Standard Disclaimers Apply

Chapter 3: Dinner At the Ming Dragon and Travel To Diagon Alley

1815

AJ'S OFFICE

JAG HQ

FALLS CHURCH, VA

By 1815 almost everyone was gathered into the Admiral's Office. Harm couldn't keep his eyes off Mac, who was wearing dress robes of a soft floaty magenta material. " Mac, you look even more beautiful in those things that you do in a dress!" Harm exclaimed, causing her to flush a delicate pink.

"Harm, these robes are ancient! I bought them for my last Salem Academy formal, that's how old they are. I'm glad you like them, though. I almost just wore a dress." Just then Harriet and Bud entered the room with little AJ in tow.

"Bud, you and I are the luckiest guys…" Harm's voice trailed off at a look from Mac. Harriet was wearing robes of a similar style and color to Mac's, except hers were a soft toe-shoe pink.

Harriet grinned. "Thank you, Commander. Mac, I guess you and I both shop at Madam Thestral's, huh? I'd recognize one of her creations anywhere."

"Yes, Madam Thestral did a lot of my things. She taught Home EC at Salem for years before she retired to open her shop, you know. She's also one of the few I confided in about just how awful things were at home. She stepped in and became the closest thing to a mother I've ever had. After I made it through her NEWT level class – at the time I was convinced I could snare a man with my cooking and housekeeping skills, since none of the boys seemed to want a girl who had any intelligence – she apprenticed me at the dress shop, and let me work for clothes. She gave me her spare room over the shop, and for the first time I had enough to eat during school breaks..." She stopped and looked up. "Sorry, Harriet, I didn't mean to ramble like that."

Before Harriet could answer, Coates spoke up. "You too, huh? Her replacement sent me to her, and when I had to transfer to Hogwarts, she set me up with Madam Malkin. I lived in her spare room in Diagon alley for three summers… best three summers of my life." Coates was wearing mint green robes, with a simple scoop neck like Mac and Harriet's but with a much lower robe back. " I hope these robes are appropriate. They're the only ones I managed to save from Dad's rampage after I graduated. You'd think I had spit on his pulpit Bible the way he reacted to my bringing my school things home. Destroyed all my old schoolbooks, snapped my wand, the works! But I'm actually glad he did. The rebellion after that one was what landed me here with you." As she finished, Meredith entered, resplendent in robes of deep cranberry.

"Meredith, you look lovely." Mac spoke softly, with a bit of a question in her voice.

"She's Muggle, Mac." At Mac's shocked look, AJ said simply; I'm a Legilmens. Before you ask, Commander, it means I can get inside her head and listen to what she's thinking. I can do that to you, too, by the way."

"You can listen to my thoughts? Bet you heard a lot when I came back from Paraguay."

"Between your thoughts and Mac's, it was an interesting conversation. Lucky Colonel - I couldn't court martial you for thoughts."

Mac spoke up again. "Sir, we'd better get going, or we'll miss the reservation."

"Right, Colonel. Harriet and I will drive, everybody else rides with us." After pulling out of the JAG parking lot, it was a short drive into D.C.'s Chinatown. After they parked the car, the walked a few blocks until they came to a small restaurant, the Ming Dragon. They went inside, and stopped in front of a large statue of a dragon. AJ tapped it with his wand, and whispered, "Chegwidden Reservatio 8." The dragon blinked and the door next to it opened, revealing a golden elevator. Next to it stood a small green creature with overlarge eyes, batlike ears, and who was dressed in an oriental print pillowcase.

"Mac?" Harm whispered.

"Yeah, flyboy?"

"What's that?"

"It's a House Elf, Harm, I'll explain later, ok?"

The elf ushered them into the lift, and they were going down, down, down. The lift door opened and Harm stared in shock, his mouth hanging open until Mac reached over and closed it. " The point here is for you to look like a wizard, ok?' Try to contain yourself a little! You can 'Oh, Wow' all you want, just do it inconspicuously."

"Sorry, Mac." Harm said softly. But this is all so incredible…" The magical sky mirrored the Washington sunset far above, as witches and wizards hurried to finish their shopping before the stores closed for the night. Directly across from them was a magical pet store, with cats, owls, snakes and other magical familiars common to the Muggle world alongside Puffskeins, Nifflers, Crups, and the like.

"Sarah! What a pleasant surprise! How have you been?" A small, trembling wizard with a long steel-gray beard and wearing deep Roval blue robes with stars on them stopped them.

