A/N - I managed two and a half years before COVID finally got me. Please bear with me if the next few chapters are on a slightly more erratic posting schedule.
Scandal at the Ministry
The Minister of Magic was on his trip to France, and the life in his office back in London came to complete standstill. So much so, that Claudia actually had time to take an hour out for lunch every now and then, and even arrange that advanced Legilimency Lesson with Ms Sachs' friend.
The day of the lesson had finally arrived, and Claudia was bursting with anticipation. She had never been on Level Nine, where she was supposed to meet them. It was rather spooky. She walked through a long black corridor until she arrived in a large, circular room, sort of a vestibule. Everything was black including the floor and ceiling. Identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around room, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue.
Claudia glanced at the floor, at a large mosaic right in the middle of the vestibule, and began to walk right around it. It was a spiral sort of pattern designed to look like it was drawing you into the depth of the universe. There was writing around the emblem. Department of Mysteries.
"So this was the Department of Mysteries… " she sighed.
"Miss Avery, I assume?" a voice torn Claudia away from the mosaic. "I'm Agrippa," said a man well past his middle age. He had unkempt dark grey hair and beard and was dressed entirely in black. He certainly looked like he belonged in this place.
"Claudia," she replied and outstretched her arm.
He shook her hand. "Come on in." He led her through towards one of the tall black doors. "This is the Mind Room. My office is through there."
"What's through the other doors?" she asked inquisitively.
"Other divisions of the Department. We study a lot of different things. Alchemy, healing magic, time…"
"Time? What do you do with time?"
"Classified, I'm afraid," Agrippa smirked as he led Claudia through a long, rectangular room lit by low-hanging lamps. "Everything we do here is classified."
Claudia stopped by a tank with some sponges in a green solution. "What are these?"
"Brains," Agrippa replied casually.
"Human?"
"Yes…"
"Cool," Claudia chuckled and leaned closer. She had seen animal brains in the potions stores in Hogwarts but never a human one. It was strange that someone's hopes and dream, every thought they ever head, fitted into something so small and unappealing.
"Careful! They have tentacles."
Claudia stumbled backwards just as a tentacle shot out of the tank and flew towards her wrist. "Thanks for the warning," she mumbled, narrowly avoiding being caught out.
Eventually, they made it to the back of the room, where a brass plaque with 'Agrippa' engraved on it was shining against yet another black door.
Agrippa opened the door with an ornate key and Claudia followed him into a dark office. It reminded her of the Slytherin common room, very dark and filled with all kinds of weird artefacts.
"What happened in that class?" Agrippa asked in a mellow voice when he and Claudia sat down on a couple of comfortable armchairs.
"I thought you spoke to Ms Sachs."
"I did. But I want to hear it from you."
"Ms Sachs tried to read my mind, but it was weirdly easy to resist," Claudia began. "And then, when I tried to read hers, I saw a few things. Which I gather was a bit unusual…"
"To say the least," he said with just a hint of a smirk. "Ms Sachs is an excellent Occlumens." He paused. "What do you know about Legilimency?"
"Not much, really," she shrugged. "Didn't cover it at Hogwarts and we only had that one lesson so far."
"It's about reading and interpreting the different layers of the mind."
"Interpreting?" Claudia asked sceptically. It sounded too close to divination for comfort.
"How do you know something is a memory or fantasy?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you see someone holding the Quidditch Cup. How do you know if it's a real memory, or their childhood dream?"
Claudia frowned, thinking back to her own experience. "You can't?" she said with a slight frown.
"Most people can't. Which is why Legilimency is not admissible in evidence. Which you of course know as an auror." He paused. "You don't want to lock people up for having dark thoughts… Or mistake them for memories of real crimes."
Claudia swallowed, remembering that one time she fantasised about hurting her own family while collapsed on their doorstep. She would certainly not want anyone to see that and send her to Azkaban for life. "So how do you do it? Interpret these things?"
"You dig for other things to help you… Let's use that Quidditch Cup example." He reached for a jug of water, poured out two glasses and took a sip from one of them. "What would you have to do to win the cup, but you wouldn't necessarily think about if you simply imagined it?"
