When he did anything, Chris enjoyed planning things out. It often times helped him to complete a task completely before moving onto the next one at his job. Plus, it helped him concentrate, since he knew what was going to come next to plan accordingly. He tried to use these plans as much in his life as possible, too make sure he finished everything. He even had a plan when talking to his coworkers, especially to make sure everything went smoothly. He even held a special plan for a certain coworker.

Chris had been in the year above Theta's at Hogwarts. But, that didn't stop him from noticing her around the castle. They were friendly with each other, and would talk to each other. He enjoyed talking to her. He had been happy when she was accepted as a trainee position at the Time-Turner Workshop, with her uncle Francis. That meant that they would be working within the same department as well. While he certainly liked to talk to Theta at work, he figured that it would be better to ask her out to lunch. It would take them out of the office for a while, and out of the way of any eavesdropping other Ministry employees.

Despite this plan to ask Theta to lunch with him, Chris had absolutely no idea how to word the question to her. It took him several days to think of a way to finally word it. At last, he had finally came up with a good enough sounding request for her:


He had heard of the pub[1] in some of his ventures around London, after obtaining his Diagon Alley flat. He had tried the pub once before and didn't think that the place was half bad.

So, Chris had sent a flying memo[2] to Theta in the morning of a slightly busy day to meet for lunch. When it was the time to take the lunch break, he left the Ministry and apparated near the muggle pub. He stood near the establishment, waiting for Theta to arrive.

1.	The Porcupine Pub
2.	As seen in book 5.

Theta had been surprised and also excited to receive the memo about lunch. It had been a little difficult to finish off the repair records late morning in worrying about whether she'd get there or manage to apparate into a busy Muggle place by accident. That wouldn't go down well with anyone.

So, she had washed off the morning and fixed her face and hair again before leaving. She didn't normally take huge pride over her appearance, but it wouldn't do to go to lunch with a smudge of bearing oil down her nose, would it?

To her relief, she apparated safely to Leicester Square and integrated smoothly with the Muggles. Living amongst them helped with this skill. She had seen friends and colleagues struggle in incredible ways.

"Chris!" She smiled and waved as she spotted him outside the pub. "I got your memo, this is a lovely surprise." Theta paused suddenly, and added in sudden horror "I've not forgotten your birthday have I?"

Realizing that just standing next to the building would probably look suspicious, Chris then leaned his back against the building. After all, he was waiting for his date coworker to arrive. He figured that Theta wouldn't mind eating lunch around muggles. Naturally, he didn't mind it. But, there was always that possibility that always eating at a wizarding establishment would mean that one wouldn't want to eat at a muggle establishment. Besides, it was usually much quieter at a muggle place than a wizarding one, if only because you shouldn't apparate directly into any high traffic muggle area. There wouldn't be anything worse, then to break the statue of secrecy while out for a date lunch with a coworker.

After waiting a little bit, Chris started to wonder if Theta was going to show up. Was it possible that he had sent the memo to the wrong person? Maybe her uncle saw it before her, and forbid her from going? He quite frankly doubted that last one. Francis didn't seem to be the type of person to do that. Besides, he had worked with Francis for a year before Theta even arrived at the Ministry, and he didn't seem to act strangely to him then. Maybe she would apparate into the wrong location? He certainly hoped that that wouldn't happen. He would hate himself if he was the reason why she would get lost, just to go out on a date lunch break. He began wondering if he should have waited for her at the Ministry, and then apparate with her. At the very least, if they got lost, at least they would be together. Sure, they would be bound to get in trouble by that point. But, at least she wouldn't be the only one lost.

While these thoughts were running through his head, Chris heard a pop nearby. Looking around, he spotted Theta walking over to him and waving with a smile. "Ah, she sure is pretty. Maybe one of these days, I'll have the courage to ask her out on a date,' he thought to himself. "Hi Theta," he greeted her with a smile. He shook his head when she inquired about forgetting his birthday. "No, no you haven't. It's in May, not November," he said to her with a smile, "I just wanted to invite you to lunch outside of the usual work environment. After all, it helps to get away from it all for a while."

"Of course it is!" Theta squeaked, relieved that she had not forgotten her friend's birthday. The squeaking however, had been unintentional.

"Oh it does, sometimes the Ministry can be so oppressive. Its a bit chilly out, shall we go in?" She pulled her coat around herself a little more in the cool air. Even when the sun did come out in November, the air still hung like a block of ice, and those who were outside were mostly huddled smokers.

Within, Theta admired the pub's interior.
"My, I've not been here before." She unbuttoned her royal blue coat slowly, her cheeks becoming rosy. "You must have, to know about it? Or did someone recommend it?" The smell of food wafted past her and she sniffed appreciatively.

"Wow, I didn't realise how hungry I was until I smelled that." She smiled broadly.

When Theta squeaked at him, Chris smiled to her and nodded. Indeed, she hadn't forgotten anything about him yet. He had found the squeaking to be rather cute.

