Ginny groaned as her clock alarm rang her abruptly awake on Sunday morning. It was eight o'clock – she started work at nine. Her arms and legs felt like lead, and her bed seemed far too hot despite the chill she could feel on her face. All she wanted to do was stay in bed the whole day, but she knew she couldn't afford to. Tom would send his wife upstairs to see if she was ok, and she had no real reason to stay in bed – apart from exhaustion for reasons she wanted unknown. Pushing her protesting body upright, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, cringing as her feet brushed the freezing floorboards.
After a shower Ginny felt slightly more alive. Dressing herself in her dowdy waitress' uniform, she ambled down the stairs to the kitchen to see if the cook had any unwanted orders that she could take off her hands. When Ginny arrived in the doorway, however, she was greeted by Tom.
"Ginny, I was wondering if I could speak with you?" The man gave her a gap-toothed smile which did nothing to ease her now-thundering heart. She could not afford to be fired.
"Sure," she managed in a somewhat normal voice. Tom pulled her aside into one of the conference rooms.
"Ginny, you know what life is like around here," he gave her a sad smile. "Everything is so different to what it used to be. My wife and I are having trouble, ah, keeping up with the times. We want to retire to the country."
Ginny's stomach fell. "You're selling the business?"
Tom shook his head. "No, we were wondering if you would like to manage it for us. We still need the income – doesn't everyone, these days? – but in the country we can live on half the profits. You can do what you wish with the remaining half, but it'd have to be better money than the pittance we've been paying you for the years you've been working faithfully for us."
Ginny stared at Tom, nodding her head. "I have no idea how to handle a business like this, but I would love to have a chance. Thank you!" Ginny threw her arms impulsively around Tom, a grin bursting out on her face. The withered old man hugged her back, grinning widely.
Ginny's day got better and better. Her hours of work flew past with no troubles, and when she finished Tom took her aside to show her the books. She could not believe that he was actually giving her the management of the Leaky Cauldron. When Ginny made it back to her bedroom that night, she giggled to herself with joy. Finally, her luck was changing.
:----------:
Monday and Tuesday were also characterised by this newfound luck. In fact, when Hermione arrived to see her at ten fifteen at night, Ginny danced around as she told Hermione how her luck had changed.
"Your luck hasn't really changed," Hermione informed her, sitting on the single bed.
Ginny sat beside her heavily. "What do you mean?"
"Those pearls you stole – you don't have to tell me you did it, I can tell. The enchantment on them is doing all this." Ginny tilted her head, indicating that Hermione should continue.
"Well, it sort of goes like this," Hermione lapsed into lecture mode. "The pearls are imbued with the power to hold power. Well, not just any power: political influence. Malfoy probably didn't even know what they were. They were just spoils for him, another necklace to add to the collection. He would have worn them if he'd known how they worked.
"You've noticed that, ever since the Ministry fell, events have somehow worked themselves out to benefit Malfoy? He made off with quite a bit of the treasure that the Ministry had kept hidden on the lowest floor of the basement. Since then, his views about how society should work have pervaded our community consciousness, which would help explain why your dad's had such a hard run with his new Ministry thing.
"Wearing the pearls are a much better way of getting power and influence. And knowing how they work allows you to use them even more effectively. The Merpeople of the Tahitian islands harvested these pearls under a blue moon on the 29th of February during a lunar eclipse. They then empowered them with this ability to influence, wove them into crowns and gave them to their leaders. Japanese whalers came across one of the crowns in the mouth of a Blue whale, and that became the paradise pearls."
Ginny pursed her lips thoughtfully. Opening her drawer, she pulled the necklace from its hiding place and observed it. She handed it over to Hermione, who turned it over, fiddled with the charm, gave it back. "What are you going to do with it?" Hermione asked.
Ginny shrugged. "Give them to Snape," she replied.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "You can't do that! He'll be just as bad as Malfoy! Except I'll bet he knows how they work… Ginny, think about what you'd do to the Wizarding world!"
"You're being melodramatic, Hermione," Ginny snapped. "Snape's promised me ten percent of the profits of whatever he's doing with them. And he's not all that bad."
Hermione's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but she couldn't seem to say anything. Finally she found her voice. "Well, take your ten percent of the pearls instead. That way, you can control some of the influence – and not just hand over all of Britain to a Death Eater!"
Ginny rolled her eyes, but she looked at the pearl strands intently. She could do it that way, she supposed. She could give some to her dad, and maybe he'd get his Ministry off the ground. Ginny didn't really know if she wanted another Ministry of Magic, but she loved her father. And she didn't really want Snape to control what England looked like.
Fossicking through her drawer, Ginny found a small pair of scissors. Very carefully, she severed the clasp from the three threads that held the pearls. Counting out fifteen from the 150 pearls, she reattached the clasp to the shortened strings, removing the excess thread. She turned to Hermione.
"I want you to take five," she said. "Give one to Neville; one to Luna if you can find her; one to Hannah Abbot; one to Blaise Zambini and keep one for yourself. Explain it a little bit, make sure they wear them."
Hermione seemed a little startled. "But, don't you want to be able to combat whatever Snape's up to?"
Ginny grinned. "I am," she replied.
:----------:
Snape was there on Wednesday morning, before most people had arrived for their breakfast. He had sent her an owl that morning, telling her he would be there, and expected to take possession of 'the item'.
He didn't look at the necklace twice when she handed them over. He ran his fingers over them, then shoved them into a pocket of his inner jacket. "Perhaps I can call upon you again," Snape drawled, "next time I need some thieving done?"
"Not from Malfoy Manor," she replied, her mind going back to the heaviness she had felt in her hand. "Something recognised me there; I got away, but I do not want to come to its attention again."
Snape inclined his head in acknowledgement, stood to go.
"Excuse me," Ginny stood in his way. "There is the matter of payment?"
He sneered at her. "I will contact you about the payment when this item makes dividends," he spat. Snape pushed past her and left through the back door. Ginny sighed, shook her head and got back to work.