Neither of us had ever met Hugo's mother before, and she was nothing – nothing – like gentle, laid-back Hugo.

When the three of us entered her study, flushed and breathing heavily after our hurried walk from the Scamanders' house, it was to find the Minister for Magic pacing the room, several letters clenched in her hand. Six or seven owls jostled for attention on her desk, more letters still tied to their legs. She whipped round to face us the moment the door opened, eyes blazing, her long, wild hair seeming to crackle with electricity.

"Mum –" Hugo began faintly, but she cut him off, jabbing her finger at the hard-backed sofa along one wall.

"Sit!"

We backed into the sofa and sat. Her gaze swept over me and Jennifer, fiercely intelligent. I felt as though she had read me instantly inside and out, and swallowed.

"Juliet and Jennifer Belstone." It was a statement, not a question, but we nodded timidly, and then, as she glowered silently at the three of us, the awful guilt inside me bubbled over and I opened my mouth to explain. My voice came out in a croak.

"P-please, Minister, we didn't mean to leave the tent, it was an accident – just – things got out of control – we're so sorry –"

One of the owls clustered on the table interrupted me with a loud squawk. The Minister turned impatiently, yanked the letters from the legs of the birds, and shooed them unceremoniously out of the window, snapping it shut behind them.

"Out. Of. Control," she repeated, grinding out each word with painful emphasis. She took a deep breath and then said, in a quieter but infinitely more deadly voice, "And what, may I ask, were you three doing in the Great Salt Desert – and, as it would appear, in the household of the Yazdani family?"

Hugo was trembling violently, clearly on the edge of tears. After an awful pause, Jennifer and I answered at the same time, our words tumbling over each other as we both tried to explain.

"Oh no, not Hugo, he wasn't there, he never went –"

"He just lent us the tent –"

"It wasn't his fault, honest, it was all our idea – well, my idea –"

"And we didn't mean to hurt anyone – we saved the baby –"

"But we shouldn't have gone, it was stupid –"

"Really stupid, but no one was actually hurt, honest –"

The Minister held up her hand and we both fell silent.

"So. My son did not travel to Iran with you."

She looked steadily at me, waiting for an answer. I shook my head.

"No, he—"

"But I am to understand that he did lend you my family's tent, which has now been discovered abandoned in the Great Salt Desert."

"Yes, but—"

"And this all happened a few weeks ago when Hugo informed my husband that he was going to visit you for a week?"

"Yes, it did, but –"

" Very well. Hugo – please leave the room. I will talk to you later."

Hugo rose, trembling. "Mum, I –"

"Later."

He gave us just one long look, of mingled sympathy and resignation, and left the room. When the door clicked shut the Minister turned back to me.

"Start at the beginning, please. Leave nothing out."

I swallowed, gathering my thoughts. The thought of lying never even entered my head. From the way the Minister's eyes intently searched my own, I had a funny feeling she would know if I didn't tell the truth.

"Well," I said. "From the beginning – I suppose it began two years ago. I got a letter, a Hogwarts letter, and Jennifer – Jennifer didn't. She's a Squib. And it seemed so awfully unfair..."

I talked and talked. The Minister stood, straight-backed, occasionally interrupting to clarify a point or check something, but otherwise let me more or less ramble through the whole story. From our first failed attempt to find magic at Stonehenge to Aunt Ada telling us the old story of Prince Bardiya and the Djinn princess; our hunt for a magic carpet (leaving out Ali Bashir's name, though I reckoned the Minister had a pretty shrewd idea); our eventual meeting with the Djinn in her underground cave and our visit in disguise to the Yazdani house. As I neared the end, the part where the Djinn brewed the potion and summoned baby Kaspar to her cave, telling us of her intentions to decimate the whole wizarding race, my courage nearly failed.

As my story unravelled, the Minister's expression had slowly changed from barely suppressed fury to frozen, wide-eyed horror. When I tailed off, she gestured impatiently at me.

"What happened next?"

"Well, Jennifer saved us – saved everyone. Before the Djinn could harm Kaspar, she used our wish – it was magically binding, we'd done our side of the deal, so the Djinn had to grant it."

The Minister let out an audible sigh and flicked Jennifer a glance of approval. "So. You – put things to rights? Entirely?"

"I – I think so," Jennifer said, humbly. "I hope so."

