The Battle for Hearts and Minds

Few weeks after Alice's wedding, Claudia was settled back into the normal rhythm of her life. She was just back home from work and was staring into the open fridge (again, curtesy of the previous muggle owner), working out what to make for dinner. Her cooking got little better since she left Hogwarts but still only stretched to making simple pasta or an omelette. Sirius was the one who picked up cooking much faster. After all, he had plenty of time to practise when waiting for orders from Dumbledore, while Claudia spent most of her time in the office surviving on stale sandwiches.

Claudia's rummaging through the fridge was interrupted by a meek knock on the door. It was James.

"Sirius home yet?" he asked the moment Claudia opened the door.

"No," she replied. "He's gone on that Order mission."

"I don't think so," James said with a slight shake of the head. "I was supposed to meet him here, and we were going to go together."

"I'm sure he won't be long, then." Claudia said. "You can wait here if you don't mind watching me burn down the kitchen."

"I really can't." James said flatly and continue to pace awkwardly on the threshold of the flat. "I thought it would be alright by now, but I can't leave Lily alone."

"How is she doing?"

"Not good," James whispered. "I think she kind of blames herself."

"What for?"

"For not making it in time," James sighed. "They died of muggle injuries. She thinks that if we got to the hospital earlier, she would have been able to heal them. But we were at the wedding, so…"

"That's ridiculous."

"You don't have to tell me that. But she won't listen to me."

"That's rough," Claudia mumbled. She felt a little guilty about not going to see Lily more often over the last few weeks. But it made her so uncomfortable, watching someone grieve. She never knew what to do or say and always made everything worse.

"Do you know what's rougher?" James smirked but stopped abruptly and almost put his palm to his mouth. "I shouldn't have…"

"Come on." Claudia chuckled. "Dumb jokes are the best remedy for grief."

James smiled. "Apparently, Lily's mum dying wish was for Lily and her sister to get on better. So, we are going on holiday with them in May. To Margate."

"I don't know what to say," Claudia said, trying to suppress a laugh.

"You know what..." James' eyes lit up. "You and Sirius should come with us!"

Claudia remembered Lily's sister from the engagement party and immediately regretted pressing James for an answer earlier. "I don't know. I don't think having us there will help."

"It'll make it bearable," James whispered. "Come on. Please. For Lily."

"Fine," she uttered, remembering her earlier bound of guilt.

James smiled and hugged her. "I have to go. Please tell Sirius I'm sorry and that Peter is covering for me. He's going to meet him there."

Sirius arrived home about fifteen minutes later but rushed out of the door again to meet Peter the moment Claudia gave him James' message. She had neither the time nor the courage to tell him about the holiday.

Claudia watched out of the window as Sirius got his bike out of the garage and drove off into the dusk. She returned to the kitchen to resume the cooking. The onion was not going to cut itself. She put on the radio that Sirius bought so that they could listen to modern muggle music he adored.

'But now, it is time for a travel update...' A woman's voice came out of the radio, just as a song finished. 'There are traffic jams on the North Circular because of an earlier accident.'

"Ouch," Claudia hissed and put her finger into her mouth. The mention of the traffic accident made her jump, and she cut herself. She always got nervous when Sirius went on a mission. And since her own encounter with Rosier, it became even harder to keep a level head.

To take her mind off things, she abandoned the cooking and decided to go back to the office to get ahead of her work. Each morning, she had to go through a bulletin of all the cases that came in the previous day across the Auror Office to see if there were any links to any of Moody's cases. The Head Auror's Support Team was supposed to do that, but they once made a mistake and Moody had not trusted them since. The report was bound to be on her desk by now.

The journey to the office was distracting enough, but once at her desk, Claudia yet again struggled to keep a clear head. She was only half reading the file. Something about a murder. Something about a St Mungo's healer being fired. She paused when she saw it was assigned to Shacklebolt, Alice's boss. Something about a theft. But for the most part, her brain kept wondering whether Sirius was back home. Claudia tried concentrating on the file for another hour so, but to no avail. At about ten o'clock, she gave up and went home, convinced Sirius must have been back by now. It was not supposed to be a long mission.

But he was not. When she opened the door to the flat, that was still dark and empty, she felt physically sick. She paced around the apartment nervously, flinching at every creak of the floor, thinking it was Sirius coming up the stairs. Never before did she realise how close to a hospital they lived; the sirens of the ambulances were ever present. And Sirius could have been in any one of them, his bike a heap of scrap metal on any the thousands of roads in London.

