The End of the Order

It was still dark outside when Claudia woke up, and strangely calm. No sirens were screaming under their windows, no delivery vans honking impatiently. But despite the stillness outside, Claudia could not relax enough to go back to sleep. Despite the fact she finally got to have sex last night, she was restless.

She and Moody were going to tell the rest of the team about the secret investigation today. It was becoming real. It had to go well. If it went badly, what hope did they have convincing Crouch to move against Frederick.

"Why are you so fidgety?" Sirius whispered when he opened his eyes.

"Did I wake you?" But she did not even wait for him to reply before explaining. "We're telling the others today about the investigation. I guess I'm bit on edge-"

"A bit…" Sirius smirked and kissed her. "Just go. I know better than expect you to buy me breakfast. I need to go run an errand for Dumbledore anyway."

"I need to do this."

"I know."

"Just-" Sirius trailed off. There was something in his eyes. Maybe it was hesitation. Maybe it was fear.

"I promise to let you know if I go to Azkaban again. Or do anything else, equally dumb-"

Sirius smiled. "Sure."

As Claudia disappeared into the shower, she saw Sirius drop into the pillow and cover his face with his hands. She knew he hated all of this. He was putting on a brave face, but for how long he was able to keep it up, she had no clue.

But they got through the rest of the morning and within twenty minutes, Claudia strode into her office. There was a huge lump in her throat, and she could feel her heart beating in her ears. But Moody was nowhere to be seen, and Claudia spent the morning as a nervous wreck.

"Ready?" the boss mumbled as he strolled in just after lunch.

Claudia nodded and sat down in Moody's office. She was chewing her fingernails, waiting for Moody to assemble Adebayo, Ewan and Oscar.

"What's going on, boss?" Ewan asked, once they were all sat down, and Moody cast every protecting charm he knew around his office.

"Claudia?" Moody said, inviting his youngest employee to speak.

She took a deep breath. "So, I was not really being punished with desk duty since Christmas. I've been working a case. Off the books."

"What case?" Ewan asked. He was always the least patient one, like an excited puppy.

"My father's case," Claudia whispered tentatively. She did not dare to look at Oscar. Of the three of them, he was likely to take it the worst.

"Did you get anywhere?" Adebayo jumped in.

Claudia looked at Moody. "I hope so," she said.

"She did," Moody said.

That gave Claudia a little confidence. "Mulciber now remembers it was Frederick-" she shuddered. "I don't know what to call him…"

"The suspect?" Adebayo suggested.

"That will do," Claudia said with a smile. "Mulciber now remembers it was the suspect who ordered him to murder Buttons. But-" she silenced them all with a gesture. "But before you get too excited, he forgot everything again before he signed the confession. But I heard it from his own mouth."

"That's still useful-" Ewan pitched in.

"And it's not all," Claudia said. "I also retrieved the memories of that junior International Magical Cooperation official who died in St Mungo's. I haven't found any proof against my father in them, but it does look like he was put under Imperio and was indeed the source of the leaks.

"And then-" Moody pitched in. "We have Karkarov…"

A long silence ensued. Claudia glanced at all her colleagues. Ewan looked like Christmas had come early. Adebayo was more measured, perhaps appreciating the enormity of what they were about to do. And Oscar, who had stayed silent throughout the meeting, was predictably scowling.

"What do we do?" Adebayo finally broke the silence.

"We're close to being able to take it to Crouch," Moody said resolutely. "We just need to give these memories one last try."

"And if I can't find anything," Claudia whispered, a little disheartened.

"You have two weeks, if you can't find anything, we take it to Crouch anyway."

"What about the rest of us?" Ewan asked.

"Go through every single case we've ever had. Oscar, discreetly trail Avery. If any of you find anything interesting, bring it to Claudia," Moody replied. "Do not set hares running. Nobody outside this room is to know about it. Understood?"

There were nods all around.

"And if anyone asks where Claudia is," Moody said finally. "She's still being punished."

With that, the meeting was over. But not quite the discussion of the matter, as Oscar took Claudia aside.

"How could you keep this from me?" he hissed.

"Boss' orders."

Oscar smirked. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks."

"Not that you didn't tell me," he snapped. "I'm annoyed about that. Impressed about you lying abilities."

"If you had my childhood, you'd understand…" Claudia attempted a smile. "Did you really have no idea?"

