Lost in Translation [Zephyr]

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

20 January 2026

It was true what they said – expectations rarely matched reality. Bianca hadn’t been looking for this promotion, hadn’t asked for it at all. But she couldn't deny that the thought had occasionally crossed her mind after moving to the UK – because wasn’t this what everyone really wanted? Every Auror sought to be recognized for their achievements, their arrest rate and notable captures. It hadn’t been why Bianca had started the job…no, her intentions were always about helping people, defeating the darkness in the world one little piece at a time. But she’d wondered, in the past, what it would be like to be Department Head. To drive the policy, to be at the front of the changes instead of just carrying out someone else’s vision.

But nothing could have prepared her for this. The politics of the game, the sheer amount of meetings and social encounters and people she had to keep straight in her mind. Who were the notable players, what were their styles, and most importantly – what did they want from her? Life had seemed much simpler when it was just about being out in the streets, hunting down Dark wizards and witches. Sure, it was dangerous. You had to listen to your gut instinct, and even then you could do everything right and come out of the wrong side of a life or death situation. The administrative side of things was much less dangerous…but so much more intense. Politics wasn’t her style of doing things, and Bianca found it exhausting to be stuck at her desk all day weighing what other people wanted from her and what she could get from them. She had a vision for the Law Enforcement department, continuities and changes that could really help people, but it was hard to remember it when weighed down by all the bureaucracy.

So even though she technically had an assistant to take care of all the dry logistical details of her day-to-day, Bianca still found herself hastily stepping out of her office and waving away her assistant’s assertions that they could take care of it. She clutched her folder tightly in her hands as she walked briskly down the hallway, ignoring people’s attempts to catch her gaze. No, she didn’t have the patience to deal with people today. Even though her department largely dealt with domestic affairs, there was still the occasional need to coordinate with Magical Interpol or work abroad. That meant there was still a need for translators. Now, technically speaking – Bianca could have handled this request herself. Her mother had been very insistent that her children learn her mother tongue of Italian, after all. But she needed to get away from her office, and dropping off some documents at the linguistics office seemed like a good way to gather her patience and avoid blowing up at someone. She finally reached the correct office number, although she raised an eyebrow at the pathetic sight of the crumbling paint on the door and hastily taped sign with a handwritten name scrawled across it. She knocked once before opening the door herself to what was likely the saddest office she had ever seen in her life, if it could even be called that. “Zephyr Davies?” she asked crisply, tapping her fingers impatiently on the folder as she peered in.

@zephyr

[Deleted]

Zephyr's first week in work hadn't been so bad. He had been eating enough and sleeping not nearly enough but whatever. IT was exciting to have his own place. To stay up as late as he wanted. Eat as much as he wanted. It had been somewhat lonely. But Tobey had helped with that. Plus he had been kept busy enough at work. As soon as a department would call on him, he would run to them with not so much as a moment spared.

In reality it was exhausting, and he was likely working over his hours, but it was exhilarating to be able to get the work done. To help people was great and be commended for his work was another thing.

It was also fascinating to be fully immersed in the magical world. He never had anything much to do with it, bar the connection with Mrs Smith. It was still so awesome, but he tried not to be too surprised or marvelled as the witches and wizards around him did absolutely mundane things with magic. It wasn't like he wasn't physically able to, but, he just wasn't used to actually flexing his abilities. He had been reading a document and hastily scribbling notes with a chewed up pen like an utter plebeian when Bianca knocked looking for him.

"Oh, hi that's me!" Giving her a wide smile in the dim light he then lifted a hand and waved. Added friendliness. Noticing the page in her hand, he raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you with something?"

Bianca Alia Rivera

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca’s eyes travelled over the length of the room (not a long or difficult task, since it was about the size of a cube) before settling on the translator skeptically. Oh, she knew his type. Persistently cheerful – a highly unnatural level of chirpiness that didn’t match the dingy accommodations and depressing environment. Still, there was nothing malevolent about his attitude. A long career in law enforcement meant Bianca had highly developed skills when it came to quickly sizing up her opponent and reading the room. Zephyr Davies, newest member of the linguistics office, was clearly no threat. He was friendly, open in a naïve but endearing way. He resembled a puppy more than anything else, a stark contrast from your typical prim-and-proper Ministry employee.

