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Chapter 1
Smiling, Eve Potter surveyed the apartment that she stood in. It was large and open, decorated in creams with light furniture and plenty of space for her. Despite being in the heart of a big city, she would not feel contained here. The sense of freedom was wonderful. Looking the boxes piled in the room over, she took a deep breath. It was time to begin unpacking.
Several hours later there was a knock on the door and she opened it, smiling at the delivery guy, paying him and taking the Chinese from him, just as the door opposite opened. The man who stepped out was tall, tall enough that she had to look up to get a good look at his face. He had short blond hair and kind, but lonely, blue eyes and a handsome face. The delivery boy walked off, barely glancing at her new neighbour.
When he saw her, he smiled. "Just moved in?" he asked.
"Yeah, just this morning actually. I'm Eve, by the way, Eve Potter."
He looked shocked, as if she had just told him the earth was not actually round and had the proof to back it up. "Eve Potter?"
She shifted uncomfortably. Was he a wizard? "Yep. That's my name," she said nervously.
"Eve… I'm Steve. Steve Rogers," he said.
Eve's breathing stopped and her wrist seemed to burn, right where the mark was. He moved and lifted up his left hand sleeve, showing her his inside wrist- and her name, in green ink and her handwriting. Just like his name was in blue, in concise hand, was on her left wrist. She placed the bag down on the small table by the side of the door and lifted her sleeve, showing his name too. She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Well, this is a surprise," she said.
"Yeah, it is. So, have you moved in for good, or is this a temporary thing?" Steve asked.
"I'm hoping for good. A few years at least. I've got into college here," Eve nodded, smiling slightly, and then looked at the food. Everything else in her life had gone bad lately… but perhaps this new start, this new opportunity… "Would you like to come in for Chinese? There seems to be more than I thought there would be. I won't be able to eat it all by myself." She looked back up at him. She had the chance to get to know her soul mate. She would be damned if she allowed this chance to slip by and just wallow in self-pity instead.
"Sure, I'd like that. I was actually just about to go out for food so, I'm ready to eat," he nodded, smiling at her.
"Great! Come in then. Sorry about the mess, I'm still unpacking, but there's room enough to eat," Eve stepped to one side and he moved into the apartment, surveying it. He seemed to be expecting all this to disappear at any moment. She didn't blame him, she felt the same.
Steve looked around the apartment taking in everything, trying to learn about her from her things. Books had already been unpacked and put on the shelves- so she was a reader, if she had prioritised them. A few photos were up on surfaces, Eve and a brown bushy haired girl and a blonde girl with a faraway look in her eyes, a man with black hair like Eve's and a mischievous grin, and a woman with red hair and green eyes holding a small black haired green eyed baby. Her parents, perhaps?
"So, what do you do then?" Eve asked, heading for the kitchen.
"I'm a soldier, for the army. Not long come back from tour actually."
"How's it feel to be back?"
"Honestly, it feels strange. I came back and… everything's different. What about you? You mentioned college, and it's quite a distance from Britain. What about New York drew you here?"
She shrugged, grabbing plates and dishing up. "There wasn't much holding me there. The couple of friends I had told me to go. To do what I wanted, what was best for myself. And as a little girl I always dreamed of acting. Of being one of those beautiful ladies I'd see on TV. They always seemed to have a great life. I guess I never forgot part of that dream so I enrolled in a performing arts course."
Steve grinned and accepted his plate and cutlery from her and they went to sit down. "Well I for one am glad you decided on New York. And your friends were right. You do have to do what's right for you. You can't live your life under anyone else's expectations."
"And I am very glad I agreed. So, what are you planning to do with your leave?" Eve's head cocked to one side, smiling.
"Get used to New York again. I have a lot to catch up on, apparently a load of films came out while I was away that I have to watch. Perhaps we could watch a couple together?"
Her smile grew. "That sounds nice. I'd like that. My school was this private boarding school which didn't allow any sort of films or anything like that. There wasn't a TV or computer in the whole place, very 'traditional'. So, I have a lot to catch up on as well."
Steve grinned at her. "At least I won't be alone then," he said. "Traditional boarding school huh? Did you die your dads' hair pink or something for your parents to ship you off there?"
Her smile dropped and she looked down at her plate. "Hogwarts was where they went. I was enrolled since birth. But they died when I was one."
"Eve I'm sorry, I didn't know. My own parents died a while back too. Before I signed up, actually," but something was nagging at him.
"I guess we're both orphans, huh?"
"I guess so. Wait, did you say Hogwarts?"
"Yeah, weird name, huh?"
"But I know that school. Are you a witch?"
Eve's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. But he was a muggle, wasn't he? How did he know of Hogwarts? Did he have another family member who was magical? "How?"
He grinned. "I visited it once. In nineteen forty-four," Steve answered and watch shock become more prevalent on her face.
"Nineteen forty-four?" Eve asked. "Did you time travel?"
"No. I was a soldier then. In fact, truth be told, I was a super soldier. Still am. Captain America. But to stop Hydra, to stop a bomb falling on this city in-fact, I took a plane down and crashed it in the ice. I was in that ice for seventy years."
"That's why everything changed," Eve breathed.
Steve nodded. "But we were there, trying to ally with one Albus Dumbledore. To take on Hydra and Grindelwald at the same time. It was a waste of time. He had no interest in consorting with muggles, even though to the rest of the world he preached that he believed us all equals, his actions showed us otherwise."
Eve snorted. "That sounds like that old coot. He hasn't changed much. He's one of the reasons I left. I don't like feeling like I'm being pushed around a chess board by the master chess player."
"Understandable. I always had the idea that he treated other people as disposable. I had hoped the war would teach him a few valuable lessons, that people are to be counted on, not thrown at gunfire."
"Well, he's playing the same game- but with a different enemy," Eve said. "A dark wizard, Voldemort, rose to power before I was born. He and Dumbledore seem to be having their own personal chess match."
"It's good that you got out of it. War isn't pretty."
"I know. Voldemort was the one who killed my parents. I wanted to get out of all of it. I just hope none of them find me."
"If they do, they would have to get through me to get to you first. I tell you what? Once we finish this, do you want to come over to mine? I have a stack of films I want to get through. Perhaps we could watch them together."
It was like watching a transformation as Eve went from dejected to smiling widely in an instant, her mind jolted away from the darker thoughts of war. "That sounds wonderful. And I suppose we both have just as much to catch up on as each other."
Steve grinned and nodded. It seemed he would not be entirely alone in figuring out the twenty-first century. Even if Eve's reason was different. But some good had finally come out of being woken seventy years in the future. He now had the chance to get to know his soul mate.
A/N: Please review!