"It's disappointingly small, and they take it away from you very soon after. I only got to keep it for one night."
"Good, good," Agrippa nodded. "So you search for those memories. To confirm it's real. And you can look at detail. Many fantasies don't have people's faces defined well-enough. Books won't have words."
"So, like a dream?"
"A little bit. In fact, it's very difficult to distinguish a memory of a dream from a fantasy."
"Why does that matter, anyway?"
"Because fantasies tell you about people's aspirations, things they want. Dreams tell you about their unconscious thoughts. They cannot control those. It's purer but much harder to interpret." Agrippa stood up and walked over to his bookshelf. "Try this bowl, for instance…" He took out a small, shallow basin and placed it on the coffee table in front of Claudia. It was black, like nearly everything else in the office with a small label on the rim, which read 'Subject 283-836'.
"What is this?"
"This is the contents of someone's brain. Close your eyes, point your wand at it and let's see what you see."
Claudia did as she was told, and immediately images started to flash in front of her eyes in a fast sequence. She recognised London streets, but there were no cars, just horses and people. It looked like an old postcard. Then, a school classroom; a blond girl sitting up close. She was smiling. Then, a wedding to a different woman, much older; a muddy trench; an explosion; a forest. Everything was moving really fast, tree after tree, branches hitting across the field of vision.
Then, everything slowed down and a face appeared. A face of a woman. She kind of looked like that schoolgirl but a little older. There was a gentle touch, and a kiss. It felt different from the other images. It felt lighter. Claudia could almost feel the warmth against her face. But the scene was suddenly interrupted by a scream. "Deserter!"
That startled Claudia enough to break the connection. She opened her eyes and saw Agrippa looking at her with his piercing blue eyes.
"What did you see?" he asked.
"Whose memories are these?"
"A muggle soldier. He got shot for desertion in 1917."
Claudia frowned. "How did you get these memories?"
"We have hundreds of these to learn Legilimency on. Both muggles and wizards. Soldiers, murderers… All extracted just before their executions."
"Executions?" Claudia said, feeling a little uncomfortable. It felt like she was witnessing things she really ought not to have been witnessing.
"The Ministry abolished the death penalty in 1937. Muggles in the 60s." Agrippa paused, examining her facial expression. "Does that concern you?"
"It's a bit grim."
"A bit," Agrippa shrugged. "But what's the alternative? Do you want to study Legilimancy on your classmates? Want to let them read and overanalyse every memory, every thought you ever had?"
"I rather not…"
"Indeed." Agrippa pointed at the shallow basin. "Now, anything that struck you there?"
Claudia took a deep breath. "Twice I saw this girl. One of the images was clearer than the other."
"Dive in again, to see what else you can find."
So, Claudia cast the spell again and searched and searched. There was definitely something off about that second intimate memory. It felt like they were floating in mid-air, and it had neither a start nor an end. She did not know how long she spent submerged in those dead soldier's thoughts before Agrippa's office materialised in front of her again.
"Do you think it was a dream?" she asked. "That second memory."
"More likely a daydream," Agrippa replied. "Close to death, he imagined one last moment with his sweetheart."
"I see. You were right, it is hard."
"And much harder if you are reading these from someone's brain, rather than a bowl. That does half the job for you." Agrippa stood up again to retrieve something else from the shelf.
Claudia could not help but feel a little disappointed when it was merely a book, rather than a new bowl of memories to study. "Still good on a first try," Agrippa said and passed her a pile of books. "Here are some books. Read them and I'll see you again in couple of weeks."
"That long?"
"That's what I agreed with Mrs Sachs."
For the next week or so, Claudia struggled to get Legilimency out of her head. Even with the Minister back from France, she could not help but read the Legilimency books Agrippa gave her on the side when doing something mundane. And preparing this trip was really starting to feel rather mundane. It made her feel like a bloody party planner.
"Is he in?" an old wizard suddenly interrupted her reading time. "The Minister?"
