Chapter Two
Hermione stared at the eldest Weasley blankly. She hadn't realized how tall he was on their past, short encounters. He was at least six feet, easily towering over her only five foot stature. It was easy to see he had a well-muscled figure beneath his black suit jacket, black slacks, pristine white shirt and striped tie of several shades of blue. The small fang dangling from his ear and smoothed ponytail were the only outright visible remnants of his hard and usually dangerous work around the world.
Bill was in shock. He knew he'd get a personal assistant with his promotion, but this was… unprecedented. Never in a million years would he expect Hermione Granger – one-third of the Golden Trio, war hero, top of her class with record high grades – the Hermione Granger to be the one standing in his office.
"Ahem," a brusque but polite cough broke them from their trances. In the doorway stood a goblin. It was hard to tell for sure, but Hermione thought he was younger… by goblin standards at least. "The staff is here. We've all gathered for your greeting in the board room, as you requested." The goblin said.
"Okay, I'll be right there," Bill said. "Um… you go ahead and get settled in." He addressed Hermione, touching her shoulder lightly as he walked by. It was impossible for her to not notice how big and warm his hand was. She turned to watch as Bill walked out of the room with the young goblin, both actually chatting in Goblin. Hermione shook her head in wonderment.
Bill sat comfortably in the plush boardroom chair, at the head of the luxurious solid wood table. The staff, a mix of several species, reported one by one about their shift, individual work and even a bit about their personal lives. The meeting was pretty informal and entirely unconventional. Meetings were never held for the entire staff and most of the staff, being of non-human species, was never allowed in the boardroom. It was an ancient form of segregation put in place by the pure-blood founders of the bank that had prevailed only partially from tradition. Until now. But most of these men, yes Bill considered them men, were friends he'd developed a deep trust with over many, many years. He also had plans to hopefully get these men to open, however slowly, to the idea of women joining their work force.
These were just a few of the many reasons he'd been just picked for his new job, but was in the unique position of his employers being willing to do whatever it took to get him. Hence the reason he was running a staff meeting despite his title officially only being Head of Foreign Affairs. It was a part of his demands, which also included a rather… hefty pay raise, much better work conditions for all of the non-human workers – particularly the goblins, full control over his department – making him more or less his own boss and… a personal assistant.
He wanted the best they could find, who could help juggle his work load in his own department and the help and counsel he was frequently asked to provide other departments and rather large figure-heads in society. It was also important that whoever they hired was discrete and would be able to help keep aspects of his private life – like grocery shopping, cleaning, and personal plans – were kept track of and taken care of either personally or with trust-worthy help. He knew it was a tall order, so his employers' choice was surprising when he considered Hermione and how she would undoubtedly handle the job. But when he really thought about it, it was surprising. To say the witch was brilliant would be an understatement. To the point that he could see her as Headmistress of Hogwarts or even becoming the first female Minister of Magic easier than he could envision her as a PA.
Come to think of it, he was surprised no one mentioned she had gotten a job at Gringotts. No one knew the exact title of the position from his promotion yet, but he would've thought that at least Ginny would've brought it up at some point. He shook his head, knowing better than to try and understand his family. Smoothly, he turned his attention back to the meeting, knowing he could count of Grimbles, the young goblin from before, to fill him in later.
Hermione's knees buckled, just a little, before she caught herself. "Pull yourself together!" She ordered herself roughly. In a way only she could manage, she pushed aside the events of the morning as a whole and allowed her mind to only think about the task at hand. With silent, wandless magic she set about her work. The office was expanded, and then a wall was put up with a door in the center, effectively adding a room in front of Bill's office.
She then reached into her purse and pulled out her shrunken office furniture, silently commending herself on her choices. Everything was very classy and would fit in with the atmosphere of the environment perfectly. It'd cost her a small fortune, but she had more than enough financial security to splurge.
She placed a desk towards the back of the room facing the front door. She carefully aligned it in front of the door to Bill's office so she could play the role of receptionist perfectly. The desk was sold cherry wood, at least 6 feet long with a ledge about a foot from the desk top that extended out in both directions so she could use it as a shelf and someone visiting could use it for writing or resting a bag. Just over a foot and a half above that was a counter top made of gold granite. Along one side were two rows of drawers, all wooden and lined with metal. The row closest to the end held three large, deep drawers. The second row closer to the center of the desk contained drawers that grew steadily smaller and shallower as they progressed further up the desk until the very top consisted a series of small drawer boxes. There was a large space for a chair, on the other side of which there were two rows of filing cabinets, also metal on the inside. They were already filled with folders, some filled some not. At the space for the chair there was a long, shallow drawer, metal inside with a desk organizer built into one side and open space in the opposite side. The entire desk was already filled with all of the office supplies she would need, several appointment books and planners – marked by their uses, and all of the files she would need that she insisted be sent to her when she first accepted the job so she could become familiar with them. She also had a few calendars she could view easily, a picture of her and her parents, one of her and the boys, and one of her and Ginny all spread along the desk top.
On the other side of the desk, all that could be seen was the solid wood back of the desk, the ledge and the countertop. On the countertop she placed a bell for the off chance she wasn't at the desk, two card holders (she'd ask Bill for some of his business cards and bank cards to put in them later), a bowel of Hershey's kisses, a bowel of peppermints and a small vase of flowers. She was careful to arrange everything to not appear over-crowded or block her view of the rest of the room from the desk.
She also enlarged a plush leather desk chair. She'd chosen the cushiest model they had, and had it modified to have adjustable height, be able to roll around and a flexible back so she could lean back on especially long days.
A couch and chairs were also enlarged and placed against the walls. The couch was dark mahogany wood with red cushions. She placed it to one wall with end tables made of matching wood on either side. The chairs were oversized, overstuffed armchairs with black and silver vertical stripes. They were placed on the opposite wall a feel feet apart with side tables made of matching wood in one side of each of the chairs and a plant in between, just large enough to afford privacy to whomever sat in the seats. On the two tables by the chairs and on the table closest to the door next to the couch she spread out several popular wizard and muggle magazines and newspapers, each of which she'd arranged subscriptions to at amazing discount prices. On the last table she placed a muggle machine that used heated water to make various hot beverages almost instantly and sugar and honey. Beneath the table she placed a small stainless steel refrigerator filled with mini water bottles, small bottles of assorted creamers and milk and a few small bottles of different types of juice and soda. She placed trashcans around the room- one next to her desk, one beneath it (there was more than enough room for it), and one next to the side table with the machine. After a lot of consideration, she charmed to walls to be cream-linen color.
Finally satisfied she had to room looking almost perfect with the proper atmosphere and tone; Hermione glanced down at her watch and frowned when she'd realized the whole thing had taken just over 20 minutes. She would have been faster if she could decide how to arrange everything faster.
Moving quicker, Hermione slipped into Bill's office, closed her eyes and concentrated. For the next 15 minutes she worked to place the strongest protection charms she could on the entire perimeter of both offices and extended several feet into the hallway, taking care to also cover the ceilings and floors as well.
Finally finished, Hermione put a hazelnut coffee in to brew, sat at her desk, and began to read through a folder containing descriptions of both her and Bill's job descriptions for the fifth time in the past few day, despite having already memorized them both. She was struck yet again by how extensive Bill's was, much of it coming from what he wanted from the job. Unfortunately, that meant her job description was a little obscure. Hermione shrugged and relaxed into her chair, figuring she'd ask Bill for specifics when he got back.
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