Chapter nineteen - The press secretary

'Alright,' Jonne said matter of factly. Gina kept her face straight, though with trouble. She always enjoyed Jonne taking his unofficial role of press secretary seriously. It wasn't his style to get too serious about anything, but he had kept up with her press appearances since they became best friends three years ago, only letting her know the bare minimum what she needed to know. Gina didn't like reading about herself or her family at all, and this way she didn't have too, but was still up to date. She took a piece of toast and put a thick layer of jam on it. She could usually see by the look on Jonne's handsome face what the damage was. It wasn't looking too bad today.

'There is a big piece about the Triwizard Tournament,' Jonne said between a swig of oat latte and a bite of toast. 'With a lot of speculation. Nothing serious, so no big deal. Also, there is a big article about the Aldaya family. They talk money. They made a estimation of the net worth of the whole family. They got it on 62.9 billion, which would make the family the richest family of Spain.'

'I don't think they have that much,' Gina said feeling a little bored.

'It's about your family,' Ginita.

'Yeah well I don't have a damn Knut,' Gina said a little flatly. 'Or six Galleons, more like.' She always had gotten everything she wanted as a child -as long as her parents had approved it first- but she had never gotten any money to spend freely. She didn't even have an own bank account. She had six Galleons and a small bag of Sickles in her trunk in her room which she wanted to save, but being stuck at school she had no opportunity to earn any extra money. She wondered fleetingly if she could send her parents a letter saying she needed more dress robes. They would undoubtedly send a whole rack of them. The thought of Gina showing up on occasions with the same dress robes twice would terrify them. She could sell the dresses to students to make sòme money... She would need it badly to rent a place after graduation. Even if she got a job immediately she would have to wait a few weeks to get her first pay check, and she would need to pay a down payment if she wanted to be able to rent anything. She supposed she could be creative and break in a muggle hotel that wasn't fully booked, but she would rather not misguide muggles if she didn't have to. Gina would only do that if the alternative was being homeless.

'Was that it?' Gina jawed. Her families wealth had been in the Spanish papers so often she didn't care about it one bit anymore.

'Yes sweety.'

'Thank you Joni. See you later.'

A piece of toast in her hand, Gina climbed the marble stairs. On the first floor, in a narrow corridor hidden behind a tapestry, that Gina used as a quiet route to the library, she saw a tall student with his flaming red hair in a long ponytail walking in front of her.

'No surprize seeing you here,' Gina grinned.

Bill was the one who had told her about the hidden passage. She hadn't met anyone else there yet. 'How are you, Bill?'

'I'm good Gina, thanks. You?'

'I'm fine. On your way to the library too?' Gina asked.

'Jup,' Bill said. 'Up for another twelve hours of study today.' They made their way through the passage together. 'Or twelve and a half, as Gregory Munts boasted about.'

'You are mad,' Gina said shocked, staring at him.

'I'm kidding,' Bill grinned at her. 'Refuse to study on Sunday afternoon. After lunch I'm off. No studying, no Head Boy duties, nothing.'

'What will you do?' Gina asked. She bend her head and ducked under the tapestry at the end of the hallway, holding it open for Bill.

'The way I'm feeling now, pass out until Monday nine am.' They laughed. They stopped quickly when they reached the entrance to the library. Madame Pinch might ban them if they laughed out loud in there. A few feet from the door, Gina suddenly felt herself blush a little. Severus just came through the door, holding a thin, leather bound book. He could never just read The Practical Potioneer...

Severus glanced at her and Bill and continued on his way, his black robes billowing behind him. Gina, feeling a little as though she had walked into a wall, tingling all over, and smiling faintly to herself, entered the quiet library in Bills wake.

At dinner on Monday, Gina didn't sit with Jonne for a change but joined Lorene, Helen, Hannah and Jill at the Hufflepuff table. She got along with Lorene and Helen very well during Herbology and Ancient Runes, and Jill and Gina sometimes studied with them in the library. It was nice to have a group of girlfriends again. Although Gina had spend most of her time at Promodores with Alejandro, Sandro and Jonne, she still missed her girlfriends Angelina and Paula and her fellow Quidditch team girls, los Unicornios. They had always had a lot of fun together.

They had a pleasant dinner, talking about their plans after school and having a long argument whether is was better to start as an assistant at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Department of International Magical Co-operation if you wanted to become a Communication Specialist, something Irene was aspiring. Gina wasn't sure which department she wanted to work after school, though she liked the idea of working for the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. Her main worries were getting enough N.E.W.T's to be able to apply for a job at the Ministry of Magic in the first place. She didn't know what she was going to do if she failed her exams. Maybe she could work as an receptionist and work her way up... Taking another bowl of strawberries for dessert, Gina decided to make more of an effort of her homework. She could be rather sloppy with her essays, often thinking it was a waste of time to write a three foot long essay on something to show the professors she knew the subject matter when she knèw she did. The only subject she paid a lot of attention to the homework assignments was Potions... Gina shook her head slightly. No more rushing through her homework from now on. She needed those N.E.W.T's...

