Work Away from Work

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.
x

Being the Mistress of Magic had its quirks, but it also had its downfalls. It had its pros and its cons.

Among the list of quirks and pros is the fact that most people move out of the way politely in an attempt to show respect. That had happened to her several times over the past two years of having the position she had. People simply stepped aside to let her walk and refused to let her offer them the past first. Another one of the quirks was the fact that barkeepers were always willing to give you whatever drinks you wanted, free of charge. And they would give you as many as you wanted. Not only that, but they tried to make sure you had the best seat in the entire pub, away from the all-seeing public eye and somewhere slightly hidden.

Among the list of downfalls and cons was the fact that everyone knew everything about you. Nothing was secret. Maria could no longer introduce herself without someone already knowing who she was. She could no longer try to meet people and make nice with them because the papers wrote about her, both lies and truths, and no one knew what to believe. When she was out in public, everyone saw her and wanted to talk to her and ask about what was going on in the Ministry, when they know good and well that it was perfectly private business and not made for the public ear.

Maria hated both the pros and the cons. She couldn't win for losing regardless of which way she tried to go. People would always know her from now on, at least until a few new generations were born, by which time she would probably be dead. She hated being offered charity when she was one of the wealthiest women in Great Britain. None of it really made sense to her. Just because she was the Mistress of Magic didn't mean her entire life had to be broadcasted to the entire world. Just because she was the Mistress of Magic didn't mean she had to be offered charity. If she were given the opportunity to go back in time and make the decision again, she would definitely change her mind or maybe change the way things are run.

She could go back in time, of course, but it wasn't a wise decision. Maria had contemplated it a few times while she was sitting lazily in her office signing away at papers that she had had to read a dozen times to make sure she thoroughly understood was they had within them. She had tried to plan out the time travel carefully using the Time-Turner, but nothing seemed to make enough sense to her. So she just nixed the idea altogether and moved on to what she had to do: sign off on some more papers.

Maria usually did not leave the Ministry of Magic on the days she had to work. If she did, it was for her lunch break that was to be spent with her daughter when she was at home. But Emily wasn't at home; she was at Hogwarts learning and doing what she was supposed to be doing. Then why was Maria Sanchez in the Leaky Cauldron on a work day? Well, you see, the office had become quite boring--so boring that it became a distraction. Maria had started to think of ways to spiffy it up and make it look nicer than it already did. And then she wasn't getting any work done.

She had made the decision to come to Diagon Alley and find a shop to sit in where she could work with few distractions. She had chosen the Leaky Cauldron because it was dark enough to be well-hidden but light enough to see so that she could read. The Leaky Cauldron also had large tables upon which she could set her work; the tables were also spread far enough apart that there was room between one table and the other. There were also special booths, some of which were marked out so that no one else could intrude. Maria didn't mind an occasional interruption, so she told the tender to leave the marker off in case someone wanted to talk. She was definitely not against talking.

The woman had lowered herself into a corner area and started to work on some of those documents she more tired with each passing moment. Nonetheless, she managed to keep her eyes open and to keep herself focused enough to read even though she was really in no mood to read and read and read until she was a dead person.

Maria had made herself comfortable. She had kicked her heeled shoes off beneath the table and brought a chair around so that she could prop her bare feet up. She placed her feet on the empty chair and crossed her legs at the ankle. She moved her feet gently as if rocking them back and forth. And there she was, doing her work.

After a few moments, the noise level became slightly higher and then went down to be a bit lower. She blinked a few times and continued reading. She could feel a slight pain in her eyes from all of the words on the page. A sigh escaped her lips as she continued on and leaned back against her seat, looking quite at home. She could sense a presence near her and then saw the shape of a silhouette. Whether male or female, she could not tell. She wasn't really paying it any mind at the moment. Even if she was paying it mind, she probably wouldn't care. She had work to do. But then again, she was hoping for an interruption. She was half-tempted to tell the silhouette, whoever it was, that interruptions were welcome and desperately wanted at the moment. But she didn't. She just kept reading.

[/blockquote]

[Rachel Prewett]

Rachel had finally gotten herself a free moment away from Hogwarts. She loved the school to death, probably more than she should, but with the first term about the start the school was utter chaos. Chaos Rachel could handle, but chaos and having to deal with peeves tossing her papers across her office, right after she had finished sorting them.

Entering the familiar atmosphere of the leaky cauldron Rachel smiled, being the deputy headmistress had its pro’s people knew who she was but they didn’t bug her about the things going on at Hogwarts they’d ask a few questions every now and then but because she wasn’t the headmistress they tended to leave her alone.

The job she was hoping to accomplish at the leaky cauldron today was getting to know some of the students that had arrived early this year, most of them were the high years whom she had known, but many of them had changed, and their files had gotten thicker, heavier.

Rachel readjusted her grip on her briefcase as she continued deeper into the pub, she was heading towards her usual table, the one that she always sat at when she had work to do and had gotten out of her office. As she drew closer to her usual table Rachel noticed someone was sitting there. She couldn’t tell but as she drew closer the person slowly started to make a shape.

