Ginny spent the next week hiding out in Colin's apartment. She knew Harry would have talked to Ron who in turn would have blabbed to everyone, and she couldn't face the disapproving looks she knew would be on the faces of everyone in her family. Fleur would probably make some remark about how in France, 'ze girls are more honorable… zey wait for zere wedding nights!' and turn her nose up. Fleur, of course, was heavily pregnant herself, with a completely legitimate child of Bill's, and would be sure to remind everyone every day of it. Usually Ginny could have hoped for some sympathy from Hermione, but lately Hermione had been ignoring everyone, moping about and pining over Ron.

So as it was, Ginny talked to Colin when he was home (not very often; he worked short hours but usually went out for drinks after) and when Luna was free, she came over. She was usually busy at some public event; after Harry's infamous interview with the Quibbler, magazine sales had boomed. The Lovegoods donated generously to every organization you could think of, and since Luna's father was still busy with the magazine it was Luna's job to cut the ribbon when they opened the 'Lovegood Memorial Ward' (in honour of Luna's mother, of course) and other tasks.

Mostly, Ginny spent the mornings reading (she was on the final book in the Hannibal Lecter series, then it was on to The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice) and watched soap operas and talk shows in the afternoon. But as the days passed monotonously, Ginny's pull out couch began to feel incredibly uncomfortable, she couldn't focus on her book, and she began to doze off in the middle of Passions and awake to Dr. Phil, wishing he'd shut up. On the morning of her eighth day, she decided something had to be done. At home she spent a lot of the day cleaning—Harry hated a messy house, she supposed it was something his aunt Petunia had instilled in him—but Colin's house was always immaculately dust-free, and there simply weren't enough things laying about to organize or tidy up.

Ginny paced the apartment, trying to think of something—anything—she could do to pass the time. She saw that Colin had left a folded-up Daily Prophet on his steel and glass kitchen table, and she latched on to this bit of tidying that needed doing. She was carrying the paper to the recycling bin when an idea came to her. She went back to the table and opened the paper to the classifieds, conjuring a red marker out of the air (frankly, she had no idea where Colin kept anything).

An hour later, Ginny had eliminated all but three job offers in the paper. The first was for a clerk in a used bookstore in Diagon Alley; Ginny had shopped there for schoolbooks as a child, and had always loved the place. The second was for a waitressing job at the Leaky Cauldron, which would bring in more money in tips for her, but would probably require more work. The third she was wariest of… it was for a live-in maid in an obviously well off family. She set off to Diagon Alley to inquire at the bookshop, feeling cheerful at the prospect of possibly getting her own little apartment and having something to do during the long days.

A bell clanged when Ginny stepped in the door of the bookshop and a witch at the cash register with wiry grey hair looked up. She ignored Ginny and went back to writing something on a long piece of parchment behind the desk.

"Yes?" She said sharply when Ginny approached the counter. Her blue eyes were surveying Ginny attentively.

"I'm here about the job…" The witch sighed in apparent relief.

"Good, good, I was beginning to think no-one would show up! I'm Jezebel Herman, my brother Ira owns the store but I've been working here since his daughter got sick last year. Spattergroit, terrible, terrible. What's your name?"

"Ginny Weasley,"

"How old are you?" Jezebel Herman said briskly, as if she hadn't heard Ginny's reply.

"I'll be twenty this August,"

"Why do you want to work here?"

"Er… I like to read, and I used to shop here as a kid… I know how to run a cash register; my brothers own a shop and I've helped out there before,"

"Right. I suppose you'll do, won't you?"

"Er…"

"I didn't say you've got the job! Don't get ahead of yourself! I've no idea what sort of person you are. I suppose what I'll do is I'll supervise you for the first few days, make sure we can trust you. It's not easy to find someone you can trust these days, Missy."
"Right," Ginny felt it would be a terrible choice to disagree with this woman.

"Oh—I forgot. Have you got any health problems?"

"Er…I—"

"Well do you or do you not? It's not a tough question!"