"Yes," Claudia replied. "But he's with-" But she did not even get to finish that sentence.
"Doesn't matter who he's with," the wizard barked and barged into the Minister's personal office.
After maybe a minute of muffled shouting, with every single person working in the Minister's office now staring at the door, the Minister emerged.
"Where is Fionnula?" he barked, white as a sheet.
"She's on holiday," mumbled Doreen, the Deputy Press Secretary.
"Get her back here, now," the Minister said curtly and slammed the door shut behind him.
Luella, the Principal Private Secretary (and the head of the Minister's private office) duly followed her enraged boss. If anyone could calm him down, it was her.
"What do you think that's about?" someone asked.
Claudia struggled to take her eyes off the door, her head swirling with possible explanations. Had someone important died? Was there some mass attack on muggles? Her heart rate increased with every second that door was shut. Minds of the other employees were clearly travelling along similar lines. There were whispers of assassinations, murders, torture…
But all that speculation was cut short when Luella emerged a couple minutes later.
"So," she said to a room that was so filled with anticipation you could cut it through with a knife. "It is a delicate matter. It seems there is coverage in the French press about the Minister visiting a" – she paused and cleared her throat – "a place where he should not have been seen while he was on the trip to France."
There were audible sighs of relief, including from Claudia. Nothing bad has happened. No one else was dead.
"What place?" someone in the crowd asked.
"I shouldn't…"
"Come on, Luella, we are going to find out anyway…"
The Principal Private Secretary closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "A muggle brothel…"
The rest of her sentence got drowned in hushed voices around room, and some sniggering laughs.
"Anyway," Luella said in a raised voice to get everyone's attention. "There are a few things we need to do. Berenice, you round up the French desk of the Department of Magical International Cooperation, and Avery. It's his bloody division after all." She turned to Claudia. "Claudia, please notify the Board. There will need to be a meeting asap. Doreen, the Minister wants to do a press interview."
"Someone from the Prophet?" Doreen asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Not Skeeter," Luella mumbled. "I cannot begin to imagine what she would write."
"I'll-" Doreen mumbled. "I'll looked into it," she trailed off into complete silence which Claudia opportunistically filled.
"What about Fabian Prewett?" she said.
"Who's that?" Luella asked.
Who's that indeed, Claudia thought, suddenly not all that sure she wanted to face Fabian in this office, in front of everyone. They had not seen each other since the break-up. "He mostly does investigative pieces," she regained her composure enough to speak. "Not in it for the headlines, so you might get a fair hearing."
"Doreen? What do you think?" Luella spoke again.
Doreen looked a little relieved that she did not have to make that decision anymore. "Could work."
"Get him in." Luella said shortly. "Now. The Minister wants to do the interview first."
Within fifteen minutes, Fabian was in the Minister's office and sat down on Claudia's desk while he waited for the Minister to be ready for him. "Have you had anything to do with this?" he whispered. "I never get invited to cover shit like this."
"So they told you what it was about?"
"They filled me in on the way from the atrium," Fabian replied, barely able to keep a straight face. "Cannot believe this is what we're going to be dealing with in the middle of a war."
"Indeed."
"You didn't answer my question," Fabian whispered with a smile. "Did you have anything to do with this?"
"Maybe…" Claudia smirked.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
With that, Fabian got called to the Minister's office and Claudia was left alone. At least for a couple of minutes, as the Board members were beginning to assemble.
The Board was a group of the most senior officials at the Ministry and included the heads of the most important departments, as well as a few other senior officials responsible for cross-cutting issues. They advised the Minister on difficult issues and discussed running of the Ministry. And in a crisis like this, their view would be critical in helping the Minister decide what to do.
The Head of the Public Information Services (for the life of her, Claudia could not remember his name) was the first to arrive. "Can I go in yet?" he barked. He was a short, young wizard with spectacles that covered half his face.
"No, he's doing a press interview," Claudia replied.
