Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd sue Shane Dawson for calling Rupert Grint fugly. That really pissed me off. -_- Alot. Considering Rupert Grint's hotter than the center of the sun, 70,000 Bhut Jolokia peppers dipped in Texas Pete hot sauce mixed with cayan pepper, and the neutron core of a star going supernova combined.
So after all the fantastic reviews, I just made it a priority to write another chapter. You earned it- [that's what she said]. (Yeah I need a life.)
Chapter 12:
"Granger", said a voice from the doorway of my office. I looked up from the piles of paperwork on my desk. My boss, Melanie Reynolds, was standing in the door holding a stack of papers with her had placed firmly on her hip. She looked quite angry. Her neat, sleek black (with chunks of grey) hair was pulled back into a pony tail. She was tight lipped (as usual), she had wrinkly paper white skin, and her usual black skirt suit with matching wedges. I often hoped I wouldn't end up looking like that after years of loneliness and 15 years in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
"Yes, Ms. Reynolds", I replied nervously.
"I need you to run some errands for me, my assistant couldn't make it today", she replied. I frowned. This rarely occured. Ms. Reynolds's assistant showed up every single day since I first began this job. But I wasn't about to question my boss. The last thing I needed to top off my tough break-up was to get fired due to back talking.
She walked up to my desk and handed me the stack of papers. And fourteen galleons.
I looked down at them.
"They all need to be completed by approxamitely 6 pm. I expect you to complete each task and if you have any questions get Joe to contact me", Ms. Reynolds said referring to the Department's secretary.
"Yes ma'am", I replied. She nodded and walked out of my office. I felt a little underestimated. I wasn't an intern. But since I didn't have much choice in the matter I kept my mouth shut and cleaned my office and began to do my first errand.
1. Pick up my clothes from Madam Malkin's. I apparated to Madame Malkins and walked inside. The ringing of bells jingled and Madame Malkin's was already standing in front of the door.
"I'm here to pick up Melanie Reynold's clothes", I said.
"Aw, yes, Ms. Reynolds", Madame Malkins said and disappeared behind a small room and came back out holding up three hangers with plastic covering them. I held my hand out to grab it but she tutted.
"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast! You've got to try them on", Madame Malkins said. I frowned.
"Try them on?", I asked.
"Yes, of course. I need to make sure I did the correct measurements. I need you to try it on. Ms. Reynolds didn't let me measure her last week so I just did it freehand. I'm positive you and that woman are the same size", Madame Malkins said. Since when did MAdame Malkins make anyone do anything?
"I'll try to get Ms. Reynolds here herself to-"
"No! I have a buisness to run, I don't have time for that", she said. I sighed and took the clothes from her and walked to the fitting rooms.
I took off the coverings and a beautiful, elegant, red dress with a v-neck was revealed. I wondered where Ms. Reynolds was going in that. I took off my short black dress, threw it over the door, and hastily put the red dress on. I didn't have much time. It was 11: 30 and the list was too long to ignore. I looked into the mirror on the fitting room door. It was certainly beautiftul. It was a halter dress that draped down to my feet. It accentuated my clevage, but not too much. My mid section looked slimmer and my bum looked a bit bigger as well. If Ms. Reynolds doesn;t like this dress, I'd be sure to take it, I thought to myself.
I reached for my own dress, and just as I did it fell behind the other side of the door. I breathed heavily and opened the door to retrieve my dress. When I bent down to pick it up I heard my name being streaked from behind me. I stood up an turned around to be greeted by Luna who was walking towards me to give me a hug.
"Hermione, you look absolutely stunning! How've you been lately?", Luna said. She was wearing a emerald green sundress and white heels. Her long pale blonde hair was up in an elegant bun and she wore her radish earrings.
"You do too, what's the occasion?", I asked her.
"I'm going to a party with an old friend of mine", Luna replied, "Where are you going?"
"Actually I'm on duty at work. I just came here to pick up my boss's clothes and Madame Malkin's made me try this on", I said.
"I heard there was a new policy", Luna muttered. She bent down to pick up my dress. I held out my hand for her to give it to me but she never did. "This is prety. Is this yours, too?"
