Krystal and Avery sat quietly in an office in the Ministry of Magic. They had repeated their tale to the witch that worked there, and the two adults had left the room together to talk things over.

After a while, Avery broke the silence. "So, now, what?"

"I don't know. It's your plan, remember?" Krystal answered.

"Yeah, what was your plan?" Avery heatedly demanded. "That's right; you didn't have one. This was the first thing I thought of."

"Improvisation isn't my thing," Krystal defended. "If I had more time, I could have come up with something brilliant."

"But, we didn't have more time," Avery insisted. "So, I did something I thought might give us a shot. We can go home when we get bored."

"No, we can't," Krystal retorted, even more upset. "My parents aren't even born yet."

"What?" Avery exclaimed, momentarily forgetting her agitation.

"Look at the calendar over there," Krystal patiently instructed, but her voice was strained. "What's the date?"

"It's still June 8, 2013," Avery replied.

"No," Krystal responded, unusually calm. "Look again."

The calendar, hanging on the wall next to the woman's desk, displayed a picture of a silvery unicorn placidly standing in a meadow. It gazed out at the two girls before returning to its dainty grazing. Beneath the picture, the previous days of the month had been crossed out, stopping at June 8. Everything looked fine except for one detail.

The year was 1971.

"Oh, wow…" Avery muttered. "I'm older than my parents! That's a game changer."

"You should just change your name to Captain Obvious, at this rate," Krystal stated, close to her breaking point. The stress was too much for her. Avery dealt with it all by using humor. She, however, tended to explode. She was a ticking time bomb…

"Oh, cut me some slack!" Avery demanded, grinning. "I'm a year younger!"

Krystal took a deep breath and tried to lighten up a bit. "Yes," she admitted. "I have an unfair advantage there, but still…"

The door opened and the two adults returned to the room. The man sighed. "Come on," he instructed.

The two girls hopped up. "Where are we going?" Avery inquired.

"You're going to stay with me until this all gets sorted out," he informed.

"Oh," Avery answered. She had been hoping for something better. Krystal just nodded.

The three of them walked back into the Atrium. In the center was the Fountain of Magical Brethren, a large, golden water fountain with a wizard, witch, centaur, goblin, and house elf posed dramatically. Water spewed out of several locations. The effect was rather breathtaking.

Around the fountain, the ministers rushed to and from their offices, creating a swirling black blur at the fountain's base.

"Wow…" Krystal murmured. "It's amazing!"

"Cool," Avery approved. "How long did it take them to build it?"

"I don't know," the man confessed.

"Why did we go to the Ministry of Magic?" Avery inquired. "Wait, are you a magician?"

"The correct term is 'wizard', but I guess that's what Americans call us?" he answered.

"Cool!" Avery repeated. "Where's your pointy hat?"

"Despite what Muggles think, we don't wear them," the man responded.

"I want to be a wizard," Avery declared.

"You would be a witch," the man corrected.

"Oo, then would I wear a pointy hat?" Avery queried.

"Witches don't, either," the man flatly replied.

"Do they have black cats?" Avery requested.

"The ones that like cats do," the man supplied.

"Would I turn green?"

"Why in the world would you turn green?" the man demanded, frustrated. He was not used to children. He had already decided that these two were probably worse than most…

"Well, in The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West was green," Avery enlightened.

"The nice witch wasn't green, though," Krystal reminded. "So, you wouldn't be green, either."

"What if I turned evil?" Avery insisted. "Then, would I turn green?"

"Let us hope not for both," the man stated, his voice ringing with finality. The three remained silent. The man scratched his dark, stubbly beard, deep in thought. "I would Apparate," he finally spoke out loud, "but since you might turn out to be Muggles, I shouldn't risk it. The same goes for the Flu Network. I guess we'll have to walk back."

"Again?" Avery groaned. "But we walked here… Can't we take a bus or something?"

"It's not that far," the man assured. "You'll be fine."

"This is your place?" Avery exclaimed. The man had led them to a large house in fancy neighborhood. It was two stories tall and had two small towers rising gracefully up on each side. The house was painted light blue with white shutters and trim. A tidy white picket fence bordered the property line. "It's a mansion!"

"No," the man disagreed, but his pleasure was evident. "It's a Victorian. One of the oldest in the neighborhood."

"You must have like twenty housekeepers," Avery speculated. Krystal groaned.

"No, but I have one very good house elf," was the man's response.

"House elf?" Avery echoed, cocking her head. She smiled. She was really good at playing stupid.

"You'll see soon enough," the man answered with a glint in his eyes. He opened the front door and called, "Twinkle! We have some guests."

A squeaky voice cried, "Coming, Master! Twinkle loves guests! But, Twinkle did not remember guests were coming, or Twinkle would have made cookies! Twinkle is a bad, bad servant."

"No, Twinkle. I didn't know we'd have guests, either. They need a place to stay until the Ministry takes care of them, so they'll be here for a little while," the man explained.

Just as he finished, a small house elf ran into the room. She had large brown eyes, pointed ears, and a once white pillow case.

"Ew!" Avery shrieked in disgust. "What is that thing?"

"Aw!" Krystal cried simultaneously. "Isn't she adorable?" She ran forward and scooped her up, cuddling the elf as if she was a puppy.

"Twinkle loves little girls! Twinkle has not seen little girls in long, long time!" Twinkle happily remarked. "Twinkle wishes Master would marry and have little girls for Twinkle to spoil."

The man shook his head disapprovingly, but a faint smile betrayed him. "Twinkle, you are a worse nag than my own mother was. One of these days, I'm going to get tired of it and give you an old sock."

"Twinkle knows that Master loves Twinkle," Twinkle confidently declared. "Master knows that Twinkle takes good care of Master. Master would not get rid of Twinkle."

Krystal giggled. "Isn't she adorable?" she repeated.

"I guess," Avery answered reluctantly. "But I would have liked cookies."

"Of all the things in the world, that is what you're stuck on?" Krystal griped. "We're orphans now, this guy that has no clue who we took us in and is going to let us stay in his house, and you're whining because of cookies?"

"I was just teasing," Avery replied.

"What are your names?" Twinkle inquired, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'm Avery and the one squeezing you to death is Krystal," Avery introduced.

"I am not!" Krystal denied.

"Sure…" Avery sarcastically retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Right, Twinkle?" Krystal queried.

"Twinkle is not being crushed," Twinkle confirmed. Krystal laughed in triumph. "But, Twinkle wants little girl to put Twinkle down, now…"

Avery grinned, victorious. "Ha!"

The man just shook his head again, amused. He knew the next few days were going to be very long.

A/N

No Ember in this chapter. She'll be back, though. Sooner or later... ;)

Things will pick up the pace in a little bit. I promise. The next chapter should be more fun.

Please review! Complete criticism is better than no responses at all.

Now, even though it's pretty much a no brainer:

Disclaimer:

I do not own Harry Potter, or any of it's people/places/terms/ etc. If I did, you would not be reading this here on Fan Fiction. ;)