[Paris] beyond the mundane [sylvain]

Fabien had been wearing clean, tidy blue robes when he had arrived at work this morning. He really should have known better after five months working in the Ludicrous Patents office. Now it was lunchtime, and were it not for the smell he knew was pervading his end of the office he might have chosen to remain at his desk and make do with a cappucino from the machine. That, and the fact he and Sylvain had agreed to meet for lunch today. While he could have sent a matagot to his friend's department suggesting a postponement (it wasn't really an acceptable use for the phantom cats, but nobody would realise it wasn't an important message), he didn't really want to cancel. Besides he was hungry, and on Wednesdays the cafeteria served his favourite quiche lorraine.

Rising to his feet and taking a deep breath, Fabien uncast the bubble head charm, strapped his wand to his walking stick with a quick word and with the ease of months of practise made his way to the door, reaching the corridor outside just before he needed to breathe again. Really, whoever thought a self-activating bad egg detector was a good idea needed a good course of shock spells. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd thought about including a way to deactivate the thing so there was a way of shutting off the high-pitched squeal it emitted once it had exploded the rotten egg all over his desk and robes.

At least he'd managed to clean his robes, even if they were still obviously damp. Cleaning charms were another thing one mastered quickly in this department. Not for the first time, Fabien wondered if he should consider taking another NEWT to improve his chances of getting a promotion, though he was unsure which subject to try for. Maybe Sylvain would have some ideas.

After sitting at his desk for most of the morning he decided he needed some exercise, and thus took the stairs up a single flight to the atrium where his friend was already sitting in the cafe. 

“Don't ask” Fabien said darkly, warding off the inevitable question about what had exploding across his robes today.

@Sylvain Chéret

It was again one of these work days when Sylvain checked his watch every few minutes to see how much time was left until the lunch break and then, after lunch, he knew he'd check when it was time to go home. It was not that he had no work to do. In fact, there was a pile of application forms from people who wanted to connect their chimney to the floo network. Sylvain was in no position to accept or deny the applications – all he had to do was to put a receipt stamp on them, check if the form was filled completely and either put it on a pile to forward it to his superior or on a pile of those forms that had to be returned to the sender because they were incomplete. The second pile was the only Félicienne dealt with. She'd write letters according to the notes he had left for her. It was… dull.

In Sylvain's job there were actually several levels of boredom. The floo neetwork application forms were quite high up there. He could safely say that right now that he was facing them he could not think of anything he'd find less intriguing. He rather liked it when he was sent to check the situation on site but that was only a pleasure he had once or twice a month.

For a moment he just stared across the desk at Félicienne not even realising that she was staring back at him until she spoke to him. Sylvain startled and checked his watch again. It seemed like the minute hand had barely moved since he had last looked at it. He sighed and talked to Félicienne for a moment before checking the next form.

Finally, after what had felt like eternity, the watch showed him the time he had been longing to see. He made his way to the atrium, feeling relieved that he could leave the sticky office. He sat down in the café, waiting for Fabien who should be there any minute now. Sylvain was glad that he he had friends in other departments of the ministry.

When Fabien came into view, Sylvain grinned. Quite obviously Fabien's day had been more exciting than his. “Oh please! You won't tell me what happened?!?” He asked incredulously. “It might be the most interesting thing I hear this week,” he joked. “I'd tell you about my work day so far but we'd both fall asleep over that.”

Fabien's lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile as he snorted in amusement at Sylvain's response and shook his head. Coming from him, it was the equivalent of uproarious laughter.

"Very well. I'll tell you after there is food on this table. Let me see...plat du jour?" he enquired. That was Fabien's preferred choice for lunch, together with iced lemon tea, mainly because he preferred not to think too deeply about what was on his plate while he was at work. Simply ordering whatever the daily special was, as he did now, saved time and allowed him a longer respite from needing to use his brain, not that he needed to very often in his department.

