Hide Away

Hide Away

Chapter 5- A busy day at work

On Monday, I woke up feeling rested, refreshed and excited about my job. It wasn't a bad job, but the boss was the problem.

Malfoy continued to annoy me and call me by my surname, but I admit I wasn't very friendly with him either.

I showered, got dressed in jeans and a red shirt that complimented my red hair.

I apparated to work then made my way to my office. As usual, Malfoy was there already.

I sat down at my desk and started receiving calls. I scheduled several appointments for the git and by ten thirty; he strolled into my office.

Today he wore a dark navy suit, with a maroon shirt and black tie.

"So, Weasley, Tell me the schedule for today," he said.

I looked at the computer in front of me then said, "Well, you have an appointment with the Minister for Magic at eleven, a luncheon with the Wizengamot and a tea with the department of quidditch. The Daily Prophet also called to ask you for an interview about the next quidditch season."

He looked thoughtful and said, "All right, schedule it for four o'clock tomorrow, but I want you to go in and answer their questions for me."

I stood up and said, "I'm your personal advisor now? I don't know hell about the quidditch season!"

"Manners, Weasley," he said with his smirk. "I will brief you about what you need to know about the next season then you can tell them everything I told you. I don't have time to be meeting with these people."

I rolled my eyes as he turned his back to leave. He turned around and said, "I saw that, Weasley. I also want you to make me a cup of coffee- the muggle way."

"What?!" I screamed. "What's wrong with magic?"

He smirked and said, "You need practice for when you're out there in the muggle world with me, so might as well start now." He left as I stuck my tongue at his retreating back.

I had no clue what the spell to make coffee the magic way was, forget making it the muggle way.

I sighed and then took out my book. 'Muggle Inventions and cooking' it read.

I skipped to the index to look for coffee. I turned to the page and started making it. I got confused with some of the vocabulary, so when I asked Malfoy how many cups of coffee he wanted, he gave me a weird look.

"Are you trying to ask me how many teaspoons of sugar I want?" he asked me, sitting in his office.

I checked my book. "Yes, that's it."

He rolled his eyes and said, "One teaspoon."

"Hey! It's not like I make coffee all the time," I said.

He didn't say anything and when I brought him the coffee, he spit it out. "My god, woman! You can't do anything right, can you?"

My temper flared up. "Look, I'm sorry. It's my first time, I told you. No need to get your knickers in a knot!"

He stared at me then said, "Try it then."

"What?"

"Try it Weasley and find out yourself, how good your coffee is," he said.

I sighed and then took a sip. I spit it back out, while he smirked at me.

"Fine! I get the point," I said, stomping my way out.

I went to my office, cursing him. I cleaned up the mess I made with my wand and then heard a knock on the door.

I opened my office door and found the slimy git standing there.

"What?" I snapped.

He raised his eyebrow, so I groaned and said, "Yes, sir?"

He smirked, "That's better. All right, I'm off to meet with the Minister of Magic, professor Dumbledore. I'll meet you at the entrance of the meeting room."

I still didn't follow him. He was so weird; it was like he expected me to know what to do when he didn't explain to me.

Seeing the look on my face, he sighed. "Weasley, you're supposed to follow me everywhere, remember? The meeting with the Minister is rather important, for er...little people like yourself, but I need you at the Wizengamot meeting to take notes for me. Now do you understand?"

"Yes," I said. Shit, I had only been working at this job for not even a week and I already hated it. The job was fine, but it was Malfoy who annoyed me so!

"So meet me at twelve in front of their meeting room, if you're late..." he smirked.

"I won't be late, sir," I said.

"Good." He smirked and went on his way, while I took off my shoe and pretended to throw it at him.

I slammed my door shut then sat down in my office. Stupid, smarmy git. What did he think? He owned the whole world and everyone knew his every whim and fancy? Someone needed to teach that overly confident head a lesson.

