connection down/have you fixed it?/OI YOU LOT

[Jen Reese]

> Annoyed, Miss Havisham winds up the tannoy:
> 
> OI, YOU MISERABLE LOT, HOLIDAYS COMING TO AN END!
> 
> THAT INCLUDES THE IT SUPPORT STAFF! WHAT'S ALL THIS RUBBISH ABOUT 
> DIGGING UP THE ROAD..REALLY YOU ARE JUST REBUILDING YOUR COMPUTER 
FOR 
> FUN, ADMIT IT..

Jen wandered into the catalogue office a day late and, as usual, a 
dollar short. She looked a little...different. Still in pajamas, 
slumped over from carrying the entire canon around for quick 
reference, her eyes downcast and dejected. She had a six-pack of 
Butterbeer slung on her back and the tolerance of Winky, apparently, 
from the way she weaved through the office, hiccuping. She spotted 
Ginger at her desk. 

"Thank god, Ginger! I can't take it anymore. They're saying R.A.B is 
just *Regulus*, and Harry's eyes? We may already know their 
significance, to get that damn memory from Slughorn. What happened to 
our little Rowena Amy Benson? All the THEORIES?" She flung her hands 
over her eyes, wailing, and in the process dropped the heavy books all 
over the floor. 

Ginger winced, wondering just how many days in a row Jen had spent 
glued to the computer drinking Butterbeer, trawling the lists in hopes 
of finding a shiny new theory somewhere, something to take her mind 
off the fear.....the fear that everything was going to be exactly as 
it seemed after HBP. Straightforward, JKR said. *Straightforward* of 
all things, and she seemed to mean it.

"There, there, pull yourself together Wink--, I mean, Jen. Miss will 
be back any time, she's in a ferocious temper from having to actually 
go into the office to work, not to mention a technology breakdown. 
*Several* breakdowns." Ginger shuddered as she imagined the state Miss 
Havisham might be in after the supposed holiday. Ginger gently removed 
the Butterbeer from Jen's back and steered her to her spidery 
cupboard. "There, there, you sleep it off dear. I'll tell Miss you're, 
erm, deep in thought about the importance of the catalogue and can't 
be disturbed."

Jen gave Ginger a grateful, watery smile, fell unsteadily into her 
chair and gently lay her head down on the dusty pile of 
papers. "There's still the dragon blood..." Jen whispered hopefully, 
as she drifted off to sleep.

Jen, giving up on theorizing for the moment and back to work on 
Characterization. Much belated thanks to Ginger for putting the 
database in order!