Hermione woke up feeling like something peed in her eyes then died in her mouth. This was not the way she wanted to wake up, after all today is a big day. Today she would find out whether her application for a job at the ministry of magic would be accepted or not.
She stumbled her way to the bathroom and turned on the shower. The icy cold water hit her and woke her up for good and in a few minutes time she was cheerfully scrubbing herself and humming. Shower time was a time of thinking for her and this time she couldn't help thinking of the past year.
Just a year ago she helped her best friend Harry Potter, along with her other best friend Ron Weasley, destroy the most evil wizard of all time. It seemed so impossible sometimes when she thought of all she went through and did. She remembered the great euphoria when Voldemort was gone and his followers rounded off or killed. Her friends and she became famous and successful. Well not really her. She didn't seem to have the luck of her friends. Ron and Harry were immediately accepted into the Auror department and they just finished their one year training program. Ginny got into a famous quidditch team. Neville joined his family's potion and medical supply business and he already signed a contract to start teaching at Hogwarts in five years. All her friends became the darlings of the wizarding world. The rest of her batch was also doing well because the economy went up. It was hard to believe that from them all Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her generation, could be considered as one of the losers. She went one year without a job, her apartment consisted of a tiny room and bathroom and she was nearly getting broke paying for the rent.
As she felt the bitterness stir up in her heart again she tried to console herself. After all it wasn't really her fault that she broke down. A year ago when the death eaters were destroyed and everything was supposed to be okay again she went to Australia to get her parents back and restore their memory. There she found to her shock that they died in a horrible car accident. They left all their money to a wildlife charity and they still had no memory of their daughter when they died. She took a loan of 500 galleons from Gringgots Bank which was about to finish, and she had to return in a month. She covered up a lot of her problems so her friends wouldn't feel so guilty. She didn't want to ruin their happiness with her problems.
She got out of the showers and decided to have some breakfast first. She found to her dismay that there was only three carrots and a small bag of cookies for eating. Life was certainly tough, she thought while chewing on her slightly rubbery carrot. She brightened herself with the thought of cookies for dinner.
She put on her smartest outfit which wasn't saying much, it was a grey pants suit and black robes on top. She put on her mascara and lip balm and then tried to tackle her hair. Admittedly her hair wasn't as bad as it was in school; at least now it wasn't frizzy it was just wild waves of curls reaching down to her waist. She wanted to make the curls softer but when she saw she was out of time she put it in a bun. The world would have to wait another day to see Hermione's hair improved.
Her nervousness that she was feeling all week started to disappear when she thought of seeing all her friends again. The last time she saw anyone was Neville 3 months ago when she bumped into him.
Entering the ministry of magic she felt herself in awe. The place was simply magnificent. The ceilings were high and covered in gold. The floor and walls were made of black marble. There were emerald floo gateways on the side and next to them were statues of different magical creatures. The whole thing was breathtaking and intimidating, and she felt tears in her eyes from how much she wanted to work here. The ministry had an indoor weather system and today it was sunny with a breeze.
Once she reached the central area she saw that the fountain was restored back to its place but now it was twice as large and more beautiful. The walls were now made out of glass and she could see into the different departments. In the Auror department a woman was chasing a man while brandishing a huge club while the people around her were cheering. She could see the back of a ginger haired man and her heart skipped a beat.
She was about to enter the elevator when she heard her name called. She immediately recognized the voice which was nasal and annoying.
"Hermione wait for a minute! Oh thank God you stopped I was not looking forward to chasing you all around the ministry. My God you really are not in this world." She paused to take a breath. Her name was Allison McAllen and she was in charge of processing her application so as much as Hermione couldn't stand her she tried her best to be nice. She was a somewhat high ranking official but she knew almost everyone working in the ministry. She was short, with jet black hair tightly pulled back into a ponytail. Although she was at least 35 she had a sticker of a pony on her cheek. She wore exaggerated baggy suit pants under her silver robes and she had red eye shadow on. She had heard that some people in the ministry liked to treat their work as a runway and she now started to see that for herself.
"Anyway sweetie pie, you know your application? Well, it's been accepted and your now working as a junior member in the department of internal affairs!" before Hermione could even process the amazing information Allison continued on with a shriek, "I know! That's my department; you're going to be working under me! Oh no need to look so disheartened, I promise I won't bite!" she gave a wink and twirled away.
"Thank you, Ma'am!" Hermione walked away with a goofy smile. She got into the elevator and pressed nine for department of internal affairs.