Chapter 5Maceroni and Cheese

We left the party early, I just wanted to go home and drown myself in a pint of ice cream. Nicole and I disparated home and I nearly stepped on the letter that sat on our doorstep. As I picked the envelope up, Nicole unlocked the door and threw the keys onto a nearby counter before collapsing onto a nearby arm chair.

"Well, tonight was interesting." She said in a sleepy tone.

"Tell me about it." I retort sarcastically as I ripped the letter open. It was from Neville.

Hey,

I was wondering if I could treat you to lunch. Meet me at Diagon Alley at my work around two on Wednesday. See you then.

Neville

I smile at the letter, "How sweet, Neville wants to take me out to lunch on Wednesday. Well, at least this evening can end on a good note." I say, putting the letter down on the coffee table and curling up on the couch.

"I don't want to go to work." I hear Nicole complain. I glance at her and see her eyes closed with her head tilted back.

"Me neither." I smirk at her. "But at least we don't have to go until Monday." I sigh, dragging my eyes to the dying flames in my fireplace. My eyelids were slowly becoming heavier and heavier. "How about we go shopping for 'first-day-at-new-job' robes tomorrow? If we're going to be miserable, we might as well not look it." I yawn. I wait momentarily for a reply but receive none "Nic?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at her.

I saw her mouth was slightly open and was emitting small snores. I got up, found a blanket, and covered her. "Night mate," I told her and headed off to bed myself.

It was now Wednesday. I stared at the clock above me, waiting for my lunch hour to arrive.

Draco hadn't changed since Hogwarts. He strutted around between the desks like a proud peacock and bossed all of his employees; bringing a few of them to tears. My desk unfortuntly sat only a few feet from Draco's office door. I watched his secretary, Sabrina, jump every time Draco called for her. Thankfully, Nicole's desk was only a few feet from mine.

Draco didn't hold back as he assigned us subjects and topics for our articles either. I had at least five due at the end of the week. Poor Nicole, from what I've heard, had seven.

To honestly say, I never thought Draco's ambitions included becoming an editor of such a girly manager. Linda Grant, office gossip extraordinar, revealed to me at our break the other day that Draco was forced into the position. "Turns out his father pulled a few strings. Mr. Malfoy couldn't find any work anywhere else, I hear. Said he either has to work at Cosmo Witch, or start out at the bottom like normal witches and wizards."

I've been keeping track of Lucius Malfoy actives and stories while I was living in the states. Turns out he was let off the hook from a life term in Azkaban when he named Death Eaters and revealed the places of their meetings. He'll get his dues someday, I continue to remind myself, I just have to sit back and wait.

"I see, Weasley, you're off in la la land instead of doing your work." I heard a cold, rash voice say above me. I grimace for a moment before looking up at him.

"I'm sorry Draco." I reply in a small voice. I look down at my blank piece of parchment in front of me. I haven't started on any of my articles as of yet.

"That's Mr. Malfoy to you." He retorts, disgust dripping from every word he says. "You better finish those articles by Friday or else. With me as your new boss, not even your little boyfriend Potter can help you." He sneered before making his way to another employee to hassle. I glared at his back before realizing it was almost two. I got up, grabbed my coat, and swung by Nicole's desk.

"Hey, how's it going?" I say as I put my coat on.

"Horribly, I have one article done but I still have six more. I think I'm going to have to pull an all nighter." She moaned in complaint, running her fingers through her already messy hair. I smiled weakly and put my hand on her shoulder.

"No worries, I haven't gotten any of my articles done. We'll get it done together." I say reassuringly and give her shoulder a soft squeeze. "I'm going out to lunch. Don't let Malfoy get you." I say before turning on my heal and leaving.

It felt good to walk out of that building and out of the clutches of Malfoy. I quickly disparated to Diagon Alley and walked down the street to the pet store. I saw Neville outside, locking the store up for lunch.

"Hey Neville." I say as I walk up. Neville turns to me with a big grin on his face but it soon disappears when his eyes land on me.

"Ginny? What're you doing here?" he asked, pocketing the store keys.

"I got your letter, is there a problem?" I ask, studying his features. He looked confused and disappointed. Then it hit me like a snitch to the back of the head. "The letter wasn't for me, was it? It was for Nicole." I say and watch his face turn a read that would put a shame to the Weasley blush. Neville liked Nicole.

"Erm, come on. Let's go find somewhere to eat." He said guiding me away from the pet store.

Further down Diagon Alley, we found a small diner and sat down at a table. The entire way there we were both silent. Even once we sat down, neither of us spoke until we ordered our meals.