“Good,” Bianca said slowly, still looking him over somewhat skeptically as he waved and lowered his gaze to the folder in her hands. Even with such few words spoken, her accent was highly noticeable. She wondered if he would ask about it – most people knew better than to risk receiving one of her glares, but Zephyr didn’t seem to have that same wariness. She took a step inside the office while taking care to remain mostly outside, as there really wasn’t enough room for them to have a comfortable conversation otherwise. Since it seemed uneven enough that she already knew his name while he wouldn't know hers, Bianca kept her introduction short. "Bianca Rivera, Magical Law Enforcement." At his question, she lightly dropped the folder onto his desk so he could take a better look. “Every year representatives from the Hit Wizard office meet with their counterparts in Rome for a series of summits,” Bianca began without preamble, voice crisp and devoid of emotion. “Discussing the latest trends in the field, developing new methodologies and forms of magic to improve operations. That sort of thing. The next workshop is being held here in two weeks and these itineraries need to be translated before Friday.” Bianca leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms as she regarded Zephyr. “Is that…something you can handle?” she asked, eyes lingering on his chewed-up pen (which didn't inspire much confidence).

@zephyr

[Deleted]

Nervous energy dripped out of every one of his pores as he sat there, now being scrutinized by this glorious woman who had began to look him over. His nerves only got to him slightly, his smile only faltering for a few seconds. Covering it up well, he nodded hurriedly and repeated her name back, something he had started doing as a small child as a way of remembering people's names. Now it stuck with him and had become somewhat of a habit. Nodding again he emphasised each syllable. "Bianca Rivera" She seemed important.

Keenly listening to the task he had been given seemed an easy enough one, even if this woman had made it sound daunting. It would be of a high priority, he made the mental note to bump it up the list and put it in his top tray of work. Beginning to flip through the documents, he continued to nod here and there. Seemed easy enough. Short and to the point. He could easily get through it by the end of the day if he really wanted to. Maybe he would. She seemed scary enough, might be good to keep on her good side for now.

"Yeah that should be no problem." With a pause, he gave her a sheepish smile. "Does it happen in Rome a lot then? I've just moved here from Rome. I never heard of it, but then I guess I wasn't really involved in Wizarding circles there..." trailing off with a semi-confused frown he took a moment to ponder the thought.

Bianca Alia Rivera

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca’s skepticism didn’t fade as she watched Zephyr transition quickly from an almost childish look (peering up at her from his chair as he repeated her name) to that of a professional, already beginning to read through the documents she had brought. It didn’t inspire much confidence in his ability to read social cues – considering he had left her standing idly at the door to his ‘office’ – which, unfortunately, was a must in the Ministry. She’d learned from the start that your work ethic was only one aspect of a successful government job. A large part of it was also the social component, and knowing the right sort of people that could help with the bureaucracy and against coworkers willing to stomp all over you in their ambition. That could be hard for Muggleborns like her that didn’t come from the right background. Still, she had found that most people weren't willing to discuss the issue. They had already defeated that evil ideology, right? Shown that Voldemort and his followers had it all wrong? Therefore, there couldn't exist any more problems in integrating Muggleborns into wizarding society or protecting Muggles from wizard superiority. At least, most people seemed to think that way.