"No idea."

But before they could make up, Moody interrupted them. "One more thing–" he mumbled, looking at a piece of parchment. "Back to my office. Now." They followed him and Moody shut the door. "Got some bad news. Benjy and Dorcas died on duty last night."

Claudia's mind immediately turned to Sirius. She knew what it felt like to lose an intimate partner. Even if there was no love, or deep feelings. Even if it was just friendship and sex. It was still sex and it felt awful when they died. And – she bit her lip – she was sure Sirius was going to freak out.

"I'm afraid it's only the start," Adebayo added grimly.

Claudia was fidgety for the rest of the day. She contemplated writing Sirius, but he was probably out, and it was not a conversation she wanted to have in writing. After an hour, she gave up and went home.

"You're early," Sirius greeted her almost jovially. "I just got back myself."

Claudia was silent, desperately trying not to cry.

"What's wrong?" Sirius whispered and ran across the room.

"I have to tell you something, a couple aurors died on a mission. Benjy was one of them."

Sirius froze, and then dropped into an armchair. "Fucking hell."

"If there is anything I can do…"

"Now I know how you felt when Fabian died…" Sirius growled, jumped to his feet and walked over to the bookshelf to grab a whiskey bottle. Claudia expected him to tear up, but he did not. The only discernible emotion on his face was anger. "How many more people are going to die before the Ministry and the Order actually start doing something about it?"

"Sirius-" she tried to interject.

"I'm sick of this, all of this. And the idea that-" he turned to Claudia. "That- I can't even fucking say it!" he yelled and drunk some more.

"It's hard for all of us…"

"Hard? It's not just hard. It's fucking killing me that I can't protect you," he continued to shout. "All I want to do is keep you safe. And I can't! It could be you who doesn't come home. Every single day, it could be you!"

"Sirius, I've got a job to do," she sighed. "We're so close. Moody even said-"

"I don't give a crap what Moody thinks. That dumb investigation is going to cost you your life. And I refuse to stand by and watch!" Sirius was shaking. Not even the occasional sip from the whiskey bottle helped steady his nerve.

But Claudia was not mad at him. Watching him like this made her sad more than anything else. "What would you have me do?" she asked in a resigned tone.

Sirius said nothing. They just stared at each other, breathing heavily. As if it was some kind of weird stand-off. Finally, Sirius sighed, reached for Claudia's hand, and guided her towards the sofa to sit down.

"Let's go into hiding," he whispered. "Run away from here. Go abroad. To France, or Italy – like we wanted."

"I can't do that-"

"I can't watch you die, Claude."

"You don't really want to go into hiding either. You-re just-"

But Sirius jumped to his feet again before she could finish. "All I want is for you to live. I don't give a shit about anything else anymore."

"You don't know what you're saying. What about James-"

"LISTEN TO ME!" he was yelling again. "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE. HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND?"

"I can't-"

Sirius groaned and stormed out of the flat before Claudia could say anything else or stop him. So, she picked up the rest of the whiskey. She drank, cried and sat on the sofa, unable to move. That reaction was entirely predictable. There was no point going looking for him. And even if she wanted to, she was too tired to even get up. Eventually the tiredness (and the booze) took her…

"Claude, Claude-" she heard Sirius voice and slowly opened her eyes. She must have fallen asleep at some point.

"What is it?" she mumbled. "What's going on?" She rubbed her eyes in an attempt not to fall straight back to sleep.

"I've been thinking…" Sirius continued manically. "Forget what everyone else thinks, let's do it."

"For the last time, I'm not going into hiding…"

"Not that." Sirius shook his head vigorously and then kissed her on her forehead. "I just- I just know that I'd die happier if we were married."

Claudia sighed. "Don't say things like that."

"Claude, there is death all around us. Everyday, I worry that you might not come home."

She blinked a few times to make herself more awake. He was right. It was torture, for her too every time he went on a mission. "But how is being married going to change any of that?" she whispered with a slight yawn.

"It won't. But you'll be looked after. You won't have to worry about where to live. I thought about making a will, but my family would contest-"

Claudia lifted herself on her elbow, just high enough to kiss him. "I don't care about money..."

"I know you don't." He brushed her forehead. "What do you say?"