"Was that letter for Nicole?" I ask after I had enough of the silence. I hear Neville sigh in return.

"Yes, it was." Neville said and reached out for his water. He nearly bumped his glass over with his shaky hand but I caught it.

"Neville," I say and wait for his eyes to meet mine. "It's OK, I'm happy for you." I reassure him as my face breaks out into a smile. "Tell me, how long have you liked her?"

After a nice long conversation, I found out that Neville had fallen for Nicole since first meeting her last week. It took him quite a while to work up enough nerve to ask her out. So, after convincing himself to take a leap and wrote the letter but forgetting to put Nicole's name instead of leaving it blank.

"Well, my only piece of advice is to ask her out in person. She likes guys who can be a little outgoing." I tell him, finishing off my sandwich. "How about you ask her out tonight, after work?"

"Are you sure she would be interested in a guy like me? I mean, look at me. I'm Neville Longbottom." Neville said, opening his arms up and looking at me with a pathetic expression.

"Neville, I think that's exactly why she would be interested." I look at my watch and realize it was 3:03 pm. "Shit, I have to get back to work. See you tonight, then? Around six?"

"Yeah, sure. Bye Gin, good luck with Malfoy." He called after me as I rushed out the door and disparated back to the building. Dashing up the steps, it was 3:05 when I sat down at my desk. The stitches in my side ached as my face shined a crimson red. I looked around and, thank goodness, Malfoy wasn't around. I allow myself to relax and look over my blank parchment. I grabbed a near by quill and was about to begin until ...

"Five minutes, eh Weasley?" I hear a cold voice say above me. I look up and see his sneering face looking back.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy. I lost track of time." I said breathlessly, holding my quill tightly in my hand.

"Well, maybe you can find it again with a little overtime this Friday, huh?" he said and stalked away. It took all the strength in my right arm not stab Malfoy in the back with my quill. I looked over at Nicole and saw her hunched over her desk, working like a dog. I sighed, dab my quill in ink, and began my own article.

We left work at approximately six, not wanting to spend another minute under Malfoy's close watch, and went home. Instead of just disparating, we walked back to our flat. For one, we could use the breather before diving back into work again and two, giving Neville enough time to get over to our flat. Sure enough, when we arrived, Neville was standing at our doorstep.

"Neville, what're you doing here?" Nicole asked, looking at me and then at him. Neville gave me a quick pleading looking to say something.

"Um, Neville is here to ... cook dinner for us tonight." I quickly lied, "at lunch I told him how much work Malfoy gave us and he volunteered." I say with a satisfied grin. I knew that story would be an excelled cover up. It would make Nicole fall for Neville a little more and save me the trouble of actually cooking.

"That's right." Neville chipped in, giving me a grin. "I know how Malfoy can be a git and if the most I can do is cook, then I would be more than happy to." Oh, looks like Neville is a good liar too.

"Aw, well that's sweet." Nicole said, walking past Neville and opening the door. I gave him a quick wink before walking into the flat.

"Neville, why don't I show you where everything is and Nic, you go get started on your article." Nicole nodded and without protest, walked into her room closing the door. "Neville that was great! That little comment will earn you major points with Nicole." I say enthusiastically but notice a crestfallen expression on Neville's face.

"Gin, I don't know how to cook. I'm the type of person who can burn water. You should see my flat; I have piles of bags of take out food." Neville said disappointedly.

"Neville, it doesn't take a genius to cook. We have tons of cook books and a lot of," the door bell rang, "already prepared food. Just look around, okay? I'm going to go get the door." Neville nodded as I left the kitchen. I saw Neville open up the refrigerator door as I opened up the front door. I nearly fell over when I saw who was standing there. "Harry?"

"Hey Gin." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Uh, come in, come in." I said, standing to the side and letting Harry in, looking at him with a confused expression. I saw Nicole come out of her room and saw her face lighten up at the site of Harry. "What're you doing here?"

"I've been thinking and I don't want to marry Kate, Gin. I was crazy to think I could marry her with you back in England. I love you, Gin." He took me in his arms, "Please say you'll take me back and forget all my foolish mistakes. I was an idiot to think I could ignore the stro-"

Yeah, yeah, yeah a girl can dream, can't I? I saw the looks on your faces, you completely fell for it. Alright, enough games. Back to reality.

"What're you doing here?" I asked him.

"Kate is driving me mad. All she wants to talk about is the wedding and who to invite, what food we're going to have there, what bloody color her bride maids dresses are going to be. You don't mind if I have dinner over here, do you?" Harry pleaded, his green eyes bearing into me like a hot fire poker. "I told her I was out with Ron and Hermione."

