Chapter Two: The Ministry
It was another sunny morning when Kayley woke up the next day. Kayley got up and dressed herself quickly. Today she would apply for the ministry job. Kayley really hadn't known what she wanted to do until about three years ago. The advice councilor had showed her the options and she had decided to look closer at the ministry. The more that she looked into International Relations the more interested she was in it. Especially with the way things were going in Britain.
After Kayley ate breakfast she Apparated to the ministry office. It was a nice building, Kayley thought. The Muggles thought that it looked like a city owned building that was about to fall down. Kayley walked purposefully up to the double glass doors. She entered the lobby. She had come in the visitors' entrance.
The lobby was a light blue with darker blue leather chairs. It was a blocked off space at the far end of the room. A large desk that the secretary sat behind blocked off the space. There were fake trees placed around the room and a very realistic unicorn boarder lined the wall. The unicorns would move and chase each other playfully.
The young secretary smiled at Kayley as she approached the desk. Kayley reached the desk and leaned on it casually. "Can I help you?" The secretary asked, still smiling.
"Yes, I'm here to fill out a job application." Kayley said. The young secretary picked up her glasses off the desk.
"What department?" She asked walking over to one of the large file cabinets.
"International Relationships." Kayley said professionally. The secretary picked through papers until she was satisfied that she had the right one. She looked it over one last time before she gave it to Kayley.
"You may fill it out here or you may send it in via owl post. Be sure and fill it out completely." The secretary advised.
"Thank you." Kayley said heading to the door.
Kayley Apparated home. She sat down at the same table that she had read the Daily Prophet at. Kayley took out her pheasant quill, and looked at the paper. It had the usual questions. Name? Date? Age? Years of education? Kayley counted out her years of education in her head. She started when she was ten and went until she was eighteen. That was eight years. Kayley wrote down eight years and two summers of pretraining. Then it wanted to know her level of education. She couldn't remember which N.E.W.T.s she got and went up stairs to get her degree. She found it in one of her drawers and went downstairs to finish the application. She copied the information on to the form and magically made a copy of her degree. She finished the application and Apparated to the post office. She chose a big barn owl and attached the documents to its leg. Then she watched it take off.
The next day she looked at the papers. It appeared that some of the wizards that were now guarding Azkaban had been injured when one of the prisoners had got a hold of a wand. No one escaped and no one was killed. None of the other papers had anything interesting in them. Kayley was surprised by the amount of defense articles. Was it really that bad over there?
That weekend Kayley and Sky went shopping. They went to many stores, but they spent the most time at the store that Sky worked at. Sky couldn't wait to use her employee discount.
When Kayley got home that day she subscribed to the Daily Prophet. A week passed. The next Friday Kayley was sitting at her table reading the Daily Prophet. She had given up on the job at the Ministry, and was trying to think of something else in the back of her mind while she read the article on defense maneuvers for strangling curses. She was interrupted by a large Great Horned Owl that had just landed on her table. He held out his leg so that she could take off the official looking parchment. He left, and Kayley read the parchment. It said that she had been hired for a position at the ministry as an understudy for the assistant to the Head of the Department. It said that she should report for work Monday. Kayley wrote a hasty note to her uncle and ran to the door to Apparate to the post office to mail it. When she got back she ran to her room to pick out what to wear for her first day.
Monday morning the alarm went off at six-thirty. Kayley hit the snooze button several times and finally got up at seven. She showered and put on her best black robes. She was supposed to be there at eight. Kayley went out onto her porch and Apparated.
Kayley pushed the door open to the official looking building. There was the young secretary sitting at the desk. She looked as if she hadn't moved since Kayley was last there. If she hadn't had on a different pair of clothes Kayley would have sworn that she hadn't left the office. Kayley pushed the hair out of her face that had fallen out of her clip and walked over to the secretary.
"May I help you?" the secretary smiled.
"Err… yes." Kayley said, marveling at the secretary's energetic attitude at eight in the morning, and secretly wondering what kind of drugs she was on. "I'm looking for the Department of International Relationships." Kayley said. She was starting to get tired, from seeing the secretary's alertness. She started staring at the desk as soon as she had finished her sentence. While she was examining the wood she noticed a nameplate. It read Leta.
