Hehehe...sorry it took so long to update.... Midterms and stuff taking their toll.
I wrote another fic :Chasing The Sea. Its a Draco/Ginny whimsical not-quite romance. Go on and read it.
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A World Unknown-- Chapter 13: The Kitchens.
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After Dumbledore was finished he sent her on her way with vauge directions on how to reach the great hall. The directions were so vauge, in fact, that she got to the end of the hallway before finding herself completely and utterly lost.
On either side were wide stone corridors hung with draperies and portraits that stirred and tried to pretend they were asleep so she would leave them alone. One particularly unusual one did quite the opposite and challenged her to a duel, on the grounds that she was trespassing. She stared at the knight until he shut up and also pretended to be dozing.
Keeping a low profile wasn't her biggest problem, since the robe she had stolen from that Neville boy had a Hogwarts insignia printed on it. So she had no inhibitions with exploring the relatively empty school. After a few minutes of wandering though, the tapestries all started to look the same and it wasn't until Maggie came across a wide stairwell that she thought she'd been getting anywhere at all. She strolled down the steps, but before she was given the chance to reach the bottom, the stairs gave a great tremble and broke away from the wall, carrying her with it. It rotated on place until it lurched into place on the opposite wall. Maggie clung to the banister with her eyes screwed shut, awaiting her inevitable death for a few moments before she realized nothing further was going to happen.
The foot of the staircase led the way to a heavy oak door engraved with the Hogwarts crest. Some words in Latin were carved along the frame but for the most part, it looked fairly safe, so she heaved it open and slipped inside.
She found herself in a grand library filled with hundreds upon hundreds of dusty tomes lining on dark shelves. Lanterns sat in the middle of heavy wooden tables between them .The only sound in the entire room was the soft turning of pages by the stern looking librarian, who offered her a quick glance as she entered before turning her attentions back to her book. The overall atmosphere of the room was calming and quiet, a refreshing change to Maggie after the wild adventure she had unwillingly partaken in by getting here.
Ambling between the tables, she inspected a few of the volumes that were stacked on the tables.
Winning Witches of the 17th Century, by Hagatha Mordeaux ; To Atlantis and Back, Martinia Gouffirec ; The Life and Times of Grindelwald, Hortence Roundwood.
She was in the Non-fiction section.
Looks like everything about being at Hogwarts was going to take some getting used to. Even their Dewy Decimal system......
The slam of a Heavy book cover drew her attention away from the literature to one of the tables on the far side of the room. Apparently she wasn't the only on here at this unusual hour in the morning. By the looks of it, the girl had pulled an all nighter. Her eyes were drooping, her clothes wrinkled, her hair was disheveled.
Or was that just frizz?
Oh shite!
Hermione Granger Sat at the opposite end of the room, fighting weariness to keep her eyes open and glued on the book in front of her. Maggie panicked and dropped behind the stack of books to her left, holding her breath against the chance that the other girl had spotted her.
The last thing she needed was a run in with Harry Potter or any of his friends before she was prepared.
And she was definitely not prepared.
Her hair was falling in her face, the elastic that held it lost forever on the forest floor, her face was dirty, her clothing torn. Definitely NOT prepared. After a moment she peered out from behind the stacks to survey the situation and was pleasantly surprised. Hermione had fallen asleep, face resting atop her book and was snoring lightly. The harsh looking librarian had only just taken notice and was preoccupied with moving across the room to rectify the utter indignation, giving Maggie the perfect chance to slip out unnoticed.
She ventured out back into the hall and down more stairs, looking for more to explore, but fond nothing but empty classrooms. Once, she came across another ghost, sporting a frilly pompadour and rather large, poofy sleeves. Eventually, she reached the main entrance where she had come in and immediately to her left, was the great hall.
It was large and warm with four long bench-lined tables spread throughout and one higher one at the far end. Presumably, for the teachers. She made her way through the tables, to the corner and tickled the pear at the end of the hall just like Dumbledore said. It actually giggled and shook, causing her to jump, but the portrait swung away to reveal a whitewashed stone passage. She warily went on and found herself in an impressive kitchen. The most impressive thing about it wasn't the legion of stoves, or sinks, or the merry fire blazing in the grate. It was the expanse of little, wrinkly people scurrying left and right, carrying plated of eggs and toast for the school's breakfast. Upon her entrance, seven or eight of them rushed forwards, backing her into a corner and bombarding her with eager compliance to help out in any way they could.
"May Lindy fetch you tea miss?"
"Would miss like some toast?"
"Can I be helping miss with her package?"
"Miss. Miss? Miss!"
Maggie backed into the wall with a cringe on her face. These must be the house elves.
She had to spend her time in here with these little midgets?
Bad day. Bad day. Bad day.
She declined their offers of food but let one take her bundle and another lead her away to a washbasin to clean up. When she returned from the cleaning room, they had already produced a new robe, better fitting and without tears, but this one replaced her current red lion on the sleeve with a small green serpent. She recalled it being the Slytherin symbol, the only house Hermione seemed to have any distaste for.
Oh well. Works for me.
The house elves crowded around her and introduced themselves one by one after she informed them she was the new teacher aide and she'd be staying here in the kitchens. Apparently, they were expecting her by word of the elusive Headmaster Dumbledore. She forgot every one of their names before they had finished saying them, they all sounded like Mindy, Winky,or Tindle anyway. The one who did stick out like a sore thumb was an odd little elf with a squashed nose named Dobby. He wore mismatched socks and a massive maroon jumper with a little french beret on his head. All the other elves wore simple ratty sacks tied in place with shoelaces or dental floss.
When she asked him about his clothes, he was bursting to tell her of his liberation from a cruel wizarding family, and how he worked for wages. All the others scoffed at him while he spoke but he seemed oblivious. A true black sheep. He pointed out another little House elf, this one a girl, who wore a worn navy skirt and blouse who had kept quiet and unnoticed in the fray. Dobby quickly drew her attention back though, when in his ramblings, he mentioned the name Harry potter.
Did everyone in this whole goddamn society have a personal connection to him?!!
Dobby ranted on about how good, great, brave Harry Potter Gave him a sock and some stupid thing like that. He mentioned some sort of diary and she got really interested when he told her about a kidnapping and the Chamber of Secrets.
So Harry was famous for more than just his Parents and that Voldemort guy? Interesting......
After Dobby was finished, he rushed off to help prepare the breakfast and suddenly, Maggie found herself bone-weary. Having not slept all night was taking its toll. She fought to keep her eyes open and asked the nearest Elf about a place to rest for the morning. He directed her to a simple cot in a tiny back room and she left him with strict instructions to wake her up before lunch.
He wandered off and left her in her little Cinderella-constantly-living-in-the-kitchens thoughts.
Well. Not quite Cinderella.
And she slept.
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Thanx again to all my reviewers and all the reviewers on ff.net in general. You guys own this place.
We built this city......or website.....on reviews!!!
Umm ok. Go and read these now!
The book of Jude, (ff.net) by soupofthedaysara.
Anything by tajuki (ff.net)
Rl (zelda, ff.net) by elfboylover.
And Roman Holiday (witchfics.org) by Anna.
Those things are choice fiction!!
Peace out ~Mags~
