March 7th, 2006

Seven-year-old Amaryllis slid quietly off her bed, her gaze solely locked onto the floor and then her mattress as she knelt down by her bed and kept her eyes from straying to the obscure crack that lined the wall behind her desk. Propping her elbows onto the mattress and closing her eyes, the young blackette then proceeded to clasp her hands together in the way one would when praying.

"Dear Santa," the girl begun, her voice barely making a sound in the hush of the night. "Thank you for the dolls and pencils-"

"Don't forget the fish!" a voice called from the doorway of her room and it caused Amaryllis to jump; her eyes snapping open as her head turned in the newcomer's direction.

"Tai!" the seven-year-old shouted at her friend and the blonde-haired girl darted away from the doorway; laughing all the way back to her own. Amaryllis glared after her friend before letting out a huff, wondering why her aunt had allowed Tai to stay with them for the holidays. All the ten-year-old did was cause trouble for her and hide all her things.

Amaryllis was still trying to find where the blonde had hidden her lunchbox on Wednesday...

Giving her head a shake and reclosing her eyes, the blackette returned to her prayer - though she did peek towards her door to make sure that her friend hadn't returned to scare her once more.

"And I want to thank you for the fish," she continued with an almost whisper. "I know it's Easter now, Santa, so I hope I didn't wake you, but honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall." Unable to stop herself, the seven-year-old opened her eyes to peek at the odd, w-shaped crack of white light behind her desk. But she was quick to close her eyes, almost as if she were afraid of what would happen if she did look at it for too long.

The voices she continued to hear from it were bad enough as it were.

"Aunt Charity says it's just an ordinary crack, but... I know it's not," Amaryllis' voice lowered even further as she admitted the last part out loud for the first time, "Because, I can-"

"Prisoner Xero has escaped..."

Amaryllis let out a scream and Tai took a step back, laughing as her friend jumped to her feet.

"Tai!" the blackette rounded on her friend. "Get out!" she demanded, jabbing her finger in the direction of her door. "I'm telling Aunt Charity!"

The ten-year-old had other ideas however, and she ducked under Amaryllis' outstretched arm before plonking herself onto the blackette's bed. "Why are you praying to Santa about the crack?" the blonde asked, eyeing her friend as she crossed her arms against her chest. "It doesn't do anything but whisper things."

"Cracks aren't supposed to whisper, Tai," Amaryllis told her friend knowingly as she crossed her own arms against her chest, glaring at the blonde.

Her words only had Tai frowning however, and it only seemed to irk the blackette even more.

"And so what if this one does?" Tai shot back and caused Amaryllis to blink at how defensive the blonde seemed to be getting over something that was beginning to scare her.

"It's not right!" she stated defiantly. "Things like that aren't supposed to whisper things. I was asking Santa to send someone to fix it. Or maybe even a policeman to-"

Amaryllis broke her tirade off when a rather strange whirring sound begun to fill air and Tai, who had been glaring right back at her friend, frowned as she slowly got off the bed.

"What's tha-"

A loud crash that seemed to echo through the silence that followed after it cut the blonde off and Tai and Amaryllis exchanged glances, their argument all but forgotten. The seven-year-old rushed to her bedside table and grabbed her torch while her friend was already heading towards the window and throwing open the curtain the moment she got there. The pair gaped when they spotted a strange blue box laying on its side amongst the remains of what used to be the blackette's garden shed.

"Wicked..." Tai grinned at Amaryllis, though the girl in question wasn't paying attention as her blue eyes took in the letters that were written at the top of the box.

Looking up to the starry night sky, Amaryllis whispered, "Thank you, Santa," before darting from the room and leaving Tai to chase after her.

"Tai!"

Grey eyes blinked slowly before their host gave themselves a mental shake and smiled as Kuttai approached the counter of the coffee shop. "Thanks," the blackette said as she accepted the takeaway cup off the barista before leaving the store, crossing through the small park that would take her back towards the Thames and home.

As she passed a bench, the young woman slowed her steps when she noticed that the paper a man was reading was, well, moving.

Taking her cup away from her lips, the blackette sighed as she stopped in front of the man. "You do know that there's the Statute in place for a reason?" she asked, watching as the fellow ignored her for a moment before he finally lowered his paper.