Leta beamed at her. "You got the job, then!" She exclaimed.
"Yes," Kayley said feeling uncomfortable. She didn't want to get into a conversation with Leta.
"Use the elevator, there," Leta said pointing to what unmistakably was an elevator. Kayley was surprised that she hadn't noticed it before. "It's on the eighth level." Leta smiled.
"Well, err, thanks then." Kayley said uncertainly, and headed toward the elevator. Once in the elevator Kayley pushed the eight button. It startled her when it lurched forward with a jerk, and then stopped just as abruptly.
The shiny metal door opened to revel a large hall and another secretary's desk was right in front of the door. Kayley headed straight to it. This secretary looked more normal. She looked properly tired and was gulping down a liquid from a mug that smelled suspiciously like coffee. Kayley was all the way to her desk before she looked up. While Kayley was waiting she glanced at the nameplate. This secretary's name was Nichelle. She looked slightly older than Leta, but not much.
Nichelle put down her mug and looked at her. "Yes?" She asked, surveying Kayley.
"I'm here for the understudy to the assistant for the Head of the Department job." Kayley said, much more calmly than she had downstairs.
"Ah, yes, the last door down that hall, that's on the right side. It has a number fifteen on it." Nichelle said. "Anything else?" She asked.
"Umm, yes, where can I get a cup of coffee?" Kayley asked. She was about out of adrenaline.
Nichelle smirked. "Sorry, it's my own privet stash."
"I see," Kayley said, coolly. "Thanks." She said heading off the way that she had been directed.
Kayley didn't have to walk far. She soon came to the door that was marked number fifteen. There was a nameplate on the door. It read Stephanie Kipling. Kayley hesitated and then raised her fist and knocked. She heard a chair being pushed back and slow footsteps move towards the door.
When the door opened there was a short elderly lady there. She looked like she had reached retirement age years ago. As old as she was, she didn't slump and she looked completely competent. She was wearing bottle green robes. The secretaries had all been wearing casual Muggle clothes. This lady looked very stern, and Kayley wondered if they would get a long.
"Mrs. Kipling?" Kayley ask hesitantly. "Hi, I'm Kayley Daniels. I'm here for the understudy to the Assistant for the Head of the Department position." Kayley said, not knowing what else to do. The older lady looked her up and down like a hawk.
"I'd hoped that you would be older." She sighed. Kayley was feeling more and more put out by the moment. "How old are you?" She asked, still sizing her up.
"I'm eighteen." Kayley said, knowing that that would be disappointing to this stern lady. Sure enough, she looked like she had just been diagnosed with a terrible disease.
"Well, come in then." Mrs. Kipling said, standing back to let her in. Mrs. Kipling shut the door as soon as Kayley was in. She led the way to her desk. It was a beautiful room. The carpet was a blue green and the walls were a teal. There were pictures of the country adorning the walls. It was an exceptionally big room; there was a miniature parlor in one corner of the room, and large file cabinets on the side opposite. All of the furniture was mahogany. The chairs in the parlor were padded with a floral print. So were the two chairs in front of the desk that was at the far end of the room, but they were shorter than the tall straight back parlor chairs.
"Sit." Mrs. Kipling said motioning to one of the chairs in front of her desk. Kayley felt like she was back in high school, and she hadn't been out four months. Kayley sat and waited politely for the thorough interrogation that she knew was coming.
"So," Mrs. Kipling said seating herself behind the desk. "You graduated this year?"
"Yes, ma'am," Kayley answered, looking politely at Mrs. Kipling. She was careful to sit up straight. Mrs. Kipling looked like a woman who would appreciate that.
"You think that you can handle this job?" She asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Kayley said again.
"How were your grades?"
"They were very good, ma'am, straight As." Kayley said. She was determined for this interview to go well."
"Did you get into trouble?"
"No serious trouble." Kayley said truthfully.
"Are you aware of what's going on in Britain?" Mrs. Kipling asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Yes, ma'am, I've subscribed to the Daily Prophet." Mrs. Kipling sighed.
"Well that helps." She said earnestly.
"Miss- What did you say that your last name was?"
"Daniels."
"Mrs. Daniels, are you ready to get to work?"
