Once Upon a Twisted Time

Chapter 11

"What is it?" Enquired Sirius curiously, drawing a chair out and plopping down beside the children.

"What's 'it'?" Fred asked, as he and George sauntered into the room.

Mrs Weasley turned to them, fuming, "Oh, so now you two decide to show up! I called you to come downstairs a while ago!"

Fred shrugged and remarked, "Sorry, Mum, we do things our own way," which earned him a glare from his mother.

The twins helped themselves to a generous helping of breakfast and took a seat next to Sirius, who turned back to Lily, waiting for the answer to his question.

"Well, it's a long story..." Lily began reluctantly.

"Lily?" A voice interrupted, calling her name. Tonks poked her head into the kitchen, beckoning Lily towards her. "I was wondering whether you wanted to come to my office? In the Ministry."

"Uh, sure!" Lily got up and waved to the rest of the kids, who waved back, their faces full of envy: none of them had ever been invited to Tonks' office.

Tonks led Lily to the front door, tripping over an umbrella stand in the process, then asked her, "Have you ever travelled by Side-Along Apparition?"

Lily shook her head. "Nope. Are we doing that to get to your office?"

Tonks nodded excitedly. "Yeah, I've only tried Side-Along once before, and it went terribly, so I'm excited to try and do better this time!"

"Okay," Lily agreed, and the two girls hooked arms and with a whirl of wind, they disappeared.

The pair arrived directly beside a red, paint peeling, out of service telephone booth.

"This is the guest entry to the Ministry," Tonks explained, as the two stepped inside the booth, "But I'm guessing you already know that, with the Head of the Auror Department as your father, huh?"

Lily smiled at the thought of her present time father, and replied, "Actually, I didn't know that, I've never really had an interest in working at the Ministry, no offence."

Tonks nodded. "Well, what would you like to do then?"

"Hmm..." Lily thought, "I actually used to want to be a professional Quidditch player like Mum, but after Lysander and I came here... I think I want to work in the Ministry now, and specialise in Wizarding time!"

"Ginny's a professional Quidditch player?" Tonks asked, raising her eyebrows, impressed.

"Mum used to play chaser on the Holyhead Harpies." Lily clarified. "She retired and now she's the senior Quidditch correspondent at The Daily Prophet."

"Whoa!" Tonks nodded her head in approval as she dialled six-two-four-four-two into the dial carefully. "I never really got into Quidditch myself when I was younger, but being the Quidditch correspondent at The Daily Prophet after playing on the Holyhead Harpies sounds like something Ginny would accomplish! What about Hermione? I'm guessing she has a super impressive job, right?"

"Yup! She does, in fact! Aunt Hermione works as the Minister of Magic. She's kind of in charge of everything." Lily laughed, and Tonks joined in.

"That sounds like her!" Tonks remarked, just before a cool female voice filled the telephone booth.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." The female voice said.

"Nymphadora" -She made a face- "Tonks, Auror Department, here with Lily Potter, guest." Tonks replied.

"Thank you, visitor, please take your badges and attach it to the front of your robes." The words of the unknown female were followed by a clunk, and a silver badge that said, 'Lily Potter, Guest,' slid out of the chute where returned coins usually appeared. Lily pinned the badge to the front of her Hogwarts robes (Mrs Weasley had washed them for her last night when she was asleep) just as the female voice spoke again.

"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."

The telephone booth's floor shuddered and started sinking into the ground. After a few minutes- though it felt like an hour to Lily- the telephone booth came to a slow stop, and a bright light shined on Tonks and Lily's faces.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the female's voice. Only now did it suddenly dawn on Lily that when she presented the wand for registration they would figure out she was from the future.

She turned in panic to look at Tonks, but Tonks seemed to know what she was about to ask, and replied quickly, "Don't worry, Lily, I've got it all sorted out already. Eric, the worker sitting at the security desk who checks all the visitors' wands, is ah- a friend of mine who's agreed to let you pass."

"Wait- You told your friend about Lysander and me?!" Lily asked, her jaw dropping.

"No, I just told him that I would be bringing a friend with me, who he would let pass. Besides, Eric doesn't check visitors' names." Tonks replied, pulling Lily out of the telephone booth and into the hall of the Atrium.

The Ministry of Magic was exactly how present time Ginny Potter, Lily's mother, described it. The Ministry's Atrium hadn't changed one bit- The signature St. Mungo's fountain was still there, the golden statues still beaming.

Lily leaned in closer to the fountain, pausing for a moment to read the small sign beside it. All proceeds from the Fountain of Magical Brethren will be given to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Tonks was now walking ahead of Lily, and turned her head to call, "Come on, Lily!" A few heads in the crowd of people turned, but Lily hurried over to Tonks and everyone went back to what they were doing.

Once Lily caught up with Tonks, the two walked over to the security desk. The man sitting behind the desk was a badly-shaven wizard with a slumped back and bored expression on his face. He looked up uninterestedly, but once he saw Tonks he immediately sat up straight and nervously tugged on a stray strand of hair.

"H- Hello T- Tonks!" He stuttered, causing sniggers to erupt from the witches and wizards in line behind Tonks and Lily.

"Hey Eric," Tonks said obliviously, "I'm here to escort a visitor." Lily stepped forward and placed her wand lightly onto the oak desk, waiting patiently. When Eric finally registered that Lily was standing in front of the desk, he rushedly pulled out a golden instrument, which looked like a long, thin, and flexible rod. He quickly passed the rod up and down Lily's back and front.

After Eric finished prodding Lily with the rod, he held out his hand and asked in a feeble attempt to sound manly, "Wand, please."

Lily nervously passed her wand over, with a scared look to Tonks, who looked back reassuringly. The security wizard dropped her wand onto a strange brass set of scales with only one dish. The brass instrument vibrated, and a strip of parchment appeared from out of the slit in the base.

Eric tore off the parchment from the instrument and read out loud what it said, "10 ½ inches, Unicorn core, Yew wood, been in use for four years, is that correct?"

Lily nodded and Eric returned her wand. "Wait..." He said, befuddled. Lily's eyes widened, and she turned to see that Tonks had gone very pale, tugging at her bright pink hair.

"Are you- ?"

Hey Earthlings! I'm back again with another chapter. I was thinking about putting this story on hold, but I've decided that I won't- I hate leaving things unfinished!

Please comment your thoughts and remember to vote if you liked this chapter!!

Lessi xx