He rolled his eyes theatrically. "Sort out the press first… Like every good politician. They always try to hang on by their fingernails. Mark my words, he'll have to go over this." He started to shuffle through his papers before raising his head. "Was it really a muggle prostitute?"
"I don't know more than what's in the French papers," Claudia shrugged, trying not to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of this situation.
Millicent Bagnold, the Head of Propriety and Ethics, was the next person to come through the door, closely followed by Crouch.
"What are you doing here?" the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement barked in Claudia's direction.
"On secondment," she replied curtly. "And no, you cannot go in yet. He's in a meeting with the press."
After that, Claudia lost count of the number of people who barged in, asking her whether it was yet time for the Board meeting. She did her best to ignore them all, at least until her father floated in…
Claudia could hardly pretend he did not exist and, instantly, her blood began to boil. There he was, in his dark grey brocade robes looking like he owned the world. Whereas, in fact, he was nothing but murderer, responsible for imposing misery on so many people Claudia could not even count them. And Barraclough. She was sure he was behind Barraclough's death. But he clearly did not give a shit about any of that. He just stood there, with his hand gently placed on his lapel, his mother's German noble family's signet ring shining against his robes.
Claudia knew full well what the engraving on that ring said.
"Macht dem Starken." Power to the Strong.
She hated that ring. It made her sick. She hated that motto. She hated everything it stood for. And she had to watch him, and fight the urge to kill him there and then, for another ten minutes before Fabian walked out of the interview and the Board started to flood into the Minister's room.
"Thanks for this," Fabian said and looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear. "Finally going to get my front page." He flashed a smile.
"What did he tell you?"
"Nothing much. Barely talked about it. Kept banging on about how good of a leader he was, and how a misunderstanding should not derail the war effort. How he would win an election in a heartbeat."
"Typical…"
"Got to go." He took a step or two towards the door. "On a deadline."
"Fabian-" Claudia whispered after him.
"Yeah?" He turned back.
"Sirius and I are back together…" Claudia grimaced. "I wanted you to hear it from me."
Fabian gave her another smile. "I'm happy for you. I-" But further conversation was interrupted by a commotion when a young witch ran through the door in a huff. "Who's that?" Fabian whispered.
"Ah, that's Fionnula," Claudia replied. "The press secretary. She was called back from a holiday to help handle this."
"She looks familiar-" he mumbled as Fionnula stormed past them and into the Minister's office, but then his eyes widened. "I know where I've seen her before!"
Suddenly, it clicked for Claudia too. "That's her!" She dropped her voice to a barely audible whisper. "Rosanne! How could I be so stupid?! I've been working alongside her for weeks!"
"What do we do?"
Claudia looked around. "She isn't going anywhere, as long as she suspects nothing." She paused for a second. "Go talk to Oscar, let him handle it. He might want to watch her for a while before making an arrest."
"I really thought it was a Death Eater," Fabian sighed. "Trying to find out what we know. Would never have thought…"
"Turns out the Ministry can play dirty too," Claudia sighed. "She better did that behind the Minister's back because he does not need another scandal."
"Fine, I'll talk to Oscar. And then I need to go; write this damn thing up."
Fabian left and for a moment, Claudia submerged herself into her papers. Despite the scandal around her, she still had a plenty of work to do. As long as Minister did not cancel any of the other trips… She sighed. That would have been a lot of wasted effort.
"Avery!"
She raised her eyes and saw Luella's head poking through the door of the Minister's office. "Get in here. I need someone to take the minutes and you have the highest clearance out of anyone here."
Claudia grabbed her notebook and followed her boss. She sunk into a chair in the corner of the room, desperately avoiding her father's eye…
"I'm not resigning!" The Minister barked even before Claudia managed to open her notebook. "I'm not even married. Why should it matter?"
"Prostitute, Harold." The Head of the Public Information Service said. "It's illegal!"
The Minister crossed his arms against his chest. "Not in France!"
"Merlin's beard!" Millicent Bagnold rolled her eyes. "Are you really going to use that line of argument?"
"It will blow over," the Minister said.
"It really will not."
"We are at war!" The Minister yelled. "It will have to blow over!"