"Yes, ma'am," Kayley said, glad that Mrs. Kipling was satisfied with their interview.
"Lucky!" She called depositing her cloak on a chair in the first sitting room she came to. She was exhausted after her first day of work, and it wasn't even over yet. Mrs. Kipling had given her a tour and some small tasks. Kayley thought that she must be testing her. A small house- elf, wearing an old baby blanked as a toga appeared.
"Yes mistress?" The house elf inquired, bowing.
"I'm ready for my dinner. I'd like something a little more special today- perhaps roast beef." The little creature smiled at her and bowed again.
"Yes mistress." It said before it disappeared. Kayley made her way to the dining room. The Daily Prophet that had come that morning was on the table. She had paid one cent for it. They could convert the money them selves. She read it while a glass of ice tea appeared in front of her. There was nothing of importance to her in it. She laid it aside where the weeks stack would be Sunday. On Sundays she filed them.
After Kayley had sipped her ice tea for a small amount of time, deep in thought, her dinner appeared in front of her. Kayley was very full when she had finished. House- elf food was always very good- better than restaurants. Kayley liked to cook. She had a cooking class in school. She didn't get to very much anymore. It offended the house-elves. It didn't matter though if she didn't get to very much, the important thing was that she could. If ever there wasn't a house-elf around she wouldn't starve.
Kayley decided to take a walk around the grounds. She was worried about Apparating on such a full stomach. Her apparitions didn't seem to go very well when she was full. She checked her watch. She had thirty minutes until she had to be back. She pulled on her traveling cloak and retreated to the Roman Garden- one of her favorites. She used to walk through it with her mother when she was younger. She wondered where her mother was now, and how it was going with Carter. Kayley checked her watch. It was time. She watched a gold fish disappear beneath the surface of the green pond before she turned into the nothingness as she Apparated.
Kayley did not speak to either secretary on her way back to Mrs. Kipling's office. She knocked on the door and went in with out waiting for a reply. Mrs. Kipling was sitting behind her desk. She was going through some papers. "Ah, you're on time." She said looking up.
"I'm not sure that this job will be much more fun than the last one, but it should be more interesting." She sat the papers on one corner of the desk and led the way to the towering file cabinets. She pulled out a key ring and unlocked all of the cabinets. "I'm afraid that this will be quite a mess." She said. "I've just been stuffing them in there where they'll fit- impossible to find anything."
She turned some papers over in her hand. "I dare say that this will be educational." She said replacing the papers. "Okay, what I want you to do is take out all of the papers, and put them in stacks according to date. Then after you've done that alphabetize them and then put them back with the oldest in the bottom drawer in the cabinet farthest to the left. After you fill a cabinet label it by year. Since you work here none of it is confidential to you read any thing that you find interesting. Read anything you want. I think that as unpleasant as this task is, it is the best way to get you familiar to my files. I'd like you to have a good general knowledge of them. Well, that's about it I think. Have fun." She said, returning to her desk.
Kayley went to work emptying the bottom drawer of a cabinet and started sorting its contents by date.
It took Kayley a week and a half to finish the filing, and then Mrs. Kipling had a whole other room full of file cabinets. The room took almost three weeks. The Monday after Kayley finished the room she came to work to find that Mrs. Kipling wasn't there yet.
Kayley sat in the 'parlor' waiting for Mrs. Kipling. She examined the tea set and the lamp that sat on the table beside her chair. She also examined the pictures that hung on the wall. Most of them were of old farm houses, but some portrayed simple country houses with magnificent gardens. Kayley was trying to picture what the inside of the houses looked like when Mrs. Kipling walked in.
"Sorry I'm late." Mrs. Kipling apologized, "Your desk should be here tomorrow…."
"I'm getting a desk?" Mrs. Kipling nodded.
"Thursday I have a meeting to attend. Would you like to come?" Kayley sensed that the invitation was not optional, but it didn't matter because she wanted to go.
"Yes, ma'am," Kayley said.
