An Active (and Delicious) Social Life

"So, you can't think of anyone else who visited? No meddling neighbors, tax collectors, familial relations, nothing?" I tried again, barely managing to stop a frustrated sigh from escaping from my lips - the poor House Elf already looked like she was about to bang her head against the nightstand again; I didn't need to give her any hint that I was annoyed with the lack of headway we were making.

Daisy shook her head fretfully, her big, luminous green eyes practically glowing in the dim room. In order to avoid further confrontation, Daisy had left (okay, escaped) Vince's mansion and was now hiding out in one of the rooms at the back of the Leaky Cauldron.

Although she wasn't technically free yet, she was able to avoid having to be ordered back due to a new Ministry decree that had passed only three months and twelve days ago (Ms. Granger had been one of the most prominent proponents of the decree) that stated that the (slave) contract between master and house elf could be temporarily suspended in extreme cases. Seeing as Daisy was currently suing Vince, the Ministry had granted her temporary freedom...of course, that didn't mean that Vince couldn't just go and physically take her (although that would hurt his side of the case. I'd seen it happen before; the old families were so used to being able to order slaves around to do their every bidding that they sometimes went crazy when the House Elves left - which wasn't often, of course. The majority of House Elves were still quite content to work for their masters).

It had been a bit of a struggle to find a place that would conceal a House Elf from a wizard, but fortunately the Longbottoms were long friends of Ms. Granger and willingly took Daisy on for no rent at all.

A loud banging sounded somewhere in the room - I broke free from Numberita's musings to see Daisy banging her head on the wooden bedpost.

GAH NO BRAIN DAMAGE WAS NOT CONDUCIVE TO PRODUCTIVE THINKING.

I ran over quickly, pushing myself in between the House Elf and the bed.

"No! Daisy, it's fine, really!" I said hurriedly. She sniffed, her small, bony fingers nervously twisting the soiled fabric of her shift.

"Really? Daisy feels as if she's not helping the nice missus at all, not one bit!" she said in her high voice.

"You are!" I tried, pulling my lips back into a (hopefully) encouraging smile so wide that it made my cheeks ache.

Daisy's chin quivered as new tears began to shine in her eyes.

ARGH.

I'm rubbish at cheering people up. Sigh.

After wrestling Daisy away from the lamp situated on top of the wooden nightstand, I sighed and plopped myself down onto the flowered armchair by the small window. Below me the machine I'd used to climb up was now moved all the way to the other side of the street (I wondered why - why not leave it there so others could use it to climb up?) and a crew of the odd orange vest-wearing Muggles now crowded protectively around it and moved to send away any one who walked to close to it. Well.

Didn't they know that sharing was caring?

Shaking my head slightly at their selfishness (honestly), I turned back to the matter at hand.

I smoothed the roll of parchment out on my lap, scanning down the (depressingly short) scrawled list of witnesses. Of the five we'd managed to think of, two were unable to be reached (I had my suspicions of possible foul play - one of the witnesses, one Mrs. Goyle, was now off on an outlandishly expensive trip to Antarctica and thus unable to return in time for the trial..rather convenient, if you asked me) and the remaining three were reluctant to stand up against Vince (whose family owned multiple potion supply stores across the Wizarding World).

"Okay...well, Zabini looks promising," I said slowly. Daisy watched me carefully, her large eyes scanning my face for any hint of deception, a single sign that I was lying and that I was indeed dissatisfied with her -

I looked quickly away, staring at the curling loop the ink made when connecting the "Z" to the "a." Black's handwriting was, of course, impeccable and full of unnecessary flourishes.

Anna Zabini was the best lead we'd gotten so far and the most promising - of the five Pureblooded wizards we'd named, she was the one most likely to tell the truth due to her status as a cast off of her family. She'd married a poor Muggleborn and had thus been excluded from most family occasions but had happened to visit the Vinces a few years ago before her marriage, and Daisy'd told me that she thought Zabini might have seen Vince beat her after forgetting to bring the lemon cookies with the tea.

The thing was, Zabini was currently heavily pregnant - due any day now, actually - so we weren't completely sure she would be able to appear at the trial.

"What about maintenance? I'm sure a rich family like the Vinces is bound to hire some people to tend to the grounds, perhaps even Muggles...?" Rich Purebloods often (the hypocrites) hired unsuspecting Muggles to perform the manual labor their Manors required due to the favorable exchange rate from the Galleon to the pound, often paying them minimum wage to putter around the grounds.

