Simone sat on the floor in her office, going through the massive amounts of files that were disorganized by her assistant. She still had no idea what to do with him. She knew she wasn't comfortable around him. That was irrational, she knew that also, but she couldn't get over it. Could you fire someone for something like that? Maybe she could put him somewhere else in the Ministry.

She set a pair of files on a stack and looked around her. It looked like a mess to the untrained eye, but to her it looked to be the beginning of order. Every file was in the right pile, now she just needed to put them back in their cabinet in the right order.

Cormac made his way to Simone's office, going through different ways he could approach her. Like the Minister said, he didn't want to be stalkerish, but just wanted to make sure she was coping well and was safe. When he arrived, his eyebrow went up at the guard dog in front of her door. He hadn't expected to be able to walk right into her office, but he was hoping to at least have a minimal amount of trouble.

"Is Simone in her office?"

Robert stood from his desk and walked around to stop the man from entering.

"She's busy? Er, well. She's a little... she's not seeing anyone." He ducked his head as he muttered under his breath, "not even me." He looked back up at Cormac, "She's acting a little strange."

Cormac blinked in surprise. "And you thought she'd be bouncing up and down with joy after coming back here? Stand aside," he said with narrowed eyes.

Confused, Robert shook his head. "I don't know what you mean. Look, I can ask her if you-" He was cut off by Cormac shoving past him.

Cormac knocked on her door. "Simone, it's Cormac. Can I come in?"

Simone jumped. She grasped her wand and looked around her office and saw the files were not organized in a manner that let someone into the room comfortably. She pursed her lips. She had told her assistant she didn't want any visitors. She walked to the door and opened it warily.

"Cormac, hello. What are you doing here?"

"The official reason?" Cormac held up a file. "This managed its' way on my desk, but I think it belongs in your department. The non-official reason? I wanted to see how you were doing, but if you're busy or don't want to talk, then I'll just drop this off and go back to my office."

"Well," Simone started, not wanting to be rude, "sure, come in." She ran her hands down her slacks nervously. She hated feeling like this. Unsure, nervous, frightened all the time. She was constantly wondering if this would last forever, if she would feel like this for the rest of her life.

"Sorry about the mess, my new assistant managed to destroy order while apparently trying to put them in order. Seems like a nice enough guy but..."

She shrugged.

Cormac looked around, and judging by the sheer amount of filing left to be done, her assistant had ruined everything in the office.

"Well, can I be a bother and add one more file to the stacks? If not, I'll save it until you're almost finished and then dash your hopes of finally seeing the light at the end of the paper-filled tunnel," he said, waving the file with a grin on his face. He tried to keep the mood light, and stood a good distance away from her. Cormac hoped being calm would help her own nervousness.

"I'll take it, that's fine. What's one more? I actually got them in order, even though it doesn't look it. I just need to put them in the cabinets. Then I can actually start on actual work. I am so behind... it's ridiculous." She smiled slightly at him. "How are things in your department?"

"Boring," he replied. "Nothing to really remark upon. The Azkaban breakout is top on our list, but each escapee has Aurors personally looking for them, and there's nothing much I can do about it. I have my... hobbies to keep me company, though."

Simone nodded, "I suppose we all do, although I've been neglecting mine of late. Think I've lost touch with it though, will probably have to start a new one." She had been tasked to Lavender Brown for ages now and hadn't been able to do anything about it with everything that had been going on. She would have to go to Maria and ask for a different assignment.

Simone suddenly remembered herself, "I'm sorry, Cormac. Did you want to sit down? I could have Robert bring us tea?"

"Only if you have the time, but I think tea would be nice."

"I don't think it's going to make me any more behind than I already am." She moved files off of a chair and motioned to it. Opening the door, she asked Robert to bring them tea. She went and took a seat behind her desk.

"So, you know any good real estate? I'm not sure I can stay in a hotel for very much longer."

Simone couldn't move back into her home, she knew it would never happen. She wasn't even sure she could get her stuff from the place. Tracey had been nice enough to invite her into her hotel, but she didn't think she meant forever. Not to mention she had been acting a little strange.

Cormac grinned. "I haven't had to look in a while. I'm not even living in my own flat, which is still empty and I still have a few things over there. If you need any help looking, you know where my office is though."

"I do," Simone said returning the smile. She looked up as Robert entered their office with tea. She moved files so he could set it on the desk. She noticed him staring at her.

"You can go, thanks," she said awkwardly.

After he left she turned to Cormac, "I don't know what it is about him, but I'm not sure if I can keep him. He's just... I don't know. I'd feel bad firing him though. Do you know anyone that would like to trade?"

He thought about it for a moment as he drank his tea. "I think I do, but you wouldn't want the assistants. Most of them are mouthy and generally don't do their job, which is why they are either going to be fired and sent to work in the owl room. That's where I'd send him, myself. Just search out a new assistant. They can be trained."

"Yeah," Simone said sighing. "It's just a lot more work than I think I want to do right now. I'll probably just hire temporaries until I have time to look into it." She took a sip of her tea. She realized this entire time he hadn't asked her how she was. It was nice, them both ignoring what had happened. Nearly the entire floor had tried to come talk to her, send her flowers. She had them out on her assistant's desk, she didn't want then in here as a reminder.

Cormac was about to start another conversation when there was a knock and Robert stuck his head in the door. "Mr. McLaggen? I just got a notice that you're due at a meeting in five minutes."

Cormac frowned and looked at his watch. "It's not supposed to start for another hour."

Robert winced. "The memo said that it got moved up."

He groaned and let his head fall back. There went his entire afternoon. He hadn't even gotten the papers together that he needed. That meant he was going to be late. He hated being late. With an apologetic smile, he put his tea cup back on the service platter.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I've got to dash to get ready for this. I'll come by for a lunch sometime, if that's alright?"

"That would be fine," Simone said, rising as Cormac did. He nodded and left. She looked around herself at the files. Guess it's back to work.

Summary: Cormac does as Maria requests and checks on Simone.