"Okay, I'm going to go now Papa, Mère."
"Alright. Oh and Monique! Be sure to come and visit again soon!"
"I will Papa," Monique replied as she put on her coat and took out her wand.
"Monique, are you going to Apparate again?" her mother, Alice, asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Oui Mother," Monique said resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
"You know I just worry. A lot of things can go wrong with Apparation. Why don't you just use floo powder like me?"
"What things can go wrong?" Monique's father asked stepping into the hallway worried. Unlike Alice, her father Francis was a muggle and was still getting used to the magical world – even almost 30 years later.
"Nothing Papa," Monique quickly reassured him. "And you know I hate that stuff mother!"
Alice sighed, "Very well. Looks like I won't be able to change your mind. Just be careful."
"I will mother, I always am," Monique said with a small smile. She gave quick hugs to both of her parents before clearing her mind for the Apparition.
"Wait, what things can go wrong?" Francis quietly asked his wife again worried. Alice just rolled her eyes and kissed her husband lightly on the cheek.
"Never mind, Frog."
Monique chuckled lightly and waved her hand causing her to disappear.
Monique apparated to her home and immediately sensed something was wrong. Being an Arithmancer she never had to deal with any threats but one can never be too careful after what happened with You-Know-Who a few years back. She quietly pulled out her wand while tensing up and listening for any sort of noise.
She whispered "Lumos Maxima" lighting up the entire room and revealing a tall, blond man who also had his wand pulled out.
"Maple!" he breathed and aimed his wand at her.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my... house?" Monique trailed off looking around. The sitting room was completely different! This wasn't her house!
"This isn't my house..." She repeated dumbly. Monique then realized they still had their wands aimed at each other.
"This is your house isn't?" She cautiously asked putting down her wand. The man nodded slowly.
"Merde," she breathed. "I am so sorry! I thought I was in my own home!"
"Usually people use the floo network to get around," the man said bringing down his wand too.
"Oui… I try to avoid it. The powder makes me sneeze."
"Understandable I guess," the man said while nodding. "Well, while you're here, do you want tea or cola? I think I may have some butterbeer from last time Alfred was over…"
"Em, no thanks," Monique said. "Wait, you'd just invite someone, who apparated uninvited to you house, for drinks?"
"I don't get many visitors," he replied with a shrug as if it answered everything.
"Oh, well, no thanks. I should be going. Where am I anyway?"
"9 Deutzia Drive."
Monique looked at the man in shock. "Really? I live at 7 Deutzia Drive. I'm your neighbor! How have I never met you before?"
"I'm not very noticeable," he chuckled sheepishly.
"That's not true! Well anyway. I guess I'll just walk over huh?"
The man laughed and showed her to the front door.
Monique turned around and thanked the man for his hospitality and then she said, "Oh, I'm Monique Bonnefoy."
"Matthew William Jones."
The second time Monique met her neighbor was when she accidentally apparated into his home, again. She had a very long and stressful day at work. She was thinking about a nice long, warm bath. So she didn't mean to end up in his bathroom. Luckily, it was unoccupied at the time.
She considered just apparating into her own home but she decided that Matthew should be warned that she was here, just in case he had some sort of charm or spell on his house.
Monique emerged from the bathroom quietly walked downstairs. She found the owner of the house in the kitchen. She couldn't tell what he was making, but whatever it as it smelled really good.
She cleared her throat lightly causing Matthew to jump and fumble with things he was holding. He spun around trying to take out his wand (and failing) in the process. His eyes widened when he saw his neighbor.
"Monique! You scared me! What are you doing eh?" he asked putting his hand over his frantic heart.
"I'm sorry Matthew," Monique apologized holding up her hands to show that she was unarmed. "I accidentally apparated into your house again. I just wanted to let you know."
"Ah… Well, since you're already here, you may as well stay for dinner eh?"
"What?" Monique asked. "Oh no, I couldn't. I just got back from work, and I need to get home."
"Husband?"
"What?"
"You need to get home to your husband?"
Monique blinked. "I'm not married."
"Then to your family? Or boyfriend?"
"No…" Monique started confused. "I live by myself…"
"Oh, well then you must stay! I have plenty of food!" Matthew said showing her the abundance of food that he was making.
"Why did you make so much?"
"Oh," Matthew said rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, my brother, Alfred, was supposed to come over for dinner but he cancelled last minute for work. It's very important so I'm not angry or anything. I just hate to waste food."
"Well… alright," Monique said giving in.
The third time, Monique accidentally apparated into Matthew's living room as he was reading the paper, or at least that's what she assumed. He was surrounded by stacks of different newspapers, both magical and muggle. Matthew jumped at the popping sound when she apparated into the room.
"Maple!" he cried. "Monique, is that you?"
"Yes," she groaned. "Mon dieu Matthew! I'm so sorry!"
The blond man just chuckled. "It's alright eh? You look like you had a bad day. Do you want to sit for a while?"
"Tempting, but I have lots of work to do unfortunately. Thank you for the offer." Matthew walked Monique to the door.
When Monique apparated to Matthew's house for the fourth time, she apologized profusely to the patient man. She didn't know why she continued to appear here. Not that it happened often, but four times was enough!
He, of course, said it was no problem and offered lunch, but Monique declined. She was feeling guilty enough as it was.
No more apparating for her. Maybe her mother was right.
The fifth time, Matthew welcomed her as if it was completely normal for her to apparate into his house. She was so embarrassed. The one time she tried to apparate again after a week of only using floo powder, and she ended up back here! Matthew reassured her it was completely fine though. She still couldn't help the dark red blush on her cheeks.
The sixth time, Matthew just handed a cup of tea that was already made up beside his own.