The Muggles, of course, had no idea of their employers' magical status, and if they noticed anything odd they kept their mouth shut, probably out of fear of blackmail - you see, the families always made sure to hire the Muggles no one else would hire, the desperate teenage moms, the ex-convicts, the cast offs of Muggle society -

Daisy paused, her pale, almost-transparent eyelids fluttering shut as she thought.

After twenty-two (long) seconds, her eyes flashed open and she fairly jumped up on the rickety wooden chair, her spindly arms flapping about in excitement.

"Missus! Missus! Daisy is having thought of someone! Daisy is remembering a witness!" she shouted gleefully.

I grinned - brilliant!

"Who is it?" I asked, leaning forward and holding my eagle feather quill at the ready. Although a Muggle witness wasn't unheard of in Wizarding Trials, it was looked down upon and quite rare - after all, it was a whole load of paperwork and requesting permission for the subsequent Obliviate needed to be performed on the Muggle, and of course having to explain away the crowd of stern looking people dressed in funny robes...

But it was better than nothing, and if I had to fill out paperwork for a month after this trial and/or bribe/threaten Black into letting me bring this Muggle in...I'd do it. Daisy would be free of Vince. Numberita was determined to see it through.

"There was a gardener, Missus - old Ben! He is coming to the house every week until Master fired him two months ago because he is being too slow for Master, too slow indeed-" Daisy's voice trailed off as her mouth began to quiver once more in sympathy for old Ben's plight.

When I fixed her with a gently insistent look, she swallowed before continuing, "I is not knowing where he is being right now, but I am sure he is seeing me beaten - he is thinking that I is a small exotic pet, but he is seeing me hurt all the same!"

I paused, resting the smooth feather against my chin thoughtfully. It was a wonder that the Ministry hadn't convicted the Vinces for allowing a Muggle to see Daisy...it would be difficult to prove to the jury that Vince had treated Daisy in a manner too extreme even for most Masters (it was not uncommon for wizards to occasionally hit their House Elves - most of the Wizarding World just turned a blind eye whenever it occurred) if Ben was convinced that the victim was a dog -

Although perhaps we could use this to our advantage - Numberita called up our knowledge of the Wizarding Laws, flipping through the mental book swiftly in order to find the law we were looking for...

Where was it? I remembered memorizing it in University...

There! I paused on a mental image of a chocolate-smeared (now, who would desecrate such a wonderful book with food I didn't know - oh, sod off. Okay, so maybe it was me - but I was hungry! It was exam week) page full of blindingly dense black text.

MLE Article IV Section IIB. No wizard is to hint at or expose the existence of magic to Muggles and other nonmagical beings.

Although the Magical Law Enforcement often ignored (with liberal help from outrageously grandiose bribes) the slight exposure of magic that resulted from the hiring of Muggles to tend to the grounds of Wizarding families, if we could bring it up in court and make it a major point of the case, the council would have no choice but to rule in our favor - any other action and they would be put under scrutiny for going against their own laws. Combine that with the mistreatment of Daisy and we had a chance of winning this suit.

This could work - I just needed to locate old Ben (the "old" part of his name was already fully cemented in Numberita - no way was I ever going to just call him "Ben"...whoever he was) and convince him to go to the stand in some weird court he's never heard of to defend a creature that by his understanding should not exist.

Woo.

"Do you know of anything that could lead us to him?" I asked.

Daisy screwed up her face, her ears drooping a bit as she struggled to remember.

"Oh! Old Ben is always talking about his daughter - she is suffering from a Muggle disease called Virgo or Gemini or somethings like that, poor Missus! He is needing the money to pay for her treatment, but now he is probably with her in his home town - it is somewhere in London, but that is all I is remembering!"

London was huge. I inwardly groaned, but I managed to keep a weak smile on my face.

"Thanks Daisy - that helps loads," I said sincerely - and it did. Even if I had a lot (and I did mean a lot) of work ahead of me, at least I had a reasonable potential witness. I hadn't angered all those Muggles for nothing, then (note to self: send a chocolate basket or something to thank them for letting me use their odd machine).

Daisy beamed at me, and I reached into the bag Rose gave me, extracting a large chocolate bar from deep within its folds. It was a bit melted from sitting in my bag all day (and two hours), but hey - it was chocolate! I gave it to Daisy, who promptly began tearing up.

Er. I froze, Numberita completely stalling as the small House Elf ran forward to engulf me in a hug surprisingly strong (seriously - I could barely breathe. Help. SOS. Mayday. GAH OXYGEN DEPLETION GAH) for her size –

"Erm - you're welcome," I finally managed to wheeze, the words half-strangled. She pulled back (thank Merlin) after another six seconds and sniffed, wiping away her tears with one frail hand.

