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In the Red
Mei Queen
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Authoress' Note: Sorry it took so long. There's a major plot twist in it, and I had to tweak this chapter a lot to get it where I wanted it. I wish I wasn't a perfectionist; honestly, it would make my life a lot easier. But I am how I am, and I hope you guys won't hold that fact against me when you review. Notice I said 'when you review' instead of 'if you review'…
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Mood Music: Headlines- Spice Girls
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RECAP:
The blond man's features curled into a smirk. "Budgeting 101, Weasley. It should be good fun."
Ginny merely groaned in response, shutting the door behind the Malfoy as he exited. "Fun, indeed."
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Chapter 4: Robbed!
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"Weasley! I saw that!" Draco Malfoy snapped irritably, reaching for the statement Ginny had snuck behind her back. The two were at Ginny's flat again working on a budget for Ginny, one that she could follow throughout the months to come. So far they had just been tracking her current expenses using bills and credit card statements so she would have an idea of how much money was left after all her bills, but they weren't getting very far.
Ginny seemed reluctant to part with a certain piece of paper. Tucking the paper in her large pile of papers, she looked back up at Draco with wide eyes, asking innocently, "Saw what?"
Draco rolled his eyes. He was much too used to the redhead's antics by now; this was the third statement she'd tried to hide today. "The statement you just stole. What was it?"
"I didn't steal anything," she replied angelically, turning her eyes back to the budget, carefully avoiding Draco's eyes in the hopes that her own chocolate ones wouldn't give away her blatant lie.
"Weasley," he said through gritted teeth, thoroughly peeved off by this point. "I saw you do it. Which bill was it?"
Ginny sighed. Damn it, she was caught. "Okay, okay. It was Dr. Benson's statement."
Draco looked back at her incredulously. Crazy bint. "The crackpot therapist? You've got all of these other luxuries- TiVo, magazine subscriptions, day spas- that you could vouch for. You could say, 'Draco, all I want is a nice massage! Is that too much to ask?' I'd understand that. But no, you decide that you want to vouch for the ruddy therapist. He obviously doesn't work- you're still nuts."
"I like looking at him," Ginny mumbled, cheeks reddening as she put the statement to the side.
He rolled his eyes, grabbing the statement from Ginny's side, much to her irritation. "Now this is just too much. You can't seriously be going to a therapist who is basically extorting with his fees just to look at him. If you want cute men, I'll buy you a bloody subscription to Playwitch!"
Ginny's cheeks reddened further, and she stopped her frantic grasps to get the statement back from Draco. "Fine, no Dr. Benson."
Draco smirked in response, taking the statement and gleefully chucking it in the bin. "Thank you."
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Two hours later, Ginny and Draco were still working on the budget. Ginny yawned, reaching for her now ice-cold cup of coffee and shuddering when she took a sip. Disgusting. Why couldn't Draco get us Starbucks like he did last time? Ugh. If he's going to make me look at my finances, it seems like the least that he could do to buy me a bloody vanilla latte. "Warm up?" she grudgingly offered to the blond man, moving to pick up his cup.
"Sure, thanks," he answered distractedly, eyes never straying from the budget that was slowly but finally emerging from the mass of crumpled statements scattered all over Ginny's kitchen table. "White, please."
She nodded, going to the carafe and pouring the cups to a nice steaming level of full. Her eyes wandered absentmindedly around the kitchen, straying from the beautiful new refrigerator to the cooking supplies she never used to the answering machine, which was blinking.
Blinking? Why was it blinking? She hadn't been out; she shouldn't have any messages on there. Not stopping to check the Caller ID, she pressed the message button, and Harry Potter's voice filled up the room.
"Hey Gin, it's me. I just wanted to see how you were doing; you seemed rather down at lunch the other day. I was wondering if you've given any thought to my job offer, too. Let me know! Call me back. Soon."
