Like a Pet? 8
She walked through the magnificent oak doors that were opened by two servants with extravagant outfits on. She looked around the entrance hall. Everyone was wearing dazzling ball gowns and splendid suits. She saw a mirror hanging on the wall. She walked over to it carefully, worried about what she would see. A young woman stood before it, wearing a deep purple ball gown, with light purple flowers braided into her hair. She was startled at the sight, pinching herself to make sure it was real. It was. Still looking into the mirror, she saw someone looking at her. She turned around quickly and looked at the person. He looked like he was in his thirties, with his black hair short, and wearing an expensive piece of wardrobe. He walked towards the girl and bowed low.
"It's a pleasure seeing you at my small party."
"This doesn't look very small." He took her hand and kissed it.
"Would you like to dance?" She nodded, not trusting her voice. He lead her to the dance floor as the band struck up a waltz.
"You look very beautiful tonight." The man whispered in her ear, pulling her close to him, which was untraditional in waltzes. "The flowers add a special touch." The girl blushed. "And your cheeks are darling with that pink tint." She blushed more. As they continued to dance, whispers filled her ears.
"Look at those two." "She looks so young." "He's almost old enough to be her father."
"Come with me." The man told her, taking her hand and pulling her off of the dance floor. He ushered her to the garden behind his yard. It was dark out and the sky was full of stars, and the crescent moon.
"Do you trust me?" He asked her.
"With my life." She whispered in his ear. He took her hand again and escorted her onto the cliff of his property.
"Do you trust yourself?" She stayed silent. She just looked up at him. He repeated his question. "Do you trust yourself?"
"I think so."
"Do you trust yourself to wake yourself up?"
"What?" He grabbed both of her elbows and pulled her over to the edge, she was looking down at the sharp rocks that the water was crushing against. "Please, don't let go. Please don't leave me." She cried. He let pulled her up to him, almost close enough for a kiss, but then let go of her.
I woke up with a start. I was all sweaty, and my bed was a mess. What was I dreaming? Dresses, a party, flowers, dancing, Sirius. How come when you try remembering your dreams you can only remember bits and pieces? I read somewhere that if you get yourself in the habit of saying 'Am I dreaming?' every hour that when you are actually dreaming you'll remember them when you wake up. Don't ask me how. I've never remembered it enough to actually have it work.
Now what was that dream suppose to be about? I think I might've read too much. I was obsessing about Sirius. I'm in love with him. Or was it lust? I want him to feel the same way. I want him to be like Romeo and Juliet, or Edmond and Haydee. I pulled the blankets off the floor and pulled them up around me. How could I dream something like that? I looked at the alarm clock next to my bed. It was 2 am. I knew I shouldn't have eaten all of that chocolate last night. And maybe I shouldn't have drunk that apple cider. It was in the refrigerator for a while. Probably turned to alcohol. Yup, it turned to alcohol. I clutched my head as pain shot through it. Then something else hit me. How drunk was I last night? Was I drunk last night? I crawled out of bed and dragged myself downstairs. I went into the bathroom and pulled the bottle of Tylenol out of the medicine cabinet.
"You were thinking along the same lines I was." Sirius said, coming into the bathroom too. "Can you give me two?" I opened the bottle and poured 4 out.
"So do you remember anything that happened last night?" I asked Sirius, getting a glass of water.
"I remember s'mores, and cider. That's it."
"That's about all I remember too." He went to the sink and took the coffee can out of the cupboard.
"Was that you that I heard screaming this morning or do you have neighbors close by?"
"I was screaming?"
"Yeah, bad dream?"
"Kinda."
"Want to tell me about it?" He took two mugs off the rack and filling them with coffee.
"It was really weird. I was at this like 1800 type style party. Then this guy came up to me and asked me to dance. Then he took me to this cliff and threw he off of it." He looked at me intently over the rim of his mug. He didn't take his eyes off of me. It reminded me of my dream, when he looked at me from across the hall.
"Sounds like you read the Count of Monte Cristo too much." He finally said after a minutes pause. "But I doubt Edmond would throw Mercedes or Haydee off of a cliff." But how about you? Would you throw me off of a cliff? I looked into my coffee and swished it around. I think way too much.
"Have you looked for a job yet?" He asked, drawing me away from the swirling coffee and milk.
"Huh? Oh, no I haven't."
"Well you should."
"Why?"
"Because I think some people may believe you've fallen off the face of the earth. The only person from the real world you've had contact with was Percy."
"But that was just yesterday."
"Still, you should get a job. Get out of the house."
"What? Do you want to get rid of me or something?" I grinned, looking at him slyly.
"Yes, exactly. I want to invite hot witches over here."
"I would have to advise against that." He shook his head and started laughing.
"What about you? Aren't there any hot guys that you could invite over here?"
"Not when I'm housing an escapee."
"Well, if I wasn't here, who would you have over?"
"I don't know."
"Don't you date?" Now I was blushing. "Have you ever even been on a date?"
"No, I haven't."
"We'll have to change that now don't we." I looked up at him. Was he thinking what I was thinking? Probably not. Why would a thirty-year-old man like a 19-year-old girl? Wait...don't answer that.
"What do you mean?"
"We're going to go to Diagon Alley today. We're going to get you a job and a date."
"And how are you going to go without being sent to Azkaban?" With a pop, a grinning dog was sitting in front of me.
"You know what. I really hate you." He knew I really didn't though. He got the edge of my boxer shorts in his mouth and pulled me to my room to get dressed. He left without being asked. What a gentleman. I need a cold shower.
