Hiring Penelope

"Give you a job? What do you mean?"

Penelope looked at Bell in surprise; Bell's words were clearly beyond her expectations.

"Literal meaning," Bell explained. "Actually, I've recently found that with the increasing amount of data being submitted, I often don't have time to review it. So I'd like to hire a secretary to organize the data and filter out the important information."

"But aren't there more suitable people here?"

Penelope looked at Hermione.

Hermione quickly withdrew her increasingly dangerous gaze, lowered her head, and pretended to be reserved without saying a word.

"Hermione won't do."

Bell said.

"Why can't I do it!"

Hermione was furious.

If Bell can't come up with a reasonable explanation today, don't expect to be able to talk to him again this week!

Hermione glanced furtively at her Personal Terminal.

"Yes, it's Sunday today, that's good."

"Much of those documents contain advanced magical knowledge, which Hermione is currently unable to understand. To be honest, I'm not sure if you, senior, are up to the task."

"Leave it to me!" Penelope patted her chest. "I'm sure I can handle this job!"

She decided to go back and throw away all the miscellaneous reference books recommended by her seniors, such as "Five Years of NEWTs, Three Years of Simulations" and "Pass the NEWTs Exam Easily in 30 Days".

To hell with exams!

"Are you really sure? If so, I'll have someone arrange the contract."

"It's confirmed!"

Penelope nodded firmly.

Putting aside the unspeakable feelings in her heart, given her relationship with Bell, she believed that Bell wouldn't arrange a bad job for her.

If the 7th graders knew that while they were struggling with exams and job hunting, I, a mere 6th grader, had solved my job problem in the time it took to eat breakfast, I wonder how many of them would be so envious they'd be practically exploding with jealousy.

"Okay, since you're new to the job, your salary might be a bit lower. How about 50 Galleon a month?"

"Not... much!?"

"50 Galleon a month, but we can discuss it if you think that's too low."

"No! It's not low! Rather, isn't it a bit too high?"

Penelope suspected that Bell might have some ulterior motive towards her.

That's a monthly salary of 50 Galleon!

She had heard Percy say that his father had worked at the Ministry of Magic for so many years, and his current monthly salary was only 50 Galleon.

That's enough income to support a family of nine! Many people would probably work themselves to death and never earn that much.

"It's not high anymore."

Unaware that the two women were looking at him with increasingly strange expressions, Bell casually remarked.

"You know, in the 21st century... cough cough, sorry, wrong topic. What was the most expensive thing in the 20th century?"

Talented!

Someone as talented as you, senior, is absolutely worth a monthly salary of 50 Galleon.

And this is just the initial salary; it will increase as you become more proficient at the job.

"Bell!"

Hermione called her boyfriend's name softly.

"Hmm? What is it?"

For some reason, looking at Hermione's smile, Bell felt a chill run down his spine.

The weather forecast didn't say it would get colder today.

"Can I work for you too? And how much salary are you planning to pay me?"

Hermione asked.

"Of course you can't."

Hermione's smile became increasingly chilling.

"You're the boss's wife! You should be paying me a salary."

In an instant, all of Hermione's negative emotions—resentment, jealousy, worry, and so on—vanished. All that remained was a profound sense of sweetness and happiness.

Looking at the smile blooming on his girlfriend's face, as beautiful and charming as the first flower in spring, Bell silently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Hey! You two! Can't you be a little more considerate of other people's feelings? I've been force-fed so much PDA by you two, I can't even eat breakfast!"

Penelope complained, dissatisfied.

"Huh? You're not single, why are you eating dog food? What, did Percy make you angry again?"

Bell scoffed, "You're the perpetrator, why are you playing the victim?"

"What do you mean 'again'? Percy is great to me, he's never made me angry, okay?"

"Your expression doesn't say that."

Although it wasn't obvious, Bell noticed that Penelope frowned subtly when she mentioned Percy.

"He's just... just a little annoying at times."

Penelope defended herself in a low voice.

She just couldn't understand it. After all, she was Prefect too! Although she was a Ravenclaw Prefect, shouldn't the Prefect of the four houses at Hogwarts have the same authority?

So how come she didn't realize how remarkable her position as Prefect was?

Isn't the Prefect just responsible for relaying messages between professors and students, and occasionally helping the professors with small favors?

So why is it that Percy is able to talk about the Prefect's honor in almost every other sentence?

Once, she was in such a rush that she forgot to wear her Prefect Badge. Percy found out and nagged Percy about it for a whole week!

As a Prefect, you must always remember your position; badges are symbols of honor, and you can lose your head but not your badge; and there are 10 tips for waxing badges.

Penelope felt like killing someone!

"Speaking of which, Bell, Hermione, what do you two think of Percy?"

For reasons unknown, Penelope suddenly asked Bell and the other person a question.

"Percy is a really good person!"

Hermione answered without hesitation.

"He follows School Rules, loves learning, and is conscientious in his work. When I first enrolled, I received a lot of help from him!"

After expressing her opinion, Hermione looked at Bell and Penelope sitting on either side of her, but the expected agreement and agreement did not come.

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

Hermione asked, puzzled.

"Um, Hermione, I know this might be hard for you to understand, but for most girls, the three points you just listed don't actually add points, and might even detract from their scores?"

"What!?"

Hermione looked at Penelope, who was slowly nodding, and as expected, she couldn't understand.

"Bell, what about you? What do you think?"

Penelope turned her gaze to Bell and asked.

"I don't watch it much, it's fine."

Bell gave a perfunctory reply.

"This is way too perfunctory! No way!"

Penelope couldn't help but complain.

"Exactly! Bell, just tell us, what do you think of Percy?"

Hermione also betrayed the group and cheered for Penelope.

"Why are you asking me this kind of question? It makes it sound like I'm trying to ruin your relationship. I'm not going to do something so stupid."

Bell isn't stupid. This question is impossible to answer, okay? No matter what he says, he'll likely end up pleasing neither side.

Besides, he really didn't have any particular opinion about Percy. After all, Percy hadn't bothered him, so he couldn't care less about what the other person did.

"So, what you're saying is that you don't like Percy as a person?"

"Yeah, Bell, why don't you like Percy? Has he ever offended you? You can't be a petty person!"

Hermione earnestly advised her boyfriend.

"..."