Help Wanted

As the shop gained popularity, Harley became more and more busy. She had hundreds of bouquets to prepare for weddings, and even more fruits and vegetables to harvest from the garden. The fact was, Harley needed help around the shop, and she needed it soon, so she decided to make a poster.

The poster was fairly simple, it would be taped onto the window so the pedestrians could see it, and it contained very few words so that it would be quick and easy to read.


After she taped it up to the window, she took a step back to admire it and make sure it was straight. Once she was sure she was happy with it, she turned around to head back indoors, but not before she noticed a student looking at the poster. She smiled and called out, "Are you considering the job? If so, nice to meet you, I'm the owner, Harley. Harley Fenwick."

Andrea walked down past the various shops of Cheval with her hands in her pockets and her head down. She watched her feet whilst trying to not dwell on the coming exams. She was bound to fail most of them. It was a certainty. Andrea had never been good with study and barely scraped by with passing marks for all of her school career. What was there for her after she graduated? She couldn't go back to Zurich. Her aunt and uncle wouldn't turn her out of the house but Andrea knew finding work in amongst muggles was a no go zone. And she hadn't yet figured out the location of the Swiss Ministry.

The seventh year paused when she saw a pair of feet in front of her. She then looked up first at the witch as she was re-entering the shop and then at the poster. Her eyes were trained back on the woman again as she tried to sort through her brain as to why exactly she had looked at it. Certainly she was thinking about work but she hadn't started looking. "Well," she began. "I'm not sure if I'm looking here exactly." She glanced at the poster again. One phrase stood out. Must enjoy plants. Not exactly a trait which described her despite having chosen to continue on with Herbology. On the other hand, it wasn't like anything else was leaping out at her.

"Would you take me on as a trial basis?" she asked. "Oh and I'm Andrea Ritter. Nearly ready to graduate so I will be in need of employment soon."

Harley smiled and stuck her hand out to be shook. "Nice to meet you, Andrea. I'd be comfortable with whatever you want to do. How about I show you around the shop first so you can see what your duties will be." They walked into the quaint little shop, which was charmed to look very much smaller on the outside than it truthfully was, and the smell of fresh roses and peppers immediately hit them.

"If you start working here you'd be doing simple jobs at first. Watering the plants, taking phone calls, and managing the register are only a few of these jobs. Eventually when you get used to the store, you can start arranging bouquets however you want as long as they maintain an aesthetic. Throwing flowers together and wrapping a string around them is not a bouquet, it's a bundle," Harley said, showing her the wall of bouquets that were pre-made and kept alive and fresh with a special potion she had made. "Honestly, it's a fun place to work. The people who come in are usually friendly and like to talk, and the plants are always there to keep you company. We're getting in a shipment of magical plants soon, but the ones used in potions we don't usually keep. Those are down at Airy Apothecary. We're only here to provide beauty and good food in the form of plants."

This girl seemed nice, and she was looking for employment. prior experience didn't matter, and pay was never an issue for Harley due to her coming out of her job as an Unspeakable, which payed very well. Anyone could be trained, and as long as they had fun, she was willing to take her on. "So, Andrea, what do you say?"

Andrea rubbed her nose as the smells of the shop assailed her. This place was going to be a challenge, she could see that right away. However, she could also picture her aunt's face if she told her she nailed a job before she'd even graduated. Aunt Lisa would never believe Andrea could be so pro-active.

"You have a phone?" With having spent the past seven years surrounded by non-muggle objects she had not ever heard of anyone having an object so ordinary and normal. It stood out in the list of duties that she had to rethink what it was she'd be doing again. Oh yes. Watering, answering, serving customers. Easy. Putting together a bouquet of flowers, on the other hand, did sound more challenging. Andrea could make a bundle of flowers. Anyone could. However, looking at the pre-made bouquets she could very well understand why Harley made the distinction between the two. Her brow furrowed as she took in all the information the older witch threw at her. After seven years of Herbology, magical plants shouldn't phase her but it did still make Andrea just that little bit queasy.

"Hmm. Well, I hope you don't want to get rid of me if I fail my Herbology exams," she began. "I have done well enough to continue on into my seventh year but I'm not the most brilliant of students." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm not doing a very good job of selling myself am I?" Truthfully she was a little frightened of working in such a place but she did need a job and it was a good place to start. "So if you still want to take a risk and offer me the position, I'll take it."

