Chapter two
Monday came by much too fast and before I knew it, I was on my way to the Ministry of Magic. The sun was still making its slow ascent into the sky and there was a fresh sheen of dew on the grass. I stared longingly out the car window as we drove through the countryside into the city, wishing I could be enjoying what looks to be a beautiful day outside instead of in some dusty office.
We had barely said three words to one another since we got into the car. My mother switched between the muggle and wizard radio stations, finally settling on a jazz station. Traveling by car always felt so slow and tedious. Typically, my mother traveled to work using Floo powder in our living room fireplace, but visitors are forced to take the long way into work. It wasn’t until we were parked near the visitor’s entrance did she finally speak.
“Once we arrive, I’ll lead you to the lifts. I can’t ride up with you, but Grimilda will be waiting for you on the fifth level. She’ll get you your paperwork and fill you in on everything you’ve missed so far.”
We got out of the car and headed towards the red telephone box on the corner. She suddenly stopped walking and turned to me. I teetered on the sensible heels she forced me to wear and tried not to bump into her.
“Heather, this was not an easy thing for me to do. I had to pull a lot of strings with many powerful people to get you this internship. Anything you do not only reflects on you but will also reflect no me. do you understand?”
I sighed and held back from rolling my eyes. “Yes, mother, I understand.”
She stared into my eyes for a few moments longer before she continued walking.
“I won’t have to use this entrance every day, right?” I asked once we approached the telephone box.
“Once you’re registered with the Ministry’s Floo network, you can arrive to work however you please” She held the door open for me to enter first, her eyes staring straight ahead above my head.
I squeezed into the corner to make room for us both. For a moment, I couldn’t wait to take the Floo tomorrow, until I realized that if I played my cards right, I wouldn’t be returning to the Ministry at all tomorrow.
It’s been years since the last time I visited the Ministry. When my mother first started working there, she brought me along to work one day for my own personal tour. She showed me her office, introduced me to all her coworkers, bought me lunch in the employee cafeteria, and even let me send an interdepartmental memo. Back then, everything seemed larger than life. I was enchanted by every minute of my time there and thought that my mom had the coolest job. But as I got older and watched my mother’s shoulders sag as she came home each night, the lines around her face deepen with each passing day, her hair greying with each late night at the office, the magic of it all faded away.
And now here I was, entering the Atrium once more, still overwhelmed by the chaos of it all, but no longer enchanted. I followed closely behind my mother as she led us through the lobby. A few people nodded in her direction as we passed and she mumbled a couple of “hellos,” but we didn’t stop until we reached the lifts.
“Remember what I told you Heather,” she said in a hushed voice as we waited for the next lift. “This is not a place for fun and games. I would walk you up, but I need to get to this meeting. Grimilda is waiting for you. Please, for the love of Merlin, make a good impression.” She said the last part through gritted teeth.
“Don’t worry, mom, I got this. You just enjoy your day doing whatever it is you do here,” I said with a smile. But truthfully, her anxiety was beginning to rub off on me and I was suddenly self-conscious about everything.
“I’ll meet you in the cafeteria for lunch. Good luck,” she said before pushing me into the open lift before it could fill up.
I hastily grabbed onto the nearest handle dangling from the ceiling as the doors closed. With a quick jerk, the lift began moving. My shoulder slammed into the man beside me, who looked down at me with a growl in response. I smiled sheepishly and held on tighter, concentration with all my might on standing upright for the rest of the ride.
By the third stop, my arm was beginning to grow sore from holding on so tight.
“Level Five, Department of International Magical Cooperation,” a pleasant voice said as the doors opened once more.
I ran my hands down the front of my skirt and walked out of the lift, my head held high. As soon as I stepped forward, a short, stout woman with her hair shaped like a beehive approached me.
“Heather?” She asked, her voice high pitched and sweet.
“Yes?” I responded hesitantly.
“Look at you! The last time I saw you, you were this tall!” She held her hand out beside herself at waist height.
I smiled uncertainly, feeling like I was missing something.
“I’m sorry, sweetie, you probably think I’m a right weirdo. I’m Grimilda, your mother’s friend. It’s okay you don’t remember me,” she said with a wink.
“Oh, it’s nice to meet you… again,” I replied.
