The
(Ravenpuff) Shipping News
by
Denajane
Ernie MacMillan was standing at the front gate of what was probably the most ridiculous-looking house he had ever seen. He stared at it for a moment, resting his hands on the brightly-painted gate, leaning forward a bit. Always the punctual one, he still had ten minutes until he was supposed to arrive for his appointment -- and that meant ten minutes to decide if he was actually going to go through with this.
It was really ridiculous, in more ways than he wanted to admit. His parents were absolutely appalled with his decision to take the internship, and had asked him to please leave their house if he was going to do it -- and would of course provide him with ample funds to do so. Being kicked out wasn't so bad when you had rich parents... but being kicked out could be altogether avoided by simply not taking this stupid internship, and just getting the job in his father's department at the Ministry.
Then again, getting kicked out wasn't a terrible thing, either. It meant living on his own in London (although depending on how well this internship went, he could be relocating to Ottery St. Catchpole, for convenience's sake -- but that was only a very distant possibility, as he didn't expect this to go very well at all), and not having to be bothered by his parents, and... well, having his own place had a lot of promise. As did making his own money, doing something he liked doing, like writing.
He had never considered a real job writing, really... then again, he hadn't done much considering of jobs when he was in school. The second half of his seventh year had been quite a mess when he realized that he had no desire to succeed his father's position at the Ministry. He'd sat awake in the common room one night, Ministry letterhead in his hands, telling him that if he sent them back a letter of intent and interest, he would secure himself an internship in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which would later lead to the security of a permanent, well-paying job. And instead of responding to the letter, he'd put it into the fire in the Hufflepuff common room, and turned to his homework instead.
He was Ernie MacMillan. He was Head Boy. He wasn't supposed to be having this problem, he didn't think. He'd gotten excellent marks in almost every class he'd taken. He figured he was probably the only Head Boy in Hogwarts history to find himself in his seventh year and realized he was completely and totally aimless in life. And he absolutely loathed that.
There had, of course, been the consideration that if he already had a job offer waiting for him, why should he care about his marks? They wouldn't matter anymore after a few months. But that wasn't who he was. He loved school, he loved learning. He loved writing stupid essays about the wizarding world during the muggle wars Britain had been involved in.
The morning after he burned the letter from his father's office, he'd sent owls to a slew of different people and places, relatives and friends who had jobs at St. Mungo's, shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, the Ministry, The Daily Prophet, and, as an afterthought, The Quibbler. Anywhere he could think of -- just looking for advice, on how to decide on something to do after Hogwarts.
He'd received a few notes back, words of advice to find something to do that he liked, what he was best at -- his friend Zacharias Smith had shown him where to contact Quidditch scouts -- none of which really gave him any sort of conclusive answers. Not that he'd expected them, really.
However, in all of that, he'd gotten exactly one job offer.
Alexander Lovegood was looking for an assitant at The Quibbler.
And after thinking on it a bit, he'd accepted it.
He didn't tell anyone at first. Not even Hannah, but there were reasons for that. He knew Hannah didn't trust reporters, and that she'd be probably suspicious of the offer -- not even necessarily because it was The Quibbler, but just in general. Her brother had been a writer at the Prophet, and she'd seen how they treated him there when he attempted to show some compassion in his reporting.
When Ernie finally told her, she was upset with him anyway, if not just about the fact that he'd taken the job at all, then because he took so long to tell her.
Girls were weird, Ernie thought. There was no pleasing them. You could either be honest and let them be upset, or you could not be honest, and have them be more upset. It really made no sense.
And through all of it, he'd stuck with his decision to take the job, and, still seven minutes early, he opened the front gate to the Lovegood residence and made his way up to the door.
He hesitated just a moment before ringing the bell, the notes of a Muggle classic rock tune he vaguely recognized coming from within the house, which he realized wasn't coming from a wireless, but was the sound of the doorbell itself. He tapped his foot, waiting for someone to come to the door to let him in, as the doorlbell-music faded and the door was opened by none other than Luna Lovegood.
Luna smiled at him in recognition. "Ernie MacMillan! Welcome. Daddy said we were expecting you..." She opened the door wider to let him in. "Do come in!"
"Hullo, Luna," Ernie said, scratching the back of his head as he stepped into the house -- which was just as strange on the inside as it was on the outside. He'd never seen a house more brightly painted in his life. He studied his surroundings as he stood in the foyer, hoping he didn't seem rude as he gaped at the checkerboard-painted walls, at the beaded curtains and grass-like throw rugs, at the knickknacks and articles about snorkacks and frooples on the walls...
