Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Katie Bell has been alone for the last four years. After the wedding of her best friend, she heads to the Leaky Cauldron. After she gets drunk, will she make some mistakes that she'll regret later? Oliver Wood/Katie Bell
Disclaimer: Really. Think about it. I'm writing at FanFiction.net. How could it be a FAN fiction if I was J.K. Rowling hmm? I don't own Harry Potter!
Chapter Five: Lunch with the Ladies
"Ever since You-Know-Who's downfall, Magical Catastrophes have been rare." Ron said, showing me down the white hallway, enclosed by several people working on paperwork in semi-cubicles. The kind that only go up half-way. Everyone seemed very friendly. They waved and said hello to Ron and gave me a friendly smile. "If anything does happen." He said, coming up on a large map of the United Kingdom. "Anything with a larger magical output of a normal spell, which is usually only 5 KJules, then we're alerted by flashing on this map." He lightly rested a finger on the map to make his point. "Everyone in this department is assigned an area of England. You'll be partnered with someone until you become a full Ministry official." He gave me the traditional Weasley smile. "I'm still a junior, so it might take a while."
I gave him a smile back. "What do you guys do when there isn't a Magical Catastrophe?" I asked him.
"We work out." Ron said, flexing his bicep. I laughed. "We've got a personal gym on the second floor. You must have smelled the sweat coming up the stairs." I shook my head, I probably was so nervous I didn't even notice it. "We fill out paper work, which I can tell you, gives you writer's cramp a lot."
I decided that I liked Ron. He was going to be fun working with. "Well this is my cubicle, and yours is right next to mine according to Kev."
I felt relieved that no one seemed like Vince here. I wondered if he had gotten desperate enough to ask Jerry to suck his...
"Hello!" Ron said, waving his hand in front of my face. "You in this galaxy?"
"Thank you, I was at Neptune. I was having a lovely time with the purple monkeys, and you interrupted!" A voice said behind me. A smallish girl of twenty smiled at me. She was up to my eyes in height, but seemed to have the personality Alicia. Her light sea green eyes twinkled playfully at me. She had dishwater blonde hair that was in two low pigtails, strands escaping from them. "Hi, I'm Susan Bones." She said, sticking out her hand. "Welcome to Magical Catastrophe Division."
I shook her hand. "Thanks. It's good to be here."
"Where did you work before?" Susan inquired, crossing her arms over a dark blue tank top. She was wearing black shorts and tan hiking boots, which I found odd. But then again, probably in the most critical situations, they had to fight, and needed to be in good fighting clothes. She had a robe on, but it didn't have any sleeves. I recognized the style from McKenzie Robe Fashions
"I worked at the Magical Theory Corps." I said. "Is that robe from McKenzie Robe Fashions?"
"Magical Theory Corps?" She asked in amazement. "Is that worm Morningside still there? Oh, yeah, it's from McKenzie's. Don't you love it? They're so comfortable."
"Yeah, he's still there, he's the reason I quit. I do love it. Did they open a shop in London or Hogsmeade?"
"Hogsmeade. Does he still try and get favors from his female employees?"
"Yes!"
Ron looked between the two of us as our rapid fire conversations went on as if he was watching a badminton match. "How in Dumbledore's woolen socks do you have two conversations at a time?" He asked, looking poorly bewildered, throwing his arms in the air.
Susan sighed, and clasped a hand on Ron's shoulder, and looked skyward. "I'd tell you Ron, but..."
"But what?" Ron asked, looking curiously at her.
"It's a girl thing and guys can't really wrap their heads around it." Susan said smiling. "It's been like that since...like the caveman days. The Cavewoman picked the caves don't yah know!"
"I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be loyal!" Ron said. "Don't forget that I helped you get this job!"
"I'm a little more in dept to the female race than I am to you Ron!" Susan said, laughing, a broad grin taking over her profile. "I'm one of them."
"Could've fooled me."
"That's it!" Susan jumped on Ron, getting him in a headlock and giving him a fierce noogie.
"Have mercy, have mercy!" Ron said loudly. Susan let go. For a small girl, she had guts. They shook hands and turned back to me at the same time, which made them look like they planned it.
"Is this...how work is mostly with you guys?" I asked, looking between the two of them, looking really confused.
They gave each other a look. "Most of the time." They said together.
I just had to laugh. They looked like two comedians on the TV.