“Well, let’s get going, there’s a lot to cover and not a lot of time so do try to keep up!” She said before turning and walking down the hall with surprisingly fast legs.
“There are three other divisions on this floor, including International Magical Trading Standards Body, International Magical Office of Law, and the International Confederation of Wizards. I served as the associate executive to our department head, Mr. Crouch, so I am busy, busy, busy,” she said with a tut. “I was also the one to spearhead the internship program with our department, so it is very dear to my heart. I find it vitally important to engage with the youth of today,” she said with a serious look in my direction.
As she spoke, we walked down a long, winding hall. Doors on either side led to various offices, some of them with the names of the other departments she mentioned above them. There were various witches and wizards walking past us, some of them saying hello to Grimilda as they passed. We passed a room full of wizards wearing foreign looking robes. I tried to get a better look at them and when I turned back, Grimilda was far ahead of me.
I rushed to catch up to her. she was in the middle of talking, unaware that I had fallen behind.
“It’s still fairly new, so please bear with us as we work out the kinks. You’ll work directly with Walter, he’s a sweetheart so don’t worry about him, and he’ll get you settled in. Please let me know if you have any questions. I would love to help more, but I am—”
“Busy, busy, busy,” I finished for her.
She looked back at me in shock as though I read her mind.
“I knew I’d like you,” she said with a wink.
We finally reached the end of the winding hall where two large open doors led to the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Grimilda stopped at the reception desk for a moment and grabbed some memos before we continued forward.
The only office I had seen before this was my mother’s, the Department of Magical Education, which was much smaller than this. The wood-paneled walls gave the room a warm feeling while the brass accents gave it a vintage look. There were dozens of desks with wizards working diligently, all with a magical typewriter clicking away and brass lamps illuminating their papers.
On the wall across from the entrance stood a huge bay window that looked out onto a mountainous landscape, definitely not something you would find in the heart of London.
“Follow me, dear,” Grimilda said. I didn’t realize I had fallen behind again and rushed to catch up with her. She led me down another hallway where there were more private offices and conference rooms. It opened to another large room that was lined with shelves and cabinets full of papers and books.
A few more steps and we approached an open office door where a portly looking man with balding brown hair sat inside.
“Heather, this is Walter,” Grimilda said. “Walter, this is Heather, your new intern!”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, remembering my mother’s warning to make a good first impression.
“Heather! I’ve heard much about you. Welcome to DMIC!” Walter said with a booming voice that caught me off guard.
“Well, Walter will get you settled in with your paperwork. Do you have any questions, dear?”
I shook my head. I was still processing everything I had seen; I wasn’t even sure I had heard everything she told me.
“Great! Now, I need to book it to a meeting, so I will see you all later!” Grimilda smiled at me once more then rushed away, her short legs taking her surprisingly fast.
Walter stood up from his desk and opened a cabinet behind him, rummaging around for a moment before turning back around.
“Alright, here’s your paperwork,” he held out a stack of papers, “now let me show you to your office!” He said before leading me out of his office and further down the hall.
There were less offices this way and more storage rooms with large filing cabinets and overflowing shelves. We finally reached an open office door to which Walter stopped beside.
“Here you are, I hope you don’t mind sharing an office. We’re a bit short on space right now,” Walter said with an apologetic smile.
“That’s okay, I don’t mind—” I couldn’t finish my sentence as I walked into the doorway, my eyes falling on the person that I would be sharing an office with. My stomach dropped.
“Heather, this is Draco, our other intern. I’m sure he’ll be glad to fill you in on all that you’ve missed the past two weeks,” Walter spoke but I was barely listening.
The office was decently sized, although the two desks crammed into it made the available space scarce. Draco Malfoy sat at one of these desks, looking completely out of place. His cold eyes stared at me blankly without a hint of recognition or care.
“If you have any questions, you know where to find me,” Walter continued, unaware of just how badly I did not want him to leave me alone right now. But he walked away, and I was left standing in the doorway staring at Draco Malfoy like an idiot.
“Hi,” I said, my throat feeling dry. “I’m Heather.”
“I heard,” he responded with dull interest. “I didn’t know they were bringing in another intern,” he said as he looked back down at the papers on his desk.