"Er, I'm pregnant…I'm just not sure if that counts." Jezebel Herman stared at Ginny for a moment before standing up suddenly.

"Don't you listen, girly? We don't want someone here who's going to leave in less than a year! Didn't I tell you this is my brother's store? I don't want to come back when you're ready to pop that out! What are you thinking?" Ginny got to her feet, wide eyed, and backed quickly to the door, slipping out with a frightened apology and all but running away.

As she approached the Leaky Cauldron, she decided to talk to Tom the barman about working there. She knew he'd be much friendlier to her. There were several couples dining in the restaurant when Ginny entered, and as she stood waiting for Tom, a blonde waitress came out of a swinging door, a tray in either hand, the hair around her forehead damp with sweat. The trays looked heavy and hard to hold, and Ginny, who'd once had a lot of strength but since leaving Hogwarts had let most of her muscle dissolve, knew she wouldn't be able to manage that all day long while carrying a child. She was left with one option.

Back at Colin's she grabbed the newspaper and read the last job offer for a phone number. There wasn't one; only a flooing address. Ginny checked her hair in the mirror over the fireplace, stuck her head in the fire and said "3348 Cedar Avenue". When the swirling stopped, she was looking into an elegantly furnished room with a thick, cream carpet and peachy marbled walls. A black woman with a sleek ponytail was sitting on a striped couch and flipping through a glossy catalogue. She looked up as Ginny arrived. As Ginny brushed the soot out of her face and took a look at the woman, she gasped; this was one of the most beautiful women Ginny had ever seen (and Ginny'd spent several summers under the same roof as Fleur Delacour). Unlike Fleur, this woman had an exotic beauty… she made Fleur look positively plain in comparison. She had high cheekbones, a full mouth and large almond eyes flecked with gold. She stood and Ginny could see she was about the same height as Luna, and she moved with a grace Luna had never developed.

"Are you here about one of the jobs advertised in the Prophet?" She asked in a slightly low, unaccented voice.

"The maid job. I'm Ginny Weasley."

"Hello Ginny. I'm Jolie Zabini. Please come through." Ginny did. "I'm going to be honest, Ginny, I wouldn't know the first thing about conducting a job interview. You see, we used to have house-elves, but… we no longer do. As a result, we're hiring people to do the jobs they used to do. Since you're the first to apply for the position of maid, I'm going to give you the job. If you don't meet my standards, I'm going to fire you. You'll live here, and have two days off a week as long as they aren't consecutive. Is that suitable?" Ginny nodded. "Excellent. Shall I show you to your room? You can get your things—I'll change the wards to let you apparate in—and you can begin tomorrow."

"That sounds fine, Miss Zabini. Er… I suppose you should know I'm pregnant. But it won't affect my work! I promise I'll work incredibly hard every day until I have to stop." Jolie merely nodded.

"That's fine. I'm not prejudiced, Ginny. As long as your work quality is good, I have no reason to judge you. These are the staff quarters. You'll be living here with the other maids—oh yes," she said, at Ginny's surprised look. "If we didn't hire some other girls you wouldn't get your two days off a week, it simply wouldn't be possible. Here we are. I trust you can show yourself around, I have things to attend to. Tomorrow morning I'll introduce you to everyone else. When the other girls arrive, I expect you three to work out a schedule so that you each have two days off and none of them coincide."

"Miss Zabini?" Ginny said as Jolie turned her back to leave.

"Yes?"

"Well, you said that nobody else had applied for the job… so what did you mean when you said the other girls would arrive?"

"I have a lot of faith in the Daily Prophet, Ginny, to get me what I need." She looked at Ginny for a moment before briskly walking out, her heels clacking on the marble floor of the room. Ginny wondered what she meant, but didn't ask anything more. Instead, she began to look around the suite of rooms. There was a moderate bedroom with three single beds, each fitted with white cotton sheets. Beside each bed was a small wooden table and an open window. Three wardrobes stood across from the beds. A honeysuckle breeze floated in the windows. Ginny dropped her jacket on the bed farthest right and went to explore the bathroom. It was about the same size as the bedroom, with three curtained shower stalls and three sinks. There was, Ginny noted with amusement, one toilet. The walls and floor tiles were white and there was a small window in the upper wall. On her way out Ginny saw there was a small linen closet filled with slightly worn-looking white towels of various sizes.