I muttered curses and continued my work.

At five to twelve, I made my way to the Wizengamot meeting room.

It was located near the Department of Mysteries, so I saw Harry.

"Hey, Ginny. What're you doing here?" he asked me, smiling. "Ron told me you got a job with Muggle Relations."

I didn't know how to tell him this. Harry hated Malfoy as much as I did, being in the same year as him and having endured seven years of torture.

"Hey, Weasley. I thought I told you now to be late and here I find you talking to Potter," said Malfoy from the door, which we were only a metre away from.

Harry glanced at me as I looked down.

"You work with Malfoy?" asked Harry, incredulous. Oops, I just remembered. After Narcissa Malfoy died, Malfoy was completely on our side. So he and Harry were somewhat of.... acquaintances now.

Malfoy smirked. "She works for me, Potter. Now inside or else you're fired."

I nodded then went inside, while giving Harry an apologetic look. Even, I thought I was going to be working in Muggle Relations.

We went inside, with Malfoy shooting me dark looks.

I took a seat beside Malfoy and began taking out my quill and parchment.

They were passing around lunch, but everything looked like it had too much sugar as well as fat. I couldn't really see anything, on account of my glasses. Either I wore them or took them off, wearing them was bad, but not wearing them was worse.

He passed me some food, but I politely declined. He raised an eyebrow at but I pretended to not see it.

"No wonder you're so goddamn thin," he said to me. "You don't eat anything, probably have some eating disorder."

I raged silently inside. Ok, if he wanted me to work for him and not kill him, he would learn where the line was. He was provoking me when I was hungry and couldn't see anything. It was like making fun of a lion while it was in a cage.

I fumed, but didn't say anything. I hadn't packed anything, considering I didn't have any food in my house. The last pay check I had received was from Mr. Zabini and I had used it to pay the rent for my flat and to buy Snowflake.

My stomach grumbled dangerously as I remembered that I hadn't asked Malfoy when I was going to get paid.

"Er...sir?" I asked him. I glanced at him and found him eating neatly. Whoa, the slimy guy even eats neat! He took small bites and there weren't any traces of mustard down his shirt, like there was when Ron ate.

He raised his eyebrow so I continued. "When do I get paid?"

He smirked. "This Friday, but it only includes this week of work, considering that you were training last week."

I groaned and felt like screaming; that would barely get me by for a week. I needed to buy groceries as well as Snowflake's food.

I didn't say anything; I just waited patiently while everyone finished eating.

I saw Professor Dumbledore and he smiled at me. I smiled back at him weakly as I started taking notes, when people started speaking.

I put a charm on my quill that it would copy down exactly what everyone said.

After the meeting, I walked with Malfoy outside. He told me to read the notes I had written, but I was having difficulty.

It wasn't my writing; it was my glasses.

"Can't read your own writing, Weasley?" he asked, waiting.

"Hold on," I said, squinting. "The series of fart...I mean dart attacks, were made out by then followings...of them lollers."

He sighed. "Can't you see anything?"

I tried to read it again then said, "No, not really."

"You do know how to read right?" he asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, you smarmy git!" I said, rubbing my glasses, on my shirt. I was so distracted rubbing them that I didn't see the wall that was in front of my face.

I smacked into it and my glasses fell and all the glass shattered on the marble floor.

Malfoy smirked when he saw me smack into wall. I rubbed my forehead, and then saw blood on my finger, when I touched the bruise forming.

"Ow," I moaned, seeing stars everywhere, trying to look for my glasses. Being the klutz and blind person I am, I stepped onto them and broke them even smaller.

I heard the crack and winced. I was having the worst day ever and I felt like crying.

I didn't know if there was any spell that could fix it because there were small pieces now.

Malfoy had stopped smirking and was looking at me strangely.

I was sitting on the ground, looking at my broken glasses. My head pounded and my stomach rumbled. I felt dizzy and couldn't see anything.