“Um, yeah,” I said lamely. I sat down at the opposite desk and tried to focus on the paperwork I was given.
This was just my luck, I thought, as I filled out my basic information. Not only was I forced to come to this stupid place, but I was also now forced to work alongside none other than the Slytherin Prince himself. What was he even doing working here in the first place? Didn’t he have enough money to never work a day in his life? Even if he did want to work, his father’s connections could get him a job anywhere in this building, I’m sure.
My mother spoke of Lucius Malfoy every so often, since she regularly met with the Hogwarts Board of Governors. I never see her as pissed off than when she complains about Mr. Malfoy. His son is no better, but I can at least avoid him at Hogwarts. It was weird seeing him outside of school. He wore a crisp black suit and robes, clearly very expensive, along with dragonhide shoes. I didn’t dare look at him for too long in case he noticed and tried to focus on the work in front of me.
I filled out the Floo network registration form, wrote down my Gringotts account number to receive my payments, and jotted down my father’s contact information for emergencies. I skimmed the non-disclosure agreement, signed my name, then grabbed the rest of the papers and left the office.
“Done,” I said as I dropped the papers on Walter’s desk.
“Fantastic! Now, I already have Draco reading through this so maybe he can fill you in on what he’s read so far, but please do look through this before our meeting at 1. Sound good?” Walter handed me another folder, this time it was much thicker.
“So, this whole internship thing,” I began, unsure whether I should continue. “I’m expected to work with Malfoy, I mean, Draco, the entire time?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have some projects to complete on your every once in a while, but yes, you both will be helping out the entire department.” Walter didn’t seem to understand the true intent of my question and I wasn’t going to explain it. I thanked him then returned to my desk.
There were three packets in the stack Walter handed me. The first one outlined extradition laws in Europe, the second was a summary of the French government, and the third was a dense text on Bulgarian customs. I stared at the three books, feeling like there was something I was missing.
“Do you know what this is about?” I asked, putting aside my hatred for the boy across from me for the sake of understanding what is going on.
“I don’t know, maybe read it and find out,” he responded without looking up.
“Gee, thanks,” I mumbled back. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew I wouldn’t be returning here after today, I would be begging to find a way out of this.
We were silent once more. My eyes grew weary from reading all the boring text and I was struggling not to fall asleep. Just as I was finishing up the last one, Malfoy suddenly stood up from his desk and left the room. I checked the time and realized it was already lunchtime.
I gladly left he office and headed back down to the main level for the cafeteria. I knew my mother wanted to meet for lunch, but I wasn’t looking forward to seeing her again so soon. As I stood in line for food, I scanned the café for her, my eyes also glancing at all of the white-blonde heads in the room.
With tray in hand, I wandered the large, open café, scanning the room for my mother still. I finally found her sitting near the back with a folder open in front of her, her salad untouched.
“Mind if I sit here?” I asked, startling her from her concentration.
“Oh, hi honey. Please, sit.” She moved her tray aside and I set mine down. “How is your day going?”
“Eh, it’s alright. You’ll never guess who I’m interning with.”
“Hm?” She asked, half-listening, as she was already looking back down at the papers on her desk.
“Draco Malfoy,” I said, leaning closer so I didn’t have to speak as loud.
She didn’t immediately react, but once it dawned on her what I had just said, she looked up at me.
“What?”
“Draco Malfoy is the other intern in my department,” I repeated.
She furrowed her brows as she thought about what I said. “Huh, that’s interesting.”
“Right? He’s such a twat,” I said as I started cutting into my fish and chips.
“Heather!” My mother exclaimed.
“What? It’s true!”
“I told you to make a good impression, and that includes the other interns,” she hissed.
“You seriously can’t expect me to get along with Malfoy. Come on, mom,” I rolled my eyes, to which she only became more annoyed.
“Do not test me, Heather,” she said as she straightened up in her seat.
“Whatever.” I went back to pushing my food around my plate, no longer interested in eating it. She went back to looking at her papers and I was no longer hungry, so I stood up to leave.
“I forgot; I have a meeting. See you later.” I turned and left the table before she could speak, leaving my tray behind.
It hadn’t even been fifteen minutes and I was already back at my boring desk. Malfoy strutted in ten minutes later.
