The Daily Grind ((Cora))

[Heidi Rebecca Fleming]

((EDIT: I changed the title because I've only just realised Pyro and Wynd have exactly the same title in Diagon Alley as well. *laughs*))

"Dr Fleming?" Heidi started immediately from her crouched position over a stack of paperwork, pen pausing midway as she looked to the young nurse who had distracted her attention. She gave her a questioning glance before the woman explained, "Dr Taveras is looking for you. He's in his office."

"Ah, yes," Heidi nodded, tight-lipped. "Thank you." Standing up and abandoning her work with an irritable expression, Heidi walked swiftly to her superior's office, shoes making clipped echoes along the sterile corridors. "He could've just paged me," she muttered under her breath, frustrated. Entering Miguel's office, Heidi left the door open behind her, expecting the meeting to be brief and simple. "You called for me, sir?" she asked as neutrally as possible. Miguel, turning his eyes on her, nodded before asking her to take a seat. "If this won't take long I'd prefer not to, with all due respect." Heidi gave a slight, forced smile. "I was working on extremely important paperwork and have to get back to it as soon as possible." Miguel seemed put out by her reply, to Heidi's contentment, but he continued to explain to her why he required her assistance. It was something, he said, she could leave her current work for, even for half a day, because it was also to do with paperwork - much more important paperwork. Heidi's eyebrow inched upwards curiously, wondering what could be so imperative. She had been lying when she had said she was working on something extremely significant; in actual fact she was just filling in all her patients' charts. Miguel finally told Heidi he - or rather, his superiors - needed her to leave the hospital to go and collect vital paperwork concerning a particular patient in the hospital. Something to do with legal battles over her treatment, and Miguel needed someone to pick it up today and bring it back.

"And what makes you think I'm free to do your bidding?" Heidi countered rather angrily once Miguel had finished explaining. "Why not get a nurse to do it? It's just collecting paperwork, for goodness sake. I'm a doctor, not a postman." Thoroughly disgruntled and offended, Heidi was about to turn around and march right out of his office, even if he was her superior, until Miguel interrupted and quickly stated that this was not negotiable, and the reason Heidi had to go was because they needed a doctor to sign the paperwork, someone qualified, and Heidi was more than qualified and talented to understand what was at stake. That and he trusted her, Miguel added quietly. Heidi, her hand's grip softening against the door knob, paused a moment, before sighing. "Fine. Where am I going then? And who am I meeting?"

Half an hour later Heidi had apparated to Diagon Alley, having been told she would be meeting a Miss Coxen of the law and accounting company, Coxen and Co. Heidi assumed the lady was a relative of Mr Coxen, who ran the company, and who was a big benefactor for St Mungo's finances. Even Heidi had heard of his supposed generosity. Running a restless hand through her loose blonde hair as she strode through the cobbled streets, Heidi tugged at her shirt, feeling different without her healer robes. She had taken them off to not look as conspicuous. Glancing at her watch Heidi noted she'd have to have lunch, and she wondered what Miss Coxen would say to discussing the paperwork over food. Finally she arrived at the place she was designated to meet Miss Coxen, and seeing a blonde-haired lady standing by the lamppost Heidi hurried over to her. "Miss Coxen? I'm Heidi Fleming from St Mungo's Hospital." She stuck out a hand for the lawyer or accountant to shake. "I'm here for that paperwork concerning Mrs Burden's treatment. I was wondering if you'd be against discussing it over lunch. It's my lunch hour." Smiling genially Heidi motioned to a nearby sandwich shop.

[corachughes]

Cora Coxen, negating the Hughes portion, sat in her familiar desk at her fathers firm. Petite hands leafing through papers that were flying over her head in the same familiar pattern as they did at the Ministry. The thing with these little planes was she could always tell who was more bored than others…their planes having a bit more design and flare than what should normally be presentable in the work office, but there was also a sting of jealousy that ran through her at the idea that they were amused enough to do something like that…as childish as it did seem. It was a fleeting feeling however, one that never held too much sway over the way Cora Coxen ran her life. She was the eldest daughter of Mr. Bruce Coxen and the apple of his eye. Or so she was always told, but sometimes Cora didn’t believe it herself. There were things she didn’t see…like how he treated her better than he did her other siblings or how much attention he gave her. She just thought it was normal was all, that everyone got the same attention from him. Of course that wasn’t true, but Cora wouldn’t realize that…not now anyway.

