Chapter 12

Lucius Malfoy looked with some disgust at the pile of paperwork on his desk. What was the point of it all, he thought, now that he could almost taste his victory over the Order of the Phoenix. Yes, certainly, his Master could not yet come out into the open, not enough of the ministry had been influenced. Yet, he felt a certain pointlessness to the forms his secretary had carefully laid out for him. It was, after all, just a performance. Surely, he had given his Master enough information to propel plans just a little more?

Or was it? Since the breakout from Azkaban, things seemed to have slowed. His Master had sent out emissaries to the giants and the werewolves, and Bella and Rodolphus had been commissioned to Merlin only knew where. His Master was also curiously occupied and seemed wholly obsessed with breaking into the Ministry to retrieve a prophecy and also finding a way into the vaults of Gringotts. Yaxley, meanwhile, was working to recruit Death Eaters into different departments at the Ministry, but seemed oddly slow to place an Imperius curse on any one.

Lucius stretched and looked upward, contemplating his next steps. A knock on the door brought in his secretary, a wispy little warlock only two years out of Hogwarts.

"Yes, Stettler? What is it?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, a memo from the Minister, concerning the latest appointment to Hogwarts?"

Lucius took the pale purple piece of paper and frowned over it. Of Course! He had forgotten Umbridge's disastrous teaching stunt at the school. It dawned on him how useful this could be.

"Stettler? Would you tell Undersecretary Umbridge I'd like to see her? I'll be up presently."

"Of course Mr. Malfoy."

With a flick of his wand that automatically signed all the forms on his desk, Lucius left his office and strolled leisurely to the elevator.

He stood, as he always did at the front of the lift, choosing not to acknowledge anyone else who might be there. There was only one other occupant in any case, one who had lounged in a corner lazily.

"Well, if it isn't Luscious Lucius."

Lucius turned with a sneer on his lips. "Black, what brings you to the ministry?"

"Appointments, plans, grown up things. You don't seem pleased to see me,cousin-in-law. How's dear Cissy?"

"Narcissa does not concern herself with the likes of blood traitors."

"Oh she's not so bad, really. She was quite a wonderful sort of person till you started poncing around her, dragging her off to be brainwashed by old No-Nose."

Lucius restrained himself from hexing Sirius to the ends of the earth.

"That's quite an accusation."

"So you're not an acolyte of some murderous bastard? Show me your left arm, go on."

"You're teetering close to the edge, Black."

"What you going to do? Take house points?"

"You're a child Black. Do you forget that I am the Permanent Secretary for Magical Finance? Perhaps it's time my department undertook an audit of the Black assets".

"You should read your rule book then Mr Secretary. Thanks to good ole Sirius the second, all members of the Sacred 28 are exempt from audits. Probably the only good the man ever did."

"He's probably turning in his grave to know that you are now the Head of the House of Black. Which, I hasten to remind you is only because there is no one else to inherit."

Sirius' eyes grew cold.

"I was always to be the Head of the House of Black, I choose not to want it. Somehow, although I was blasted off the tapestry, Father declined to remove me from the will. It is therefore mine by right. Do not pretend that your antagonism is not focussed on the fact that my very existence hinders Draco from all the Black loot."

Lucius turned around to face Sirius, his wand now out threateningly.

"Yes, your very existence is a hindrance."

"Oh, come at me, I dare you. Do it now, in the ministry."

Lucius lunged forward, but at that very minute the lift stopped. "Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

Sirius sauntered to the exist. "There's my stop. Rain check, Lulu?"

Sirius laughed as he watched the lift carry away a snarling Lucius. He carried on into the department, nodding to people he knew and stopping to receive some high fives from previous classmates. At a door marked "Registrations", he slipped in and gave a lazy grin to the witch seated at the foremost desk.

"Sirius Black! It is good to see you. I couldn't believe it when they said you were a Death Eater."

"Esmeralda, I like to keep you on your toes."

Esmeralda Jones, Permanent Private Secretary to the Department and high flying civil servant blushed from the roots of her dark hair to the tips of her high heeled shoes.

"Behave. Why are you here?"

"Very genuine reasons, can i see her?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes, it's under Lupin."

"Married Remus after all did you? You were always so cute together."

"Ha. Your appointment system doesn't let ordinary humans- even extraordinary ones like myself- make emergency appointments. Have to be on the register."

"Hmm , all right, go in. and behave, we've just had some odd reports of Giants in the West Country and she's all a dither."

Sirius entered the office of the Departmental Minister and stopped to catch his breath. Even 15 years on from Hogwarts, Ananya Korti was still an incredibly stunning woman. Even better, thought Sirius, was her intellect and sense of fairness. He knew from Lupin that there had been some compassionate changes since she started office six months ago, although she was fighting all alone.

She was frowning at a large parchment on her desk and looked up distractedly at his small cough. She raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for you to flirt with me, Black. Out with it."

"Why does every woman in this department think I'm here on a social call?"

"Because you have , apparently, slept with most of the women and men who went to Hogwarts in your year. Hurry up, what do you need? Where's Lupin?"

"He's not here, but he is the reason why I am here. You know I am Harry Potter's godfather?"

"Yes. Poor boy. How drunk was Lily when she agreed to that."

"Very, in fact. Listen, you agree that if it wasn't for Lupin's problem, he'd be a much better godparent."

"Except for once a month, yes."

"I'd like to officially register Remus as Harry's co-guardian. But as a werewolf, he isn't afforded…human status. Unless you can co-sign my appeal?"

"I don't know Sirius. Fudge is very anti-werewolf at the moment. He doesn't want to give in to any manner of dark creature."

"Remus isn't a dark creature- he's a lamb. And he's taking his Wolfsbane every month, he's gainfully employed."

"Employed? How? He left Hogwarts!"

"He tutors in the summer and is currently doing some special research for Dumbledore. His living and Wolfsbane costs are met by me."

Korti looked at him for a while. "All right. I need signed statements from you and Dumbledore. And a note from the Potioneer. But this is really going to get the Minister's back up. He's already in a foul mood at Dumbledore, Hogwarts is about to come under serious surveillance."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember Dolores Umbridge? She was a prefect in Slytherin in our first year and her seventh? Hideous cow, looks like a wart on a toad?"

"Yeah, we put frogspawn in her shoes."

"She's about to become a professor at Hogwarts."

Sirius' eyebrows rose. "Merlin's balls."

And upstairs, while Umbridge simperingly made tea for Lucius Malfoy, he dropped his arm under the table, pointed his wand at her and whispered "Imperio."

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