It's a revolution, I suppose
How could muggles do this every day? To the untrained eye, the sight of Addreig sitting squeezed in between two strangers on a train on the Underground was a normal sight as any. Everything about him blended in, including the well coiffed hair and the dapper suit. He looked the part of any other man going to work that morning, except of course, the expression on his face was positively murderous and he was drawing many, many wary looks from his fellow passengers. His facial expression aside, Add was further distinguishing himself by cursing under his breath at every bump and turn and trying to make himself as small as possible so he wouldn’t have to touch the filthy muggles. Westminster, which housed the Ministry on Whitehall Rd, was quite a distance away from his home in Upminster. To Add on this miserable journey, it felt as if it were miles and miles away. Every once in a while his eyes would dart to the map of the Underground that was plastered between advertisements on the wall above the heads of his fellow passengers. The sound of the woman’s voice on the loudspeaker made him jump every time thought it did alert him to how much closer he was getting to his destination.
The first few days after this whole disaster started things everywhere in the wizarding world, especially at the Ministry, were in shambles. Not only was Addreig beside himself, the whole Ministry was also at a loss as to what to do with the situation. For the most part, much of the normal day-to-day business at the Ministry had been put on hold or at least was being conducted at a snail’s pace given that the airplanes had stopped flying, the lifts were broken and most means of egress into Headquarters were out of commission. Many of the workers, regardless of the department, were tasked with what damage control was possible considering the lack of magic. Creatures were running rampant, wards were dispelled, things just weren’t working. Even on the train in muggle London, he could catch glimpses of headlines and hear smatterings of conversation about things the passengers had seen, including those that had seen his alma mater.
That day, Addreig had been tasked with cleaning up the riff raff that had taken to protesting outside of Headquarters. To add insult to injury their protest signs and chants all had to do with talk of muggles and compensation. Some of them were even being bold enough to poll the growing crowd that had gathered to ogle at them, wondering what they were on about. It was chaos! Just thinking of the situation made Add crazy, he hadn’t even laid eyes on any of them yet. Just as he moved to check his watch, the loudspeaker phantom announced the Westminster stop and he leapt up, making a run for the train doors. He couldn’t wait to end that nightmare. The only way he’d even thought of the idea was because he had decided to follow the cluster of muggles that left for work at the same time as him every day. If he’d known that his was how they traveled, he would have walked. And he’d had to break the law! He had no muggle money, so he’d jumped the turnstile and run from the police man. He ran until he got to the gap and slid through the door right before it closed.
Now he stood at that same door, waiting impatiently for it to open and when he finally did, he followed the line of people heading back up for the surface. He could hear the protestors all the way down the road and down the stairs from where they were gathering. His pace quickened and he muttered under his breath, cursing every last one of them before he saw their faces. As soon as he reached the building and saw the sight before his eyes, the veritable throng of people and the cacophony of noise was ringing in his ears, he began to scream orders and expletives at the mass of people around him. He was only adding to the spectacle. He stood there, gesticulating wildly, trying to size up the situation. There was little he could do and it was still early, another nineteen Officials were supposed to be meeting him to help him round up and write citations for the protestors. They began to trickle in, all looking as miserable as he must have right then and there. When enough of them, distinguishable by their fine dress and sour faces, arrived Addreig started to prowl the crowd.
“Get back here! Bollocks!”
Addreig made and failed at his first snatch at the protestors. The young wizard darted out of his grasp, waving mockingly at him from a distance. It was impossible to catch people without binding spells and Addreig was no fighter. He was by no means weak or slow, but he was just not built for intimidation or to beat anyone into submission. All he could really do was try to either get them to listen or exhaust himself trying. There was really no way to call for backup, owls would draw even more unwanted attention and lately seemed to be less interested in helping. Add ended up circling a particularly brazen group of men and women his age, just looking for a weakness in their ranks. They paid him no mind. Finally, he saw a young woman who looked to be the voice of the group. Even though it was his job to quiet her, he was impressed by her vigor. She was so distracted by her passion for the cause that he was able to sneak up right behind her and grab hold of her wrist. He gave it a swift tug and began to back away.
“I don’t know who you are, or why they seem to listen to you, but you’re coming with me. Just try to resist. See what happens.”
