A/N: This is a sequel to Parallel Worlds, it's more of a one 1.5 than 2, so I hope you enjoy it. Once again, some of the characters are slightly different from canon.
Chapter 1
Allegra landed on her butt in a fireplace in the Ministry of Magic's Atrium. Everyone else landed perfectly on their feet and a few of the less serious passersby grinned at her. Allegra stood up and moved out of the way for her father who landed on his feet and walked out into the Atrium flawlessly without a speck of powder on him.
"This way," Michael put a hand on Allegra's back and steered her in the direction of the lifts. It was quite a contrast from the last time she had arrived, the thick crowds of people had returned. Allegra people-watched until she realised most of them were watching her and her father, too.
"Hey isn't that ... it's the girl ... oh my ... I wouldn't have thought that ..." Allegra put her head down and followed her dad into a lift and passed down three levels. Allegra, her father and a short old lady fell out and walked down dimly lit corridor with the same black tiles as the Department of Mysteries.
"It's just through here." Michael pushed the dark door open for Allegra and they slipped inside.
Inside it was not as Allegra had expected. She had imagined that she was going to step into a small, dark office with just a mousy looking man inside. Wrong. The room she had stepped into was huge, the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. And it was the lightest place she'd seen throughout the whole Ministry. There was a strange collection of people inside, including a lot of Ministry Officials who were all dressed the same way. Doors lined the back wall and in front of each door was a small booth. Some of the booths had an attendant sat at a desk at the front of it.
"Come on, you have to walk through there," Michael pointed at an archway and pushed Allegra in front of him. Allegra walked through and a voice said, "Clean." Michael walked through the archway and it repeated itself.
"What is that?"
"It searches you to make sure you're not smuggling anything you shouldn't be." Michael replied without looking at her, he was searching for something. "Oh! There we go." He started to stride off through the people waiting and Allegra weaved to follow. He stopped in front of one of the booths and the man behind the desk looked at Allegra.
"Allegra Boone?"
Allegra nodded. Her dad turned her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a hug.
"Tell Charlie I send my love. Have fun won't you?" He put her at arm's length again, "and keep out of trouble. Remember, you're in a different country but that doesn't necessarily mean you're untouchable." Allegra nodded again. "Good. Don't get Charlie into trouble, either."
"Are we ready to go?" The attendant asked pleasantly.
"Yes, I think so."
"And someone will be meeting you there?"
"Yes," Michael answered for her, "he should be there already."
"Alright then, follow me." Allegra walked under another archway and it said. "Allegra Boone, female, sixteen, British." Allegra smiled apprehensively at her father and followed the man through the door behind the booth. Once the door was closed he smiled at her reassuringly. "I'm Daniel."
"Hi, Daniel."
"Have you ever apparated abroad before?" Allegra shook her head. "Alright then, apparating across countries is a little different. The squeezing feeling is more intense and it also lasts for longer. If you find yourself out of breath tell me and I will stop as soon as possible."
"Okay."
"Have you got your luggage in a secure pocket?" Allegra nodded and pointed to her zipped up pocket.
"Right then, hold my arm ... ready in, 3, 2, 1 -" The floor was pulled from under her and she felt like a boa constrictor had wrapped itself around her and was doing it's best to make her it's dinner. Allegra gasped to breathe as the air whipped past her. In normal apparation you barely had time to think before you arrived at your destination, but Allegra had time to think. She had time to count full seconds. Hell, she probably would have had time for a coffee. Just as she struggled to catch her breath everything slowed and the ground was there. Everything became still and Allegra got a head rush, if Daniel hadn't been holding onto her she would have fallen to the floor in a dizzy spell. Instead the world just rocked around her and she felt sick.
"Congratulations, Allegra. Welcome to Romania," Daniel opened the door of the small room and led her out into the Romanian Ministry's Travel Office. It wasn't anywhere near as grand as England's, unsurprisingly. It was a room about the size of her living room with only six booths, three on either side. Charlie was stood in the middle area grinning at her. Allegra thanked Daniel for his help and ran towards him.
"Charlie!" She cheered as a similar archway to what she had walked through minutes ago listed who she was in Romanian. Charlie scooped her up in a hug that would have been hard had it not been for the traveling she'd just done.
"Ready to apparate again?" He grinned.
"Give me a few minutes," she said flatly. She got those few minutes because you couldn't apparate inside the Ministry so they had to walk their way out first. The Romanian Ministry was quite underwhelming. They walked out of the door and into a dark hall way with brown walls and wooden floors. The lift was waiting, and rather than being gold like the lifts at the English Ministry, the metal had peeling paint and was slightly rusted. Charlie had marched right in, so at least it was safe.
Once outside in the city she followed him into an alley.
"Are you ready now?" Allegra nodded and wrapped herself around his arm. The floor was gone and in the same breath it was back, now a dusty track.
"That was much easier," she breathed.
