Lin Ze had high expectations for this so-called Special Operations Small Team.
He had even sketched out the Special Operations Team's working environment in his head.
A private office, spacious desks, perhaps even an enchanted floor-to-ceiling window that continuously displayed scenery from across Britain.
Then Scrimgeour led him to a room at the very end of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's floor.
The door was an old wooden one with a large patch of peeling paint, and a cardboard sign hung from its handle on a thin piece of twine.
"Special Operations Team" was written on the sign in crooked handwriting. The letters of the last word were squeezed against the edge, looking as though whoever wrote it had discovered how little space remained at the end and barely managed to fit them in.
"Here we are." Scrimgeour pushed open the door.
Lin Ze stood in the doorway, looked at the scene inside, and fell silent.
The entire office was probably only a quarter the size of the Auror Office. It did have a window, but outside it was a brick wall.
Four desks stood against the walls. Two of them had noticeably uneven legs, propped up with several yellowed copies of the Compendium of Ministry of Magic Rules and Regulations.
Several cardboard boxes were piled in a corner, labeled "Confidential documents" and "Handle with care" in marker.
The magical light on the ceiling flickered, as though it were ready to retire at any moment.
"Uh... looks like we'll need someone to fix that light." Scrimgeour glanced up.
"The place is a little small, but at least it's discreet."
"Discreet," Lin Ze repeated.
"That's right. The Special Operations Team's work is rather unusual, so it wouldn't be appropriate for you to share an office with ordinary Aurors. This used to be a storage room. I had people clear it out overnight."
"A storage room."
"Could you stop repeating everything I say, you brat?" Scrimgeour glared at him.
"I'm just making sure I heard you correctly." Lin Ze walked over to one of the desks with uneven legs and pressed lightly on its surface with a finger. The desk creaked and rocked twice.
"This desk..."
"Ahem... don't worry about those details... logistics said this was the best they could find."
Scrimgeour looked somewhat awkward. "As you know, the Ministry has been focused on the war all these years, so... funds are a little tight... and the Special Operations Team was formed at short notice. There hasn't been time to allocate a lot of the supplies."
Lin Ze sighed softly and accepted the reality of it.
After all, the wizarding world had just endured Voldemort's reign of terror. The Ministry of Magic's finances at the moment were probably not much better off than his leaky attic.
"When will the other members arrive?" Lin Ze asked.
He had barely finished speaking when footsteps came from outside, accompanied by two people arguing.
"I'm telling you, there was definitely something wrong with the angle of that spell of yours..."
"Why worry about those details? As long as it works..."
The door swung open. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Ben Frick squeezed through together, then both froze.
Kingsley wore a dark blue Auror uniform that day and looked full of energy.
Frick was as disheveled as ever, his tie askew and his hair looking as though he had just wrestled a Hippogriff.
"Uh... this office..." Frick looked around, shock written all over his face.
"This was converted from a storage room, wasn't it?"
"But it's discreet enough," Lin Ze and Scrimgeour said in unison.
Kingsley, however, made no complaints. He walked over to a desk, tapped its surface with a finger, then pulled a copy of the Compendium of Ministry of Magic Rules and Regulations from under a desk leg, leafed through it, and stuffed it back.
"The conditions aren't great, but we can make do. As we keep producing results, I'm sure the Ministry will help improve things here." Kingsley smiled at Scrimgeour.
"Oh... of course... of course..." Scrimgeour immediately nodded in agreement.
"So... just the three of us?" Kingsley asked again.
"Of course not. The Ministry has assigned seven members to this special team. The others..." Just as Scrimgeour was about to continue, the door opened again.
"Sorry we're late."
The door was pushed open, and three people filed in.
Leading them was a tall witch with long, dark brown hair pinned meticulously at the back of her head. She wore neatly tailored dark blue robes with a silver badge pinned to her chest.
Two wizards followed her. One wore thick glasses and carried a stack of folders in his arms.
The other was younger, tall and thin, with a few pimples on his face. He looked as though he had graduated from Hogwarts only a few years ago.
Scrimgeour immediately straightened and adjusted his collar. "Amelia, you're here. Let me introduce you. This is..."
"Lin Ze." Amelia Bones looked past Scrimgeour, her gaze landing directly on Lin Ze.
Lin Ze was briefly taken aback.
Amelia walked up to him, took a letter from an inside pocket of her robes, and placed it in his hand.
"You wrote this letter, didn't you?" Amelia asked.
Lin Ze glanced at the letter, then looked up to meet Amelia's gaze.
He had been wondering how to find an opportunity to establish contact with this future Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, only for her to come straight to him.
"Oh... yes, I wrote it."
"How did you know that report was in my older cousin's patrol log?"
"I spent some time in the Records Management Office. I saw it while sorting the files."
Amelia nodded and took the letter back. "I've tracked down that report. Someone did deliberately suppress it, and that person is now on my list of people to investigate."
She paused, then added, "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Scrimgeour watched from the side, dumbfounded. His gaze darted between the two several times before he muttered, "Why do I feel like I've missed an entire season of the plot?"
Kingsley leaned against a desk with his arms folded, a meaningful smile on his lips.
Frick, meanwhile, had no idea what was going on. He was helping the bespectacled wizard steady the precarious stack of folders in his arms.
The two people Amelia had brought soon introduced themselves as well.
The wizard with glasses was Everett Banks, from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's Regulation Review Office.
He spoke extremely quickly, and his glasses kept slipping down as he talked, forcing him to push them up with his index finger every few seconds.
The tall, thin young man was Reed Tonks. He had only graduated from Hogwarts last year, and Amelia had specifically requested his assignment to the Special Operations Team.
"But that's only six people... where's the other one?" Ben scratched his head.
"The last one probably won't be able to make it today. Get to know each other. I'll leave you to it." Scrimgeour patted Lin Ze on the shoulder, then turned and left the somewhat crowded office before anyone could react, closing the door behind him.