She made herself a cup of tea and sat down on the sofa, practically trembling with fear. "It's just because of Lily's parents." She kept repeating to herself and finished her tea. "He's going to be fine." Mumbling these words, she started to doze off. As she did, she could not help but imagine what it would be like to get the news he was gone… She pushed that thought out of her mind and pulled the throw over her head. Eventually, she managed to fall asleep.

"Let's get you to bed." Claudia heard a soft whisper in her ear and instinctively reached around Sirius' neck and hugged him tight.

"I love you," she whispered into the crook of his neck. "Please don't die on that stupid bike." She was half-asleep and her eyes were still shut.

"I'll try…" she heard Sirius smirk.

Claudia was suddenly wide awake and fighting tears. "It's not funny," she barked. "You drive like a maniac. It's just a matter of time."

Sirius looked taken aback by the outburst of emotions. "I'm sorry," he whispered and hugged her. "I promise I'll be careful."

Claudia exhaled and allowed Sirius to shepherd her to bed. She fell asleep again, almost instantly, while clutching his arm.

Sirius was already awake when she opened her eyes in the morning. "Feeling better?" he asked and kissed her forehead.

Claudia felt a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Hey, don't apologise," Sirius replied and reached out for her hand. "I know it's hard." He gave her an encouraging smile.

"You do?"

Sirius' face dropped for a moment, but his smile quickly recovered. "Your job isn't exactly safe, is it?"

"I guess not."

"Let's go get breakfast before you go to work," he whispered. "I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks."

They showered, got dressed and before long were sitting in a nearby cafe over a plate of bacon, eggs, and beans.

"How was the mission?" Claudia muttered with her mouth full. "Boring again?"

"Not exactly," Sirius said. "We were watching this guy's house. He's at the centre of some conspiracy. And then this angry mob turned up. We couldn't hold them back – well, Peter couldn't hold them back - so had to put both of them on the back of my bike and make a run for it. He's in a safe house now."

"What conspiracy?"

"Something in St Mungo's," Sirius shrugged. "He made allegations a healer tried to kill him because he was muggleborn. It kicked up a storm."

Claudia froze. "Alice's team just got that as a case. I was reading about it last night."

He frowned. "Why is the Order protecting him, if you've got the case?"

"Beats me." She glanced at her watch. "Shit. I have to go."

Sirius leaned over the little table and kissed her. "Don't go."

"I really have to." She mumbled and just about managed to let go of him, and leave.

Once at work, she continued where she left off the night before. Just as she finished flicking through another case report, she noticed a shadow over her desk. Expecting it to be Barraclough with new orders, she lifted her head up. But instead, saw her mother's face.

Her face immediately shrunk into a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see your brother," Cassandra said with a smile, and reached for Claudia's hair in an attempt to straighten it. "And thought we could get some tea."

"No," Claudia said resolutely, caught her mother's wrist just in time, and threw it off her. "I'm not thirsty." That was a lie. She was just about to go and make a cup herself.

"I just want the best for you," Cassandra hissed.

"Clearly." Claudia could not resist an eye roll.

Cassandra looked around. It was only at that point Claudia realised they were alone.

"I'll speak to your father." Cassandra whispered urgently. "If you marry Sirius, you can be part of the family again. We'll even pay for the wedding."

"No!" Claudia said loudly. "I don't want to get married. I don't want you to pay for the wedding. And I certainly don't want to be part of the family again."

"Why do you have to be so angry all the time? Your father would forgive you. I already have."

"You forgave me?" Claudia roared. "Get out!"

Claudia was reminded of where she was by a loud crash from the corner of the office. Moody's door flew open and hit the wall. She looked over at him. The glass was still rattling in the frame, and the inspector stood on the threshold, looking bewildered.

Claudia's eyes travelled back to her mother, who was clearly seething at the public display.

"One day you'll realise that marriage is sacred," Cassandra barked. "One day he'll leave you with nothing and you'll be damaged goods."

"You should ask your husband about the sanctity of marriage," Claudia hissed. Momentary expression of utter shock appeared on Cassandra's face, so Claudia knew she struck gold. "Ask him about Li-"

"Avery!" Moody yelled across the room, cutting her off. "That's quite enough. We have work to do."

Claudia froze.

"Evil, bitter child." Cassandra recovered her composure. "Your father is a great man."

Before Claudia could as much as sneer, Cassandra floated out of the office.

The young auror shut her eyes. "Stupid. That was very stupid," she muttered to herself.

"In here. Now." Moody barked and gestured towards his office.

