The Department of Mysteries was always a little quiet if there wasn't something fantastic going on that required a lot of noise and excitement. But on an evening, it became even more quiet, and Theta didn't like to pass by places like Colin Downer's lab which was just a tad creepy.

She was glad to sneak into the Spell Experimentation office that evening while waiting for Chris. They'd agreed to go and watch a Muggle film in a Muggle cinema, and she'd withdrawn the correct Muggle money from her account the other day to cover them.

"What have you been working on then?" Theta asked, with a raised eyebrow. Her tone indicated how cheeky the question could be in their department where everything was secrets. "Go on, I think I've passed the secrets part of our unspeakable bond by now..." She smiled at him sweetly.

Having Theta as a girlfriend was the best thing to happen to Chris. It really opened his eyes, and made him appreciate coming to work a lot more. Since they worked in the same department, their relationship inspired him to attempt to clean off his cluttered desk. Just a few months ago, his desk was a complete mess. He was able to clean it off a bit. While it still isn't perfection, he was able to manage it and find necessary paperwork. Heck, he was able to save a lot of time that morning, since he remembered where he had placed a report on his desk. Honestly, why hadn't he thought of cleaning any sooner?

The main reason for why he kept his desk neater now, was because they would ocassionally sneak visits to each other at work. Having a messy desk was certainly not a way that he wanted to be seen by her. It was a nice change, and one that he welcomed with open arms.

Today was one of those days, where Theta snuck off to visit him at work near the end of their long day at work. They were planning to go to a Muggle cinema to watch a Muggle film, right after work. He was finishing writing up a report on his latest project when she approached him, asking about his work. In their line of work, their job titles often spoke more than they did. They were unspeakables and they were supposed to hold their work as a secret. "Oh, you still need to spend a year hurdling through hoops before I could tell you," he teased her with a smile. "I am just finishing up a report on the latest research done for my sector," he added.

"Aw..." Theta replied with a mock sad expression, a moment of womanly charm on Mr Dant, who was finishing up his day's work.

"Its alright, I understand. Just sometimes we don't ask because we assume we'll not be allowed to know in this Department when sometimes there's no issue." She smiled warmly and let her eyes wander around the office. "Then again, we don't like to put each other on the spot, or risk another mentioning too much." The short girl gave a shrug.

"I'm sure whatever it was went well, after all, you've still got two arms, two legs, your head and," she grasped him and stole a glance at his bottom, "no tail!"

Chuckling, she found herself a seat, content to wait.
"Is it quiet in here during the day? Sometimes Francis hums in the workshop, but often its as silent as the dead in there. I dropped a book the other morning and I thought he'd had a heart attack at the shock of the noise." She smiled, and leaned back in the chair, her eyes focusing on middle distance as she remembered. "I like quiet, but, sometimes its too quiet, and you can't help but hum. I think if it was just me, I'd put the wireless on low."

Chris look up and smiled towards Theta's direction. "Some of us like to tease others as well," he added with a chuckle. "Besides, you were given a hint about it last month, with the lobalugs. We have been researching a spell to guard more effectively from the lobalug's venom," he stated with a grin.

When Theta checked to make sure that he was still human, he laughed. "Yes, I am still human. Nothing has been added or taken from my body. Nor have I grown any additional body parts, to my knowledge. Anyway, when I'm the one doing the experimentation, I rarely complete them on myself. Although, I'll take it that my work is not nearly as exciting as it is in the Time Turner Workshop?" He asked her with a smile.

Looking back down at the report that he was writing, Chris continued to work on  it for a little bit more. Smiling at Theta's question, he nodded his head. "Yes, it is quiet. But, we often have experiments and side effect tests going on. So, it's never too quiet with those going on. Other than that, we are pretty quiet. Today has actually been the quietest it has been in days. No new testing yet. I suppose that's a good thing so far," he responded as he stretched his hand out from the writing that he was doing.

"Really?" Theta sat bolt upright with surprise, her face bright. "Don't shields and things work for that?" Theta hadn't studied defence against the dark arts past her OWL, taking instead the more academic subjects like history and arithmancy.

She plopped down again on a seat and listened to Chris with interest about his work. They tried not to speak about it outside of the Department, and were always cautious about talking about things too much.

"Quiet eh? Well, should have been able to slip away earlier!" She winked and smiled.

"As for the workshop, well, casting new spells is different, its more active and explosive. Explosions in the workshop mean we're doing it wrong - or rather I am. Turners are delicate, its all tiny wand movements and steady hands." She gestured as if she was fixing one of the turners, peering through an imaginary magnifying glass.

