"Are you ready?"
Addie nodded to Fred, trying not to flinch as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at her. Addie stood still as he muttered a spell under his breath, sending waves of soft light out of his wand and over Addie. She could feel her skin tingle under the effects of it, although when she looked down her skin was the exact color it had been before. Fred finished and turned his wand on himself, performing the same spellwork.
"There," he said. "A professional could do better, but its not bad at all."
"What do I look like?" she asked him.
"Well, that's just the thing," he said. "You don't look like much of anything. Just another face in a crowded room. In fact, I know exactly what you look like, and even I'm having difficulty remembering your features."
Addie tried to focus in on Fred, and found that it was the same as him. She knew what he looked like, could pick him out of a crowd anywhere. But now, standing face to face with him, she found that when she tried to focus in on a specific feature, her mind seemed to drift away from him and on to something else. She tried again, but her mind shifted once more to a man down the street. "That's quite the fancy spell," she said. "Nice work."
"Its just a Disillusionment Charm," he said, shrugging. "Except its tweaked a little bit so instead of blending in with the wall, we blend in with the crowd."
Addie nodded her approval.
"You have your Darkness Powder?" Fred asked. Addie nodded, reaching into her pocket and clutching at the bag of the black powder. "Don't use it until you absolutely have to, okay?"
"I know."
"Okay, then there's just one thing left." Fred leaned down to kiss her, his hands gripping at her waist, pulling her in as close as he could as his lips met hers. Addie kissed him back eagerly. Finally, she allowed Fred to pull away. "Ready?" Fred asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
The two stepped out of the alley and down the street, Addie holding back, letting Fred's long legs carry him ahead so that they didn't arrive together. She reached the outside entrance to the lavatories, the same ones they had been watching the past week, looking around to see if Fred had already gone down to the men's entrance. She didn't see him, although with the disillusionment charm in full effect, she didn't know if she would spot him if he was right in front of her. She took a deep breath before heading down the steps to the women's lavatory, stopping at the bottom in line behind a witch in bright red robes. The woman turned her head at her approach, her mouth open to greet Addie. However, her eyes slid past Addie's form to the stairs behind her and she turned forwards again without saying a word. Addie's disillusionment charm was still in full effect.
The line seemed to take hours to move for the impatient Addie. She was sure that Fred had already gone through and was now waiting for her in the Ministry of Magic. She began to panic as the line slowly inched forward, wondering how she would ever find Fred once she got in, wondering how long he would wait until he left without her. They were supposed to meet by the statue, but what if Addie didn't see him? What if she couldn't pick him out with the disillusionment charm?
She was breathing more rapidly now, and it took all her effort to calm herself. The line inched forwards again, and Addie found she was next in line for a cubicle. The continuous sound of toilets flushing resounded through the room, followed by the opening of the cubicle doors. No one who entered exited, but the cubicle's were empty all the same. Another one opened up, and Addie made her way towards it, locking the door and stepping into the toilet bowl without hesitation. Arthur Weasley had told them exactly what to expect. She flushed the toilet and was sucked into a whirlwind that felt much like apparition, reappearing in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
Addie had worked at the Ministry for six months, but the sight of the Atrium was still amazing. The green marble floors, the rows and rows of gold-grate fireplaces, the towering Fountain of Magical Brethren statue on full display, water spraying from the raised tip of the wizard's wand. Witches and wizards hurried about, making their way to the elevators at the end of the room and away to their respective departments. Addie made her way to the fountain, attempting to match the quick pace of the Ministry employee's around her.
She tried to reassure herself that with Fred's charm cast on her, she couldn't possibly stand out. But she worried about it all the same.
She reached the statue, looking for an excuse to stand there. She pretended to shuffle around the contents of her bag for a minute, trying to discreetly glance around at any other idlers around her, hoping it would be Fred. There were none. She continued to shuffle, biting her lip as she attempted to morph her expression into one of confusion as she pretended to search for a missing item.
"You there!" a voice rang out. Addie's head snapped up to find a very menacing looking man in black wizards robes making his way towards her. "Magical enhancements on a witch's personal image or otherwise are not permitted at the Ministry," the man informed her as he approached. His cold grey eyes took her in without confusion, the charm's effects completely useless on him. "Removal of all such charms must be completed before you are allowed to proceed." With a wave of his wand, Addie felt the charm placed on her shatter. The man's eyes remained on her, looking her up and down, taking in every feature. "I will need to see your identification."
Addie tried not to panic. "Of course," she said breathlessly, reaching for her bag once more. She rummaged around, trying to stall for as long as possible as her mind searched for a way out of this mess. She came up with nothing. The man grunted disapprovingly, growing impatient as she continued to search her bag.
"Inability to produce proper identification is punishable by law for up to a month in Azkaban," he informed her bluntly.
Addie pretended to rummage faster. "I have it in here, I'm sure of it."
"I'm sure a summoning charm would be a much faster method of retrieval," he told her flatly. Addie stopped rummaging in her bag, looking up at the man in horror.
"O-o-of course," she stammered, dropping her bag back to her side and pulling out her wand. "Accio I.D badge."
Nothing happened. The man's eyebrows furrowed. "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." He pulled out his wand so fast that Addie barely saw his arm move. It was pointed directly at her chest, and she knew there was no hope of escape now. But she froze all the same, refusing to follow the man. Seeing that she was not going to obey orders, the man began to mumble a charm under his breath. But before he could finish the spell, the wand in his hand transformed into a rubber chicken, squawking loudly in his grip.
The man jumped in surprise. "What the-" he began, but Addie was quick. She still had her wand in her hand, and she quickly cast an Obliviate charm, watching the man's eyes daze over before grabbing her bag and stepping around him, grabbing onto the sleeve of another man just behind him and dragging him along towards the elevator.
"That was amazing," she told him. "You could have quite the career in thievery."
The man beside her, the disillusioned Fred, chuckled quietly. Addie was pleased to hear that although he didn't look like the man she knew, he still sounded like him. "George always thought those trick wands were useless," he told her quietly. "He figured they were just a cheap sell. Wait until I tell him about this."
"Let's worry about that later," she told him, glancing around at the other wizards and witches, trying to see if they had attracted anyone's attention. Everyone's eyes remained forward, focusing on their own destination. No one had even glanced at Addie and Fred.
