"Morning." I said, dumping my bag on my desk, flicking my wand at the kettle over by the window.
Sydney looked up from her desk, her eyebrows raised.
"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Rose?" She said in mock sympathy.
My currently foul mood did not find this at all humorous.
I glared at her, collected my coffee, and slammed the door between my office and the main room, where her desk was, fully prepared to sleep my way through the morning, responsibilities be damned.
Unfortunately, the world rarely let me have anything that I wanted.
"Rose!"
I whirled around, spilling coffee all over my new white blouse, pointing my wand wildly in the direction of the noise, blowing a few loose strands of hair out of my face as I did so.
"Hugo?"
My brother's face grinned from the fireplace. I just scowled.
"Look what you made me do! This is a new blouse, Hugo, you had better thank Merlin I'm good at cleaning spells-" I ranted, my face getting hotter as I did.
"Oh, shut it, Rose." Hugo said, rolling his eyes at me.
"What'd you want?" I asked, waving my wand over my top, folding my arms, and glaring at him.
"I'm at work, you know, I do have things to do." I snapped, adding some foot tapping for good measure.
So what if all I was planning to do was sleep? He didn't need to know that.
Besides, sleep was necessary if I was to be on top of my game for my new assignment.
"I'm here on behalf of Mum, she wanted me to remind you that it's family dinner night, and that you're expected to be present, since you haven't come to one since June, and it's now October." Hugo said, before his head popped out of sight.
Well, nice to see you too, brother dearest.
I hated family dinners. You see, once a month, the whole Weasley/Potter clan, plus Teddy, get together for a 'nice' sit down dinner at Grandma Weasley's.
Yeah, right.
The last time I'd gone, James had gone on for an entire hour about his new job doing Merlin-knows-what, Lucy asked me several times why I was in Slytherin, and Fred (who's 20, for Merlin's sake) got mashed potatoes stuck in my hair.
Since I graduated Hogwarts, I've been to a total of five family dinners. Four of those were only because it was either my Mum's, or my Dad's birthday. The other one was Hugo's birthday.
I refused to go on my birthday, I said I had to work. I don't think anyone minded, really, I'm the odd one out in the family. Without me there, everything would be a whole lot less awkward.
Usually, it's just one big, long, night full of awkward pauses.
"So, Albus, how's the team treating you?" Uncle George asked, clapping my cousin on the shoulder.
"Pretty well. I reckon I'll be a full-time Chaser soon, this reserve business isn't my cup of tea." Albus replied, grinning widely.
I just sat in the corner, staring at the fire and trying to ignore all my happy, cheery family members.
They were all ignoring me, so it only seemed fair.
"Hey, Rose."
I turned my head, my eyes finding my cousin Molly, who sat down next to me.
"Molly." I said warily.
Molly had been in the same year as me, but we really hardly knew eachother. You see, she was a Gryffindor.
Though I've no idea why, as she's about as bland and gutless as a flobberworm.
Wow. I sound like a heartless cow who hates her family.
Maybe I am.
"What're you thinking about?" Molly asked, clearly pulling her Healer training out.
"Oh..." I stalled.
I couldn't really say that I was contemplating whether or not I hated my family's guts, or that I was pretty sure I was a bitchy cow who was obsessed with work now, could I?
"Not much." I said lamely, going back to staring at the fire.
"You know, Rose, if you ever need someone to talk to..." Molly offered, but I stood up, cutting her off.
"Er, Molly, I'm fine, thanks. I just don't really like family occassions." I said, brushing my jeans down and making to leave.
"That's cause you're all work, Rosie." James said, ambling over to me with a sloppy grin.
"Yeah, well, I guess that's the Slytherin in me, Jamesy. Not something any of you would understand." I retorted, louder than I'd meant to.
And just like that, I'd stormed out of my brother's birthday celebrations, leaving my gaping family in my wake.
I really didn't understand them. All they did was stand around, gossiping about other family members all night, and eating, oh, and drinking, and that was supposed to be fun?
I'd been working my way up from the ground, starting my own business and working round the clock, whilst they stood around and discussed the ever-exciting topic of when Teddy and Victoire would finally get engaged.
"Rose?"
"Yeah?" I called back to Sydney, who had her head poking around my door.