Before I knew it, it was time for the meeting. Walter came to lead us to the conference room, although Malfoy walked ahead of us both as though he already knew the way. When we reached the long room, there were already about a dozen wizards already there, talking amongst themselves. I glanced at their faces, not recognizing anyone, until my eyes landed on my mother. She stood in the corner talking to another wizard with a straight grey mustache.
I quickly sat next to Walter, hoping that my mother hadn’t noticed me, and waited for the meeting to begin. Malfoy sat across the table from us both, apparently too good to be near us.
The man who had been talking to my mother walked to the front of the room and all side conversations slowly died down. Just as he looked like he was going to speak, a large blonde man burst into the room with an embarrassed grin.
“I hope I haven’t missed anything!” He said as he looked around the room. It took me a moment, but I suddenly realized he was none other than Ludo Bagman, the infamous Quidditch player. It was hard to believe he used to be a world renowned Quidditch player, since he was much rounder in the middle, but he still wore robes with the same colors as his old uniform.
“We were just about to begin,” the man at the front of the room said. He didn’t even try to hide the annoyance in his voice.
“Please continue, Barty, don’t mind me,” Ludo said in a false whisper. He shuffled to an empty chair and plopped himself down.
The man up front, “Barty,” cleared his throat, drawing the attention of everyone in the room once more.
“Thank you all for being here. We have much to discuss, so let’s begin. First, I would like to remind you all that the information discussed in this room does not leave this room.” He paused and looked around the room, lingering longer on Ludo than he did anyone else. “It is hard enough for us to maintain order without having the Prophet jumping down our throats. Now, onto the first order of business. We’ll have an update from the Department of Magical Education, a brief presentation by the Magical Sports and Games Department, as well as some updates from Grimilda. The floor is yours, Mrs. Winters.” Barty nodded to the other end of the table where my mother sat.
She cleared her throat and stood up to address the room.
“Thank you, Mr. Crouch. Since our last meeting, I have met with all three schools and their heads. My department has made significant progress in securing the educational requirements for the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, although there is still plenty left to do…” she paused and cleared her throat once more. “I will be sitting down with Professor Dumbledore later this week to ensure that preparations to receive the students are underway. Other than that, everything is moving along as planned.”
My mother sat back down and stared straight ahead, still not looking in my direction. It was weird seeing her at work like this, doing what she does every day.
“Fantastic work, Amanda,” Mr. Crouch said with a curt smile that looked strange on his very serious face. “Now that we have our location secured, we must continue with permit arrangements, as well as the rules and regulation guidelines. I understand that Ludo, your department is still finalizing these?”
Ludo nodded his head vigorously. “Yes, and it has been going along swimmingly! Although, I will say, having to work around the age restriction has made some of the guys a bit cross. I get it though, Barty, we gotta protect the kids!”
There were a few murmurs from other people in the room at Ludo’s comment, and I got the feeling he had said something controversial.
“Thank you, Ludo,” Mr. Crouch said. “The age restriction is still set in place, as deemed by the Minister, and will not be removed. Merlin knows we don’t want a repeat from the last Triwizard Tournament.”
A faint bell rang in my head at the mention of the tournament. I know I’ve heard of it before, but I wasn’t sure if I was remembering correctly. So far, I had no clue what was going on in the meeting and wished that someone had briefed me beforehand. Now I was feeling even more confused.
The rest of the meeting continued with talk of permits and policies, inter-governmental cooperation, which Grimilda spoke about quite passionately, and a lot more that I had trouble following. My mother spoke a few more times on behalf of her department and Ludo got into a spirited debate about the merits of introducing wizard surfing into the games, which he was promptly shut down by Mr. Crouch.
Once the meeting was over, my head was spinning. The information packets Walter gave me were starting to make more sense, although I was still struggling to follow along. I gathered enough to know that it was our department’s job to ensure that each international government was appeased with their individual participation in the tournament. While the games are supposed to foster teamwork and friendship, it was still deeply rooted in competition and the desire for recognition as the best wizarding school title.
Grimilda and Walter led us back to the office once more.
“Well, what did you think?” Grimilda asked excitedly.
Malfoy stared at her blankly, so I decided it was up to me to answer.