Chris nodded to Theta. "Indeed. Oh, yes ... Good idea, let's go in," he agreed with her as they entered the pub. It was chilly outside. The weather seemed to change so quickly, especially during the month of November. At least, that was what he noticed so far anyway.

Chris smiled to what Theta said. He wasn't entirely too surprised that she hadn't been to the pub before. It was a muggle establishment, which certainly didn't rule it out. But, it wasn't the closest pub to the Ministry as it was. So, it probably wouldn't be the first place of choice when leaving the Ministry. He nodded to her first question. "I have been here, a couple of times. I thought the food was rather good," he responded to her. He grinned to Theta's statement. "A different change in atmosphere could do that to you."

Walking over to the host, "Two please," he said to her. The woman grabbed two menus and started to lead them to the table.

Without realizing it, Chris held Theta's hand to walk with her to the table.

The hand holding took her a little by surprised, it was the sort of thing her sisters, Eta and Zeta would do when they were younger, and she had accepted it until a moment later she realised she wasn't with her sisters. Her thoughts about it were pushed aside as they reached their table and were informed of the specials and asked about drinks. Being lunchtime, Theta elected to avoid anything stronger than a tall glass of orange juice.

When the order had been taken, they were left alone again and Theta fixed a smile across the table to Chris.
"Its ages since I went out for lunch like this - thank you." She patted his arm across the table. "You're very sweet for suggesting it." Picking up the menu she ran her eyes down the choice.
"Hardly seen you the past couple of days - time seems to slip away from me in the workshop, ironically. How have things been in your office? Anything gone..." he paused to think of a Muggle expression "Any products ready to market yet?" She meant the spells of course, but that would only attract odd attention amongst Muggles.

It didn't take long for them to reach their table. Due to it being lunchtime, not too many muggles were out yet. After lunch, was one there always seemed to be an increase in the amount of muggles roaming around. Of course, the benefit of there being less people around, meant that there would be less people of overhear their conversation. After all, they had to be careful not to discuss anything magic-related in front of the muggles. After being informed of the specials, Chris ordered a cup of tea.

After their oder was taken, the muggle worker left them. Noticing Theta's smile at him from across the table, Chris smiled back to her. "You're very welcome, I hope you enjoy it," he responded to her. He was surprised by the pat on the arm, not expecting it. "Thanks," he murmured, his cheeks turned lightly rosy. Looking at the menu, he glanced over its entries.

"The days seem to blend together after a while, so I know what you mean. The uh ..."he trailed off to think of a muggle-friendly word, "products are still being researched and then they need to be experimented. So, nothing new's going to come out for a while yet. I hope all of the repairs have been going well in your office?" he asked her.

"As well as I can hope, I think." Theta replied, "Though there was something that did happen this week - I got to test one of the turners and ..." She paused and waved her hands to beckon Chris to lean forward so she could explain, "there were two of me in the workshop! It was the queerest thing you ever saw!"

She sat up again and grinned from ear to ear.
"Honest, you should have seen it - I saw things about myself I never noticed before - like the back of my head. Honestly, I don't think I've thought about it half as much as I have since seeing it in the flesh." She patted the back of her head as she spoke. "We're not meant to really do that too often, Francis normally does it after lunch say, so his repeated self carries on working, while his original self goes off to lunch as he already knows. Sometimes they might not be quite right, so he ends up going more than an hour back - and in which case he has to just accept he'll make a mistake, and not try to over-compensate, otherwise things will go a little wrong to say the least." Theta babbled, and then clapped her hands to her mouth.

"Oh dear, some unspeakable I make. Well, its not that secret I suppose." She smiled.

At the arrival of their drinks, Theta remembered they were meant to picking what to eat.
"Lunch! I haven't picked, sorry - what do you suppose you'll have?" She asked Chris while the orange juice and tea found its way onto space on their table.

Chris nodded to what Theta said. Sometimes normalcy was good, since that meant no big changes or problems. He leaned forward as per her request and smiled at what she said. "That must have been interesting to see," he agreed with her as he sat back correctly in his seat.

Chris smiled as Theta explained how she was able to see herself, and how her uncle Francis liked to use the time turner. He couldn't help but grin as she claimed not to be a good unspeakable. "Oh, don't say that. I think you make a fine unspeakable. As someone that works in that department, I believe that talking to me about it wouldn't matter that much. Besides, we do have to share some information for any work that crosses between the different sectors. At any rate, I think that's great that you were able to see yourself in a different way. I think that Francis's use of the turner is a fantastic use of the device, since it helps to get more done. After all, these are in research and development of a reason," he responded with a smile.

It seemed like their drinks came very quickly, and now it was up to them to order their food. Theta remembered that she hadn't picked yet and asked him what he was having. "I was thinking of having the Chicken and Mushroom Pie. What do suppose that you'll have?" he asked her. He had had the Chicken and Mushroom Pie himself on a separate occasion once before, and thought that it was good. However, he would hate to order for Theta and then find out that she hated the food.

