Throwing her quill down, Romy looked at the parchment in front of her in disgust. She'd just finished checking the protocol review Tonks had told her to do, and the results were not good. It wasn't that she couldn't do this. She could. It was just taking longer than she could afford for it to. Under Dawlish's mentoring she hadn't had to memorize anything. He hadn't cared if she learned the job or not as long as she flashed some skin and filled out his reports. She could admit her own part in falling behind. Just because he hadn't expected it didn't mean she shouldn't have done the same work the other trainees were doing. And with her sudden realization that she didn't want to be a screw up with nothing but her looks going for her, Romy was paying for the time she'd slacked off. She needed help.

And McDonald was at the top of the class.

Fuck all.

Dreading every step, Romy made her way to Natalie's cubicle, having noticed the younger girl's presence when she arrived. She took a deep breath just before she reached it, steeling herself for whatever gloating was about to come her way.

"McDonald?"

Natalie was deep in her Animagus text. All the students in that class were to undergo a series of spells and tests next weekend to best determine what animagus form would best suit them. Natalie would not admit it to anyone, but she was nervous about that. She was almost finished with the chapter she was on when she heard someone say her name. She held up a finger signaling them to wait.

"Sorry. What's..." Natalie looked up and her brow furrowed in confusion. "Up?"

Natalie was confused. They had not been taking verbal shots at one another lately, but she and Vane had been avoiding crossing paths very carefully. This was definitely not not crossing paths.

Merlin, she did not want to do this. Not even a little, tiny bit. This would feed right into everything McDonald had ever said about her. That she'd never been serious about the job; that she just relied on her looks to get ahead. Romy's expression went a bit pinched and she couldn't quite keep the blush from her cheeks.

"I need a favor." And if you mock me I will hex you repeatedly and with great pleasure.

Natalie was so confused her brow was going to have a permanent wrinkle in it. "Huh?"

"I need a favor."

Natalie gestured to some boxes in her cubicle for Romy to sit. "What do you need?"

Romy was a little taken aback by the casual response. Maybe McDonald wouldn't be a big pain about this. Still, she wasn't looking forward to the asking. Best just to get it over with. There's no need to sit around chit chatting.

"I need help getting up to speed on policies and protocol. It's my weakest point and there isn't much time left in the program. I've got to get it down before we take our qualifying exams."

"All right," Natalie said, nodding. Malcolm's words on what Hermione had said of the department fresh in her head. "No offense, but how bad is it? How much studying? How much help?"

All right? Just like that? "Tonks has me coming in early to review, but I could stand a little extra studying a few times a week without Tonks hanging over my shoulder. She's been a right terror lately. Over lunch would be fine, or after work if that suits you better."

"We can do either. Lunch might work better. Hestia's had us on several late nights. She's been on a tear herself. I suppose you heard all that business about how Granger thought she'd been hired on to fix the MLE and none of us know our arses from our armpits around here? Only... it's no nonsense. It's so aggravating. I feel like all of us have been working as hard as we can lately."

Natalie shook her head, not wanting to get worked up about this again.

Malcolm had mentioned it, but Romy'd been so focused on getting caught up that she didn't pay a lot of attention to him. Malcolm liked to stir the pot. "I heard a little about it. I didn't get the specifics, though. Yeah, with the trial last month there's a bit of a backlog, but things have to be prioritized. I tried to explain that to Granger, but she doesn't understand how it works. It's all black and white to her." Romy scoffed, "Civilians."

Natalie chuckled. It was weird to have Vane speaking her language, but in that one word in the tone used on it, Natalie understood exactly what the other woman was saying.

"Listen," she said, pulling out her notepad. "I was meaning to come speak to you anyhow."

Natalie put her sketch of the cloak pin on her desk and motioned for Romy to look at it.

"I think Hestia and I busted up someone involved in your illegal potions deals the other night when we were checking out leads in the Crabbe case. I didn't see a face. Both parties had their hoods up, but I did see this. I think it might be a family crest or something. I figured you'd know more about that sort of a thing than I would, but there was Celtic knot-work a bit like this, and what I'm pretty sure were a dagger and a cauldron. There were words, but I couldn't read them. It was dark. It might turn out to be nothing. So... here."

"Thanks," Romy said sincerely. "We haven't been able to get anything until after the potions have caused problems. There's no tracing a potion that's already been ingested, you know? And, of course, no one's ever got a name and nobody ever saw anything. Knockturn practically doesn't exist if you listen to the people who go there." She studied the sketch and nodded slowly. "It does look like a crest of some kind. This is the best lead we've gotten so far. Good on you, McDonald."

Natalie just nodded.

"Well, I figured you'd know more about it than I would, and it's your case, you know?"

Natalie shifted nervously. Being nice to Romilda Vane made her slightly uncomfortable, but her desire to make Hermione Granger eat her words about the department was greater. It won. Natalie was still stung that someone she respected had said those things about her and her fellow trainees. Not to mention Harry and the Aurors. If it had just been Malcolm spreading this around, Natalie might have dismissed it, but Lorelai Carfax had not denied it, and she had been right there when Harry fired Hermione. Also, it had been mentioned by several other the comments she had made. It was hard to dismiss multiple sources.

"Right. Well, Tonks and I will see what we can turn up from it." She turned to go, feeling awkward about chatting with Natalie for this long without raised voices or name calling. That Natalie hadn't taken a perfect opportunity to lord her achievements over Romy's head was confusing. It was nice of her. Oh hell.

"And McD-, erm, Natalie?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for not being a bitch about helping me."

"It's a struggle, but I try." Natalie smiled at her. "So does the use of Natalie mean I can call you something beside Vane?"

Romy snorted. "That depends on what it is you want to call me. Romy would be fine, though."

Natalie nodded. "I have retired all past names for you. Like one another or not, you and I are supposed to be on the same side... Romy."

"True enough. Now I'm going to go before we feel compelled to sing Kumbaya or something." Flashing a grin, Romy headed back to her own desk.

Natalie snorted with laughter as Romy left.

{Summary: Romy needs assistance, and Natalie is happy to help. No, really.}