1st September 1955

"Come in," came the voice of Elphinstone from within his study. Minerva walked into the room and closed the door behind herself.

"Ah, Minerva, good evening," he said, looking up. "The Azkaban files?" he asked, nodding at the stacks of parchment Minerva had in her hands.

She nodded. "The Azkaban files and the report on the Anti-Muggle attack in Lewisham," she explained.

"Thank you," he said, and Minerva was in the process of turning around to leave the room when he spoke again. "About that Anti-Muggle attack in Lewisham," he paused, "Albus Dumbledore has spoken to me about who he thinks the perpetrators might be. I would like to discuss what he has told me with the whole team."

Minerva turned around, the name of her former Professor catching her attention. "Would you like me to organise a meeting, Sir?" she asked, removing her hand from the door handle she had been holding.

"I think so, McGonagall, and as early as possible, please," he added, Minerva nodded and he continued, "Could you make sure that all of the Aurors are aware of the meeting too… We are going to have a few busy weeks ahead of us," he finished, more to himself than anybody else.

Minerva nodded again and left the room; whatever Elphinstone wanted to talk about with them was not going to be very good. In the last year she had been working at the Ministry, Minerva had noticed that the attacks and 'pranks' targeted towards Muggles were getting even more out of hand. The attack in Lewisham, a few days ago, being a prime example of the increasing danger Muggles were in - the danger being, of course, unknown to them.

"So the Knights of Walpurgis are behind these attacks then?" asked Edward Limus, the Chief of the Aurors.

"Yes. Well, some of them," answered Elphinstone who was standing at the head of the table in one of the meeting rooms. "According to Dumbledore that is."

Annabelle looked puzzled. "So The Knights of Walpurgis…" she said, thoughtfully, "Do we know anything else about them, apart from their group name? Who would join a group such as this one?"

Alastor Moody stopped playing his pen "Muggle haters," he answered bluntly. "People like Grindelwald's followers twenty years ago."

Minerva felt her body tense. She watched as Elphinstone pulled out a copy of the French newspapers. He held it up and then passed it around. Minerva narrowed her eyes as she scanned the front page. She didn't have to speak French to understand that the muggle attacks happening in the UK at the moment had been happening abroad too.

"And it's not just the French who have had cases of unprovoked Muggle attacks," said Elphinstone, holding up another newspaper and then another. "It's been happening all over Europe for the last five, ten years or so." He passed the newspapers around and added darkly. "And now it seems as though wizards here have also started to share this," he frowned, "sentiment."

Minerva looked up from the newspaper she was holding. "So, what are we going to do about it?"

Elphinstone sighed. "First of all, I would like your divisions to communicate more," said Elphinstone, looking at the Aurors and then at the Witch Watchers. "Aurors are investigating wizards that the Witch Watchers are trying to identify and track down. If the Auror department shared information on suspected dark wizards it would make the Witch Watchers' job much easier and possibly more effective." He then turned to Minerva, Annabelle, and Peasegood. "If you three could start logging which wizards caused the disruptions you've been called to, and pass that information to the Aurors, then they will be able to start investigating those wizards who might be a part of the Knights of Walpurgis."

Limus looked up from his notes and raised his hand. "Would you like us to start dedicating more time searching for members of that group?"

Elphinstone nodded. "If you could make it your number one priority," he said, looking at both Limus and Moody. "One more thing before we go," he said as people started to get up and pack away their things. "Bear in mind that we also need to mind our own attitudes and behaviour."

Peasegood frowned. "Come again?"

"We can't tell the population to respect muggles if we are demonstrating anti-muggle behaviours," explained Elphinstone. "I think we can all agree that anti-muggle attitudes here at the Ministry have been on the rise these past couple of years. This is unacceptable, so make sure you think before speaking and remind others to do the same if you hear anything hateful."

Everybody in the room nodded.

"Good," said Elphinstone. "Well, I think that is all for today. I hope you all have a good rest of the week."

Annabelle scoffed next to Minerva as they made their way out of the room. "A good rest of the week?" she said. "Could things get any more sombre?"

Minerva silently agreed.