"The other day I felt right fidgety, absolute disaster. I had to go out and run round the block outside to try and calm myself down." She blushed, and looked away coyly "Might have been a bit distracted…"

Looking down at the report that he was writing, Chris had been in the middle of a sentence as Theta responded to his work. Surprised by her reaction, he forced himself not to jump at her surprise. Making sure that he didn't ruin the work so far, he looked back over at Theta and nodded at her question. "A shield wouldn't last at protecting against the lobalug's venom. It is a controlled substance, to reflect that danger," he added.

Chris couldn't help but to laugh at Theta's comment about sneaking away, flashing her a smile. "True. Although, if it's quiet, then it's easier to hear us slipping away. Then, we would get caught," he added, still with the smile on his face. He honestly didn't know how many of their coworkers would make an uproar if they did manage to sneak away. At any rate, he highly doubted that they would react too positively to it.

As Theta described explosions in the workshop, Chris couldn't help but to grin. "Hey, not all explosions are positive signs. They frequently mean that I'm doing something wrong too. Although, I'll assume the Time Turners are more unstable."

Chris listened as Theta described being an absolute disaster recently. She was ... distracted? Looking back down at his report at her admission, his cheeks turned lightly red as he understood what she meant.

Theta giggled despite herself when she saw Chris understand what she meant by distracted oh dear!

"Its ok, there aren't explosions very often, normally just the occasional fire when my aim is rubbish." She shrugged and dusted her jacket with her hand, smiling at Chris again.

"Last few days of freedom before Mum and Dad get back from their trip on Saturday. I can't believe how quickly the past few months have been." She prodded a sandtimer on the desk before her which had drained its sand into the lower half.

Theta's parents had left for a trip to America in mid-September, leaving Theta in charge of the family home, complete with her cat Oscar. It had been rather lonely at first, though she and Francis had ended up cooking for each other a couple of times, and she'd spent evenings with friends. Getting together with Chris had been fortunate timing, and so had the empty house. She couldn't help but feel that if her parents or sisters had been around, they'd have driven her mad quickly with teasing about it all.

"Hopefully my family will be too preoccupied with Christmas - much as I'm excited for you to meet them," though technically Chris had been at school with Zeta at least, but may never have noticed her, "I can't help but worry that they might be a bit overwhelming."

Hearing Theta giggle, Chris couldn't help but to give her a bright smile despite his awkwardness.

Taking a glance back down at his work, Chris nodded understandingly when talking about starting the occasional fire. Thankfully, his work was less about spell accuracy than about the effects of a spell. There was consistently no reason for him to choose anything small to test a spell on. That would have been a terrible decision.

"Oh?" he asked when she mentioned her parents' trip, "I'll take that to mean that you aren't too ready for them to come back yet?" Naturally, he had no idea what went through Theta's mind, but he could only assume that it was because of him. Perhaps she was afraid with how her parents would take it that she was dating him? That was certainly possible.

Chris smiled and nodded his head to her apprehension. "I hate to be a damper on your expectations, but I don't really think they would just look over me. I mean, I'd love to meet them myself, but I doubt they wouldn't have some type of reaction to me ... hopefully positively," he responded, before adding, "As it is, your family probably doesn't know about me." That was more of a statement than a question. He highly doubted that Theta already told them. Despite being in school at the same time as Theta's first younger sister Zeta, he was not really too knowledgable about her.

"Oh? I'll take that to mean that you aren't too ready for them to come back yet? I hate to be a damper on your expectations, but I don't really think they would just look over me. I mean, I'd love to meet them myself, but I doubt they wouldn't have some type of reaction to me ... hopefully positively... As it is, your family probably doesn't know about me."

Theta softened her expression, getting to her feet and crossing to him, laying her tiny hands upon his shoulders. She squeezed them gently, and then smoothed the back of his hair fondly with one hand.
"Oh Chris, I don't mean they'll be unhappy to know you and I are together, sorry, I didn't mean to make you think that - I just - I haven't ever had anyone to bring home for them to meet before. I would love you to meet them, I reckon you'll like them all, but its been so nice to have the house to myself, and the time to get to know you without any jokes or pressures for family dinners," her features lightened and she bent to giggle in his ear, "of which there will be plenty once they find out."

Letting him go, she returned to the chair, pulling it up beside Chris's desk.
"And all of this is making your report go so much more slowly, I apologise." She drew her fingers over her lips as if she had zipped them.

Not immediately hearing a response back to him, Chris looked up from his report and saw Theta cross the room over to him. She laid her hands on his shoulders and gave them a squeeze. It was a very comforting feeling for him. Giving her a smile, he couldn't help but to chuckle as she smoothed out the back of his hair. He smiled when she giggled in his ear about the jokes or pressures at family dinners. "I'm sure that your family would be a delightful bunch to meet. Hopefully we'll get off on right foot at that time. And, I'd love to hear those jokes and pressures."