She could barely keep her eyes open. "If I say yes, will you let me go back to sleep?"

Sirius laughed. "I'll help you get to bed." He lifted her off the sofa and Claudia buried her face in his chest, while he carried her to bed. "Alright then," she heard Sirius whisper and planted a kiss on her head. "I'll ask you again in the morning."

"Yes," Claudia mumbled now half asleep. "Of course, I'll marry you."

The only other thing she remembered that evening was Sirius wrapping her in a duvet and giving her another gentle kiss.

First thing in the morning, Claudia and Sirius gritted their teeth and made their way to the Registrar Office, giving the Ministry's outdated leaflets a wide berth before obtaining their marriage licence.

"I cannot believe we're actually going to do this," Claudia said, staring at their names going up on the notice board alongside all the other upcoming unions.

"Now, all we need to do is to survive a month…" Sirius smirked.

"Shouldn't be too hard," she said with a sigh, wondering what the odds were.

"Twelve of November Nineteen-eighty-one. Sounds like a good day to get married."

Claudia reached for Sirius' hand. "It does."

But over the coming days, Claudia had little time to think about her upcoming wedding and threw herself into the memories. Day after day, she searched and search and found nothing new.

"There is something you might want to try," Agrippa suggested. "It's a difficult technique. You don't let the memories guide you. Fixate on something, like an activity or an emotion and see if you can guide those memories. See if they come to you."

"Or a person?"

"Indeed…" Agrippa nodded. "Don't think about it too much, just focus on your father and isolate everything that jumps at you."

Claudia closed her eyes, pointed her Legilimency wand at the bowl of memories and pictured her father's face. But nothing came. Just useless blurred snippets. Hour after hour, she kept dropping split seconds of memories into a bowl with no discernible result.

"This is fucking useless," she sighed finally as she lost concentration.

"It is not," Agrippa whispered and withdrew his wand from the bowl that Claudia was dumping the memories into. "I can see outline of a person here."

Rejuvenated, she raised her wand, but Agrippa gently put her hand down. "That's enough for the day. You can't keep this up for much longer."

"But I have to."

"You need to wait till tomorrow. If you lose concentration, you'll pollute this with rubbish."

Grudgingly, she agreed and then came back day after day, spending hours upon hours picturing her father's face. So much so that the mere thought of him made him sick.

But the work has paid off. It was now only a few days before Moody's deadline. Claudia was working in the Department of Mysteries alone, as Agrippa was away on business. The moment she submerged herself into the separated bowl, she knew she struck gold. The blurry figure that Agrippa saw few days ago was no more. There was now a clear picture of Claudia's father approaching. He raised his wand and uttered. "Imperio."

"Got you, you bastard!" Claudia exclaimed, shut the bowl into Agrippa's safe, and ran to her office. But it was deserted. It was only at that time Claudia looked at her watch to discover was two o'clock in the morning.

"Shit," she said. "Sirius is going to kill me." She apparated home and run up the stairs. Sirius was sitting on the sofa, cradling a bottle of whiskey again.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered and flung her arms around him. "I lost track of time. But I got him! I got him!"

Sirius gave her a feeble smile but stayed silent.

"I saw him in the memories, finally! It was him! Him! Who engineered the Geneva murder. It was him who-" she paused and dropped to her knees. It finally hit her. "It was him who got Alice's dad killed."

Sirius lifted Claudia from the floor and hugged her. She wanted him to say he was proud of her, that she understood. But yet again, Sirius was silent. It was better than yelling though, so she just had to take it. He did not say another word all night.

At least Moody was chuffed when she told him about her discovery the following morning. He set a meeting with Crouch in a few days, when the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement was back from a Ministry trip in New York.

But there were other things to keep her busy in the meantime. The next meeting of the Order was scheduled, rather foolishly Claudia thought, in a building off Diagon Alley. Claudia could not quite resist popping into Flourish and Blotts on her way there to buy all the advanced Legilimency books they had. After all, when would be the next time she would get an excuse to go shopping?

But her trip did not go unpunished, as she came face-to-face with Fabian's older sister just after she paid for her loot.

"Congratulations on your upcoming wedding," Molly said bitterly.

"What?" Claudia gasped. "How?"

"It was in Witch Weekly," Molly hissed, turned on her heel and vanished.