Up ahead she could see a small town peaking over the brow of a hill. She looked up at Charlie and smiled.
"You look different." He was still him but he just looked ... manly. His shoulders were broader and thicker and he had filled out into his six foot frame. His hair was still dyed dark brown and it matched his eyebrows, eyes and stubble.
"So do you. Older. Much older."
"A lot of growing goes on between fourteen and sixteen." She agreed. "But you obviously haven't gotten any better at talking to women." Charlie rolled his eyes and started walking up the road.
"And you haven't got any less -"
"Charm." Allegra smiled.
"Sure. Charm. And I was worried it might be awkward."
"Not likely," she grinned. As they walked up to the town they discussed the simple things like school and work.
The town looked like someone had taken a French village and a Brazilian grotto and mashed them together. Apart from chickens running around, a donkey tied up outside a shop and a large Romanian woman hanging out her washing there was no one around.
"This is it." Charlie stopped in front of one of the French town houses.
"Your humble abode?" Charlie nodded and unlocked the door. Inside they were in a small hallway. "Through there is the living room," he pointed to the first door on the left, "the next door is the dining room - not that it's ever been used." Allegra walked forwards and stood in the doorway. It was a nice light room with two double doors leading out to a small garden. The room was full of books and strange bottles and the table was covered in equipment Allegra wouldn't have been able to guess the use of. "That's the kitchen." He pointed at the end of the hall but it had been visible as soon as she was through the front door. Terracotta tiles lined halfway up the walls and floors and cream paint covered the rest. The cabinets were light brown and the fridge was just a simple little white thing under the counter top.
"Very nice," Allegra approved.
"Now if you turn around we can go upstairs." Allegra did as told and followed a pale carpet up the stairs where it turned back on itself at the top. There was a picture halfway up that she stopped to look at.
"Are all the people you work with your age?" The photo contained a group of fourteen; ten guys and four girls including Charlie. They were all young and tanned in the sun gathered for a group photo. They laughed and moved together, one guy kissed a girl on the cheek and she flushed red.
"Yes and no. We mostly do the physical jobs while the older guys do the research."
Charlie was at the back of the photo, being one of the tallest and another guy was looking up at him and laughing. On Charlie's right was a tall blonde woman who was also glancing up at Charlie and then at the camera. Charlie laughed with the first man and then looked at the camera too.
"Who's that?" Allegra pointed at the shorter man who laughed with Charlie.
"Tristan, came over from America about the same time I got here. We've been paired together on practically everything ever since, it's hard to work without him now. He's at work doing some research on an egg that's come in but you'll meet him tonight or tomorrow."
"Cool." Allegra said, looking at the friendly face she'd just been told about. Tristan had curly hair that just covered his ears and one curl seemed to flop around over his right eye, she wondered if he still looked that way now.
"And who's that?" She pointed at the girl who gazed upon Charlie like a god.
"Acacia," he said, his tone showing little emotion, "Swedish girl, working in Finland now, I think."
"Didn't you like her?"
"I used to like her. Bad break up." Allegra nodded in understanding. She carried on up the stairs and waited for Charlie at the top.
"That's my room," he pointed at the door on the right. Allegra peaked inside. The room was light and airy, he'd made the bed up perfectly and the only indication that it was a man's room was the smell of cologne. "This," He turned her to face the next door, "is your room."
Her room was much like Charlie's. Lots of cream, a big clean double bed with white sheets and a mountain of pillows. Around the edge of the room was a wardrobe and a chest of draws.
"It's great, thanks, Charlie." Allegra sat on the bed and fell back into the pillows.
"Just a heads up on the rules, you can use magic here but don't do anything to attract attention. From either Ministry."
"I'm trying to keep a low profile," Allegra said. "You know, since Voldemort -"
"Yes." Charlie cut her off.
"So what have you done other than work, lately?" She asked, pulling tiny suitcases from her pocket and enlarging them on her bed. Charlie sat down on the bed and started passing her things to put on the hangers in the wardrobe.
"Well, a couple of day's back I was doing something completely un-dragon related, but it was work."
"What was that?"
"A few of us had to visit some vampires to make sure they were clear of the tourist area." Charlie said normally.
"Vampires?" she turned to look at him. "Why?"
"Because they live in the area. They do tours through Transylvania on the Dracula Tour and they've upped it to three times a year. Twice in October and once in March."
"So why does that affect them and you?"
"Because wanderers-off like the look of old castles and mansions and will go into their territory. We don't like to interfere with them but if they took a bite out of a tourist it would attract attention to the area, and apart from all the vampires and dragons up here we are a community almost entirely consisting of witches and wizards, most of us not Romanian."
"It would look a bit odd." She put a make-up bag on top of the dressing table. "So they don't ... the vampires don't bite you?"
"Oh, no," Charlie said as if it wasn't a plausible thing, "they wouldn't attack a wizard, they may be very skilled and physically strong, but our magic can restrain them fast enough. D'you know we smell different than humans? Muggleborns are more at risk, but they say magic blood gives them shakes." Charlie sounded fascinated.
