Too Honest ~ James Potter

Chapter 44

"Mr Potter," Mariya heard Emmeline Vance's sharp voice cut cleanly through the rest of the noise in the Atrium. "I hope you are not causing too many problems for our dear Miss Seratova."

James seemed to freeze in place for a moment before releasing Mariya and spluttering a reply. "No-no-no, I would never."

"Hmmm." Emmeline looked none too impressed by his claim and her piercing gaze remained on him for a few moments before she turned to rest of the group. "My advice would be that you listen carefully, I have no desire to repeat myself and I believe it would be good if you all knew who was in your group and where exactly you were going."

All of the men and women in the group immediately - and most likely unconsciously - corrected their posture so as to look more professional, intent looks of concentration crossing the faces of many as they observed the pristine woman.

"Good," Her tone was cool as she made sure everyone was paying proper attention before continuing. "The lists will be read once each and then I expect you to form groups in front of your respective leaders accordingly."

At Emmeline's gesture, Fabian Prewett stepped forward and unravelled an official looking scroll, he began to read the first list, though neither Mariya nor James's names were on it and they both breathed a sigh of relief - one down, that improved their chances of being together.

"Group 2," He continued, unfurling the parchment a bit further. "The supervisor will be Jacinta Rivera Sánchez and will consist of: Wolfgang Schneider, Pierre Dubois, Sarah White, Isabella Harding, and James Potter."

Mariya waited for a moment, expecting him to continue and finish the list with her name. He said nothing more and she turned to James in confusion; she had been so sure that they would be placed on the same team, especially seeing as how her mother had been part of the group assigning each person their team. It had barely even occurred to her that they would end up in different groups, never mind the high potential of them ending up placed in different continents. Based on the look of shock on James's face, he hadn't anticipated this either and he cast her a worried frown as Fabian moved on to the next group. Mariya heard him mention her name but she was too busy thinking about the results of the grouping to pay proper attention to the names of any of her teammates.

Once Fabian had finished the remaining two lists, they were given a moment to wish their friends and acquaintances farewell before heading to their stations. Mariya buried her face in James's chest and breathed in deeply in an attempt to remember his scent whilst he picked her up and spun her around once.

"Well, at least we will be able to send each other letters." James attempted to console her, though his voice was hollow in a way Mariya had almost never heard.

"I suppose, and it is only for just over a month. We can count down the days." Mariya smiled weakly at him before she drew him into a gentle kiss. "You had better remember to report back on everything, no matter how mundane, that way it will be like I am there with you."

"Same to you," James nodded. "If anything happens you can send me a Patronus - that way you can be sure I will get the message as soon as possible."

"Yeah, that works." Mariya agreed, pulling the man back into another embrace.

"Right!" Emmeline Vance's voice called above the noise and the crowd of adults quickly fell into silence. "If you can report to your Supervisors now please." Despite the 'Please' on the end of her sentence, her tone made it clear that it was less of a request than a demand and the interns hurried to follow her order.

Finding her way to Matias Garcia Hernandez, Mariya dragged her trunk alongside her in a more lacklustre way than she had at the beginning. She found herself surrounded by a group of people who all seemed to have different accents. She was glad of this as it would make their job easier if they had a wide range of languages covered. Standing next to a girl with platinum blonde hair and baby-blue eyes, Mariya smiled at her and offered a hand to shake.

"Mariya Seratova." She introduced herself and the woman responded with a smile.

"Valeria Torres Cruz." She offered and pulled her into a hug. "¿Hablas español también, no? ¿Tu madre es la Señora Rivera Sánchez? (You speak Spanish too, no? Isn't you mother Mrs Rivera Sánchez?"

"Sí, es mi lengua segunda y lo hablo en casa con mi madre, pero con mi madre hablo ucraniano normalmente. (Yes, it is my second language and I speak it at home with my mother, but with my father I normally speak Ukrainian."

"¡Qué interesante! Solamente hablo español y inglés pero quiero aprender francés también. (How interesting! I only speak Spanish and English but I want to learn French too.)"

Mariya was glad of Valeria's enthusiasm as it almost let her forget about not being with James. Falling into conversation with the girl, Mariya was suddenly glad that she had signed up even if she didn't get to work with James. After all, she might make a new friend or two from the venture, especially if they were all as enthusiastic as Valeria.