"What?" Claudia mumbled again, this time to herself as she surveyed the shop for a magazine rack. When she found it, she dropped her Legilimency books to the floor and flicked through it. And then, on page six-

'WHY THE SECRECY?

The wedding of the heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black to a fellow member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight should have been the headliner event for high society this year. There should have been speculations months in advance on the bride's dress, sure to drive fashion for the next decade once revealed. The guest list would have included the Minister of Magic and everyone who is anyone.

Instead, everyone is trying to brush this union under the carpet. We only learned this news through the Ministry's marriage license bulletin. And now we must ask why? Why the lack of news concerning the engagement of Sirius Orion Black and Claudia Lavinia Avery? Why no grand wedding, only the barest of announcements in the marriage license bulletin? Why all the secrecy?

Are they trying to ensure a soon-to-be-born child's legitimacy? Could it be because of the murder accusations and acquittal surrounding Ms. Avery, soon to be the next Lady Black? Could it be the speculations that the Black family was unsuccessful in removing their heir's inheritance rights?

Find out in the next issue!'

Her eyes wide, Claudia dropped the magazine onto the pile of her books she bought and run into the street like the shop was on fire. It was not a long way to the location of the Order meeting.

"Have you-" she stuttered. "Have you seen this?!" she yelled at Sirius, who took the Witch Weekly out of her hand, looking rather shaken. That was not surprising, there was little good news around these days.

Sirius' eyes began to dance across the page. But contrary to Claudia's expectations, he did not get mad. In fact, a growing smile appeared on his face as he read it. By the time he got to the end of the article, he was chuckling.

Claudia watched him with her arms crossed. She was amused neither by the article, nor by Sirius' reaction to it.

"What?" he said with a laugh. "It's funny!"

"It is not funny!"

"Are you ashamed of me?" he chuckled.

"No! Of course not-!" she trailed off as they were no longer alone. Oscar and Ewan have joined.

"Ashamed of who?" Oscar asked, snatched the magazine out of Sirius' hands and skimmed the article.

"You're getting married?" he gasped. "Why didn't you-"

"It's none of your business!" Claudia hissed.

"See?" Sirius chuckled. "She's ashamed of me."

Ewan leaned towards Claudia. "Do you want us to have a word with him? Make sure he behaves?"

It was now Claudia's turn to chuckle. "If you could…"

"We could walk you down the aisle too, you know," Oscar said.

Claudia thought for a moment. Well, her father was out of the question. But before she could agree with Oscar's suggestion, Moody walked through the door and Claudia broke into a smile. If there was one person who should walk her down the aisle, it was him. "I'll be alright," she mumbled in a response to Oscar. "I'll just need to strongarm someone."

With that, the Order meeting began. But it was not too dissimilar in attendance to one of Moody's work meetings. It was only Sirius, Peter and couple others left on top of Moody's team. Even Dumbledore was late.

"Where is everyone?" Peter asked.

"Hiding," Moody growled.

"I don't blame them," said Elphias Doge, the Order's man at the Owl Post Office. "Everyone is going into hiding. The postal orders sent to the shops selling defence against dark arts have at least quadrupled. Every day, someone comes in to say an acquittance or a neighbour has been murdered."

"Same at the Ministry, Elphias," Moody said. "People have stopped showing up for work."

"What do we do?" Peter whispered.

Moody shrugged. "What is there to do?"

Claudia glanced at Sirius, who always found it difficult to accept that there were limits to what the Order could do. She could tell he was angry, and ready to jump in- But then, the door flung open, and Dumbledore strolled in.

Normally, he would smile, or wish everyone a good evening. But not tonight. Tonight, he was right down to business. "Bones is dead and so is McKinnon. Voldemort took them and their families."

Full of dread, Claudia looked at Sirius again. He dropped his face into his hands and sighed.

Dumbledore continued. "I can't stay today. Probably best if we don't meet again. You all need to prioritise staying safe. At least for a while." With those words, he floated out of the room again and disappeared.

No one spoke. All of their eyes were fixed on Moody.

The old auror shrugged. "You heard him. It's over for the Order. Go home," he said and followed Dumbledore out of the door. The rest soon followed, leaving Claudia and Sirius alone.

"We should go too," he whispered hoarsely.

"I'm sorry-"

But he shook his head. "What happened, happened. Let's just get out of here before we end the same way."