"Yes", I replied with my hand in the air waiting for my dress.
"There's a terrible stain on the back of it. I know a quick spell that will get it out. Hold on a second", Luna said going into her fitting room with my dress before I could object.
I stood out their waiting for my dress back for about five minutes before she came back out. She looked a little nervous.
"Hermione, I'm awfully sorry", Luna said. She held up my dress. In the back, where the 'stain' was, everything was fine. But in the front there was a massive hole and baby blue streaks were surrounding it.
"It's fine Luna, there should be a counter spell for it", I said.
"I'm afraid there's not. Well there is a potion, but it takes six hours to brew", Luna said. I held in my frustration, not wanting to hurt Luna.
"It's okay, Luna. I'll just run back to my office to get the keys to my house and get a new outfit", I replied.
"Wait, you can't!", Luna said.
"Why not?", I asked.
"B-because Ginny called a while back. She needs someone to help her with her wedding arrangements, and I told her I couldn't go. So I just thought, maybe you could go for me. I'll do some of the errands on you're list in return", Luna said. I thought about her bargain. Luna was a fairly hard worker. And Ginny and I haven't spoken in weeks, which I feel awful about.
"Alright, just- here", I said running inside of the dressing room and retrieving the list of errands. I gave her two sheets which narrowed things down to 10 papers worth of stuff to do. Great.
Luna rummaged through the list and shook her head.
"I'll do it", Luna said. We shook hands and smiled.
"Well I'd better get going", I told her.
"Me too", she said. We both took our things, payed for the clothes and apparated out of the store. I felt a bit stupid wearing such a lovely dress to run errands, but I didn't have much of a choice.
I showed up in front of Ginny and Harry's small house and knocked on the door, rather impatiently. It took twenty seconds for Ginny to appear looking angry and on the brink of tears.
"What is it?", Ginny asked. Once she saw me her expression seemed to soften, "Hermione?"
"Hey Ginny. Luna said you needed help with the wedding arrangements", I said in hopes that it would make up for our lost time.
"Shouldn't you be off somewhere breaking Ron's heart?", Ginny asked. A part of me wanted to be angry at her for saying that, but I didn't have that kind of time so I brushed it off.
"Ginny, I'm sorry. I'm trying to make it up to you by helping with the wedding. Don't let my relationship with Ron get in the way of our friendship", I said. She rolled her eyes, but I knew she wasn't still angry because she opened the door to let me in.
"Where are you going in that?", she asked me, her anger seemed to vanish completely.
"It's a long story", I replied. She nodded and walked into her living room. I followed close behind.
The coffee table was covered with pattern samples, beauty products, magazines, and stacks of paper.
"Wow", was all I could say. I hoped that she didn't plan on filling out invitations, because that would take more than two hours.
"So far I've got my dress picked out. It's beautiful", Ginny said. She picked up a picture from off of the pattern samples and held it up for me to see. It was beautiful. It was a long white dress with golden trimmings. The sleeves were made of lace and the bottom of the dress seemed to flow.
"You'll look stunning", I said happily despite the feeling of remorse I felt deep within me. Not because of Harry and Ginny but because of those night's that
I'd lie down and think of the dress I was going to wear at Ron and my wedding. So much for that.
"So now all I need to do is come up with the hairstyle I want. I don't want mum to do it. I don't want to go with my hair looking like I stepped out of my Great Grandmother's photograph", Ginny said.
"Why don't you go to the salon. The place where muggles do your hair for you", I suggested.
"No, I wanted something that could be done at home. Besides, when you do you're hair with a wand, it'll last longer", Ginny said, "So today I was going to try out some hairstyles, but I didn't want to do it on myself because Harry will be home soon and I didn't want him to see me with the hairstyle I'll be wearing at my wedding."
I'd never understand Ginny's logics.
"No, Ginny, our hair is completely diffrent", I told her.
"Not really. It's about the same length. Just diffrent textures. But I can fix that", Ginny said. I frowned. Her hair flowed down her back. It was brilliant. Nice color, nice volume. And mine? It was a curly dull mess.
"Ginny I don't know", I said.
