And so, the first few weeks with his intern, though he'd shown up to work on time and dressed in clean clothing - and even smelling fresh - his behavior had been on the edge of foul and his overall appearance had been rather sloppy. Regardless of that, he still was able to, without doubt, put suspects through the ringer and had even had a few cases where he'd been able to allow Jezebel to be in the room to watch him in action.
He wanted to blame Hestia for what had happened just the night before; he knew that he couldn't. Hell, he didn't even know if she'd had anything to do with it. Still, it worked for him to allow that she had decided to complain to Rufus. And so he'd spent a good few hours locked in the Head Auror's office being lambasted for his slovenly appearance and his grumpy attitude; he'd been threatened with an unpaid leave of absence.
For a moment, he'd been tempted to take that. Only for a moment.
He'd gone home that night and spent a few hours staring at himself in the mirror before he'd gone into the kitchen and, with a few waves of his wand, had vanished all traces of alcohol before he'd spent a good few hours more in the bathroom cleaning himself up.
And now, on this early Tuesday morning, he arrived at his cubicle looking far different from before. His eyes, though still guarded and untrusting, were clear and the rim of red had faded noticeably. His face was clean shaved and his hair had been meticulously brushed. Even his clothing had lost their bedraggled state.
"Morning," he said, two cups of coffee he'd picked up from the break room on his way his held in his hands. "Coffee, Miss Bain?" he asked, holding out one of the steaming cups.




