And then... [Elias]

The elevator had arrived at its destination fairly quickly all things said. Archimedes had braced herself for the lunchtime rush, that horrible period of time where getting from one place to the other within the confines of the Ministry was nearly impossible. Though it seemed as though luck itself had been smiling down on her on this particular occasion. Stepping out she made a beeline for the nearest break room, a container of leftover pasta she'd made the night before clutched within her grasp. It hadn't been anything particularly special -- just her usual fare. She didn't really see herself as "adventurous" when it came to her culinary skills. She kept it simple, much preferring to make something she knew intimately instead of experimenting and getting less than edible results.

Rounding the corner she could see the door to the aforementioned break room in sight. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation of the meal she was to consume, which prompted her into moving ever so briskly down the moderately busy corridor. She nodded to a few familiar faces along the way, though there was no time to stop and talk. Pushing open the door she was met with the sight of a mostly empty room, save for a few people scattered here and there. It wasn't hard for her to then claim a table of her own, tucked away in a corner. The chair was a bit uneven but that was the least of her concerns. Onto the table she deposited the container, taking out her wand and giving it a wave while muttering a spell under her breath. Instantly the contents within the container were heated up, and she paused for a moment before popping the top off, leaning back to let the steam vent out. And with it came the exquisite smell of reheated pasta, which caused her stomach to do a flip of absolute joy.

Bon Appétit. She dug into the pasta and shoveled a forkful into her mouth, chewing it slowly as she savored the burst of flavoring that was neither too bland or too spicy. A little sigh escaped her mouth after she swallowed, and she idly checked the time. Good. She had quite awhile before she had to be back in the department. Then it would be work, work, work until quitting time, though Archimedes was quite guilty of taking her work home with her. There were just a few more tweaks she had to make to the report she'd been working on before it would be ready for submittal. As always she wasn't keen on resting until it fit her own impeccable standards, deadlines be damned. She was used to working in such a fashion so time limits never really phased her much. Shoving another bite into her mouth she drummed a finger lightly on the table's surface, doing a bit of mental logistics as she ate in silence.

Elias had stayed at the office the night before until well after midnight, trying to force himself to focus on completing the report that was well overdue for the German ambassador. With all the distractions he had been dealing with lately in his personal life, work had been slipping, and it wasn't as easy as it normally was to make his way through his to-do list. The late working hours had been followed by a night of restless sleep as he tossed and turned, getting out of bed intending to write a few well-worded letters but then always returning to the comfort of his blankets before he could find a way to express what he was thinking without breaking anyone's heart.

As a result, Elias had shown up at work thoroughly exhausted and not at all his usual outgoing self. He put on a smiling face for professional pleasantries as best he could, but as soon as he had made it past all the colleagues he was expected to greet and was at his own desk in the Germanic relations office, he had pulled out his papers and set to ignoring everyone else as best he could. The double espresso he had purchased from the atrium cart on his way in was gone quickly, and he was left with only the feelings of responsibility and guilt to keep him awake and moving through the latest batch of forms that required signatures and logging.

Elias slipped out of the office a little earlier than usual for lunch, willing to face the crowds if it meant getting some more caffeine sooner and possible avoiding his usual lunch crew. Although he knew Edith wouldn't be there, he still wasn't sure how much any of them might know about what had been going on between the two of them, and he wasn't in the mood to try to talk around the uncomfortable subject of their absent colleague. He waited in line at the coffee stand impatiently, missing the distraction of work now that he had nothing to occupy his mind and no one to talk to. When he was finally handed his coffee and sandwich, Elias turned and scanned the room for an open spot.

His eyes landed on Archimedes Larkspur, an excellent candidate for a distraction from his thoughts. She wasn't enough a part of his usual lunch group for him to worry about her bringing up subjects he didn't want brought up, but was an interesting and likable enough woman for him to be perfectly happy to spend his break with her all the same. Besides, working on developing some of his other friendships might help him get other things off his mind. He approached her slowly, weaving his way through the various occupied seats until he reached her table. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Archimedes hadn't really expected anyone to join her for lunch -- not that she particularly liked eating alone or anything, really. It was just that in her personal experience, being a known Unspeakable within the Ministry, not many people approached her often. She reasoned it might have obviously been because of the nature of her work. She couldn't talk about it with anyone, and sometimes the conversations she had with other workers tended to go... stagnant. It wasn't like she couldn't find anything to gab about with them. But it often became clear that the effort was mostly one-sided, and it definitely didn't help when both parties came to the realization that they truly had nothing in common. From there things dissolved such that they at least remained comfortable acquaintances. A little head nod of acknowledgement in the halls -- maybe a polite greeting shared on the elevator, etcetera. She reasoned it was for the best. No use trying to make things into something they're simply not. That'd be like pulling teeth. Ugh.