"I is never receiving chocolate before!" she piped up. A stab of remorse hit me in the chest - honestly, this was ridiculous - happy or not with their station in life, house elves shouldn't be treated like this -

Despite my family's ownership of a House Elf, I hadn't actively condoned the practice. Sure, I wasn't running around shouting "SPEW SPEW SPEWWWWW," but I wasn't a die-hard House Elf owner, either. Numberita had just never (and I was a bit ashamed to admit it) thought about it.

Of course, that all changed when Ragnuk reared his head.

I shook my head quickly, dispelling all thoughts of the goblin from Numberita, and smiled once more at Daisy. Waving goodbye, I leaned back slightly to peer out the window. Nope, the Muggles had moved the machine away from the building (argh). Sighing slightly and steeling myself for a possible confrontation with one Hannah Longbottom, I shouldered my bag and exited the room tentatively, every nerve coiled tightly as I searched for any sign of the scary lady -

All clear. Whew. I ran down the carpeted hallway quickly, my eyes fixated on my destination - a small stone fireplace at the very end of the hallway. If I could just Floo back to the offices and update Black on the new information, I could probably spend the rest of the afternoon searching for old Ben and hopefully have this business done by dinner (I had a date with a huge platter of shepherd's pie and brownies...mm, woo for active - and delicious - social lives).

"YOU!" A loud, slightly-shrill yell came bellowing out from the stairwell two yards behind me. Oh, come on -

I chanced a quick glance behind me. Mrs. Longbottom was careening behind me, her skirt billowing behind me as she sprinted towards me. Merlin's beard, she was fast -

I pumped my arms, catching myself just before I tripped over a small wrinkle in the scarlet carpet, and tumbled into the fireplace, banging my head against the mantle (well, that was going to hurt) in the process.

Wincing and clutching at my head, I threw a haphazard handful of Floo powder with my left hand, yelling out the first place that came to my mind - "9 MERLIN SQUARE!"

Wait. What had I just said? Oh no, that was -

Numberita was cut off by the imminent threat before us -

A glimpse of angry red cheeks and narrowed eyes - a hand, clawing at the area a mere six centimeters from my nose -

Then green, brilliant emerald flames roaring up to consume me -

A whirlwind of scenes flashing by me ranging from quiet, sunlit living rooms to huge, marble-covered workplaces -

Crash.

I stumbled, catching myself on the side of the stone mantle before I fell onto the wood floor.

Please let them not be home. Please let them be off picking strawberries or doing something - anything but be home -

"YOU!"

Well, this was a nice throwback to Mrs. Longbottom.

I sighed wearily, straightened, and met the eyes of one highly annoyed person who unfortunately shared most of my genes.

"Hello, Seth."

He scowled, his blue eyes narrowing as he took my disheveled appearance in. I didn't look away, instead jutting up my chin stubbornly; hey - he'd be dirty too if he'd been forced to take two Floo trips under extreme duress -

"Hello, twin sister who apparently decides that she's above such trivial things such as actually keeping in touch with gorgeously handsome and intelligent blonde boys who hey oh look what a coincidence ALSO HAPPENS TO BE HER TWIN BROTHER HUH YOU'D THINK THAT WOULD MEAN SOMETHING BUT I GUESS NOT ANYMORE."

I winced; well, he was more upset than Numberita had thought -

Okay, so maybe I'd been so caught up with the Vince case lately that I hadn't been good about visiting Seth - or anyone else, really. The GW firm kept me so busy that even Numberita had to focus her complete attention to get things done.

I hadn't talked to Seth in three weeks, six days, and three hours.

Well, I supposed the Vince case would have to wait a bit - I didn't think Seth would take it very well if I left immediately.

"Erm...nice to see you?" I offered. If at all possible, his frown deepened, and he only sniffed haughtily when I cautiously walked (okay, so maybe it was more of a frantic scurry) around him and plopped myself down on the leather couch.

The flat looked marginally cleaner than when I had last seen it - which wasn't saying much, considering last time I saw it there was parchment strewn everywhere (and I did mean everywhere - I found one behind the toilet when I used the loo). The flat was small but comfortable, decorated with sleek furniture that matched the dark wooden floor and modern finishes. Seth roomed with Scorpius. After attending University for two years and attending rigorous physical therapy sessions, Seth managed to get recruited to the Chudley Cannons, an accomplishment I was immensely proud of (and the free tickets didn't hurt). Due to the intense training schedule and matches situated all over the world, Seth was absent more often than not, leaving Scorpius to hold down the flat by himself (although Rose often came over whenever she surfaced from the book-laden world of her research; Rose was, to her mother's delight, working diligently to write her thesis for her doctorate in Wizarding History while assistant teaching at Hogwarts). Scorpius was also a lawyer, but he worked for the other leading firm in the Wizarding World - the Zabini & Prince Firm.