That was the last thing Sirius said that night. He sat by the fire, answering any question Claudia asked him with hums and groans, and staring at the bottom of a whiskey glass. He was still in the same armchair and the same mood when she left for work the following morning. She very much doubted he slept at all.

There was not much for Claudia to do at work anymore other than tidying up all the files in preparation for the Crouch meeting, the date for which has now been set. Three days was all that separated her from her biggest triumph – getting her father arrested. Just the thought of it made her nauseous. This was it, the endgame.

She was also nervous about Sirius-

But, as it turned out, she should have been nervous about the envelope addressed to her in Cassandra's handwriting that had found its way onto her desk by mid-morning. For a while, she contemplated whether to open it or not. Eventually, she did.

There was no 'Dear Claudia', not even a hello. Cassandra got straight to business.

'Even by your standards, this is heartless. You own mother should not be finding about your wedding from the newspapers. You are my daughter, remember? This should be a special time for us, a chance to bond-'

That was all it took for Claudia to regret the decision to open the letter, and she squashed all three pages of it in her hand and threw it into the bin. She had no intention of reading it or speaking to her mother for the rest of her life.

She got home that evening, barely able to contain her rage and anxiety, hoping Sirius had recovered enough to say a few warm words, to hold her. But it was not to be. In fact, he was not even home.

Claudia paced around the flat for two hours, glancing at her tattoo every minute or so. The things she imagined in her mind. He went after Marlene's killers. He went after Remus. What if he was just drunk somewhere, in the rain. Cold and alone.

But mercifully, just after ten o'clock, the key rattled in the door.

"Where have you been?" she said, tearful, and flung her arms around Sirius' neck.

"Out. I'm here now," he whispered and squeezed her in his arms.

"Do you want something to eat?" she whispered, relieved he was not only unhurt but also sober.

"I'll make us something."

They cooked and ate largely in silence. Sirius deflected any questions of where he was, or how he was feeling. And Claudia chose not to push him. After all, he was home and that was all that she cared about. She did not even care about his relationship with Benjy or Marlene. All of that was irrelevant now.

A day or so passed like that. They ate together, sat huddled next to each other on the sofa, and slept in each other's arms. But they barely said anything. There was nothing left to say. Other than the occasional 'stay safe' or 'I love you'.

When Claudia got home the night before the Crouch meeting, Sirius was sitting in an armchair, silently swirling fire whiskey in his glass, and staring into the fire. The only time he moved was to top up his drink.

Claudia tried not to watch him, to give him space. After all, at lease he was here. Not storming out or getting drunk alone on a street somewhere. But eventually, just hopelessly watching became too much. She went to make him a cup of coffee and brought it over.

When she did approach, Sirius wrapped his arm around Claudia's waist and nudged her to sit on his lap.

"I'm sorry about Marlene-" she began.

But Sirius shook his head. "I don't want to dwell on the past. I just need a moment-" he paused and sighed. More and more of the fire was being reflected in his moist eyes as he spoke. "Just want a moment here. Just you and me. Forget everything else."

A tear finally rolled down his cheek, which Claudia wiped off with her little finger.

"I'm here," she whispered.

"I'm going to ask this one last time though," Sirius mumbled.

"What?"

"About going into hiding…"

Claudia shook her head. Her heart wanted to say yes, just to spare him pain, but her brain screamed louder. "I can't…"

"I understand," Sirius whispered and shut his eye. "And in a way, I love you for it."

Claudia's eyes were filling up too. She cupped Sirius' face and kissed him. It was a gentle, fleeting kiss at first, until Sirius sunk his fingers into his girlfriend's hair and kissed her back with such force it took her by surprise.

Slowly, his hands moved further and further down until his fingers reached Claudia's bare skin under her jumper. She could feel his cold hands shaking a little as he gripped her lower back and kissed the crook of her neck. He knew full well that one kiss there was going to send Claudia's body trembling. And it did...

Her body now burning from the inside, Claudia pulled Sirius' top over his head, and he soon reciprocated. Within seconds, their bodies were pressed against each other, feeding off each other's warms and anticipation.

Sirius nudged Claudia to stand, slid down to sit on the floor by the foot of the armchair, and then dragged her down also. Somehow, all their clothes disappeared in the process.