"Hey Susan, why don't you show Katie where the gym is, so she can start her training tomorrow with Darryl?" Ron asked. "I have to work on the paperwork for that accidental wand blow up." He shook his head. "That is why you keep kids away from wands. This close to hitting a gas station." He held his fingers barely a centimeter apart.
I grimaced. That would have been ugly indeed!
*+*
We walked down the stairs, comparing Hogwarts experiences when I saw Hermione again. "Hey Mya." I said.
"Oh hey." She said breathlessly. "Katie, I wanted to ask you, do want to job me, Erica and Ginny for lunch?" She looked over at Susan. Susan held her hands up.
"Sorry, I'm booked. I've got work up to my chin, and I'm working through lunch and owl-ordering some pizza."
Hermione smiled. "So?" She asked.
"I'd love to!" I said. I felt right at home here. There were so many friendly people.
That's where my luck ended.
Susan and I walked into the gym, and I was amazed. It was huge!! There were machines to work at, and there were boxing rings and magical boxes (where you go in and fight off fake wizards with your skills and wands. Think Muggle Virtual Reality Games.) There were punching bags and martial art mats. But my view was suddenly obscured by a Barbie-doll looking woman. She was perfect in proportion and had blonde hair tied in a ponytail at the base of her neck. Her ice blue eyes stared at me like chunks of an iceberg.
"So I see they're letting anyone in these days." She said. I recognized her. Cassidy Jones. She had been a two years above me at Hogwarts, with the attitude of Death. Anyone that didn't like her, died. She and I had a few scuffles in the hollowed halls of Hogwarts. Namely, I won, she ended up with a broken nail and an intense hatred for me. She was wearing a hot neon pink exercise shirt with a purple heart on it, and black spandex shorts. It didn't look like she did any working out, only went there to make the guys drool.
"Look what the dogs dragged in." Susan said behind me. She obviously did not like Cassidy. I didn't blame her one iota.
"Bite me Bones." Cassidy said snippily. Nasal voice, eeeew!! Sounds like nails on a chalkboard!
"Time and place Jones." Susan said.
Cassidy gave Susan a dirty look. She then stuck her nose up in the air and left.
"Barbie-Doll bitch." I muttered under my breath.
"Don't waste your time on her." Susan said. "She's not worth your breath."
I sighed, still feeling tense. I really hate people that think they're better just because of blood or family. Cassidy had called me a Mudblood more times than I could count, even though I'm a half-blood. That doesn't matter to her. Pureblood my arse. I know Muggle children that have better manners than her.
*+*
Susan introduced me to Darryl, gorgeous African Wizard with a deep resounding voice. He was teaching at an aerobics class, so he couldn't talk long, but he was very friendly. He told me that he was free the next day at two to teach me the basics for an hour and a half. I agreed and shook on it. Susan showed me around, told me where to get the gear I needed (like my beeper for when a Magical mishap happened in my quadrant), and where to research spells. It lasted nearly two hours, and my feet really hurt after all that walking around. I asked why we had to go up the god-forsaken stairs, Susan explained that the walls, like the Hogwarts grounds, where Apparation-Proof, so no terrorists could Apparate in and out really fast leaving us with a bomb or something of the like, so we're stuck walking up and down stairs. Heck, after two weeks here, I could have the most amazing calf muscles ever!
Hermione met me at my office space on the seventh floor. She smiled at me. "Ready to go?"
I grinned. "Sure. Where are we going?"
"I thought we'd head to the Maricola, that new restaurant on Miller Avenue. Harry says it's good." Hermione said. "Ginny's gonna meet us there. She had a story to work on. She might be late."
"Story?"
"Oh, she works for the Daily Prophet." Hermione said, as we started to walk down the stairs. "She's working her first cover story, and she's really excited."
I was amazed. I remembered that Ginny was five years younger than me, and was just out of Hogwarts and she was already working for the Daily Prophet. When I was seventeen, I had lived with my father, a magical Metal-Charmer for a year before starting work as a Muggle waitress, and did that for a couple years and then when onto Magical Theory Corps. I was amazed at their talent and skill, and embarrassed of mine own stupidity not to dive right into work after Hogwarts.
We continued talking and chatting about past jobs and various other things that popped into our minds as we walked down the stairs to meet up with Erica, the desk woman. "I really think that we should go to Maricola." Hermione said. "Harry said he and Ginny had a fantastic..."
