Chapter Four

An odd morning

Note: I planned and wrote this story over the summer when the story about phone hacking was just breaking. The chapter is not written to ridicule the media but it certainly explores some problems with it. A theme, of course, J.K. herself explores in the books. Please please can someone give me second review on this story? Love it? Hate it? The stats for this story are quite good but just one review. Please someone make my day.

Ginny sat at her desk in the Daily Prophets' main office in Bloomsbury. She shared a workspace with several other low level workers for the last few months so her own desk was quite a privilege. She straightened a moving picture of her, Ron and their parents.

"Weasley," a voice shouted over the heads of the office and Ginny saw Stephen Halsley. Stephen was a tall, thin, balding man with piercing eyes that looked through a person rather than at them. Ginny always got the impression that she was constantly being weighed up by him. Stephen was the editor of the newspaper and Ginny had no idea what he would want with her. She walked into his large office with a beautiful view of the Tyrollean mountains in Austria. Ginny had no idea how he had done it, the Prophets' offices were in London.

"I don't have all day," Stephen stopped and Ginny snapped back, she had spent the last few minutes staring out of the window.

"Sorry," Ginny apologised quickly then hurriedly added "sir." Stephen seemed satisfied.

"Your work's been good so far kid." Ginny got the hidden barb as well as the compliment.

"I'm moving you to floor four," Ginny must have looked shocked because Stephen replied with.

"Don't gawp at me girl, I'm not a monster despite what you've heard." Ginny smiled the office viewed Stephen as a god-like figure that barked out orders without justification. However she was seeing someone with his ear to the ground showing his experience in the media.

"Go on then," he shouted but there was a slight smile with the harsh tone of voice.

Ginny emptied her desk.

"Problem Gi?" The face of the only other female junior reporter Winifred FitzSimmons, the voice was sickly sweet and there was a fake smile plastered all over the girl's face. Winifred was a harsh faced girl who wold do anything for a story. She had been on the junior reporter programme years longer than Ginny and as so always tried to undermine her ideas and decisions.

"No I am working on level four now," Ginny smiled innocently back. Winifred's face fell.

"What?" She shouted "this is so unfair."

"Take it up with Stephen," Ginny smiled and grabbing her small box of office equipment and headed towards the lift. It was a slow ride to the forth floor, someone had pressed the button for every floor. She tapped her foot impatiently against the cold tiled floor until the doors opened. The fourth floor was smaller than the eighth floor Ginny had just left. She knew this area of the office dealt with celebrity divorces, marriages and scandals. She peered curiously around the door of the office. There were around seven people working at various desks around the room.

"Hi," Ginny said to the nearest person "I am Ginny Weasley Stephen sent me here."

"Weasley," the woman frowned thinking of the name "are you a junior reporter?"

"Yes," Ginny said unsure what the woman wanted.

"Good we could do with someone new here. Go talk to Charlotte she's the one sat at the desk over there with the long brown hair." The woman pointed over to a petite woman with a small nose and long brown haired tied in a high ponytail. Ginny made her way over the the desk the woman was bent over. She was told to grab a desk,

"I'll be over in a moment," Charlotte shouted. "Right," she smiled five minutes later as she stood beside Ginny's new desk. She passed her a large brown envelope.

"These are pictures one of our photographer's took for a story about the Minister for Magic's daughter." Charlotte opened the envelope and inside were a pile of photographs of a young woman who looked around twenty four. She had cropped brown hair that suited her face with its high cheekbones. Ginny remembered that she had seen the woman at Draco's birthday party some weeks before. She looked closer at the pictures.

"Just find something incriminating." Charlotte nodded at her.

"Sure thing," Ginny smiled unconvincingly which Charlotte seemed not to notice. Ginny knew she had been wishing for this promotion for a long time, but it seemed harsh. The woman in the photographs was only having fun, in the same way most people her age were. Yet the public and the media seemed to have a need to scrutinise her just because of who her father was.

Ginny spent all morning flicking through the pictures looking for something incriminating, whilst equally hoping it wasn't there. She did find a photograph of the woman dancing on a makeshift bar in the flat which she judged sufficiently damaging. Ginny smiled with the memory of the night. The woman's dancing was a little wobbly but she smiled wide and Ginny could not help but smile with her. However that photograph was not as bad as the photograph showing the woman with an empty firewhisky bottle to her lips. Ginny continued like this through the day, when she returned after lunch she noticed a new envelope of pictures waiting.

"New story," Charlotte shouted across the small office "urgent." Ginny opened the envelope and looked at the photographs it had held. Ginny's blood went cold and butterflies began in her stomach. These photograph's were of Harry. Unmistakably he was the focus of these photographs some saw him move around with his friends, others had him laughing, a few showed him alone. But one caught her eye. The picture had Harry centred in the frame, a close up of his face and he was kissing a girl that was not wholly in the picture. She had pale skin and dark hair, that hair was pushed over her face so that her features were obscured. Ginny looked over the office and saw everyone busy at their work. She pushed that picture and a few "incriminating" others in the top drawer of her desk. She then pushed a picture of Harry with his hair awry and a drink in his hand to the centre of her desk.

"Really?" Charlotte asked suddenly over her shoulder making Ginny jump. "That's the best? Let's have a look at the others?" Ginny passed her the pile of photographs. "Not a good bunch," said Charlotte her forehead slashed in a deep frown as she tapped her fingers on Ginny's desk. "I need to talk to the photographers." Ginny's disbelief that Charlotte could fire someone that quickly was tempered with relief that she had not been caught taking pictures out of the envelope.

Notes: yes Draco, Ron and Harry's flat is a private residence but I see it as a modern non-magical building of glass and steel with a large balcony.