The cafeteria, being magical, didn't keep anyone waiting for long and less than a minute after the two young men had placed their orders the food appeared on the table, complete with drinks, cutlery all that made it every bit as acceptable as a conventional restaurant. Next to their table was a fragrant jasmine, climbing a trellis that separated them from those who were eating nearby. The garden-esque layout made the place feel fresh and spacious even at busy times like now, when almost all the regular Ministry staff arrived en masse for their midday break. Fabien lifted his knife and fork and took a first taste of the meal before he spoke again, not at all concerned that he was keeping Sylvain waiting.

"So. Another magnificent invention created by a truly brilliant wizard who definitely doesn't need locking up for their own safety," he began, words dripping with familiar sarcasm "but what was it today, I hear you ask. I shall give you a clue. Today's stains - for which I was fortunate enough to learn a cleaning charm, though not yet an instant-drying one - were egg. And not, I might add, anything near as delicious as the ones in this quiche. You have three guesses as to what patent I have rejected this morning. Starting...now."

The fact that Fabien seemed amused made Sylvain feel like spending their lunch break together today was clearly the best idea so far this week. However, his friend was either really hungry or liked the idea of keeping Sylvain in suspense as he said he'd only tell him what had happened when they'd have food on the table. Sylvain assumed it was the latter but he didn't mind it much as long as Fabien would tell him all about his day so far at some point.

As Fabien placed his order, Sylvain just nodded along, saying that he'd take the same once the other man had finished. The lunch breaks were never really long enough to waste the time on studying the entire menu and figuring out which plate might be better then the plat du jour.

So his friend wanted to make a guessing game out of this? Sylvain laughed. The hints that Fabien had dropped seemed to lead quite clearly towards something that had to do with rotten eggs.

“Well, sounds like something to do with rotten eggs.” He paused briefly, taking a sip from his iced tea while thinking what could possibly have been invented that had to do with rotten eggs. “Some sort of detecting machine that tells you if eggs are still good?” He asked and shrugged. “By the sound of it it still needs some fine tuning if the eggs explode in the process.”

He took a bite of his meal now. “That's actually rather good,” he acknowledged. “So, what else is new with you? Quite obviously your life is a lot more exciting than mine. By now I'd consider it the highlight of the day if I was confronted with rotten eggs at my job!”

By turning the conversation into a kind of riddle, Fabien had given himself a couple of minutes in which he could eat undisturbed. The fact that his friend was talking didn't count; he could comfortably listen and eat at the same time, nodding his head at appropriate times. At least he'd amused Sylvain, which was really the only good thing to come out of a particularly trying morning. The other man was attempting to guess the invention, which really wasn't going to be that difficult after the clues Fabien had given.

“You win first prize, on two counts” he said after swallowing a mouthful of salad “Today's first rejection is a self-activating bad-egg detector which, as you correctly surmise, had not been sufficiently tested before the patent was applied for because not only does it appear to take offence at all eggs, regardless of their condition, but it fires them at the ceiling. Because, presumably, if you're the kind of idiot who spawns such an invention what you desire most in the world is a ceiling covered in bad eggs...”  he shook his head in disgust.

“So, needless to say, that one will be rejected and this afternoon I shall be contemplating which NEWT I shall study for next in order to not spend the next decade in that office. Although” he smirked, and might not have been entirely joking when he said “if you're really as bored as you say I'd be quite happy to bring the device down to your office?” He took another bite of his food, which was half-gone already - Fabien was a fast eater unless he wanted to relax and appreciate his surroundings, which didn't tend to happen at work - and added “so should I ask how your morning has been and what delights await your return, or will your response lull me to sleep?”

Sylvain couldn't hide an amused grin as he listened to Fabien's description of the rotten egg detector. It was amazing what some people came up with and it was ridiculous that they thought that the world needed these inventions. While Sylvain considered his own job entirely lame, he thought that his friend's job had to be rather frustrating as well - in a different way though. It surely was amusing sometimes to check the inventions but it did feel like a waste of capacities to have people deal with things like that. However, Sylvain thought that he'd much rather deal with that job than with his own.

