
The windows...were a little too realistic. He peered out of one, and down below, could see an actual street, with people moving. A familiar street in fact.
He stood frozen at the window for a moment, then slowly turned on the spot and took in the room again, including the abandoned breakfast. When he spoke again it was jerkily, mouth hardly moving. “There’s obviously something wrong with your Floo. Does Tom still run the place? I’ll have Weatherby send some Floo Technici-” No. He didn’t have that ability anymore.
Crouch closed his mouth and swallowed, face pale. “An error has occurred. I did not intend to come here.” Like a true politician, he refused to admit that it was his error, but also did not continue to blame it on the Leaky Cauldron. And now he really did need a cup of tea.