Ginny snorted, she could plainly hear the worry in Harry's voice as he hadn't even bothered to try to hide it. Draco finally looked up from the papers he was shuffling through at the table. His face was contorted into a pug-like expression of disgust. "Was that Potter? Haven't heard his golden voice in years…" Draco trailed off, turning his face to the papers again. The last part of his sentence he muttered under his breath: "I was rather hoping it would stay that way."
Ginny smiled in amusement. "Not a fan of the Man Who Lived, then?"
Draco looked up at her, jaw dropping in shock. Then, pointing at his face, he said sweetly, "This face? This is the vice-president of the Scarhead fan club! You can be a member too; all it takes is a set of zoom binoculars and a bunch of Floo powder!"
Ginny snorted despite herself. "Thanks, I'll think about it. You know," she choked out, laughing, "I've got his number if you're interested…"
Draco's expression went stoic. "Wow. Dreams do come true."
She smiled, giggling as she sipped her coffee by the kitchen counter.
Draco rolled his eyes at her, shaking some statements in the air. "Sit your arse down, Weasley. I'm not doing this for my health!"
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"So I'll see you Friday?" Ginny asked softly, walking Draco to the door now that the budget was finally squared away.
He looked over at her, regarding her intently before responding. "Yeah. Friday's good. Dinner?"
Ginny's breath caught nervously. When he says it like that, walking to the door like this…it almost sounds like he's asking me on a date. If it were from anyone else, I'd think that's what was going on…but he is him. So there's nothing romantic about it- there's barely anything friendly about it with Draco, come to that. "Sure. Seven?"
"Sounds good to me, I'll pick you up or call you later this week to let you know the restaurant," he answered with a smile, opening Ginny's front door. Stepping out onto the porch into the bitter, biting cold of November, he suddenly realized he had left his scarf on the chair he'd been sitting in by the table. Whirling around to retrieve it, he was met face-to-face with the redhead herself.
She looked up at him challengingly. Their faces were mere centimeters apart. Draco's breath hitched as his thoughts bounced all over the place but eyes stayed focused right on Ginny's glossy lips. Some of those furiously bouncing thoughts included: She's your client! This is completely unprofessional…I could get fired! But then, who would fire me? Me? I'm not firing myself, that's for sure. But she's a Weasley! Ick. That's a better reason. Think of meeting the family, and Christmas and Easter and redhead, freckled nieces, nephews, in-laws, and God forbid, babies. Okay, that's it, moment over.
Hastily backing away from Ginny (and smacking his head on the front door), Draco practically sprinted for his car, no longer caring about the damn scarf. It was Burberry, but she could have it for all he cared-maybe it would save him having to make room in her damn budget for a fancy scarf.
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Ginny groaned the next morning, blearily opening one eye to the bloody constant bleeping of her alarm clock. One arm braving the cold of her icy flat to poke out from under the duvet and turn off the insistent Muggle device, Ginny yawned and rubbed tiredly at her eyes. Her head felt fuzzy and confused. She couldn't remember much of what had happened the night before…it felt like a bad hangover, but she hadn't been drinking anything stronger than coffee. Maybe I blocked it all out…I'm sure those memories will come trickling back over time, it's happened before. What time is it, anyway? Work already? Ugh. That's just not right. It bloody feels like I just left those loons…
Getting up and stumbling through her morning routines, she grudgingly Apparated herself to work, coffee flask tucked firmly in hand.
When she arrived at the WWW, Inc offices, though, it was sheer pandemonium. The phone lines were ringing off the hook, people were continually buzzing up to the offices in the hopes of being let in, owls were swooping through the window every other minute, rifling papers and generally ruining any organization the office may have had in their wake. Ginny looked at the scene before her with wide eyes, taking in a harried Madge who was answering insistent phones, to Elmer trying to horde off the crowds gathering outside the office door, to the conspicuous lack of her brothers.
"Oh. My. God."
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Madge Fleming looked up at Ginny with sympathetic eyes from her messy desk. She was answering phone calls in furious succession, to the point where her words became a blur of: "Weasley's Wizarding Inc. offices, hold please," "Weasley's Wizarding Inc. offices, hol-" "Weasley's Wizarding Inc, off-".
