I do hope I'm not slaughtering, or worse, butcheringCedric's character (:
Chapter 3:
3 years later…
Christine sifted through her drawer, clearing out old junk and letters that needed to be filed and placed away.
"All this mess…" she said, sorting out letters and documents into two piles.
She suddenly found a stack of old photos which were taken during her school days.
There were many of the triplets and her, grinning away like maniacs, one of them all slopped in mud. She grinned as she looked through them, reminiscing the good old days. She flipped and found herself staring at her younger self whose arm was draped around Cedric, smiling as if she were the luckiest girl in the universe.
Her grin faltered as the photographic Cedric planted a large kiss on her face and grinned at the person taking the picture. She remembered that that was the day he promised her he would love her all his life.
"That was a long time ago…" she said, before placing the photos in her keep-safe box.
Sifting through more letters and documents, she found a cream-coloured envelope which had a flowery border. She needn't flip it open as the envelope was already torn rather savagely at the top.
She pulled out a card, and caught sight of Cedric and Cho Chang in their wedding attire - Cedric in a Tuxedo, Cho Chang in a gorgeous bridal dress. Both seemed to be enjoying themselves thoroughly. A pang shot through Christine as if an old scar had reopened. She crumpled it and threw it into the trash bin.
Well this is fun, she thought sarcastically, hmmm, what have we got here?
Old records… Old test assignments! Hmmm… four upon ten. Not too good… Errr… Expired gum drops… Expired milk! Expired pumpkin pastilles… Expired Cauldron cakes… Some old post cards from Lisa the muggle pen pal… wonder what happened to her. Whatever. Hmmm… She thought as she sifted through lots of old stuff. Cedric… she thought as she found another picture of him… Cedric… Cedric…Cedric and me… Cedric and the triplets… Cedric and Roger… Boy, stupid git looked so grumpy…What the hell… So many pictures of the git…
She looked at the first picture she found of him and her, and then looking at the wedding invitation in the bin. Tears pricked her eyes. Was this what she really wanted? Or was it her pride which had stopped her from getting what she really wanted…
She lunged for the picture on the table, grabbing it and ripping it clean down the middle before tossing it under her bed.
"CHRISTINE YOU'RE LATE FOR WORK! AND FOR HEAVENS SAKE PUT ON SOMETHING MORE DECENT, ITS YOUR FIRST DAY AT THE MINISTRY!" her father shouted from the hallway.
She crushed a few more letters from Cedric and aiming them into the bin before she "put on something more decent for her first day at work".
It wasn't even as if she had wanted the job. She chose annoying kids who screamed and ran around her in circles over having to sit at a desk and go through documents over and over again, growing obese during that process.
She wore a pair of jeans and a shirt before draping a black robe on (for decency).
She went downstairs extremely slowly, trying to procrastinate.
He was busy buttoning on his robe when he caught sight of her on the marble stairway.
"Oh for goodness sake, must you wear jeans?" he asked, "Grab hold of my hand. I'll apparate there,"
"Dad, I can jolly well apparate there myself!" she said.
"Yes, but I don't want you apparating into the Gobi Desert or something. It is your first day at work,"
"Will Roger be there?" she asked.
"Nope, he won't. He's Mr. Wesley's right hand man at some department handling Muggle Artifacts."
"Oh…"
"Are you ready? 1…2…3"
She found herself standing in the middle of a fountain with wizards, goblins and centaurs spewing water from their mouths the next minute.
"Oh so much for apparating into the Gobi Desert dad, ha- ha," she said sarcastically, "And how do you suppose we get over? Swim?"
"And swim we shall!" he said, sounding like some sort of general at battle.
"Wait, I was only joking-ARGH" she said before her father pulled her into the water.
No one really noticed. After all, this sort of thing happens at least once or twice a day.
He quickly dried himself while Christine was still busy trying to grab part of her robe out of the water.
"We're late!" he exclaimed as he pulled his sopping wet daughter along.
"Wait! What about ME, being drenched?" she asked, hurrying to catch up, "I… I look like a wet chicken!" she said in reference to a Chinese phrase.
"Just dry yourself later,"
"What am I doing again?"
"Working as one of the junior heads in the Department of Education," he said as he pulled her into a lift.
"And why am I starting at such a high post….?"
"Because you have connections with rather reasonable grades…" he said rather quietly.
She raised an eyebrow as pieces of paper airplanes fluttered by her ear, drying part of her hair.
It was too crowded to dry herself. She could barely life a finger.
They sprinted out again, weaving in and out of offices and cubicles before coming to a stop.
"Right... I have already spoken to your Department head, Mrs. Erse, yesterday. This is where you will work," he said, rapping on the wooden door in front of them, "Someone is inside there to help you with whatever stuff. He's your colleague, and not your servant," he said warningly.
"And you have to rush?" she said.
"INDEED!" he said before bustling off again.
Sniggering to herself, she turned to face an opened door only to find herself staring into a face she never expected (nor wanted) to meet…
AUTHORS NOTE: Hey everyone... I am really sorry for not updating in months! Its a simple obstruction called WRITERS BLOCK! Sorry for the short chapter, will not update till next week (or earlier), Chapter 4 will be up sooner than expected now that I have a new burst of INSPIRATION...