I tried some spells, but only the frame put itself back together, crookedly as well.

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I couldn't help it. I was an emotional as well sensitive person, but only inside. I also didn't want to cry in front of Malfoy, I knew he would never stop mocking me.

Big fat tears dropped out of eyes onto the marble floor.

The next thing I knew, Malfoy was the ground in front of me, in his expensive Armani suit.

He had his wand out and mumbled some spells. I watched him in awe.

The big pieces of glass put themselves together and then the frames.

He picked up my glasses then looked at me. "You can't see with them, can you?"

I shook my head as he muttered another spell on the glasses.

Then he passed them to me and I put them on. I could see!

I blinked in surprise as I looked at Malfoy. I could finally see him clearly, and he was so hot now that I could see properly.

"Thanks," I said softly. I was kind of embarrassed, I don't know why.

He nodded, with a smirk playing at his lips.

"Do you want to go now, or stay on the ground all day?" he asked me.

I smiled a bit and got up. "Let's go," I said.

"Wait a second," he said, looking at me.

Oh god, he's coming closer to me. Oh my god, I think I'm going to faint. My face was going all red, I'm sure.

I think he's going to kiss me, I can read that look in his eyes.

He came closer in closer, until he was looking at my forehead. I wrinkled my nose in confusion.

He said, "Healio memphis," to my bruise with his wand.

I felt the bump on my forehead disappear so that when I touched it, there was no blood.

Wow, I felt like an idiot. I mean more of an idiot, than usual. Why would he kiss me anyway? I snorted and rolled me eyes at myself. I must be dreaming...wait, not even dreaming. I didn't want to be kissed by Malfoy; I'd rather kiss a frog.

"That's for sure," I said aloud.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at me and then I realized I had been snorting, rolling my eyes as well talking to myself.

Talk about embarrassment. My face must've been redder than my shirt, with that thought of him kissing me, still in my head.

"Shall we leave?" he asked me, with his eyebrow raised.

"Leave we shall," I said. Oh great, that came out wrong. What I meant to say was, 'we shall', but it came out weird.

He looked at me strangely. "All right."

So he started walking and I followed him. I was able to read my notes now, so I gave him an overview of that.

He still made snide remarks, making me annoyed, but I was so famished and dizzy that I didn't have the energy to insult him back.

He had to meet with someone in a coffee shop, so we had to drive there. First we had to go to his house to pick up some files he left there.

When I asked him why he couldn't magic them to him, he rolled his eyes and said, "Because, Weasley, as limited your knowledge of these things are, even wizards wouldn't know how to explain zooming files across the countryside."

I sighed but tried to keep my cool. Perhaps, I could buy something low fat at the coffee shop.

It was another grey day, with flurries swirling out of the thick clouds.

We reached the parking space where his car was, and I saw a Ferrari Saleen. I didn't have any knowledge of muggle technology, but I sure as hell knew muggle cars.

It was a nice car, I just wanted to stand there and stare at it. It was black and had a leather interior.

I got into the passenger seat with Malfoy. As little exposure I had had with muggle technology, I could tell this car was nice. It had surround speakers in the roof, trunk and door. It had a five CD changer, with a little screen on the dashboard. I saw it told our exact location as well our destination.

Malfoy smirked when he saw me looking around his car, but seemed pleased that I liked it. He turned the car on auto drive, and relaxed behind the wheel.

I cursed him, even during the middle of the day; he could look just as nice as the morning. He never did appear flustered or embarrassed or tired. That was only for us humans.

We reached his house in ten minutes, as the car took shortcuts. House seems the wrong word to describe what he had. A Chateau.

It stood high on a cliff, facing the English Channel. It appeared to have several floors, perhaps as many as seven. It had windows galore and beautiful gardens around it, locked by a steel gate, which had some charms on it, I'm sure.

He drove up to the date, and then went, "Accio files and Accio apple."