Ginny shook her head in pity for Madge. That woman had to put up with much more than her job was worth, in Ginny's opinion. "What's going on?" the redhead asked in confusion, finally looking to her desk for her daily gift from Elmer Moot, the WWW, Inc. janitor. He had been doing crowd control when Ginny got there, but it was time for him to go home, so, shrugging and apologizing to Ginny and Madge for leaving them on their own, he had taken his leave.
The gift was a Sugar Quill, much to Ginny's delight. The note attached was longer than usual, something which automatically made Ginny feel a bit wary. Elmer's notes, while a wonderful pick-me-up for Ginny, were almost never longer than a sentence or two. Something must be up…
Ginny picked up the candy and sucked thoughtfully on it as she read Elmer's note:
Gin-girl,
There was a break-in to the offices last night. The phones are bound to be off the hook, a bloke from the Daily Prophet was across the street when it happened (curse the luck). Anyway, I just wanted to warn you that the boys will be in terrible tempers whenever they actually get in. I haven't heard from them since I called to let them know what the thieves stole- whoever broke in took all the latest prank development ideas. This could be bad…
Ginny's eyes widened as she crushed the note and threw it in the bin. Elmer was right; this situation could be very bad indeed. Though the twins would be furious and the phones would be busy for a day, that wasn't nearly the worst of the matter. If someone had stolen the Weasleys' ideas, Ginny could very well find herself in some serious trouble financially, even more than she was already! Someone could easily take those ideas, put them into development, and then sell their products at a slightly lower price, undercutting her brothers…that's all it would take for the WWW, Inc. companies to collapse. Then Ginny…
She felt her breath catch in her throat.
I'll be out of a job! Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have let Draco fire my therapist.
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Draco was reclining in his office chair at the Gringotts office, enjoying his favorite pastime of late- watching Natalie answer his phone calls. Occasionally she would notice him staring, blush, get flustered and look back at her phone. It was cute. Watching Natalie amused Draco greatly and really helped him get his mind off of Ginny Weasley and the almost-kiss the other night. What would have happened if he did kiss her? Did he want to? How the hell would he work with her again with any semblance of professionalism if he had kissed her?
I made the right decision not doing it, Draco thought decisively, trying to ignore the nagging 'what-ifs' that had been bubbling up inside him for the past day and a half. Even though he knew what the best and smartest route was for his and Ginny's continued interaction, it didn't change the fact that he just wished he knew-what would it have been like? Was it true about redheads; were they more passionate? As worldly as Draco was, he couldn't remember seriously kissing any redheads (that weren't bottle redheads, anyway). Perhaps it was because redheads reminded him of the Weasleys…
Ironic, that was.
He sighed, grudgingly sitting up in his chair to check the copy of his itinerary Natalie had so helpfully left on his desk. Dinner with Ginny tomorrow, he noted idly, trying to ignore the 'what-ifs' that were beginning to churn in his head again at the prospect of seeing Ginny. I wonder how that will go…
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Ginny, meanwhile, was waiting anxiously at her desk, helping Madge field phone calls while the two women waited for the Weasley twins to arrive. Merlin's eyes, they must be brassed off, the redhead thought irritably, half-listening to some pre-pubescent girl squeal on about the Fred and George's "awesomeness." Ginny rolled her eyes, inspecting her nails with boredom. Before the little girl could start another excited rant, Ginny cut her off- "Yes, that's very nice, thank you for your interest. We'll be sending you some lovely colour autographed photos. Good day!"
Putting her phone into the receiver with zeal, she looked around the office. It was around one, and the owl stream had finally lessened to a mild trickle. The crowds outside were growing bored of being ignored by Ginny and Madge, and the phones, though still a little crazy, were starting to cool off. Though Fred and George were still nowhere to be seen, Ginny reasoned that now was as good a time as any to take her lunch.