Chris chuckled and smiled to Theta. "No need to apologize. I'm distracted all the time, but manage to get things done," he grinned to her, before writing another sentence on the report.

"No need to apologize. I'm distracted all the time, but manage to get things done," Chris explained.

Theta smiled, and retired back to his colleague's desk, leaning back and staring about the place quietly for several minutes, wondering how life could have been a bit different if she was working in this office, a trainee a year behind Chris, rather than fixing timeturners. Would they have still liked each other like this? Content with the daydream, Theta lowered her head and  narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at Chris...watching his quill flick back and forth.

Humming to herself, she tilted her head and smiled, examining every little bit of the features of his face, the way his ear met his neck, and the way he sat, enjoying the chance to spy on him at work. She hadn't ever been so bold to do this before, but her relationship with Chris gave a certain liberation that she enjoyed.

Despite herself, she gave a little giggle, covering her mouth.
"Sorry." She apologised, trying to stifle the giggles. "Was thinking about creeping up behind you and tickling you with a quill. I need to get out more." She lowered her hands, "Perhaps... the cinema...?" she added cheekily.

It seemed like Theta was giving him a few silent moments for him to attempt to finish up his work. Well, either that or she was preoccupied with something. At either rate, Chris kept his eyes on his report, finishing up the last part of his report. These documents were always long, tedious, and quite frankly boring. But, someone had to write them, and who do you think got stuck with them? The regularly employed unspeakables? Or the Trainee unspeakables? That answer should be rather clear, especially for Chris who was doing this for over a year now.

As Chris continued on with his report, he had no idea that Theta took the luxury to watch him work. Their relationship was so far over a month old, and she seemed to be quite comfortable watching him. Of course, he would be lying if he said that he hadn't snuck around watching her every now and then.

Right when he finished up the last sentence in the report, Chris heard Theta giggling. Looking up, he couldn't help but to chuckle at her excuse for the giggle. He wasn't watching her for once, so he had no idea what her reason was for giggling. "Oh, right, yes, the cinema. This report could always wait," he added with a slight chuckle, acting as if he forgot about their date.

"Yey!" Theta exclaimed with more jollity than she'd intended. She was perhaps a little more excited about the cinema than the average Muggle might be, given it was such a rarity to go - and she was going with Chris.

It was what couples did, wasn't it? They'd watch the film, share some popcorn, and then afterwards go for a drink or perhaps even go back home together for a bit, just content to be in each other's presence. Just like now really. Apart from Chris was writing a report, and Theta couldn't stop giggling with the excitement of the impending evening.

"Not that your report isn't fantastically important," She hastened to add, "because you're writing it, and you're fantastically important, its just that I might, perhaps be a teeny tiny bit excited about going to do the Muggle thing tonight." The petite former Ravenclaw sprang from the seat and wrapped her arms around Chris from behind.

"And this is before I possibly decide to consume something saccharine at the cinema!" She planted a kiss with gusto upon his cheek.

At Theta's exclamation, Chris jumped slightly. The joviality of her voice brought back memories. Theta was a few years younger, just as cute, and rather jovial in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Merlin was he shy then! But, here he was now, as Ms. Theta Pepper's boyfriend. Oh how have things changed in just a few years!


Looking down at his desk, Chris reorganized a few sheets of parchment before ultimately placing his current report on top. After all, he would hate to misplace it.

Chris grinned when Theta hastily added about the importance that both his report and himself held. "My all important report is finished, and I believe you're more important that I. Ah, you're excited about it? That explains so much," he teased, grinning to show that he already knew that. Her excitement was apparent when she first walked into the room earlier.

As Theta kissed his cheek, Chris chuckled. "I don't think any amount of saccharine could stop me from that," he responded, before kissing her directly on her lips.

And the world stopped.

There was something forbidden about kissing Chris at his desk, still dressed in his clothes for work, with a report just finished on his desk. A colleague might return at any moment to do a bit of evening work. Mortifying, but it all felt rather risky of them, even if it was just a kiss. Her excitement for the cinema went to the back of her mind as she enjoyed the moment - as she had many times before in recent history.

When their lips broke apart, Theta was left a little breathless, blinking at Chris in surprise and adoration.
"Well, if you kiss me like that, we might not make it to the cinema..." She whispered, before her surprised lips smiled coyly. She crouched beside him, resting her hands on his knees, and finding his hands with hers.
"There's something illicit about kissing at your desk," Theta confessed, and inhaling his scent, leaned forward to try it all over again.