"And all of what you're doing isn't illegal?" Marduk replied with a question of his own as he stood, rolling up the Prophet up and tucking it under his arm.

"Hey, we both know that what I'm doing is just following what's already happened," Kuttai found herself saying defensively, though paused when she realised what the vampyre had done. "That's not funny," she muttered as they both headed off in the direction the blackette had originally been heading in.

"I didn't say it was," Marduk said, though the smirk on his face clearly stated differently.

"What are you here, anyway?" Kuttai enquired curiously, deciding to ignore the smirk. "I thought you'd be over at Xero's with Amaryllis."

"You just gave yourself two reasons as to why I am not there," the blond told her with a look that had the witch snorting. "Xero and Amaryllis were home and Xero decided to make a comment to his Mate that... Why am I even explaining this to you? Xero and Amaryllis were home at the same time, need I say more?"

"Did they really traumatise you that much, oh great Ley Master?" Kuttai teased, hiding the smirk they both knew was on her face behind her cup as she took another sip.

"No, actually," Marduk admitted, surprising the witch at his side enough that her eyebrows almost disappeared up and into her hair.

"Well, don't keep me waiting," the blackette prompted when he didn't continue. Her eyes narrowed at him warningly when she noticed the upwards twitch of his lips and knew that he wasn't saying anything to keep her in suspense.

"I'm just glad that she's finally happy," the vampyre finally said with a shrug.

"Oh," Kuttai pulled a face. "Why wouldn't she be happy?" she asked before continuing, "I mean, Xero's her Mate... Well, one of them, at least."

Marduk's gaze slid to the witch. "Why do I get the feeling that you know far more about our dear Amaryllis than you let on?"

Kuttai's expression was utterly impish as she replied with the simple word of, "Spoilers," right before the coffee cup she was holding slipped from her hand as both she and Marduk clutched their ears as a loud horn blared from above. Their heads shot up to see a - spaceship?! - with a large plume of smoke trailing behind it collide with Big Ben before it disappeared heading towards the Thames.

The pair just stood their for a moment, their hands slowly lowering from their ears that continued to ring long after the ship had - what they could only guess - crashed.

"Amaryllis didn't say anything about alien spaceships crashing into London this morning, did she?" was all Kuttai could ask as she slowly looked to Marduk.

"No," the vampyre replied slowly, seemingly needing a moment to get a hold over himself as his eyes turned a few shades darker before they begun to brighten once more.

"So... you get to tell Anshar that she's not making it to the party tonight then," the witch said before she disapparated and left the blond standing there, still staring in the direction the ship had gone.

"Oh, Xero is not going to like this..."


Leaky Cauldron/Diagon Alley, Wizarding London

"Charity, for the last time, no!" Amaryllis laughed as she and her best friend Charity Burbage stepped out of the floo and into a surprisingly boisterous Leaky. "My fiancé doesn't have a brother, or a cousin. You know that!" the blackette added as she shook her head at her friend, ignoring the happenings in the pub.

"Oh, come on, Ama," the brunette sighed over dramatically as she waved her wand over them both; syphoning the ash from their clothes before returning it back to the holster that was hidden up her sleeve. "The way you talk about him... You sure he doesn't have a twin or something?"

"Charity! You're married!" Amaryllis all but shrieked, her cheeks burning as a few heads turned in their direction. She grabbed her friend's hand and dragged the witch through the pub and out to the back towards the entrance to Diagon Alley, not even noticing the way the normally nosey public were quick to ignore the pair and returned back to their own exciting conversations about something having happened at the Thames. "Sometimes I don't know what to do with you," the blackette bemoaned as Charity's tinkering laughter followed her the entire way.

"Ah, but you love me," the witch said with a grin as she gave Amaryllis' shoulder a nudge with her own.

"There's a fine line between love and hate," Amaryllis muttered under her breath as she pulled out her own wand and turned her attention onto the brick wall that was also the entrance to Diagon Alley.

"What was that?"

"Hrn?" Amaryllis looked to Charity with an innocent expression as she tapped at the bricks without looking. "Did you say something?"

The brunette's face scrunched up into a pinched, though clearly amusedly exasperated expression as she threw up her hands. "I swear you're acting more and more like him every day!"