Claudia sank deeper into her chair. If she could vanish into thin air, she would. The secondary embarrassment was too much for her to handle. But part of her also wanted to see it to its bitter end. She could not believe she was here, witnessing this in real life.
The awkward silence that ensued was only interrupted after a minute or so, when Barty Crouch spoke up.
"What else is there to do, Harold?" Crouch asked.
"Find whoever leaked it," the Minister said. "I want to know who's responsible for this mess!"
"There is no need…" Crouch uttered and looked away. "There was no leak. You were followed by the French press. They have pictures of you going into that place and coming out three hours later, all dishevelled."
"Three hours?" someone whispered, and the people sitting around them burst out laughing. It was clear the Minister's authority was disintegrating.
"Someone must have tipped them off!" the Minister growled in frustration.
"We will need to know how it was, ehrm…" Crouch hummed. "How it was arranged. Maybe that's a useful line of investigation."
"I will talk to you later," the Minister mumbled and looked away.
Claudia noticed her father passed a piece of paper to the man she assumed to be his boss, the Head of International Magical Cooperation. He squinted at the paper and spoke in a slow, deep voice.
"We really ought to be kept abreast of the detail… It happened on foreign soil, and if diplomats were involved-" he paused. "Were foreign officials involved in arranging it?"
"Yes," the Minister hissed.
"We really ought to be kept abreast of the investi-"
"Fine. I will keep you abreast." The Minister was shouting now. "Happy?"
"We'll put in a follow-up meeting," Luella tried to diffuse the tension. Claudia remembered to scribble that down and arrange it the moment they all got out of here.
"One more thing…" The Head of International Magical Cooperation spoke again, squinting at the note from Frederick. "Is there any chance you were under Imperio?"
The Minister's eyes lit up. "We could use that! I could say I was under Imperio."
There was some humming around the table, and Claudia even noticed couple of the men were nodding.
But Ms Bagnolt interrupted all that. "Lying is not a way out of this, Harold."
"Fine," the Minister said through gritted teeth and dismissed the meeting.
Everyone started to leave but Ms Bagnold hung around. Claudia packed up her things extra slowly to see what she had to say. She liked how this unassuming lady stood up to the Minister, while the others gave the impression that they would be more than happy to let him weasel out of this.
"Do you want my opinion?" Ms Bagnold asked the Minister.
"Not especially, no," the Minister sighed. "But I know you are going to give it to me anyway."
"Well, the good news is that you technically haven't done anything illegal."
"And the bad news?"
"Ministers have had to go for a lot less." With those words, Ms Bagnold picked up her papers and strolled out of the room.
The Minister asked Luella and Claudia to leave him alone. The last thing Claudia saw when she closed the door behind her was the Minister opening a bottle of whiskey.
"Not a word to anyone here about what happened in that meeting, understood?" Luella whispered to Claudia. "It's going to be a circus even without all kinds of gossip flying around."
"Understood."
"Good."
"What happens next?"
Luella sighed. "He has three options." First, try to weather it out. Second, resign and use the emergency war powers to appoint a successor…" she trailed off.
"And the third?"
"Stay and call an election to renew his mandate…"
"Good grief," Claudia gasped. "An election? Now?"
"If I were you, I'd read up on constitutional law."
Claudia spent the next hour explaining to every single other person who worked in that office that she really could not tell them what happened at that meeting. She forgone a pint of beer, box of chocolate and a marriage proposal, all in name of the promise she made to Luella. She did not do it out of loyalty. But if she got Luella to trust her, maybe there would be more meetings like this she would get to sit in. But one indiscreet word to anyone, and that chance would disappear.
Once everyone figured out that she was not going to budge and they all left her alone, Claudia did as she was told and spent the rest of the day reading up on constitutional law.
When she arrived home, a news of an extraordinary Order meeting was awaiting her.
"Do you know what's it about?" Sirius asked, as she run through to the bedroom and went to change.
"You know how politicians need to appear human?" she sighed and pulled on her favourite jeans. "The Minister was a touch too human and now he's in trouble."