"Hope you don't mind. I add in a little something extra to my tea. Maple syrup," he said with a wink as Monique blushed. She tried to stutter out an apology but Matthew shushed her and told her that she was not allowed to say anymore apologies.
"After all, I like the company," he chuckled.
Lucky number seven was not so lucky after all. She apparated into Matthew's house as he had a guest over. His guest jumped up and whipped out his wand so fast that Monique barely had time to react as the guy yelled out "Stupify!" It narrowly missed her since she jumped out of the way just in time.
"Alfred! Stop!" Matthew cried, grabbing Alfred's arm.
"Alfred? This is your brother?" Monique asked, remembering Matthew mentioning him before.
"Wait, Matthew, do you know her?" asked Alfred still warily eyeing and keeping his wand pointed at her.
"Oui, Alfred, this is Monique. Monique, Alfred. I'm very sorry about him," Matthew said looking apologetically at his neighbor.
"Oh," Alfred said putting down his wand.
"It's alright, it's my fault after all," Monique replied, straightening her robes. "I'll show myself out. Sorry for intruding."
Matthew said bye with a small smile, and Alfred just looked at his brother with confusion. Then his looked changed to understanding as he grinned at his twin.
"Oh! I see what's going on!" he sang slyly.
"Shut it Alfred!"
After number eight, Monique decided to try and find out why her apparations home weren't working. She had always been fairly good at apparating which was why she used it for transportation so much. She also had no problem apparating anywhere else. She goes to the exact place she imagines. However, when she goes home, she ends up at Matthew's house instead!
She groaned and furiously continued flipping through her spell books. Maybe she was cursed or her house was charmed. There had to be something in her books that would affect apparations. It was the only explanation!
On number nine, Monique stayed over for dinner at Matthew's request. She ended up staying over much longer than she intended. Monique talked about her job as an Arithmancer, since Matthew had never really met one before, and Matthew talked about his job as an Obliviator.
They also talked about their families. Monique learned that Matthew and Alfred were twins and full-blooded wizards of the Jones family. They grew up in America which was probably why Monique never heard of their family name before. Matthew explained that Alfred was an auror which was why he attacked without thinking when he met Monique.
It was a nice conversation and Monique was actually sad to go back home.
Her tenth apparition to Matthew's house had no Matthew. In fact, the house was dark and nobody was home. Monique felt guilty for intruding on his house while he wasn't there. She quickly left a note on the table and walked back to her house.
After her eleventh apparition into Matthew's house, she decided to talk to her mother about the problem. After all, she can't apparate into the wrong house for the rest of her life!
"What do you think about before you apparate?" Alice asked her daughter after she explained the situation.
"Home, of course," Monique answered with a shrug.
"No, I meant describe in more detail. Try this, dear. Pretend you're about to apparate to your home. Say aloud what you are thinking, but don't actually apparate."
"This is ridiculous ma."
"It is not!" Alice huffed. "Just try it!"
"Fine." Monique closed her eyes and cleared her mind. "I'm thinking of my house next to Matthew's. I'm envisioning my living room. The couch and coffee table in front of me with and the kitchen off to the right across the hall-"
"I'm sorry, what?" Alice interrupted. Monique looked at her mother questioningly. "Isn't your kitchen connected to the sitting room?" Alice asked.
"Well, yes. That's what I said."
"No… you said it was across the hall."
"No it's not, that's Matthew's house."
Alice raised an expectant eyebrow at her daughter as Monique thought about what had said. How did her mother know the layout of Matthew's house? Unless…
"Mon dieu! I've been thinking of Matthew's house!?" Monique cried. Why the hell has she been doing that?
Apparation number twelve didn't happen until a week after her conversation with her mother, once Monique learned the source of her problem and how to control it. However, this time, she was thinking of her nice neighbor and it just sort of happened.
Matthew jumped up from the couch at the pop! and said, "Monique! It's good to see you again! I wondered what happened to you!" He grinned.
Monique looked surprised at where she ended up and said, "I'm sorry, my mind must've wandered. That was so rude of me."
Matthew chuckled. "It's fine. I missed your appearances actually." Monique just blushed.
"Well, I don't think you have to worry about me intruding any longer. I know what the problem is and I'll fix it. It won't happen again." Monique didn't notice Matthew's face fall slightly.
Unlucky number thirteen. It was known as a bad number throughout the wizarding world and to the muggles. Nothing good ever came out of that number. Of course, this time, it wasn't Monique's fault.
For once, she had been enjoying the comfort of her own home. Her cat on the windowsill, sleeping and the fire place lit. She was reading up on a new theory for arithmancy when a large crack echoed through the room.
She jumped up in shock, book falling to the floor, and yanked out her wand.
"Maple!"
"Matthew?!" Monique cried at the intruder.
Matthew looked around shocked. "How the maple did I end up here?"
"You apparated?"
"Oui," he smiled sheepishly. "Alfred didn't have any floo powder at his place, so I thought this would be a quick way back. Apparently, I didn't make it…"
Monique chuckled as Matthew continued on embarrassed, "Maybe I should walk back now, eh?"
"You know what?" started Monique with a smile. "Why don't you stay for some tea? I have a fresh brew in the kettle. And besides, I think it's time I paid you back for your hospitality, hm?"
Matthew thought for a moment before replying, "Agree to a date with me and I'll call it even."
Monique blushed furiously and shyly nodded with a silly grin on her face.
A/N
Hope you liked it!
This was requested by hetalianforeigner on tumblr for Rare Pair week.
It was my first time ever doing a Harry Potter AU, so hopefully I did it justice ^^ It took awhile to research these things though lol
Thanks for reading! :D