To say that Cora was an organizational ambitious 19-year-old would be to put things lightly. She was one of the youngest associates at her father’s firm and she did not get there because she was the “bosses daughter”. Cora was placed in this position because she was serious in her studies, smart, motivated, organized, and most of all knowledgeable in the way this company was ran. There was no one more suited for a job. It was like she’d been born for this job and of course she was in a lot of ways. After all she was her father’s daughter and out of the entire Coxen family she was the only one driven enough to be sitting where she was today. A red plane made it’s way swiftly through the halls and bolted into her office, her eyes catching sight of it immediately as she moved her hand quickly into the air to grab it. It was an important memo…just who was it from.

In a messy, familiar scrawl was scratched:

Cora Dear,

I’ll be sending down the papers shortly that need to be looked over before taken to Diagon Alley. I’m sure you remember our discussion from before. Just make sure they’re signed and delivered on time.

Dad.

Cora looked up just in time to see the rest of the paper work make it’s appearance in her office and she spent the next hour looking over it making sure everything was in order before her eyes drifted to the time on the wall and back to the time on the paper it said she was to meet at the lamppost. It took less than a minute for her to gather up the paper work and place them neatly and in perfect organization into her briefcase, a gift from her father. She straightened her blue dress suit out before she Apparated to Diagon Alley, form stepping through the cobblestone streets until she reached the meeting place, her hands at her sides, one clutching the briefcase as she waited patiently for the St. Mungos Healer to arrive.

It was hardly two minutes that passed before a woman began toward Cora, her face holding a smile, just as Cora’s did…it was that businesslike attitude that was taken before one was clear of the others intentions. In this case there was little that Cora knew about the situation. Her father’s way of testing her she was sure. It was a stressful environment where she worked and she knew her father was trying to find ways to test her and to make her better able to withstand the constant flexibility in schedules. Of course Cora knew she could handle it…she could handle anything she put her mind to, that’s why she was there. The immediate introduction from a Miss Heidi Fleming was exactly what Cora had hoped for as her briefcase switched hands and she quickly shook the woman’s hand. “Cora Coxen…and please call me Cora,” she said with a nod of her head and the businesslike smile that held her features in place. “Lunch would be perfectly acceptable. I’m in no rush.” She followed Heidi’s motion to the sandwich shop and moved inside the little shop with effortless grace, a small woman moving quickly to seat them the moment they walked through the door.

Once they were seated and had their drinks Cora was the first to begin, knowing her father had sent her here for a reason. “We are here to look over the paperwork of one Mrs. Desiree Burden am I correct?” Cora asked as she settled her briefcase on the inside of the table, tucked out of the way, but still accessible as she flipped it open and pulling out a large brown/vanilla envelope that held the current legal documents for a patient that St. Mungos was treating. There had been numerous legal proceedings over taking a very rich woman off her life support connections to let her leave the world in peace. The problem was that her will had specifically stated to keep her alive as long as possible just to drive her money coveted family to insanity, but the argument at the firm was being made that she was not in her right mind to create said will. Therefore a legal battle had ensured, costing the family more galleons than they probably knew it would. Resulting again in the current meeting between the law firm associate that had handled the case and a St Mungo’s healer.