"Incredible," the young man said, shaking his head now. "I mean before submitting their invention they must have checked it themselves... They cannot think that this is functionate and sensible. Are you very formal when rejecting these things or can you, well, express your opinion more clearly? By the way, I'm afraid Félicienne would not approve if we had the device in our office." He let out a soft laugh before becoming more serious again. "So I won't take it there."

He thought about the mention of a N.E.W.T. and nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds like a plan. Do you want to pursue a Ministry career though? I mean, long term? Which N.E.W.T. were you considering?"

A pained expression spread across Sylvain's face in response to Fabien asking him about his day. Well, it was not seriously that bad, he liked to act as though he was tormented though when he was actually just bored with his work. "Well," he said, followed by a sigh, "you know how it is. My job is probably the least exciting one at the entire Ministry. There's absolutely nothing to tell about it. I can't wait for the theatres to open again after the summer break so I finally have something to look forward to." He smiled now and took another bite from his meal. The theatre was his real passion and if he felt that he could earn his living with acting he'd leave the ministry at once.

“You would imagine that, wouldn't you?” he shook his head before taking another mouthful of the quiche, which he chewed thoughtfully before continuing “But no. Less than half the patents we get through the department have been tested. I didn't believe that either when I began there, any more than I believed the first thing I would do every morning would be to cast a bubble-head charm” he hadn't told Sylvain about that, having felt rather embarrassed about the fact to begin with and then simply forgetting he had't mentioned it. It would hardly come as a surprise though, especially given the wide array of things that ended up exploded down his robes on an almost daily basis.

He snorted with amusement at the question “We have to be formal, I'm afraid. Well, there is a standard form and letter that is sent along with rejected patents, but there is a section where we can add notes and suggestions in case the person wants to resubmit in the future. However, I'm not allowed to say what I really think...I believe the precise wording on my first day was take care to avoid causing offence with a rejection” Fabien privately - and sometimes not so privately - thought that telling people never to try to invent anything again using colourful language was the absolute best way to make his job a lot easier, but on the other hand, now that he was supporting himself financially, he had learned that sometims he had to bite his tongue and force himself to remain polite. Most of the time.

“Coward!” he said with another snort of laughter “You know its perfectly harmless unless it comes anywhere near eggs...actually, that's what I can put on the rejection form - 'recommend modification and possible future sale to farmers for locating eggs. Of course, it'll have to be modified so it doesn't explode the eggs...” Fabien was feeling a good deal better now. Lunch was good as always, and he actually enjoyed complaining about whatever he'd had to deal with. Sometimes it was almost worth it. But as for the future...

“Do I want a Ministry career? Not exactly. But...I don't know what else I want to do or, more accurately, I don't know what else will earn me a decent wage. And really, if I could get into the department of International magical co-operation that would mean I'd have to travel for work, and it's sure to be more interesting, and the wages are better...and no, I wouldn't say any of those things at the interview” he added with a smirk. “As for another NEWT...charms would be the most logical choice, though apparently the trading office is easier to get into, so that would mean arithmancy...it's a question of which would be the most useful, and interesting.” He would also need to learn to speak gobbledegook, which might be amusing. It wasn't like he had much else to do in the evenings and bizarrely, now Fabien no longer had to study he found he rather enjoyed it.

It sounded as if he wasn't the only one who lacked distraction. “Oh? Do you already have tickets booked for the next season?” he asked. The Frenchman wasn't entirely sure how theatres worked, but he assumed it was something like Quidditch in in terms of people buying tickets some time in advance for popular shows.