"What did he do?"
Claudia reached for a jumper. "Paid for sex."
Sirius let out a low whistle. "The pureblood brigade won't like that."
"No, they won't…" Claudia threw on her jacket. "Let's go."
"Bike?" Sirius mumbled. It was still his favourite go-to excuse to decline a drink.
"Bike."
Still buzzing from the revelation about the Minister, Claudia barged into the meeting. The room was heaving with people discussing the latest news. Claudia wanted to join in, but then- Her focus evaporated…
Marlene was sitting right across the table from the entrance and scoffed a little when she saw who Claudia arrived at the meeting with. Claudia could not help but notice Peter was sitting next to Marlene and whispered something to her ear, which made them both chuckle.
Claudia's stomach turned and she was suddenly very aware people have stopped chatting about the Minister's troubles, and were instead staring at her and whispering.
She scuppered to the corner to hide away from Marlene's gaze, and instead caught Oscar's eye. Moody must have finally relented and let him join. Great, Claudia thought. More ex-lovers packed into this room was exactly what they needed… As if Marlene, Benjy and Fabian were not enough. She gave Oscar a wave just as she felt Sirius took his place next to her and gently placed his hand on her lower back. He too was clearly a little bothered by all this.
Mercifully, the awkwardness ended the moment Dumbledore strode into the room. "Where is Claudia?" Her heart jumped into her throat. Was she in trouble? Could Dumbledore possibly have views on her love life too? But Claudia's panic was unfounded when her old Headmaster began to speak again. "We need the latest from the Ministers' office…"
"The indications are that…" Claudia began from the back of the room, somewhat relieved.
"Can't hear you from back there," Edgar Bones interrupted her.
Claudia looked around for a free chair. Before she found one, however, one of the older members gave up his seat right opposite Dumbledore. She sat down and leaned forward. "The indications are the Minister will try to hang on. He can either whether it out; or if there are any challengers, he might need to take the risk and call an election."
"Are there any challengers?" Bones asked.
"Nothing specific as yet. Although-" She looked around the room, it was all still a bit daunting. All these people were hanging on her every word, as if she was not the little kid anymore… "Of course, the Death Eaters are going to take this opportunity. My father was at the meeting, he knows an election might be coming as well as anyone. I'm sure Voldemort is picking his candidate as we speak…"
"Would he run himself?"
"Voldemort? I don't think so." Claudia replied. "It's too much boring work… My father might though. He's been at the Ministry forever and as far as we know, Voldemort trusts him."
"Albus," Bones turned to Dumbledore. "Surely this time you will reconsider. You will run yourself."
"I will not…" Dumbledore replied shortly. "Claudia, is there really going to be an election?"
"Well, there is another option," Claudia replied, remembering her earlier study of constitutional law. "If he resigned, he could use the emergency powers to appoint a successor given there is a war on. But I really do thing he will want to hang on."
"But an election, that's a huge risk!" Oscar jumped in.
"You should've seen him in the meetings earlier-" Claudia looked around again. This time spotting Remus and Gideon standing together by the door; they must have just snuck in. "I think he genuinely doesn't appreciate the position he's in. He thinks he did nothing wrong. And he does not think the people will care. He's extraordinarily-"
But Claudia did not get to finish that thought as Moody stumbled into the room, clearly looking a little worse for wear and nearly knocking Gideon off his feet. Claudia exchanged a concerned look with Oscar.
"Is he really that arrogant?" Bones asked, but Claudia's eyes were still on Moody, who collapsed into a chair.
Fabian jumped in to fill in the silence. "I agree with Claudia. When I did the interview with him earlier, it really does shine through. He thinks if there is an election, it will be a landslide."
"Politicians. One will always. Guess," Moody grumbled. Everyone waited for a few seconds to see if he was going to elaborate into something that made sense, but he did not.
"What are we going to do?" Sirius voice echoed from behind Claudia. "We can't just let some delusional arse who can't keep it in his pants hand Voldemort the keys to the Ministry."
