Penny hated waiting on lines. They were just pointless; couldn’t wizards come up with a better alternative? So Penny was not happy at the prospect of waiting on line for lunch at the ministry canteen. She usually started her day early enough so that she could break for lunch at around 11:30; exactly before the lunch rush started. She was proud of this system, and therefore frustrated that she had to deviate from it. She had been so engrossed on a particular translation problem that when she last looked up at her watch she realized it was already 12:30 and she was starving.
With a sigh Penny headed to the canteen, walking quickly, the interest of her problem set beckoning to her back to the office. She never actually ate at the canteen; it was set up with various round tables, with colleagues and friends eating together and chatting. But Penny didn’t have any friends, and didn’t really fancy eating alone. It was like Hogwarts, only worse. At least at the long house tables at Hogwarts one could pretend to be with a group just by sitting next to them. It wasn’t so obvious there at mealtimes who was the loner. Looking too busy to sit and eat was better than looking like a loner, so Penny usually took her sad canteen sandwich back to her desk and ate there.
The first thing that she noticed when she got to the canteen was the crowd of people gathering outside of it. Penny stood on her tip toes and saw that the doors were closed, lettuce strewn all over the floor in front of it. Tomatoes were splattered all over the door and some of the onlookers, and it very much looked like the aftermath of a bad comedic performance where the audience is given vegetables to express their dissatisfaction at the performer. Penny might have found it funny if she wasn’t so hungry.
She turned to the closest person next to her, a witch with blond hair, and asked, “Excuse me, do you know what’s going on here?”
There was something familiar about the other witch, and as Penny looked closer she realized she knew her from Hogwarts. What was her name? Penny recalled that she was the same year as her, and that she had been a Gryffindor. Kara? She had tutored the Gryffindor at potions, she dimly remembered, and she was quite sure she had played Quidditch. A distant memory of hearing a Quidditch game unfold from an open window in the Hospital Wing brought forth her name finally.
“Keela? hi! It’s Penny.” Penny hadn’t changed much from her years at Hogwarts, but it’s not like they had been friends exactly, so Penny thought that a reminder could be useful to the other witch. After all, it’s not like I was exactly memorable, Penny thought cynically.
“Do you work here too?” Penny was quite young to be working at the Ministry, and therefore didn’t see too many of her classmates at work. It had been just her luck that Unspeakable training had started directly after term, so she was able to join the Ministry in November. She smiled, excited at the prospect that someone she knew possibly worked at the Ministry.
