DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and the gang are from JK Rowling's beautiful mind. Angela and her wizarding world is mine.
Enjoy!!! Please R/R.
Chapter 4: The Girl Next Door
"I don't know why I keep up with you!!!" Harry heard Hermione shout. Then he heard a loud thud and a door slamming. He quickly got up from reading the month's issue of Quidditch Today and ran towards the living room where he saw Ron slumped on the sky blue lounge chair beside the green one.
"Okay, what is it this time?" Harry sighed as he dropped down the mint green lounge chair.
Ron sighed and took a small velvety black box from his pocket. "I was supposed to propose tonight, Harry!"
Harry eyed the box then threw Ron a look that said "And?"
"Okay… it's like this… I asked her to dinner at that posh restaurant down Diagon Alley, beside Gringott's." Ron fumbled with the black velvet box. "She turned me down!"
"She turned down your proposal?" Harry asked blankly.
"She turned down my dinner!" Ron yelled. "For the past month, I've tried and tried to look for a decent job so that I'll be able to finally have the face to ask her hand. And when I finally got it…"
"She turned down your dinner." Harry sighed. Sometimes he can't believe at how Ron could be so thick.
"Ron, where does Hermione work?" He asked.
"The Ministry." Ron answered. Forehead still creased.
"Have you been reading the Daily Prophet?" Harry asked again.
Ron looked at him stupidly. "No. But what does that have to do with Hermione and me?"
Harry bent down and picked the latest issue of the Daily Prophet from the magazine rack. "What is Hermione's department?"
"Harry… you know she's in Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." Said Ron impatiently. "Is this an interview or what?"
"Then you better read this." He threw the newspaper on Ron's lap.
Ron just glanced on the paper but as soon as the headline caught his sight he stood up and cursed.
"Bloody hell. They've got 12 raids last night." Ron exclaimed. "No wonder she's so exhausted. She even fell asleep during our ride home. To think that I doubted her…"
"Don't tell me you had another fight over Dean Thomas." Harry asked.
"We did." Ron shook his head. Dean Thomas was also in their house and year in Gryffindor. After leaving Hogwarts, both he and Hermione got jobs in the same department in the Ministry.
"Sometimes I don't believe what's going on in that twisted brain of yours." He shook his head. He looked out of the window and saw Hedwig coming from afar. He opened the window for her and fetched the letter tied on her leg. "It's for you, Ron." He said, reading the addressee. And from the neat penmanship, he could tell it's from Ginny.
"Good. She replied to my letter." Ron took the envelope from Harry and read it hurriedly. "She'll be spending the Christmas holidays here."
"Why won't she spend it in the Burrow?" Harry asked curiously.
"Mom and Dad will visit Bill in Egypt. His wife's due this Christmas. Mom wants to be there and give them a hand." Ron said. His brother Bill, now happily married, still lives in Egypt with his wife and daughter, and another one on the way.
Harry just nodded. Ron folded the letter again and headed for the door. "I'll go over at Hermione's and apologize. See you in bit." And he disapparated.
Harry sighed. His head is full of thoughts he wanted to clear out. Without much thinking he got up and walked out of their apartment. He needed some time to think.
But as soon as he step out into the hallway of their floor, he saw something that intrigued him.
The door beside their apartment is slightly opened. In the corner of his eyes he saw a blur of jet-black hair. He looked again. Could it be?
He slowly walked towards the door and stared at the back of the girl with the long shiny hair. "Cho?" He asked hesitantly.
As if in slow motion, the girl flipped her long hair to look at the person behind her. "Excuse me?"
Harry was taken aback. It wasn't Cho. Cho was Chinese blood, with small smiling eyes and white, almost yellow, skin. But this girl has glowing tanned skin and round eyes framed by silver glasses.
"I-I'm sorry… I thought you were someone I know." He said.
"That's okay." She smiled. "You're one of the people next door?"
He nodded. "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."
"Harry Potter?" She smiled more, exposing her white perfect teeth. "I was told I would be meeting you soon but I didn't think it would be this soon. Come in!"
Harry went in the apartment. Most of the girl's things are still boxes but some of her furniture is already out. Harry sat down her huge couch full of pillows of different shapes and sizes.
"I'm Angela. Angela Mercado." She said as she placed a mug of steaming brew in front of Harry. "Ginger ale." She said.
"Thank you." He sipped some of the ale and liked the sweet flavor. "You said you'd be meeting me soon?"
"Yeah." Angela sat down on a gingham lounge chair. "I'll be working for the Ministry of Magic here in Britain. We're in the same Department."
"Really?" He asked curiously. A week ago he accepted an offer from the Department of International Wizardry in the Ministry. He's about to start the coming Monday. "You're not from around here, aren't you?"
Angela shook her head. "Nope. I'm from Southeast Asia. I was from a wizarding school there. You're from Hogwarts, right?"
"Yeah." Harry sat straight up. Rarely does he meet witches and wizards from other parts of Europe, let alone from other parts of the world! "How is it there?"
"Well, a lot different. We start wizard school when we're 12 and leave after only four years of wizard education. Then I went off to a Muggle university." She explained.
"Four years only?" Harry couldn't believe his ears.
"Yup." She took his empty mug and brought it to the kitchen. "But it's darn hard. I wasn't able to go home for four years because I studied in a foreign country."
Harry remembered Cho Chang who has Asian blood. "Hey, I know a Chinese girl…"
"China has a bigger wizarding school hidden in the Himalayas." She cut Harry. "Ours is actually a huge temple to Muggle eyes with tall walls and stuff."
"What exactly is your work in the Department?" Harry asked.
"Our Ministry wanted to strengthen the bonds with European Ministries. They wanted to build United Ministry that would cover all the Ministries of Magic in the whole world." She said. "I'm the ambassador here."
"Oh… I see. Maybe that's what Dumbledore wanted to talk about when he said he wanted me in the Ministry tomorrow." He pondered.
"Are you talking about Albus Dumbledore?" Her huge eyes went bigger. "Like the greatest wizard of all time?"
Harry smiled. He knew Dumbledore was a great wizard but he didn't know that he was famous even in other continents. "You know Dumbledore?"
"Who doesn't?" Angela gushed excitedly. "Are we going to under him? Because we are…"
"Yeah. I think we are."
Harry and Angela talked and talked until past midnight. But when Harry went back home, he discovered that Ron isn't home.
He went to the balcony to peek at Hermione's window across the alley. He saw the gentle light from her fireplace and he knew he need not worry where Ron is.
This chapter's quite boring. But I do hope it gets better. Please R/R. Thanks!