The Way Things Could Have Been

Chapter 01 - A Beginning and An End

Before heading out of town, I withdrew all my money from my Gringotts vault and changed it into Muggle money. It was quite a bit from my previous job (I'd quit when Harry left). There was a car rental right on the outskirts of the Muggle entrance to Diagon Alley, so I rented a car and headed out. It was late when I left, and I didn't stop driving until the next day mid-afternoon.

I found a cheap hotel that I stayed in for about a week, coming up on paper with a whole new identity for myself. I would be completely changed, from head to toe and all the way down to the core.

The corner convenience store brought hair dye, fake nails, nail polish, and scissors. A twenty-five minute drive to the mall in the center of town brought me an entire new wardrobe - and a pretty risqué one at that.

I got back to the hotel, my arms laden with my packages. It took me about thirty minutes for the hair dye to set, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I no longer had reddish-brown hair. It was a deep, rich brown, almost black. It was also very straight, but with enough body in it so it didn't look flat. Standing in front of the mirror, I cut my hair to a little above shoulder-length. I brought my wand out and, pulling from my memory the spell for appearance changes, I soon had dark, brownish-black eyes, to match the color of my hair.

I tried on all of my new outfits, including a knee-length black trench coat. It was slinky, and hugged my figure perfectly. After searching around the room for a phone book, I made a couple of calls. On my third call, I found something that sounded promising. The lady on the phone had a sexy and seductive tone. Her establishment, she said, was always looking for new employees, because if the customers weren't satisfied with their service, they were let go. Plus there was a shortage of willing people in the profession. She set me up with an interview the next day.

"Ask for Alana," the woman said, before hanging up the phone.

I set the receiver down silently. I hadn't told Alana what my name was, or anything about myself - let alone that I was currently living in a hotel. All I'd said was I interested in a job. That was all I needed to say. 'The place must be really hard-up for workers,' I thought to myself. 'Otherwise, why would she already give me an interview without knowing anything about me?'

I spent the rest of the evening picking out the outfit I would wear the next day, settling on a very short black skirt with a slit up the side clean up to my hip, and a silver halter top that showed most of my flat stomach. My undergarments were a sheer, black, strapless bra, and a black thong to match. I also picked out a set of black heels that were at least one-and-a-half inches tall. I would wear my new trench coat over it all.

After I had picked out my outfit, I sat down on the single bed in the room. I had made a list out of potential names I would pick for myself. After spending a good half-hour trying to find the perfect one, I decided on Jasmyn. It fit my personality alright, and my new look. It was a good new name for my new identity. I didn't pick out a last name for myself. Besides, you didn't really need one in the line of work I was planning on going into.

After picking out my name, I decided to get some sleep (which was hard, because I was really excited about the next day). I tossed and turned almost the entire night, before finally dosing off at around 5:30 in the morning. I slept late, not waking up until around 1:00. I looked terrible. I took a long, hot shower, finally waking myself up satisfactorily. After getting up, I lounged in front of the television in my robe with a cup of coffee in my hands for about an hour, letting my hair dry naturally so it would look its best. Then, after watching two episodes of a Lifetime show I had grown fond of (Golden Girls), I finally got up and got ready to leave.

I pulled on the black bra and panties I had first picked out, following it with the black skirt and silver halter top. After slipping on my black high heels, I pulled on the trench coat, making sure to snap all the buttons, and even knot the tie in the front. I ran my fingers through my hair, making it fan out behind me, and I was ready to go.

It was 5:00 in the evening when I finally reached Alana's establishment. It was a very bright and very loud place, filled with scantly clad women and swaying, drunken men. I walked inside, ignoring the hoots and the hollers from the men that I passed. If my suspicions were correct, they would soon have a lot more to hoot and holler at me for.

Just by looking in the doorway, I had a feeling it would be hard to find the woman that would soon be my boss. However, a big buff man stopped me when I tried to go in, asking me (in a low voice), "You here to see Alana?"

"How did you guess?" I asked him, my voice equally as low in tone.

"Out of all the girls here, you've got the most clothing on. You're dressed like all of Alana's new hires."

"That's what you think, anyway," I said, a slight smirk on my face.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't have the most on out of all of these girls. I just appear to." I gave him another seductive smirk before saying, "Can you take me to Alana then? I want to start work as soon as possible.

He nodded in answer to me before putting his hand on the small of my back and leading me into the mass of people. The sea seemed to part wherever this bear of a man seemed to go. He was so large that people almost ran just to get out of the way. He reminded me of someone from my olden days, a friendly old giant. I put the similarities of the two men out of my head, however, because I knew there was no way it could be him. However, even someone who reminded me of a familiar face put me a little bit more at ease.

A couple minutes later, we arrived in a mostly dark, but dimly lit room. Stretched out on a very comfortable sofa was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. She was dark-skinned with pitch black hair and eyes to match. Her body was exquisite. Her muscles were toned, but not too much. On the floor beside the couch she was on lay a panther - a real one - chained to a stake in the floor. It had a very expensive collar on, the color of sapphires and studded with large diamonds (I had a distinct feeling that they were very real).

Alana sat up as soon as we entered the room. Her 'pet,' I guess you could call it, sat up as well. It was a very calm creature and looked very much at ease. There was no menace in its actions.

She surveyed me for a moment, almost as if she were X-raying me with her mind. It was a very unnerving feeling.

"So," she said, in a voice more beautiful than any I had ever heard before. "You're the new girl, huh?"

"Yes," I said, smiling at her my most seductive smile. "My name is Jasmyn."