"Good, now, I have an other unpleasant task that has to be done. Get a Death Eater profile out of the cabinet." Mrs. Kipling said heading over to the closet. She pulled out several stacks of Daily Prophets and a small TV tray. She transfigured the TV tray into a fairly nice desk and a parlor chair into an office chair and sat a stack of newspapers on it. Kayley pulled out an 'Alecto' from the file cabinet. She took the file over to the 'desk' and set it down, and then she looked questioningly at Mrs. Kipling.
"We're updating our profiles, for the meeting on Thursday." Kayley nodded and got to work. Mrs. Kipling went over to the filing cabinet and took out the Amycus file. It took Kayley a good forty-five minutes to scan all of the news papers. Then she progressed to 'Avery'.
Kayley was easily keeping up with Mrs. Kipling. She then started on a Jugson, and then it was time for her to go to lunch.
She had just started on 'Severus Snape' when it was time for her to go home. She once again carelessly tossed her cloak on a maroon chair in the sitting room. Lucky, who had gotten used to the routine, came with out being called. Kayley read the paper that she hadn't had time for yet while she ate supper and then went to bed.
The next morning Mrs. Kipling let Kayley finish the Yaxley profile by herself. Then she spent the rest of the morning organizing the papers. That afternoon she and Mrs. Kipling oversaw the placement of Kayley's new desk. It was a beautiful desk. It was made of cherry wood and gold handles that were polished until the light reflected off of them almost blindingly. Kayley thought that it was a little fancy, but it went well with Mrs. Kipling's room. It came with a navy blue office chair that has the nice broad rubber arm rests. After Kayley finished examining the beautiful desk she set to work stalking it with all of the supplies that she would need- well, all of the supplies that she already had. Which were some pencils and pens.
Thursday Kayley got to work ten minutes early. Mrs. Kipling was already at her desk getting stuff ready. She didn't look nervous. Kayley felt really nervous. "You need a pad of paper and a pen." Mrs. Kipling said not looking up.
"Err…" Kayley said.
"You don't have them, do you?" Mrs. Kipling said looking up.
"No ma'am." She replied.
"Here, have these." Mrs. Kipling said tossing her a yellow note paper pad and a motel pen. "Be sure and have all of you're supplies by Monday. Help me get these files organized." Kayley walked over to her own desk and started organizing the files that had been left askew on her desk yesterday while she was perfecting them. The meeting was to start at ten. Kayley and Mrs. Kipling spent almost three hours organizing the files that were to go- they were not only Death Eater files. Kayley was surprised by the supply regulations and sport regulations that she went through.
At ten 'till ten they started to the meeting. "Remember, the meeting starts at ten, so that means that you should be there before ten to find a seat, and get your stuff ready." Mrs. Kipling said as they walked down the hall that apparently led to the meeting room. Kayley nodded behind the stack of files that came up to her chin.
Mrs. Kipling turned left and Kayley followed her. There was a long table set up. Mrs. Kipling deposited her books on the table and Kayley followed suit. The room was slowly starting to fill with people. There was an elderly wizard with thinning white hair, he sat by Mrs. Kipling and they started to talk.
"Be sure and take notes." Mrs. Kipling said as the apparent last person came in and closed the door. It was the minister. Minister Kayshawn took his seat at the head of the table. Mrs. Kipling gave her report and so did some others.
The meeting was mostly about the Death Eaters and the happenings in England, though they did discuss other topics. They discussed where the next Quidditch World Cup would take place. There were different nominations to vote on, apparently the nominations had taken place earlier and they already had all of the nominees. Lastly some one had to be assigned to fix the cauldron thickness, since some time in 1994 some idiot messed them up. They were too thick and it was costing the companies a fortune to make them, hence driving up the cauldron price to ridiculous levels. Then they passed a law that the prices could only go so high, to help the consumer. Then many stores quit carrying them because they were not making a prophet, in fact they were costing money. The job was awarded to Mrs. Kipling.
The meeting took most of two hours. They gathered up their stuff and went back to their offices, each going their separate ways. Kayley trotted to keep up with Mrs. Kipling who was walking very briskly. She once again had files up to her chin and was having trouble keeping up. They soon reached their office. Kayley grabbed up her traveling cloak to go home to lunch. She would be leaving thirty minutes late, the time she was supposed to get back.
"Kayley," Mrs. Kipling said, as she fought with the fastener on her cloak.