Claudia closed her eyes, allowing herself to let go of everything. And it felt just like Sirius had wanted. It was just the two of them, right in the moment. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else was even there. Neither the cold of the flat, nor the warmth of the fire. Everything was irrelevant but them.

Their bodies moved in perfect harmony, like they have done hundreds of times before. But it felt different this time. There was even less time to breathe, less time to think. It felt almost as if Claudia was separated from her body. Physical pleasure meant nothing right now.

Sirius dropped his head on her shoulder and sighed. "I don't want this to ever end."

Claudia slowed down and rubbed the back of Sirius' neck with her palms. He squeezed her in his arms until she could no longer move. They were still, for what felt like eternity. Their bodies tangled in a comfortable warm knot, their hearts beating in unison. It was as if they were one.

"I could never imagine," Sirius whispered in her ear. "That I would be capable of loving someone as much as I love you. I would do anything for you. I want you to know that-" he trailed off.

"I know that," she replied with her eyes still closed, and her head resting on Sirius' shoulder. "And I'm sorry for being so stubborn about everything. I know I'm a mess."

"We're both a mess, Claude."

She chuckled. "Maybe that's why we're meant to be together." But despite the chuckle or the humorous words, tears began to fall down Claudia's cheeks too.

One by one, Sirius kissed them off. And eventually, Claudia got a little restless and began to tease him again. Sirius laughed, reached for a throw and thew it across the rug that lay in front of the fireplace.

"You're so impatient," he mumbled and lowered her on her back.

Slowly but surely, the serenity of the moment evaporated, and pleasure took over. For those glorious few minutes, it was all Claudia could feel or think about. It was perfect. With one last thrust, Sirius groaned and collapsed on top of his girlfriend.

She broke into a smile and kissed him. "I love you."

Sirius was breathing heavily, his eyes shut. "I just-" he stuttered. "I've run out of words to describe how you make me feel."

"That's a first," Claudia giggled. "Before I lose the ability to move," she added in a whisper and reached for the wand that was sticking out of her jeans, just within her grasp. One simple summoning charm later, they were both covered with a duvet.

She cuddled up to Sirius side and watched him. His eyes were still closed, but tears managed to find their way out. Claudia did not have to ask why. It was beautiful. But it may as well have been the last time they ever got to do this.

At least she got to fall asleep to the best sound of them all – a sound of a beating, loving heart right next to her.

When she woke up, it was still dark, and Claudia was cold. She fumbled around to find Sirius but could not. She shivered as she got up and pulled on some clothes – it was far too cold to look for him naked. Sirius was not in the living room, or the kitchen, or the bathroom, and Claudia was becoming more and more worried. Until she heard a loud bang from the garage and ran downstairs.

Sirius was sitting by the motorbike, a bag packed at his feet.

"Are you going somewhere?" she whispered, trembling with chill.

"Just dropping off something at James'," he mumbled, looking at his feet.

"Do you have to go now?"

"No, I suppose not," Sirius shook his head and collected himself from the floor. He took off his jacket and wrapped it, and his arms, around Claudia's shoulders. "Let's get back in."

They took a shower together and had breakfast. And by half seven, Claudia had to go. It was, after all, the most important day of her career.

As they were saying good-bye, Sirius squeezed Claudia's head against his chest. "Do what you have to do to get him."

His tenderness threw her off, and Claudia drew in a sob. "No one in the world would understand this, understand me, better than you do. You have no idea how much it means to me. How safe it makes me feel." She planted a tearful kiss on his lips.

"Whatever happens. I love you. Remember that. Alright? I will always love you."

"I love you too."

And with one last hug, Claudia was gone.

She spent a day as a ball of nervous energy, but by four o'clock in the afternoon, Moody and Claudia were standing in front of Crouch's office. Moody seemed steady but she was crumbling under the weight of fear, and all the relevant files they were going to confront him with.

"What do you want?" Crouch asked curtly. "I don't have time…" He barely looked up at them, instead searching through his papers.

"You will make time for this," Moody replied.

Crouch looked up, clearly unhappy at being spoken to like that. Then, his eyes landed on Claudia. "What's she doing here? Isn't she suspended?"

"No," Moody said, clenching his fists. Interacting with Crouch always put him in a terrible mood. "She's been doing some off the books investigation for me."

"Into what?"

