Alla knew she was in trouble before the whole drama had really begun. She had overestimated her necromancy skills a tiny little bit. Really, it was no big deal and yet it was. She had animated some corpses and tried to make them do her bidding. However, quite unexpectedly, Nikolai Daniilovich had entered the scene and Alla had been so shocked that she had not focused much on the corpses anymore. Since she had just tried to make them open doors and, well, walk around like normal people, they had left the building. The girl had felt the bond lessen, had noticed they'd be out of her control soon but she had had to answer to Nikolai Daniilovich first.
Apologising over and over again and promising that such a thing would not happen again did not seem to do the trick. The Muscovite realised this a few minutes into the heated exchange. She stated that it was time now to see where their corpses had gone before they attracted too much attention. Unfortunately though it was too late already. Like sleepwalkers, aimlessly and unconsciously, three corpses were patrolling the street in front of the funeral home. Alla knew she could make them come back inside but she already felt exhausted. Her necromancy experiments cost her a lot of energy and the argument with Nikolai Daniilovich had finally caused her a headache. However, there was no time to rest now.
Within five minutes the corpses were back inside and lay lifelessly where they belonged. Any sign of the necromantic magic that had been performed was hidden well enough and Alla collapsed on a chair. She knew she'd have to listen to a lot more than she had already heard from Nikolai Daniilovich. To her great surprise her boss found it far more important to go out and try to obliviate all muggles who might have seen something. Unfortunately though he was a little late. There was an uproar already. Many people were outside of the funeral parlour and the muggle media had arrived as well. Nobody could tell how many people had already fled from the place, fearing the attack of the zombies.
Nikolai Daniilovich, fearing that his funeral parlour might get closed because of the incident, decided to answer to the Muggle law enforcement officials who had shown up already and asked Alla to show Ministry as well as press representatives a tour through the storage units. Alla tried to give the impression of a most innocent assistant when she was really just wishing herself far away from this place now.
Finally it was evening and time to go home. Nikolai Daniilovich voiced one last warning and told her that he didn't believe that they had already heard the last word about the incident.
*****
The next morning Alla came to the funeral parlour still feeling tired and apprehensive. As she stepped over the threshold she found a furious Nikolai Daniilovich who thrust a copy of the Prophet at her. Reading the article, Alla felt how her cheeks turned from pink to white. This was no good.
Obviously Nikolai Daniilovich thought so too. He asked her to sort things out and that she didn't have to return to work next week if she manage to appease the muggle authorities. As he mentioned them the doorbell rang already and Nikolai Daniilovich asked Alla to open the door and in the consequence answer the questions. The armed officials made Alla shudder. She wanted to pull out her wand to be able to protect herself but naturally she couldn't do that. She'd risk getting in even more trouble that way.
Alla led the officials into the office and offered them a cup of coffee which the two men refused. They didn't want a glass of water either but stared at her and she felt that she'd drop dead immediately if looks could kill. She felt a little torn about the situation. On the one hand she couldn't deny it was serious and that made her feel anxious but on the other hand the situation seemed somewhat ironic, even amusing. If she was quick enough she could possibly obliviate the three Nevertheless the girl had to do her best to convince the muggles that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"How do you explain that people claim to have seen zombies coming out of the funeral parlour?" asked the younger man, putting his glasses on and then picking up a pen to make some notes.
"As my boss already explained yesterday the mu... umm... people frequented the pub across the street and might have overindulged in vodka or some other drinks. I've been told there's also a movie at cinemas across Moscow about zombies..." Alla offered her most innocent smile. Maybe things would turn out well if she flirted a little? She was hardly good at playing that card but it was worth a try.
"Do you seriously want to tell me that there are several people having the same kind of hallucination?!?" the older man asked, his voice stern and firm.
Alla hesitated. She looked out of the window briefly, trying to think of some sort of response. When she saw a boy outside, she suddenly had an idea. She ran her hand through her silky blonde hair and took a moment before she replied.
"Well, alright then..." Alla looked down coyly and pretended to make a confession. "We all know that there are no
real zombies, don't we?! Since the people we work with are dead they cannot advertise our services. So I thought I'd get us some attention by asking a few friends to help out and play zombies." She shrugged apologetically.
"I just saw one of them walk past the window. I'll see if I can get him in so he can confirm that."
"Yes, please," said the older man coldly.
*****
Alla hurried out of the room, leaving the two men behind. She took a deep breath before stepping out onto the street and trying to find the boy who had walked past. She sprinted a few steps and stopped right in front of the boy. Only when she was facing him already, the young witch realised that her plan might not be perfect. She knew that both muggles and wizards were in this area of the city and by the look of the boy she could not tell if he was magical or not. Besides how should she make him say what she wanted him to tell the officials? She briefly thought about using the Imperius curse but it seemed a little extreme for the situation. She'd have to find another way to convince him, maybe even bribe him instead.
"Hello," Alla addressed the boy, offering a genuine smile. "I'm Alla, Alla Artyomovna. Would you like to earn yourself some money? I have a favour to ask of you." She paused and tried to read in his expression if her plan would work out. "You can really ask for almost anything in return," she added, now smiling nervously.
"It's..." she shrugged as she considered how to sell the task she had for him, "really no big deal. You'd just have to pretend that you participated in an advertising campaign on Thursday night..." her voice trailed off. If he said no now, she was definitely doomed.