Eventually he looked up again, and Bianca was about to comment on what had just happened when he began to speak first. She sighed internally, although kept her expression blank. He really was endearing, wasn’t he? There was an air of resemblance to Leo, if only because they shared that reserved set of their shoulders and soft eyes that made it impossible to stay angry. His answer suggested he might be Muggleborn, or simply a tragic case of being overly sheltered from the world. Bianca mulled over her answer before delivering it slowly, every word deliberate as she chose it first in her mind. “The wizarding world is much smaller than it might first appear,” she observed neutrally. “It’s not uncommon to find these sorts of ties across countries. I imagine it’s how wizards have survived for so long in secret.” It was all speculation, of course, but Bianca had wondered about it since her years at Castelobruxo. She suddenly started on a new subject, because this dingy office had occupied a space in her mind and her suspicions were growing now that it seemed Zephyr was Muggleborn. “Which department are you under? International magical cooperation? Did they give you this…space?”

@zephyr

[Deleted]

Quietly, Zeph watched her, studying her. She gave an air of confidence that he could only be envy. Here was someone who knew what she was doing with her life. Knew what was going on. Zephyr was only the opposite to that. He had no clue what he was doing. He was inching along to thirty but, in reality had all the life experiences of a sixteen year old.

And to add that he was Muggle born and raised, and it made him feel even more like an outsider in this weird world.

Hanging on to every little bit she was saying, he nodded along. Any little tidbit of Wizarding society from someone in the know was useful to him. It made sense what she was saying. As he began to nod along, his smile widened as it always did when he was speaking about something he was more passionate about. "No. That makes a lot of sense I suppose."

As Bianca changed topic of conversation, he looked around the converted broom cupboard. It was rather dingy, but Zephyr ever the people pleaser, had said it was fine. And of course it was, when the roof wasn't leaking that was. His smile now less confident, and more ashamed. "Yes. I think technically. Although my services are used all over the Ministry. I was in the department of Magical Creatures this morning about an ongoing dispute with a group of House Elf refugees just come in from Germany.." trailing off her realised that probably wasn't actually very interesting and he clamped his mouth shut sharpish as his cheeks flared red.

"I've never had my own office before, I thought it was cool" Forever the optimist.

Bianca Alia Rivera

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca supposed there really wasn’t a better position in the Ministry for a newcomer than the linguistics office. While it technically fell under the jurisdiction of one department, their services were required all over the Ministry. It was a built-in opportunity to understand how every department functioned, not to mention the possibility of meeting all sorts of different and important people. Herself included, for that matter. The subject matter could be interesting, she supposed, if one didn’t have a particular passion for one field and instead liked trying many different new things. For herself, she couldn’t imagine ever doing anything else besides Law Enforcement. She’d had a singular dedicated passion to help people for so long that it was impossible to imagine anything doing anything else.

“House elf…refugees?” Bianca repeated in shock, trying not to let her mouth hang open as she considered the possibility of such a thing. It was a wild way of showing her that after so long immersed in the wizarding world…she was still capable of being surprised. She couldn’t imagine where they were coming from, or what they could possibly be disputing. But, she supposed, it wasn’t really her department. Perhaps if one of the elves broke a law, but even then the case was usually worked jointly with Magical Creatures. Bianca was so rarely surprised these days that she took a moment to recover, before raising an eyebrow at Zephyr’s happy proclamation that it was cool having his own office. Yes, he was one of those kinds of people. Optimists. Bianca sighed slightly at the thought. “Yes…but wouldn’t you like windows? Or…” Bianca was cut off at the sound of a flush and the subsequent gurgling made by the pipes traveling along the wall. Her eyes widened at the indignity of the sound. She turned back to Zephyr to find him flushed. “Why did you stop talking? You were telling me about house elf refugees,” Bianca prompted, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorway.

@zephyr

[Deleted]

Zephyr was usually quite ignorant to reading other people's moods, or tones or voice. Especially when they were sarcastic, or judgemental, or sceptical. He picked up signals as mixed. As she watched him with a level of incredulity, and then actually went on to seem to want to know more, he grew even more confused. Was she making a joke out of him? Beginning to nibble at his lip, now a but more on edge, he looked up at her through some messy curls.

