The thought of owling Angelina had completely left Katie's mind after her more recent encounter with Flint. She could still feel the strength of his hands on her skin. She was sure there were going to be nicely sized purple bruises there before the day was done, not to mention a large brush burn on her back from colliding with the wall. Perhaps the best part of the day was meeting his older sister, Marta.
A witch after my own heart, Katie thought a bit of a smile emerging. Never had she seen someone be so forward with Flint. It was nice to see someone stand up to him. Maybe Marta could give her some pointers.
Settling down at her small kitchen counter, she started to replay the entire exchange between Marta, Flint, and herself. There was friction. Work was going to be ugly. She could almost taste the disgusting flavor of hopelessness in her mouth. But wasn't this job something she had wanted? It was the only way and she was up to it. Marcus Flint might think he was the greatest, but he never had known her. She wasn't one to quit now.
Recalling how she had wanted to pester Angelina with a million questions, Katie got out of her seat, and pulled out one of the last pieces of scroll paper she owned. It took her a moment to find her quill and some ink, but when she got all her tools in order, her mind was blank. How was she going to do this? What was she to write? This was her best friend since first year and she couldn't even write a letter to Angie? What was wrong with her?
Angelina,
Hey! I got the job, despite Flint's orders. His sister, Marta Flint, hired me. I thought it was going to be great. I had a job and everything. I stopped by Fred and George's shop to tell them the great news, but then Fred told me you left. What happened? He said you were with a Slytherin. Angie, please tell me you didn't run off on him with Montague. Owl me back as soon as you can.
~ Your Friend, Katie
Finished with her letter she gave it a quick look over before folding it and stamping it shut with red wax. Her owl, Frisbee, had died over a year ago. Since his death, she hadn't had the heart to buy another. He had been a good pet, very loving and obedient. She promised herself to buy another owl as soon as she had the money saved up.
Deciding that she'd owl Angie's letter when she went back to Diagon Alley tomorrow, she started to make herself dinner.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The following morning, Katie was woken up by the light sensation of pecking. Curious and in a bit of a daze, she opened her eyes. A magnificent owl was perched on her bedside table. In its left talons there was a letter. Seeing the Flint crest stamped onto the front, she could only assume the papers inside held her hours. Or her order to be fired, whichever one Flint had the more ease to do.
She took the letter and opened it. Two pieces of paper fell onto her lap. She ignored the first, seeing that it was merely a list of her hours. Her hand reached for the second piece of paper. It was a note from Marta.
Katie,
Marcus and I have decided to open the store this coming weekend. As you know it is almost Thanksgiving and every witch and wizard is going about doing his or her shopping for the holidays. Marcus insists we should wait until after the chaos of Christmas, but I know better. I have persuaded him to let us open the store.
However, that means we'll be needing you to come in today. If you have other plans and are otherwise inclined, I understand. Of course, my dear brother has informed me of your recent financial state and I thought you would be looking forward to some extra hours. So if you could, I'd love to have you come in today and help put the finishing touches on the store.
~Yours Truly – Marta Flint
At first she wanted to ring Marcus Flint's neck. How dare he share the confidential information about her financial state with anyone! Then she realized that Marta was different from her brother. Unlike the troll, Marta was much kinder and she would understand. Katie could trust her.
Immediately, she penned the reply, saying she would be there in an hour. Before she sent off the owl, she made sure to check her hours, just incase she had something else she'd like to say.
Ms. Katherine Bell - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Clerk
Monday through Friday - - - - - - - - - - - -10 am – 8pm
Saturday - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11 am- 9pm
Sunday - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -12 pm – 4pm
The times seemed reasonable enough. She was pleased. Working all these hours was sure to put some money on the table. In no time she'd be on her feet again. She never thought a Flint could make her so happy. Then she reminded herself that it was Marta who was doing this for her, not Marta's brother.
She started to fold up the hours, that was when her eyes caught the messy scribbling on the back of the sheet. Since Marta had written the to her already, she could only assume that this new note was from none other than Mister Marcus Flint.
Bell,
Congratulations, you made it past the first round. You may have my sister to back you up, but don't think she can protect you for long. I'll be watching you. The first time you screw up, you're gone.
~ Flint P.S. By the way, how's Woody?
Katie screamed in frustration, crumbling up her hours into a ball and tossing it across the room. How could he be so vile? Didn't he understand anything that she was going through? Obviously, he had never been poor, but couldn't he be empathetic at least once in his life?
Picking up her letter to Angie, she sent that and her reply to Marta off with the owl. "Let Marcus Flint think he can best me," she told herself out loud. "I'll just give him some of his own medicine." With that, she went to take a shower.
Forty minutes later, she was leaving her apartment. Walking through Diagon Alley, she let her eyes wander to the many things she desired in the shop windows. The many things she wanted could soon become a reality. Though she was mad, was her anger enough to make her lose her job? Flint was horrible, a terrible disease, but it wasn't worth losing her job over. This was what he wanted to do to her. He wanted her to leave.
As she made her way to QQS, she passed a familiar looking couple. The girl had fiery red hair, but the boy had hair as blonde as the moon was white. She did a double take to try and catch a glimpse of their faces, but she only managed to see their retreating backs. Confused that she couldn't place the two, she nearly walked past the store. Catching herself, she went up the steps and into the small building.