"Hrn," the raven-haired witch repeated as she stowed her wand away and watched the bricks shift to reveal the hidden entrance to Diagon Alley.

"See!" Charity exclaimed as she pointed at the expression on Amaryllis' face after they stepped into the alley.

"Are you sure he's not just acting more like me?" Amaryllis asked, though before Charity could formulate a response, a voice called out to the two women and they turned towards the newcomer.

"Professor Burbage! Master Orme!"

"Mister Potter?" Amaryllis greeted in surprise as Harry Potter came to a sudden stop in front of the pair. He was looking out of breath and the raven-haired witch glanced to her friend with an expression that had Charity frowning.

"Is everything all right, Mister Potter?" the Professor enquired.

"Master Enlil," the wizard managed to say between pants, "He told me that he had to see Master Orme immediately."

"Why didn't he just send a patronus?" Charity questioned the wizard with narrowing eyes.

"He said that it was important," Potter replied as he straightened, giving the witch an apologetic smile. "Sorry, he wasn't really..." he trailed off with a pinched expression as the word he was searching for evaded him.

"Informative?" Amaryllis supplied with a shake of her head, knowing just how her Master liked to act. It didn't really surprise her that he'd sent Potter to look for them and not tell the wizard where they were.

"Yeah," the bespectacled wizard agreed, running a hand through his trademark messy hair in a gesture that had Amaryllis twitching before she turned to Charity.

"Best not keep my Master waiting," she told the brunette before dragging her back towards the Leaky and the floo inside, leaving Harry to blink after them as he wondered if he had said something wrong.


River Thames

Running through the door that led to her best friends' back garden, Tai barely glanced back to Amaryllis as she quickly put on a pair of blue-purple wellies before throwing on a matching coat and hat. The blonde rolled her eyes good-heartedly as she felt the cold, leafy ground between her toes, not caring to get her own shoes as she raced Amaryllis to where they had seen the blue box; the ends of an oversized males' jacket fluttering in the wind around her legs.

As the pair grew closer to where the box had crashed, they came to a stop when the doors of the box were unexpectedly flung open and Amaryllis grasped Tai's hand tightly as a grappling hook proceeded to fly from the now open doors. Then - and much to the surprise and astonishment of the two friends - a soaking wet man with floppy brown hair popped his head out from the inside of the box.

"Could I have an apple?" the brunet asked and Tai glanced to her friend, a little confused by the man's question. "All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving?" the man continued to ramble.

Amaryllis watched the brunet curiously as he spoke, finding the oddly-dressed man looked rather surprised by his words; his eyes widening a little.

"That's new. Never had cravings before," the brunet remarked as he continued to ramble. He had - by then - climbed halfway out of the smoking box; straddling the edge as he peered back down the way he had come. "Whoa!" he suddenly gaped at whatever it was he saw. "Look at that."

"I have been, Doctor."

A voice, soft and feminine came from within the box and it had Tai and Amaryllis jumping before another set of hands appeared over the box's edge just like the brunet had done.

"No thanks to you," a woman with long, light brown hair sniped as she pulled herself up onto the edge beside the brunet; odd golden-brown eyes narrowing on the man.

The Doctor looked rather sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze lowering from the brunette's as his cheeks darkened. "Sorry," he muttered apologetically, "I got a little distracted."

"So I heard," the woman remarked with a sigh as she rolled her oddly coloured eyes. Her expression softened as she reached out to place her hand over the brunet's, though stiffened when she remembered that they had an audience and her lip curled slightly in an automatic and subconscious manner as her gaze shifted to the two children that were watching them both with wide, confused eyes.

"Are you okay?" Amaryllis asked, her voice conveying the concern she was feeling towards the strange pair. They were both soaking wet from what the blackette could see, and although the woman's clothes had a few rips here and there, the man's clothes were utterly ruined. The seven-year-old went to take a step towards the pair, but Tai tugged her back; the blonde's gaze locked onto the woman beside the Doctor as golden eyes narrowed on the pair.

"Just had a fall," the brunet replied, shifting his own hand to cover the woman's at his side and caused her to turn her attention back to him. The Doctor quirked a rather non-existent eyebrow as he nodded down into the box when he knew he had his companion's attention, adding, "All the way down there, right into the library," with a rather mischievous grin.