We waited for a minute and then over the date came the files and an apple.

He grabbed the files as they zoomed into the window and tossed them to me. So much for manners, I frowned.

He turned the gear and then backed down his driveway. God, I hated him even more. He even had a mansion to live in; obviously he had tons of money.

As we left, I saw the sign, 'Malfoy Manner'. So the 'manner' was his families.

We hit the highway and he started munching on his granny smith apple.

I wrapped my hands tightly around the files, from trying to garb that apple from his mouth and gobbling it down. The prospect that his mouth had been already on it didn't bother me at the moment.

My stomach grumbled and he glanced at me. I blushed furiously as I yelled at it. Shut up! Don't embarrass me any further! Please, just be quiet for a little while or I'll never hear the end of it! I begged and pleaded, but it still moaned.

I frowned; see if I ever you anything yummy again.

Malfoy appeared to be smiling. "Want some?" he offered, holding the apple to me.

I felt like yelling, "Of course I want some, you beastly arse!" But instead politely, POLITELY, nodded and took some.

You see it had nothing to do with the fact that his lips had been on the luscious apple, but that if I didn't eat anything, I would very well faint. (Hmm, what would happen? I might need mouth to mouth) Ok, stop now; you're going crazy. Control the need for sugar.

My inner child was going, "Sugar! Gimme some suga'! Now!"

Our fingers touched when I took the apple from him. I took a small bite and chewed it thoroughly. As much as my (crazy) conscience wanted to faint all over him and have him give me mouth-to-mouth, the 'sane' part of me (thankfully, a larger part) didn't.

I took a few more bites, and then passed it back to him.

I took a few deep breaths and felt all right. Maybe I would get through the day, which would end in four more hours.

He took the apple from me and seemed to have no problem sharing it with me. I was quite surprised. I would've thought he would've given the whole apple to me, saying, "Like I'm eating anything a Weasley has had her lips on."

He he, as you can see here, I do insult myself fairly often. I have a very low self-esteem, which makes me go around bumping into bookshelves and walls.

We finished the apple in a few minutes and he put it in a little garbage bin.

"Is your mobile and pager on?" he asked me.

"Yes," I nodded. Ever since I started working for him, I had been given a muggle mobile, pager and laptop. I had to also give him my home address and cell phone number.

"I'm just going to talk to this man for ten minutes," he informed me. "He called me urgently this morning and has a case he would like to discuss with me. He might let you sit with us, but otherwise, just sit nearby and try to copy everything down he says into writing."

I nodded and started planning spells that could be useful. I had forgotten that he was the head of the Luminositers. He had to solve cases and represent clients.

We reached the coffee shop and went in after locking the car.

We stood in the doorway as Malfoy looked for the man. He stood near me, muttering to look for man with blue eyes and greying hair. He stood incredibly close to me, so I could hear him, but I felt strange nonetheless. I could smell his cologne and I could feel heat rising from my body.

I shrugged it off as he spotted the man and we walked towards him. He stood up as he saw us.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy," he said, shaking his hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Peacock," said Malfoy. "Now what is this that you wanted to tell me outside of my office?"

He glanced suspiciously at me and frowned.

"This is my personal secretary," said Malfoy, sensing his tension. "I assure you, nothing here will leave her lips, will it Miss. Weasley?"

I shook my head no.

Mr. Peacock seemed at ease and said, "I trust you Mr. Malfoy. I am aware of your record of professionalism. Sorry if I suspected you, Miss Weasley."

I smiled faintly and said, "No problem."

"What will you have to eat, Mr. Malfoy?" he asked. "It's my treat."

Malfoy smiled, a smile that lit up his deep grey eyes and said, "I'm perfectly fine, but perhaps Miss. Weasley will have something." He glanced at me and smirked. I began to blush a bit and nodded.

I went and got a muffin. It wasn't too bad on the sugar scale and it would give me some energy.