It was the Mistress of Magic. Rachel would be lying if she said she wasn’t surprised to see the Mistress here. The last time she had seen her out of the Ministry was when she visited the school last year to inquire about how the staff was running the school, and to critique them.

Rachel had appreciated her critiques they had been honest and had helped the staff as a whole become better, better at communicating, and better at teacher the students. “Mistress Sanchez” Rachel said with a small smile as she sat at the table that was next to Maria’s.

Rachel might not have been able to get her usual table but she was able to get a table that was further away from the noisy pub members and secluded enough that she wouldn’t be bothered. Rachel placed her briefcase on top of the table and pulled out the students’ files, as well as some paperwork she had to get done.


Both seemed about as appealing as getting the dark mark, but both had to be done. Taking a deep breath Rachel picked up the file that contained the paper work, better to get the one that would bore her to death done first, then maybe she could join peeves in his haunting and jokery.

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.
x

The fluctuating noise in the pub was starting to get rather annoying and become a very large distraction for the busy Mistress of Magic. She had to pause when things got too loud because she would lose her place in reading if she didn't; by the time she started to read the documents again, she found herself losing her place as the pub's noise level got louder and louder before falling once more. She had eventually stopped reading altogether and just stared at the documents, pretending to read. She was doing a poor job, because her eyes weren't moving across the page at all, and they were actually started to droop. She needed a cup of coffee or wine or something.

One of the waiters walked by her table and hadn't bothered to check and see whether or not she needed something to drink or eat. She watched as he started to walk towards the counter, where he would then walk behind it and go into the kitchens. She glared slightly and let out a sight. About the time he neared the counter across the room, she called out to him for him to fetch her a nice glass of red wine, and to place it on her tab. He was obviously annoyed with her request once he had gotten so far across the room, but she really could have cared less. He hadn't liked her since day one anyway, probably because he was a pureblood or something. Maria had nothing against him, though; she wasn't one for prejudice or hate for no apparent reason.

When the waiter returned with her wine, she nodded her head politely in thanks before he walked off. Once he was gone, the older woman sipped lightly from her glass and placed it atop a small stack of napkins on the table; she didn't want it to leave a ring on the wooden tabletop.

As she did that, she heard someone greet her. She looked to her right and saw no one at the table beside her. She then turned to her left and saw one of the professors, the Deputy Headmistress in fact, sitting at the table beside hers. The woman offered a small smile and nodded her head in greeting to the woman.

"Mademoiselle," she said with an obvious smile plastered upon those thin lips of hers, "How are you this evening?" She looked at the woman as she began pulling papers from her briefcase and blinked some. Apparently she had come to the Leaky Cauldron to get some work done, too. Maria couldn't blame her for wanting to work, but she knew that neither of them would get their work done, especially since they were both there and both adults and both females. Naturally they would end up talking about whatever it was that came to mind.

The Mistress lifted her glass to her lips once again and sipped the red wine from it once again. She was not going to drink much, only enough to clench her thirst. She wasn't going to get drunk and try to apparate home, that was for sure. It was a somewhat amusing thought, though, trying to watch the Mistress of Magic parade around the Leaky Cauldron with absolutely no clue of the fool she was turning out to be. That would be the time where Emilio would have to come in and take her home. That hadn't happened yet, but Maria had no doubt in her mind that it would sometime in the future. Hopefully it would be when she was a bit more popular and had more experience and tenure in the office. Right now, her popularity rates were decent, but they probably weren't enough to keep her from getting impeached and voted out for making a complete fool of herself in a public place. No, she'd have to keep herself in check. And that wouldn't be hard to do.

Slowly, the older woman started to stack her papers neatly, one atop the other, and slid them carefully into her messenger bag sitting on one of the chairs near her. She made sure the papers were neat and that they did not get wrinkled during their transfer from one place to another. Once that was done, she closed the bag and pushed it aside, not bothering with it anymore. Her small feet remained stretched out in the chair near her. Her heels were idly lying on the floor beneath the table. If anyone saw Mrs. Sanchez, he would see that she was quite comfortable and relaxed; she would doubtfully be moving from her spot anytime soon. There was no doubt about that…

[/blockquote]

[Rachel Prewett]

Up and down, up and down, it was like one of those muggle rides her parents had told her about when she was young, a roller coaster or something. The roller coaster that Rachel was referring to was the roller coaster of noise in the place. It was either obnoxiously loud or was eerily quiet. There was no in between for the leaky cauldron.

Normally the noise level wouldn’t have bothered her. In fact she would have found it comforting after spending the last few months in the silent halls of Hogwarts, it wouldn’t be long though till the halls were filled with chattering students, just waiting to get their fill of knowledge, even if for some of them it was only a matter of days before they were ready for their holiday breaks.

Hearing the Mistress of Magic speak to her she turned her head to better see her, since getting to her seat the Mistress had acquired a glass of red wine and had seemed to have given up on the paper work she had previously been working on.

“I’m fine, just trying to get a head start on all the paperwork that the school decided to put off till last minute.”

[/b] said with a small smile, it wouldn’t come as a surprise that the school would have waited till the last possible moment to get the paperwork done, and when that happened it was Rachel who got to make sure it was done and put in order.

