Chapter 1: Saffron Blair
Her hair swaying behind her as the young teenager strode down the street, cobble stone tapping against her shoes. Hands stuffed into her pockets and her pretty face adorned with a scowl she lifted her head, gazing around the unfamiliar surroundings. This couldn't get any better, could it? Her thoughts of sarcasm made her sneer. Anyone who actually knew her could identify the mockery she was so fiercely acquainted with. She hadn't wanted to come nor was she excited about her prolonged stay in the foreign country.
It looked exactly like she imagined though. London. Like a black and white newspaper with red zooming by in the form of a bus or standing in the corner shaped as a phone booth. Her eyes lingered on the red box along the wall. It looked so out of place, like a ketchup smear on a comic book. The phone booths she was familiar with were black and grey with a DEX phonebook hanging from its stand, hopefully in one piece. But she really wasn't one to talk about being out of place. After all, she was the American stuck in Britain.
Her thoughts of annoyance soon reverted from the city itself to her most bothersome problem of all: her father. She slowed her steps, not in any hurry to get anywhere. He just couldn't wait to visit his friend that lived around here. Something about how they went to school together and did stuff, she wasn't really paying attention. He had never paid attention to her before, so why should she do him the justice? They haven't gotten along in the slightest bit since she was left in his custody just a little over two months ago.
Earlier that year her mother died in a car accident and, since her grandfather was incapable of take care of her, she landed in her father's care, who she had never met before. It was obvious he didn't know what to do either; he was just as uncomfortable about the whole matter as she was. But he kept trying to cozy up to her, getting her gifts, trying to spent time with her and moved her up to New York where he lived with his devil wife and his daughter who wouldn't shut up about boys and her middle school angst dilemmas. None of this made her like him though. She was determined to hate him, no matter what he did.
When he decided to visit his friend he also got the grand idea of bringing her along for the ride, expecting this trip to be the big ice breaker between them. "Yeah right." She said silently to herself, shaking her head to clear out the cobwebs. Why should she care if they got along? In her eyes he will always be the jackass that never stayed. She took a look down the street. Nothing but parked cars that were on the wrong side of the street and crumpled newspapers rolling along the pavement. She gave off a small sigh.
She knew she was lost. She left the hotel room because he wouldn't stop trying to talk to her. One aspect she had learned quickly after her mother's passing was the she had inherited her short temper. It had never been a problem before, but lately it had caused her all sort of misfortune. After a few seconds with her father in the same room she had stormed out, not wishing to be in his presence. Her eyes gave a weak glance at the phone booth. She didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't stay out here forever. She didn't even know where she was. Despite her frustrations with her father her only choice was to call him.
Her feet grudgingly led her to the red box and stopped in front of it, her throat giving a gruff groan. Opening the door was no problem, and finding the hotel's number wasn't a problem either. The problem was what happened when she picked up the receiver. No buzzing sound came out. She simply put it off as some weird British thing, having encountered many strange cultural differences the last few hours. Her eyes gazed down at the round dial attached to the base of the phone.
At first she thought it was some kind of joke. The thing looked a hundred years old, though she knew that was impossible. She tried to put in the first digit, her finger dragging the hole to the desired number. Her patience began to wear thin as the dial took its sweet time making its way back to the top. The vein in her forehead became visible as she clutched the receiver. "Oh, hell's bells!" She whispered to no one. She wasn't a very patient person.
Before she could dial in the second number however she heard the door to the phone booth open, causing her to jump. "Going down, are you?" A tall man in a suit stepped in much to her surprise. She was slightly pushed aside as he squeezed into the tiny space, befuddled as to why this man entered in the first place. Wasn't anything private anymore? She was here first! Before she could get out a protest he leaned over the dial, not even bothering to take the receiver.
"I'm not used to using the muggle entrance. I usually come by floo powder." Her voice fell silent as she felt her mouth hit the ground. Flu… powder? What on earth? She slowly shrugged away from him as much as she could while he leaned forward to drag the little dial to a specific number. What was this guy's problem? The dial spun with no problems.
"Oh, sure! The damn thing works for him!" she mumbled angrily to herself. The strange man didn't seem to notice, his face scrunched with concentration.
"Lets see, uh…six…two…four… another four…and another two." Before the dial hit the top a smooth female voice filled the telephone box, causing her to jump.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." Holy sugar honey ice tea! Surround sound in a phone booth! She couldn't hide her surprise as she whirled around, bumping into the other phone booth occupant.
"Yes, I'm Douglas MacArthur. Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and…" The odd man turned to me, obviously expecting me to say something.
"Uh… Saffron… Saffron Blair." What was she supposed to say? She needs her daddy? "I'm, uh…my father, he…"
"Oh, does your father work for the ministry?"
"Well, I--" Before she could say anything that wretchedly sweet voice started talking, making her jump out of her skin.
"Thank you. Visitor, please attach this badge to the front of your robes." A small silver badge popped out of the coin exchanger. She hesitantly picked it up and read it. 'Saffron Blair, bring your child to work day'. Her eyebrows furrowed at this.
