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The two first days of living with the twins was as amazing as you'd expect. They spent most of the time setting up the shop with more colourful and chaotic decorations.
Elle could see as people walked past that they'd gaze into the closed shop in admiration leading her to believe it was bound to be a success.
The twins had taken to business naturally, they seemed to have a flare for creating quirky one liners and product names as well as having creativity towards creating products.
Being around the two red heads would momentarily leave Elle forgetting everything that was going on in the real world which was in fact exactly what she needed.
"We will of course need to hire someone to help work the shop" Fred stated importantly as the three of them sat around the small circular kitchen table,
"I'll help work the shop" grinned Elle,
"Yeah I know you will" George smirked "but we'll need someone else as well"
"I've put out advertisements" Fred continued "and we've got a lot of applications actually"
He reached behind to grab a stack of papers off the counter. As he placed them down in front of the group really saw the smiling faces attached to the applications moving just as magical photos always did.
"Blimey that is a lot" George sighed "we better hire someone soon the shop'll be opened in a fortnight"
"Exactly my thinking George" Fred interjected "however were spending the week out getting resources"
The two of them pondered to themselves for a moment before turning their gazes to face Elle who was currently biting in to a bit of toast,
"What" she mumbled with her mouth full,
"How would you feel about being in charge of hiring" George smiled sweetly "we'll pay you extra"
"You're not paying me at all" Elle laughed "but you don't need to" she added quickly,
"You can't work for us for free" Fred frowned "that's slave labour that is"
"You're not exactly forcing me" Elle shrugged "plus you're letting me live with you, anyway I'd be honoured to be in charge of hiring" she beamed.
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That was settled then, while the twins were away for a few days buying more resources for their products, Elle would be sifting through papers and conducting interviews.
She was relatively excited for this considering it was a moderate responsibility towards the running of the shop. Elle didn't like to kid herself and suggest her role so far was of high importance but she was glad they were letting her do something worthwhile.
"I'll see you on Thursday" George smiled as he leant down to kiss Elle "Don't burn down the shop"
"Sounds more like your forte" Elle winked as they began walking down the large staircase.
Fred was waiting by the door looking impatiently at his watch,
"You sure you'll be ok Elle?" Fred called,
"Course I will" she smiled "by the time you come back I will have hired the best shop assistant ever"
"I don't doubt it" Fred grinned as she hugged him goodbye,
"Thursday" George repeated "that's not long right?"
Elle laughed "no it's not George it'll fly by"
He smiled lightly before pulling Elle in for another kiss, this one lasted longer.
Fred rolled his eyes jokingly before he and his brother headed out of the shop waving a thorough goodbye.
Elle hadn't been alone in the shop yet, she took this opportunity to scour to shelves, analysing each product in detail.
She was definitely impressed at the amount of work they'd put into their merchandise. Elle had only seen half of it and was intrigued by items such as Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and Patented Daydream Charms.
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Eventually Elle decided that she should stop gazing around the shop in awe and actually get to work on what she needed to do.
She ruffled through the papers one by one, scanning her eyes over them before sorting them into three piles with so far were named
Maybe not
Maybe
Maybe yes
However these names just highlighted how indecisive she was. By the time she'd read through all applicants three times she decided on around ten which sounded better than the others.
It wasn't necessarily the experience she was looking for. A lot of the papers had bullet pointed lists of reasons why they would be the best role for the job.
Maybe it was unprofessional of her but Elle didn't put any of those in her favourites. She believed that in order to work in a joke shop as amazing as this, the one thing needed was a sense of humour. Although Elle couldn't tell through the paper whether the applicants had this or not, she believed that from the information they had written about themselves Elle was able to pinpoint the best characters.
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It was Wednesday morning when Elle was expecting her first interview which one of the ten choices she'd narrowed it down to. They were all coming over today after Elle had informed them so through owl post. She was continuously glad that owl post was so fast otherwise it may have been into next week before she could have arranged a meeting. The other plus was that Diagonalley had an incredible post office with some of the best owls.
Elle had tried to make herself look professional by wearing a silken shirt and tying her hair back so it wasn't as voluminous.
She was sure the applicants wouldn't care what she wore considering it was her who was interviewing them and not the other way around however she wanted to make a good impression.
She was sitting lazily behind the till when the small bell above the door rang. She looked over to see her first candidate walking in.
He was tall with green eyes and brown hair. He looked older than Elle by a few years and was dressed casually in muggle attire.
"Nice to meet you" Elle grinned as she stood up and shook the man's hand "I'm Elle"
"Jordan Moore" he replied politely before taking the seat she had set up on the other side of the till.
Elle wasn't a professional when it came to interviewing people, in fact she had never done it before leaving her slightly nervous maybe even more so than the applicant.