"You're late," a gruff voice came from the second level.
She glanced up at the balcony. Flint was trying to levitate a candle over to the chandelier. He was failing miserably, but she didn't raise her wand to aid him. She walked away, heading into the back office to find Marta.
"Hello Katie."
"Hi," she greeted her boss when she entered the room. "Sorry I'm late."
"Late?" Marta looked over her shoulder at the hourglass that hung on the wall. "Don't be silly, you're three minutes early. Why did you think you were late?"
"Flin-," she stopped, catching herself, "Marcus said something about-,"
"Oh, well you'll just have to ignore him. He's in one of his moods today." Marta laughed to herself, then continued with the filing she had been doing before Katie came in. "I was glad to hear you were coming. I was starting to worry when the owl didn't come back, but then I realized he had another stop to make before he came here."
"Ooops! I'm sorry," Katie apologized, realizing she had sent the owl on a personal mission, when she had sent him off with Angie's letter. "I just…I don't have an owl anymore…I didn't mean to,"
"Don't worry," Marta smiled, shaking her head. "I don't mind."
"Ok," Katie sighed, relieved.
"Come on, I'll show you around the store and tell you what needs to be done," the older witch led Katie out of the office, showing her the different spots.
There was a section just for Quidditch books, a section for practice snitches, quaffles, and bludgers, a section for the How-To's of the sport, and of course, the main purpose of the store, the real merchandise. A huge broom showcase was at the front of the store, but off to the right section there was an enormous area of just brooms.
The place was great. Katie had never felt more at home. Just as Marta was telling her about how they received all the products, Flint called her away. Smiling, Marta told her to take a look around on her own. Katie nodded, her eyes transfixed on the newest addition to brooms. A creation meant for speed, agility, and those who loved the sport. She ran her fingers over the Firebolt 360.
She could imagine herself flying this broom. Clouds passing her would only see a stroke of red and a blur of gold as she darted through the sky. At night the stars would have to race to keep up with her. The moon would be her light and no matter what happened during the day, she would be able to let it all go with one ride on that beauty. Katie closed her eyes, imagining.
"She's a beaut, ain't she?" Marta asked, returning.
"Yes," Katie breathed, still staring longingly at the broom.
"Do you think you know away around?"
"Yeah, what do you want me to do?"
Three hours later, Katie Bell was sweating, but feeling awfully good about herself. She had finished stacking the rest of the Quidditch For All Ages magazine stands. All the issues were in the correct order and in their right shelf. It had taken awhile for her to get it to look presentable, but now that it was done, she was proud of herself.
"Nice work, Kate," Marta grinned, coming out of the office. "I'm heading out to grab a bite to eat. Want to come along?"
"Nah, it's alright," she sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow. "I brought my own lunch, besides, I look horrible."
"Nonsense, you look fine," Marta argued.
"No, really," Katie smiled. "I'll be fine. Besides, I wanted to fix up those shelves over there," she pointed to where the practice balls were kept. They don't look so nice. I was going to use my magic touch to change that."
"Okay," Marta waved. "See you later."
Katie returned to her work. She was determined to fix the shelves. The boxes that held all the snitches and such were in disarray. Customers would prefer to see the store's products treated with more respect. She was going to make them look good, even if this was her only day working here. She had a feeling that Marcus Flint wanted her to be gone. If that was the case, her days here would be numbered.
She started by taking all the boxes down. Looking at the space that was left, she started to put all the boxes in order by style, type, and expense. Next, she began putting everything back, starting with the bottom shelf and the bludgers.
Some time later, she had just about finished. About an hour had passed. All she needed to do was put the last snitch box up on the top shelf. It was the newest type. This particular practice snitch was widely acclaimed as the best and Katie's old Hogwarts teammate Harry Potter was endorsing the product, so naturally, it was going to sell extremely well.
The top shelf was higher than she had first thought. Ready to levitate the box, Katie reached for her wand. However, when she searched through the folds of her robes, she realized that it wasn't there. She had forgotten it at home. Shrugging, she tucked the box under her arm and started to climb the shelves. When she got to the top, she carefully pulled out the package, adjusting its position until it looked perfect.
"Bell! What are you doing?" demanded Flint.
His voice had startled her and Katie lost her gripping on the shelf's edge. She toppled backwards, awaiting the hard impact of the wooden floor. Instead, strong hands came out of the air, grasping her, right before she collided with Flint's body. Both of them went sprawling to the floor, Katie landing on top of him.
"What do you think you were doing up there?" Flint hissed, completely ignoring the intimate position they were in.
"I was trying to fix that sloppy job you did of putting all those boxes on display! Don't you know anything?"
"I know that without this job you're nothing!"
"Yeah? And I know that with or without this job you're still the same prick from back at school!" she shot back.
The bell on the front door of the store rang and in stepped Devin Montague. When he saw the two fighting, Katie sitting on top of Flint in a very amusing position, his normal expression became an all-knowing smirk.
"Hey Marcus! Mixing business with a bit of pleasure I see."
A/N: I'm so happy with how this story is turning out. Sara's work is extremely good. I think she's set out a great plan for this fic. I'm just bringing up the rear. Lol! I appreciate all the reviews we have been taking in. Feel free to comment on what you would like to see in the future chapters and any other character involvement. Love you all! ~ Nev