On the other side of the bedroom was a living room and kitchenette. There were none of the usual Muggle appliances, but Ginny had spent years watching her mother cook with magic, so she knew she could handle it. The living area had no tv, but after seeing the rest of the suite this didn't surprise Ginny. There were two squashy white armchairs and a matching loveseat as well as an empty bookshelf and a large coffee table. Across from the bookshelf, behind the loveseat was a fireplace.

Remembering that Jolie had told her she would allow Ginny to apparate through the wards, Ginny decided to, despite the fact that she found apparating particularly unpleasant. When she arrived back at the Zabinis' home, the suite was still empty, so she enlarged her things to their regular sizes and began unpacking. She'd left some of her things with Colin, with a note of explanation, so she didn't have to worry about storing her queen size duvet or many of her pictures. She displayed some on the table beside her bed, but most stayed in a box at Colin's. As she finished her unpacking, she heard the door in the living room open and Jolie's clear voice carried through into the bedroom. Feeling it would be rude to peer out at the new girl, she busied herself with putting her cosmetics into a medicine cabinet over one of the sinks. When she heard the bedroom door click open, she dashed back in, jamming her shampoo messily into one of the shower stalls.

Jolie raised her sculpted eyebrows when Ginny came in, trying to act casual.

"Ginny, this is Mathilde Rousseau. Mathilde, Ginny Weasley." Jolie indicated a short, very skinny, frightened looking girl with long, thick, somewhat dull-looking dark brown hair. Mathilde, you can please choose a bed and unpack your things. Ginny, may I please have a word with you?"

"Of course," Ginny said, and followed Jolie into the bathroom.

"Ginny, as you may have noticed, Mathilde has been through quite an ordeal. Without getting into specifics, let me just say she's had an incredibly tough time. She's just come over from France, and has been in need of a job and a place to live. If you could, please try to befriend her, or at least show her kindness." Ginny nodded, now curious to this girl's past. "Hopefully someone else will join the two of you shortly." Jolie left, moving briskly and gracefully at the same time. Ginny went apprehensively back into the bedroom.

"Er… hi," She said. Mathilde flinched and dropped the brown cardigan she'd been hanging up.

"'Ello," she said very quietly. Ginny noticed that Mathilde had taken the bed on the far left.

"So, uh, how come you left France?" Ginny said awkwardly, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Mathilde paused, looking at the grey dress in her hands. "Bugger, I'm sorry, that was nosy of me. Don't answer that if you don't want to." Ginny said, flushing. Mathilde smiled, but a moment later her face was as timid-looking as always and Ginny wasn't sure if she'd imagined it. After a few more halted attempts at conversation, Ginny decided that she'd have to work at it slowly, and, following Mathilde's lead, went to bed early.

The next morning Ginny gradually woke as sunlight streamed in the open window beside her bed. Remembering where she was, she sat up abruptly and looked around. Mathilde's bed was neatly made and she heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. The middle bed was still untouched. Glancing over at Mathilde's bed, Ginny got an idea of what to wear. Mathilde had laid out a large white t-shirt and a pair of navy sweats. A pair of scuffed sneakers lay at the foot of the bed. Deciding to wait until Mathilde came out to have a shower, Ginny got out her clothes for the day and made her bed. Just as she was deciding to go ahead with her shower, the door opened and Mathilde came out, dwarfed by a towel. She tucked her wet hair behind her ear, and when she did Ginny saw a large blue-purple mark on her shoulder. She gasped.

"Mathilde! What happened to your arm!" Mathilde looked at her sharply, and then down at her feet.

"'Eet is nothing," She said, walking over to her bed.

"But…" Ginny started, and then stopped herself. Nosy! She reprimanded herself, and went into the bathroom to shower.