But there were the rare exceptions -- like now, for instance. Archimedes looked up at the request to join her, face breaking out into an easy smile when she saw it was none other than Elias Dörfler. "Oh of course!" She moved her container of food cloer to her to make room for him. Now this was quite agreeable. She'd always found conversation with Elias to be pleasant and refreshing. They could discuss a wide variety of topics -- a farcry from what it would have been like if someone else other than he had asked to join her.

"How have you been?" She questioned, pausing after to take another bite of food. She couldn't quite remember when was the last time they'd talked. Seeing each other in passing certainly didn't count. "Any new exciting developments I should be aware of?" This was said in a purely teasing tone, a chuckle following afterward. She wasn't close enough to Elias to assume he would start to tell her about anything deeply personal, so she figured her joke would be mostly harmless.

He smiled as Archimedes made room for him to sit. He pulled out the chair across from her and set down his coffee and sandwich, eyeing her own meal. It looked homemade, and much better than what he had just purchased. "I should really start bringing my own food," he commented as he unwrapped the premade meal. While it wasn't bad, the Ministry's coffee cart was hardly known around the city for its offerings. "Though I suppose that would mean learning to cook more than pasta."

"I'm fine," he replied automatically to her polite question. He hoped the tone would sound casual enough. Practice made perfect, though, and Elias was getting used to using the default answer with anyone but his closest friends. Although he didn't think Archimedes an unkind person, he hardly expected her to be interested in hearing about the details of his private life. He lifted his coffee and took a sip to cover his distraction, wishing he would stop dwelling and worrying about such things. It was just lunch.

"Things have been quite busy in the International office, with the upcoming conference. I thought the Ministry might been done with all of the Dome business, but I suppose it was our department's turn to be affected by it." It had really been the Magical Law Enforcement folks, and the aurors, who had felt the effects of the dome during the winter months, but now that the magic had been lifted and the Ministry was starting to understand the nature of it all, it was moving into the territory of international policy. The conference, scheduled for August, would hopefully mean the return to a regular workload. "I suppose the Department of Mysteries has had their hands full all year with it, though, trying to understand all this old magic. I hope you have not been too stressed by it all?"

Archimedes' eyes twinkled with amusement. "Ah yes. Cooking. The bane of any man's existence." She said, winking at him. "But really, do you know what'll help? A good cookbook. Pick one up and put it somewhere you'll always see it. That way eventually you'll realize you spent money on it and actually open it up to make something." With a nod she stuck her fork into the pasta and shoveled a nice bite-sized chunk into her mouth.

When talk turned to the Dome incident she swallowed and went quiet for a moment, reflecting on what Elias had to say about it. "Yes." She started, meeting his eyes as she let out a sigh. "It was quite the hassle. Though really it was all rather fascinating..." She trailed off, setting her fork down temporarily as she leaned back and crossed her arms. "I can imagine the effect it had will be felt for quite awhile. Ripple effect and all that." She wanted to talk more about it but knew she would have to be careful about what she said...

"Hmm, yes. Stressful." Archimedes concluded with a little head nod, leaning forward again to take her fork and stick it back into the delicious food. "I was most worried about my younger brother and sister. They came out just fine, thank goodness. Gave my parents quite the scare, though. I thought my mother was going to apparate to Hogsmeade, march to Hogwarts, and try to rip the Dome apart herself if my father hadn't calmed her down." She snorted, choosing to dwell on the fact that the whole matter had been resolved.

Her suggestion made him laugh. Elias was never opposed to learning new things, and a cookbook probably would help. But all the same, it was a skill he had never been particularly interested in mastering. He wasn't fond of activities that left a lot of time for thinking and reflection, and waiting for a meal to cook properly and then eating it alone was much less preferable to going out with friends and enjoying their company. "Maybe I will try it out," he conceded, not wanting to seem rude. "But I suppose it would be more fun for me if I had someone to do it with."

