That evening, I came back from my umpteenth trip to the mailroom to find Narcissa Black sitting primly on the edge of my desk. I stopped short in the hallway the moment I saw her, a thousand different things racing through my head, and then I saw the roll of parchment she held in one hand. I could make out the Ministry's seal.
I heaved a sigh. So she was going to be promoted, hire new staff from the "right background" and replace me. I straightened my shoulders, bracing myself, and walked to my desk, joining her.
She smiled at me as I arrived, and I could only gawk in return. "Ms. Granger," she began, "you know how it's been going around that our little operation would be getting a new Department Head soon?
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. "Our" operation indeed, I thought darkly.
"These are the official papers," she tapped the roll against my desk, "and I was about to head down to the Minister's office to accept the position – but I wanted to talk to you first."
I nodded again. "Of course." My voice was a bit flat.
She glanced at me, a tiny frown appearing between her pale, perfectly shaped eyebrows as if she had caught my tone. "Ms. Granger, I... I'll be taking on more responsibilities with the new position, so there will be some new faces around here...well, it doesn't matter." She looked away. "Obviously, with more duties, we'll need more support," she finished.
"Obviously."
She glanced at me again, looking more and more confused. I almost glared at her. Did she expect me to be thrilled at losing my job?
"I'll be hiring some new assistants," she went on, "and as Department Head I'll need an Undersecretary and the like..." She looked away again. "I thought of having you stay my only assistant, but I just don't think that would work out. It's just not the way the office will be set up."
I was barely holding in that glare now. "I see," I said flatly.
She didn't even look at me at all this time. "So, the department will need a strong staff to weather the changes." She cleared her throat. "We must bring in some people from different other offices to fill the positions. There will be a lot of shifting around of duties and responsibilities. So..." She cleared her throat again, still staring down at my desk.
I idly thought that I couldn't imagine the Narcissa Black could have ever been so inarticulate.
"So, if you wanted to switch to another department, maybe Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, you know," she glanced at me, "to keep up with, um, your own interests, I'd understand. I'll give you a recommendation." She paused again, looking really uncomfortable now. "However, I'd like to unofficially offer you the Junior Undersecretary job under me. Not under me, for me. I mean, for this department. I didn't mean…" she rambled on looking very flustered.
I blinked, my mind trying to follow all that. Junior Undersecretary? For the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? That would be a huge promotion.
She looked at me now, those icy blue eyes as uncertain as I'd ever seen them. "I mean, I'd like you to stay in my department if possible, working with me – we're, um, so used to each other and all – but I wouldn't want to hold back your career. I know you had other ideas about where you wanted to work when you started."
For the first time in several minutes – all right, I'll admit it, in several months – my mind grasped what was going on. "You...want me...to stay," I stammered, sounding like an idiot.
It was her turn to blink. "Of course," she said, as if it had never been in question. I tried to keep my lower jaw from hitting the desk. Not only had I realized what was going on, I had realized just how much of an idiot I'd been.
My mind raced. I had three concerns – one, finding a way to say yes that didn't make me sound like a lovesick fool; two, trying to comprehend my luck; and three, trying to recover something resembling dignity. "I think...it's an excellent opportunity…like you said, we work pretty well together," I stammered finally. "I'd like to stay."
She smiled a brilliant smile – a smile that, I noticed dimly, didn't seem like that hard, professional smile I'd seen so many times in the paper and here at work. "Good. Glad to hear it." She tapped the scroll on the desk, getting up and walking toward her office. Then she turned back. "Oh, by the way..."
My head jerked back up from where I had been staring blankly at the desk, having failed totally to pull my thoughts into anything like coherency. "What?" I blurted out.
"Because the changes won't be for a couple months, I went ahead and took one of the international cases this month. I thought it might be like a vacation before all the upheaval." she explained. "The case started here in London in the Department of Magical Transportation. I guess some American claims he has been falsely accused of selling illegal international porkeys. They are having the trial in New York, and we would be representing the Ministry's interests." She ran a hand through her hair, "I thought it would be an interesting challenge. I'm heading to New York next week for the preliminaries." Her eyes met mine. "The Ministry is paying, so I figured you might like a bit of a vacation too. We'll have to stay in a muggle hotel because we are also trying to pin a violation of the Secrecy Statute on him, so it's important we set an example of blending in."
"Will staying in a muggle hotel be a problem?" I was back to being defensive.
She looked surprised again. "No, why would it?" Pause. "Oh," she said, her mask back in place, and her eyes cooling, "I see. You do know that I live in muggle London, and I don't appreciate the insinuation that I wouldn't be alright with it based on some prejudice you might have against me…"
"That sounds wonderful," I said interrupted immediately, my mouth having, once again, betrayed me. "Of course I don't think that. I'm sorry I made you feel that way," I apologized quickly.
Her masked slipped, her expression warming slightly. "Alright then, you should probably book the rooms soon."
"Thank you, Madam Black. I look forward to it." I said. As soon as she said rooms, an image that I had experienced earlier jumped to the front of my mind.
A hotel bed would fit that image just fine.