"I'm so jealous. I don't have any kids to bring to work. The wife and I are working on that though! Oops, I suppose I shouldn't talk about that in front of a kid, haha!" She finally determined that the guy was obviously sick in the head before attaching the badge to her shirt. Wait, a coin exchanger just popped out a custom made badge and a phone booth has surround sound and she finds this guy weird? She couldn't figure out what the hell was going on.
"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium." Atrium? What the heck is an Atrium?
"Oh! Here we go!" The strange man said happily.
"Wha—AH!" Saffron's arms flew towards the walls as the phone booth shook, than began to sink down into the ground. The young girl gave an involuntary whine as they began to sink. What the heck was going on!?
Her hands clutch the walls as the man hums happily. "So, what department does your father work in?" He turned to the young girl with a smile but soon frowned a little. "Is something wrong?"
"Wha—the floor, it!" She could barely speak coherent sentences let alone answer his question.
"Oh! I guess you aren't used to the visitor's entrance either! Yep, pretty weird isn't it. I can't believe muggles use these things to talk to each other with. Guess that's why I'm not in the department of misuse of muggle artifacts!" She wasn't even paying attention to what the guy was saying. They were sinking into the ground and he wanted to make small talk! Light finally hit her eyes as the elevator came to a stop.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day." Before Saffron's heart attack subsided her eyebrows furrowed in confusion at those words. Did she just say…
"Ministry of Magic?"
"Well, I'll see you around kid. Make sure you take your wand to the check point!" The man called Douglas MacArthur said, waving to her as he walked away.
Her head was to preoccupied with other ideas to even register he had left. What was a 'Ministry of Magic'? A ministry is supposed to be a British word for office or bureau. So, an office of magic? Was this some sort of stupid joke? That guy talked about 'departments' and 'bring your kid to work day'. Was this some sort of underground organization? Quite literally an Underground organization? But…Magic?
With hesitation she risked a few steps out of the elevator. It quickly closed and shot back up, abandoning her on the highly polished dark wood floors. She watched it go up then shifted her eyes to the roof. The ceiling was a peacock blue with golden markings swirling about. The walls were the same as the floor, a dark wood, with fireplaces lined along the walls. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she walked up slowly towards one of the large golden fireplaces. Why would one hall need twenty different fireplaces?
That's ridiculous. Suddenly a bright green flame exploded from the nearest fireplace, causing her to fall back with a fright. Just as she was about to yell someone stepped OUT of the flames and walked briskly past her shaken form, not seeming to notice her. "What the hell!?" She couldn't help but exclaim as more people suddenly started pouring in from the fireplaces, each with their own burst of florescent flames.
The dark haired girl jumped to her feet and stumbled back from flames as more and more people climbed out of the different fireplaces along the hall. Her eyes frantically darted from person to person, wondering what was going on. A feeling of hysteria slipped over her. First some flu guy sent her down an elevator disguised as a phone booth, then the peacock hall started shooting out people from twenty different fire places and green flames were exploding everywhere. What was worse was the guy eyeing her suspiciously.
He spotted her from his desk in the corner with the sign 'Security' above it. She watched as he got to his feet and began walking towards her, a stick in his right hand. The stick might not be threatening, but the man's large frame was as good as any reason not to get on his bad side. Her feet fumbled backwards as he came at her. Before she could think clearly however she crash into someone behind her, knocking them both clear off their feet, papers flying everywhere. Her butt once again became acquainted with the floor as a small surprised gasp escaped from whoever she had just knocked over.
"Aw damn, I'm sorry!" She said quickly, picking up the papers that had been dropped.
"That's quite all right." A women's voice said softly, with an elegant British accent. Saffron looked up and felt her mouth drop open, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushing. Long red hair fell neatly behind straight shoulders, waves and curls framing the elegant neck of a young woman not much older then herself. Rather than a pretty smile her face was adorned with a cheeky smirk, yet it still held its appeal all the same. The young woman stood up and offered out her hand which Saffron took.
"Thank you." The woman said as Saffron handed her the papers. Saffron stole another glance at the Security table to see the man pausing, looking over at the two girls then hesitantly made his way back to his table. What the heck? Was he afraid of her?
The red haired women gazed down at Saffron's chest, "Saffron Blair."
"Huh?" Saffron said stupidly. She looked down to see the small silver badge that came out of the coin exchanger still pinned to her chest.
"Oh! So you're here for bring your child to work day also?" The red haired women asked with a broad smile on her face. "So am I. At first I felt too old for something like this, but I feel a little better knowing someone my age is here. Which department does your parent work in?"
Saffron felt her body stiffen. She had forgotten that little snag. What was she supposed to say? "Uh, well…" Her mind was blank as a smirk caught across the red head's face again. What was with that smirk? It irritated her, but Saffron couldn't help but feel her checks grow hot.
"Wh-what does it matter anyway?" Saffron huffed, crossing her arms and scowling a bit.
"I didn't mean to affront you, so please don't be upset." Her smirk shifted to a kind smile, her brown eyes glittering. Again, Saffron was at a lost of words.
"No-- you didn't-- I mean--" Why did this girl seem to catch her so off-guard? She didn't know if she liked that or not.
"That's alright." The red haired girl said softly. "I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself." She said happily, smiling as she stepped a bit closer. "My name is Lily, Lily Potter."