[Heidi Rebecca Fleming]

Heidi nodded and smiled. Her eyes watched Cora absently, feeling familiarity tug at her senses. She was sure she'd seen that long blonde hair before, that youthful, pretty face. Hogwarts? In fact, Heidi was sure that there had been Coxens in her school before she had graduated over four years ago. However, she couldn't be sure, so she suppressed the urge to ask the question for the moment; this was a business meeting, after all. Heidi led the way into the restaurant, feeling her stomach rumble in assent. Food! It felt like days since Heidi had consumed anything, when in actual fact she had had her breakfast only five hours ago. OK, so five hours was a long time, seeing as she'd spent those five hours rushing around St Mungo's like a headless chicken... until she had come to the paperwork and had been pretty relieved to settle down and have a calm hour or so to herself. It wasn't to be though, with Miguel sending her out for more paperwork-related business. At least she could have an early lunch; Heidi normally wouldn't have had anything to eat until maybe an hour or two later, what with that paperwork still lying on her desk, unfinished. It had been boring though... so Heidi was just a tad glad that Miguel had chosen her (or his superiors had, anyway) so she could get away from the stuffy confines of the hospital. Heidi liked to be out and about, not cooped up like a tame bird.

When the waitress asked what they would like to eat, Heidi pointed at her choice, thanked the girl and returned the menu. She also ordered a a cup of tea, seeing as the weather was quite chilly and her robes weren't the warmest. She savoured the warmth trickling down her throat, filling her belly with heat, and smiled again at Cora. Heidi could sense something very punctual and business-like about the young woman, even though judging from her outer appearance she was only in her early twenties. Heidi was surprised as well as impressed that someone so young - and a woman at that, knowing job discrimination was still rife - could hold such an important job in such an important corporation. Then again, if her surname was anything to go by, Heidi was sure she was related to the Coxen family that owned the company. There was a possbility Cora had only got the job because she was a relative. However, Heidi didn't want to make such assumptions. She told herself Cora could very well be intelligent, despite how pretty she was. There was a cold, brisk manner about her aura that indicated she was a born businesswoman. Before Heidi could think further of her companion, Cora helped answer her inward thoughts by snapping straight into discussion about the paperwork. This was a lady no one wanted to trifle with, evidently.

"Yes," Heidi answered simply, affirming Cora's questioned statement. "I don't know the patient personally," she offered as Cora began rifling through her briefcase, observing the calculated, organised way Cora went about her work and the way she carried herself. "But I have been briefed on her history. I am one of the healers at St Mungo's, and I am perfectly qualified to sign any legal documents concerning treatment and the like." Without consciously realising it, Heidi's voice, over the years, had straightened out with a completely educated British accent. When she had lived in Cardiff in Wales as a child, before she had gone to Hogwarts, she had had a very heavy Welsh accent; she could even speak a few Welsh words. However, once reaching the outside world Heidi was determined to remove her accent, which could cause some people to gain the impression that she was uneducated. For the first few years Heidi had forcefully made herself change, but then she had settled into being herself and forgotten about her goal. Mainly because by then her Welsh accent had completely disappeared. Now she spoke like anyone else from London; posh and educated.

"So what do I need to sign? And advise? Do I need to speak to the patient's family, or has that been handled?" Heidi asked, deciding not to beat around the bush either. "I was under the impression once I had signed these documents, whatever they may hold, I was to return with a copy?" She wanted to make sure she didn't screw up her job; paperwork at this level was important, and would it be gross misconduct if she accidentally signed the wrong things, or gave permission for something she shouldn't have. Even worse would be to not return with a photocopy for the filing department, or to lose it on the way back to St Mungo's. It had happened before, and Heidi was sure she wouldn't be the next person on the list of idiots who had mishandled medical paperwork. Heidi looked to Cora curiously for answers, and examining her youthful face again, couldn't help this time but ask, seeing as she was quite the inquisitive person. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask, Cora - did you attend Hogwarts? I swear I've seen you before, but I can't remember where. And your surname seems familiar to me, besides the fact you hold the same one to the Coxen company." Heidi was interrupted by the arrival of her food, and thanking the waitress, she immediately excused herself and began to tuck in heartily. "Hospital work takes a lot out of you. It's long hours, but rewarding work," she supplied after a mouthful of lettuce and ham, and a small, apologetic smile.