I sat back down with the men and took out my pen and paper. I had also been supplied with those, for when we were in muggle company and a quill and parchment seemed outdated.

"I need to have a written record of what you to tell me," said Malfoy, indicating to me. "I promise it will be the truth and will remain only with us."

Mr. Peacock nodded and I got ready to write. I had placed a spell on my pen to make my write faster, to keep up with his pace.

Mr. Peacock began speaking, telling us a story about how a man in Diagon alley, a man who owned a shop near his, was importing illegal magical items, such as magical carpets and valuable genie lamps. He appeared to be doing something strange with them and had threatened to kill Mr. Peacock.

Since magic carpets and genie lamps were valuable, he appeared to be selling them to people, with suspicious backgrounds and was telling them to, "Make it right," with the genie lamps.

I glanced at Malfoy as Mr. Peacock stopped speaking. He appeared to be thinking, with his brow furrowed.

"He is also a distant relative of mine," said Mr. Peacock, "so naturally I am afraid that if he is convicted, I will also be dragged somehow into it."

"That is no issue at all, Mr. Peacock," said Malfoy. "Please give Miss. Weasley your new name and we will have it changed temporarily for you. I also need his name and the name and exact location of his shop in Diagon Alley."

He nodded and I handed him my pen and paper. He scribbled quickly on it, and then Malfoy stood up. Mr. Peacock and I stood up and Mr. Peacock said, "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Mr. Malfoy. I know I will not be let down."

Malfoy smiled and said, "I will try to do my best, and we will be contacting you to discuss our dates, later this evening."

He nodded and said, "That's no problem. Thank you again."

Malfoy nodded and said, "I know you mentioned the use of dark magic and that's the only reason I took this case, Mr. Peacock. Otherwise I would've handed it to someone else on the Luminositers."

Mr. Peacock nodded and said goodbye and then we left, making our way to his car.

We sat back down in the car, but didn't leave for a few minutes.

I had no idea why we were still sitting in the parking lot, so I glanced at Malfoy and found him staring at he man through the coffee shop window.

After a few more minutes of staring, he shifted the gear and turned around and backed the car.

As soon as we got on the road, Malfoy spoke to me.

"I need you to send him a letter outlining our rates," he said. "Then, I want a report first thing tomorrow morning about the content of today's luncheon and I want you to begin to gather some information on the this case and this person who Mr. Peacock described. Also, perform the identity change spell and send him a letter telling him what his new name is. Is everything clear?"

I sighed; I was going to have a long evening. "Yes, sir."

"Good, now I'm off to meet with the department of quidditch, but I want you to stay in the office and run a few errands for me," he continued. "After that meeting, I'll send you an owl detailing the next quidditch season for the interview tomorrow."

I didn't say anything. I continued to stare into space, but he didn't say anything either.

We reached the telephone booth and squeezed in. It was rather small, so I was pressed with Malfoy.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. Doesn't this just sound lovely? On account of him giving me so much work to do, the crazy part of me had seemed to settle down and the sane part me just insulted and cursed him in high volumes.

Malfoy dialled the number and the next thing I knew, we were being sucked into the Ministry.

He gave me a piece of parchment and said, "These are the things I want you to do, while I'm gone. Follow them to the letter or else there will be consequences."

I sighed for the hundredth time that day. It was turning out to be the longest day of my life, for some reason. It just wouldn't end!

I grabbed the list from him and made my way to my office.

I read it on the way there, but had to make a few detours.

I had to give a message to the National Wizard Police, on behalf of Malfoy.

I found the department and then gave the message. The department looked busy, but Malfoy had asked me to check up on a few people who were doing work.

I found them and asked them how their cases were going. They gave a summary and I wrote it all down.

After that, I sent a message to the Daily Prophet telling them that Mr. Malfoy was not available...blah blah blah.

I then made my way back to Muggle Relations and delivered some personal messages to some of the workers.

