I don't own the Character Dolores Umbridge ( I wouldn't want to.)
A what if one shot
"You know, I really hate children"-Dolores Umbridge, Order of the phoenix
At twenty eight years old Tabitha Hankins really did hate her job.
She most likely wasn't the only one in the Ministry, but most of her troubles stemmed from one woman in particular, her boss Madame Umbridge.
The woman was just…what was the right word? Infuriating, yes that seemed to fit well with Tabitha's current feelings towards the woman. As secretary to the Senior Undersecretary (so many secretaries) to the minister, she was expected to act honoured to be given such a privilege, and at first she was, but her boss soon sought to extinguish that.
The occasional jabs on her strawberry blonde hair didn't go unnoticed, as well as the critique looks she was given every time she tried a different hairstyle. The comment about her getting a little chubby, was probably the moment when she wanted to bash her head against the wall.
Tabitha sighed quietly a she finished typing up her report, herself currently sat at her desk in the far corner of Madame Umbridge's office — a small blue speck against the over blaring pink of the room. She had worked here for seven months now, only a couple more and she could start looking for a new job…..hopefully.
She was distracted from her musing by a knock at the door, which made her tense a little . Madame Umbridge most certainly didn't knock to enter her own office. "Come in," she called apprehensively, hastily standing up to see what they wanted.
To her surprise, it was a young man who appeared, dressed in a nice looking dark brown outer robe, grey shirt, and slacks, his shoes a little muddy ;Tabitha hoped he didn't make a mess, or she'd be blamed for it. Looking around the room cautiously, as his hands clenched and unclenched, wrapped up in grey fingerless gloves, his eyes landed on her. "Hello, I'm here to see Madame Umbridge," he greeted nervously, presemting his hand for her to shake.
She smiled at him reassuringly, shaking his hand, briefly taking in his appearance. He looked like he was hitting his late twenties, and he looked quite thin. His brown hair had a mousy brown look to it, a little messy at the top. His was easy on the eyes as well, then again she supposed his smartly dressed attire helped, since he wasn't really that all handsome, but he did have a nice homely look about him, with an oval pale face, short nose and beady grey eyes. He was an alright height as well, just above six foot.
Tabitha quickly buried any school girl attractions she had for the man "She's just on her lunch break." Like I should be. "Your name?" she asked, picking up the appointment sheet.
"Alphonso Tripe," he answered.
"Yes, here you are, but says here you're not scheduled in until one," she read; the lad was a good twenty minutes early.
"I didn't….late," he mumbled.
She looked at him confusion. "What?"
"I didn't want to be late," he said more clearly, avoiding her eyes. "Sorry."
She was starting to feel more uncomfortable. "It's fine, sir. She'll be here in a bit, why don't you take a seat? I'll take your robe."
And he did, she watched him quietly take a seat, while she placed his coat on the rail. He kept his eyes focused on the ground. She wondered why he was so shy. Which brought about another question, why did Madame Umbridge wish to see him? But Tabitha knew better than to poke her nose in business she wasn't wanted in, so she returned to her work.
The man didn't utter peep throughout the silence, she half wished he started a conversation, just to make things a little less awkward. Or maybe she was the only one who felt awkward…she really needed to finish this report.
She was on her last sentence when the door abruptly opened and the pink clad goblin herself, Umbridge, stepped in and instantly turned to Tabitha, smiling brightly. "Is the report finished Tabitha?"
"I'm just proof reading it Ma'am," Tabitha replied pleasantly, before quickly changing the subject. "Your one O'clock appointment is here."
Madame Umbridge's eyes flickered to where Mr Tripe was, the man was already on his feet and was smiling weakly. The pink woman's smile grew more, eyes glinting —Tabitha knew that look was never a good sign. "Alphonso," she exclaimed sweetly, walking towards the man. "Come, let me get a good look at you."
Tabitha frowned at the woman's overly familiar tone. Alphonso came closer to Umbridge, smoothing his hair back. "Hello mother."
Tabitha nearly choked on the air as her eyes widened, looking at them both in awe. Who the hell would marry Madame Umbridge? The woman was insufferable. Tabitha tried to regain composer, perhaps she had judged Madame Umbridge wrongly.
Still, it was unnerving seeing her fuss over the boy, who looked like a giant compared to his mother, seeing her smoothing out the minor creases of his shirt. "You really are letting yourself go Alphonso, you look a state, and what have I told you about those gloves? Tabitha probably thought you were a bum," she reprimanded, tone like honey, casting a firm look at her secretary, who winced.
Alphonso mumbled something that sounded like an apology, hastily removing the gloves. "You wanted to see me."
She brushed some invisible dust off his shoulder before flicking it off her manicured fingers. "Ah yes, please sit," she instructed pleasantly, walking to her seat behind the desk.
Tabitha watched them from the corner of her eye as she typed the last sentence off the report and started to proof read it, keeping her ears pricked.
Alphonso sat back down and watched as his mother pushed a plate of biscuits in front of him and started to pour herself a cup of tea, before pouring his. "Drink up," she chirped, placing the tea pot back down and adding some sugar to her tea. Alphonso took his cup of tea and drank. "It's been...how many weeks since I last saw you?"
"Five," he spoke up, shifting in his seat.