"So where should I get a job?" I asked Padfoot. He pointed his head to the Leaky Cauldron. In the window was a sign that said 'Waitresses needed. Must be able to work under any conditions.' Which translated means, 'Hot women needed. Must not care if they get pinched, or wear short robes.' I glared at Padfoot who grinned at me.
"How about at the Daily Prophet? I'm good at writing." Padfoot nodded his head and started across the street to the building. I walked into the building, still holding Padfoot by the leash.
"I'd like to apply for an interview."
"You're in luck, the editor doesn't have anything this hour. But dogs aren't allowed in the conference room. I'd be happy to watch him if you want."
"Really? Thank you. Beware, he's not spayed." Padfoot looked at me with his doggy eyebrow raised as I walked towards the conference room, hiking my robes up an inch. Hey, you never know. A man in his mid twenties was sitting at the long table in the center of the room. He looked up as I closed the door of the room. There were about twenty papers scattered in front of him. It reminded me of what I use to be like with my homework.
"Uh...the secretary or whoever she was said that you'd have time to interview me for a job." He smiled at me and stacked the papers on one another. He pulled a chair out for me and I sat down in it.
"I'm guessing you weren't prepared with a resume."
"No I wasn't, I thought I'd just ask for a time when I could get on. I didn't expect being able to walk right in and be interviewed."
"Well what were your grades like in Hogwarts? Or did you go to another school?"
"I went to Hogwarts. I was a prefect in my 5th and 6th years and then Head Girl in 7th."
"Wait...you wouldn't by any chance be Michelle Thomas would you?"
"Yes that would be me."
"I think this interview is over. When do you want to start?" I sat shocked my eyes were wide.
"What? I got the job?"
"Yes you did."
"Well, um...can I start Monday."
"Sure. Now what do you want to be?"
"Huh?"
"Well, do you want to be a reporter? Assistant Editor?" Another assistant job?
"Can I ask you one thing?"
"What ever you want?"
"You don't, by any chance, have similar work ethics with Fudge?"
"By heavens means no. I do most of my own work thank you very much."
"Then what do you need an assistant for?" He smiled at me.
"Editors always make mistakes, it's the assistants that catches them." He picked up one of the papers that was on the table. "Here, look at this, and tell me how many mistakes you find." He handed me the paper.
Yestrday Fudge announced that they had new information on the Black cast. He infromed the press that he had a new disguise and has allowed several people to spot him. The Minister has told this reporter that the Aurors will catch Black in no time.
I looked up, smirking.
"If you publish this you'll be the laughing stock of the newspaper world."
"What do you mean?"
"Well let's see, I count 3 spelling mistakes, and this isn't in Fudge's normal speak. He usually stays away from anything that resembles a promise, and if you tell people that they will catch him, you'll get peoples hopes up, or down and it won't work at all. I bet you that everyone has probably forgotten about him and don't think he's dangerous. When's the last time anyone has heard from him?"
"Well, lets see...when he escaped from the Dementors at Hogwarts."
"And that was 2 years ago."
"I just got a great idea. How about you take a survey of people in Diagon Alley and see their opinion." He was smiling broadly.
"Me? Why?"
"To get your name out there."
"Okay, I guess I'll do it. Can I wait until Monday to do it?"
"Sure." I walked out of the office and saw the editor's secretary was playing with Padfoot. She was scratching behind his ear and cooing at him.
"Padfoot." His ears pricked up and he turned his head towards me, immediately noticing the length of my robes. He got up and walked over to me. I wrapped the leash around my wrist and walked out of the office.
"I got the job, I'm the assistant editor. I have to take a survey on peoples opinion of your case." He looked at me. "Don't worry, nobody knows about you, they've probably all forgotten." He nodded and turned back to looking in front of him. "So what now? Home?" He grinned and started running extremely fast, pulling me along with him. "Padfoot! Slow down!" Luckily I wasn't wearing my heeled boots. Padfoot started barking and weaving in and out of groups of people. I tried to get the leash off of my wrist, it was cutting into my skin and making it severely painful. "Padfoot! You're hurting me!" He slowed down a bit but kept running. I was losing my breath and I felt like I was going to pass out. Someone grabbed me around the waist and twirled me around, causing Padfoot to yield.
"Are you okay?" Wait...I know that voice. I looked up and saw no other than Oliver Wood. I always thought of him as being cute in school, but now he just took my breath away, well what I had left. Breathing heavily, I answered him.
"Yes, I am now. Thank you." Padfoot came trotting back to me, smiling. I glared at him. "Bad dog." He frowned and saw who was holding me up from collapsing, smiling.
"Michelle? Hey it's nice to see you again." He stood me on my feet. "How have you been? I haven't talked to for awhile now."
"Yeah, since I threatened you into winning the cup because I had a bet going." Padfoot raised his eyebrow at me and shook his head.
"Last I heard, you had a good job at the Ministry."
"Yeah, I got fired from that a couple days ago. I'm working for the Daily Prophet now."
"That's cool. Well I'd better get going soon. Would you like to get together this Saturday?" I looked at him with wide eyes.
"You want to go on a date? With me? Are you feeling alright?" He smiled and laughed.
"Yeah, I haven't been hit with a bludger, yet. So what do you say?" Padfoot nudged me forward.
"Sure that would be great."
"I'll see you on Saturday." He gave me another smile and went off. I stood in the same place for a while until Padfoot tugged at the bottom on my robes.
"What? Oh yeah. Lets go home." He nodded and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, this time not running.