It's All in a Matter of Time
By: Romenna
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything related to them. All original characters are mine and I adore them very much. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowlings and Warner Brothers.
Author Note: Okay, the fanfic doesn't start of with Harry and Draco, but they will show up at the end of the chapter. Just keep reading, you'll enjoy it.
Chapter One: The Meeting
The noise of the early morning traffic could not be heard hundreds of miles below ground. The Ministry of Magic was, in fact, soundproof because of this. It also was the destination of a young couple that were wandering the streets of London looking for an old red telephone box.
"My God, Adrian, you are totally worthless." Whined Evie. "I should never have let you lead us. Just give the stupid note.
"I thought you had the note."
"What! I should just…"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I have it right here." Adrian put a hand into his jacket and pulled out a grubby piece of parchment.
"You are such a prat." Evie yelled and grabbed the parchment from his hand. "Why I ever keep you around is a mystery to me…" she mumbled and opened up the parchment to revel instructions written in a loopy handwriting:
You need to be in the
hart of London. Look for
an old red telephone box that
has panels missing. It
will be down an alley with
shabby businesses and a dumpster.
Once there, dial 6-2-4-4-2
Evie read the note over three times before she turned to Adrian. She looked into his bright blue eyes and wondered why he didn't have blond hair.
"What?" He asked her.
"You are so unbelievable." She fumed, running her hands through her black hair. "Just so…unbelievable."
"Hold that thought," he said and dragged her down an alley, "I just want to check something." He let go of her and walked into an old telephone box. He picked up the receiver and started to dial numbers on the crooked apparatus.
"Bloody hell, the phone is broken. Now I have to wait until we go home to find out if the English Rugby team beat New Zealand."
Evie examined the alley they were occupying and sighed. There were office buildings and an over flowing dumpster.
"Adrian, my love, I am mystified by the fact of why you were born with brunette hair and not blond."
"Why is that?"
"Because you are standing in the visitors' entrance to the Ministry of Magic and you didn't even realize it."
"I'm just talented that way."
Evie took the telephone receiver from Adrian and dialed the number that was on the parchment.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." Said a cool female voice.
Adrian looked at Evie with a blank face, not knowing what to say. Evie just rolled her eyes and turned to the apparatus.
"Adrian Miller and Evelyn Miller, Appointment with the head of the International Education Office."
"Thank you." Said the female voice, "Please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
A moment later, two badges appeared in the slot where the coins would have been returned. Evie picked up both of the square silver badges and gave one to her husband.
The telephone box began its descent to the Ministry and within a minute it had stopped at the atrium. The door opened as the voice of the woman they heard earlier told them to have a pleasant day.
The atrium of the Ministry was marvelous, but the only thing that Adrian noticed were the fireplaces off to one side of the room and how there were people coming from them.
"Now why couldn't we have gone through a fireplace?" he asked.
"Because that isn't what Professor Dumbledore told us to do." Evie replied reasonably. "Anyways, I think that those are only for Ministry workers."
They walked through the atrium and stopped momentarily to look at the Fountain of Brethren and put a few sickles into the clear water. After watching the water for a while, they went over to the security desk.
The wizard there pointed them to stand closer to him as he passed a long golden rod up and down them. He then held out his hand and both of them gave up their wands, which went on top of a brass instrument. A piece of paper came out of the bottom and their wands were handed back to them. He nodded his head at Adrian and Evie and they went over to the lifts that would take them to the fifth floor.
There was a long line of witches and wizards and a few lifts went and came back before they were able to get onto one. They were squashed in the back of it so were able to see a man come in with a very odd looking creature. The doors clanged shut and they started to ascend. Each time they stopped at a floor, they heard the cool female voice tell them what was on that floor. When she said that they were on the fifth floor, they squeezed their way out of the lift.
The floor looked as any other business floor would look like; cubicles in rows and columns, with walkways between them, and at the end of the largest walkway, there was a large, wooden door. They looked around, wondering where they should go, but honestly had no clue.
"Excuse us," Evie said to a passing wizard, "can you tell us where the International Education Office is?"
The wizard looked at them, read their badges, and assumed they were all right to talk to.
"The office," he wheezed, "is through that door there," he turned and pointed at the large, wooden door, "and on the left, there are a few different doors. It should be the third door." He smiled and nodded at them and went off toward a cubicle in the far corner.
They took off in the direction that the wizard had indicated and came upon the door. The door handle looked rusted and the wood very old. Adrian turned the handle and had to push with his shoulder to open the door wide enough so that they could enter. The door led to a dimly lit hallway but they could make out doors on either side. They walked over to the first door, to see what it said, but there was no plaque on it so they went down two more doors. This door also had no plaque so they stood outside it, thinking.
"I don't think that it would hurt if we opened it." Adrian told Evie. "What's the worse that could be behind it?"
"I could think of a lot of things." She responded, "but there is no use just standing out here." She took another step towards the door and pulled it open. The scene inside could not have been more unlike the hallway they were standing in.
The office, however small, was filled with sunlight even though there were no windows. The air was almost tropical and the smell was of coconuts. They stepped in and the door closed behind them. In one corner there were two palm trees with a tiny old man strung between them in a hammock. It looked as though he was sleeping so they sat in beach chairs which where lying around the room.
