An:And I'm back!! Yaaaay me! I had a nice time...well sort of...most of my week was spent by sitting and staring gloomily out at the rain...so that sucked...and now i have the flu...more suckish...and comepletley irrelevant...but here's a long chapter! Thanx reviewers!
Disclaimer:I dont own it...Dejavu anyone?
Chapter 33-Jobs and Teardrop Shaped Diamonds
The week after we agreed to join the order all our schooling started.
The day before that Reggie moved out of our apartment and into Izzy's. We helped him of course. Remus and Amelia had moved into this small cottage looking house that Remus grandmother had owned, she had died a year ago. Alice and Frank moved into this suburban house that his mother had bought for them as an engagement present. Yes our dear Frankie and Allie had gotten engaged the day after our order meeting. Lily and James were looking at apartments but hadn't found anything yet.
When we were supposed to start our new career lives I was nervous…who wouldn't be? We were all going to the ministry of magic, since the aurors were having their admission tests there, the healers were having a first meeting there before going to saint Mungos, Amelia was going to apply to the writing course for the daily prophet and I was supposed to attend an addition of sorts for the designer program. Yes not everyone that had applied would be able to continue with it. So you can just imagine how nervous I was. I was currently in our kitchen panicking and Sirius was just chuckling at me.
"What are you laughing at you prat?" I said teasingly. He just continued chuckling and grabbed me and dragged me into his lap.
"You're fretting love. You shouldn't worry so much" he said kissing my face trying to catch my lips with his.
"Says you who have your place fixed already" I smiled and finally allowed him to kiss me.
"Yeah…but you shouldn't fret anyways…I've seen your work and you're you so everything will be fine"
"How can you be so optimistic?" I asked him laughing at his explanation.
"I just can" I smirked and he kissed me again.
"Seriously Padfoot…can't you keep your hands off her for one minute?" James voice sounded and we both looked up at him and Lily who were standing in the doorway.
"And can't you learn how to knock, prongs?" Sirius said grinning. We both stood up and then we went to the ministry. When we arrived we stood in the hall saying goodbyes since we had to go in different directions.
"We'll meet up for lunch, right? Good luck Char!" Lily said and then Alice and she went off. I waved at Amelia and then turned to Sirius.
"Everything will be fine. I'm cheering you on, okay? Good luck" he said and kissed me.
"Thanks…see you at lunch" I smiled and then turned and walked towards my future job.
I stepped into the office and was shocked to see that it was filled with both guys and girls, a lot of them. It was the amount of people in that room that shocked me. I mean I knew that a lot of people had applied to this…but not this many!
This made me even more nervous since only six of us would make the cut. I took a deep breath and walked inside looking for an empty seat. Suddenly I heard someone say my name and I turned around and spotted someone dressed in this eccentric blue shirt and this blonde styled hair…it was Damien.
"Damien! What…what are you doing here?" I had thought he was a muggle.
"You're a witch? And you're applying to this program! You just became my best friend darling" he said grinning at me. I laughed immediately feeling more relaxed, because I knew someone here now. And I think that Damien just had that effect on people.
We sat down and then madam Malkin appeared giving this amazing speech about wizard and witch fashion through the years. I was intrigued and then she showed us some of her own future designs. Damien and I were whispering about some of the creations and giggling to ourselves when this scrawny blonde witch hissed at us to shut up. Both Damien and I made insulted faces. And then spent the rest of the lesson flipping paper balls at the back of her head. She hated us; I'm pretty sure about that.
When that was over it was time for individual interviews. When I hear those two words I immediately think of this small room and interviewers that are staring you down trying to make you miserable. And are shooting you questions that are impossible to answer in a right way…you know like Idol…except without the singing and Simon Cowell. The interview for the Madam Malkin Fashion Designer Program…was nothing like that. It took place in this bright room where every item in the room went in some shade of beige. I didn't even know beige had many shades. I was supposed to sit in this incredibly comfortable plush couch in front of a table. Behind said table on chairs that matched the couch sat Madam Malkin herself of course, an employee at the store named Miranda, Francesca Lafontaine this amazing designer that was huge in the wizarding world, she was the head of Lafontaine Fashion a brand that every witch knew about, and then there was Mitch Gandell a reporter for Witch Weakly. They all smiled at me and I tried to stop fidgeting with my hands.
"You are Charlotte Reese…correct?" madam Malkin said and I said yes. They asked me simple questions like; how old I was, which school I had attended, my status in life and why I wanted the job. I answered as well as I could and all in all I think it went pretty well.
When I stepped out of the room I was practically attacked by Damien who seemed to be having a mental breakdown.
"Can you believe we just met The Francesca Lafontaine my hero and role model" he burst out shaking my shoulders. I laughed at him and said;
"Well I thought it was pretty amazing…but you're obviously more excited about that then me" he laughed and said;
"Did you see her shoes? I wonder if they're in her new line…"
"Damien you're obsessed with shoes"
"I am not…I just happen to like them a lot…unfortunately I can't wear them" I giggled and said;
"Why not? I wouldn't judge you" he laughed as well and said;
"Not you maybe…but other people would…not that I care about that…much. The real reason I don't wear shoes like that is that my feet are too big. And I just don't have the legs for them"
"You don't have the legs?"
