This morning the Ministry is packed with witches and wizards. Of course it always is, but today it is full to almost overflowing.

I make my way to the department of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts.

As usual, everyone is staring at me. Some whisper to others and point. A small girl walking by me looks with big adoring eyes, I smile at her father holding her hand and he beams. Sure, I'm used to it, but will they ever realise that I'm not an exotic animal to be gawked at? I'm a witch, like them.

When I finally reach the department that I'm looking for, the man behind the desk has his back turned to me and is busily bent over writing on some papers.

I clear me throat. He doesn't move. I sigh deeply and do so again, louder this time.

"I'll be with you in a second. Just...let...me...finish... Ha! Done, now what can I help you-" his voice cuts off abruptly when he sees who I am.

He has bright red thinning hair and blue eyes. Dressed very shabbily, he looks as though he could pass for an Azkaban escapee. I recognise him immediately. Arthur Weasley.

"Good day to you, Mrs. Malfoy!" He grabs my hand and pumps it up and down enthusiastically. "What do I have the honour of helping you with today?"

I sigh again. Why him? Why did I come on a day when a Weasley was working? I was here now, might as well get it over with as fast as I can. I'll show him the muggle device, he'll say what it is, then I go home.

"I'm curious as to what this is." I pull the thing out of my purse.

His eyes light up when he sees it and he takes it from me. "This, is called a phone. Muggle's use them to contact one another when they can't see each other in person or are too lazy to do so. Very useful if you ask me. Say, where did a Malfoy get something such as this?"

"I-I..."

What, am I supposed to say, Oh, my husband was with the death eaters the other day torturing a muggle born when this fell out of the man's pocket and I stole it! that would go just lovely, wouldn't it?

"I found it inside the Leaky Cauldron, I think a mudbl- muggleborn must have dropped it." I nodded firmly to prove my point.

There is a pause. "I'll just be going now." I reached out my hand to pick up the "phone" as he does the same. My hand reaches it first, then his hand lands on top of mine.

There is another awkward pause and our eyes lock before I pull my hand back and put the thing in my purse.

"I'm sorry." He looks down and starts fingering a yellow duck toy on the desk.

"I-I- that's alright, I just..."

"Would you like to get some dinner with me? To talk about the phone? They are quite interesting things and it would be silly not to think so..." His voice fades off a bit. I feel pity for him.

Hoisting my bag up on my shoulder I sigh and look around, making sure that no one is looking. "Yeah, sure." The Leaky Cauldron?" I don't want to take him to a place too fancy, for reasons that I won't explicitly state.

"Alright. I get out at... 18:00. Meet me in 10 outside the entrance." Sooner than I can reply, a man is calling him from behind another desk and Arthur Weasley is gone.