Written for the 335 Pairing Bonanza Challenge (MillicentPiers)
The Day the Ministry Shut Down
The Ministry of Magic was a good for nothing, Muggle-loving run place these days. Rather than keeping magic a secret from the non-magic community, Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was all for integrating into the Muggle world.
For some people, such as the Weasleys, they were more than happy to abide by these views. For others, such as Millicent Bulstrode, it was a nuisance and went against many beliefs she held.
A memo had gone out to all Ministry employees a week ago that on June sixteen, two-thousand-and-six, they would be expected to commute to work as a Muggle would. Not only did that entail all magical means of getting into the Ministry (such as Floo) were closed, but Apparition points had been shut down twenty miles around where the workplace was situated.
That meant that to get to work they either had to walk from the closest Apparition point, or use Muggle transport.
Millicent was never one for exercise, so she had opted – not without many complaints – to use the underground subway.
Now, she sat bitterly on a dirty seat with a screaming child opposite her, a snoring old man to her right, and a younger man blasting some loud sound from ugly ear muffs to her left. If this was going to continue perhaps the Ministry of Magic was not for her.
Bloody Muggle-loving gits, she thought bitterly as a train pulled slowly into another stop. If she understood the timetable correctly, there were still five more stops to where she needed to be.
The train came to a complete stand-still and Millicent was lurched forward as it did so. She almost slammed into a man standing in front of her had it not been for the support pole which she grabbed onto.
He gave her an odd look, but continued with whatever it was he was doing.
Thankfully, the man blasting what she could only assume was some form of music got off at that stop. She breathed, but it wasn't relief for long. Another man got on a moment later and sat down beside her.
He wasn't the most attractive fellow, but at least he wasn't making any unnecessary noise.
Millicent settled back into her seat. She'd almost be there. And then she could write a letter of complaint about the Minister and his stupid ideas.
It wasn't until two stops later was she once again disturbed by a passenger on the train. It was the man who had just recently joined her.
"Excuse me," he said gruffly, looking at her.
Millicent instinctively moved over, partly because she didn't know him and partly because his breath reeked of what smelt like garlic.
"Er, don't mean to be rude or anything, but that's kind of my seat."
Millicent blinked. "Excuse me?" she asked. The man had begun to fidget a stop ago, but she had paid him no attention. Now she knew why.
"My seat," he explained as if she were daft. "You're sitting in it."
Millicent had the need to withdraw her wand and show him how it wasn't his seat; but she resisted, instead choosing to be as polite as possible.
"No offence, sir, but there is nothing here that has your name on it."
"I sit there every day," the man explained.
"Well, I'm here today."
"I'm sure everyone on the train could vouch for me when I say I sit there every day."
Millicent looked around. Everyone happened to be looking everywhere but at them.
"I can see that," she said sharply. "If it makes you happy, I'll be getting off in two stops, and then you may have your seat. For now, if you don't mind, I'd like to enjoy the rest of this stupid ride in peace, thank you."
The man glared at her, but only huffed in response. He dug into his backpack and extracted something very similar to what the man before him had been using.
Millicent sighed. Only three more stops, she thought to herself.
The train rolled into another station, and thankfully the screaming child and the snoring man got off.
She sighed again. A few more spots and she would let the Minister know exactly what she thought about witches and wizards integrating with Muggles.
This originally started out as going to be a romance, but I felt it was better to stop it there, as the characters certainly weren't leading me down the path of romance :P Anyway, lesser-known characters are always fun to write, and I hope they are fun to read too. I hope you enjoyed it, and please leave a review if you read it. It would be much appreciated. Thank you!