He looked at who was with her, and visible jumped. Miss Beaumont, Mr. Chegwidden… Miss Coates, Hello." The last name was said with a little bit of disappointment.

Harriet made the introductions for the remainder of the group. "For everyone who doesn't know him, this is Orion Figg, former Astronomy teacher at Salem. Sir, this is my husband, Bud Roberts, my son, AJ Roberts, you know Sarah and Jen, this is Meredith Chegwidden, and the tall one is Harmon Rabb."

"Nice to meet you all. So, what have you been doing with yourself, Sarah, I haven't seen you since you graduated."

"All of us except Harm, Meredith and Little AJ are in the Muggle military."

"Really?" He looked at his watch. "Drat it! The post office is closed, and I really wanted to get this to Arabella tonight. And she doesn't have a Floo Hookup, so an owl is the only way."

AJ spoke up. "We'll be seeing her at the meeting of the Order tomorrow night, Orion. Would you like us to take it?"

"That would be wonderful. Thank you." Orion handed over the letter, a thick sheaf of parchment sealed with bright blue sealing wax stamped with the Figg Family crest. They were interrupted by an elegantly dressed witch with menus on her arm, letting them know their table was ready. They excused themselves from Orion and followed her.

They were seated around a large round table, and as the witch handed them each a menu she tapped the water glass with her wand, magically filling it. Mac showed Harm how by tapping the item on the menu with her wand, the title would go away and a description of the dish is question would appear. Tapping it three times would order the item. Once they had ordered, they settled in to wait. The food arrived and dinner was uneventful, and after dessert and butterbeer they said their goodnights, Mac promising to pick up Harm the next morning so he would be on time. Then they all went home to pack.

0730 Romeo

Harmon Rabb's Apartment

Washington, DC

Harm stood at the sink in his underwear, brushing his teeth. 'I'd better hurry, Mac will be here soon.' As if in answer to his thoughts, there was suddenly a loud "POP" and Sarah Mackenzie was standing in the bathroom doorway. "Dammit, Mac, you scared me! And how did you do that, anyway? You'd better be glad I wasn't shaving, or we'd be on the way to Bethesda instead of the office."

"Nah, Flyboy, a healing spell would take care of it. That was the roughest part of choosing to live in the Muggle world, no healing spells. Come on, we're gonna be late. With that she tapped the bag at her side and said, Apperio Corvette!" Her bag disappeared, and instantly reappeared in the backseat of the corvette, disturbing the stray cat who had crawled into the back to sleep. Unbeknownst to Harm, he'd had a cat for a month.

Mac and Harm came downstairs and spotted the cat. Mac immediately pulled out her wand, and transfigured harm's crescent wrench into a food bowl. Then she put a charm on it so it would magically refill itself while he was gone, and tapped the wall, which immediately produced a tap. She transfigured another bowl and put it under. The tap would stop when the bowl was full, and fill it up again as it emptied. The pile of rags in the corner became a soft cat bed. Finally, she added a small cat door to the garage. "There, that takes care of your guest."

0900 Romeo

AJ's Office

JAG HQ

Falls Church, Va.

The admiral looked at the group of people and luggage before him. "My godson is a mess, Harriet. How'd he manage to get peanut butter all over so fast?" He pointed his want at his godson and said "Scourgify!" AJ was instantly clean. "That's better. Madam Malkin would NOT like it if he got peanut butter on her robes." Ok, Sound off. Harriet, Bud, and AJ. "

"All Present and accounted for, sir!" Harriet said, while AJ chimed in, "Here, Unca AJ!"

"Mac!"

"Present and ready to travel, Sir!"

"Commander Rabb!"

"Here, Sir. UhOH, Mac, did you pick up my bag?"

"No, I didn't, I thought you did. Hang on, sir." There was a "pop" and she vanished, reappearing a few seconds later with Harm's bag in hand."

"Ready to travel, Sir, Sorry for the delay, Sir!" Harm hoped the Admiral wouldn't be too mad. Truth be told, he was a little scared of that wand, now that they were leaving JAG for the wizarding world.

"Coates!"

"Here and ready to go, Sir!"

All Right, Grab your stuff, then grab some powder, and when it's your turn, make sure you clearly say, Leaky Cauldron! Let's put the Muggles in the middle."

One by one, they stepped into the dancing emerald flames and entered the wizarding world.