Sylvain shook his head incredulously. How could people send inventions in without even having checked if they worked? It seemed to make no sense whatsoever and he briefly wondered if that made Fabien's work more entertaining or more annoying. As his mate mentioned the bubble-head-charm, Sylvain looked up and grinned. “Honestly? Like every morning?” He let out an amused laugh before continuing. “Do your co-workers do the same?”

A sympathetic expression spread across his face as he nodded. “Yeah, I feared it would be like that. At least if there's a standard form you do not need to write something formal anew every time. As it is it is probably done quickly?!”

Sylvain lifted his hands in defence. “I'm no coward!” he said, laughing. “Well, imagine if Félicienne has an egg in her handbag… she brings her own food most of the time. Though I guess if there's an egg it would probably be hard boiled. Those do not explode or do they? Anyway, without an egg the thing is entirely useless and with eggs anywhere close it's malfunctioning… I don't see how it could help make my day at the office any better.”

Nodding, Sylvain thought that he felt exactly the same as his friend. He did not want a Ministry career either – unless he'd find out that they had a space programme and he could actually get into that – it was just a way to earn a living. Nothing that made him happy but that served to pay the rent and food and everything else that was needed. 

“Both departments sound better than the ones we're in now,” Sylvain agreed. “I guess I could look into further qualification or a change of department myself...” He didn't sound convinced. It was absolutely not what he wanted to do with his life. He didn't want to stay at the Ministry forever and felt that it would be futile to waste any more time on further qualifications for something he wouldn't be doing for more than a few years.

“Tickets?” Sylvain looked confused. “No… as I'm going to be on stage I won't need tickets,” he felt a little offended that Fabien seemed to have forgotten about his second career path. If he ever reached the state where he could live on his acting, he'd quit the Ministry without a second thought. So far it was more than a hobby but less than a full time employment. Once the season was on he'd have no free time any longer as he'd spend every waking minute either at his day job or in the theatre revising or playing in a show.

"Every day" Fabien said, rolling his eyes "its literally a question they ask in the interview, and I assumed they were joking. You know, like when employers ask 'are you comfortable with side-along apparation' or 'do you perform your own cleaning charms?' But turns out it wasn't just a personality aptitude thing, its a prerequisite of the job" Once or twice, Fabien had tried not performing the charm - it made one's face rather hot in the summer - but at least one of the three people in his department could guarantee they'd get either a messy or evil-smelling patent at least once a day, so it really wasn't worth the risk.

Still, it could have been worse, he supposed. The money was better than if he was working in a bar or shop, and at least he had time for other things. "There's a system whereby each form has to be countersigned by two members of the department, but yeah, it's fairly quick" he agreed. Fabien suspected the system was simply so he and his colleagues didn't write impolite or sarcastic things on the rejection forms, because it was undeniably a temptation. "The form to grant a patent fills three rolls of parchment...but as you can imagine we only have three or four of those to fill in each week..."

As he ate, Fabien's mind was on the possibility of further study. He had thought about it vaguely, but now that he'd mentioned it to Sylvain the arithmancy option seemed to be more logical. Get into the easier of the two possible departments, and then move sideways at a later date. As long as the position included foreign travel and excluded terrible smells and stains, it was sure to be better than what he was doing now. Besides, even now his leg ached if he spent too long outside in the cold, so an excuse to stay inside during long winter evenings would be welcome. "Any ideas which department you might fancy?" he asked, more because it was the polite thing to say than because he thought Sylvain would have an answer.

Thankfully, the former Ombrelune was looking down at his plate when Sylvain spoke, and immediately he realised his mistake. It wasn't that he'd forgotten Sylvain liked to act, more than it wasn't something he thought about, because he was frankly more interested in his own life than anyone else's. Rather than admit he had made a mistake, Fabien ran over his previous words in his head and realised he had unwittingly left himself a get-out clause. "Yeah...that's what I meant...have people already begun booking tickets to see you perform?" he clarified, and then, in case that hadn't sounded sincere enough "I mean, I said months back I'd come and watch your next show, so it's time I did, right? If there are tickets left, of course..."