Fascinating wasn't the word Elias would have used to describe the Dome incident: things more along the lines of fiasco, tragic, and horrifying came to mind for him. Still, he could see where she was coming from. It was old magic, created by some of the greatest wizards of the area ages ago, and it did make for an interesting enough study once everyone had made it out safely. Or at least, once they knew no one else would be harmed by it.

"I did not realize you still had siblings in school," he replied, grateful to hear that they had made it out. It seemed that a great number of students hadn't. "Of course, none of my family was involved. I have been lucky." It was comforting to know that two of his siblings had made it out safely from their magical education (something that always seemed like a risk, no matter what school one attended), and he supposed he was grateful too that Jürgen hadn't been at Hogwarts. But things at Durmstrang this year had hardly been perfect. Government interference, student wars, a death...and now their own type of imprisonment. "Are you glad to keep working on it, then? Or would you prefer to move on?" He was genuinely curious. It seemed like those who had been most impacted by the dome wished they could simply move past it, but perhaps being more separated from the incident made it easier to approach it from an academic perspective.

"Yeah..." She trailed off, thinking about how badly things could've gone for her younger brother and sister. "They're still shaken up about it, of course. I don't blame them. But they're slowly returning to their old selves... I'm not one-hundred-percent sure my mother is keen on letting them go back to Hogwarts next term, though. My dad has already been hinting that he'll need my help convincing her. If she had her way I'm sure she'd send them to Beauxbatons." Archimedes sighed a bit, deciding to take another few bites of food. "Hopefully it won't come to something that excessive, though."

His question about her being content with continued work on the Dome mystery causes a little quirk of her lips and a tilting of her head. "I suppose I am in a way. Not having been a captive of it makes it easier to focus on. The Ministry conducted interviews of those who were trapped. I've gotten to see some of the transcripts, which have only really served to create more questions than answers. Quite the enigma... I'd love to get to the bottom of it."

Archimedes then blinks, and chuckles. "But listen to me going on about other people's trauma like it's no big deal. My apologies." Even though Elias wasn't involved or had any family members who were she still felt the need to show some regret for her demeanor. "Anyway, if you're serious about wanting to learn some cooking I'd be happy to help. It's best to start out small and work your way up to the bigger stuff. Once you've got the basics down you'll be unstoppable."

Elias nodded contemplatively at her words, the story a bit too familiar for his taste. It seemed everyone who had been in the dome was feeling the same way -- glad to be out, but not quite the sameas they had been before. It wasn't hard to imagine why; going through a traumatic experience like that, genuinely not knowing whether you would escape or starve or be killed by a monster, wasn't a feeling that he expected would be easy to move on from. But he wished it was. It was painful for him, too, despite his never having been trapped in the castle. The way the memories lingered in everyone else's minds, the way the topic came up when he was least expecting it, even the way he had to deal with the pain peripherally every day at the office was torture. The constant reminders that he had managed to sidestep danger again, putting his own needs before those of others and keeping himself safe instead of risking it all to help those he loved, gave him a nagging feeling of guilt that he couldn't quite shake. And the worst part of it all was that it was too late to be any real help now. Those who were going to die had died, and those who had escaped didn't need him anymore.

"I hope not, also," he replied after a moment, realizing he had gotten a bit caught up in his thoughts. "Beauxbatons does always seem to be the safest option, doesn't it?" He had no idea why. Maybe everyone would be better off at the French school, hiding from the problems and the memories. "But I know how much you Hogwarts graduates love your school. It would be a shame to have to say goodbye, even after it all?" He posed the statement as a question, not sure if this was the truth. Having spent a year at Hogwarts himself, he understood some of the sentiment, but it was an attachment that still didn't make complete sense to him. It was, after all, just a school.

Her suggestion caught him off guard. Was she offering to teach him herself? It took him a moment to realize why he was hesitating, when normally such an opportunity to become closer with someone was a sign of his success and led to a generally pleasant experience, as he loved getting to know new people. The prospect of spending time alone with her felt like a betrayal, somehow, though he wasn't sure to whom. Zofia? Edith? His parents? Himself?

"Sure," he agreed anyway, offering a small smile. "I would appreciate the help." It was silly to be worrying about such things. His life was supposed to be going back to the way it had been, and spending his evenings in the company of others was a part of that. Pining over lost friendships and fretting over barely-beginning relationships was not his style. He looked down at the rather dry sandwich he had purchased for himself, thus far untouched, and remembered that a new friendship wasn't the only reason to accept her offer. It really did look pretty pathetic. "I think it'll be a good investment."