Harley laughed. "Of course I have a phone! I'm a muggle-born. We serviced in and out of the Wizarding World, so you might also have to make deliveries sometimes if that's okay with you. If not then I'm okay with doing it." It confounded Harley at first why the girl would be confused by her owning a phone, but then she realized that this was a witch, and so was she, and they should not be using phones. Honestly, owls were just too much work, and they would probably freak muggles out a bit.

"Don't worry about grades. It's easier to learn on the job rather than from a book, trust me. Also, I passed all my exams and OWLs with flying colours, so if you need any help on what to study or which teacher's exam is the easiest to cheat on, let me know. The Herbology teacher loves me, and I'm sure if you stick around here for a while you would do amazing on his exam," Harley assured. She really had been better at Arithmancy, Potions, and Charms, but Herbology had been her safe haven. It was a weekly ritual for her to go down to the greenhouse and watch over the plants when the Professor was gone.

Harley smiled at the girl. "Andrea Ritter, I believe you are doing a just fine job. I'd be happy to take you on. So, when do you want to start?"

This job was now starting to sound much more interesting than before. "Oh good. Great. I'm muggleborn too. I'll have no trouble with answering a telephone or making deliveries to muggle places." How exactly the deliveries were made wasn't something she gave any thought to. It was enough to hear of some normality involved in a job she was now seriously considering taking on. That is if Harley was still willing to employ her after this discussion.

Another reason for accepting the job. From what she'd been told by her career adviser at Beauxbatons grades mattered for most career paths. They'd been of no help whatsoever with helping her to work out what she wanted to do with her life but that had scared her into thinking she would be unemployable. "It would be good to do better than barely passing." It would be good shock value too since Andrea was sure her aunt didn't expect her to do at all well in her exams. "I might need some help with Herbology," she admitted.

She'd passed. She'd actually passed this interview (if it could be called one) and now she froze. "Oh um I can start before I graduate?" she asked. "I mean it might be difficult because of this thing." She flicked at the hateful prefect badge she had pinned to her jacket, "but I'm sure I can work around patrols."

Harley smiled when Andrea perked up at the mention of her being a muggle-born. "Really? Where are you from? I'm from Westminster, as you can probably tell." She still had a lingering English accent that mixed in with her French, and though it had faded over the years it was still noticeable. Andrea seemed interested in the job though, so Harley was happy that something she had said made it more appealing. "Some places are closer, so you can make the trip via broom, or if its farther away you can use the Floo Network. Sometimes you can take the Knight Bus too if you want."

While Harley was at school, she was generally the go-to person to ask about for homework and study material for the exams, and she would be happy to share the information with Andrea. "Trust me, if you ever have questions on homework or studying for exams you are free to stop by and ask me. I'd love to help on any subjects you're struggling on." Nothing made Harley happier than being able to help someone, even if it was something as simple as a free rose to gift to a loved one.

"Congrats on being Prefect! I was friends with the Prefect when I was in school. If you ever feel like stopping by the shop and helping out or just staying here for a quiet place to take a break, I'm okay with that," Harley shrugged. Honestly, scheduling wasn't a huge issue to her. "You can work here for as long as you want, so if you feel like this is temporary and you eventually want to study to be an Auror, that's perfectly fine."

"Zurich in Switzerland," Andrea replied.  She had no clue where Westminster was other than it being in England and she didn't want to know.  The slight accent had been there in Harley's voice but Andrea decided to withhold her usual prejudices against the English in the prospect of future employment when previously she had none.  Besides, the witch was no Sarah Mason.  Flying on a broom held no appeal.  Andrea refused to get back on one when compulsory flying lessons ended.  "I'd probably go with the bus as my first option."  She knew about floo but never actually had the opportunity to use that mode of transport.

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied.  Harley may end up regretting her offer since Andrea had trouble in all subjects.  And the ones she was currently doing were her strongest ones.  It had been quite worrying with her graduation coming very close at a fast rate.

Andrea never understood why anyone believed prefectship was something to be congratulated over. It was awful stuff and not something she could say to her new boss. "Oh, I seriously doubt I'd get the results needed for an auror or anything else that may need further training."  Though perhaps she could move onto something different if this job became dull.  "Anyway, I'd better get moving on now.  I'll drop in here next time in the village and see if you need help."