Fabien had little interest in an evening at the theatre, but it would be tolerable enough as a one-off, he supposed.

“Wow, I see,” Sylvain was truly fascinated by what Fabien told him about his department. He did not envy his friend but it was still interesting to hear that other departments had their downsides as well.

“Two people have to sign a rejection form?” Sylvain asked incredulously. “That seems like a lot of work for things that aren't really worth anybody's attention at all.” He shook his head but reminded himself that even at his office things were similar. He prepared things for Félicienne and she actually wrote the letters to those who wanted to be connected to the floo network. It was actually pretty much the same thing.

“Yeah, I understand,” he nodded. “Must be a nice thing when you come across something that you can accept once in a while though. Did you see any inventions that were not just accepted but really good? Like something that might be useful for us in a way?”

They continued their meal now and Sylvain realised just how hungry he had been now that he could finally fill his stomach. “Which department?” the young man asked back. “Oh, well, I'm not sure any department goes into space travel but that would be something of interest to me. Other than that… No, I don't think there's actually a department that I'd really like.” He didn't like the ministry itself with all its rules and forms anyway. It was far too bureaucratic for the artist that he was by heart.

Sylvain did not believe a word of what Fabien said to defend his thoughtlessness. Truth be told the young actor felt a little hurt but the fact that his friend was now claiming to come see a show, he felt it would be unjust to act affronted. “They are not even selling tickets at the magical theatre yet,” he said. “The muggle theatre has an advance sale option but I'm still trying to convince the director to take me to the first cast. So far I'm only an understudy for a modern Shakespearean play. Apparently there's a muggle who fits the role better in the director's opinion. He does, however, keep forgetting his lines at the rehearsals.”

"Ministry regulations, my friend" Fabien said with a smirk, knowing that really he shouldn't need to say any more on the subject. Obviously he couldn't speak for all departments but when he'd worked in the pest control division things had been much the same. Even on the occasions he'd attended an infestation of doxies and dealt with them single-handedly, another person still had to read the report and sign off on it. "You know how things are...but actually there's a good reason in this case. Apparently in the thirties, there was a Belgian inventor who had a big disagreement with his brother, who gained a position in the patent office for the sole purpose of rejecting his inventions. When the Ministry realised what was happening, they instigated the two-person rule so no invention could be rejected solely for personal reasons"

He continued with his meal, trying to think of a decent invention that had been rejected. Some things had been good ideas, but just not thought through well enough to be viable. "Sometimes we get patents put forward for things that are ideas rather than viable creations" he said "They usually involve modifications to existing spells, like someone who claimed that they could change the bubble-head charm to allow a wizard to fly in space, and also to encompass the whole broom, to make it impossible to fall off..." Fabien was rather disappointed he hadn't been directly responsible for that one, even though it was rather strange. The submittor had paid no thought to how the wizard would eat while they were in space nor how uncomfortable they would be frozen in the same position on their broom for days at a time. However, in that case the response had been to work on the part of the patent that would prevent people falling from brooms, so that elderly and frail witches and wizards would be able to retain their independence for longer.

It was amusing that now Sylvain was talking about space travel too. Personally Fabien thought the idea was rather strange. There was enough to explore already without trying something so dangerous that even the muggles appeared to have largely given up on the idea. He lowered his voice "I get what you mean. My trouble is...I don't think there's a job I'd really like! So I've decided the next best thing is to at least get a decent position so I can enjoy my time when I'm not at work..."

He still had a little food left on his plate, so concentrated on that, adding in the odd 'hmm' and grunt of assent. Truth be told, he was a little confused. Was Sylvain rehearsing for two plays at once? It sounded like it. The thought of memorising lines seemed like a terrible lot of hard work...but probably it was no different from learning new spells and studying the history of a particular branch of magic, which was how Fabien himself tended to spend winter evenings. "If he continues to forget his lines, will the director pick you instead?" he suggested, and then, with a glint in his eye that would have concerned any of his former professors, added "Of course, you could always add a little something to this guy's coffee when you take a break in rehearsal. You know, to be sure he forgets his lines a little more often..."