"Much too long, people might think you're avoiding me," she laughed. He forced an uneasy smile. She took another sip of tea. "Yes, much too long. But I suppose your work keeps you, babysitting animals must be tiresome."
"T-they're not-"
"Such stress. I've never really thought much of the Beast division, but it does seem like you have a future in it."
"…Thank you."
Tabitha briefly glanced back at the two, seeing the man begin to scratch his left hand nervously, as his mother hummed a tune. Tabitha quickly looked back at her work when she felt the woman's eyes glance at her. "Well it's true. In fact I called you here because I wanted to talk about your work." Umbridge smiled politely at Alphonso.
"Oh…what about?"
"Why your opposition to my new anti-werewolf legislation of course."
There was a long silence. "M-mother-"
"After all, you can't imagine how that makes me feel, my own son..." she simpered.
"I just don't...think it's…right," he said quietly, keeping his eyes downcast.
"Tut tut, nonsense, I assume you've read the draft?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then I don't see what the problem is." Alphonso was silent again, Tabitha glanced up at the man, who looked less like a man right now and more like a timid teenage boy. She felt a stab of pity for him. His mother took another leisurely sip of tea. "Darling, your tea's getting cold." He quickly drank up. "How's Sarah by the way?"
"She's fine...we got engaged."
"Did you? That's nice darling. Does she still work for the Wizengamot Administration Services?"
"Yes…"
Tabitha didn't like the woman's tone. Madame Umbridge smiled sweetly. "Hmm, well that's nice," was all she said.
Tabitha stopped reading once she realised what the woman was doing, her stomach churning.
Alphonso seemed to get the gist as well, as he suddenly went a sickly pale."Mother please-"
"Sarah's such a nice girl, a little dim, but sweet," Madame Umbridge commented as she took a nibble of her biscuit.
"I'll support your legislation!" he blurted out, looking frantic, rising a little from his chair.
She gave him a pointed look. "There's no need to shout."
He cowed at her tone."I'm sorry. I'll support your legislation." he repeated meekly.
His mother looked at him with mild amusement. "Oh, well that's wonderful, darling," she replied cheerfully. Tabitha watched as he slumped in his chair, furiously scratching his hand as his eyes glazed over a little;he looked like a frightened puppy. "Darling stop muttering, you're a grown man, act like it." Umbridge sighed irritably, an unfamiliar annoyance to her tone. "And do stop scratching, it's savage," she reprimanded.
He seemed to tense —Tabitha was beginning to find this painful to watch. "Sorry," he apologised again.
Madame Umbridge placed her empty cup to the side. "Finished?" she inquired. He passed her his empty cup. "Well I'm glad we cleared up this mess," she said pleasantly, standing up and dusting off her skirt, Alphonso hastily got to his feet. Tabitha stapled the report together as she glanced up at them. Madame Umbridge walked over to her son, scrutinising him. "Tut, that hair of yours is getting far too straggly." She ran her hand over his hair.
He flinched when she touched him. "Yes mother."
"Good boy." Umbridge smiled at him. Tabitha found the whole thing disturbing. She watched the man look at the door longingly, but the confectionery woman that was the poor lad's mother, seemed to want to push her point in further. "I'll have Tabitha send you a reminder of the legislation signing —wear a better suit and do make sure Sarah looks nice —oh, and make sure you wear clean shoes, the carpet's filthy now," she added lightly, patting his cheek, with a little too much force, as Alphonso shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry."
Tabitha thought now was a good time to give the man his robe back, wanting to spare him further misery, she quickly stood and picked the robe from the rail. "Mr Tripe," she said warmly, holding out the garment, keeping a safe distance from Madame Umbridge.
"Thank you," he said gratefully, stretching his hand out to take it, her eyes widened a little once she saw the faint outline of scars on his hand, before he quickly snatched the rone from her and put it on. "Goodbye mother," he said anxiously, hastily pulling his fingerless gloves back on, refusing to look at Tabitha.
His mother looked at him expectantly, so he quickly bent down to peck her on the cheek, her face remained twisted in the same sweet smile. Alphonso quickly hurried to the door when Tabitha opened it for him.
He was out of the door before another word could be uttered. Tabitha closed the door and turned back to her boss, wondering if this was all a disturbing dream. "Make sure he gets the signing sheet before evening," Umbridge instructed smoothly, returning to her desk and picking up her quill. "I'll add his name to the list."
Tabitha nodded dumbly. "Yes Ma'am," she replied, pausing before adding. "Your son seems like a nice man." Well she had never expected to say that sentence, that's for sure.
Madame Umbridge smiled condescendingly at her. "He's a little skittish isn't he?"
I would be if you were my mother, Tabitha thought scathingly. "A little, yes."
"Well, he's always needed guidance."
Tabitha was starting to become more uncomfortable. "Oh, right," she replied awkwardly, quickly sitting down and getting back to work.
"Hmm, yes," Madame Umbridge simply chimed, looking very pleased with herself. "He's always been too sensitive."
Now Tabitha didn't consider herself very brave, but sometimes she got sprouts of righteous urges, like now. So when she sent a reminder to Alphonso about the legislation signing date, she may have also sent it to the rest of the people going to attend...and she may have, or may not have, sent the wrong date (purely by accident of course) which may have led to a majority of supporters turning up on the wrong day...
She expected she'd be gone by the end of the month.
And that is why JK never made Umbridge a mother!