The brunette couldn't help but mirror his expression - which had been the Doctor's goal to begin with - and her words came out with a barely suppressed chuckle as she shook her head, "Hell of a climb back up." An eyebrow of her own raised as she slyly added, "But will admit that the view wasn't half bad."

"But you're both soaking wet," Amaryllis piped up with a frown, unsure as to how they could have come from a library when it looked as though they'd gone swimming while wearing their clothes.

"We..." the Doctor cleared his throat, his cheeks darkening as he realised what the brunette had meant and he shot his companion a half-hearted glare before returning his attention back to the two friends. "We were in the swimming pool," he told them.

"You said you were in the library," Tai piped up from beside the blackette, even as her eyes narrowed on the brunette beside the Doctor. Her hand tightened around Amaryllis' as she tugged the younger girl backwards once more, wanting to put as much distance between them and the brunette seated on the side of the blue box.

"So was the swimming pool," the woman in question replied rather flatly as her eyes darted between the duo before falling to their joint hands.

"Oh, sorry miss," a young man apologised after he accidently bumped into Kuttai, cutting off the tune that she had been humming.

"It's no bother," the blackette replied, a practised smile flashing brightly across her lips before she continued to easily weave her way through the masses that had congregated as close as they could to the river; each person wanting to gawk at the ship she'd seen head in this direction. From what the blackette had heard from the snippets of conversations as she passed, the ship had decided to take a dive into the Thames and the muggle authorities had been very quick to close off the area.

A part of Kuttai wondered just how much the Ministry had to play in containing the scene, having found the roads blocked from the moment she had appeared at the closest apparation point she knew of near the Thames. Though the rather deceptively young-looking witch wasn't interesting in any of that. And even as she tucked the wallet she'd swiped from the poor man that had 'bumped' into her, a smirk made its way upon her face as she headed towards the back of the crowds and away from mix of soldiers and Aurors that were blocking the road off ahead. She had already spent ten minutes while she waited determining which soldiers were the Aurors and had even been bored enough to end up tuning into their heartrates to measure their stress levels.

Her mother had always taught her that there was nothing wrong with continuing to practice using her abilities and Kuttai had always taken her words to heart. It also didn't hurt that magic seemed to sing to the blackette, no matter the species. And as Kuttai exited the crowd, the witch returned to her humming; the tune both familiar and new - as Kuttai found them to always be - the smile that was on her lips turned more real as something scampered up her leg and appeared on her shoulder in a flash of black fur; almost blending into her hair as the small creature pressed itself - and something very cold against the side of her neck.

Kuttai's hand raised and easily and instinctively found the furry creatures head, giving the top a scratch before accepting the item from its tiny paws.

"What have you got for me this time?" she asked as her hand curled around a familiar shape and held it out so she could see; the metal weight of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver feeling rather comfortable in her palm before the blue tip lit up and it begun to make a buzzing, whirring sound as Kuttai confirmed its identity by pressing the button on the side. "You found him then?" she continued as her free hand gave her familiar another scratch, though a voice had Rascal letting out a squeak before the Niffler disappeared the same way he had appeared.

"Hey!"

Kuttai turned slightly to glance back the way she had come as Rascal disappeared into the crowds once again and noticed that the man her familiar had pickpocketed was looking directly at her.

"That's mine!" the Doctor continued as he started towards the witch.

"Oh, this is just fantastic..." Kuttai said with a growing smile as her gaze went between the Doctor, his screwdriver - and the blonde that had appeared at the Time Lord's side.

"How did you get that?" Rose Tyler demanded as she followed the Doctor.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know, Miss Tyler," the blackette called to the pair and caused them to pause - startled - before she flipped the sonic in the air and caught it, breaking through their surprise as she added, "But guess you'll have to just catch me to find out."

Kuttai turned on her heel and ran, the pitched black length of her twelve and a half inch ebony wand appearing in her free hand right before a ball of white-blue light shot out from the end and flew off into a direction only she knew of.


Department of Mysteries, Office of Magic and Ley Relations: Sitting Room

"What are you doing?!" a young woman squealed as she was suddenly picked up from behind and found herself being spun around.

