A/N: Hi guys, I have a new goal. I'm trying to publish at least one chapter per two days, and that's really quite alright right now, until my workload starts piling on.

I'm having my holidays now, so I'd better write more first! If you guys EVER catch me slacking, please, please, please yell and shout at me until I work up to date.

I'm sure some would be happy to do so…

Now, to thanks the reviewers, or reviewer, Do You Know Emily Davison, I know, your name has been mentioned so many times, THANKS! Don't worry about not

reviewing for every chapter…just don't give it up completely! Haha. For the rest of the world, this chapter is in Charlie's point of view, and I know the sequence is

starting to get boring, but I need to do a long chapter. Then, Jodie and all the less important characters will come into play and of course, with the protagonists as

well.

Chapter 5: Slippery Slides

Charlie Weasley

We walked into the building, after signing our names on the piece of enchanted parchment at the front door. It only allowed employees to enter, but visitors coming with employees

were accepted without question as well. Jodie and I got in easily, but Laurie had to go through a whole lot more trouble, since she was neither a visitor, nor an employee. We

solved that quickly by claiming she was a visitor, then after entering the building, we would clarify any doubts by seeing the manager.

And so we did. We briskly made our way to the manager's office, and Jodie knocked on his door. Laurie looked slightly dazed, and kept staring at odd places, like the corner of a

wall, or the scaffolding on the ceiling. I wondered briefly, full of fear, if she's been hit with the Imperius curse, and that would cause so much danger to all of us. But I quickly

dismissed that absurd impression, since she had been so lively during our walk back. Just to make sure though, I stared at her eyes, inspecting them, seeing if they were glassy and

dull, but they seemed bright and fully alert, so I didn't think any more about it. Although I appeared a little blur, I was actually monitoring everybody's movements carefully. I could

tell that Jodie hated Laurie's guts. It didn't matter what she said or did, I was mistaken previously; Jodie spoke to Laurie with a malicious slight turn of her lip, the way she did when

she wanted a person to be hexed to China. I just hoped that arguments did not boil up during work. Laurie…Laurie seemed like a very intelligent person, and I knew she'd be a

great asset to this line of work, but I worried about her ability to cooperate with the other colleagues. She seemed convivial and able to get along with anybody, but with a group of

slightly rowdy and fun-loving men? That might be a problem. Everyone in this place took their work seriously though, but once Laurie got into the spirit of teasing, would she be able

to drag herself out to do proper work? That was a question only the future would answer.

By the time my musing came to an end, the Manager (lazy oaf that he was) yelled for us to come right in. The three of us sauntered in, with a loyal trunk hovering somewhere behind

on of us. I recoiled slightly in disgust when I saw the increasingly huge belly protruding from the top of the wooden desk. The owner of the object of my repugnance stood up, and

boomed at us. I hated him, but loved the job and asked to stay.

"Charlie ol' mate! Nice to see you here again. And the lovely lady Jodaphine…" his voice reduced to a coo at the last bit, grabbed Jodie's hand, preparing to slobber all over it. I

mentally shuddered. Jodie snatched her hand back at the last moment, causing the Manager to kiss his own hand. I could hear Laurie stifle a laugh, and I grinned slightly. Laurie had

the infectious laughter to make you snicker when she did. The Manager recovered quickly and straightened up again. His eyes widened when he saw Laurie. My eyes narrowed;

what lewd ideas did he have now? Then, his thick fleshy lips curled into a mock-charming smile, which looked more like a grimace than anything. I heard Laurie give a slightly muted

gasp of horror, but then she arranged her features into a stone-cold mask, void of emotion, and held her head high. At that moment, I saw how collected she was, how beautiful and

I admired her.

"Why, why, Charlie, why didn't you introduce me to this delightful lady? I'm sure no eye could have missed her…" His piggish eyes wandered up and down her body, raising an

eyebrow and winked at her suggestively. I heated up, furious with the Manager. How dare he insult someone so badly! I could tell that Jodie had the exact sentiments, her hand

clenched, and her jaw quivering with anger.

"Look, Mr. Manager. I refuse to work for someone with bawdy intentions, so you either stop right now, or I'm walking out of that door," Laurie pointed a long, lean finger at the

front door. "And don't tell me that you don't need workers, because you were practically lapping up my particulars on the floo network. Are we clear on this?" Laurie finished

triumphantly, quirking an eyebrow. Jodie and I were awed and dumbstruck with her performance. No one ever dared to openly defy the Manager with words, not even Jodie. I felt

a grin threatening to split my face, but I froze it in fear of the Manager spotting it. He appeared pallid and sweat beads were rolling down his face, but he'd always prided himself on

not losing his cool, so he wiggled a bit in his roller-chair, and leered at her.

