AN: I'm baaack....
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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter.
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Failure, failure, failure. Utter, complete, totally humiliating failure! That's what the Ministry was facing right now. It was almost two weeks after the Harry Potter fiasco, and the Ministry was becoming the laughingstock of the entire wizarding community and the fur was really starting to fly. See, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was being doubted and criticized by the public. It happened a lot, seeing as the Minister was a dunderhead to begin with, but now the tension was so thick at work that it could be cut with a knife. And what happens next? Why, the blame is spread around of course. The crap starts rolling downhill. From the Minister to his assistant to the Heads of Departments to their Second in Commands to the Investigative Specialists to the International Contacts and on and on until even the damn coffee boy was blamed and eventually fired for the disappearance of Sirius Black.
Damn him, Lyralei thought, scowling in annoyance at the trouble Sirius was causing. Lyralei worked best in what she called 'organized chaos' and others called a complete mess, but this was a bit much even for her. She was surrounded by a fortress of files and papers and mails, and a steady stream of owls, messages, and people were storming in and out to see her. Her office looked like a war zone.
This was getting really ridiculous. It had been quite a while since the Ministry had faced such failure, and in a way it was good for them, but being eluded by a wreck of a wizard, a damn jail bird, was quite embarrassing to everybody, degrading even. Lyr gave up all hope of going after Sirius on her own, at least for now. It would be quite impossible. But they needed to find him, for better or for worse, so Lyralei stopped all pretenses and dedicated most of her time to searching for him. There was a small part of her that actually wanted to recapture him, what with all the pain he'd caused.
Lyralei was with Vasrian a lot, trying to figure out where Sirius could be and the best approach to finding him. She added in a few fake leads now and then, but other than that, she fully cooperated. Had to, at this point.
The whole damn Ministry was searching for Sirius now, and if they didn't find him soon, the Minister would be desperate enough to try something really drastic, like kill him on the spot. As of now, Aurors weren't given that privilege, but Lyralei had no doubt that they would be given a lot more leeway if Black wasn't captured soon. It was just like in the old days, when Voldemort was in power. Lyralei knew that giving Aurors extra powers would unnecessarily frighten the public. They would think there was something to be worried about, and get all panicky. A panicked public was the worst kind. It was just one more point in the Dark Side's favor, because causing panic and turmoil was one thing Voldemort thrived on. This whole affair had to be stopped before it got out of hand.
If they captured Sirius soon, there was a chance for an interrogation, and that might, just might, help him. The Ministry would at least want to know how Sirius had escaped. Then, maybe, Lyralei might be able to get the answers she needed. No, if they captured him at all, which at this point was inevitable, it had to be now.
To add to all that, her ignoramus of a boss (Fudge), decided to release the dementors. As of now, the dementors were only allowed to be stationed around Hogwarts, in order to 'protect' Harry. Even Dumbledore didn't like the idea, but the castle had to have some security. Lyralei just didn't think that putting dementors around a castle full of school children was the best idea. Most adults went weak at the knees when seeing a dementor; they didn't need to subject kids to that horror. At least the dementors would be staying outside the castle; Dumbledore was very firm about that.
It wouldn't be long, however, before the dementors were going to be allowed to run more freely to help search for Black. As much as people were afraid of Sirius, Lyralei didn't think anyone would exactly like the idea of dementors freely roaming the streets. As long as Sirius kept a low profile, a very low profile mind you, things would probably calm down in a little while. He hadn't done anything yet, at least not that they knew of, so that was good. If only Lyr knew what he was thinking of. Before, when they were together, it was as if they could read each other's minds. They could finish each other's sentences even before it was out of their mouths. Lyr had thought she knew him, but obviously she was wrong.
The whole affair 12 years ago certainly hadn't increased Lyralei's faith in mankind. She wasn't a very trusting person in the first place, always tending to take a somewhat cynical view of things. It wasn't a bad attitude to have then, times being what they were, and her Auror training just added to her already suspicious nature. Unfortunately, as is often the case, even though the war was over, she wasn't quite over the war. It was kind of like how you can take a soldier out of a battlefield, but you can't always take the battlefield out of the soldier. Take Mad-Eye Moody for example. Lyralei's paranoia wasn't that extreme, of course, but it was something.
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Lyralei lay sprawled across her recliner. She moaned as she pressed an ice pack to her head, willing her humongous headache to go away. It was a Saturday afternoon, and she had just gotten home from the Ministry, which she had been at since Friday morning. Due to her involvement in the search for Sirius, she had very conveniently neglected her normal job, which really wasn't something that could be ignored. It suddenly chose to spring up on her with the force of repressed water in a dam. She spent the last 48 hours cleaning up the mess and the problems that had developed due to her short period of neglect. Honestly, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. There was just no depending on people anymore.