Tail between her legs, Claudia did as she was told. She barely managed to get inside before he shut the door behind her.

"Are you insane?" he yelled. "You've put the whole operation in danger."

"Sorry, she just knows how to get under my skin," Claudia mumbled, her eyes fixed on her shoes.

"Pathetic excuse," Moody yelled. "You're an auror now. You need to learn discipline! Control! Not to shoot your mouth off to our prime suspect's wife!"

"I know that!" Claudia yelled back. "And besides, my father knows that I know about him and Linda."

"How?"

"I told him last year. Hoping it might inspire him to leave me alone."

"You mean like blackmail?"

"Kind of."

"You're even crazier than I thought," Moody mumbled, and shook his head. "Anything else I ought to know about?"

Claudia was relieved he stopped yelling and shook her head. This was probably not the time to tell him about the earlier blackmail relating to the artefact.

"Good," he said. "Now, I need you to do a few things before we're good we get her out. First, you'll need to pick up a fake passport from Mundungus... Take that boyfriend of yours. You can never be too careful with that crook. Then, you use it to buy a plane ticket for New York for the fourth of April."

"How do I do that?" she asked.

"Don't you know?" Moody asked. When Claudia shook her head, he continued. "Ask some of your muggleborn friends then."

"You don't know either, do you?" she smirked.

"Get out!" Moody barked, but she could swear she saw him smile a little.

Few days later, Claudia and Sirius met with Mundungus in a muggle pub in East London and he handed over a fake muggle passport for one Emily Robertson. That was to be Linda's new identity once she was whisked away from Azkaban. Next stop was to head to a travel agent's office to get her a plane ticket. For this one, Remus came with them, so they did not look like complete fools. He used to fly on holidays with his late mother when he was a child and kind of remembered how it all worked.

It was nice running these auror errands with Sirius. It reminded her of all the times they skulked around Hogwarts together, looking for the artefact or stopping the Death Eaters from making that horrifying weapon work. And she did not have to worry where he was. He was with her, and he was safe.

Everything was sorted and the day before Linda's flight was to depart, Claudia was sitting in an empty house by Heathrow Airport. She got there earlier to make sure the safe-house was indeed safe and was just about getting a little worried that something went wrong, when two figures materialised right in the middle of the sitting room, holding onto a portkey.

Moody and Linda in her tattered prison robes.

Linda looked around before her eyes landed on Claudia. "I've seen you before," she said in a barely audible whisper.

"I came to see you in Azkaban," Claudia explained. "We talked."

"You're Frederick's daughter," Linda mumbled, looked up and slowly scanned the room. "Why am I here? What happened?" Her gaze finally rested on Moody.

"The Ministry had agreed to release you. But-" he said when a tear appeared in Linda's sunken eyes. "-we did not catch the real perpetrators. So, you will need to go into hiding."

"What kind of hiding?" Linda asked. Her voice was becoming louder and clearer with every word she spoke. Claudia started to see glimpses of the confident young woman she heard about during her time in the Minister's office.

"We got you new muggle papers and a plane ticket to America," Claudia explained. "We also have some traveller's cheques you can cash when you get there. Enough for a fresh start."

"Can I say goodbye to my family? My friends?"

"Not if you want to live," Moody growled. Linda stumbled upon hearing that, but Claudia managed to catch her.

"The reason why we made these arrangements," Claudia explained patiently. "We think they'd come after you if they found out you were released. The safest thing is for everyone to think you're in Azkaban."

"Or dead," Moody pitched in again. "In a few months, we'll make it look like you've died in there."

"I don't want my family to think I'm dead," Linda spoke, her voice faint again.

"If you don't go, you really will be," Moody muttered. Claudia was not sure whether Linda heard him or not. She hoped with all her heart that she did not.

"We can talk about it later," Claudia whispered to Linda. "But now, we have some clean clothes for you and I made replenishment potion."

"Alright," Linda said, clearly out of strength to argue.

Claudia helped her up the stairs and into the shower. Before Claudia managed to shut the door, she caught a glimpse of a bony and bruised back as Linda took off her prison clothes. It made her stomach turn. It was not just psychological torture that Linda had been through in Azkaban.

Washed, dressed and full of replenishing potion, Linda stood in the bedroom of the safe-house, towering over a bed.

"You can have a rest," Claudia whispered. "Your plane does not leave until tomorrow evening."

"I don't remember what it's like to fall asleep without the dementors in my head," Linda uttered, staring motionlessly at the bed.

