In a ministry office, Amelia was sitting at her desk and two young were standing in front of her.
"New assistants?"
"Yes/Yes ma'am" Said a boy and a girl who were half nervous due to Amelia's seriousness.
"I didn't approve new assistants, I wasn't even informed of it." She frowned.
"Yes, they told us to give you this" the girl took out a letter and gave it to her.
Amelia took it and began to read it, but the more she spent, the less satisfied she felt. Fudge was a bit feared out by her earlier threat to quit and now that Tonks and I were 'fired' he decided to hire assistants, giving her no option to refuse.
It wasn't necessarily an action in good faith, it was more to comply and prevent Amelia from having an excuse to leave. The attendees were freshmen, almost recent graduates, who had no experience and whose salaries would be almost so low that they would not differ much from Tonks and me.
"Fine" she had no choice "I'm Amelia Bones, your new boss" she said somewhat nonchalantly.
"I am Anna Solzfein" Said the energetic but nervous girl.
"Arthur Marrow" Said the young man just as nervously.
"Well, those desks over there will be your workplace." She pointed to our old desks.
Both assistants sat down, but Amelia felt a little upset to see someone else using those places, but as the decent person that she is, she didn't let those feelings change anything. She took a stack of papers from the cabinets and placed them in front of both of them.
"Try to complete this" she placed the paperwork in front of them and went back to her desk, just like she did with me the first time.
"Eh... But these are reports from months ago?" Arthur asked.
"Yes they are"
"Us..."
"Just do it"
Amelia continued with her work for a while until it was time for lunch, where she asked for the reports that the assistants had to do. When she checked them out, she felt very sorry that she couldn't help Tenebrius more in his judgment. Not only was the number of complete records minimal, but half of them were poorly done.
"I'll just say they have the administrative skills of a metamorphmagus" But she knew that at least Tonks had Tenebrius to proofread her papers before they were delivered.
"Hmm... Thanks?" They answered.
"Okay, you can go out to lunch if you want, come back early…you have to correct these" she separated the wrong reports.
Time passed, and the young went back to work. Amelia wasn't so happy, the loud whispered chatter of her new assistants annoyed her, she couldn't help but compare.
"Mrs. Amelia" Arthur asked.
"Yes?"
"Why did you defend 'Mr. Madman'? I heard when I went to lunch that you acted as a defender and that it was thanks to you that he was freed. Didn't he kill dozens of people?"
"I heard that under the name of the ministry he killed the fugitives with the columns of his comrades" Anna commented on gossip she heard.
"I don't know how a person like that managed to work with you, he is not worthy of even setting foot in the ministry. If it had been me, I would have sent him to Azkaban without hesitation the first time I saw him, I don't think he is worthy of your help. At least now you have assistants who aren't psycho killers" He joked without thinking, since he didn't see Amelia as strict as they heard, they felt more confident, not knowing that each word that came out of his mouth was more dangerous than the previous one.
"Arthur" Amelia stopped him "I consider that, that my workers give their opinions, it is something very constructive and useful... you are making me stop believing it. Please shut up" She stared at him causing him to shudder, in addition to the judgmental tone that use.
The rest of the day, both attendees noticed that their comments had made Amelia angry, and they remained silent for most of the day. Once the afternoon break came, both young men went out for coffee, but when they returned they brought with them a bouquet of flowers and a package with a cake.
When Amelia saw them, she felt some compassion seeing them bring her gifts, but still, she wasn't going to come out of her usual seriousness just because of that.
"Bringing gifts will not earn you points with me, if you really want to see my good side, work hard and show your skill or perseverance" she told them, but both young seemed embarrassed.
"Mrs. Bones..."
"We... didn't bring you this... but we can if you want"
"What? What it is then? I don't approve of bringing personal matters to work," he complained, thinking his assistants 'flirt' with each other within the ministry.
"No, Mrs. Amelia, this is for you" Anna shivered a bit "We just picked it up on the way"
"For me?" She was now more confused than she was before.
She took the letter that was with the flowers and when she read it, she threw it against her desk annoyed. The letter said:
'To the most beautiful woman in the ministry,
from your most devoted lover.
Some flowers are not as beautiful as your mystery
to reconcile our love that for you suffer.
And a personally baked pumpkin pie for me
and my wishes to be together in the not too distant future.
Next time there will be no rhymes
But I hope you still understand that I love you.
T.A.'
"He's an idiot" Amelia grumbled as she wrote a letter in response, "Anna" I call the girl.
"Eh, yes..." she reacted surprised, she hadn't expected Amelia to act like that, especially when she had been able to see from afar that the letter she was reading was a love letter because of the heart drawings at the end of it.
"Do you like flowers?"
"Yes...?"
"Keep these then" Amelia handed her the flowers.
"Arthur" she called the young man.