When she finished in the shower, Mathilde had been waiting for her to go downstairs. Luckily, as neither knew where to go, Jolie came to their room to get them. She explained that each of them would have a certain area of the house to clean every day, and they would clean another girl's area when that girl was away. The supplies they'd need would be provided.

"But before you begin, I'll introduce you to everyone." She said, bringing them to a halt before a large mahogany dining table. "My son, Blaise, and my father, Julien Bellanger." A boy Ginny remembered well from the 'Slug Club' looked up from his sausage and nodded briefly. An old man beside him with grey hair and a weathered face took his time looking them both over. He nodded at Ginny and tutted over Mathilde.

"Jolie," he said. His voice sounded dry. Jolie's head whirled toward him instantly. "This girl cannot work without some food. Neither of them," He amended, glancing at Ginny. "Luke!" A man in a long apron came out of a door behind the table. He ran a hand through his wavy, shoulder-length blue hair. Julien told him to bring out some more breakfast trays, and while Luke prepared them, Julien told Mathilde and Ginny to sit at the table. Jolie said nothing, but sat at the head of the table and watched them all. Julien began questioning Ginny first, about her interests and life past and present, and then looked kindly at Mathilde.

"Hello, Mathilde," he said gently. She echoed his greeting in a soft voice. "Mathilde," she looked up, questioning. He caught her eye and began to speak to her softly in French, none of which Ginny understood, but it seemed to cheer Mathilde up. She even laughed aloud at one point, and when he finished speaking after a minute or two, she looked considerably happier. She dug in to her pancakes and glanced occasionally at the room around her. Blaise was looking at his grandfather curiously… Ginny didn't think he could speak fluent French, but he must have understood some of the things Julien had said. After a few moments of silence during which Ginny and Mathilde ate all that was on their plates, Julien spoke again.

"Now, Ginny, haven't I seen you in the papers canoodling with Harry Potter?" Ginny tried to keep the malice out of her voice.

"Yes, we were dating."

"Were?" Blaise asked. "Past tense? That's unexpected… at school you stuck to him like a parasite. Would've thought you'd be married with a litter by now."

"Blaise." Both Julien and Jolie had opened their mouths but Jolie had spoken first. Blaise looked from his mother to his grandfather, and then stood and left the room.

"I'm sorry for him. He's upset about the presence of strangers in the house… he was very attached to some of the house-elves, you see." Jolie said, and, seeing their empty plates, she announced that she would show them the house.

The Zabini house was magnificent. No other word seemed to fit… it wasn't feminine enough to be beautiful, but too pretty to be handsome. It was more than amazing, and spectacular was too whimsical. It could only appropriately be called magnificent. Having never been outside, Ginny could only speculate, but she thought it must look enormous and gorgeous. At first glance, the inside was unremarkable, but after only a few minutes of the tour, Ginny realized that it would be incredibly easy to get lost inside it. It was two storeys tall, each level consisting of two or four intersecting hallways, depending on how you looked at it. There were doors every few feet along the hallways both upstairs and down, and initially it looked like the Zabinis had constructed their house simply to have many rooms. But as Jolie showed them inside each of the doorways, Ginny realized that all of the doors led into suites like the one they were living in. Not all appeared to be bedrooms; there were libraries with whole rooms devoted to one topic, fabulous kitchens stocked with everything a person could ever think of, suites made for different types of physical activity with a swimming pool in one room and a running track in another. Jolie informed them that each family member had a specific wing in the house upstairs, and each of them would be assigned to one of the wings. The fourth wing had been Jolie's late husband's (during the late years of their marriage their relationship had been quite rocky). It was where their suite was and they didn't have to clean it. Downstairs they would clean the wing underneath their upstairs hallway and it was understood they couldn't clean the entire two wings in one day, so they were to alternate: upstairs one day, downstairs the next. As they finished the tour, Jolie told them that Ginny would be cleaning her rooms and Mathilde would clean Julien's. When the third maid arrived she would clean Blaise's section of the house. Until then, Jolie informed them, the downstairs rooms below Blaise's could stay dusty.

