Magical Hogwarts

Rybinsk Magical Hotel
Beginning of August 2005

At breakfast her parents had talked about a friend of Zhenya’s who had asked for a job at the magical hotel. Evelina had listened and voted in favour of giving the young wizard a chance. She said that if he wasn’t any good they could easily sack him again. Her parents didn’t seem too intrigued by the idea of hiring a man they didn’t even know, but Evelina decided to pretend that she knew of Konrad. It wasn’t really true. She had seen him around and she knew that he was Zhenya’s friend (and always wondered if they were just friends or a couple. If it was the latter then Konrad was a lucky chap. Zhenya was a pretty girl and a good artistic flyer. Of course, if he wanted intelligent conversations he might need a back up plan.)

Towards the end of breakfast, most things were settled - her father would draft a contract with a probationary period of two months, and, since everybody was busy, Evelina had happily volunteered to show him around. Not that he’d need much showing around given that he lived at the hotel at the moment. However, if he was anything like Zhenya then some explanations might be sensible. Evelina made a mental note to repeat important details - just in case.

An hour later the girl stood in the lobby, wearing white sneakers, black jeans, and a white dress shirt, trying to look like a little businesswoman. When she spotted Konrad, the petite twelve year old straightened up, hoping to look taller. She blew an obnoxious curl out of her face as she approached the young wizard with a business-like smile which she tried to copy from how her mother usually greeted people at the hotel.

“Hello Konrad,” she said, realising that she might have to address him differently but struggling to work out the correct way to address the German. She didn’t know his patronymic and then decided that the age difference between them wasn’t that big that they couldn’t be on a first name basis.

“Evelina Petrovna Mishina, pleased to meet you. Please follow me into the office.” That said, she spun around and led the way into her parents’ office. Nobody was there, but there were two copies of a contract draft laid out on the desk. “Before I can show you around we’ll have to complete the paperwork,” she said importantly as she sank into the executive chair that almost seemed to swallow her.

@Konrad Sturm

There were usually small hints that a prospective employer did not want Konrad, things he picked up when he met them or interviewed with them, glances aside or lingering looks at his patched clothes, the peeling leather of his boots, straggly, curling hair he could never get to look nice even when it was clean and combed and tucked behind his ears. He had convinced himself quite handily that the Mishins did not want him, and resigning himself to the punishing life of day-by-day employment, and then -- out of nowhere the next morning -- they had reached out to him in his room, where he was dining by himself, with an offer. Two months was not much, but when the alternative was day-by-day Konrad could not complain.

He could complain that they had reached out with a meeting time in an hour and he had not been at the hotel when the message was sent to his room, but he wouldn't -- he was not sure he was allowed to be keeping his dog in the hotel with him and the reason he had missed that note was that he had been out in a large vacant field throwing sticks for her. Now she was back up in his room; in the roughly ten minutes he'd had to prepare, he had tried again to make himself look like a presentable and non-delinquent youth, he had changed his grass-stained trousers, he had combed his hair. His robes -- knee-length and a little shabby, but clean and not wrinkled) were fine. He Apparated down to the lobby (why shouldn't he? it was faster than walking) and looked around for -- he wasn't sure who. Some other employee, he assumed?

At first he saw nobody, until he heard his name and tilted his head downward and saw that his onboarding process would be handled by a petite, curly-headed girl. It didn't even occur to him to say 'hello' back, for he was so busy frowning with confusion about why a ten year old was addressing him. "You have an office?" he said finally, striding after her. He was much taller and his legs were longer, so he caught her up quickly. He realised immediately that she was talking about her parents' office, and rather than draw attention to his blunder he decided to quietly move past it. In the office he was faced immediately with another obstacle: paperwork. He picked up one of the sheafs of parchment, gave it one dismissive glance, and dropped it back on the desk before sitting down.

"They put you in charge of paperwork?" he said, squinting critically at Evelina and how tiny she looked in that chair. "How old are you, twelve?"

Oh well… Evelina heard his question and immediately thought that Konrad and Zhenya made a brilliant couple. Neither of them seemed to be clever. She wondered, ever so briefly, what people like them talked about. Did they talk at all? Maybe this was a mostly corporeal relationship. Yuck!

She wrinkled her nose. Konrad didn’t look like someone who was coming to be hired for a new job at a comparably fancy hotel and he smelled like a dog. She remembered having seen him with one so that definitely explained the faint smell. Either way, she’d have to tell him that he had to wear clean work clothes. They had them there, of course, and even though he was rather tall, she assumed that there was something that would fit him.

The tone of surprise frustrated Evelina. Why would Konrad doubt that her parents trusted her with the paperwork? It was not like she had to do a lot more than offer him a quill to sign the contract. She raised her eyebrows but decided not to comment on it. She reminded herself that he was Zhenya’s friend and Zhenya’s parents probably wouldn’t ever let her handle paperwork.

“If you must know,” Evelina said calmly as she folded her hands in her lap, “I’m turning thirteen next week.”

She frowned a little and then gestured at the contract. “So, you’re getting a contract for part-time employment. The probationary period is two months. If everything works out well during that period, you’ll get a permanent contract. Both sides can still terminate that one with a month’s notice…” She looked at him, wondering if he understood what she was telling him.

“Do you understand and accept the conditions? As you can see” she sat up straight and pointed her finger at the contract, “my father already signed it here. So once you sign it, you’re an official employee of the Rybinsk Magical Hotel and I can show you around.”