Claudia put her hand on Linda's shoulder. "I'll be downstairs. Let me know if you need anything," she said, and set off downstairs.

"Where is she?" Moody asked the moment she entered the sitting room.

"Sleeping," Claudia barked back, wearing a slight frown.

"What is it?"

"Do you really need to keep telling her she's going to die? I think she's got enough to deal with right now."

"What's the point of sugar-coating it?"

"I'm not saying we should lie to her," Claudia replied with a slight eye roll and crashed into an armchair.

"I thought you had a stronger stomach than that," Moody scoffed, took off his shoes, and put them on the table.

Claudia grumbled. No matter how strong her stomach was, she would rather not have to look at his patched up, smelly socks. They sat in silence for a while.

"Want some?" Moody asked, and pulled a hip flask from his coat pocket.

Tentatively, Claudia reached over and took a sip. The sensation that hit the back of her throat was horrendous. She did not mind proper firewhiskey; she drank it often enough. But this cheap knock-off her boss was drinking really did not agree with her palette.

She passed it back to him, and they sat in silence. The wind was blowing outside, and raindrops started to splatter on the window. The miserable weather on the outside was a good reflection of the mood in that living room.

'Stronger stomach.' Moody's words rung through Claudia's ears. She could not help but cast her mind back to Rosier. And what everyone said… Maybe Moody would know. He must have been in the same situation. She shifted uncomfortably and tugged on the sleeve of her jumper. But he was terrifying. How would she even go about bringing it up?

"Why are you fidgeting?" Moody asked sharply.

Claudia paused. This was as good as opportunity as any. "I wanted to ask you something," she mumbled and tugged on her jumper again.

"Spill it!"

She took a deep breath. "Have you ever killed someone?"

Moody lowered his feet from the table and sat up straight. "Is this about Rosier?"

"Everyone keeps telling me I should be feeling guilty."

"Do you?"

Claudia paused for a moment. "No, I don't."

"Good." Moody passed her the hipflask again. "I wouldn't want someone crippled with guilt on my team. You did what needed to be done, kid. You did well."

Claudia's jaw nearly fell to the floor. She did well? Did Moody really just say that? She collapsed into the sofa cushions and took another sip of that firewhiskey. It tasted as good as anything now.

They drank in silence for a while longer, but the atmosphere of the room had changed completely. It was no longer dreary and cold. Claudia felt happy and proud. Proud because they saved Linda. Proud of what she did that day in Holloway. She even managed to summon enough courage to tell Moody his whiskey was terrible. He called her a pureblood snob, and they both laughed.

They were nearly finished with that hipflask when a chilling scream filled the house. Both Moody and Claudia run up the stairs as fast as they could to find Linda throwing herself around in bed. Her back was arched, her eyes were shut, her fists clenched. She must have still been sleeping and having some horrible nightmare.

Claudia quickly whipped out her wand. She could only imagine what that nightmare was about. "Expecto Patronum!" she said, and a silvery fox shot out of the end of her wand. The animal jumped onto the bed and poked Linda gently with her nose. Linda stopped tossing about almost instantly and fell silent again. Her chest settled into a gentle breathing pattern once the fox rested its head across Linda's stomach.

"When did you learn that?" Moody whispered.

"Sirius did it when I came back from Azkaban. It helped. I thought it was worth a shot."

Moody gave an appreciative growl of sorts.

"I need to stay here to keep the connection," Claudia said. "You should go downstairs and have a rest."

"Rest?" Moody scoffed. "I need to keep guard." He muttered something incomprehensible and disappeared down the stairs.

Claudia curled up in the armchair and kept the connection to her patronus as long as she managed to keep her eyes open.

She woke up as the first rays of sunshine began to trickle in through the gap in the curtains. Linda was fast asleep. The flight was not until the evening, so Claudia left her there. She waited with Moody and went up every half hour or so to make sure Linda was still breathing.

Around noon, Moody went to a nearby chippy to pick up some fish and chips for lunch. They ate it as Linda still slept. The food was greasy and way too salty.

"Go wake her up," Moody growled around three o'clock.

Claudia went upstairs and gently poked Linda's shoulder. Linda barely moved, so Claudia nudged her again. And again. Eventually, Linda turned over and her eyes began to open.

"I'm sorry," Claudia mumbled. "But it's time to go."

"How long have I slept?" Linda mumbled and stretched her back.

Claudia smiled. "There is a suitcase with clothes, toiletries, some books," she said and pointed to a corner as Linda slowly got up.

"Who picked out these clothes?" Linda asked, holding up a brown baggy dress with an old-fashioned flower pattern.