"So where do they go?"
"Oh, anywhere. Mostly they live where they always have, but they don't like to be near humans. You know, apart from at dinner time."
She finished unpacking the important things and they went downstairs to get lunch.
"So, what do you have planned for me over the next week?" Allegra asked and then took a bite of her sandwich.
"Well, it won't be too exciting but I think you'll have fun. I've managed to persuade my boss to let you in to work. You'll be told how to handle situations, see different dragons, eggs, stuff like that."
"You don't think that's exciting?"
Charlie shrugged, "it's work."
"Charlie, the last time I saw a dragon was at the Triwizard Tournament last year. Before that, I don't think I'd ever seen a full grown one."
"And we'll go and do muggle stuff. Go out for dinner and drinks with my usual group. They all can't wait to meet you. If Tristan comes over on his way home then we'll all go out tonight, otherwise it'll be just you and me."
"I'm happy either way." Allegra smiled truthfully.
Tristan didn't stop over and so they walked into the local town (something that could legitimately be called a town) and to Charlie's favourite restaurant. It was a cozy little place, as though they were just in someone's house where the walls had been knocked through. The owners spoke English and Charlie was obviously a regular. They had extremely thick accents and so it took Allegra a fraction longer than normal to work out what they were saying.
"Ah, Charlie, wonderful to see you. Your usual table for two?"
"Yes please, thank you, Alin."
The short dark haired man showed them to their table. He was dressed smartly but it didn't look effortless like Charlie did. They were both wearing shirts and suit-trousers but whereas Charlie looked like a model Alin looked as though he had shopped in all the wrong places, eaten enough to give him an overhang and forgotten to grow taller than Allegra. However, under his thick black mustache was the biggest smile she'd ever seen and his cheeks looked like two red roses.
"And who is this beautiful young woman?" he asked smiling down at Allegra and passing them menus. "A girlfriend perhaps?" He smiled wider and pulled his chin into his chest.
"No, just a family friend," Charlie corrected.
"Pardon me, then, but it has been so long since you've had a woman that I am losing hope!" He through his hands into the air and laughed. "Let me know when you want to order."
Allegra eyed Charlie but there was no way he was going to look up. Allegra wanted to know why he hadn't been out with anyone. Sure, beautiful women were probably thin on the ground here, but they couldn't be nonexistent.
"So ... what looks good?" Charlie said glancing at her and then back down at the menu. Allegra looked down at the menu in her hands.
"Uh, I don't know, Charlie ... I can't read this."
"Oh, sorry," he blushed and went through the menu and translated anything he thought she might like. He called a short blonde waitress over. She wasn't much older than Charlie and she was clearly interested, but it didn't look like he was going to give her the time of day.
"So have you spoken to Harry? How is he holding up?"
Allegra sighed. "I'm not sure. I've spoken to him in letters but he hasn't mentioned Sirius. I'm sure it's not good for him to be so isolated at that house with those people -"
"They are his family, Ali."
"- who just ignore him and treat him like shit. I wanted him to stay at ours but Dumbledore insisted he go back to where he is best protected until the middle of the summer when he's allowed to go to your mum's or ours. I'm sure if Dumbledore knew I'd come here he'd be having a fit."
"I'm sure he would." Charlie agreed.
"When are you coming back to England?"
"Soon." Charlie said quickly enough that Allegra assumed the decision had been made for a while. "With everything that's happened and how things are going ... I don't think I'd be able to take it out here with all of you there. I went mad when I found out you were missing. It took days for me to find anything out, Tristan was going to the Ministry here to see if they knew. Work said I could take a week and go home but there wouldn't have been anything for me to do."
"I hope you do. You can stay at ours for Bill's wedding."
The food came and conversation flowed. Charlie danced around any talk of dating but was happy to talk about Allegra's love life.
"So I hear Fred's in love with you," he said easily.
"Aren't you meant to keep those kind of things a secret?"
"Probably, but I'm his big brother."
"And I'm the subject." Charlie shrugged. "I'm sure he's not in love with me, he just feels guilty because Alicia Spinnet had a go at me for 'leading him on'."
"Maybe." Charlie agreed. "What's the deal with you and Draco Malfoy then?" Allegra almost choked on her mouthful.
"How do you know about him?"
"I'm Charlie. I'm all seeing, all knowing. About your life, anyway." Allegra stared at him. "Ron tells me everything," he confessed. "So, deal, with Malfoy?"
"Just friends."
"Just friends?"
"Just friends."
"Do you think he's hot?"
"I think everyone's hot."
"Do you think I'm hot?"
"Yes."
"Oh," Charlie frowned and then thought about it for a second. "How did you become just friends with him?"
"He is Blaise's best friend and ... I ... I don't really know." Luckily Charlie left it at that.