"Frederick Avery."

Crouch's face twisted in an angry grimace. "I told you to drop that!"

"You should listen to us before you kick us out. Otherwise, you might come to regret it."

"Are you threatening me?"

Claudia cleared her throat. "Mr Crouch, Sir. We have some decent evidence across a number of cases to implicate-" she stuttered and swallowed 'my father' – "to implicate him."

Crouch remained silent, which Claudia took as an invitation to continue. The Head of the Magical Law Enforcement listened intently, as Claudia began to take him through the evidence.

First, there was the kidnapping of the American potioneer, and Linda's subsequent murder in witness protection.

"This business with the American potioneer was before you joined the Auror Office…" Crouch said when she finished. "How do you know all of this?"

"I lived in his house, Sir." Claudia glanced at Moody, who nodded. "I saw the people visiting him. I saw Voldemort…"

"Are you sure?" Crouch asked.

"I'm sure."

Crouch sighed. "Is that all you have? Because there is not a shred of proof here."

"We have more," Moody said. "But this helps paint the picture."

"We have this," Claudia picked up a file and passed Crouch Mulciber's unsigned confession. "You will see he did not quite managed to sign it, but I was there. He told me all of that."

Crouch skimmed the confession.

"Mulciber? Which one is that one?"

"The young Death Eater I caught, who confessed to murdering Mr Buttons and trying to murder Mr Tonks." Claudia said through gritted teeth, suddenly feeling a lot of sympathy for Moody's dislike of their boss. "We always thought his mind was tempered with. You presided over his trial. We had a conversation about that trial in this office-"

But Crouch interrupted. "Alright, alright. I remember now."

You better remember, Claudia thought to herself. You asked me to lie on the stand to get him to Azkaban. But instead of giving Crouch a piece of her mind, she wrapped up the evidence against her father in the Buttons' and Tonks' cases and moved onto the attacks in Geneva.

"You will remember the junior official from the Department of International Magical Cooperation, who died in St Mungo's," she began, and Crouch nodded. "You might not be surprised to hear that the healers extracted his memories shortly before he passed away."

Crouch shifted uncomfortably, which gave Claudia great satisfaction. Of course, he knew they did that. He was the one who ordered the healers to perform a dangerous and banned experiment on a dying man. It was clear to Claudia that Crouch was slowly realising she knew more about his motivations and intrigues than he imagined. And he did not seem to much like it.

"Well, under supervision from Agrippa in the Department of Mysteries," she continued. "I have been making sense of the memories and have managed to recover this." She took out a vial from her pocket. "Do you have a Pensieve?"

Crouch nodded towards one of the dark cabinets in the back of his impressive office and Claudia poured the memories in.

When he emerged, he was ashen. "And this is genuine? Verifiable?"

Claudia nodded. "Agrippa will vouch for me. It is clear from these memories it was Frederick Avery who put him under Imperio and forced him to pass on all the information enabling the attack."

"It's still not enough…"

It was now Moody's turn to do the talking. "We also have the Death Eater Karkarov in custody. He was the one who set up the previous Minister in that Parisian establishment. He swears it was Avery who put him up to it."

"I though Death Eaters were more loyal to each other," Crouch whispered, sounding almost resigned. And it was no surprise. He shut down Moody's earlier efforts to investigate Claudia's father. If Frederick turned out to be a Death Eater, his previous dismissal of the case would surely come out. And it would be hugely embarrassing to him.

"He doesn't know Avery is a Death Eater," Moody explained. "Voldemort organises them that way. He just thinks he is an over-eager Ministry official who wanted Minchum's job."

"And he will swear to this at trial?"

"He will. For immunity in a bunch of petty cases."

Crouch stood up and walked towards the grand ornate window that towered right behind his desk. He stared at it for what felt like an age.

Claudia kept glancing at Moody, who did nothing but shrug and proceeded to impatiently tap his wooden leg on Crouch's plush carpet.

Finally, Crouch turned around. "Look, it might be enough to search his house. But we cannot arrest him. He run for Minister for Merlin's sake."

"But-" Claudia opened her mouth. How much more did Crouch want? Was he really that desperate to cover his arse?

"Claudia," Moody said in a hiss so cold it nearly froze Claudia's blood. "Wait for me outside."

"But-"

Moody was struggling to contain his rage. "Get out!"