"Oh of course, Miss. I think we understand each other perfectly. You start work here then, Charlie, give her room 1319, and show her the campus. She'll start tomorrow at 8 and

at the Playground," the Manager spoke without taking his offensive eyes off her chest, handed me the keys to the room, by which time I was trembling in vehemence. I could do

nothing but nod and instruct Laurie to follow me, with Jodie behind Laurie, glaring heatedly at the Manager. We marched to the door, refusing to look back at him. I'd already

pushed open the door when he called again. We immediately stiffened.

"Oh and Miss Sugar Honey, just so you know, I like my women hot. And…feisty…"he let the words slide off his gruesome tongue, wiggling his eyebrows wickedly, while grinning.

The three of us fought hard to suppress our wrath, and I felt a hard push from the back, so I strode out of there, with my companions following close behind.

The minute we were out of the Manager's earshot, Laurie started ranting and raving, and for once, I saw that Jodie was hanging on to her every word, furiously adding in her own

piece as well.

"Who does he think he is?" "Pouncing on innocent women like tha-" "He's so sickening!" "How dare he treat us like that!" "I just want to punch him and…" "Yeah I know…

measly piece of Flobberworm!" "I've half a mind to feed him to the dragons," "Merlin knows it'll suit their diets, he's putrid enough," "Did you see his belly?" "He might as well be

pregnant." "I hate that idiot." "Me too! If he thinks he can treat us like dirt, that camel-faced knock-kneed Hippogriff waste is about to go down."

After they nearly ran out of steam, I let out an amused laugh, just listening to them made me feel so much better, especially Laurie's comments, which ended up to be the last one.

The two livid ladies turned on me, demanding to know what was so 'damned' funny. Between snorts, I managed to explain that I'd never heard someone use such creative phrases

before. They realized what I was talking about, and they started cracking up as well. And just like that, from an irate trio, we morphed to an amused one. We ran up the carpeted

stairs, since Laurie's room was only a level above, not far from the ground floor. The rooms were pretty spacious, since we usually needed a lot of comfort after taming and training

the dragons. There were two roommates living together in a room, and the arrangement was such that two girls were together, then the next room had to males, then two females in

the next, and so on and so forth, the counterpart gender in alternate rooms. When we entered Laurie's room, I found that Laurie's roommate had decorated the room very

tastefully. We fell silent at the sight. Finally, I worked up my voice.

"Right…urm, we'll just go down and you can get used to your room and your roommate, if she's here right now. I still need to explain to you all the different rooms and places on

the campus. Take a shower, a short nap, grab something to eat maybe, and come and meet me at the Playground at…" I checked my Muggle wristwatch which I'd bought in Egypt

and could work on something called batteries. The time was 11:03 am. I noticed that Laurie had one on her wrist as well, and anyway, she had the clock on the wall. "Meet me at

the Playground at 12:45. It's about a five minutes walk from here. Just walk straight and turn right, then left. You'll see this huge piece of land with different equipment, just wait

there for Jodie and I. If anything, my room is a level above yours, one room to the left of 5the one directly above yours." I finished the rather tedious arrangements quickly, and was

preparing to head out to give Laurie some space, who looked really lost and still trying to understand the jumbled mess. Just as we were about to open the door to exit the room,

the doorknob turned to reveal a strawberry blonde-haired girl. Mileana, not a bad roommate.

"Hey Charlie, what are you doing in my room? How'd get in? No wonder I heard voices." She grinned and shook her hair out of her face. I turned back to find Laurie next to me.

"Hi! My name's Laurie and I am your new roommate, nice room!.." I smiled; looked like they'd get along. I squeezed past them and left with Jodie. We grinned at each other; at

least we wouldn't be seeing Laurie coming to us with bruises and cat scratches anytime soon. I'd forgotten to mention that in the job, she'd be reporting to me since I was one of the

Group Elders, which was a rank above her own, which was a 'Group Helper'. The names were disgusting, but I couldn't do anything to change them, since the Manager thought

they reminded him of a Muggle camp he went to last time. Probably a camp for slobs, since that would be the only camp he would actually fit in. Now was not the time to wonder

about him, Merlin knew I spent too much time around him already. I was hot, sticky and sweaty...what else could I do but...

Off to the showers!

A/N: So! How was that? I HATED the Manager, but I had to have a little disgust for someone. Urgh...I loathed writing the Manager, did he seem gruesome? I

thought so. Anyway, try to tell me what you think about this chapter. This chapter was not the longest. I know that you can't decide which side Jodie is on, the 'I

HATE LAURIE' side or the 'I LIKE LAURIE' side, but that's how it is in real life isn't it? You'll never know your true friends or foes until danger appears, which

will happen later on...

Signing off,

persona-alacarte