"C'mon Hermione, for me", she said. I sighed.
"Fine", I muttered for the sake of our friendship.
She went to go get her wand and used a ton of cosmetic charms I hadn't ever heard of (mainly because they weren't in the are of my intrests). She used a cleansing charm, a drying spell, a flattening charm, and then a curling charm. She handed me a mirror.
I looked like I was going to be attending a ball. My hair fell into elegant curls down my back and it looked shiny and very chique. Too bad there wasn't much purpose for it.
"This will look brilliant! Now all's that's left is makeup", Ginny shrieked.
"No, Ginny. I don't really have timee for that, you see I'm on the clock at work-" I protested but she held up a hand for me to stop.
"Hermione, it'll only take a second. Besides, I got this new eyeshadow and I REALLY wanted to try it out. And since you're already dressed up and such, you might as well. . .", Ginny said. I gave in yet again, knowing Ginny wasn't going to take no for an answer anyway.
I let her apply things to my face that I never even heard of.
"And vuala!", Ginny said, handing me the mirror again after thirty minutes. I looked in the mirror. Now I really looked like I'd be dancing with Prince Charming tonight. My eyes were covered with a shimmery white, and were outlined lightly with black, my eyelashes looked a bit thicker, and the dark circles I'd seen under my eyes this morning seemed to have vanished. How she did that, I didn't know. My lips were even a shimmery red and my face seemed to glow and look clearer.
"Hermione, I always knew you were pretty, but- Goodness you are absolutely stunning", Ginny said staring at me in awe. I felt myself blush.
"So is this the look you'll be getting?", I asked her.
"Absolutely", Ginny said still in her realm of shock. I stood up.
"Well I should get going then", I said.
"Alright. But I just need one more thing", Ginny said. I turned around, "Can you stop by George's shop for me and drop this off?" She held up a tube full of orange liquid. I took it and picked up my list.
"Okay, I'm glad I could help today", I said befor apparating to Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes. The first thing I saw was the time. It was already 2:00.
I read the next thing on the list as I walked towards the staircase.
27. Pick up three bottles of Firewhiskey [It's at number 27 because she gave away some of the pages for those of you who would have potentianally been confused]. I snorted. I could only imagine why she'd need that, I thought to myself.
"Hello Hermione!", said George. I looked up. I realized I was standing at the bottom of the staircase.
"Hey, George. Ginny asked me to drop this off to you", I said.
"Ah, good. The final ingriedient", George muttered, "Where are you going in that?"
"Ginny needed help figuring out what hairstyle and makeup she'd use for the wedding. I got the dress from Madame Malkins. It's my boss's dress but Madame Malkins made me try it on and- George do you have three bottles of firewhiskey?", I asked realizing I was wasting time.
"Whoa there, Hermione. I know you're going through a breakup but drinking yourself to death won't fix things", George said jokingly.
"No, it's for my boss. I've been trying to run errands for her", I said.
"Well lucky for you, I have several bottles, but they'll come at a price", George said. I started to take out my galleons but he tutted in disapproval.
"No, I mean I need you to try this new potion I'm testing out for a product I've been needing to perfect", George said.
"Is it dangerous?", I asked.
"Not if I add this in", George said holding up the orange liquid, "The potion's for making people hyper. But the original potion was making kids hyper to a dangerous extent. Besides it'd be funny to see you hyper." I rolled my eyes. If I was hyper it would at least I'd get things done quicker.
"Fine", I said. He went off with the tube and came back ten minutes later with a burgundy substance in a glass vile.
"Here you are", he said handing me the vile. I chugged it down and waited a minute or so to report the sudden changes. But I didn't feel hyper at all. The only thing I felt was randy.
"George!", I yelled, "That wasn't funny."
"What?", he asked innocently.
"This potion makes you horny not hyper", I yelled without thinking. Attracting attention to everyone in the store. I turned back to a hysterical George.
"I really didn't expect that, honestly but-", he burst into another fit of laughter, "That is absolutely brilliant. I've got to save the rest for Angelina."
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Look,I've got to go, George, just give me the bottles of firewhiskey", I said. He went back off into the room laughing and came back laughing. He had a bag in his hand and he gave it to me.
