Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

21. Happy Birthday, Ron

She flattened out her brown pencil skirt with her hands and straightened her Ministry pin once more before heading to her department. Getting through security went without incident and she was pleased to see a familiar face as she stepped onto the elevator.

"Eloise! How lovely to see you, it's your first day, yes?" Arthur asked as he folded that morning's edition of The Daily Prophet under his arm.

"Yes sir." She replied as she ducked, dodging the bright purple paper airplanes that zoomed into the elevator as the doors closed.

"Interdepartmental memos, you'll get used to them." Arthur chuckled.

The elevator jolted slightly as they descended further beneath London.

"Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Well, that's me. Have a good day, Eloise, though I'm sure we'll hear about it from Percy." Arthur turned to her with a kind smile before exiting the elevator.

It was three more levels before they finally reached her floor.

"Level 5, Department of International Magical Cooperation."

Eloise squeezed passed about a dozen witches and wizards on the elevator with several 'excuse me's and 'sorry's before setting foot into the corridor.

She remembered from her orientation that the office was the third door on the left, so she made her way down the hall trying her best to shake off the nerves growing inside her body.

The door to the office was already open, and when she stepped inside she was greeted by the sight of Percy, who was leaning over someone's desk discussing some sort of report with them.

He brought his eyes up to Eloise as she entered and gave her a polite smile, "Right on time, follow me to your desk. I'll let Audrey know you're here."

She followed Percy who weaved through rows of desks until coming upon hers, which she was glad was near a window. Although all the windows in the office were merely charmed to appear as if they were looking over London, it was nice to feel as if they weren't actually hundreds of feet below ground.

"Here we are, you can get yourself situated and I'll be back in a few minutes with Audrey."

Eloise dropped her purse on the desk and dug inside it to find the two photo frames she brought to make her desk feel more homey.

The first photo was of her and her dad when she was little. They were posed in front of the fountain in the lobby of the Ministry. She was standing on the ledge of the fountain and her dad had his arm wrapped around her middle so she wouldn't fall in the water. At one point her father leaned in with a bright smile and pointed to the camera so Eloise would look at her mother who was taking the photo of them.

The other was of her and her grandmother on Eloise's fourteenth birthday. It was the last birthday her grandmother was alive to celebrate, but in the photo they were both laughing with one another. She couldn't even remember what they were talking about that made them laugh so hard, but it was by far her favorite picture of them despite the memory being bittersweet.

The sound of clicking heels brought Eloise's attention to Audrey who was approaching with Percy. Eloise quickly stood up and offered an enthusiastic smile to her new boss who did not return the favor.

"Sit down." Audrey said sternly and Eloise obeyed without hesitation as her expression fell, "Thank you Percy, I'll check in with you shortly." she continued as she looked over at Percy who gave her a short nod in return.

Once Audrey's back was to him, he quickly gave Eloise a sympathetic smile and a small thumbs up before heading back to his own desk. Eloise was so caught up in how uneasy she felt that she nearly didn't notice the tall stack of papers in Audrey's arms. The documents fell on her desk with a loud thud causing Eloise to jump slightly in response.