"Fine," she mumbled, collected her things, and stormed out. She knew Moody was about to yell at Crouch and she would have quite liked to witness that. Maybe she could overhear something if she stuck close to the door.

But that was not to be. Within seconds of coming out of Crouch's office, Oscar pounced on her.

"Come with me," he barked.

"What's going on?"

"Not here!" He grabbed her by her upper arm and dragged her out of earshot of Crouch's secretary.

"Stop manhandling me!" she protested, but Oscar did not care. He shoved her into an empty meeting room.

"Where is Sirius?" Oscar's eyes were flaming.

"Home. Why?" Claudia said, more confused than mad.

Oscar sighed. "I saw him the other day. I was trailing your father and I saw them talk in Knockturn Alley."

"That's bollocks."

"It's not. They were there, clear as day. Three days ago."

Claudia's heart momentarily sank. That was the day Sirius came home late and would not say where he was. "Are you sure it was him?" she mumbled.

"There aren't many wizards who look like that."

"Could've been his brother." Even Claudia could feel she was clutching at straws at this point. But what reason would Sirius have to talk to her father?

"The brother who died two years ago?" Oscar scoffed.

"They could've faked it. Could've been Polyjuice…"

Oscar put his hand on Claudia's shoulder. "Claudia, I'm telling you. It was him. They shook hands."

"And I'm telling you that's not possible." Claudia's eyes were now watering. "Sirius would never… He hates the Death Eaters. He would never."

"I'm just telling you what I saw. And now I have to tell Moody." Oscar took a step out of the room, but Claudia grabbed him.

"Please, no- Let me talk to Sirius," she begged. "I'm sure it can be explained. Maybe he was trailing him."

"Claudia- I saw what I saw…"

"Oscar, please," she said and lowered her eyes. "Sirius is not a Death Eater. If you trust me at all, you will leave this with me. Please. We've been through so much…"

Oscar hesitated for a moment. "Fine. But he better has a good explanation!"

"I promise he will," Claudia sighed, somewhat relieved. "I need to go find Moody now."

And it did not take long. Her boss was just striding down the hallway when Claudia and Oscar emerged from the meeting room.

"You two better not be doing anything untoward in there," he hissed. "Again."

Claudia glanced at Oscar, who looked like all of his blood suddenly drained out of him. She was very glad she extracted the promise he would leave this Sirius non-sense with her before he found out Moody knew they slept together (and made the reasonable assumption that Claudia was the one who told him).

"What did Crouch say, boss?" Claudia asked.

"That we have a permission to search his house," Moody grumbled. "Mulciber said he had a secret study, right? We just need to find that and we are golden."

"But Crouch believes us?"

"Crouch believes us."

"That's something," she said with a forced smile.

All Claudia had the resolve to do before heading home to clear up this thing with Sirius was to tidy away the files. But it was still dark when she apparated on the doorstep of her home, desperate to talk to him.

Her heart sank a little when she found the flat empty. She took off her coat and lit the fireplace. Then she strolled towards the kitchen, hoping to kill time before Sirius came home. But then-

She spotted a note on the kitchen table.

Claude,

It breaks my heart to leave without saying good-bye. But if I wait till you come find me again, I know I wouldn't be strong enough to do what I need to do.

This is the only way to keep you safe. Please don't come after me. Me staying here, marrying you is going to get you killed. And I can't do that. You mean too much to me.

I love you, more than anything. Stay safe.

Sirius

PS. The flat is now in your name.

Claudia stood there, frozen. Tears were falling down her face. She could not believe he would do this to her. Not like this. Not now.

She run to the bedroom to find her notebook to scribble a short message.

'Whatever you're playing at, just stop. Come home. Please.'

But there was no response. Not for a minute. Not for an hour.

What it did all mean? Did it have anything to do with what Oscar told her earlier?

Too scared of any of the answers, she got tired of waiting and pacing around the flat in tears. So, she apparated to all the places where he could be. Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill, and finally Godric's Hollow.

But when she looked up at James' and Lily's house, it was not there. It was as if it disappeared into thin air.

Out of places to go, Claudia dropped to her knees and grabbed her face in her hands. How could he do this to her?

All the stuff he said last night was his fucked-up way of saying good-bye.

It was not that he thought it could be their last time. He knew it would be!