"Yeah, she did," I said forcibly. "She wished for everyone – witches, wizards, Muggles, and Squibs – to be safe from the Djinn forever. And then we were. Just like that. We saw Kaspar, the baby, disappear – he must have been sent back – and then we were safe back home. So – so the Djinn can never hurt anyone again! But – but the carpet and the tent stayed out there. We couldn't get them back. And – and that was what happened. And – and –" I swallowed, the tears I had been holding back the whole time finally spilling over, pouring down my cheeks "—I suppose now we'll go to Az- Azka – I mean - the wizard prison –" I ended with a huge, uncontrollable sob. I didn't have a tissue.

The Minister's expression had softened.

"We don't send under-age children to Azkaban, Miss Belstone." She tugged a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to me. I buried my face in it, humiliated to be crying in front of her like a small child. Rubbing my eyes furiously, I tried to get a grip on myself.

"Please, Minister," I heard Jennifer say quietly next to me, with just the slightest tremor in her otherwise calm voice – I loved my brave sister so much just then – "Has the tent caused you a great deal of trouble? Do the Yazdanis know it is yours?"

I lowered the handkerchief. The Minister was looking gravely at Jennifer.

"Yes, Miss Belstone. It wasn't hard to identify. My books were in the sitting room and many contain my own bookplate. The Yazdanis had issued notices across the country about the break-in at their property and offered a large reward for information leading to the identification of the perpetrators. When the group of wizard nomads came across the tent, they immediately reported it. The tent of the British Minister for Magic, left abandoned in their deserts at the same time as this upset! Now, and with good reason, they are demanding explanations. They want to know what business the British Ministry may have had in the Yazdani household. They are travelling to Britain this morning. They desire to meet with me. I have –" she glanced at her watch "—exactly one hour to decide what to tell them."

Jennifer looked ashen. "And what – what will you tell them?" she said faintly.

At this, the Minister briefly closed her eyes..

"I don't know," she admitted. "I will find an approach. There is no proof that the tent had anything to do with the break in. But leave that to me. Oh, for Merlin's sake!"

A rapping on the window had alerted her to another three owls perched on her windowsill, all butting the glass and flapping their wings.

"That," she said crisply, "will be another three letters from Ministry officials calling for my resignation."

She threw open the window, relieved the birds of their post, threw the letters onto a pile on her desk and, flapping her hands imperiously, whisked the owls out of the room.

I hadn't thought it was possible, but my heart sank even lower. A leaden weight seemed to settle in my stomach and stay there.

"Your resignation?" I whispered, horrified. "Oh, no –"

"Oh yes," the Minister said, almost to herself, glancing at the letters and starting to pace the room again. "Oh, they'll be delighted, some of them...they never wanted me to get the top job...just the excuse they've been looking for." She threw us a sharp look, as if suddenly remembering we were still listening. "This is my business from here, you two. It will take a great deal of smoothing over. You'd better leave, now. I'll be discussing your – your future – with the Headmistress. One or both of us will visit your parents in due course."

We got up slowly. I bit my lip, guessing with a horrible sinking feeling what she meant.

"Am I going to be expelled, Minister?"

The Minister looked at me levelly – but I saw, I thought, a flicker of sympathy in her eyes. She seemed smaller suddenly, and more tired.

"Later, Juliet," she said, using my first name for the first time as she ushered us both out. "You must go now. I have a great many things to do..."

The door closed surprisingly gently and Hugo emerged from behind a coat stand, eyes wide. From his expression I knew he'd listened to every word at the keyhole.

"M-Merlin, Juliet," he stuttered, leading us away. "You're really in for it now..."

"I know," I said, my chest tightening. "Oh, Hugo. This is a disaster."

A door suddenly burst open as we passed and the three of us, already twitchy and on edge, all jumped. Hugo's dad stuck his head out, his red hair rumpled and his face anxious.

"Hugo? Is your mother alone?"

"Yeah," said Hugo. "But she's seriously stressed. She might bite your head off."

"Never mind that," Hugo's dad replied, hurrying out of the room in the direction of the study without a backward glance. We heard him push the door open, and say anxiously, "Hermione, darling? Don't fret – it'll be all right –" The door clicked shut behind them.

"Let's go back to Lorcan and Lysander's, they'd rather we were out of the way," Hugo said, ushering us back to the front door and through the garden. Another two owls swooped past us, heading swiftly for the study window.

"Hugo! Wait up!"

The front door slammed again behind us and Rose, Hugo's sister, hurried up the garden path, giving me and Jennifer a quick nod of acknowledgement.