"Chicken and mushroom?" Theta squeaked, "That's like, possibly my favourite type of pie. Mm, yes, that sounds absolutely splendid."

She smiled broadly at Chris for the suggestion,
"Did you know, or was that just pure coincidence? Hold on, we'll have to test that, coincidences are always more than that in our Department." The petite witch joked.

"I can't believe its about a month until Christmas already. This year has really flown by. I should really start looking for somewhere to live after Christmas for sure. Living with my parents is all well and good until you're not away at Hogwarts, and then we seem to get under each other's feet. I collect clocks, you see, and I think its driving them mad."

'Ah, there's the squeak again,' Chris thought to himself, smiling when he heard it. It was a nice little reminder of one of the reasons why he liked Theta.

"Oh, really? That's good! Duly noted then," he responded to her. Smiling back to her, he shook his head. "I actually didn't know that. We'll have to analyze my brain in the moment, just to make sure. After all, coincidences apparently never happen," he joked back to her, accentuating never. He had learned his lesson pretty fast in the Department of Mysteries, to not declare anything a coincidence. Even just the utter of the word, and you were told to go and test again. It was additional tests, like that, that would cause anything to be delayed in the department.

Chris nodded to Theta's comment. Indeed, the young witch had just graduated months ago, after all. "I know, the time is passing by so fast. The change in living conditions always takes some time to get used to. If you ever need any help, or assistance, or anything, feel free to ask me," he grinned," Oh, clocks? You must have quite a good assortment of them. Where have you bought them from? I hope they all have the same time."

"...If you ever need any help, or assistance, or anything, feel free to ask me,"

Theta smiled and her cheeks flushed.
"Oh you are sweet. I'll be fine. Mum and Dad are away at the moment on a trip together now my sisters are back at school, so I'm just watering plants and keeping things going until they're back which is a bit easier."

"Oh, clocks? You must have quite a good assortment of them. Where have you bought them from? I hope they all have the same time."

"Of course not, because then they would all chime together and that would be deafening." Theta stated matter-of-factly. "I've got fourty-two ranging from little tiny ones," she motioned something a little bigger than a pocket watch, "to a grandfather clock that's taller than I am. That was a family inheritance, my mum just couldn't stand it in the living room because it ticks loudly and would lose time. But I've fixed that now, and its beautiful - has one of those painted faces of the sun and moon..." He gaze became unfocused as she described it. Realising she was yabbering, she snapped back to attention.

"Do you like clocks? Do you collect anything that might be considered unusual?" She asked brightly.

Chris smiled as his cheeks turned rosy. "Thanks. Well, you know where to find me, if you do," he responded. Since they both worked in the same department, albeit different sectors, it would be rather easy for them to find each other.

"Wouldn't all the chimes be like music to hear if they were simultaneous?" he asked jokingly. He listened intently as Theta described her clock collection. "I'll take it that each clock has some meaning to you then, for you to collect so many. Ah, yes, those big grandfather clocks are amazing and artistic," he agreed with her.

Chris smiled and shrugged at Theta's question. "I think that clocks are nice, yes, but I don't collect them. I have a few, no where near 42 though. As for anything unusual, I don't know. I do have a small collection of Qudditch items and other souvenirs from when I played Qudditch and a few Qudditch World Cup games that I went to," he responded. Having had injured himself at the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts, he had decided not to play again. That didn't mean that he would end his love for Qudditch. Oh no, that stayed.

Theta watched as Chris reacted to her odd collection description and then explained he had a little collection of Quidditch memorabilia himself.

"Oh wow! I follow the Holyhead Harpies religiously. Those girls are something else. I tell you, Ginny Weasley must have eyes like a hawk. Hah, I suppose you have to with a husband like Harry Potter. Oh, and Alyson O'Sullivan, I can never believe my eyes at how many goals she scores. That's great that you got to go to the World Cup, I am very jealous. Who did you watch?"

Theta gestured with her orange juice in hand without realising and almost slopped it over her fingers. Realising just in time, she hastily took a drink and blushed.

Chris smiled to Theta's admission of following the Holyhead Harpies. Yes, the all girl team. They were ones to watch, and to clearly not ones to underestimate. They were certainly a great team, despite the rather famous name of their seeker.

"That's awesome that you do! The Holyhead Harpies always put up a good fight whenever they play. I like the Falmouth Falcons myself. The World Cup game that I went to was Ireland versus France. Ireland won, if you're curious," he responded with a smile. Indeed, he remembered the game like it was yesterday, even though it was back in 2006. He had been just starting his sixth year at Hogwarts. If he remembered correctly, the next game was supposed to be in 2010.[1]

He couldn't help but to smile to Theta, when she nearly splashed the juice over her fingers. He took a sip of his own tea, as well.

1.	This is based from the HP Lexicon site, where the cup was held every four years, including the year 1994 (Which doesn't fit to canon).