"Daddy is running a bit late," Luna explained, leading him towards the kitchen at the back of the house. "There is hot water for tea in the kettle, if you would like, and if he is much longer, I can show you around myself. I do hope he will not be very long, though..."
"Yeah, the last thing you want to do the first week of summer hols is show your dad's new assistant around, probably," Ernie said with a smirk, standing rather awkwardly in the kitchen entranceway as Luna moved around the kitchen.
"Oh, no!" Luna said, looking back at him. "It is no trouble at all. Usually I am helping Daddy out and taking care of things when he is out -- in the summer, that is -- so I am sure we will be working together quite a bit." She smiled brightly, motioning to a vivid yellow high-backed chair. "Sit down," she instructed him. "Have some tea. It's good, I promise."
"Thanks." Ernie sat down and poured himself a cup, in an oversized mug that was painted on the inside to look like a daisy.
Luna sat down across from him, sitting crosslegged on her chair and pouring herself a cup of tea as well. He had talked to her a few times at school, but, being a year above her and in a different house besides, he didn't know her very well -- outside of what people said about her. Which he was trying to ignore, but it was clear to see where she got all of her oddities from, in a house so strange. Ernie eyed her now curiously, trying to come up with something clever and conversational to say, but coming up short.
Luna, however, was able to come up with conversation much more easily. "So what made you want to work for my father, anyway?" she asked.
The thousand-galleon question, Ernie thought. She wasn't afraid to get the difficult ones out of the way first. "Well..." he paused, taking a sip of his tea. "It was a better offer than working at the Ministry, which I knew I definitely didn't want to do."
"So you took a job at... The Quibbler," Luna said, a somewhat skeptical air to her voice. "Seems a bit of an extreme opposite."
Ernie shrugged, feeling as if Luna was... interviewing him? But that would be a bit silly. "Your dad offered me the job when I wrote to him. It was the only other job offer I got, really. At least that I didn't really have to try for." He felt himself blushing. That didn't seem all that... positive.
"So it was more like a last resort?" Luna said, even though she was still smiling at him.
"Not... as such," Ernie said slowly. "I like to write. I think this seems like as good a starting point as any."
"Not somewhere like the Daily Prophet?" Luna asked.
Ernie shook his head. "I don't like the Prophet. I don't like how they go about reporting things that... just aren't--" he almost said true, but then again... he couldn't deny that the ridiculousness he'd sometimes read in The Quibbler was necessarily any truer. But its heart was in the right place, at least. "Well, accurate," he finally decided. That worked as well as anything.
nodded, agreeing with him. "I only ask because... well, I know what people say about me and my dad and his magazine. And I cannot quite figure out why on earth Ernie MacMillan, Head Boy extraordinaire, who probably got higher N.E.W.T.s than anyone in his year besides Hermione Granger, would want to write for us." Luna shook her head, sunflower earrings jingling a bit as she did so. "But we are going to be glad to have you, I think. You will like my father when you meet him. If he ever gets here..."
"Where is he, if I might ask?" Ernie was a bit confused, if he was going to be honest with himself. Alexander Lovegood had asked him to be here promptly at noon, and for his new boss to not be anywhere near the house seemed a bit odd.
"He has been in Prague for a few days," Luna told him. "But he was supposed to be back this morning, he wrote saying he would be, because he knew you were coming, obviously... he must have gotten sidetracked. Perhaps he found a new lead on his story."
"Ah," Ernie said. "Well, I'm sure he'll arrive eventually...?"
"Eventually," Luna repeated, glancing up at him briefly before looking back down into her teacup. Whether she was simply staring contemplatively, or reading her tea leaves, Ernie wasn't quite sure. What he was sure of was that it was ten after noon and the fact that he'd been so responsibly prompt with getting to his new job on time was being undercut by his new employer's lateness -- though Ernie was sure he had a good reason... or at least he hoped he did.
A/N: Ah, another day, another Ernie/Luna story. XD
It'll be continued, eventually. Started this one as a sidebar from my OTHER Ernie/Luna fic, which isn't related to this one at all. But I'm going to be finishing that one before this one... I think. So um. Right. If you like the Ernie/Luna, go read my other Ravenpuff-ly story in the meantime, but keep checking back here, because I'll update when I get the chance :D