J.K Rowling owns the Harry Potter series, it's not mine at all.
Audrey Green jolted at the sound of her alarm clock going off and fell out of bed with a crash.
"Merlin's pants!" Came the muffled exclamation from her mouth squashed into the rug. Slowly Audrey lifted her head and rubbed her sore nose tenderly. "Ouch-ouch-ouch-ouch…" She stood, careful not to tread on the roll of papers inches away from where her face had landed and looked around the room. Sunlight streamed lazily through dirty curtains. Broken quills and crumbled parchment littered the floor, while a fat grey cat sat on a pile of books on top of a desk that had clearly seen better days. Scratching the back of her neck sheepishly Audrey picked up the pile of papers and plopped the covers back on her bed in a way that couldn't quite be classified as making it. Stumbling over to the desk, she removed her bag from the chair and slung it over her shoulder. The cat opened one eye and examined her critically.
Audrey looked down at herself, "Yes, yes Graymalkin I fell asleep in my day things again." She paused to scratch the cat absentmindedly round the ears. "Though…" She looked down at herself…the purple sweat pants and baggy Weird Sisters t-shirt could hardly be considered either day cloths or pajamas. Sighing, Audrey scooped up Graymalkin (despite his protests) and carried him out of the room. Placing him down in the teeny kitchen and rummaging through the hotel sized refrigerator for a can of cat food Audrey realized there wasn't a single bit of human food left. Her stomach grumbled and she shook her head exasperatedly. Of all the things she had forgotten this had to be the worst, I mean it was food for Merlin's sake. She opened the cat food and put it down on the counter along with her feline friend. Graymalkin looked at it disdainfully.
"Oh don't do that." Audrey glared at the beast. "That's all you're getting you little picky princess." Graymalkin decided to ignore the princess comment and eat the food he'd been given after all. "Well then," Audrey announced, pulling a folder in a strangely pristine condition out of the freezer and gently easing the pile of papers into it, "I'll be off, wish me good luck." Graymalkin mewed in a you're gonna need it sort of way and licked his paws regally. Audrey shrugged and left the kitchen, shoving her feet into a pair of trainers three sizes too small and slammed the door behind her, remembering to wave her wand to lock it just in time.
Audrey hummed Beethoven's 6th symphony as she sprinted down the halls of the old building. She ignored the shouts of the grumpy muggle landlord and swiftly apparated to the door of another flat, a whole lot better off in condition, somewhere near Diagon Alley.
Catching sight of herself in a mirror Audrey gapped. No wonder her cat had been so critical of her appearance. Audrey glared at the black curly hair springing up in different directions, the dark circles under her eyes, and the rumpled clothing. This was far worse then she had first blearily judged. Scrubbing her forehead fiercely, Audrey dropped her hands in defeat. Just how had she managed to get ink on her forehead anyway? Taking her frustration out on pounding the door as hard as she could, Audrey had to draw back her fist quickly to avoid hitting a heated young man in the face.
"Oi! What the hell are you doing making noises like that at this time in the morning!" The young man bellowed. Audrey rubbed her ear and glanced at the reddened face with an amused expression before marching right through the door.
The man's mouth fell open as he realized who had just entered his apartment. Audrey held out her arms happily in a welcoming gesture. There was a moment of silence then, "You. Where the bloody hell have you been?" Oliver Wood fell back onto his couch with a stunned expression. Audrey dropped her arms in disappointment.
"Nice to see you again too Ollie." She muttered heading over to his kitchen with an eyebrow raised.
After initiating the type shouting match that only the closest of friends could achieve, Oliver pulled the messy women into a hug and scolded her for not coming to see him sooner.
"You could've at least told me where you were…" Oliver grumbled as he watched her devour half of the contents of his well-stocked cupboards.
"Saw'ee!" Audrey mumbled during a particularly large mouthful. She swallowed. "It's not a very good excuse, but I've been up to my neck in stuff." Oliver nodded sadly.
"Haven't we all …" He picked a lose thread off his pajamas, trying to form the questions spinning in his head into some sort of reasonable order. "Are you okay?" He asked examining her face carefully. Audrey sighed and gestured down at herself.
"Well economically I'm not that well off."
"I can see that." Oliver muttered. "Why don't you let me—"
Audrey waved him aside and continued. "Physically…well I'm doing okay I guess—emotionally though, I'm pretty much as bad as anyone at the moment." Oliver rubbed a hand across his face.
"Yeah, life's kind of shitty right now." He looked down at his feet, trying to ignore all the dark memories that instantly resurfaced at that comment. Audrey watched him, putting down the mug of milk and watching at him with her disturbingly blue eyes.
"How's it going with Katie Bell?" She asked thoughtfully. Oliver smiled warmly, looking amazingly happy for some one who was just about to begin brooding.