"I've missed you," a voice rumbled in her ear as she was placed back onto her feet. The arms around her did not relinquish their hold however - not that the raven-haired woman was complaining. In fact, there was a warm smile upon Rylli's lips as she relaxed back into the figure's embrace.

"It's only been, what? Five minutes?" the witch replied, her smile growing as she managed to turn in the arms holding her.

Amber eyes glinted back at her in the candlelight and Rylli found herself falling into their depths as Theta just smirked at her. "I don't hear you complaining," he stated as he pulled the blackette even closer so there was no space left between them. He could hear her breath hitch at the action and he hid his growing smirk in the crook of her shoulder; the rapid beating of her heart like a pleasant tempo against his lips as wild flowers, parchment, and a hint of citrus with a hidden earthly undertone that reminded the man of the planet he loved to frequent, the unique blend of the very woman who had managed to capture his hearts - and the comfiest seat in the library - tickled his nose as he did so and it had his own hearts picking up their pace within the confides of his chest.

The blackette in his arms leaned back a little so she could see him and her smile was soft and warm as she cupped his face, "How were your travels?"

Her smile alone had Theta's own returning as his hearts skipped a beat like he found them to always do when his Mate welcomed him back with such warmth; knowing that Rylli was just fine with his frequent need to traverse the stars - as long as he always returned back to her. And a part of Theta, a part that was so deeply engraved into his very being knew that he would always return to her.

"Lonely without you," was his reply, and his admission had pink cutting across his Mate's cheeks.

"I've missed you too," the blackette replied as she tucked her head under his chin, feeling her Mate release an almost bone-deep sigh as her arms wrapped around his waist.

"How much longer do you think you'll be here for?"

His voice was but a rumble against Rylli's cheek and the young woman closed her eyes at the feeling; allowing his presence to wash over her and sooth the worries that had been plaguing her mind. Oh, how she had missed her Mate over the last couple of weeks.

"Dolohov and Greyback killed two more Auror's yesterday," she said quietly, feeling the brunet's arms tighten around her as he stiffened.

It had been hard for the war-ravaged populous of Wizarding Britain to move on from what Lord Voldemort had caused before he had been stopped by nothing but an infant. And with the growing number of attacks from rouge Death Eaters, werewolves, and even the occasional rouge vampyre that had been occurring over the last couple of months; the general public were beginning to feel as though they were re-entering the time before the once Dark Lord had decided that just being 'rich and powerful' wasn't enough to keep him happy and he went on a murderous rampage across the UK for the better part of five years.

And the fact that not all of his followers had been captured was not helping matters in the slightest.

Rylli also knew that Theta didn't like her working as an Unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries. But it had been the only way that the pair could live the quiet life they did between the chaos of their own respected lives; the very nature of being an Unspeakable working in their favour to protect Theta from the people who would want nothing more than to take him in for 'questioning' when they realised that he wasn't a wizard. Nor even a muggle, for that matter. Two hearts really did give away that fact in a simple diagnostic scan.

Though - and Rylli honestly had no idea as to why - after a little misunderstanding between herself, Theta, and a few of the members of the Board that may have included thoughts or words spoken along the lines of, 'No, this is definitely not a wand,' and, 'But a sonic screwdriver' - much to Theta's horrified and unknown knowledge - 'can and will cause pain if one was to get between a shifted witch and her Mate'... the Ministry had been leaving them very much alone as of late.

The Department of Mysteries however...

Well, they had been rather quick to snatch Rylli and her best friend up the moment they had stepped out of Hogwarts.

"Who?" Theta asked, his voice as equally as quiet as Rylli's as she ran a hand soothingly up and down his back. He knew that he'd never ask her to leave her work, no matter how much the need to ask her, to invite her to travel with him burned from within like a candle that had been left alight and had slowly spread its warmth and light throughout his body as its fire spread. It was far more than anything he'd felt before when it came to asking someone to travel with him, knowing that there would be far more behind his words than just travelling.

What he wanted - what they both wanted was something that spoke far more than just companionship.

It was something everlasting.

Rylli grimaced as she looked away from Theta's eyes and towards his chest as she muttered, "Stones and McAllister. Greyback managed to ambush them while Dolohov played bait. McAllister didn't stand a chance. And Stones..."