Seth kept up his annoyed front for another six minutes and twelve seconds before sighing and shaking his head.

"Dumbbutt," he said eloquently.

"Bitterweed," I replied easily. His mouth widened in a reluctant grin.

"How's Ms. Hotshot?" he asked, moving over to recline on the armchair situated a meter to my right. I shrugged.

"Same old, same old - Black is still an uptight git, the Vince case is still taking up all my time, and Dominique is still managing to look perfect," I said.

He nodded solemnly. "Great to see that thousands of Galleons of student debt has lead you to this illustrious career."

I rolled my eyes. "How's practice?"

He brightened, leaning forward and waving his hands around animatedly as he spoke. "Brilliant! I think we have a real chance of getting to the quarter-finals this year, maybe even the semis if Rogers can fix his dives!" he enthused. I grinned, caught up with his excitement.

We exchanged a few more words about Quidditch, the conversation only stopping when I accidentally broke one of the expensive-looking vases with ol' Bessie the Second while demonstrating my latest Beater move (I called it the Adela, in case you were wondering - it involved an elaborate twirl, a move I'd perfected while dodging Sir Archibald's early-morning attacks). After staring at the shattered green splinters dotting the white carpet, I shrugged sheepishly before waving my wand at the mess, sweeping it into the rubbish bin beside the counter. I changed the subject quickly. "Where's Scorp?"

Seth shrugged. "Off working on a case, doing his lawyer thing," he said. I blinked - that reminded me - I was still technically supposed to be working. Crud.

I stood up hurriedly, pushing ol' Bessie the Second back into my bag.

"I have to get back to work - Black is going to kill me," I said apologetically, moving towards the fireplace. Seth's face fell for a second before he smiled again, but the expression was a bit strained. I paused, guilt eating at me - when was the last time anyone had really talked to him? Scorpius was probably busy with his work, I was caught up with Black's demands, and Rose practically lived at the library -

Seth saw my hesitation, and he waved me off. "No, go, it's fine," he reassured me.

I didn't move, eying him carefully. He smiled again, this one a bit more real.

"Seriously, Adela. It's fine," he repeated firmly. I nodded slowly, lifting my foot over the metal grate to step inside the fireplace.

Just as I was about to drop my handful of Floo Powder, however, something stopped me - Ragnuk. Greyback. I had to warn him - or at least let him know, he deserved that much -

"Seth, liste-" I began.

A searing heat struck at my side, burning through my trousers to claw at my leg with flame-kissed fingers -

"Gah!" I bellowed, more out of shock than hurt. Seth rushed forward, his wand already out to defend me from some invisible foe -

"No, no - it's nothing, just the coin Ms. Granger issued us-" I said through gritted teeth, digging into my trouser pocket to fish out the small golden coin issued to every Associate at the GW Firm. The coin was supposed to serve as a communication device, sort of resembling a Muggle pager - at least that was what Rose told me when she observed me collapsing to the floor the first time it had heated up.

Merlin, I'd never get used to it.

I frowned at the gold surface. The metal, once smooth, was now etched with letters scrawled in small writing -

"No telling, idiot."

I'd recognize that handwriting anywhere - Al. I scowled down, glancing around furtively - how had he known I was about to tell Seth about Ragnuk? Honestly, it was a bit creepy - and why wasn't I allowed to tell my own twin brother, for Merlin's sake?

Numberita was fuming; I waved off Seth's questions, muttering something about Black being a git (well, I had to say, Black did make a good scapegoat) before throwing down a handful of Floo Powder.

"Diagon Alley."

Author Note: And so one Sethogriff makes his reappearance! :) Thanks for reading/reviewing! Seriously, all these reviews make me so happy :D As always, all reviews will be returned with a teaser of the next chapter! c;

ALSO - I've caved in to my plot bunny (it was evil) and wrote the beginnings of a Tomione AU story (I'm on the fourth chapter). I know it's not the winning pairing on my poll...but I thought it would be better to write the story I had active ideas for rather than the one I wasn't completely sure about. Anyway, I won't be publishing it until I've finished a few more chapters, but until then I would love a beta (preferably someone who has read Tomione/enjoys the pairing and feels like s/he REALLY knows the characters of Hermione and Tom very well to check for any OOCness) to look over the chapters I've written/continue to beta the rest of the story. :)