"Nope…mine are too stocky-ish…I'd kill for your legs though…ooh we should go shoe shopping!" I laughed and agreed.
"What about lunch?" he said checking his hair in the mirror.
"You're hair is fine…and I'm meeting up with the gang for lunch, sorry" I said grinning at him.
"Thank you…and okay. I wont keep you from that gorgeous man of yours…oh and your friends too…" he winked and I punched him on the shoulder jokingly. Then it was time for lunch and I met up with everyone. We went to this small café in Diagon alley, where we all sat down and started to talk about our days. I told them everything that had happened to me and Sirius and James told us a hilarious story about their first auror lesson.
"The head auror is this guy called Alastor Moody. But everyone calls him Mad Eye. He's got this magic eye that spins and can see everything…and scars here and there…" James began and Sirius continued;
"He even saw us trying to put some of Zonko's itching powder down this one guys back"
"Wait…hold on…the two of you tried to prank someone the first day?" Lily said staring at her boyfriend and Sirius. They both grinned and nodded.
"Yeah but Moody noticed us…"
"Yeah…but he did tell us that it was very sneaky of us and that he liked our tactics" I started laughing and said;
"He complimented you two for trying to prank someone?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing and they just nodded grinning. I turned to Reggie for confirmation and he just sighed and said;
"Yes he did say that…but he also said that if he ever caught them doing anything like that during his lessons again he would punish them in a very creative way" we all burst out laughing and James and Sirius looked slightly embarrassed. The discussion continued with us talking about our different lessons. Lily and Alice where a bit nervous about everything they would have to learn about different diseases and stuff, but otherwise everyone was happy with their choices. We separated again and hour later and headed to our specific places. I met up with Damien and the two of us took our seats again.
"Now you will make groups of three and together you will create something to show the judges…and then based on that and your previous interviews we will pick who has made the cut. The results will be revealed in the afternoon" Damien and I quickly grabbed each others hands and grinned at each other.
"Oh this will be fabulous…but now…who is worthy of working in the brilliant presence of us" Damien said and the both of us put on superior facial expressions looking over the crowd. But that didn't last long because we burst out in giggles a minute later. The bony blonde that we had annoyed earlier looked at us and we just shoot her a look that said "don't even think about it". In the end this girl named Lucinda Villanueva had the guts to approach us and we became our group. The three of us worked great together and we had these amazing ideas that soon became this gorgeous dress. It was dark blue with silver stars all over it. It was made of silk and a very thin fabric in different shades of blue. When we turned our work in we felt very pleased and confident. After that…we waited. It was terrible really, they made us sit around and wait for an hour before they came and announced who had been accepted. When they finally started every single person in the room was sitting on needles.
"Martina Wallen" madam Malkin called and this blonde and very Scandinavian looking girl walked up to the judges and was handed a bunch of papers and sat down on one of the chairs that had magically appeared next to the podium.
"Lionel Ferguson" Damien whispered a high-pitched;
"Gaaaaay" in my ear when this skinny kind of nerd looking boy dressed in and designer suit walked up to the podium. I giggled and shoved him.
"Claire McDougal" the scrawny blonde that Damien and I had annoyed smugly walked up to the podium and Damien and I shared pained looks.
"Charlotte Reese" I think my mouth dropped and I started laughing when Damien pushed me forward and I almost skipped to the podium and did a bow just for Damien's benefit…he was applauding me all the way coaxing Lucinda to join him.
"Lucinda Villanueva" I started applauding along with Damien as did some other people when Lucinda walked up to the podium blushing.
"And last but not least…Damien Stanford" I let out an excited scream and Damien looked like he was about to faint. Then Madam Malkin gave the others a "sorry that you didn't get picked, no sore losers, you're good, better luck next time…yadda, yadda" speech. I didn't listen to it since Damien and I were giggling like little schoolgirls and dancing around. We somehow managed to get Lucinda to join us and well we earned a couple of disapproving glares from Claire and Lionel…and some amused ones from the other judges and Martina.
It was obvious that we would be standing for the humour in this business.
Then we got to know that we were supposed to work in shifts…some days in the boutique as salesmen/women and other as designers and then some days we would be in class. We got schedules so it wasn't as confusing as it sounds. Our first actual work day would begin tomorrow at nine, in class.
When we exited the room Damien and I were still hyper and babbling on with Luci as we had come to call Lucinda. When Damien suddenly stopped and said;
"Well, well…who do we have over there" I turned and spotted Sirius and the rest of the gang waiting for me. When they saw me they started waving and Sirius looked at me as if asking how it went. I grinned and ran towards them jumping into Sirius arms squealing when he swung me around.
"So I take it it went fine then, eh?" he said grinning and I told them everything. I got congratulations from everyone and I can honestly say that it was one of the more exciting days of my life.