It was Theta's turn to soothe Rylli as the blackette trembled in his arms. Her magic begun to manifest itself into physical form as the air around them crackled. It was harmless as always to the brunet, though he didn't think that his Mate would be happy with having to go on another shopping trip to replace what she broke again.

When she finally managed to get a handle on her emotions, Rylli slumped in his arms with a muttered, "Sorry," before letting out a huff as she pulled away from him. "But, I just don't know what to do anymore," she told him, "Any move we try and make against them and they seem to know of before we can even implement them. But I've triple-checked the entire Auror's Department and not one person was shown to be acting suspiciously AND they all agreed to and took vows to confirm where their allege- What?"

Theta was staring at her, a soft look of fondness in his eyes that was illogically paired with a playful smile that spoke of hidden mysteries and guaranteed mischief. But even with her confusion as to why he was wearing such an expression, the sight of both the fondness in his eyes and the smirk that was playing upon Theta's lips had a warmth filling Rylli that seemed to reach her very soul.

"Come with me," he suddenly asked as he let her go and took a step back, successfully causing Rylli to startle when he snagged her hand in the process.

"What?" the blackette squeaked, surprised by his words. It was one thing that they had spoken of often, although Rylli and Theta both agreed that a part of her life included the very people that she'd grown up with.

"You sound like you need a holiday," was all Theta's reply as he begun to tug her along. "And I have just the perfect place that will sweep you off your feet," he added when Rylli resisted half-heartedly.

"Theta, you know I can't just up and leave," she told him even though every part of her was screaming to shut up and let him take her to wherever it was he had planned, knowing that there was nowhere she wouldn't go with her Mate if he asked. No matter what danger they might end up in, Rylli found that she loved him too much to care. She knew that Theta would never intentionally put her in harm's way, and as it were, eighty percent of their adventures ended up with him trying to keep her out of trouble; the other twenty being the opposite with her trying to keep him out of it.

But as Theta turned to her with an expression that Rylli could never say no to, the blackette found what little resolve she was still clutching to melt away as that same promise left his lips.

"Five minutes."

It was something that he had promise her the first time he'd asked for her to join him on a trip. And it was one he had never broken, always taking the extra care to make certain that nothing would be wrong when he dropped her back off at home.

Theta's smile returned when he noted the look in Rylli's eye and before she knew it he had whisked her away to his ship and was already dashing around the console with a smile on his face. The raven-haired witch couldn't deny that she was brimming with curiosity that was practically oozing out of her eyes and ears as she watched him move. And when the TARDIS had landed wherever it was Theta had taken her, Rylli found her nose twitching unconsciously as she stepped out of the ship; her curiosity becoming almost too much for her to contain as her Mate's far cooler hands continued to cover her eyes.

Wherever they were, the blackette could tell by the brightness that was almost blinding behind Theta's hands that it was daytime. But something caught Rylli off guard that almost sent her staggering back into her Mate's arms.

Something fresh and light swirled around her like a gentle breeze, brushing against her skin in a tender caress as it called out to her magic; coaxing hers to respond and causing her hair to begin to puff up with energy, A giggle left her, knowing that she must have looked the sight to her Mate, but there was something about the place he'd brought her to that had her feeling giddy.

Theta's chuckle had a delighted shiver running down Amaryllis' spine and she inhaled deeply through her nose as she closed her eyes despite the hands that covered them. "This place..." she trailed off as she took in another deep, almost soul-cleansing breath before slowly letting it out. She could already feel the worries of her work slowly fade away like a bad dream as her body relaxed back against Theta's firm chest. "Wherever we are, Theta. It's magical," she told him; shivering as she felt his lips brush against the junction between her neck and shoulder.

"This place has always been considered magical." His breath tickled her ear and caused Rylli to shiver in his arms as he pulled her even closer against him, the back of her head coming to rest on his shoulder as his hands continued to cover her eyes. "But I always preferred it when it was far less... ancient."

He removed his hands from Rylli's eyes and enjoyed the startled gasp of surprise that escaped her when she found that they were standing in a busy street; people bustling around them as they went about their day. But that hadn't been what had truly startled the witch. It was the fact that they were both standing in the middle of a street located in what would one day become Ancient Egypt.

"What's got you frowning?"