"Yes ma'am" she replied.
"Give me the cake" She took the cake from Arthur's hands "Take this letter and send it for me... and if anyone reads the contents you are fired" Amelia returned to her desk, sat down, and began to eat the cake irritated "It's good" whispered.
Arthur was disappointed. He thought that since Anna got the flowers, he would at least get the cake.
Both assistants went out to send the letter with Amelia's complaints, surprised that her boss has a lover or maybe a secret admirer.
What most surprised the two young people was that this situation was repeated for several days, where butties or gifts arrived, sometimes with love letters. Rumors have started to spread about Amelia's romance due to this situation.
...
Harry had learned that Snape would be the referee for the next match, so he left for the Gryffindor common room with a pale face. There he found Ron and Hermione playing Chess, it was rare to see them since Hermione started to be in the lair a good part of the time, but still, she hung out with them enough that their friendship didn't weaken too much.
"Don't talk to me for a moment" said Ron, as Harry sat down next to him "I need to concen..." he stopped when he saw Harry's face "What's wrong with you? You have a terrible face"
In a low tone, so no one else could hear, Harry explained Snape's sudden and sinister desire to be a Quidditch umpire.
"Don't play" Hermione said immediately.
"Say you're ill," Ron added.
"Pretend your leg is broken" Hermione suggested.
"Break a leg for real" said Ron.
"I'll break it for you" I said, stepping out from behind Harry's couch, surprising them.
"Red!" x3 They exclaimed.
"Hello" I greeted, "Whose leg do I break?"
"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" they asked.
"Fred and George let me in, and I was coming to see the Gryffindor Quidditch girls, plus I could drop by and say hi."
"The Quidditch girls?" Hermione asked with her typical look when she calls me 'Pervert'
"Don't they have that Quidditch place for girls?" Ron asked.
Ron even questioned that the girls had such a place. He liked Quidditch, and he loved the idea of having a space to practice even without being part of the Quidditch team, but he was very disappointed when he found out that it was only for girls. In fact, he came to me to ask if I could let him in, even for a little while, but I refused.
"For Hermione's look... yes, girlsssss" I brought my face close to hers and my lips to her ears, so she ended up pushing me annoyed" And for my brother's question, yes, there is that place, but I was leaving to meet them here since they asked me to bring them some things... I will say no more"
At that moment we saw how the entrance to the Gryffindor common room opened, from which Neville entered, jumping up and down due to the fact that his legs were linked by a Leg-Locker curse. Many began to laugh, except me and Hermione, her because of her kindness, and me because I didn't think it was funny. I think the part of me that is still mature prevents me from enjoying it... but if it were Malfoy or Voldemort, then I would laugh.
Hermione came over and used a countercurse to free him, and I went to use some spells to fix it as it looked a bit dirty and battered. I think he must have fallen while he was coming here, or maybe Malfoy could have bothered him more than with that spell.
"Thank you" Neville thanked us
"What happened?" Hermione asked, helping him sit next to Harry and Ron.
"Malfoy," Neville replied shivering, "I met him outside the library. He said he was looking for someone to practice it with."
"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged "Report him!" But Neville shook his head, "Red! You managed to have a better relationship with your Prefect, you can tell her to do something" She looked at me.
"It will possibly get her in trouble and lose credibility in Slytherin, I don't want to do that to her just for little things. No offense Neville, but unless Malfoy doesn't break any bones or seriously damage you psychologically, I won't involve other people. Although I could help you if you want"
"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.
"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."
"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.
Harry felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.
"You're worth twelve Malfoys," said Harry.
"Or maybe Malfoy is only worth a twelfth of you," I said.
"Didn't the Sorting Hat choose you for Gryffindor? And where's Malfoy? In stinky Slytherin," Harry said, but then turned to look at me "I didn't mean to…"
"Okay..." I shook my head but pinched Hermione's waist.
"Aauhh! Why did you do that?!" She asked me, punching me on the shoulder.
"Harry insulted me"
"Then pinch him" she complained.
"It's not that funny" I teased her.
Neville spoke to Harry who was trying to comfort him, meanwhile, I watched as the Quidditch players entered the common room and went over to hand them a mystery bag.
There were people who found out that I could get certain things that others couldn't, so some girls asked me for special Quidditch training equipment and I couldn't deliver it to THE NEST because they didn't want the other house teams to find out.
As I made my exchange, I could see how an excited Hermione ran towards the girls' dormitory and likewise returned with a large book in her hands. I ignored it for the moment, since I didn't find Hermione's ability to be so unusual when it came to books.
I must say that the girls did not pay me with money, They knew my personality a little, and they knew that it would be difficult for me to give it to them for free, but they still expected to get the equipment. In exchange for it, they promised me that they could spend an afternoon with me wearing whatever suits I chose.
