Little Secrets

Before the Beginning: The Start of Her Day

To do list:

1. Look for job in the paper

2. Buy new robes for the summer (fast approaching)

3. Christmas shopping

4. Drop by the office and pick up the rest of my stuff (Boan is a dirty B-A-S-T-A-R-D!!!!)

5. See Grandma

Anna Lane read the parchment in her hand over and over to make sure she hadn't forgotten something. She then pinned it to a corkboard on the wall of the tiny kitchen in her apartment. From the other side of the small apartment came a frustrated shriek. Anna rolled her eyes and padded over to the bathroom to see what was going on.

"Anna!" A voice whined from inside the cramped bathroom. "This stupid charm isn't holding my hair up! Can you fix it for me?"

Her roommate, Kate, was Anna's twenty-something year old best friend for quite some time now. One day Anna was lonely and put up an ad in the Daily Herald (wizarding newspaper) for a roommate and then Katherine Brown came along. Sure, she never paid her share of the rent, but she provided good times and no matter how much Anna tried to get rid of her, she just kept coming back. Kate was convinced that every week she was going for the 'winning' job interview. Just like today.

Anna muttered a few words and waved her wand over Kate's head and immediately the shine-charmed golden locks were piled up on top of her head in a hairstyle that only resembled a centaur in a mad brawl with a kangaroo. Kate squealed in delight.

"Oh! It's gonna get me the job for sure! You know. Most people these days hire on appearances. Especially men! Ugh! Who needs them?" Anna laughed at her best-friend's comment. Kate had recently broken up with her boyfriend of two (three?) months and had totally sworn off men forever. Anna gave it a week until she found another boyfriend.

"What job is it this time?" She asked. Kate looked thoughtful for a second and then replied:

"Department of Magical Affairs, I think. Something like that." Anna felt like she just got slapped in the face. Kate was applying for her old job. Anna had recently been fired from her job in the Australian Ministry of Magic. For two years, she had been employed there. But recently a new guy came along named Greg Boan, who apparently had more experience than her in that kind of field and he and Anna became rivals. Then arguments lead to pranks which lead to framing which lead to very unprofessional things indeed. Anna was the one who got fired.

"Anna? Hello?" Kate waved a hand in front of her face and Anna was snapped out of her brooding.

"Huh? Uh.. Yeah?"

"Can you buy some stuff for me while I'm at the interview? You're going shopping today, right? Well, there's a list of what on the coffee table. Oh, got to go. I'm gonna be late!" Kate grabbed her wand and walked over to the fireplace, her high heels clacking on the hardwood floor. "I'll be back later on! Bye!" She called out as she grabbed her handbag and apparated away with a pop.

The house was silent again.

Anna sluggishly took off her pajamas and showered quickly. After finding a clean set of muggle clothing, she shrunk her robe and slipped it in her small backpack. One could say that she adapted very well to living in muggle Sydney, as she was muggle-born and grew up solely around muggles. In her school years she mainly done muggle studies because it was the only thing she was remotely good at, study-wise. Her mother wanted her to be a nurse, and her father wanted her to be a teacher, but Anna only wanted to live freely. So when she finished school she traveled for a while and spent many more years working at various jobs. She had (over those long years) a total of three boyfriends, lost five obscure relatives she never met and never owned her own residence or car.

And now she was in her thirties and life was beginning to get duller than it already was.

With a sigh, she collected Kate's list and apparated off to begin her day.