Claudia spun on her chair to look at him. "We have a bit of time. Even if the election is called tomorrow, there will be months of organisation and campaigning. There will be plenty of time for him to drop out if it does not look like he can win."
"Election is going to be dangerous business. So many people in one place, the risks of attack are huge," Benjy said.
Everyone looked at Moody, as they always did on security matters, but he was nodding off.
"There is an option to just do a postal ballot," Claudia interrupted an awkward silence. "No need for anyone to go anywhere on election day. I'm sure that will be considered," she mumbled, unable to take her eyes of Moody. His coat was dirty and soaked in something that did not look like water. His eye patch was slipping off, revealing the edges of a nasty scar.
With few more exchanges, the Order exhausted things to talk about. Dumbledore asked Claudia to keep her ears to the ground and dismissed them all. Oscar took Moody home, for which Claudia was eternally grateful. She hated seeing her boss in such state, and even more so when she remembered what happened to him. That it was her own father who likely caused all this.
"Hey," Claudia said meekly when she passed Remus and Gideon on her way out.
Remus barely replied.
"Claudia, I'm sorry." Gideon filled the awkwardness. "I know this must be really weird for you, me" – he briefly looked at Remus and smiled – "me dating your friend after you and my brother."
"Don't worry about that," Claudia replied with a slight shake of the head. "Fabian and I parted on good terms. There is no problem, trust me."
"I'm glad. I know how important you all are to Remus."
"Yeah," Claudia sighed and looked over to Remus, who was visibly struggling to keep eye contact. "He looks out for all his friends. Too much sometimes."
Remus could not help but raise a little smile, and finally looked at Claudia. "Especially the ones who won't listen to me."
Claudia brushed Remus' arm. "How long have you known me, Remus? Did you really expect me to listen to you? About this especially?"
"No, not really."
Gideon looked at Remus, then at Claudia again. "I feel like I'm missing something here."
Claudia noticed Sirius waving her over. It was time to go home. "I'm sure Remus will fill you in, Gideon," she said with a tiny smirk, gave Remus a hug and went to joint her boyfriend.
Claudia was putting her bike helmet on, still on a high from the meeting, when Sirius slid his hands down her hips and spun her around. He pressed his body against hers until the cold metal of the bike was pressing into her back. Sirius grinned, lifted her up to sit on the bike and kissed her.
Claudia chuckled. "Did you get jealous again?"
"No," Sirius mumbled and brushed his lips against hers. "But watching you, running that meeting. Hottest thing I've ever seen."
Claudia laughed. "It was so much fun." She hung her arms around Sirius and rubbed the back of his neck with her fingertips, getting ready to kiss him again. But then she heard some voices approach and froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marlene, Benjy and some other people leaving the meeting by the back exit, which took them right past the place where Sirius had parked. There was a near complete silence as they walked past, and Claudia was trying her hardest to hide in Sirius' embrace.
"You alright?" he mumbled, chuckling, as the group disappeared round the corner.
"I hate this."
"Oh, come on," he laughed. "You manage that meeting like that, and now you hide from them?"
"Hate being the centre of gossip," she chuckled. "You wouldn't understand… You love it."
"I don't love it," Sirius said, half amused, half self-defensive.
"Yes, you do. You'll die if people stopped talking about you."
Halloween had been and gone. Claudia's work was busy but it was not exactly giving her a huge amount of satisfaction. The whole trip to Germany, Austria and Switzerland had been shelved, and Claudia felt a little bitter about how much time she had wasted on it. But the Minister had decided to stay in London and there was no arguing with that. He did more press interviews, all nearly identical to the one he gave Fabian when the scandal first broke. But that did not crowd out the coverage, far from it. One by one, the Daily Prophet published pictures of the Minister going in and coming out of the brothel. They did an exclusive interview with an anonymous friend of the prostitute he visited. And most alarmingly of all, a few people had started to try very hard to get themselves noticed. Prominent Ministry officials were getting themselves photographed holding children in Diagon Alley, and some Malfoy or other was donating eye-watering amounts to St Mungo's. The election may have not been called yet, but the campaign was certainly beginning.