"Not me," Claudia chuckled. "I suspect they're from evidence, or lost and found. But we can hardly put you on a flight without a suitcase. It would be suspicious."

"I'm still not wearing this," Linda mumbled and dropped the brown dress back into the suitcase.

"I'm sure there is something better in there," Claudia said, slightly puzzled by Linda's priorities right now. "There is some food downstairs once you're ready."

Ten minutes later, Linda joined Moody and Claudia downstairs. She was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a purple blouse. Her long Azkaban hair was combed back into a tight bun.

Linda sat down at the battered kitchen table, and Moody pushed a bag of food towards her. "Eat."

Linda tentatively opened it and picked up a chip between her bony fingers. Her face melted into a smile for the first time when she put it in her mouth. "I know this is cold and disgusting, but nothing ever tasted so good."

Now on her fourth chip, Linda shivered. "You don't happen to have any more of that potion? I think it's wearing off."

"One for the road," Claudia said and went to the kitchen to pour a cup of the replenishing potion she made the day before.

"Let's go," Moody grumbled when Linda finished the drink.

"Don't take it the wrong way, boss," Claudia said and looked over Moody. He was wearing an old, leather tattered coat, half-torn boots and a flat cap that definitely seen better days. "But you'll stick out like a sore thumb. I'll take Linda and you can wait by the entrance in case something goes wrong."

To Claudia's enormous surprise, Moody agreed to her proposition.

Within half an hour, the two women were standing in the middle of the departure hall. Mercifully, Linda knew what to do. She put on a brave face, but Claudia could see that she struggled to lift the suitcase and was out of breath even after climbing a small set of stairs. It was going to take a long time until she was fully recovered. If she ever managed to recover at all.

"Thank you," Linda whispered once she went through something called 'check-in' and handed over her suitcase.

"Please don't thank me. It's my duty to correct what…" Claudia tailed off, unable to even finish that sentence.

Linda put her hand on Claudia's shoulder. "It's not your burden. Not your responsibility to fix all the things he'd done."

'Passengers for the British Airways Flight number 8345 to JFK, New York please proceed to your gate.' An announcement sounded over the departure hall.

"That's me," Linda mumbled.

"Thank you," Claudia whispered, remembering Linda's kind word earlier.

"Thank you," Linda replied, and launched herself toward Claudia. Before she knew it, Linda was gripping her and giving her the longest hug.

Linda looked over the Heathrow departure terminal one more time before turning around and as walking as resolutely as she could towards her gates. Her eyes were gleaming with tears. She must have known, just as Claudia did, that as long as Voldemort and his supporters were at large, Linda would not make it back to England.

Claudia found Moody, and they went back to the safe house. They threw out the food and apparated back to the Ministry, just as the others began to leave for the day.

"I'm going to head to the pub," Claudia mumbled in the atrium. It was not as if she would be able to focus on work. She walked the short walk to the Leaky Cauldron and looked around the crowded pub for Alice and other trainees, who were usually there on a Thursday.

Before she found them, she saw Ewan waving her over. He was sitting at a table with Barraclough and Oscar, just like they did on Claudia's first day. But there were no more jibes about pureblood princesses. Oscar lowered his feet from the chair, put them on the floor, and kicked the chair away from the table so Claudia could sit.

"Where did you and the boss go?" Ewan asked. "We were starting to worry."

"Clearly," Claudia smirked and pointed at the two rounds worth of empty glasses that decorated their table. "I'm not supposed to tell you..."

"Come on, Claudia –" Oscar began to plead with her, but stopped abruptly and turned his head slightly to the side.

Claudia turned in the direction he was looking at and spotted Newton, that insufferable American trainee, towering over her.

"I figured it out," he beamed. "It was you, wasn't it? The Rosier thing."

"Mind your own business," she replied and picked up the drink that has magically appeared in front of her.

"Tell me! The others don't believe -" Newton began.

"Who are you again?" Oscar asked lazily, interrupting him mid-sentence.

"Newton Sanders," the trainee replied earnestly. "I work in foreign intelligence."

"Foreign, you sound," Oscar smirked. "Intelligent… Not so much." Claudia and everyone else laughed.

"There is no need…" Newton protested.

"Take a hint, boy!" Barraclough barked. "And go away."

Grudgingly, Newton went back to his table. Claudia could not help but glance his way for the rest of the evening. He was whispering with the other trainees and looking in her direction. She could only imagine what they were saying about her and her companions.