About three weeks later James and Lily found the perfect apartment for them. It wasn't as big as ours but very nice never less. And the fact that it was only two blocks away from us was a huge plus. We helped them move in of course without any complications. Well…almost no complications…because I'm pretty sure that that hole in the wall that Sirius and James caused when they were moving in the couch wasn't intentional.
We stayed over for dinner because we were supposed to attend our very first order meeting that night. It was going to be held at this small pub near the Scottish border. Very incognito and secret society like.
We apparated there and walked into the pub and as instructed walked to one of the back rooms. There we were met by and fairly big group of people, that were laughing and discussing their days with each other. The mood was high and well…to be honest it wasn't at all what I had in mind for a meeting that was supposed to be about the dark lord who was planning world domination. It looked more like a book club or something. I looked around and spotted Mad Eye Moody, a redheaded couple that couldn't be anyone else but Molly and Arthur Weasley, a tall black man that for some odd reason reminded me of that guy from Blade…only without the leather…Kingsley Shacklebolt no doubt and then of course the two twins who were laughing and joking about. Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Said twins spotted us and made their way towards us. Well towards me and Lily since James, Sirius, Reggie, Frank, Jas and Peter had gone to talk to Mad Eye, Alice and Amelia to talk to a woman named Dorcas Meadows, I didn't know her and Remus was currently discussing something with a short man with a not so discreet purple hat covered in feathers. Well anyhow…the twins approached us and one of them said;
"Hello…you must be some of the new recruits am I right? I'm Fabian Prewett the handsome one of the Prewett twins" he grinned and shook our hands, Lily and I giggled both of us reminded of our dear boyfriends and I of course was reminded of Fred and George Weasley…
"And my name is Gideon Prewett…and as you can see I'm the handsome one, my ugly brother is just in denial" Lily and I laughed harder when he shook our hands and mock glared at his brother.
"I'm Charlotte Reese…and yes we're…new recruits, was it?" I said smiling at them.
"And I'm Lily Evans" Lily said smiling as well. At that moment I felt an arm snake around my waist and I heard the unmistakable voice of Sirius saying;
"Well hello, Prewett's…fancy seeing you here" I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Yeah…not hitting on our girls are you?" James said from my left obviously standing behind Lily. Lily and I shared a look that said "boys" and rolled our eyes. Gideon and Fabian made mock shocked identical facial expressions and said;
"Hitting on? Girls? Us?" we all laughed a bit and then Fabian said;
"Hello Potter, Black…and of course you two would be the ones that stole the prettiest girls in the room" both of them checked our faces for blushes and then got slightly disappointed looks on their faces when they found none. Lily and I were so used to James and Sirius that we didn't blush at things like that anymore…well if it wasn't James and Sirius saying them. Because somehow Sirius always managed to make me blush.
Our first order meeting was uneventful. It pretty much was about the new members (us), and some info about Voldemorts' progress. It was rather boring really…but I couldn't help but be thankful for that, because that meant that nothing too big had happened yet.
"Char...I've been thinking" James said one morning, about two weeks later, when he was sitting in our kitchen
"Don't hurt yourself Jamesie" I retorted not even looking up from the designer book I was studying. I was planning this new design that Damien and I had been working on.
"Hahaha, very funny. But I'm being serious here…"
"And here I thought I was Sirius" Sirius said when he walked into the kitchen grinning.
"Oh, hahaha, the two of you should be comedians" James said sulking a bit. Sirius and I laughed at him and then I said;
"Just tell us James"
"Well…I've been thinking about proposing to Lily" I stopped what I was doing and Sirius paused in mid drink.
"Really" I said looking up at him for the first time. He looked nervous and was fidgeting.
"Well…I think that it's a great idea" Sirius said grinning and I went up and hugged James.
"Oh Jamesie that would be so awesome" he grinned at us and then started to tell us about his master plan.
"So…have you gotten a ring?" I asked smirking. He smiled proudly and nodded, and then he started to dig around in his pocket and fished out this little black box. He handed it to me and I opened it and gasped. Inside was a gold ring with a teardrop shaped diamond on it, surrounding the diamond was smaller pink stones.
"What do you think?" he asked me nervously.
"Its beautiful James…not really my taste…but Lily…Lily will love it"
"Really?" he said looking really hopeful.
"I'm sure of it" I said grinning and giving it back to him. I remembered Lily looking at a similar ring a couple of days ago in Diagon alley when we were there shopping…she had fallen in love with it. I was sure that she would love it and that she would say yes.
"When are you asking her, prongs?" Sirius said grinning.
"To night"
"To night! And you're telling us just now!" I said laughing.
"Prongs! We're not supposed to withhold information like this from each other" Sirius mock scolded, shaking his finger at his best friend.
"Sorry" he mumbled and then we all burst out laughing. We spent the next hour preparing James mentally for the whole thing.
James left to prepare and all Sirius and I could do was wait…
AN: There it is...huzzah...yah...review? Ta! Snuffles-sweetie