Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything from Harry Potter. The only thing that I own is plot and any characters that you don't recognize.
Kayley hadn't noticed it at first, but the people in Diagon Alley were acting funny. They were walking close together, as if they were scared of something that she could not see. They did not stop to talk to each other. They did not wave at each other or stop to talk. If they acknowledged each other, it was very brief. This behavior made Kayley nervous.
It had stopped raining by now. The next shop Kayley went to was Flourish and Blots. She didn't really need anything from there, but the shop attracted her. She had never bought a magic book before. To her knowledge, neither had her parents. She had never seen a bookstore with real magic books in it. Sure, she had been to Muggle Wiccan store, mostly to get potion supplies, but they didn't have real magic books. She had really old books in her library at home, but her grandparents had brought them form where ever they came from. At school they were assigned their text books, they never had their very own that they could keep. Magic books were just too hard to find, real ones anyway. The Muggles were too nosey where she came from. Kayley set to examining the books. It was wonderful, the only place she had seen this many books was her school library. Kayley gazed wonderingly at all of the books for a while before closely examining them.
There were many interesting titles. Kayley leafed through a copy of Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling. She leafed through several others. Wondering how long she had been in the shop, she looked around for something else that caught her eye. There was an old looking book shoved toward the back. The spine was so warn that you couldn't see the name. Kayley picked it up and turned to the title page it read Magick Most Evile. The author's name was smudged. Kayley stared at it wonderingly.
"That's a good one." Someone said- someone who was standing right behind her. Kayley snapped the book shut and wheeled around. There was a handsome blonde man with gray eyes behind her, close enough that he knew what book she had picked up. "If you like that sort of thing," He finished. Kayley turned around and placed the book back where she had found it.
"I don't think I'll buy it today." She said.
"I notice that you have an accent." He said, sounding very British.
"So what?" She asked, heading to the counter to pay for the transfiguration books that she had picked up.
"Where are you from?" He asked casually, following her.
"America." Kayley said, carelessly.
"I knew that." He said. They were almost to the counter by now.
"Then why did you ask?" She asked reaching the counter, and pulling out some money. She could tell that she was annoying him, and decided to tone it down a bit.
"I'm from Colorado." She said, as the man behind the counter sacked her purchases. She turned and followed her out of the shop.
"I see. I'm Draco Malfoy. What's your name?" He asked, politely as if trying to make conversation. Kayley turned and eyed him for a moment. She suddenly became aware that she didn't know where she was going.
"Kayley," she said perfectly aware that she hadn't stated her last name.
"Kayley what?" He asked.
"Just Kayley," She said, feeling more nervous.
"You don't have a last name?" He asked pointedly.
"I don't give it out on first meetings, Mr. Malfoy." She said, starting to get annoyed. She didn't know where she was going. She wondered if Diagon Alley had an end, or if one could wander it forever.
"Forgive me, I'm being nosey, and call me Draco." He said. "Can I make it up to you by buying you a drink?" He asked politely.
"I suppose." She said feeling that she really didn't have a choice. She was almost lost, and they were coming to a turn off for another alley- Knockturn Alley.
"The Leaky Cauldron is this way." He said, turning.
Kayley executed an about face. "Of course it is." She said forcing a smile, and feeling stupid, he was really handsome.
They got to The Leaky Cauldron, and went up to the bar. Tom looked up from whatever he was doing and promptly rushed to take their order.
"Yes, Mister Malfoy?" He asked. So, Draco Malfoy apparently wasn't lying about his name.
"I'll have a scotch." He said just as promptly as Tom had come over. While this was going on, she had noticed that Tom had called her companion 'Mister Malfoy," and she hoped really hard that he wouldn't call her Miss Daniels. Tom turned to Kayley.
"And for you?" He asked.
"Umm," Kayley said. She had had wine at her parents' banquets when she was younger, but she had no idea what was considered 'hard liquor' and had no intentions of getting drunk. "I'd like iced tea, please." Kayley said. Draco and Tom both looked at her funny. Draco's scotch came first, and then Tom brought out a teacup and placed it on the bar. He told Draco the price, and Draco gave him the money. Kayley looked into the teacup, inspecting the tea. It was iced tea all right- iced tea in a teacup! Kayley pressed her lips together firmly to keep from laughing.
"Thank you." She said to Tom, smiling. Draco led her to an empty table. He looked about Carter's age. She sipped the tea. It wasn't very good, but it was okay.
"Thank you." She said.
"So, what are you doing here? Are you on vacation?" He asked, eying her tea with disgust. He was looking at it as if it was something slimy that had crawled out from under a rock
"No, I'm here on business." She said.
"Business? What kind of business?" He asked, dragging his eyes from the tea to look at her. Kayley shrugged as she took a sip of her tea. He finally said something that pulled her into a conversation, but almost as soon as it started he said he had to go, and left. Kayley got up to go back to her room and realized that they had been talking for over an hour.
It was now raining harder than ever. Kayley put her hand on the windowpane, trying to gage the temperature. It was room temperature. She moved her hand to the glass. It was cool, very cool, cold even. Kayley pushed it open. She felt the cool rain splash her face. She closed her eyes and enjoyed it for a while. It was nice when you were inside, and the rain was outside, and you could control how wet you get. After a few minutes, Kayley shut the window, took a shower, and went to bed.