Telling Madge her plan, the redhead quickly ducked out of the office, excited to be anywhere without a constantly ringing phone.
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As irony often has it, Ginny's cell phone began to ring insistently as soon as she exited the glass doors of WWW, Inc.
Fumbling in her oversize bag for the flip-phone, she finally located it-right under an old pack of Drooble's. Wrinkling her nose a bit, she grudgingly opened the sticky phone with her fingertips. "Hello?"
"Gin?"
Ginny smiled; it was Harry. Though she'd forgotten to call him back after playing his message the night before, she was happy to hear from him, especially with the looming possibility of losing her job. She shuddered at the thought.
"Hey, Harry! How have you been? Sorry I didn't call you back before; I just got your message late last night."
He smiled on the other end. He knew she had to have a decent reason for not calling him back; she always did. "It's okay. Hey, are you at lunch right now?"
"Yup," the redhead answered with a grin. "Was just trying to decide where to go, actually."
"Listen, I'm in that area. Charlotte had me booked for some conference or other. How about I pick you up?"
She smiled. "Sounds perfect."
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Ginny twirled her glass of water absently, enjoying watching the ice cubes clink against one another as she did. Harry looked at her intently, trying to study her unfocused expression. What's up with her? She's been quiet the whole ten minutes we've been here…something's got to be up.
"What's up, Ginny?"
She looked up at him, as if surprised to see that he was there. "Oh. Nothing. It's just been a crazy day at work."
He nodded, obviously concerned. "I saw the Prophet, yeah. It didn't say what was stolen though. What's going on?"
She heaved a monstrous sigh, seemingly trying to get out all of the frustrations of the day with that one deep exhalation. Closing her eyes as if it would sting less to say it that way, she murmured softly, "Somebody stole their prank development ideas."
Harry's eyes widened. He may not be a master of business, but he knew the possible implications of that type of theft. If someone had the development ideas and directions as to how to achieve the intended result, what was to stop those people from becoming multi-millionaires overnight? Moreover, what was to stop them from putting WWW, Inc. out of business entirely? And then Fred, George, Madge, Elmer, and Ginny…
He looked at her, concern and protectiveness evident in his bright green eyes. Ginny would be out of a job. He knew she was having trouble already, no wonder she was so upset today-today and the few days following could decide her entire career!
He came to a decision. "That's it, I'm firing Charlotte."
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Draco looked at the phone on his desk with disdain. He didn't really want to call Ginny right now, but he had just gotten restaurant confirmations from Natalie, and it seemed only polite to let Ginny know the moment that he knew. Sighing at his own good manners, he picked up the receiver and dialed Ginny's work line.
A harassed older woman answered, blurring her words together slightly as she spoke: "Weasl- Wiz- In- offi, hold," was as much as Draco managed to decipher, but he waited anyhow, listening to the abysmally bad hold music.
As the music played on, Draco allowed his thoughts to drift. What's going on? The woman that answered sounded like she was in a big hurry…that's very unusual. Normally she's very cheerful and personable. Something has got to be wrong…
Curious, he dragged the Daily Prophet Natalie had so thoughtfully laid on his desk to him, thinking he might find something about Ginny's work closer to the Business section, perhaps something about a heavily funded prank gone awry.
Imagine his surprise when the article he was looking for was front-page news-
Weasley's Wizarding Inc. Offices Robbed!
As Draco's eyes took in the moving photo in the Daily Prophet of the robbery, the hold music abruptly stopped, and he found himself connected to Ginny's voicemail at work. "Hello, this is Ginny Weasley, the head of accounting here at WWW, Inc. If you just leave me a message with your name and number, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!"
Shaking himself out of his reverie, he murmured, "Ginny, it's Draco. We need to talk. Soon. Call me back. You know the number."
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Ginny, meanwhile, was still at lunch with Harry, trying to get over her shock at his comment about firing Charlotte.
Ginny looked up at him like he was nuts. "No, you're not," she answered decisively.