"Yeah?" Kayley asked, hearing the click of the fastener with satisfaction, and looking up.
"I was thinking- I'd like you to take the cauldron report, and you may now have your lunch break from twelve to one." Mrs. Kipling said, looking Kayley right in the eye.
"Yeah, sure." Kayley said straightening her cloak.
"Okay, I'll get you the files on it tomorrow and you can start on it. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Kayley smiled.
"Thanks, Mrs. Kipling." Kayley said pushing her hair off her shoulders, and behind her. "See you tomorrow." Kayley said before she left.
Kayley went out that night with Sky. Kayley Apparated afterwards to her house. She disarmed the door and went in. The kerosene lamps were burning in the hall when she came in. She hadn't lit the lamps. It had still been light when she left. The candles were all lit and so were the chandeliers in every room she went through the house every room she went through the lights were lit, but not in the secondary rooms.
She was almost to the dining room. "Hello?" She called. There was no answer, but she could distinctly hear clicking in the dining room. Clicking that sounded suspiciously like silverware clicking against plates. Whoever was in her house was eating at her table. She raised her wand before she went into the room. Whoever was in there didn't sound like they were worried about being caught. She raised her wand and peeked around the corner. Sitting at her dining room table, at her mother and father's places were…her mother and father!
Kayley's mother, Katharine Daniels, was a pretty woman. She was beautiful. She had blond hair and blue eyes, and a nicely shaped face. Kayley's face looked just like her mother's except she had dark brown eyes that were unmistakably her father's. Kayley's mother's age was only showed by the shallow wrinkles on her pretty face. She had soft milky skin that strongly resembled cream. Kayley's skin was just like her mother's. Kayley's father, Kevin Daniels, had more tanned skin, and it was rougher of course, but not rough. He had brown hair and when the light caught it just right you could see his highlights. Kayley's mother often pointed out that she did not have her hair.
"How- What- When-Why?" Kayley stuttered. She decided to stop and think about what she wanted to say- her father had taught her that. "When did you get home?" Kayley asked finally.
"This afternoon. You weren't home and so we asked Kya and she said that you and Sky had gone to a movie." Kayley's mother said.
"What happened? Did you see Carter?"
"No, nothing happened. We gave up and came home." Kayley's father said, "What did we miss?"
Kayley suddenly got mad. She felt the blood rush to her face and her fingernails pierce her palms when her hands involuntarily balled themselves into fists. "Oh, nothing. Much. I just graduated, got a job, oh, and I think I got a promotion today!" She said.
"That's good." Mrs. Daniels said. Kayley was stunned. 'That's good?' THAT'S GOOD! That was all that she had to say! Kayley turned on her heal, and stormed to her room.
"What's wrong with her?" Mr. Daniels asked, as Kayley stomped up the stairs. Mrs. Daniels just shrugged.
Kayley threw the door open to her room. She unfastened her cloak, and threw it on the floor. She flopped herself onto her bed with all of the force that she possessed. That's good? She kept hearing it over and over again. Carter had never gotten a stupid job! Then again what had she expected? A full apology? HA! That was funny! No, it didn't matter; they'd be in Aruba or the Bahamas or somewhere like that in a week. And she wouldn't be going with them, not if they paid her. She would stay here and go to work to keep from being bored, and she would have the house to herself again. She now looked forward to that day more than ever.
They were never around. They had never been around. She was used to it. Why had she expected this to be any different? She couldn't answer that question. She shouldn't have. She shouldn't have been so surprised that they were home. She should have gone straight to her room and not stopped to talk to them. Did she really expect them to never come back? No, not really.
Kayley pulled herself off of the bed and began to get ready to go to bed. Tomorrow she would be up before her parents, and with any luck they wouldn't be there when she got home. Whether they had left or were just out. Yes, she tried to comfort herself, when I get home tomorrow they won't be here. With that happy thought she shut off the light and went to bed.
The next day Kayley was right, she did beat her parents up. But, unfortunately they were still there, not all of the lights had been extinguished. It might have been funny in a more normal house hold that the child was more responsible than the parents, but Kayley didn't think it was very funny, as she extinguished the majority of the first floor candles.
That night when she got home her parents were still there.