"Honey, that's the perfect reason not to go there." Erica said. "Because you know Gin. I love the girl to death, but she'll ramble on and on about what she ordered for the date, and which waiter had the cutest butt, and so on and so forth. I say let's go to Jenson's Diner, you know ,that old restaurant on 4th street? I went there last week, and it seemed alright."
"You know," I piped up, feeling a itty bitty self-conscious, but piping up nonetheless. "There's a wonderful little cafe in the corner of Winston and 10th. It's called the Sunnyside Cafe, and it's a great place for lunch."
Hermione and Erica both looked at me, and I felt like I was being undressed by their eyes. Oliver can do that fine by himself... The idiotic thought entered my mind before I could stop it. Get out! Argh! The images it brought were painful.
"Oh, that's perfect!" Hermione exclaimed. "Here, let me just tell Ginny of our plans, ok?" Hermione whipped out a cellular phone and began dialing. "Ginny? It's Mya..." She began, before going off to talk with her right hand pressed against her ear so that she could hear over the roar of the witches and wizards in the lobby.
Erica and I looked at each other for about ten seconds before Hermione came back. "Ok," She said breathlessly. "She's going to meet us there in about fifteen minutes."
We pushed our way through the crowd and to the front door. About ten minutes later, we were in front of the Sunnyside Cafe. It was a quaint little establishment with several booths outside, which we opted for since it was a beautiful day outside.
We made our selection and were chatting about random subjects when Ginny showed up. Even though I had only seen her days ago, at her brother's wedding (she had been a bridesmaid with me) she seemed taller. She had been granted the Weasley flaming red hair, and was extremely tall like her brother. She almost rivaled me in height. "Heeey!" she exclaimed, Hermione stood up and hugged her.
"How was the interview?" Hermione asked when we all sat down and Ginny had ordered a diet Coke to drink.
Ginny made a face. "Urk, don't ask for another week and I'll tell you."
Erica smiled. "I told you not to go interview a vampire." (A/N: That is just for you Aisling!)
Ginny shook her head, her fiery locks bouncing all over the place. She had kept her hair short, but it was long enough to pull into a ponytail. She was wearing a dark purple skirt and white peasant blouse. "I needed to get a vampire's opinion on the Vampirism Laws that they're going to pass. They're planning to force Vampires to register with Magical Law Enforcement..."
"Oh, god!" Hermione said, choking on her drink, and I was half-afraid I was going to have to give her the Heimlich Maneuver. "I forgot my manners, Ginny, you remember Katie Bell? I told you she was going to join us." She gestured to me, while she attempted damage control on her shirt for
Why did I feel like I was going to throw up??
"Um, hey." I said.
"Oh hey Katie," Ginny said, giving me a grin. " How are you?"
I smiled. "I'm fine, thanks."
Ginny grinned at me for a second, and then turned to Erica. "So, Erica, date last night, spill."
Erica winced. "Not much to tell. He thought I was an easy lay, I thought he looked better in pain."
We all laughed. "How 'bout you Katie?" Hermione asked. "Any romantic interests?"
They all looked at me. "Not really..." I said slowly.
Erica nearly jumped out her seat. "Oh, I know a guy in the Misuse of Magic's office that..."
"Erm, Erica..." Hermione said slowly. "Don't you remember that last time you tried to set someone up?"
Erica sulked. "Yes."
"What happened?"
"I got landed with you in a Muggle police station."
"And that's when you promised never to hook anyone up, ever again."
"I hate you for your memory."
"I know."
I laughed at the sullen look on Erica's face. Ginny looked seriously at me. "What do you mean not really? I don't remember you having a date at George's wedding."
Damn her for knowing about that.
"Oh, it's nothing." I said, dismissing it. I was not about to tell three women I barely knew that I had sex with Oliver Wood, Quidditch player extraordinaire. And while I'm on the subject of Ollie, WHY does he keep popping up in my mind at the worst times??
Ginny looked at me with a quizzical face for about five seconds before turning back to everyone and continued talking.
Great, I still have to owl Oliver for that dinner...
A/N: Easily this is the most boring of all my chapters so far, and it's so damn long, I have no idea how I did it. Sorry if you guys hate this chapter, but it has key points in it, if you can find them. *smiles evilly* I know you all were looking forward to a Oliver filled chapter, but that's in chapter six! Yummy Ollie will be back!