October 3rd, 1995
Lowell, Massachusetts

"So," Ryan Kessinger laughed and handed Lily a cocktail. "How exactly did a sweet woman like you become friends with my sister? Last time I checked, Cordelia was only nice to her husband and kids."

Lily shrugged. "She's not that bad," She replied, taking a sip of her drink. "Haven't you seen her since she first left for England in '72?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not for more than a few minutes. I saw very briefly about a year or two ago when she was in New York, but I think she was only there because she had some top secret government work or whatever it is she does. Either way, she didn't seem to have much of an interest in talking to me."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realise things were quite that bad. The whole time I've known her, Delia hasn't talked much about her family, sure. Honestly, I just assumed whatever it was, it was bad. Cornelius seemed to know everything, but…"

"I don't begrudge her any of it," Ryan said, starting on his own drink. "Our parents forced her to stay at Ilvermorny….that's the name of the school, I think…..well, they made her stay there all year round because they were afraid of the neighbours finding out about…." He lowered his voice, feeling silly just saying the words. "About her being a witch. My stepmother is the only person in our family to have magic other than Cordelia. My brother Jake - her and my dad's son - doesn't have it, and neither do I, or Raquelle, or my dad, or my bio mom."

"So he's a squib…" Lily breathed.

Ryan squinted at her. "Squib?"

"Nevermind," Lily said, waving her hand dismissively before lighting up a cigarette. "You were saying?"

"Cordelia just wasn't all that welcome at home," Ryan sighed. "I think it was because of our step mom, to be honest. Dad never cared about Cordelia's eccentricities before he married our step mom, so I think that's what happened. He was pretty angry when she got married though."

"She told me about that," Lily sighed. "I know she and Cornelius eloped."

Ryan considered that. "Yes and no," He said. "In the sense that she didn't invite anyone from her family to her wedding, then us, but in the sense that she and Fudge still got married in London with a bunch of people they know? I don't really think it's fair to say they eloped, although dad did nearly implode when he got a letter from her after three years without contact to tell him that she and Fudge had a two year old daughter and she had just given birth to their second daughter. That was probably the angriest I've ever seen my father, and he used to throw glasses at people."

Lily flinched. "I'm sorry," She said, reaching over to pat his hand. "I didn't -"

"It's kinda funny, looking back," Ryan sighed, leaning back a little. "Georgie and I definitely don't want to be like my family, that's for sure, but he's softened me towards them. I talk to Cordelia every so often over the phone, but she's been more and more distant this last year. I wonder if my dad knew it would be useless to demand she come back to the estate, or if he just wanted to try and intimidate her."

Lily snorted. "No one can intimidate Delia Fudge," She said, laughing a little. "A few weeks ago, she and I got into a fight with a reporter for one of our wizarding newspapers, and it was pure gold. I think she and I should go out more often, if we can put people we don't get on with in their places. Narcissa Malfoy would certainly be a good place to start with that."

Ryan laughed. "I would appreciate it if you could explain that to me, but I'm starting to think the answer will just confuse me more."

"It might," Lily admitted, taking a long draw on her cigarette. "But, all things considered, it's probably not worth thinking about."

"I'll take your word for it," Ryan said, stretching out his arms a bit. "To tell you the truth, the only member of her family I hear much from is Catherine. I don't imagine Cordelia is aware that I write back and forth with her daughter, but she is my niece. I write with Lexenly, too, but not as frequently. Honestly…."

"It's difficult?" Lily offered.

Ryan nodded. "I'm going to England soon," He was quiet. "But it is scary, not knowing what will happen..."

October 9th, 1995
Ministry of Magic

"I hate to be the bearer of more bad news," Amelia Bones stepped into Fudge's office, sighing when she saw Delia. "But it seems I have no choice in the matter."

"If it's about the attacks on no-majs in Nottingham, Shacklebolt is already looking into that," Delia paused when Amelia flinched. "It's more than that, isn't it?"

"Well, it does seem Death Eater activity is largely in the Midlands, at the moment," Amelia said, looking rather drained. "But that isn't the only issue. There has been….a breach of Azkaban."

Cornelius paled. "Again?"

"It seems to be...a test run, of sorts," Amelia explained, glancing to Delia, whose fingers were curling. "I don't suppose you know of Radopholus Lestrange?"

"The name Lestrange sounds familiar," Delia carefully replied. "Though I primarily recall it from a conversation I had with Newt Scammander a few years ago."

"Radopholus was one of several people convicted in '82 of the brutal torture and permanent incapication of Frank and Alice Longbottom," Cornelius said tiredly, resting his head against the palm of his hand. "Suffice is to say he and the others were convicted on a multitude of other crimes, but that was arguably the most gruesome."

Delia grimaced. "Right," She said. "Of course it happened while we were living in Virginia."

"The primary concern is that, with Lestrange out, he'll eventually return to release his...allies and, of course, his wife," Amelia frowned. "Frankly, I'm more worried about Bellatrix Lestrange than Radopholus. She always seemed to be the one managing everything in that relationship, with him taking on tasks that required a bit more physical brutality than she could lay out herself. Regardless -"

"Make sure Shacklebolt has the Malfoys under close supervision," Cornelius cut in, glancing between his wife and Amelia. "Given that Lestrange's wife is Narcissa Malfoy's sister."