"Benjy, my man!" Ewan sudden exclaimed and jumped from his chair to hug young man who was just walking past. "How have you been?"

They began chattering. This Benjy looked a little familiar, but Claudia could not place him.

"Who is it?" She leaned towards Oscar and asked.

"He was in my year in Hogwarts, but in Hufflepuff, like Ewan. He's an auror too, in Division B." Claudia knew there was no point asking any further questions. Division B were special operations, and whatever Benjy was working on was likely to be a secret.

After a pint or two, Claudia went home. She got to sleep like a baby that night. Linda was finally free and on her way to her new life. It felt like a long time since she got one over on her father.

Couple of days later was another meeting of the Order. Finally, the venue was big enough for Claudia and her friends to sit at the table, rather than in a second row or on the floor. She scanned it and saw Dumbledore, Moody, Fabian, his brother Gideon, Benjy (that was where she knew him from!), Bones, Marlene… And countless others. This was the Order at its full strength.

"Who wants to start today?" Dumbledore asked in a gentle voice.

As ever, Fabian put his hand up but began to speak even before Dumbledore called on him. "Colten's release did not go down well. The Prophet are preparing a big expose on the case, making it sounds as if Rosier was plain murdered by the aurors to create doubt about Colten's guilt."

"Do they know who the auror was?" someone asked. "I heard there was a hearing…"

"No." Fabian shook his head, to Claudia's great relief. "The hearing was very hush-hush and for once Rita didn't dig anything up."

"Good," Moody said, as if nothing had happened.

But Claudia's heart was pounding in her ears. Sirius must have sensed her distress, reached under the table, and squeezed her knee. Claudia's pulse returned to normal.

"Who was it, Alastor?" Fabian asked cheekily.

"None of your business!" Moody barked.

"And, of course, it all comes back to the campaign against muggleborns," Fabian continued. "They're going to run with it as a conspiracy at the heart of the Ministry to hide the truth about what muggleborns are really like."

"I've had a lot of that at work before I quit," Lily said, and recounted the episode that made her leave her job at the apothecary. She was still pale and her usually assured voice was trembling a little. It had only been a few weeks since she got that devastating news.

"My condolences, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said once she finished. "For the death of your parents."

"Death?" Moody piped up. "How?"

"A car accident."

"There are no accidents," Moody barked. "We should look into it. It could be revenge for when the two of them sent the Death Eaters packing." He added, manically jabbing his finger in the direction of James and Lily.

Claudia glanced at them. Lily had tears in her eyes and James looked like he was about to jump on the table and murder Moody with his bare hands.

"I've already looked into that, Alastor," Marlene's boss, Mr Bones, explained. "We have a division in the Transportation Department to look into suspicious muggle accident. This was just it, an accident."

Moody was getting ready to speak again, but Dumbledore jumped in an attempt to get the meeting back on track. "Anything else?"

"The mood has changed in St Mungo's too," Gideon said. "We've had patients refusing treatment from muggleborn healers. We had healers borderline neglecting injured muggleborns. One healer got fired for it last week, it got so bad. There are allegations he tried to kill a patient."

Claudia and Sirius exchanged a look. That must have been the same thing they talked about earlier.

Alice spoke up. "We were supposed to look into that. But the case was shut down even before we got to speak to the accuser. Shaklebolt said that the brass did not want to go against the public mood on this."

"Pettigrew is protecting him," Dumbledore said and turned to Peter. "It looks like it might be quite a long mission, my boy."

"It's the same at my work," a young witch with piercing eyes and dark hair said. "Over the last year, I've seen people disinherited for marrying muggleborns. I've seen people cite blood status as a reason for divorce... I'm Emmeline Vance by the way. I work as a legal assistant at Gringotts," she added, and gave everyone an awkward wave.

No-one else spoke. They were all looking at Dumbledore, who was cleaning his glasses and looking down at the table. Claudia was not sure whether he was going to speak at all.

"It seems to me," he began, "that Voldemort is winning the battle for hearts and minds, as they say. But this battle is not lost yet. We must continue. Fabian, I want you to organise a campaign. Letters to the Daily Prophet, articles to balance out the vitriol. James, Lily, Sirius and Remus can help."

"Letter campaign?" Moody scoffed. "Is that the best we can do?"

"He's got a point, you know." Sirius mumbled in Claudia's ear.

"I say give this one up and start focusing on security," Moody continued. "Protect these damn people. Voldemort is not going to stop at tarnishing their reputation."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked with a slight tremble in her voice.

"I mean that he won't rest until all the muggleborns are dead."