Love at the Ministry (Percy Weasley/ Kelina)

Chapter Seven

"Ginny, I can't face him! I threw up on him!" Kelina exclaimed into the phone the next morning. She hadn't really slept last night, not being able to stop thinking about yesterday's event. She thought she'd be fine, until of course she ended up throwing up lunch all over Percy's shoes. Not to mention the other weird feelings towards him yesterday. 'You're just touch deprived, you would've felt the same way if Twycross had caught you too' she told herself, even if she didn't believe it.

"Listen, he's probably just as embarrassed as you are. Just go into work, and just pretend that nothing ever happened." Ginny explained.

"I can't, it's not just that it's-you know what, never mind. You're right." Kelina refrained from telling the other girl about her feelings yesterday, as it would make it real. For now, she would live in her small bubble pretending she felt nothing towards Percy except for deep hatred.

"That's the spirit. Look, I've got to go, Harry and I are going to, well, it's a surprise. Bye!" And with that, Ginny hung up. Kelina didn't think too much about what her and Harry were going to do, as she was still nervous about going into work. Sighing, she put her shoes on as slowly as possible. She still had to endure four more days of working closely with the other boy, but it couldn't be worse than yesterday.

Walking into the same room they were in yesterday, Kelina could almost feel the same way she did yesterday, with Percy in close proximity to her, almost made her feel the same way she did six years- 'NO' she cut those thoughts out of her head, refusing to let her head remind her.

The only difference to yesterday is that there were two desks present, and Percy Weasley was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, Ms. Parker, good morning, take a seat at any of the desks." Wilkie Twycross greeted her. "Mr. Weasley let me know he's going to be a few minutes late, but no worries, today is not a physical training. You're just going to be taking some tests."

"Tests?"

"Oh yes, Ms. Parker, simple tests, very simple. Just a standard procedure to make sure you're all caught up." He explained, placing a stack of about 10 papers on her desk. "There's no time limit, so take your time."

She started slowly, turning over the first paper. He wasn't kidding, these tests were easy. The questions on here were pretty straight forward.

"Question One:

If a student splinches while Apparating, which of these would be the most effective way to help them?

A. Ignore them; they need to figure out how to help themselves

B. Have other students help fix them; it's a good teaching moment

C. Use Dittany to fix the splinched body part, given it's not too major

D. None of the Above"

Kelina almost rolled her eyes at the question. It did make her wonder what some ministry official did to get to be a test question, however.

By the time she finished the back of the first page, Percy walked in, quickly as possible. He exchanged hushed words with Twycross, before being handed the same packet and instructed to sit. The two of them worked in silence, Kelina being too afraid to even look at him. She was afraid if she looked too long, she'd start feeling the same things she felt before.

After two hours of sitting in silence, working on tests, Kelina finally got to the end. It was easy, but some questions took a long time, and there were a ton of questions to get through. She was able to go get lunch afterwards, and that was when she realized how hungry she was. From spending the whole morning panicking, she realized she forgot to eat breakfast, and pack lunch. Luckily, there was a food court on the third floor.

Going down to the food court, she saw two familiar faces sitting and laughing at a table. Ron and Hermione noticed the girl, and waved for her to come sit next to them.

"Hey Kelina, funny seeing you here." Ron said, and Kelina looked at him funny. "Oh! Forgot you got a job here, erm-"

"You'll have to ignore him, he's been acting like this all day." Hermione said with a smile. "How has work been?"

"Well, funny you should mention it, I've recently been given some sort of a promotion. I'm going to help give Apparition lessons at Hogwarts." At this statement, Hermione gasped and excitedly put a hand on Kelina's.

"Oh my goodness, that's amazing! Usually they only give that to super experienced workers!"

"Maybe they were running low on people." Ron suggested, which caused Hermione's smile to fall and give him a pointed look. "Not that you're not qualified! I just meant-"

"No, it's okay, Ron, I know what you meant." Kelina reassured him.

"I know it must be difficult working with someone you haven't exactly gotten along with, but maybe the two of you are getting along now?" Hermione asked.

"Is it true you puked all over him?" Ron asked, a smile on his face.

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded. "Ignore him, he-"

"Does everyone know?" Kelina asked, her head dropping into her hands.

"No! It's just you told Ginny, and she told Harry, who told Ron, and well, I guess." Hermione explained, a sad smile on her face.

"It was awful! I can't even look at him!"

"At least you don't hate him anymore." Ron said, trying his hardest to comfort the girl.

"No, I still hate him."