As far as Fabien was concerned, he was making a perfectly helpful, friendly suggestion.

“Yeah,” Sylvain nodded, “I see. That absolutely makes sense.” It did indeed make sense and was probably also the reason why he and Félicienne had so much overlapping work to do. It was never good if decisions could be haphazardly. After all, he could see himself rejecting an application for a floo network connection if it had Maximilien's name on it as well.

“What do you do with these ideas then?” Sylvain asked with interest. “I mean, if the ideas are any good do you forward them to some department that works on them further then? It seems like some skilled witches or wizards might be able to actually make some of the ideas work.” That was probably even a comparably interesting job. Sylvain doubted that he was skilled enough to actually do it, at least not without further studies but it did seem like solving a riddle. You got a task and had figure out how to make it work.

“I see what you mean,” Sylvain said, nodding. “I mean, here at the ministry there's probably no job that I'd actually enjoy doing. The only thing I've ever wanted was to be an actor. That's what I really love. If only I was famous enough to get roles that actually were well paid.” She sighed and shrugged. “As it is I try and join the cast of small theatres with mostly amateur actors. It's fun though. I won't complain. I earn a little extra money and have something to look forward to.”

He grinned as Fabien mentioned that Sylvain could actually make the other actor forget his lines. “That's so mean,” he said but his face told an entirely different story. He took a moment to think about it some more and then he shook his head slightly. “I really shouldn't do that, should I?” He paused again and then chuckled softly. “But now that you brought it up I won't be able to stop thinking about it. It's also for the other guy's best, right? He'd probably feel incredibly ashamed of himself if he had such a black out on stage. Don't you think? I'd just spare him the embarrassment...”

"Once they're approved, you mean?" Fabien asked. He was actually quite enjoying the fact that someone was interested in his work, and while he complained a lot about the department, at least he wasn't just pushing paperwork around all day. Having stuff to complain about that was interesting enough for his friend to pay attention was a bonus of a sort, he supposed. "The first stage is to send a positive response back to the witch or wizard - that form's printed on green parchment - and invite them to work further on the prototype if it needs it. Occasionally you get someone who's spent years working on an invention and the patent was the final stage before they're able to start selling it. Last year a witch patented a form of sneakoscope that could be attuned to specific people so she didn't have to answer the door to her ex-husband's mother, for example..." Fabien was smirking now. That one had seemed particularly useful to him.

Strangely, he felt somehow envious of Sylvain. It must be nice to actually have a driving ambition to work towards. Fabien's previous desires - to play professional Quidditch, to work with horses, to sculpt - hadn't come to anything or even seemed interesting enough once he'd left school to pursue past idle daydreams. Aside from travelling, he wasn't really sure how he wanted to spent the rest of his life, though Estelle insisted there was plenty of time yet for him to change career if he chose to. Really,h e should make some kind of supportive comment now, say that he was sure Sylvain would make it in the end. But the trouble was, supportive comments were hardly Fabien's style and it would be sure to come out sounding sarcastic, particularly given that he'd forgotten his friend's favourite hobby just minutes earlier. Instead he arranged his cutlery neatly on his now-empty plate and drained his glass.

Then his smile widened again, matching that of his friend. "No, you really shouldn't..." he agreed, raising his voice slightly above the conspiratorial tone they'd been using, though his face said the exact opposite. There. If anyone happened to overhear what they were discussing they would assume it was lighthearted banter. Now though, he dropped his voice again and added "But you'd be doing him a kindness, really. As you say, if someone is forgetting their lines so often their heart clearly isn't in the role, and they would be much happier if it was offered to someone more suitable..."