"It was nothing really I suppose. The dispute is mostly settled now I think" With a shrug, he tried to put an end to that conversation, unsure of if he was even meant to be blasting that sort of business around the building. Maybe not? He supposed he wasn't an unspeakable or whatever those people called themselves, but he still probably wasn't supposed to be divulging too much. As Bianca moved back on to the topic of his office, Zephyr perked up just slightly again.

"I mean, I guess....maybe??" Tilting his head to the side, he wistfully thought that maybe a window would be pretty cool. Maybe even a false enchanted window, just to give the place a little more light. Maybe he could ask technical services to put one in. Despite his fine magic skills, he always thought himself less skilled than he was, and had poor confidence in his abilities. He would definitely be able to put one in himself, but had little faith in himself.

Another gush from the pipes seemed to draw him away from those thoughts and back to focusing on Bianca.

"Uh, I don't know if I should be saying too much about it. I mean I guess they didn't say I shouldn't but, maybe I should say less..." in a tongue twisting way, he trailed off into a frown, not even sure or what he was saying himself anymore. Shaking his head as if to shake off that confusing thought, he focused instead on giving Bianca a small smile.

"Sorry. I get a little confused sometimes."

Bianca Alia Rivera

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

He didn’t seem sure of himself. Bianca had never understood that type of person – they spent so much time wavering between their choices that they ultimately decided nothing. It was impossible to advance that way, especially in the Ministry. Most departments required workers with ambition and confidence, otherwise you could spend your entire career as a wallflower. Some people were happy like that – Bianca never could be. She was decisive, to the point of being impulsive. It was a habit she was trying to change, now that she was responsible for a whole department that depended on her choices. But she could never imagine being so paralyzed by indecision or fear that she never moved forward at all.

If he wasn’t sure, then she couldn’t push him. As difficult as it was, Bianca moved on from the subject of his office (if it could even be called that). Her friendship with Leo had taught her that people couldn’t be bullied into decisions, even the right decisions, and they would move at their own pace. Until then, she’d judge silently (maybe a little less silently) from her position. Instead, Bianca raised an eyebrow as Zephyr seemed unsure if he should continue telling her about house-elf refugees, or whatever the specific dispute had been about. “I doubt there’s anything you know that’s above my clearance level,” she said frankly, leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed. It was true – as the head for Magical Law Enforcement, Bianca had one of the highest clearances in the Ministry. It entitled her to know just about anything any department was doing, except for the Department of Mysteries. They, of course, worked on top secret projects that not even the Minister could ask about.

“But I understand the hesitation,” she said. Her tone didn’t change from before – straightforward, honest, a little rough around the edges. Much like Bianca herself. She shrugged slightly at his apology. “The Ministry can be overwhelming, especially for Muggleborns. It took me years to find the balance between what was classified and what I could share. And I still can't say I'm used to everything that goes on here.” She barely told her family anything – her mother was religious, and therefore highly suspicious of anything related to magic. But over the years she’d grown used to telling Leo everything instead. She couldn’t say she’d ever been exactly like Zephyr, but she remembered what it had been like to be new, the little fish in a big pond. She could be sympathetic.

@zephyr

[Deleted]

With an embarrassed smile he nodded up to her. "Uh right" Of course she would have a higher security clearance than him. What an idiot. Clearing his throat he attempted to brush it off by lifting some papers from his desk and shuffling them to stack them. But instead they just sort of dispersed over his desk. In a fluster his eyes widened and his hands moved quickly to catch them before they slid off onto the floor. With a sigh he paused, happy to be successful and not make more of an idiot of himself in front of his superior "Uh, sorry" with another sheepish grin he tried to ignore what had just happened and move on to what she had focused on instead

With a more sorry nod he agreed "Yes, and I really had very little to do with the Italian Magical community. So I have very little to compare it to as well I suppose. I am still feeling very....lost" giving another apologetic smile he shrugged, wondering if his mother was right and he should get into some community or social groups to try and meet some more people. Though worries weighed on him from that point of view as well; worries that he would be laughed at, or shunned. But for now, he supposed, it was still an option.

