ENCHANTRESS | Harry Potter

FIVE

"Where is he? What happened?"

"Hit by a car, yes, he just stepped into the street unprompted, strange, he had seemed fine a moment ago."

"The funeral is tomorrow. Perhaps you shouldn't go."

"I-I didn't mean to..."

"You killed him!"

Bada gasped as she opened her eyes, her hand clawing at her sheets as if they were the reason she couldn't breathe. She pushed herself up, long hair framing her face as she breathed in and breathed out, her hand clutching the necklace around her neck, the pretty pearl feeling more like a curse than a blessing at the moment. Her breathing turned less violent, the fright her nightmare had induced getting less and less. Still, she knew she wouldn't be getting back to sleep tonight.

The clock informed her the hour was a couple of minutes to five. Bada abandoned any attempts to sleep and left the bed. She ran a hand through her hair as she crossed the bedroom to take the clothes she would be wearing to work and headed right for the bathroom. After a short shower, she felt better, her head cleared, and so she went on to get ready for the day.

The clothes she had ironed just last night fit her well, a comfortable yet formal-looking dark trousers with a shirt to match tucked in. She set her hair in a bun, away from her face, just in case she would need to fight, and she headed for the kitchen. She had a brief breakfast, and after a while, she was heading to the front door, her coat on, her wand in one of its pockets. If she hurried along, she would be able to reach the office about a quarter before her shift started. She planned on reaching that deadline.

She took the stairs to the ground floor, believing the lift to take longer to move from one floor to the other than it would take her to move floors, and so, a while later she was exiting the apartment. She headed right for her usual alley, feeling for her personal coin on her way to ensure it was still there. And when she had finally reached the alley, she turned on the spot and disappeared, only to appear in the atrium.

People were already walking along, most of them heading to the general direction of the lift, and she followed the mass, stepped inside. As she looked up, she was a bit surprised to see that across from her was a person she knew.

Anthia beamed her way and before the lift could be filled with people, she walked over to stand by her side. Before they even exchanged a word, Bada took in Anthia's appearance that seemed put together but could crumble with the slightest movement before she noticed the cup of coffee at hand. Then she raised her head to meet her eyes.

"Good morning," Anthia greeted her as the lift started to move.

"Good morning," Bada lowly replied back, "did you pull an all nighter again?"

"You could say that," she shrugged, then gestured to her coffee. "This is my third one."

"Since when?"

"I feel like I shouldn't reply to that question."

Bada shook her head with a small smile as the lift reached the second floor and both of them stepped out. "You know, depending on coffee isn't healthy."

"Well, I haven't died from it yet, have I?" she pointed out with a quick grin as their paths separated since they headed to their respective departments. Anthia waved at her briefly before she disappeared down the corridor and Bada turned to her own department.

She passed through countless of auror offices as she headed towards her own, most of them empty as the workers opted to not arrive until the very last minute. It was only because of the lack of people she managed to hear some of the conversation between Theodore and Draco that were already there, talking among themselves at their desks.