Then, as if changing the subject, he added "You know, I really enjoyed learning non-verbal spells when we were at school. Especially the ones that didn't need a complex wand movement - you know, where one could slip a wand up one's sleeve and cast the spell without anyone even knowing about it..." Sitting back, as one did at the end of a pleasant meal, Fabien smiled almost innocently.

“Actually I was thinking of these ideas that sound good but aren't worked out well. Those that don't get approved because the inventor didn't take the time to develop everything properly. Is there any way to work on these things to actually make them possible?” Sylvain said after Fabien ended with his explanation of how the process of approval worked.

“That sneakoscope does sound quite useful for sure. I might like one of those myself. I take it you can choose the people it reacts to? If it was only this person's mother in law it might not be useful to anyone else but the inventor, after all.”

Sylvain grinned at Fabien's comments regarding the actor who currently had the role Sylvain wanted for himself and who totally could never remember his lines. The idea of having the main role in the play made Sylvain feel somewhat smug. He knew he'd pull it off well if only he got a chance. The idea of receiving standing ovations for his performance made him smile dreamily.

“Well, it does sound like I'm doing him a favour,” Sylvain said thoughtfully, hoping for confirmation that using magic to get the role was not such a bad thing, after all. “Do you think I'd get into trouble with the ministry thought?” he asked, now speaking barely louder than a whisper.

“Hmm,” Sylvain said, grinning slightly. “Yeah, these non-verbal spells can be quite useful for sure… There's still the question if that can be traced. I mean, I suppose as an adult wizard it shouldn't be too much of an issue but it does still feel like cheating, don't you think?”

"I'm not sure, to be honest" Fabien mused "Once the rejection form is sent, it's out of our hands...actually, now you come to mention it, some inventors must continue to work on their ideas because we do get repeated applications from the same witches and wizards for modified creations" It was obvious now he actually thought about it, but of course, those people who received a rejection form that also suggested the idea showed promise with more development would want to work on it further. Fabien didn't deal with all the forms, so he didn't necessarily see the second or third efforts people sent in. Whilst filing the rejections though, he had noticed some of the same names coming up again and again. Clearly some people worked on the modifications and didn't simply give up at the first hurdle.

He genuinely laughed now, throwing back his head in amusement. "Can you imagine? Poor woman would wonder why nobody was ever home! No, the sneakoscope relied on a specific charm that was attuned to a person the user actually knew. Regular ones only work against strangers or people up to no good, not normal visitors, hence the modification" he explained, a little unnecessarily, but he was still thinking about the mother-in-law being barred from places all over France due to a malfunctioning charm. It would make a good story, if he were the sort of person to write things down. But then the topic of conversation changed, and his face became mock-serious.

"You'd definitely being doing him a favour, and it would be fine. The Ministry doesn't get involved in anything unless it breaks the Statute of Secrecy or actually causes harm to anyone, you know that" he added, equally quietly, though in a tone that would suggest to any casual observer (with the ears of a hawk) that they were merely discussing a hypothetical situation "Plenty of us in apartment blocks often cast a standard fire-prevention charm. Technically that is interfering with muggle life, but because it's to their benefit and they're unaware of it, the Ministry has absolutely no interest..." Of course, they were talking about something rather different, but as far as Fabien was concerned the ethics were just the same.

"Technically spells can be traced, but what would be the point?" he asked reasonably "How many spells would you say you use a day? For me, it's probably 8 or 10. Multiply that by the number of wizards in Paris and you've got...well a lot. And the only adult wizards I've heard of who have the trace on them are those who've commited multiple crimes, so the Ministry can observe what they're doing for a set period of time." What Fabien was trying to say, without actually using the words, was that quietly and painlessly hexing a muggle (who would never have any idea, because the hex was merely accentuating an existing issue) in order to further one's own career was, as far as he was concerned, entirely reasonable. Cheating? Not at all!