International Love | Fred Weasley

Chapter 96

I look at Arthur, not knowing if I should listen to the man. Arthur gestures to do what the man tells us and takes his wand out of his jacket to place it on the table. I follow his example and place my shoulder bag on the table. From my coat, I grab my wand and the Ministry-ID and place it beside my bag.

While the two guards go through our bags and check if there is anything suspicious in them, the older wizard takes out wands and walks away with them. I take a step forward to ask where he is going with our wands, but Arthur stops me and shakes his head.

It takes quite a while before the older wizard returns with our wands and I see Arthur impatiently checking his watch. When the man finally returns, he hands over our wands and the two other guards inform us that none of our belongings is going to be confiscated.

"I didn't know you hand a personal assistant, Arthur," the older wizard remarks while he picks up my Ministry-ID Arthur had made for me, "Elena Dubos. Aren't you Severus Snape's niece? I thought I heard something about that."

"I am," I look at him with narrowed eyes. The man nods and places the ID back on the desk.

"I would like to congratulate you on the appointment of your uncle as new Headmaster of Hogwarts."

With wide eyes, I stare at the man on the other side of the desk. Headmaster of Hogwarts, my uncle?

"If you are done now, Yaxley, I would like to head to my office," Arthur interrupts with an annoyed tone in his voice. The wizard grins and with a simple gesture, he lets us pack out bags and lets us through. While we are walking to the elevators, I ask Arthur: "Did my uncle really become Headmaster?"

Arthur nods and weirdly, I am not even surprised. Voldemort must have made him Headmaster to get Hogwarts in his power in case Harry would think about going back to school.

The elevator brings us to level 2 and Artur leads me through a couple of halls before we walk through a big door that leads us to a big room filled with at least ten desks. Several boards hang on the walls, all filled with all sorts of colored paper and newspaper articles. On the desks are laying stacks of papers and I see people run around.

When we enter the room, all the employees present turn to us and Artur greets them: "Good morning everyone, I would like you to meet my new personal assistant, Elena Dubos."

A bit awkwardly, I wave at all the people before turning to Arthur. Taking his agenda out of my bag, I open it and tell him: "You have an appointment with Mr. Dawlish from the Auror Office about a criminal they arrested – they would like you to have a look at the confiscated belongings – in about ten minutes."

Arthur nods and hands me his briefcase. Pointing at the desk at the end of the room near the two windows, he says: "That is my desk, you can sit there if you'd like. Or pick out another desk. I will go now, could you answer my mail when I am gone? All the information you need is on my desk and you can always ask one of the employees if you need any help."

I nod and Arthur turns around to head out of the room. I take a deep breath, place the briefcase beside Arthur's desk, grab the big pile of mail and begin my job.

It takes a while before I managed to get through all the mail (and I had to ask several people lots of questions) but at the end of the day, I have responded to every piece of mail, made sure Arthur's desk is organized, learned a lot about the Ministry, and made sure Arthur arrived on time for all his appointments.

The rest of the week, Arthur and I leave early to work (getting "randomly chosen for a security check" three more times) and I am getting used to running around while making sure Arthur's work is as organized as possible.

"Elena, do you have that file about the cursed Sneakoscopes for me?" Riley asks me and I turn my chair to look through the different casefiles I have organized on date. After I found the right one, I hand the binder over to the woman with a smile. After a thank you, she walks away. I look in the small notebook in which I have written the everyday to-do lists and realize I have to speak to someone at the Minister for Magic's office.

Grabbing my quill, the notebook and some other pieces of parchment I need, I check on Arthur (reminding him of the appointments he has this afternoon) and head to Level 1.

Level 1 is very different from the other parts of the Ministry. The floor is covered in thick purple carpets and each door in the hallway I am walking through is made of gleaming mahogany. It takes quite a walk before I reach my destination: the office of the Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic.

I knock twice and wait for someone to answer.

A group of wizards and witches walk past but I don't pay attention to them. Growing impatient, I knock again. This time, I hear someone call out something and after seconds, the door opens.

Carefully, I open the door further and step into a smaller office than I had imagined. Behind the desk is sitting a red-haired man, reciting something to a quill who writes in all down on a piece of parchment. The man doesn't look up when I enter and after closing the door behind me, I wait patiently before he acknowledges me.

When the man finally raises his head to look at me, I can see the surprised expression on his face.

"Mr. Weasley?" I begin and take a step towards his desk. With a flick of his wand, the man cleans his desk quickly and sits upright.

"As you know, every Ministry employee has to provide a family tree to prove their blood-status," I continue and the man nods. I walk to his desk and place two pieces of parchment in front of him. Pointing at the family tree, I remark: "Mr. Arthur Weasley would like you to acknowledge this family tree and sign this form to confirm its authenticity."

I see Percy Weasley's eyes shift from me to the family tree. He leans forward and grabs the piece of parchment with the family tree. Scanning it with his eyes, he looks back at me and asks: "What if I don't sign it?"

"I will tell Mr. Arthur Weasley about your decision and he will make sure the family tree is changed," I answer and see the man nod lightly. Percy grabs a quill from his desk and signs the form. As soon as he has signed, I grab the form and the family tree and place it back in the file. Not taking the risk of him having second thoughts.

With a polite smile, I nod at him: "Thank you for your time, Mr. Weasley."

Turning around, I want to exit the office again, but Percy's voice stops me: "Are they- is everyone alright?"

I stop and turn back to the man behind the desk. Percy doesn't look at me and I can see some sort of embarrassment written on his face. With a small smile, I answer: "Yes, they are. Ron is sick and Ginny is preparing to go back to Hogwarts."

"And Mum and Dad?"

"Fine too, but your mother misses you very much." I answer, "She cried when you didn't turn up at the wedding. I am sure you are aware of what happened."

Percy bows his head. After a moment, he looks back up and me. With a small gesture, he sends me away again. Deciding not to say anything more, I nod goodbye and exit the office of the Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic to head back to my workplace to continue the workday.