"I'll ensure that gets done by the end of the day," Amelia said, starting to pace and crossing her arms. "I understand that you have to be diplomatic with people like them, and, I'm sure, it is easier considering they are richer than God himself, but I've never liked them much. I'm very much unconvinced that Lucius was ever under the influence of the Imperius curse," She scoffed. "Well, just given some of the things he has said about your wife, Minister, I'm quite sure you understand why I don't think he ever needed a reason to work with You-Know-Who."

"There's not enough evidence to prove it in court," Cornelius mildly replied. "But I agree that they can be a bit...high-minded."

He reached over to take Delia's hand, sensing her tension. She was shaking, and Cornelius gently squeezed her hand, hoping to reassure her, even a little. Delia slowly sat down, feeling a bit dizzy and sick to her stomach. Cornelius walked around his desk and sat down next to his wife, letting her rest her head against him. Amelia shook her head, looking to Delia every so often and feeling nervous, as if she shouldn't be there. There had been a tension growing around the Ministry for months, now, and it seemed that it would not relent any time soon. Amelia shoved down thoughts of the Order meeting the night before, and the letter she had received from Lily. This was decidedly not the time to mention that.

"A body was also found stuffed in a tree a couple miles outside of Coventry," Amelia broke the silence. "A wand was found with the body, so presumably that will identify the victim. Still….it is jarring."

"In a….tree?" Delia stared at her in disbelief. "Is that ritualistic sacrifice, or something else?"

"Perhaps they're getting bolder," Cornelius paused for a moment in thought. "They must be," He mused. "I can't imagine there aren't more discreet ways to kill a person. For years…."

"Where is it?" Delia suddenly stood up, grabbing her cloak and pulling it over herself, the hood obscuring much of her head.

"Delia, you can't be -" Cornelius began, stopping her by the door.

"I would like to see this for myself," Delia said, lightly kissing him. "I've dealt with worse. I'll be alright."

Amelia hesitated and then nodded curtly towards her. "I'll come with you," She said. Delia mumbled in agreement, seeing no room for protest. "It's for the best that neither of us get caught off guard, especially right now."

October 9th, 1995
Hogwarts

"Well, Quidditch practise was a mess today," Ginny said, pulling her hair up into a pony tail as she walked with Hermione and Cat. "I watched Fred and George get into a row and try to hit each other with the bludgers. I honestly thought, for a little while there, that one of them was going to end up in the hospital wing."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "The two of them are absolute idiots sometimes," She remarked. "Don't forget what they tried last year with the Triwizard Tournament."

Cat giggled. "Well," She said slyly. "It was better than Lex succeeding in that despite being underage. God, if her name had come out of the cup, I think my parents would have lost it."

Ginny smirked. "I'd like to see your mum lose it. She seems like the type of person would be more fun the more unhinged they are."

"You're out of your mind," Hermione told her. "WIth the amount of times Delia Fudge has gotten into fights over the years, I really don't think we have to try all that hard to see what happens when she's crossed or feels slighted."

Cat shrugged. "Mommy's always been like that. She's good at scaring people. Daddy's always said that people who don't know her are inherently afraid of her."

"Sounds about right," Ginny said, socking her in the arm. "So, I have to ask: how did selling some of the Skiving Snackboxes go?"

Cat snickered. "More Slytherins than you would expect were perfectly content to buy them. I even got them to pay more than Fred and George told me I had to charge them."

Hermione and Ginny both stopped, turning to her and staring at her with their eyebrows raised.

"Devious of you," Hermione said, an approving glint in her eyes.

"That's impressive," Ginny smirked. "You should go into the business with them. Sounds to me like you're good at it."

"Half of them are scared of Professor Tonks, so that seemed to be the motivation of a lot of them," Cat paused for a few seconds, glancing around in thought. "Then again, I don't think they've necessarily thought through getting 'sick' in her class. She's going to figure it out."

"That's for damn sure!" Ginny exclaimed, laughing a bit. "Did you sell any to Draco?"

Cat squirmed. "Not exactly."

"She slipped some of the boil powder into his juice this morning," Hermione whispered to her. Ginny let out a squeak of surprise. "I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to him. I can't imagine what his reaction will be when he starts to break out in awful boils."

Ginny looked between her and Cat and then hugged Cat, startling her for a second.

"Make sure to tell Harry and Ron about that," Ginny eagerly told her. "They are going to lose it."

"I already did," Cat replied. "I thought Ron was going to piss himself laughing. He honestly fell to the floor in the halls, just wheezing and curling into himself. It took Professor McGonagall stopping and asking if he were alright to knock some sense into him."

Hermione shook her head. "Sounds like Ron," She said, her ears turning a bit pink despite herself. "He and I were arguing earlier about Crookshanks biting his toes, actually. It was rather stupid, but I did win, so I'm going to consider that a good thing."

Ginny and Cat shared a knowing look.

"You fancy him," Ginny said with a grin.

"When's the wedding?" Cat snickered.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed, turning scarlet. "Just no! How many times do I have to say that it's not like that?"

"More than that," Ginny looped an arm around her as they began to walk again. "And you're going to need to be a little bit more convincing than that too."