Jordan's interview went well. He was relaxed and carefree which meant it wasn't as hard on either of them. Elle's problem was that he seemed intent on making changes to the place.
He kept blatantly pointing out things that he didn't think were right or worked with the shop in general leaving Elle sure that the twins wouldn't like him.
Elle's luck kept getting worse. The next candidate was an older woman who was nice enough but sounded nothing like her application at all. Needless to say she had no sense of humour as she kept addressing things such as the 'edible dark marks' as being reckless and irresponsible.
Another one down.
The next girl seemed great until she accidentally let slip that she worked for Zonko's. Turned out she'd been placed as a spy wondering what the competition was like. Elle wondered what would have happened if she had ended up hiring her. Surely she couldn't work two jobs at once.
Candidates four, five and six were nice enough but Elle didn't get along with any of them. Four pointed out that he could have made more impressive skiving snackboxes. Five seemed to think that she was more qualified to take the interview than Elle (and she wasn't entirely wrong) whereas Six kept talking about the quibbler and how the new minister for magic was actually a vampire in disguise.
By the time seven came in Elle was getting desperate. Kathleen Waterstone seemed perfect at first. Literally. She had flowing blonde hair down to her lower back and golden skin which seemed to glitter.
Unfortunately she didn't speak any English. Elle wasn't sure how or who had wrote her application or whether this was an elaborate prank but it took twenty minutes for her to try and explain that she wasn't suited for the job.
Eight had definitely lied on their application claiming that they were nineteen years old. When they walked in Elle doubted they had even started their fifth year at Hogwarts.
Elle waited for the ninth applicant for an hour before realising that they weren't going to turn up.
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At this point she was completely out of hope. She liked none of the people she'd interviewed enough to let them work here. Elle decided she would have to go back through the pile of papers and call some more people down however she doubted that would be complete by tomorrow meaning that she wouldn't be done in time for the twins return.
Elle waited for the tenth applicant with the belief that she'd probably not be right for the job as it seemed that no one was. It was ten minutes after the candidate was supposed to arrive when Elle decided that they probably weren't coming.
Maybe the applicants had secretly informed each other about how terrible Elle was at interviewing and they'd decided against it.
Elle laughed at her own thoughts just as she heard the sound of the bell meaning the door had been opened.
A girl rushed in looking very out of breath. Her outfit was just as bright as the shop. She was wearing a bright purple blazer and matching skirt along with a bright green turtleneck. Her white heeled boots were almost 60s esc and make a loud noise as she entered the shop.
The girl looked up and beamed apologetically,
"I'm so sorry I'm late, couldn't remember the pattern to get that wall to open"
She had a short blonde bob and bright blue eyes. Elle didn't want to get her hopes up but the girl seemed to radiate good vibes.
"I'm Verity Stevens" the girl smiled as she stretched out her hand. She had matching green nails.
"Elle Lupin" she replied as the girl took her seat.
She gazed back over the girls application as Verity politely sat waiting.
"So why do you want to work here?" Elle started slowly,
"Well mainly because it looks like a lot of fun" the girl beamed "I love jokes and all that and I think that this shop is exactly what's needed these days"
"Yeah I agree" Elle continued "and you haven't worked anywhere before?"
"No" Verity sighed "I only left Hogwarts two years ago and so far I've been unsuccessful"
"You went to Hogwarts?" Elle looked up "what house were you in?"
"Hufflepuff" she grinned,
"That's great, I don't know why I'd never seen you before"
"Not sure" Verity shrugged "I saw you play quidditch though, you're really good... so are the twins"
"Thanks" Elle smiled "you didn't play, did you?"
"No, I always wanted to be chaser but I never got the spot"
"Shame, quidditch is a lot of fun, expect for last year but... you didn't have Umbridge"
The girls got into a lengthy discussion about Hogwarts immediately. Elle learnt her last year had been Elle's fifth year meaning Verity had been taught by her uncle. Apparently he was the only reason Verity managed to pass her defence against the dark arts exams which didn't surprise Elle. After all he was an incredible teacher.
They talked and laughed until the sky outside began to get dark and Elle realised how much time they'd taken up just by talking randomly rather than about work. Luckily she had been the last candidate.
"Merlin is that the time" Verity gasped,
"I didn't even notice" Elle laughed.
"I better get going" Verity smiled, "when do I find out about the job?"
"Now" Elle beamed "you're hired"
"Really" Verity grinned "just like that?"
"Well you're the best candidate I've had so yeah, I think you'll be perfect here"
"That's great" she jumped happily "when do I start?"
"We're planning on opening the beginning of the week after next but do you mind coming over tomorrow afternoon? Just to meet the twins"
"That's absolutely fine" the girl grinned happily "thank you so much"
The bubbly blonde left the shop leaving Elle feeling quite proud of her decision to hire her.
Hopefully the twins thought the same way.
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