"Wonderfully." He said in a dreamy voice. "She's a right girl you know, a real good person." Audrey chuckled, she'd always found Oliver's obsession with Katie Bell to be far more annoying then his obsession with Quidditch, but if it made him this happy, well then Katie must be the right type of girl after all. Oliver was gazing out the window with an expression only akin to the one on his face after witnessing a particularly difficult save. Still, his lovesick ways could get quite annoying. Audrey coughed loudly into the potato salad on her plate, then wondered how in the world it got there. She turned around to see the very same woman whom they had been discussing scooping liberal amounts of food onto her plate. Hmmm, Audrey supposed Katie really couldn't be that bad.
Katie had laughter in her eyes as she watched Oliver stare out of the window with his serene expression. Audrey stopped eating suddenly, looking up at the girl standing next to her. Her eyes quickly ran over her best friend's girlfriend, taking in Katie's fashionable red sweater and muggle jeans, the pink lipstick and neatly combed hair, as well as the friendly look she radiated.
"You're perfect!" Audrey exclaimed happily standing up and grasping Katie's shoulders. Katie looked rather surprised and forgot she was enjoying watching her boyfriend reminisce about her while he didn't know she was there.
"What do you mean?" She asked. Oliver head snapped over at the sound of her voice, yelped and held the pained section of his neck while staring at her in surprise.
"Katie—what're you doing—" He began to ask, Audrey cut him off.
"Ollie dear can I borrow your girl for a bit." Oliver opened his mouth to respond.
"Thanks a bunch for the food, maybe I'll stop by for dinner some time…bye!" Audrey disaparated with a pop, taking the confused Katie with her.
The two girls reappeared in Madam Malkin's robe shop. The witch looked very surprised at their sudden appearance, and jumped up holding up her wand cautiously. Slowly though she recognized the two faces and lowered her wand.
"Err—how may I help you dears?" She asked them. Katie shook her head, looking just as confused as the Madam was. Audrey on the other hand smiled brightly.
"One minute Ms. Malikin, I've gotta talk to Bell for a moment."
"Oh, of course…" Madam Malikin wandered off shaking her head. Katie sighed.
"Poor woman, never been the same after that attack…though I don't know why the deatheaters didn't just take the robes, she didn't put up much of a fight or anything." She looked over at Audrey. "Um, so, what did you want me to do?" She asked.
"Well…" Audrey stared at her feet in an embarrassed way, "That was a bit rude of me snatching you away from Ollie like that….so let's start over shall we?" Katie nodded in a bemused way. Audrey stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Audrey Green, Ollie's told me a lot about you so I reckon you're a nice person." Katie smiled and stuck out her hand.
"I'm Katie Bell, I've heard a lot about you too, and you seem quite nice as well." Audrey nodded.
"Good, good, so right, why I brought you here…well Katie—can I call you Katie?" Katie nodded her assent. "I have a rather important interview this morning with the minister."
"Oh!" Katie looked pleased, "Congratulations."
"Thanks. But the point is, I'm kind of low on money, and I'm afraid I'll lose some points with my sloppy appearance, and truthfully you're quite pretty and well dressed, so I thought you could help me out…err, if you wouldn't mind that is." Katie paused taking all of that in.
"Of course I'll help." She said.
"Thanks!" Audrey called out happily pulling the taller girl into a tight hug. "You won't regret it."
"Yeah…just let me off so I can get back to Ollie soon." She said jokingly. Audrey laughed.
"Oh Ollie's probably pouting a whole lot cause you left, but don't worry, it shouldn't take…" Audrey glanced down at her watch. "Well, it can't take that long, the interview's in about a half an hour." Katie nodded and they walked over to the professional robes section examining a dark blue one thoughtfully.
"Ah, what's the interview for exactly?" She asked interestedly.
"Hmmm…." Audrey glanced at the blue robes price tag and put it down quickly. "I just might have a shot at becoming the new editor of the Daily Prophet." She said slowly. Katie's eyes widened. Audrey noted her expression and discarded the red robes she was holding in the not in a million years pile. "Yep, pretty big deal, I'll tell you what." She threw a couple more robes in the maybe pile and looked up at Katie. "If I get the job I'll give you some money to treat Ollie for supper." Katie looked as if she was about to protest the idea "Nonsense, I know how much he eats, and don't want him to eat you out of house and home." Picking up some silver robes and sliding over to the Madam with determination in her eyes Audrey paused. "But you'll have to make me some more of that awesome potato salad in return." Katie chuckled and nodded in resignation.
Hope you like it then. I'm posting edited versions of all the chapters by the way. I was looking them over a bit, and the grammar was annoying me, so yeah, the edited chapters are coming up soon.