He looked back at her irritably. "Yes, I am. If I say I am, I am. You'd be better for the job, anyhow."
"No, Harry," she muttered. "I won't let you. I picked out Charlotte. I like her; she recognizes my voice and never confuses me with Mum. That's more than I can say for half your past assistants. I won't allow you to put her out of a job."
He narrowed his eyes at her stubbornness, but relented. "Fine. Well, can you at least do weekends or holidays when she's off anyway? That won't affect her at all; in fact, it would probably help her quite a bit. Her work always piles up on Mondays; she's forever complaining about it."
She smiled. "Sure. That would probably help me quite a bit, too."
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When Ginny got back to the offices, she was in quite a good mood. Though Harry's offer would by no means keep her afloat if she lost her job, it would at least help pay her bills and keep her away from the shops on the weekends. It was a nice perk too, she decided, that she got to hang out with one of her best mates while she did it. Draping her purse and coat on her chair, she looked at her phone. It was blinking.
Damn it, when did she get so popular?
Grudgingly pressing the voicemail button, Draco's voice flooded her ears. "Ginny, it's Draco. We need to talk. Soon. Call me back. You know the number."
Rolling her eyes, she dialed his direct line at Gringotts, waiting patiently for Natalie to pick up the phone. But she didn't. The phone rang two, four, finally, five times before Draco himself answered it, and most impolitely at that.
"What?" he barked irritably, obviously cranky as hell that he had to answer some of his own calls. Natalie was at lunch, and he had no coverage for moments like that. He just had to stick it out. It figures that half the bloody calls of the day would come in during that forty-five minute period.
Ginny recoiled a little in her chair, used to Draco's irritability by now but uncomfortable at it being used directly at her. "You told me to call, Draco."
He sat in his chair, slumping his shoulders guiltily. "Ah, Ginny. Sorry about that. Natalie's at lunch, the whole place goes mad for about an hour when she bloody does that."
She smirked. "I bet. You have to do something, too. How difficult that must be for you."
Draco rolled his eyes. Smarmy bint. Ugh. "I don't know why I deal with you sometimes, Weasel."
"It's your job, Ferret," she fired back, enjoying the little banter they had going. It was helping her forget about the crazy events of her day, events she had no desire to recall anytime soon. When the banter began to run out, though, she grudgingly returned to the task at hand. "So… what did you call me about?"
He grimaced. He knew she was going to be defensive when he talked to her about this, and he had no desire to deal with a furious redhead, he had enough on his plate as it was. "I saw the article in the Prophet." There. Might as well go with facts, she can't get cranky that way.
"You and the rest of the wizarding world," she growled irritably.
Okay, maybe that comment could make her angry, Draco mentally amended, searching for a way to say what he needed without offending her. Finding no way to do that, he just decided to be blunt. "If they've stolen what I think they have, you're going to lose your job."
The redhead sighed, leaning back in her chair, allowing all of the feelings of hopelessness she'd been walking around with all day to wash over her like a warm bath. "I know. I kinda figured that out."
He sighed. He honestly felt bad for the weasel; she hadn't done anything to deserve her current situation. How he'd like to get a hold of those robbers and do a nice slow and painful Crucio… "You can come work for me."
"That's my second job offer of the day," Ginny countered. "I'm starting to feel very wanted here. Maybe you and Harry can get into a bidding war."
He scowled. "Don't tell me you're going to go work for Potter."
"Fine, I won't tell you," she answered angelically. "And since you're wondering, I'm only going to be working there on the weekends."
"Well, it's settled then," he replied brightly. "During the week, you can work for me."
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Authoress' Note: Will Ginny accept Draco's offer? How would they act if they do work together, especially after the almost-kiss when they were budgeting? What will happen to WWW, Inc and its employees- Ginny, Madge, Elmer, and the Weasley twins? How is Ginny going to do on her first weekend with Harry? This and more to come-all in the next installment of In the Red! Stay tuned! P.S. Review!