Suddenly, her fireplace roared to life (which didn't help her head) and the fire turned bright green. Lyralei groaned as she turned her head slightly to look at the flames. If this was someone telling her that some stupid crisis had turned up at work, well, they could go to hell. She couldn't move a muscle right now, even if she wanted to.
Luckily, the shape that came revolving out of the fire turned out to be none other than Remus Lupin.
"Hey Moony. Come in." Lyralei said.
"You okay?" Remus asked as he sat down on a couch across from her.
"Just dandy," Lyralei said, her voice slightly muffled due to the ice pack. "Except for the fact that I can't move."
"Bad day at work, huh?"
"That would be an understatement. Good timing, by the way. I just got back 5 minutes ago."
"Didn't you get my owl?" Remus asked, frowning slightly.
"What owl?" Lyralei asked. Just then, as if on cue, there was a rapping at the window, and a large Eagle Owl came swooping in, dropped a letter onto Lyralei's lap and then went to perch on Remus's out-stretched hand.
"That owl," Remus replied. "Who is late, by the way," he said, glaring slightly at the bird, who calmly started preening himself, still on Remus's arm.
"What's it say?" asked Lyralei, who just barely opened her eyes to glance at the envelope.
"I just wanted to inform you that I was coming over to say good-bye."
"Oh. Good-bye then. Where're you going?" Lyralei asked, still in a haze.
"To Hogwarts, remember?" Remus answered patiently. "But first I'm going to get you something for that head ache and put you to bed."
"Remus," Lyralei began in slight exasperation.
"Quiet; I don't want to hear any arguments."
"But-"
At that, Remus took out his wand, pointed it at Lyralei, and performed a basic silencing charm. Lyralei, who still had her eyes closed, had no way of seeing it coming. She shot straight up as soon as she realized, wincing as her head pounded, and glared murderously at her friend.
"I did warn you," said Remus smirking, as he walked out of the room.
Damn, Lyralei thought. She hated being silenced. It was such an awkward feeling. She took out her own wand to perform the counter-charm, which was very tricky to perform on yourself, considering you couldn't speak. As soon as she managed it, she stormed out the door with her wand in her hand, looking for her victi-, uh, friend.
"Remus!" she demanded, searching for him. "Come here!"
"Drink this," he said, appearing suddenly from the kitchen. He forced a small measure of liquid down a very startled Lyralei's throat.
"You, you," she sputtered, trying to rid herself of the potion's awful after-taste.
"Yup." Remus said. Then he led her, still sputtering, to her bedroom and made her lie down. Lyralei regained her voice as he was pulling the covers up and said reproachfully, "You silenced me! And that stuff was disgusting!"
"Yes honey, I'm sorry. But it's for your own good you know. Now don't struggle. I gave you a mild healing potion that should make you a little sleepy. You need your rest; you look completely exhausted." Remus said firmly.
Lyralei rolled her eyes. "Remus, honestly, I'm-"
"-fine, I know." Remus finished for her. "But just humor me this once, okay?
Lyralei rolled her eyes again and settled back against her covers. "Yes Mom," she said sarcastically.
"Good," Remus replied, grinning down at her. "Now look, I'm leaving by Hogwarts Express tomorrow, and I probably won't be able to see you for awhile."
Lyralei nodded, feeling drowsy as the effects of the potion started to kick in. "You know about the dementor thing, don't you?"
"Yeah," Remus said, sighing heavily. "Can't say they're my favorite creatures."
"They're looking to catch Sirius..."
"I know."
There was a small silence, which Remus broke, saying, "I'll mail you after things get settled down a bit."
"Okay," Lyralei nodded again. "Good luck Remus."
"Thanks," Remus replied, smiling at her. She was already nodding off, fighting the potion's influence.
Remus bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, "Bye Lyri," he said.
Lyralei smiled faintly and managed to say "Bye Reems," just before she succumbed to the potion.
Remus looked at her once more, then turned and went from the room.
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AN: I'm not even going to bother listing the myriad of excuses I have for the lateness of this update, but just remember that this was written about a year ago and it's possible that I may have, uh, forgotten? Heh, heh... oops.
I know I told a few of you that there would be action and that some of you are waiting for Sirius. I apologize for the lack of that in this chapter, but this was written a long time ago, and the sequence of the story would be messed up if I added that stuff in now. From this point I'll have to write new chapters, and hopefully I'll be able to fit a plot in somewhere.
Make sure to review and let me know if anyone's still reading this!