By the time Jolie finished showing them around, it was lunchtime, and as with breakfast Ginny and Mathilde sat at the main table with Julien, Jolie and Blaise. As blue-haired Luke served a variety of sandwiches, Jolie assured everyone that starting tomorrow they'd be eating in their own room after they stocked their fridge.

"So, Ginny, do tell me, when did you and The Boy-Who-Lived break up?" Blaise asked, his tone conversational.

"Recently," Ginny answered elusively, taking a huge bite of turkey sandwich.

"Indeed? If I may ask, what caused this… rift?" Ginny swallowed, and began to answer when Julien interrupted.

"Ginny, would you care for some more water?" He pointed his wand at her near empty glass and filled it up. She gave him a grateful smile and took a long gulp. Needless to say, when the meal was over, Ginny was very glad to get away from Blaise Zabini.

Ginny fell into an easy pattern of cleaning for Jolie. The days slipped by, yet she and Mathilde had yet to see the often spoken of third maid. Just when they were beginning to contemplate talking to Jolie about taking on some more duties, Blaise's wing for one, on the one-week mark, she arrived. Night had fallen and Ginny and Mathilde were lying on their respective beds, Ginny reading and Mathilde knitting. The door opened and the clack of heels could be heard. Both girls sat up, expecting Jolie. The woman who walked into the room was decidedly not their employer. She was a tall, curvy woman with shining, curled blonde hair. She pursed her lips, her eyes skipping over Mathilde and pausing on Ginny. She was using her wand to make several matching bags float in the air behind her. She dropped them with a soft thump on the middle bed and surveyed the room. Ignoring both girls behind her, who were staring incredulously, she clacked into the bathroom. Ginny heard a soft tutting, and exchanged a glance with Mathilde.

"Rosemary Cross. And you are?" The third maid came back into the room, looking at Ginny.

"Ginny Weasley. This is Mathilde Rousseau." She indicated Mathilde. Rosemary gave her the slightest of glances.

"You're dating Harry Potter." She said this like she might accuse someone of stealing.

"Not today," Ginny said, looking at Rosemary curiously.

"What does that mean?"

"It means zat zey are not togezzer… I should think zat would be clear," Mathilde put in. Over the week she'd been working with Ginny, she'd perked up noticeably. Her hair had begun to shine and she could be seen smiling often. She'd gained a few pounds, too, and looked great. She even sang in the shower some mornings.

"What are you, Italian?" Rosemary turned to Mathilde for the first time.

"French," Mathilde said in an icy voice. Rosemary shrugged.

"Same difference, right? Haha," Mathilde didn't laugh with her.

"So… you and Harry broke up!" Rosemary turned to Ginny, who nodded.

"Have at him," Ginny said, turning back to her book.

"Oh—no. I wouldn't think of it! I didn't mean it like that! Obviously you still have feelings for him; I wouldn't—couldn't—do that to you! My goodness! I'm just a curious outsider, that's all!" She had sat beside Ginny on the bed, and was clutching her hands passionately. Ginny delicately pulled her hands free and marked her page in the book.

"Errr… it's late, I'm really tired, so…"

"Oui, I think I will go to bed," Mathilde said. Mathilde and Ginny grabbed their nightclothes and scurried into the bathroom to change, fighting giggles.

Mathilde went into her shower stall, as usual, and Ginny changed her work clothes for an old t-shirt of Charlie's. Mathilde came out in her usual flannel nightgown, weaving her long hair into a braid.

"I bet zat Blaise and Rosemary will get along…" Mathilde said, smirking. Ginny snorted.

"They'd make a lovely couple, wouldn't they?" Trying to keep their laughter down, they went back into the bedroom, where Rosemary was putting her things in the wardrobe. It seemed that not all of her skirts would fit, and so she was looking appraisingly at Ginny's wardrobe.

"I'm actually expecting some more clothes soon, Rosemary," Ginny said.

"I- I wasn't…" Rosemary trailed off and sighed huffily. Ginny shared one last amused look with Mathilde, and then both of them pulled their blankets over their heads and went to sleep.