As the pipes flushed above and surrounding him, a quiet chuckle passed his lips. Maybe he would like windows and well, less of the toilet sounds, but for now he was pleased with what he had. "It's fine. It's fit for purpose. I get so lost in my work that I don't really notice where I am I guess. And no, it's not that important, don't worry." trailing off on the topic of the House Elves, he gave her another small smile

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

Bianca Alia Rivera

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Home was hard to think about, if only because it was so complicated and she never really knew how to feel about it. Her family life had never been easy, but it was the classic story for so many in Chile. Busy parents, doing their best to get by in a country that had never quite learned what stability meant. All the worse if they worked for the government. Distant older brother, always more interested in playing football with his friends or slipping phones out of the pockets of passerby on the street than spending time with his family. And Bianca herself – she’d spent more time with her tías than she ever had at home, courtesy of having two working parents with an abundance of siblings and cousins living in a three block radius. She couldn’t complain about where she was now, where all her hard work and luck and choices had led. But the path to it? Long and difficult and something that, for the most part, she’d rather keep out of sight and out of mind.

Zephyr’s accent and even his natural way of being brought back memories of her mother, though. The same lilting tone on the vowels, the same expressive face and the (over)use of their hands to make a point. Everyone had always gushed that she was a near carbon copy of her mother, as if God had simply done a copy-and-paste, but she'd never found herself able to be so openly expressive or emotional as her hot-blooded Italian mother. Bianca was quiet as she contemplated the thought, her arms crossed defensively and her mind a thousand kilometers away in a distant past. She didn’t speak much to her mother anymore. The two had always had a complicated relationship, and it had only gotten worse after Bianca had started to show signs of magic and then gone off to school in Brazil. And after her father died? They only spoke occasionally now, on birthdays or other important dates that deserved a mention and a quick call home. And always in Italian – at her mother’s insistence that Spanish wasn’t nearly as beautiful a language.

“You’re Muggleborn,” she realized as he shrugged and admitted he’d never spent much time in the Italian magical community. That made her swallow as she realized…Merlin, he really was more like her mother than likely anybody else in the building. She’d been born and raised in Rome until deciding to go traveling around the world for inspiration for her art. Then she had landed in Chile, met Bianca’s father, and rarely ever left the country again. No money for anything as expensive as a plane ticket, save the one time she'd flown out to Brazil for Bianca's graduation from school. She had thought that might be a turning point, a sign that she was beginning to accept her daughter for being a witch. But she'd never come to visit in the United Kingdom. Bianca shook her head slightly, shooing the memories away as she studied Zephyr thoughtfully. Finally she admitted, “That feeling of being lost…it doesn’t ever completely go away. Sometimes I forget I have a wand, or can just take a potion if I feel sick. And having to constantly re-ink my quill is exhausting. When will wizards realize pens are better?” Bianca never really acknowledged these facts to most people, because ‘true’ wizards and witches had grown up never knowing anything else. To them, sending their post via owl or using their wands to wash the dishes was just the status quo. But to Leo, to the other Muggleborns in her life? They were far and few in between, but there was a shared sense of feeling out-of-place that very few other magical beings could relate to. And Bianca didn't mind so much sharing the struggle with them.

She thought she had introduced herself in the first thirty seconds of their conversation, but the mountains of paperwork on Zephyr’s desk and the slightly distant look in his eyes told her that he must have been distracted and missed it. And he all but admitted it when he observed that sometimes he didn’t even notice where he was while he worked. “Bianca Rivera,” she repeated, leaving out the rest of her title. At least every now and then – she didn’t want to be a Department Head. Didn’t want to just be in law enforcement. She made a snap decision and switched to Italian, the words flowing easily like it hadn’t been a month since the last conversation with her mother. Bianca had always had trouble letting things go -- whether it was a lead on a case or pestering her best friend about his questionable career choices. She found herself with the same problem now. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything?”

@zephyr
[Italics = Italian!]