"Hugo, what on earth is going on? Dad said our tent's been found in Iran and now the Ministry there reckon we've been snooping into their affairs? Us?"

Rose's hair was as carrot-red as Hugo's, but long and bushy like her Mum's. Her face had the same fierce expression as she demanded an explanation.

"Uh," Hugo mumbled. "Well, yes, kind of. That is pretty much what's happened..."

"But why? How?"

Hugo glanced at us both. Jennifer looked tired and drawn, and I felt just the same – all I wanted was to get away from here. Another owl dipped down from the sky, wings whistling as it passed.

"Later, Rose," Hugo said firmly. "Ask Dad. It's a really long story."

Rose opened her mouth to argue but Hugo just said quickly, "Or I'll tell you later on, okay? Just not right now. But, Rose? You know what?"

"What?"

Hugo's eyes followed a fourth owl, a large grey one, as it, too fluttered to the study window, rapping to be let in.

"I think this might be it for Mum's job. She's never had this many owls before, not even that time she tried to push through all those laws about House Elf rights."

Rose stared at him, wide-eyed. Oh Merlin. I felt even worse. It was my fault her mum was probably going to get fired, from the top job in the whole country! Surely she'd be outraged.

But to my surprise, Rose, after whipping round to watch the steady stream of owls passing through the study window and back out again, looked at her brother with a tiny smile.

"Oh," she said. "Well – that wouldn't be the worst thing, would it?"

Hugo grinned cautiously back. "No," he said. "No, it definitely wouldn't. Well, we'll see. Talk to you later, Rose..."

Rose looked after us curiously, as we walked away.

Jennifer opened the gate and let us through to the road. "What did she mean, Hugo?"

Hugo shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "Well – I know it's a really good job and everything, but...we miss her. Me and Rose and Dad. She's never home, and when she is she's always stressed about stuff. You know the tent, our tent, we haven't even used it as a whole family for two years. Mum had to pull out of the last few holidays 'cause of last-minute work emergencies, so we just went with Dad. And we all hate the publicity. It's kind of wrong, I know, but Rose and I have been hoping for ages she'd decide to step down. And I reckon Dad has, too."

The leaden weight of guilt that had dropped in my stomach whilst in the study seemed to ease the tiniest bit. I hadn't expected that.

"So you'd all – you all be pleased?" I said."You're not just saying that?"

"Definitely, if it happens," Hugo said, sticking his hands in his pockets as he led us back around the hill towards Lorcan and Lysander's house. "Mum wouldn't, obviously. But Grandma always says she reckons Mum lost all perspective when she got the job. She says Mum has missed me and Rose grow up and she'll regret it when she realises. So – like Rose says, it wouldn't be the worst thing. Don't worry about that bit."

Jennifer reached over and squeezed Hugo's arm. "I'm glad to hear that," she said. "You're a brick, Hugo, you know that!"

Hugo's ears went red. "S'alright," he said, embarrassed. "Besides, you've got enough on your plate..."

We reached Lorcan and Lysander's house and Hugo started to lead us round the side to the back garden when Newt suddenly popped his head out of one of the downstairs windows.

"Hello, you three! Been for a walk? Fed up with Quidditch, were you?"

We all hesitated just a fraction too long and he looked confused. Of course – he would have no idea of the trouble we were all in.

"Yes," we blurted out, all together, and Newt chuckled.

"Oh you, kids. Up to no good, I'll be bound..."

He waved us off with a smile, and suddenly I remembered – last night, when he'd caught me arm and asked me to pop in to see him, alone. With everything that had happened, I'd completely forgotten. As Jennifer and Hugo headed towards the back garden, I turned back to the window. Newt still there, looking hopefully after us, and our eyes locked. He jerked his head questioningly and I nodded.

"Hey – you two –"

Jennifer and Hugo stopped and looked back, curiously.

"I'll join you in a bit, okay? I just need to see Newt about something."

"Oh," said Jennifer, surprised. "Want us to come?"

But I'd got the distinct impression Newt had wanted to talk to me, alone.

"Naw, it's all right," I said awkwardly. "I probably won't be long."

"All right," Hugo said. "We'll be in the garden."

Jennifer shot me a questioning glance as they turned away but, not knowing what Newt wanted to talk to me about, I just shrugged apologetically back before heading round to the front door.

Newt opened the door as I reached it, smiling his kindly smile. "Juliet," he said. "I'm glad you've come. Please, come through..."