"There's someone here to see you." She said, ushering said person into my office.
"Mr. Bobrikov." I said, inclining my head towards the tall, cloaked man.
He sat down in the chair across from me, my desk seperating us.
"Do you have zit?" He asked, with a heavy Russian accent.
"Yes." I said, pulling a plain, black, drawstring bag out of one of the drawers to my left.
"Here." I said, emptying the bag onto the desk.
I watched as he leant forwards, his eyes sparking with interest, as the plain ring, the black stone cracked down the middle, rolled out to rest between us.
"Good." He said, scooping the stone up and placing his own bag on the table.
"3000 Galloens." He said, the bag landing with a heavy thud.
I didn't bother weighing the bag, I knew Bobrikov was a man of his word. He swept out of my office, and I breathed a heavy sigh.
So much for a relaxing day at work.
"Who was that?" Sydney asked, her perfectly shaped blonde curls bouncing around her face as she entered my office.
I quickly put the bag of coins away, along with my, now empty, bag.
"A client. Private one, though, not through the business." I said, turning back to face my business partner.
"Obviously, otherwise I'd know him." She said, perching on the edge of my desk and whipping out a nail file.
"Was that Hugo I heard earlier?' She asked nonchantly, her attention on her nails.
"Oh, yeah." I said, suddenly remembering the disastrous prospect of a family gathering.
"He was reminding me about a family dinner tonight. I think I'll actually have to go to this one." I said, sighing and leaning back in my chair.
Sydney turned to look at me, momentarily forgetting her nails.
"Oh, come on Rose, they can't be all that bad." She said, trying to look sympathetic.
I raised my eyebrows at her, my mouth in a hard line.
"They are." I replied flatly.
"They didn't seem so bad in school, I'm sure they can't have changed that much-" She said, leaning on her elbows, her eyes wide and enthusiastic.
Sydney loves meddling in my life. It's her hobby.
"They haven't changed at all, Sydney, that's the problem." I cut her off, rolling my eyes at her attitude.
"Oh, that's right. I forgot that you practically ostracised yourself from them since you're a Slytherin, and therefore can't possibly get along with Gryffindors." She snapped.
"I didn't ostracise myself! They never talk to me, we have nothing in common-" I retorted, slamming my palms down on my desk in anger.
"That's because you haven't made an effort, Rose! If you stopped sulking about how you're 'so different' all the time, maybe one of them would talk to you, and, Merlin forbid, you'd find you had something in common!" She replied, standing up as she did in anger, her blue eyes flashing.
"I'm going to go organise the files." She said quietly, after a moment of glaring at eachother angrily.
She swept out of my office, shutting the door a little to firmly behind her.
I slumped in my seat, cradling my cup of coffee.
She was wrong. There was no way I'd ever get along with my family. They all though I was mad, obsessing over magical artefacts, selling them to people, etc. etc.
I reckon they all think I'm worse than Aunt Luna, truthfully. Which is not something to be proud of.
And it's not like I hadn't given them plently of opportunity to talk to me. Albus all but shunned me once we were Sorted, but he never apologized. I damn well wasn't going to.
Besides, they'd never truly understand me, because they didn't know me. I was ambitious, driven.
I was also, currently, on a hunt for the Hallows. Which they did not, and would never, know about.
Dad was KILL me if he knew I was hunting Dark Objects now.
Literally kill me, I mean. I'm not really sure, but I think supplying people with dark objects is a crime...
Ah, well, too late now. I'd just have to head to family dinner, play the social outcast, then head out and figure out how to break into Albus Dumbledore's tomb.
Ew.
How again did I end up in this mess?
I was once a struggling business woman, selling harmless artefacts from another time to nice, old witches.
Then, a few things happened, a whole lot of money was blown my way by some powerful people (who may or may not be wanted criminals) and BAM, now I've been contracted by a bunch of, quite possibly, dark wizards, and am hunting the deathly hallows.
On the plus side, if Dad does ever find out, he won't have the chance to kill me because one of my clients probably already would have.
Yay.
A/N: Okay...
Does this seem plausible? I'm really not sure : /
Of course, there is a whole backstory of how Rose got to be in the situation she's in, and, in case you were wondering, no her family doesn't really hate her, and she doesn't really hate her family either.
Reviews? :P