"Maybe he forgot we had an appointment." Evie whispered to Adrian, not wanting to wake the old wizard up. "What should we do?"
Adrian just shrugged his shoulders and laid back in his beach chair. Evie looked a little worried but the atmosphere relaxed her and she also laid back in her chair. A half-an-hour went by before either of them noticed that the wizard was not actually asleep because he finally got up out of his hammock and walked over to the couple.
"Hello, I'm am Mr. Sinderak," he introduced himself, "how can I help you?"
"Wha?" Adrian mumbled, for he had been napping and Mr. Sinderak's voice had awaken him.
"I believe you are the Miller's?" He asked Evie, who seemed more awake at that moment.
"Yes we are." She replied and stood up. She nudged Adrian with her foot to do the same and he stood up as well. "We wanted to know if you could help us. We wanted to go to muggle school for a year, seniors I believe is the name. We need for you to make us school transcripts, visa's, passports, stuff like that."
Mr. Sinderak looked at the couple, contemplating their request. "I can help you, but you need to answer a few questions first. Why do you wish to spend a year in muggle school?"
"We want to learn more about them." Evie offered. "Both of us went to muggle school until Hogwarts and we are curious about what they learn."
"Also, I think that it would be fun to go to a muggle school. They are so odd." Adrian added.
"Fine," Mr. Sinderak said, happy with their answer. "Since you are married, one of you will have to change your name. Muggles don't get married until after school."
"I will have my last name be Earl," Evie answered. "It is my maiden name."
"Okay. Will you be living together?"
"Yes." Adrian said defiantly. "We thought we would say that we are foreign exchange students from the same school and have known each other since kindergarten."
Mr. Sinderak looked at him curiously then accepted his answer with a nod of his head. "One moment please," he said and went over to the palm trees. He took out his wand and tapped the tree with it and it started to print out different pieces of paper from the palms and making a lot of noise. Once it was quiet again, Mr. Sinderak pulled the papers from the palms and organized them into separate piles. He walked back over to the couple and looked at each one separately. After a moment, he turned to Evie.
"Take these. It's all the information you need. I am sending you to a high school in Ohio. I have gone ahead and gotten you a house and even plane tickets, so you can start acting like muggles soon. I also have all the information you need for muggle transportation and other things like that. Good luck."
Mr. Sinderak shook hands with both of them, led them to the door, and opened it for them.
"Thank you so much." Evie managed to say before they were back into the gloomy hallway. She turned to look at Adrian. "Don't you think it odd that he basically shoved us out of his office?"
"I just think it's odd that he gave all the papers to you." He replied. They went back through the door and onto the lifts before Evie even thought about looking through the stuff Mr. Sinderak had given her.
"Do you think he gave us all the necessary papers we need?" Evie asked as they stepped back into the atrium.
"He most likely did, sweetie. If you want, we can go find a seat and look at all the papers." Adrian told her and she nodded her agreement. They went and sat near the fountain and looked through all the papers.
"It looks like everything is here," Evie concluded as she stuck them in her purse. She looked around her and saw another couple a few feet away. They were talking and if she strained her ears enough, she could understand what they were saying.
"I told you it wasn't a good idea to tell father." She heard one male voice say.
"I still think its better that it's out in the open." Replied a different male voice.
"So you think is better to have a raving lunatic chasing you than to be having a quiet evening somewhere better." Retorted the first voice.
"I just think its better than having to be secretive all the time." Reasoned the second voice.
"Yeah, you wouldn't think that if it was your father."
"My father wouldn't have cared, he would have wanted what's best for me."
"And I hardly think that he would think that I am the best for you."
"You never know. He might have."
"Not in a million years."
The couple went quiet and just sat there. Evie thought about what she just heard and wondered what she could do that would be helpful.
"Wait here." She told her husband and went over to the other couple. "I'm sorry, but I overheard you talking about a lunatic that's after you. Is there anything that I could do for you?"
Both of the men looked at her skeptically. "Unless you know where we could go that no one would guess to look for two people who wish them dead, then no, you can't help." This was the man who had talked first.
"Thanks for offering, but I hardly think that you can help." Said the second.
"I know where you can go. I don't think anybody from here would ever think of looking where my husband and I are going." Evie said knowingly.
The men looked at each other with excitement in their eyes. "Okay, where is this place?" The first one asked.
"Its in the U.S., it's a state called Ohio."
"And you are sure no one from here would think of looking there?"
"Of course."
"Fine, we'll go. How do we get there?"
"Well, my husband and I are flying in a plane, but you can just apperate there, I guess. You look familiar…have we met before?" She examined the blonde hair of the first speaker and the messy black hair of the second man.
Both of the men looked at each other with disbelief but after a moment looked back at Evie. The blond spoke first.
"You seriously don't know who we are?" He asked. Evie nodded her head and called her husband over.
"Do you recognize them?" She asked him. He looked them over but shook his head.
The black haired man smiled. "Well, I am Harry Potter and this is Draco Malfoy."
Evie's eyes widened in surprise. "I knew you were at Hogwarts when we were, but I never talked to you. I'm am Evie and this is Adrian."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Harry said, "and thank you for your offer."
"Do you know anything about this Ohio?" Draco asked.
"I hear there is a rumor that there isn't any tea in Ohio." Adrian replied.
Draco fainted.