On the third of November, Claudia woke up before the sun had risen, found Mrs Potter's crumble recipe and got to work. She was just placing the jug of custard on the kitchen table, when-
"What's that smell?" Sirius asked sleepily and propped himself up on his elbow.
"I'm baking," she replied with a smile.
He chuckled. "You're doing what?"
She skipped to the kitchen and took the crumble out of the oven. It was golden brown and delicious. "I've baked before!" she shouted towards the bedroom, carefully turned, and walked out of the kitchen with the piping hot crumble in her hands.
"When?"
"Your last birthday."
"I don't remember…"
"It ended in the bin…" she mumbled, not especially keen to remember the fiasco of almost exactly year ago when Sirius got drunk and disappeared on the day of his birthday party. "But this one looks better, almost edible"
"Underwear and oven mitts, that's quite the look," Sirius smirked but his face dropped completely when Claudia placed the tray on the bed, and he saw what she made.
"You made me a crumble?" he whispered softly.
Claudia gave him a quick kiss and run back to the living room. "And homemade custard…" she replied with a smile and, when she got back to the bedroom, passed him the jug and a spoon.
Sirius got stuck in. "It's so good," he said with his mouth still full.
Claudia took the spoon out of his hand and took a bite. "It's Mrs Potter's recipe. Lily gave it to me."
"Really?" he whispered in a tone so tender it nearly took Claudia by surprise. Then, he brushed her hair with his fingertips and kissed her. "I love you," He uttered as their lips parted.
"I love you too."
They ate nearly all of the crumble while it was still warm.
"I got you some records too," she leaned over the edge of the bed and took out a bag.
"Back in Black?" he laughed as he took out the first one.
"Seemed appropriate."
"And the new Queen!"
Claudia picked up her wand and waved it so that the Queen record flew straight into the record player. She waved it again until the right song started to play.
It started off so well
They said we made a perfect pair
I clothed myself in your glory and your love
How I loved you
"Remember when I run out of that Chinese noodle place?" she mumbled and fell back into pillows. "This was playing…"
"I heard it too…" he whispered and his hand travelled up her leg, over her hip and side towards her neck.
Claudia brushed the presents off the bed, She shut her eyes, and soon she could feel Sirius' breath and the tickling of his hair on her neck.
"Happy Birthday," she whispered in his ear, just as he slid her vest over her head and threw it to the floor. Their underwear followed suit.
"You know what," Sirius uttered and kissed her head once they finished making love. "This is all I've ever wanted for my Birthday. Not the expensive gifts, not some stiff parties…"
"All you ever wanted for your Birthday was sex?"
Sirius laughed. "All I ever wanted was for someone to care about what I want. To care about the real me. You, finding that recipe and baking…" He paused and kissed her again. "Tastes better than the most expensive cake my mother could ever muster."
"Even when the custard had split?"
"Especially with the custard split… And-" he let Claudia out of his embrace and opened the drawer to his bedside table. "Since I missed your last Birthday."
Claudia ripped the paper wrapping open. "A book about Legilimency? I haven't seen that one in the bookstore…"
"That's because it's banned. My parents had it at home. It's dark as fuck."
"Thank you," she said and opened the book, right on a chapter about manipulating someone else's thoughts.
"Claude-"
"Eh?" she whispered, her eyes still planted on the book.
"Let's get away from here."
She sighed, she wanted to but… "We can't leave. There is too much to do."
"I don't mean forever, just for a few days. Take a break from this all."
"I'm not planning another trip to Italy. It's jinxed."
Sirius thought for a second and then his eyes twinkled. "Edinburgh."
Claudia laughed. "I don't think we'd be allowed into that hotel again."
"I think we should try. Let's go this weekend."
"Your Birthday party is this weekend… You promised James it'll be at his place, remember? Since he's going stir-crazy."
"Party will wait, James isn't going anywhere…" Sirius said with a slight yawn. "Now, is there any more of that crumble?"