"Thanks Hermione", George said still chuckling, "I've got to tell Lee about this one." I rolled my eyes and stood by the door. I took out my list and read the next task.
28. Go to 828 Hollard Street and pick up the silver package. I sighed, and realised why her assistant so desprately needed that break.
"Hey, lady- are the effects on that potion of yours still there?", asked a dark haired boy that looked about 13.
"No", I said quickly and apparated out of George's shop disgusted.
I had showed up at a small street. The sign read Hollard street. I looked up at the house number and it read 1. I let out a small whimper and began my walk down Hollard street looking for house 828. All of the houses were brick with fancy glass windows and five windows, two on the first floor and three at the top. The street was abandoned except for the few cars that passed by. And I couldn't get their attention because they'd drive so fast.
I finally spotted house 824 and walked a little further until I reached my desired destination: 828. I walked up the cement driveway and up the white stairs and knocked on the glass door.
When it had finally opened I got the shock of my life: Lavender Brown and a little boy standing in front of her, his mouth covered with chocolate.
"Lavender?", I asked no one in particular.
"Hermione?", she asked. We stood there awkwardly for about five minutes until she held out her hand. "Nice seeing you again. You look beautiful by the way."
"Thankyou", I said, "Is this your son?"I asked trying to make polite conversation.
He had Lavender's eyes, dark brown hair, and peachy skin.
"Say hello Raymond", Lavender said. He gave me a small wave. I smiled at him and waved back.
"I came here to pick up a silver package?", I said. She nodded.
"Yeah, come on in, I'll go and get it for you", Lavender said. I walked inside. The walls were covered in baby pink and the furniture was white. There were pictures of Lavender and Raymond on the wall. Raymond was wearing the exact same outfit in his photograph. There was no man in any of the pictures. I realized that they were poor. Lavender's job was selling mystery packages from home, her son wore the exact same dingy overalls as he did in his pictures, and now that I took a closer look there were bills piled up on her coffee table.
"Here you go", Lavender said handing me a thick silver package, "That'll be two galleons." She held out her hands almost desperately. She was very thin. Almost thinner than she was in sixth year. I handed her four galleons.
"I only needed two", she said.
"You can keep the rest", I told her, hoping I wasn't making her feel like she was a charity rather than a person. I bent down and handed Raymond a galleon. "You can have one too." I smiled down at him and he gave me a shy grin.
I'm not sure where the feeling came from but I felt like I owed Lavender. For all the terrible thoughts and envy I felt towards her. However deep down inside I realized I owed it too myself. All summer long I'd been so caught up with myself. Ron was right. I was selfish and bratty. Today was the first time in ages that I'd done something for someone other than myself.
I looked up at a nearby clock. It read 5: 15. I hastily took out my list as I muttered my goodbyes to Lavender.
29. Go down to King's Cross station outside Platform 9 3/4 to pick up another package. Why there? I wondered. Just as I was about to apparate, Lavender called my name.
"What is it?", I asked hoping she wasn't going to try and give the money back to me.
"I never got to say thankyou for saving my life", Lavender said nervously, "So er- thanks."
"You're welcome", I said surprised that she even remembered. Then I apparated a little outside King's Cross so I didn't get noticed by the muggles.
I ran as fast as I could in my heels to get to King's Cross. The station was filled with people so it took me a while just to try and get in. When I finally did get in however, it was already 5: 30. I only had thirty minutes to complete several pages full of tasks. I ran hastily throught the crowd of people, knocking people over.
When I finally reached the outside of nine and three quarters, no one in particular seemed to be waiting to deliver a package. I looked down at the list of tasks and read the last one.
30. Enter Platform 9 3/4 to retrieve the package. I was confused. She must know that this platform only opens on September 1st right? But knowing I didn't have time to spare, I ran into the brick wall, not caring if people were looking. And to my surprise, I actually got in.
And the first thing I saw was Ronald Bilius Weasley stanind before me looking nervous. . . .
I hope you guys enjoyed, it took me a long time to write this chapter so PLEASE review.
Sincerely,
Jay