"Harry," I said, he shouldn't be here. I knew it and all of you knew it. But if you just look at his beautiful face, how could you say no? "Sure, Neville's already here."

"Why is Neville here?" He asked, pealing off his jacket.

"I offered to make them dinner because Malfoy is being his usual, Slytherin self." Neville said behind me in a disgruntled voice. "And, I'm officially hiring you as my assistant." He said, tossing a green apron to Harry. He sent me a smile before joining Neville in the kitchen.

"Alright, well now that you're ... uh ... squared away. I'll get started on my own articles." I gave Nicole a big grin before disappearing into my room.

An hour later, the smell of dinner floated into my room as I finished my second article. I gave myself a pat on my back as I walked out of my room and stretched. To say our kitchen was a mess would have been an understatement. Pots and pans laid everywhere, as ingredients from cheese to cracked macaroni shells laid on the floor. I watch Nicole wonder out of her room and as her shocked expression met mine. Neville and Harry stood there, covered in flour and cheese, grinning like idiots.

"Voila ladies." Neville said, taking off the lid of a large pot. Steam drifted out as I leaned over to look.

"It took you an hour to make macaroni and cheese?" I asked, giving them both a curious look.

"Hey, it's not as easy as you think." Harry said in a half defensive, half joking tone. "It's a very complicated muggle recipe."

"You boil water and melt cheese, what's so hard about that?" Nicole added in. Neville went over to a cabinet and took out 4 bowls.

"Are you complaining because with a swish of the wand, it'll be all gone."

"Of course we're not complaining." I added as I took a bowl from Neville and scooped macaroni, in large around clumps mind you, into my bowl. "Right now, we'll eat anything." I said, as Harry offered me a spoon. I smiled as I took it and sat down in the living room.

Soon we all sat around a lively fire, Nicole and I talking about our articles and imaging ways we could torture Malfoy as pay back. Minus the could-be-better food, the day ended better than I could imagine. Night fell and it was time for Neville and Harry to leave. Neville and Nicole were saying good bye as Harry was in the bathroom washing up and I was in the kitchen, cleaning up.

"Thank you very much for making us dinner." I hear Nicole told Neville, I could see a shade of pink covering her cheeks. "It was ... interesting, to put it nicely." Neville looking over at me and I mouthed 'ask her.'

"Uh, it was no problem ... really. Listen, I was kind of wondering if," Neville asked, his eyes falling to his shoes. "If, you know, if you would want to ... erm .... Gooutwithme." Neville ended the sentence rather quickly and a confused expression appeared on Nicole's face.

"What was that?" she asked.

"If you would go out with me?" He asked again in a normal speed. A shy grin appeared this time on both their faces and Nicole nodded in return.

"Of course." Nicole replied, her voice above a whisper.

"Great!" Neville said enthusiastically but realized how loud he was. "Uh, I mean that's great." He said again in a much cooler tone. "How about this Friday, I'll take you out to dinner after work. Around seven, maybe?"

"That would be great. I can't wait." Nicole said, unable to stop her wide grin.

"Alright, well, goodnight then, Nicole. Night Gin." Neville said and walked out the door. Nicole closed the door behind him and, what seemed like, floated over to the couch. She collapsed in a state of total happiness. I giggled softly as Harry walked out of the bathroom; he looked at Nicole and looked back at me with a what-did-you-do-this-time expression.

"I think it's time for me to go back to bridal central." Harry sighed, as he began to slip back into his coat. After finishing magicking the mess off the pots, I walked up to Harry to say goodbye. "Oh, before I go. Kate wanted me to give you this." He said as he handed me a letter, "Kate is allergic to owls so she wouldn't go near Hedwig to send it. I think it's about her bridal shower." Harry shrugged, shoving his hands into his pocket. My eyes dropped down to the letter in my hand and nodded.

"I'm really glad you came over tonight, Harry." I lifted my eyes up to match his. "For dinner and everything, you made my day a whole lot better." I added with a weak smile. He hesitated at first but brought his hand up to my face to brush back a red lock. I watched his mouth, it opened as if he was going to say something but he closed it again.

"Night, Ginny." He said his tone above a whisper. He turned his head away and opened the door. "Night Nicole" he said over his shoulder. I saw out of the corner of my eye Nicole's hand shoot up and wave flimsily at Harry from behind the couch. Harry gave me one last glance and closed the door behind him.

I stood there, wishing he would open the door back up and take me into his arms. I could hear Nicole hum happily from the other side of the couch but the noise sounded distant. I wrapped my arms around me, not feeling cold but sad, and mumbled, "Night Nic." Before walking into my room and burying myself underneath the covers.