“That was… interesting,” I said unhelpfully.
“Wasn’t it? It’s quite exciting, right? We can’t talk about it out here, but everyone is very excited for this to happen. Of course, some people wish things were a little different…” Grimilda trailed off, alluding to the age restriction rule that was brought up multiple times throughout the meeting.
“Anyways, as you can see, we have our hands full here, so we’re going to need all the help we can get. Now, Draco has already started working on our proposal for travel arrangements for the two foreign schools, maybe you can help him out on that until we know more?”
“Sure, okay,” I said, when I really wanted to say, “I’d rather die than work with him.”
We went back into our office and Malfoy, still not talking to me, began to read through a stack of parchment. I waited for him to say something, but it seemed like he never would.
“Is that the proposal?” I finally asked.
He looked up from his desk and glared at me.
“Yes,” he responded.
“Can I look at it?”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because Grimilda told me to…” I replied, not sure where he was going with this.
“Save yourself the trouble, what was it, Heather? I know what I’m doing, and you’ll only slow me down.”
I scoffed, unable to believe he was really going to be like this. But of course, he would, when he’s a complete twat.
“And how do you know that?” I asked, getting angry.
“Because it took you almost four hours to read through three simple packets, and this is much more complicated. And anyways, half of it is in French.”
“Et pourquoi cela ferait-il une différence?”
Malfoy looked up from the packet, his face revealing how shocked he was by my perfect French before he could mask it again.
“Hand it over, Malfoy,” I said with my hand outstretched.
Reluctantly, he passed over the stack of parchment. I looked through the first few pages, seeing that he had in fact written most of it in French. Part of me hoped to be able to point out incorrect conjugation or grammar, but unfortunately, it was perfect.
“I don’t see anything about their wands in here,” I pointed out after I had read through the entire proposal. He had covered a lot of bases, most of which I wouldn’t have though to include, and it was hard to find something else to add.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because French wizards are all given wand permits. It’s not something that we have to worry about here, but they would have to file a traveling permit with their wand permit office in order to bring it to Hogwarts. It’s a stupid law, but I guess they like to keep better track of their wands than we do.”
Malfoy stared at me for a moment too long, enough to make me feel self-conscious about everything I just said.
“Well, I’m not finished. I’ll add it under section 5.”
“I’ll add it, it’s fine.”
Malfoy leaned back in his chair, his eyes still regarding me with a look I couldn’t place.
I scratched out an amendment to section 5, including the basics of what I knew about French wand permits.
“Where do you go to school?” He asked suddenly.
“Hogwarts.”
“Huh,” he responded.
“We had Herbology together last year,” I said as I continued to look down at the page in front of me.
“Oh, you’re a Ravenclaw, that explains it,” he said, and I could hear the judgment in his voice.
“Actually, I’m Hufflepuff,” I said and looked up to see his reaction.
He let out a short laugh and shook his head. “Wow, they let anyone into these internships, do they?”
“Yeah, I guess they do,” I clipped back.
He remained quiet after that, although I could still feel his eyes on me.
When I finished adding my section, I handed the proposal back to him and he read it over. Of course, he had to make a show of correcting some of my French grammar, but there was nothing about the actual contents of what I wrote that he could critique.
We only had to kill another thirty minutes before I could leave, and by the time he was done ranting about how ridiculous the age restriction was for the games, it was finally time to leave.
“Just so you know, Hufflepuff,” Malfoy said before I could get out of the office fast enough, “there were two other interns here before you,” he said with a sly smile.
“Okay, and?” I stood in the doorway, just wanting to leave.
“And both of them would rather ruin their chances of securing a job at the Ministry than work alongside me. I don’t know what their issue is, but I’d hate to see you go out like the rest of them. That’s all.” He got up from his desk, buttoned his suit jacket, and brushed past me without a second look.
I stood rooted in my spot, my blood thumping. The anger I felt bubbling in my chest was incomparable to anything I had ever felt before. Not only did I want to curse him in the back, but I also wanted to tackle him like muggles do.
This morning, I couldn’t wait to get out of this internship and find a way to never come back here again. But if I left now, then Malfoy would think he won. He would think that I couldn’t handle working alongside him. And there was no way in hell I was going to let that prick think that he got to me.