I Write Tragedies
Chapter Two
Fudge shook hands with Sirius and Joandra in the East Room, then said in an under voice to Sirius that he wanted to catch a private moment with him later. Sirius nodded, and smiled at him, as Joandra chatted with Fudge's new girlfriend,
Claire Emmy Droggards. They knew each other well. Joandra had bought several books from her father's bookshop. And as Joandra drifted into the room on her husband's arm, heads turned, people smiled and nodded, everyone recognized her. It was a long, long way from Wales. She didn't know where Michael Bobbyt was now, and no longer cared. The life she'd known with him seemed entirely unreal now. This was her reality, a world of power and important people, and she was a bright star among them.
They mingled with the other guests, and the French Ambassador chatted with Joandra amiably and introduced her to his wife, while Sirius moved away to speak to a senator who was head of the Wizardly Senate Ethics Committee. There was a matter before them that Sirius had been waiting to discuss with him. Joandra saw them out of the corner of her eye, as the Brazilian Ambassador approached her, with an attractive Congress witch from the United States. It was, as always, an interesting evening.
Her dinner partners, when they moved into the dining room, where a Senator from Italy and a Congress wizard from Columbia, both of whom she had met before, and who vied all evening for her attention. Sirius was sitting between Claire Emmy Droggards and Fudge. It was late evening before he joined his wife again, and they moved smoothly onto the dance floor.
"How was it?" He asked casually, watching several key players as he danced with her. Sirius rarely lost track of the people around him, and he usually had an agenda, of those he wanted to see, and meet, and touch base with again. He rarely, if ever, missed opportunities, and never simply spent an evening without some plan to what he was doing. He had spent a few minutes in quiet aside with the Minister, and then Fudge had invited him to lunch that weekend to continue the conversation. But Sirius was concentrating on his wife now.
"So how was Senator Smith? What did he have to say for himself?"
"The usual. We talked about the new tax bill," she smiled at her handsome husband. She was a worldly woman now, of considerable sophistication and enormous polish. She was, as Sirius liked to say, a creation entirely of his making. He took full credit for how far she had come, and the enormous success she'd enjoyed on his newspaper company, and he loved to tease her about it.
"Ready to call it a night?" Sirius asked, as he assessed the room again, and decided that he had already touched base with everyone that mattered, and the party was nearly over now. Fudge and Claire Emmy Droggards had just retired to their room, and their guests were free to go now. Sirius saw no reason to stay any longer. And Joandra was happy to go home, she had to be in the Ministry of Magic early the next morning.
They left the party quietly, and their driver was waiting for them near the door, as they made a graceful exit. Joandra settled comfortably into the limousine beside her husband. It was a long way from the parties she'd gone to with Michael Bobbyt. Sometimes she still had trouble believing that her two very different lives were part of one lifetime. This was all so different. She moved to a world of Ministers and Kings and Queens, and politicians and princes and tycoons like her husband. Joandra could not believe her luck. And Sirius was just so good to her.