Who: Cecilia Barbary and Bernice Dunstan What: Commiserating about their shared misfortune after a day of cleaning When: Friday, late afternoon Where: Ministry of Magic - staff showers/changing rooms Rating: PG?
By the time she had finished her allotted hours for the day, Cece was trembling from exhaustion and her face was flushed. No one had ever told her that dung was heavy and as she had never had to clean anything manually, she was having difficulty learning the proper way to use a shovel to scoop up the muck in the troll cages and how to operate a mop without straining herself. So her shoulders hurt and she was sure she'd pulled muscles in her back. Heathcote would have to use the balm and cast healing charms again, and he'd get angry... again. Not at her, but the Ministry for assigning her the task. He'd protested at the beginning but no one listened. Cece suspected there was some other hand at work, for her punishment seemed so pointless.
As for the smell, she still threw up every time after first entering the cages. The supervisor had a bucket on hand now and some water, for it had become a routine. Cece would walk in, go pale and rush out to throw up in the bucket, emptying the contents of her stomach. She'd forgone lunch this time though and therefore the retching hadn't been so bad, but she felt tireder as a consequence.
At least she was allowed overalls and a mask, and a cover for her hair. It was a small mercy, but she dreaded anyone she knew seeing her in such an awful outfit and especially after she'd finished her work. She knew she must look a fright and the overalls made her sweat terribly.
As soon as she entered the changing rooms, Cece stripped off the coveralls and dumped them in the basket provided, wrinkling her nose at the smell before slamming the lid down in an angry gesture that jarred her sore shoulders. "Owwwww..." she groaned and stumbled to one of the benches, sitting down in her underwear, unable to get to the showers until she'd at least sat down for five minutes. Her stomach growled, hunger gnawing her insides. She really needed to eat, even if she didn't feel like it.
"So unfair..." she muttered, rolling off the bench to head for the showers.