It didn’t bother her that she got stuck with the paperwork; it happened every year, like clock work, a few weeks before lessons actually started every professor would saunter into her office and ask about something or another that usually required some paperwork to be filed. The only thing she really wanted was perhaps a little more time to do the paper work, that way it would be her best, and not just mediocre.

Seeing a waitress walk by her table Rachel called out to her for a cup of hot tea, this paper work was starting to make her eyes to fall, she couldn’t have that, the paper’s would be all over it stating the Deputy Headmistress wasn’t taking her job seriously, and was falling asleep while important documents were placed in front of her for anyone to see as they walked by.

She could see the story now, no one would care that the reason she was falling asleep was from her sleepless nights the past few days because of all the paperwork that had been tossed aside to be done at a later point. If there was one thing Rachel was going to change this year it was going to be the procrastination, it had to stop.

As the waitress placed her the tiny porcelain tea cup and saucer in front of Rachel she was using her fingers to rub the bridge of her nose, smiling a gracious smile Rachel took a sip from the steaming cup, the liquid felt like heaven as it slide down her throat, it was perfect just like she always had her tea, that was another perk to being well known in the wizarding world, every place in town knew your favorite drinks, food, and even reading material.

Rachel looked down at the stack of papers sitting in front of her and shook her head, she wasn’t going to be able to focus on her work, not when she was half falling asleep and she hadn’t been able to focus on it for the past fifteen minutes.
Rachel once again turned her attention back to the Mistress of Magic, she looked relaxed, like she had not a care in the world, Rachel wished she could feel like that, and she could it would just take a few weeks, even months before she’d be able to have that relaxed look on her face, by then everything would be in running order at Hogwarts and she’d be free to help with lesson plans and even teach a class here and there.

That’s what Rachel had really wanted to do, she had wanted to be the defense against the dark arts professor at Hogwarts, but when she arrived she was offered the position of deputy headmistress, and one had to be stupid to turn an offer like that down, when she was so young.

Maybe there would be a chance for her to teach, there were many teaching positions open, and it wasn’t unheard of for the Deputy headmistress to be teaching at the same time as being deputy headmistress, the job did have a lot of down time when the school year was going on and not just starting.[/center]

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.
x

Paperwork was one thing Maria Sanchez absolutely hated. It seemed that she had more paperwork than anything else, and it took up so much of her time. She could spend her time doing something better or more productive, rather than reading papers and signing them once she was done. It was a tedious part of her job that she wished she could ban entirely from all areas of work. But if she did that, there would be a lot of problems. She knew that already. So, it would have to stay, no matter how much she and other people hated it.

"I know the feeling," the woman said, looking into her glass as she lifted it towards her lips. Many people in the other departments of the Ministry took their time on paperwork and didn’t think to get it to her as quickly as they could. Instead, they took as much time as they wanted to read the papers before throwing them, almost literally, into her face. When she finally got down to the last paper she needed to read and sign, her secretary would come knocking and say that there was more to be done. Some days Maria felt like yanking all of her curls from her head, but she didn't. Bald was definitely not something that would look the least bit attractive on her. "My workers wait until the last minute to do things, too; so don't think you're the only one trying to get things done before a certain date."

She didn't look at the younger woman while she spoke, but rather, into her glass. She watched the red liquid inside the small glass and then sipped fro it lightly. What little lipstick she had been wearing came off around the edge of the glass and remained there, a faint pinkish color. The woman placed her glass atop the table, atop a small stack of napkins as to not leave a ring on the table from where her glass was "sweating." The woman looked around the pub momentarily and then laid her eyes upon the younger woman.

"I tell my employees that I want their paperwork as soon as they can get it to me. Of course, they don't get it to me very soon after having received it. They wait until the last minute, only a day or two before it needs to be complete. And then I am left running around trying to get things done, working myself to death and after hours. It's too much." The woman wasn't complaining, merely stating fact. She worked a lot of overtime hours, which was one reason she had so much money. The extra money she had gone into savings for things she needed or wanted in the future. Aside from that, she wanted to be able to settle down sometime or another and have money to live comfortably without having to rely upon her children for financial help.

The woman closed her eyes momentarily and leaned her head back some. She remained like that for a few moments and then lifted her hands to her hair. She removed the hair bow that was holding the large mass of curls in a tight knot at the back of her head. She had pulled her hair back so tightly that it was giving her a headache. With a sigh of relief, she shook her head and the curls fell loose. She put the hair bow on her left wrist and then ran her hand through her hair. "That's better," she said aloud, to no one in particular. She looked at the younger woman with a slight grin. "Now all I need is someone to rub my feet." She laughed at herself a bit, trying to make her joke sound more funny than it probably actually was. Her feet were hurting, thanks to those outrageously high shoes she wore for height, but she was almost used to it. She had worn them a lot before receiving the position as Mistress. Now that she was in the position, she wore them almost everyday, to look professional. Her main reason, though, was for height. No one wanted a Mistress who was smaller than most of their children, after all.

[/blockquote]