Amaryllis' head jerked up from the open file on her lap and towards her friend who was seated in one of the other chairs in the sitting room they were waiting for Marduk in. The blackette blinked slowly as she returned to the realm of reality and raven eyebrows pinched together in confusion as she asked, "Sorry?" at the same time she closed the file in her lap. Amaryllis wasn't too certain as to what the case she'd been reading was about and found herself hard-pressed to recall a word she had read.

Charity's eyes narrowed as she studied her best friend, hazel eyes losing what humour and genuine curiosity they had held as she closely scrutinised her friend from where she sat. The magazine she'd been reading was closed and placed onto the coffee table situated between their chairs. And when she finally did relax into her seat with a barely audible sigh, Amaryllis' confusion only managed to multiply by ten.

"You were thinking about him."

The words hadn't been spoken as a question and they had a small frown appearing on the confused witch's lips as she returned her gaze back to the closed file in her lap; a finger absentmindedly running up and down over the thinner edge of the front. "I don't..." Amaryllis trailed off, blinking once again when she realised that she had been lost in her thoughts of him. "I was," she admitted, sounding rather surprised by her realisation. And the blackette felt that she had good means to be, knowing that apart from the odd memory that morning, it had been so long since she'd had any form of flashback.

And it had been even longer since any had included Theta.

But what surprised Amaryllis more was that she couldn't think of any rhyme or reason as to what would have led to her having such memories dragged up from the very depths of her subconscious in the first place.

"It's not really that surprising," Charity stated with an easy shrug, drawing Amaryllis from her musings once more. However, despite how at ease the brunette both seemed and sounded, there was a small line that had appeared between Charity's brows as she had spoken that her raven-haired friend knew was a tell that gave away the fact that the witch was thinking about something deeply - and quickly.

"How so?" Amaryllis enquired curiously as she placed the file she still held next to Charity's magazine on the table and the brunette tilted her head at the question; her gaze cutting to the panelled ceiling of the room that reminded her so much of the ones in muggle offices. The fact that they were in the bowls of the Ministry and in the Department of Mysteries, hidden in a section from all bar those who knew of its existence - which was a very small number of magical folk that knew better than to speak of Anshar's department - fascinated the pure-blooded witch, wondering just how integrated the DoM was with the muggle world - even if said world didn't know such a thing was happening in the first place.

"There have been many strange things happening all around the world as of late," Charity begun, although a snort from Amaryllis had her stopping as her hazel eyes slid back to her friend.

"I'm sorry," the blackette apologised, though it was more aimed at cutting Charity off than the reason as to why as she added, "But 'strange' would be like finding a dog with no nose sniffing through the dumpster near the Ministry's entrance. There is nothing strange about having flashbacks about a man I have no wish of remembering."

There was a knock at the door and the witch rose to see who was bothering them, knowing that Marduk wouldn't knock since he was the one they were waiting on. Though as she went, Amaryllis threw, "And don't even think of mentioning me going to speak with Tai, either," over her shoulder.

"I wasn't talking about Theta," Charity corrected with a roll of her eyes, however a frown was quick to mar her expression as Amaryllis opened the door and the brunette spotted who was shadowing the doorway.

Master Anshar Anu, somehow the boss of not only Amaryllis but her Master Marduk's as well and all-round 'fine' wizard - his words... - opened his mouth to ask what Charity knew was most likely one of the many inane questions that he was renowned for. But the witch found herself blinking when without giving the man a chance, Amaryllis was quick enough to beat him to it.

"Konijn," the raven-haired witch quipped before making to close the door on the wizard - much to Charity's surprise. However she was stopped when Anshar placed his hand against the wood and just raised an eyebrow at Amaryllis.

"Firstly," the wizard begun, giving Amaryllis an odd look that her friend wasn't too certain what to make of, "I have no idea as to how you do that." Charity watched with rather disbelieving eyes when Amaryllis just snorted at Anshar before she stepped aside and let the blond-haired wizard enter as he continued. "And second," Anshar jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and towards the door as he did just that as he asked, "What's with the sign?"

The wizard moved to the empty seat beside where Amaryllis had been sitting and sunk into it as the blackette in question, along with her brown-haired friend both turned their gaze towards the door as Amaryllis reopened it; eyebrows raising simultaneously when they noticed that there was a sheet of muggle paper that had been charmed to the front of the door, the words, 'This Universe is made up of protons, neutrons, electrons, and morons. Beyond this door miraculously contains only one of the four listed above.'

