In Her Darkest Hour ✞ Theseus Scamander

viii

Orla's mind was blank as she peacefully slept, there were no noises or absurd sounds to awaken her from her deep slumber. And yet there was one, the result of an instant force hitting the side of her face and body startled her and she jolted awake. Orla rubbed her eyes clear of all the sleep that had built up overnight, with her vision restored she saw her fiance holding his pillow up behind his head, as though he was going to hit her again. Orla quickly held her arms up in defence and Andrew lowered the pillow and placed it back in its place on top of his other pillow.

"I've been trying to wake you for the past ten minutes," Andrew stated. Orla realised that Andrew was half-dressed, his shirt was buttoned but his tie was hanging around his collar completely untied. Andrew looked at his watch and then back to Orla, "it's half nine, Orla - you're 30 minutes late!"

Orla's eyes widened as she gasped and quickly jumped out of bed, she rushed herself out the room and down the hall for a shower. Orla didn't wait for the water to heat up as she had no time and the cold water sent shivers down her spine as she washed herself. She was only in the shower for 2 minutes, when she walked back through the bedroom door Andrew was fully dressed and he wiped the soap suds off of Orla's shoulder.

Andrew moved back to the bed and held up two outfits for her and Orla rolled her eyes, "those are my comfy bottoms, I can't wear them to work!" Orla went through the wardrobe and pulled out a navy blazer with a matching skirt to go with it. Orla walked over to the bed and took the blouse and stockings from Andrew's hands, "you go in without me, I don't want you to be later because of me, at least only one of use will get into deep trouble."

Andrew smiled as he nodded his head, he leaned in and kissed Orla on her forehead, "I'll see you in a bit," he smiled. Orla quickly whispered her goodbye and Andrew rushed out of their bedroom door.

Orla began to quickly dress herself; underwear, deodorant, stockings - ripped stockings. She sighed heavily, she could have cried right there and then, she knew she had to make an impression on her new team and turning up late on her first day wasn't a good one.

Orla grabbed a new pair of stockings from her draw and carefully pulled them up her legs. Once they were safely on without any rips, Orla began dressing herself quickly again. She unbuttoned the top two buttons from her blouse and pulled it over her head, having no time to unbutton it all and rebutton it once it was on her body. Orla quickly stood into the skirt and pulled it up her legs, making sure it was styled properly on her hips, once she was happy with how it looked in the mirror she did up the zip on the side of her hip. Next was the blazer, with no time to put it on in an elegant way, both arms were in the sleeves and she pulled the blazer up with her back.

Orla rushed to the mirror and began applying moisturiser to her face, she chucked it on and instantly regretted the amount that she had layered on her face as it was taking forever to seep into her skin. Once it was all rubbed in, Orla quickly ran the brush through her hair, she had no time to style it in her typical bun, but she still made sure her parting was perfectly straight down the middle.

Orla ran back to her bed side table where she quickly threw on her watch and put in her earrings, she almost forgot her engagement ring but managed to slip it on all whilst running to the living room to put on her shoes and grab her stuff. As Orla struggled with the buckle on her heels, she realised she had forgotten her to put on perfume and ran back to her bedroom to put on Chanel no. 5, a new perfume she had been trying out, a gift from her brother Vaughan after she landed the job at the Ministry. The refreshing floral smell calmed her as she hurried back to the living room to put the other shoe on.

Finally ready, Orla picked up her bag from where it was left just over a few hours ago, she checked herself in the mirror one last time to make sure she looked semi-decent. Happy with how she looked, Orla grabbed her keys and ran out the door. Orla wasted no time in disapparating right outside her front door, in fear of being seen by some of the muggle neighbours.