The next morning it was still raining. Will it ever stop? Kayley asked herself, as she pulled on her robes. It looked cold, so she wore her jeans and a tee shirt under them once again. Since this was business, and tennis shoes weren't appropriate. So she wore black heals with her robes. She quickly gathered up her parchment and quill purchases that she had made the day before. She swept the room one last time to make sure that she hadn't forgotten something. Kayley didn't leave her room to Apparate. She just Apparated to the phone booth that she had seen pictures of for the last month.
Kayley looked around the inside of the phone booth; she was surprised that she was able to Apparate to the inside of the phone booth. She dialed six, two, four, four, and two. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." The telephone booth said in a cold female voice.
"Kayley Daniels. I'm here to converse with the Minister and personnel regarding current events pertaining to the war." Kayley said professionally.
"Thank you. Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes." The phone booth said. There was a clink and a badge appeared in the phone booth. It said Kayley Daniels International Relationships- American Division. "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium." Kayley then felt the phone booth drop.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," Said the phone booth. Kayley found the Atrium easily. Kayley walked up to the security desk. "I'm here on business from the American Ministry." Kayley said.
"Step over here," Said the security wizard. He used a thin, long golden rod to scan Kayley's front and back.
"Wand, please." Kayley gave him her wand. He placed it in the wand machine. It vibrated and then stopped just as suddenly as it had started. The wizard scratched his head. He picked up Kayley's wand and set it back in the dish. It vibrated again, but almost immediately stopped. He picked it up and started examining it, turning it over slowly in his hands. "Where did you get this wand?" He asked, not looking up.
"From Evangels' Wand Shop," Kayley said.
"Where's that at?" He asked, still looking at the wand slowly.
"Boulder, Colorado, in America," Kayley answered.
"Ah, there's the problem." He said, handing her back her wand. "Machine doesn't like foreign wands."
Not knowing what else to do, Kayley stepped onto the elevator. She wasn't sure which level to get off at, but she figured that if she missed it she could just ride it again. After three floors, Kayley decided to get off on level five: Department of International Magical Cooperation.
Kayley stepped off of the elevator and was once again at a loss as to what to do. There was a tallish, bushy-haired girl with a large stack of papers down the hall. Kayley stepped into step and followed her. "Excuse me," She said imploringly. The girl, well really a woman, she looked about twenty-five, older than Kayley, turned around.
"Yes?" She asked, looking puzzled.
"I'm not sure where to go. I'm here from America for a meeting…" The woman's eyes lit up understandingly.
"Oh, I expected you to be older, well, not that you're young, but…" she dropped off, blushing. She held out her hand to shake, and Kayley took it. "You're looking for me, I'm Hermione Weasley." She said.
"Nice to meet you," Kayley said business like.
"Follow me," Mrs. Weasley said. Kayley followed her to a nice office, and took a seat in front of her desk after depositing her cloak on a hook in the corner.
"Was there anything specific that you wanted to discuss or see?" Mrs. Weasley asked shuffling some papers.
"Well, yes." Kayley said getting to the point. "I would like to see your defense methods; hear what you're doing for the war effort, hear your plans for the future, and what you would like us to do about it." Kayley hated that sentence. It sounded so snobby, but that was what the Minister and the rest of the country for that matter wanted to know. Ms Weasley's smile faltered for a moment and then it was back.
"Let's start with a tour." Mrs. Weasley said, standing up.
"Fine," Kayley said brightly, she was interested in seeing the English Ministry. Mrs. Weasley led her back to the elevator. Kayley dug out her parchment and Kwick Kwotes Kwill, and charmed them to float beside her.
"Level four: The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." They stepped of. As Mrs. Weasley gave the tour, she told Kayley what they were doing about the werewolf problem and their plans for the future.
"We're especially having problems with one particular werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. We're not quite sure what to do about him. Every time someone sets out to capture him they end up dead…or worse." Mrs. Weasley said with a shutter.
"Yes, I know about him." Kayley said.
"Do you?" Mrs. Weasley asked with interest.
"Yes, I did a profile on him a few years ago."
"Then you know he's on the top of the list for werewolf attacks.
"Yes," Kayley said.
"What are you doing about the vampires?" Kayley asked.
"They haven't been very active." Mrs. Weasley said earnestly. Kayley nodded, willing to take her word for it.
"And the giants?" Kayley asked. Mrs. Weasley looked a bit shamefaced.
"The giants are a bit of a problem. We're not sure how to deal with them." Mrs. Weasley said, she sounded worried
"I heard rocks work well," Kayley joked. Mrs. Weasley gave her a small smile. They stepped back onto the elevator.
"Level three Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," The elevator said. Kayley and Mrs. Weasley stepped off and the tour commenced. Half way through the tour of the Invisibility Task Force section, the artificial lights flickered and went off. There was a flash of green light that zipped past Kayley's ear.
"Lumos." Mrs. Weasley said. Her wand was lit to reveal loads of Death Eaters everywhere. Kayley quickly took out her wand and started sending stunning spells everywhere. There were other curses going around too. There were so many killing curses going around that Kayley gave up on shields and dodged. Curses of many colors flew around. People were dying everywhere. It almost looked like fireworks, like a deadly Fourth of July. Kayley dodged a stunning curse, and almost ran into a killing curse. She dodged something blue, and something orange, all the while shooting stunning spells at the Death Eaters. She knew that it wouldn't work. There were too many of them. They were out numbered to badly.
Kayley felt a stunning curse graze her shoulder. Her whole left side of her body hurt, and than went numb. It slowed her down badly. She tried more stunning spells while looking for cover, somewhere to hide, some way out, anything. She saw a flash of green light coming right at her. She jumped out of the way, right into a stunning spell. She felt herself hit the concrete of the floor right before she went out.