I then went back to my desk and sent emails to muggles Malfoy wanted to meet with and do who knows what. I was too tired to give a damn.

As I finished the last email, my pager went off.

I yawned and looked down. It was him, the arsehole.

My beeper was so high tech that it also included his location. Because of the new charm that disabled people from apparating or disapparating, I had to walk three stories and found him in the upstairs office.

I knocked on a door and Malfoy's voice came.

"Enter." For some reason, this reminded me of Professor Snape. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and pushed Snape out my head, as I pushed open the door.

Inside I found the British Quidditch Association seated.

They all looked up at me and I tried to find the git, Malfoy.

Unfortunately, along with Malfoy was my brother. He looked up in surprise at me, as I walked the side of the table to Malfoy.

Everyone looked at me and I felt like an idiot. To make things worse, things suddenly started spinning and I swayed and had to hold onto the edge of a chair for support.

All the men stared at me like I was losing my mind.

I took a deep breath and the spinning stopped. I walked over to Malfoy and said, "Yes, sir?"

Everyone started talking amongst each other, seeing that I wasn't an intruder or a crazy person.

"Your brother," he pointed at Ron, "didn't believe that you worked for me."

I was getting a splitting headache by this time and I felt like screaming. I desperately needed my bed but here I was stuck with this git, whom I hated!

Ron glared at Malfoy. Even though Malfoy was on our side, Ron didn't like him either. It's like I always said, like brother like sister...well not really, but you get the picture.

"Ginny, you told Hermione and me that you were working in Muggle Relations," said Ron with a hurt expression on his face.

I nodded, and felt like I needed to sit down. There were no more chairs available, so I had to remain standing.

For some reason, Malfoy sensed how I felt and transfigured a plant into a chair.

I sat down and couldn't resist thanking him, even though he did treat me rotten.

"I was supposed to be working in Muggle Relations," I started. "But the message got mixed up and what the job was, was a secretary for Malfoy. So I had to accept..."

"Otherwise you wouldn't have any money," said Ron finishing, patting my hand.

I blushed furiously, matching my red sweater quite nicely. I didn't want to talk about my financial situation in front of all these people!

Malfoy glanced at me and said, "As much as I'd love to hear about your financial state, Weasley, I don't have time for such petty things. Are you going to get to work or sit and talk to worthless people all day?"

He transfigured the chair back into a plant and I fell flat on my seat. Everyone looked at me and started laughing.

Malfoy couldn't help but smile as well and when I glanced at my brother from the ground, I saw he couldn't help but laugh as well.

The whole boardroom had seen me fall on the ground, because of that inconsiderate piece of junk. They all laughed at me, including Ron.

I was tired, my feet killed, my head throbbed, my stomach rumbled and I couldn't take it anymore.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and could see through the blur of my tears that it was six.

As the tears started falling out of my eyes, I turned on my heel and ran out of the room.

I hated him. I hated him. That's all I could think as I walked around the Ministry with tears gushing out of my eyes.

He was so mean to me for no reason, when I tried so hard to work politely with him, despite my hatred for him. And yet he continued to mock and scoff me.

I took out my wand and called my jacket and purse to me.

I grabbed them as they flew towards me and started to walk out when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned around and saw Malfoy there. He wasn't laughing anymore and had a serious look on his face.

"Look, Ginny," he said. I was so upset; I didn't even notice that he called me by my first name for the first time. "I was just joking. I didn't mean to embarrass you like that."

I pushed his hand off my shoulder and pushed him away from. "Leave me alone!" I screamed. "Just get lost! I hate you!"

He just blinked at me with his long lashes.

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I really am," he said, seriously, putting his hand on my shoulder again.

I pushed it off, through the stream of my tears. "Don't touch me! Don't ever touch me again! Just leave me alone!"

I turned and ran out of the building, with my jacket and purse in hand. I didn't even think twice and apparated home, safe to my bed.