They knew me well, and although they made it clear that it would be mostly seeing and not touching, I ended up accepting it as a down payment and that the other party would have to pay it later. After finalizing the deal, I went to the trio of lions, who seemed to be having a great conversation.
"Red! We found he!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Who?"
"Nicholas Flamel" Harry and Ron said in sync.
"Ohh... about time, it wasn't that hard, right?" I laughed.
"You would have saved us a lot of work if you had told us earlier" Hermione criticized me again.
"Come on, Hermione, it wasn't hard to find information. Where did they find it? On chocolate frog cards or something? They had many ways of finding out, they wouldn't be so stupid that it would be hard for them to figure out." three were ashamed of having spent so much time searching, reading for days on end.
"Still, a good friend would have told us and not kept us waiting for months" Hermione didn't give up, 'it was clearly my fault'
"But Hermione" I leaned close to her ear to whisper "I'm not a good friend...maybe I'm something more" I licked her ear and ran out of the common room before the beast attacked.
I wasn't wrong, when I was leaving I could hear something hitting the wall, it was a cushion from the armchairs that Hermione had thrown at me.
"Red Weasley, you are an idiot!" Hermione roared, shocking everyone present. They wondered what I had told her to make the always correct Hermione behaves like this.
Hermione was upset, she knew me well, and she knew she was likely to do things like that, but she was still upset. We were close enough that she would react to me like that instead of being embarrassed, and at the same time that she could release her frustration by attacking me, like with that cushion.
"Ron, your brother is an idiot," Hermione said as she took a tissue to wipe her ear.
"I know" he didn't deny "I'm also dissatisfied that you didn't give us the answer sooner, we would have been saved from reading all those books"
"Anyway, we were the ones looking for stuff on Flamel, we couldn't force him to tell us, it had nothing to do with him," Harry said.
"But we could try" Hermione was still annoyed imagining scenes of interrogation and torture, nothing serious, just what a 12-year-old girl could imagine.
...
I was in the LAIR, sitting in a big new chair, with Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell on either side of me, the two girls who sacrificed themselves to pay the down payment on the new equipment.
Angelina and Katie were dressed in an outfit similar to Jasmine from the movie Aladdin. One holding a bowl of grapes, which she fed me from time to time, and the other with a fan. They were close enough then I around their waists with my hands.
They weren't happy and in their minds, the image of them hitting me with the bowl and the fan kept coming up, but they really wanted the new team so they could improve their performance before the next matches.
The others in the room were staring at us, murmuring or laughing, which turned them a very distinctive red color. The girls, 'the close ones', came to ask what was going on.
"Nothing weird is going on" I replied.
"You have two girls serving you like a king…" Tracey commented.
"Do you want too? There is still missing someone to massage my feet" I said mockingly moving my feet, but at that moment, Susan seemed to bend down to do it "Susan, it was a joke. Get up because you are going to make me feel bad, and your aunt will cut me my important parts
"Sorry" she apologized.
"They owed me a favor" I explained, but nothing more. Both girls, still embarrassed, also nodded at what I said.
"Does every girl who owes you a favor end up as your slave? I hope I never owe you anything" Tracey said.
"Only the pretty ones, and with them in particular it will only be for an hour"
"You're not abusing her trust," Cho asked.
"Maybe, but I like them, it's nice that these lionesses can fulfill my whims. They're paying for what they got"
"Which I already regretted" Angelina said, that she was thinking about all the comments that she would receive about this day in the future.
"You're a pervert" Parvati said after taking a closer look at both girls' outfits.
"That was already clear for a long time. Someone else has a complaint? I want to enjoy the remaining minutes"
"Why can only you enjoy this treatment?" Tracey complained, she could easily change her mind.
"Okay, bring a chair" I snorted at her attitude.
So Tracey sat down on a side chair and I motioned for Angelina to give her grapes as well, to which the other girls could only shake their heads…except Lavender.
Lavender had a sort of excited expression on her face and when asked why, she answered.
"This is similar to a scene from the book that Red gave me. In it, the protagonist, Lavy, had to pass the test of a genius, where she would enter a dream and had to avoid wanting to stay inside. In the dream, she met her loved as a Sultan who was surrounded by concubines who served him, and she was one of them. He was more malevolent and tyrannical in that dream... he used to take those women, including Lavy, to a room where, even if they didn't wanted, he..." At this point Lavender was so red it seemed like steam would come out of her head, and when she realized she couldn't finish describing the scene, she ran away.
"What kind of book did you gave her?" Katie asked, seeing Lavender run away.
"One who seems to be enjoying more than I thought..."
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I have exams, plus I have to prepare to travel for surgery in a couple of weeks, so next weekend's episodes may be fewer. And when I have to go to surgery I will disappear for a while.