Chapter Two... 'Oliver Wood?'
"Owls need feeding, Newspapers attaching and there is a meeting taking place in the Briefing Room- they need coffee!" a man named Albert Fronds was rattling off a list to Hermione who was exhausted having just mopped the kitchen area floors.
She nodded wearily. "Yeah okay."
Albert looked up from the list. "Yeah? What sort of an English word is that Ms. Granger? And you expect to be a journalist? Hoohah!"
Hermione turned red. "Sorry, sir. I'm just a little tired."
"If you're tired now then imagine what it would be like if you were working 24/7 around the clock, turning boring issues into the most, exciting, in depth reports ever!" For a moment Albert looked like he was standing centre stage, a microphone in hand, with an audience clapping. Hermione put it down to sheer delirium.
"Yes, I understand," replied Hermione. Yeah and what would it be like for you if you had to mop, clean, wash, tidy and brush 24/7 around the clock? she said in her head.
Before Albert could lecture her any further, he was distracted by a pretty young girl wearing a bright red suit. "Scuse me Sir," she was tugging on the sleeve of his suit jacket.
"Yes what is it Missy?" he asked. Hermione wondered whether the girl's name was actually 'Missy'.
"Problem in the printing room."
"I'll see to it immediately," replied Albert. "Make sure you get all of those chores done," he added turning back to Hermione.
Hesitantly, she nodded. "Yes boss."
The rest of the morning dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. The staffroom dishes needed to be washed, coffee mugs needed filling in the meetings and carpet needed to be vacuumed. Of course with the use of magic, this was much easier than it would have been for any ordinary muggle but even our own Wonder Witch Hermione was struggling.
At last the hands of the clock slowly tick tocked onto 2pm (labelled more appropriately 'Knock Off Time') and Hermione wearily tucked her wand into her dirty work robes pocket and muttered to the timing machine which kept record of how many hours one had done.
On her way out she quickly ambushed Albert into a corner.
"Miss Granger, I do hope this is important," he said, looking frantically around.
"It's very important," she assured him.
"Eh.... very well then."
"You do have my resume on file still don't you?" Hermione demanded more than asked. She was close to overstepping the polite boundary (along with the personal space one) but she was too frustrated and tired to care.
He nervously nodded. Hermione was a bit scary.
"And you will let me know if any new positions open, won't you?" she asked, a bit nicer and calmer. Albert must have got a grip on himself and redeemed his superior position.
"Miss Granger!" he ordered. "I will let you know if any positions are open, if I feel like it. Now, if you do not want to lose your job I demand you to leave me alone!" He pointed a finger at the door which coincidently, swung open.
Her head low and her eyes raging with fury, Hermione stalked out of the office and all the way home. Not that she'd be able to stay there long. Next it was off to the Nicholsons and their little dinner party or whatever it was.
* * * * *
"Hermerella," greeted Annabella at the door to the Nicholsons. "How wonderful it is to see you," she said sarcastically, 'accidently' bumping Hermione into the door handle as she let her in.
Frantically rubbing her stomach where the door knob had connected, Hermione ignored Annabella's taunts and made her way through to the kitchen. You're getting paid for this, she reminded herself, automatically pulling out some pots and pans ready to cook.
She read over the instructions left for her as the rest of the family were busy upstairs getting themselves looking perfect for when the guests arrived. Dinner parties were common in this family so Hermione assumed it would be more distant relatives or business associates. She started making the sweet cherry pudding, and seeing as waving a wand around the kitchen didn't require much effort, she began drifting into her own thoughts- thoughts of true love, true happiness and a true spot at the Daily Prophet.
The pudding aside now, Hermione was just finishing up the rest of the cooking when she realised she was being watched.
"Annabella!" she jumped and tried to cover up the surprise.
Annabella did not notice this though as she was too busy sighing dramatically as she held out something in her arms for Hermione.
"What's this?" asked Hermione, taking it from her.
"An outfit," replied Annabella reluctantly. "From Mum, not me," she added quickly.
"An outfit?" Mrs. Nicholson had had many dinner parties before but she'd never given Hermione an outfit for it.
"Yes, an outfit," hissed Annabella. "Mum said you've been good to us so you can have this to wear tonight when you're working. It will make you more presentable as she so kindly put it. I'd say it's just to cover up your dog ugly features which is a pretty mean feat."
Hermione pretended Annabella wasn't even in the room and just opened out the pretty clothing bag. Inside were some lovely black pants, a fitted white shirt and short loose black robes, just like a real waitress in a restaurant would wear.
She muttered a quick thanks to Annabella who responded with a grunt and turned back to where she was working. Perhaps tonight wouldn't be quite as horrible as normal.
* * * * *
Before she knew it, it was quarter to seven and Hermione still hadn't changed into her good clothes. She ran up the stairs into the bathroom she'd worked so hard on that afternoon to clean and changed in record time. Downstairs she heard the doorbell ring and answering the door being one of her many jobs, she raced down the stairs again, nearly tripped over the last two, plastered a smile on her face and opened the door.
There stood a pleasant looking older man wearing black dress robes, accompanied by a happy looking lady wearing bright red. Behind him was the back of an unhappy looking younger man.
"Hello, welcome to the Nicholson Residence," greeted Hermione, feeling the fake happiness wear off.
"Hello dear," said the man, shaking her hand. "I'm Barry Wood, this is my wife Anette and our son... Oliver. Oliver, turn and say hello would you?" Barry gave the younger man a thump on the back.
Oliver Wood? The same Oliver Wood who had gone to school at Hogwarts?
The man turned around sulkily and gave Hermione a half smile. He obviously didn't recognise her.
"Well please come in," Hermione said, sort of disappointed. She led them into the sitting area where the Nicholsons were waiting, a picture of elegance and style.
Mrs. Nicholson was sitting in an armchair, looking beautiful with her dress robes and make-up. Mr. Nicholson was opposite, looking equally as dashing. Annabella fluttered her eyelashes immediately at Oliver as he uncomfortably made his way past her (admit it, the guy is hot) and Christina was the only one looking out of place... sitting rigidly on the very edge of the sofa.
Hermione couldn't help but feel insanely jealous of Annabella who looked like a famous model. Her hair was styled to perfection, her make-up immaculate and her dress robes couldn't have been more brilliant and suited to her.
Annebella caught a glimpse of Hermione staring at her and smirked before crossing her legs towards Oliver and starting a conversation by moving closer while the adults all greeted each other.
Hermione sighed and headed back to the kitchen... that was where she belonged.
Author's Note: Sorry it's such a short chapter but I really don't have time to write more right now. Life is hectic for me, what with the whole Hogwarts Weekly thing to organise (plus I'm falling behind in school and if I do badly this semester then I won't get to have the Internet anymore which would mean no more ffnet and I can't live without Harry Potter fanfiction). Anyway, please keep an eye out of the Hogwarts Weekly- it's a collaboration between about 10 writers on fanfiction.net and we are producing an in character newspaper by the Hogwarts students. Look out for it! I'll update Hermerella as soon as I can too... I feel terrible for making you all wait so long for everything. Hope the Oliver-sighting makes this fic a bit more bearable- I think it sucks right now and you can feel free to tell me it sucks in your review. Definetly not my best work.