Florentyna Sarah Elizabeth Abbott. A lovely, old fashioned name for an elegant, pretty young girl. Quite a pity, then, that Florentyna Sarah Elizabeth Abbott -or Ty, as she was called- was as far from elegant as one could get without physically being a bull in a china shop, and no one could possibly mistake her for old fashioned until she dyed her vivid blue hair back to brown. She was rather pretty, though, there was no denying that.
She didn't feel very pretty first thing in the morning, however. Mornings were just not her mug of butterbeer, and on this particular morning, she was certainly in no mood to be awake. She had been up all of last night, celebrating the downfall of He Who Must Not Be Named, along with the entire wizarding world, and had admittedly drunk a tad too much firewhiskey to wake up without a hangover.
She stumbled out of bed and pushed a strand of wavy blue hair out of her face as she shuffled off to make herself breakfast. She was sipping on her coffee when a grey speckled owl flew in, carrying the morning paper. Ty paid the owl a knut and as it flew off, she unfolded the paper and began to read the headlines.
A familiar face stared up at her, under a headline that read "Best friend of war hero incarcerated". Ty rushed off to get her glasses, and sat down to read the article. Sirius Black… betray James? "No!" she breathed, her eyes widening in horror. She couldn't quite say that she knew Sirius personally; she was more of a… a fan. She'd always sit behind him and James during Charms - the only class the Ravenclaws had with Gryffindor - and she'd watch him shyly, never daring to speak to someone so popular.
But she knew enough about him to know that he'd never betray James. The two were so close that, were it not for James' famous romance with Lily, the two boys might've been mistaken for lovers. Sirius couldn't be responsible for James' death; that was just silly. Surely no one actually believed this. After all, everyone knew that the Daily Prophet tended towards sensationalism- but then, they wouldn't have carted him off to Azkaban based on rumour alone!
She read on, about his fight with Peter Pettigrew. All they could find by the time Black was through with him, it read, was his finger. Ty felt her stomach clench with unease. She bit her lip, and looked up, wondering what to believe. She shook her head again. It didn't matter what they said - something was definitely out of place. Because Sirius Black just couldn't -
Her eyes settled on the clock, and she squeaked with shock; she was running late. She threw on her work robes, brushed her hair, and dabbed on some make up, then without a second's delay, spun on her heel and CRACK! she was gone.
She reappeared in the foyer of the Ministry of Magic, and took a couple of seconds to steady herself before she tore off to the Law department where she worked as a junior attorney.
Her desk was piled high with files, and throughout the morning, she had no time to think about Sirius or anyone else, but over lunch, she summoned up the audacity to ask her boss, Harvey Flint, about the Sirius Black case. "Will it come up for trial?" she asked nervously. Flint narrowed his eyes disdainfully, and snapped "what's it to you? You're too junior to be dealing with that case, anyway." Ty suppressed a scowl and replied, in the most polite tone she could muster, "I was just curious, sir; after all, it's a frightening case" she lied. He contemplated her, and then gruffly replied "He won't be having a trial." Ty nodded politely, but when she returned to her desk, even her files couldn't distract her from her worry. It wasn't fair not to give a man a trial, murderer or not.
She was the first to leave the office as soon as the clock struck five. She ran back to the foyer with the same haste as she'd run there with. She disapparated again, but this time, she appeared somewhere very unpleasant indeed. Dementors hovered overhead and high stone walls faced her. Rough waves broke against the rocks behind her, and the spray drenched her from head to toe. She was standing in front of the gates of Azkaban, the last place she'd like to be, and she was doing this all for a man who didn't even know or care that she existed.
She walked up to the gates, where a feeble old man sat, his skin papery white and wrinkled. "Please sir, but I would like to visit one of the inmates" she bit her lip. It would have been wise to have checked whether they even allow visitors into Azkaban, she reflected, a little too late. "Which one?" croaked the old man. "S- Sirius Black" she replied, trying to sound like she knew what she was doing. The old man's eyes widened. "That man is a high-security prisoner. No one may see him, for their own safety. Go away." he croaked, but Ty stood her ground. "I am is lawyer, and I demand to see him" she declared, raising her voice a little, and trying to look as authoritative as she could. After what seemed like forever, the old man mumbled "Alright then, but talk to him at your own risk." and shuffled off inside.
Ty grinned with pride, and followed him in. "Wait here," she was told, and directed to a small waiting room. She sat there alone, chewing her thumbnail anxiously as she waited. Today, she would dare to speak to Sirius Black.