Chapter Text
Fiona and Patrick Evans stared dumbfounded at the brick column separating them from their daughters.
Patrick pressed his hands against the solid brick but it did not give. Fiona shouldered into it, but all she got for her effort was the sensation of forming bruises.
They stared at each other.
Did they have two magical daughters?
"There's still time before the train is scheduled to leave. We'll just wait here and ask the next family coming by," Fiona said decisively.
Patrick nodded.
They took up posts looking outwards and leaning against the column. It'd be hard for them to miss the next person if they were--
Patrick's watch alarm went off.
That was not right. That was not right at all.
The two of them were no longer standing against the third column. Somehow they'd been moved one column over and they were missing time.
Fiona's eyes sought out Patrick's.
They did not have anyone to ask. Their time was up and they'd missed everyone going in. Or something magic had happened and they did not know what.
It was frightening and upsetting, but there was not any time and their daughter was missing.
Fiona swiveled around to look back at the third column. Surely, they could still find help from the families coming out.
What felt like a moment later, Fiona was standing in a different spot and she could not remember what had just happened.
She turned to Patrick who was standing a few meters off from her turned in the same direction. He also appeared dazed and confused.
She narrowed her eyes. So, that's how it was?
She focused steadily on the brick wall angrily. And then she thought.
They had to be wiping her memory and leaving faster than she had a chance to explain herself to them. It made her want to shake them or come at them, but if it were her in their place on the receiving end that would just raise her hackles, and make her lash out--which is the last thing she wanted from them.
Patrick and her needed a plan. They needed to be subtle, so they could spot these families before said Families spotted them.
Fiona spotted a newspaper on the ground.
"Act natural!" she growled handing off half the pages to Patrick before marching off at an angle from him. They could only point their wands in so many directions at once, she figured.
Behind the newspaper, she was turning red with anger, but still thinking.
This still would not do. And they could not afford the lost time--how soon until there was no one left to ask for help?
Fiona pulled a notepad and pen from her purse.
She scribbled out a message, and wrote a second copy for her husband.
She could say excuse me, you dropped this, and then they would read:
Please Help Us
We dropped our daughter off for the train to Hogwarts, but our other daughter ran away and we can't reach her through the magical barrier.
We have no other way of getting in contact with the other side!
We're asking for help, please don't make us lose any more time!
Fiona handed the second note to her husband.
A few minutes later, they finally, managed to speak to someone. He was a kindly man there to drop off his own child, and told them he could take them through the barrier and they could all search the platform for Petunia.
He grabbed hold of Fiona's hand and Patrick's and marched them forward straight through the brick wall.