"Hayley," they both sighed at the same time as Amaryllis ripped the sheet off the door with another roll of her eyes.

"That witch still bothering you?" Anshar questioned as he dropped a load of paperwork that he'd pulled out from nowhere atop the coffee table and withdrew a pair of glasses from his robes. There was a small smile playing upon his face as he glanced to a scowling Charity when the witch snatched her magazine back from under the files.

"I fond that some of them are rather funny," the brunette sniped as she returned her attention back to the magazine; flipping it open and clearly holding it with the clear message that she had no intentions of humouring Anshar any more than necessary. Jerk! Charity thought as she glared at the blond from over her magazine, only to find that he was watching her with a quirked eyebrow. Her face flushed and she returned to her magazine.

Amaryllis just snorted as she re-joined them, having seen the interaction. "Do you know of any other muggleborn that knows of this place?" she asked Anshar, though added before he could reply, "And besides, we all know she only keeps hanging around because my Master won't step up and just tell her why he's not interested in her," as she scrunched up the paper into a ball and threw it at Charity.

"Hey!" the witch shrieked as the paper ball bounced off her head and she lowered her magazine to shoot Amaryllis a dark look. "What was that for?"

"Not all of us are as lucky as you were in finding our Mate while we were still young, Azula," Anshar cut off whatever retort was about to come out of Amaryllis' mouth. Though when the witch's blue gaze snapped to him when she heard what name had fallen from his lips, she found that he was flipping through the files on the coffee table before selecting one.

"You call what I went through as lucky?" she questioned with a scoff.

"I think you are," Charity spoke up, voicing her opinion and had the expression on Amaryllis face turning confused.

"Anyways," Anshar drawled as he flipped through the pages of the file and succeeded in stopping whatever argument he could feel about to erupt between the two 'childhood' friends. He pulled out a couple of pages that were held together with a very muggle paperclip and held them out to Amaryllis. "This just came through the Muggle Relations office and I believe that you'd be the best person for the job," he stated in reply to Amaryllis' questioning gaze as she accepted them.

Both hers and Charity's expressions turned curios as Amaryllis read through the papers, though the brown-haired witch watched on as her friend's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline long before she even finished the first page. And when Amaryllis was done, both Charity and Anshar could tell that the blackette's complexion was looking quite a few shades paler.

"You have got to be kidding me," Amaryllis bemoaned as she looked back up to Anshar, her expression almost pleading and filling her blue eyes as she hoped that her boss was just yanking her chain.

"For once... nope," the wizard replied with a grin that only had the blackette's shoulders slumping. "Ever since Narcissa died and you became sole heir of the Black Family name, it came with some unfortunate... obligations."

"But..." Amaryllis looked back down to the pages she was holding, her eyes skimming back over the mechanically printed words to make certain that she hadn't misread something. But when she was done for the second time, her pleading gaze returned to the blond-haired wizard and Charity's curiosity had been perked to the point that she had unknowingly moved to the edge of her seat. "How in Salazar's name does a spaceship crashing into the Thames fit into all of this?" she asked and her question almost had her friend falling from her chair as brown eyebrows practically did disappear into Charity's hair.

"What?!" the brunette squeaked.

Anshar just shrugged, not at all looking as surprised or confused as the others were. "Regulus had always dealt with the more 'alien' side of Department of Mysteries-"

"The DoM has an alien division?" Charity cut in, though Anshar continued on as if she hadn't said anything.

"And after he passed-"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" it was Amaryllis who cut him off this time. "I told you that I wanted no part in whatever research, studies, or whatever else it was that Regulus was doing. I left that life behind me long ago, Anshar."

The wizard opened his mouth to reply, though closed it with a sigh when he was once again interrupted. Though this time it was by the appearance of a familiar patronus.

The fox, if one could even call it that with its four tails, bounded into the room and launched itself at Amaryllis - only to pass right through the witch. Amaryllis just shook her head at the kitsune's antics as it finally came to a stop before Anshar, though whatever humour the patronus had bought with it disappeared the moment it opened its mouth and Kuttai's voice uttered three words.

"Potter's cousin's back."