When they had finished eating Jonne came over.

'Hello ladies,' he said, smiling his most charming smile at Helen and Helen. 'And Jill, always a pleasure.' Irene blushed.

'Suck up,' Gina said, when Jonne squeezed her shoulders.

'Not at all, just saying hello to your friends darling,' he said in a overdone British accent.

'Please go back to sounding like a Fin who spoke Spanish half his life and now tries to make himself intelligible in English.'

'You are so rude, darling. Not when we have company, please.'

The girls laughed.

'Please tell me you are not going to the library again,' Jonne said.

'I haven't seen you in the library a lot lately Gina,' Lorene said sounding surprised. 'I have been wondering where you study. Isn't it cold in the carriage?'

'No, no it's not,' Gina said quickly. 'But I have been in the library. I've been sitting in that quiet corner behind the invisibility section, or the long table below the right balcony. You must have overlooked me.'

'Hm,' Lorene said looking doubtful. Jill looked rather confused too. Gina had told Jill she had a lot of headaches lately, going to bed early, so her not showing up at the library in the evenings when she visited Severus wouldn't draw attention. Gina didn't look at Jonne. She could almost hear his brain working.

'Yes, well, I'm going to the library now,' Gina said quickly, getting her bag. 'Are you all coming? The girls all mumbled in agreement and stood up.

'I'm coming in a bit,' Jonne said a little sarcastic. 'I have to paint my nails first. If I don't make it, get me a book on the history of wheelbarrows for me to read in bed will you? At least 800 pages please.'

'1200 Muggle inventions and their amazing applications has 664 pages,' Lorene said thoughtfully. 'But it's a lovely read. You shouldn't rule it out just because it's a little thin.'

'It is lovely,' Helen agreed seriously.

Jonne stared incredulously at them, than left with saying a work, apparently speechless. When he had walked away, Gina looked at Lorene and started laughing when she saw the devilish smile on Lorene her face. Gina gave her a high five, than hoisted her bag on her shoulder and they left for the library for some serious studying.

After Transfiguration on Wednesday Gina felt exhausted. They had a double block practising Bandaging Charms and Gina couldn't see another bandage. When the class turned a corner, making their way to dinner, they were surprised to see a group of first years yelling at each other, two of which were holding wands raised high in the air. Out of one wand, held by a boy with black hair, flew purple sparks, missing a blond boy by inches. Gina wondered if they would need to put their brand new bandage-skills into practise already.

'Whoa there,' Bill said, hurrying over to them. 'Watch it, you'll poke someone's eye out. Put your wand away, mate.'

'He insulted my family!' The boy roared, still with his wand in his hand, looking furious at the blond boy. 'He said-'

'And this isn't the way to handle such a thing,' Bill said firmly, cutting in.

'I'll say whatever I want about your so called-' the blond boy began, his face reddening.

'You will not.' Bill stepped between them. 'You are coming with me O'Sullivan. And you too, Smith. We'll go see professor Sprout. And wands away, or I'll have no choice as to dock points.'

Smith stuffed away his wand angrily. 'Fìne. But he-'

'Save the explanation mate, or you'll have to tell it twice. You can explain it to your Head of House yourself. Come on.'

Obviously not daring to disregard a direct order from a Head Boy, the boys followed Bill. When they were out of sight, Olivia, a dark haired girl with rather large front teeth, started to laugh.

'How cute was that,' Olivia hiccuped. 'Did you see those sparks? Tiniest I have ever seen. What would they have done, tickle the kid?'

'They were lucky Bill ran into them before a teacher did,' Hannah said. 'If they are smart and say they regret what they did at Spouts they probably won't get detention.'

'Detention for what?' Gina laughed. 'Sending sparks at each other?'

Hannah and Olivia looked at her. 'Well yes,' Olivia said. 'You are not allowed to use magic in the corridors. Or outside class.'

'Right, Gina said slowly.' She thought this was awfully strict. At Promodores you were encouraged to practise magic as often as you could, as they believed making mistakes and practising often was the best way to hone your skills. A teacher at Promodores would have probably gives the two boys advice on how to duel less pathetically than to tell them off for duelling at all. That being said, there seemed to happen a lot less accidents at Hogwarts than at Promodores School of Magic...