The Campaign

"Shut the door," Moody grumbled, took out his wand and sealed every door, window, and crack in the wall with a spell to ensure complete privacy.

"I feel sick," Claudia collapsed onto Moody's sofa. "What do we do?"

"We'll launch an investigation into the election. Say we got an anonymous tip-off," he paused and looked at Claudia. "You'll get back to your job. I need to know everything that happens in that office."

"But- I want to help," she protested.

"Avery, this is bigger than you," Moody implored her. "I need you to be my eyes and ears in there. We got it from here."

Too hungover to protest, Claudia dragged her heels back to the Minister's office. She sorts of understood why Moody sent her back, but that did not stop her feeling useless. The novelty of working on the security of the election campaign was rather wearing off, and she was desperate to get back to being an auror.

The following week brought nothing that would change Claudia's mind; just a meeting after meeting about security arrangement, having to accompany the Minister on the campaign trail and having to watch him deliver the same stupid speech over and over. And on top of that, she still had to go out of her way nearly daily to dodge journalist asking her about her father's campaign.

One morning, Claudia was making a cup of tea when Berenice practically skipped to the little kitchenette to join her. She looked around.

"I saw some early polling today," Berenice whispered. "One of the Minister's political advisers left it on his desk."

"And?"

"The minister will be pleased. So far, people are not finding your dad too inspiring."

Claudia's stomach took a turn. "Please don't call him my dad. Makes me nauseous."

"Sorry," Berenice mumbled apologetically.

"It's alright. You didn't know…"

Claudia stirred her tea one more time, awkwardly smiled at Berenice and strolled back to her desk. The moment she was back, Carmichael, the suspected Death Eater now in charge of running the election floated into the office.

"You're Avery, right?"

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth trying as hard as she could not to let her distain for him and everything he stood for show.

"You're working with DMLE on election security?"

"Yes."

"Your father must be proud."

"Sure is," Claudia hissed. It took all her self-restraint not to add 'you Death Eater scum' at the end of that sentence.

"We have a new entrant to the race," Carmichael finally got to the point. "He's giving a speech tonight at the Guildhall."

"Who is it?" Claudia asked. This new entrant must have been a big deal. Guildhall was the ceremonial building in Diagon Alley used for formal occasions and big weddings. It was rather expensive to rent.

"Doesn't matter," Carmichael said shortly. "Just get a team there to secure it for six o'clock and make sure there is no trouble."

"Me? Personally?"

"It will be a high-profile event. I don't want some green patrol officers in charge, do you understand?"

"Understood."

"If fact," his face twisted into a narrow smile. "I want you to work full time for this candidate."

"You can't do that," Claudia said with a frown. "I work for the Minister."

Carmichael scoffed. "Yes, I can. It's an order." He did not even wait for Claudia to answer. He tugged on his cloak and was gone with one last scoff.

Still in a foul mood over being bossed around by a Death Eater, Claudia and the security team arrived at the Guildhall. At half past five, patrol officers and Hit Wizards were stationed at every entrance, and the room started to fill up. From the look of the audience – old men in expensive clothes, many with house elves in tow - Claudia could just guess what sort of candidate this was going to be. Not one she imagined herself voting for.

And then she caught a glimpse of black robes made of the finest silk, a golden signet ring so large it would pay for an average family home, and a head of long blond hair. The candidate. That Malfoy arsehole married to one of Sirius' cousins. The one spouting bigoted nonsense at her and everyone else who would listen at the Black's Christmas party.

With a sense of impending dread, she leaned on a pillar and watched his speech from the wings.

"I am announcing today that I will be running for the Minister of Magic," Malfoy began to raucous applause. He waited for the crowd to quieten down before continuing.

"I did not take this decision lightly. But I feel like I can no longer stand by and watch this disaster unfold." There was much nodding in the crowd.

"Minchum's policies have put this great wizarding society on its knees. We need a real alternative. We need to rise back from the ashes."

Malfoy paused again, as if he was inviting another round of applause, and the crowd did not disappoint.

"We need to end this pointless war. We need to listen to the very real grievances you all feel."

Claudia jumped as someone tapped her shoulder. One of the Hit Wizards came to find her. "There is a small crowd outside by the back door, demanding to be let in. But the venue is at capacity. We can't allow any more," he whispered.

"We need to return to real family values." Claudia just about heard Malfoy say as she followed the Hit Wizard down the steps to the basement and towards the back of the building.

But by the time they got there, the crown had already dispersed.

"Must have gotten bored of the wait," the Hit Wizard scratched his head.

"Must have," Claudia mumbled and made her way back, slightly annoyed that her time was being wasted like this. By the time she got back, Malfoy was wrapping up.

"I will need your support. Without you, the change we all hope for, the change we strive for will not happen."

Malfoy took a slow step back from his lectern and gave a slight bow.

The hall erupted. Many of the attendees were on their feet, their faces all red from the exertion and (Claudia presumed) the misplaced rage they felt listening to Malfoy's nonsense.

Malfoy gave another bow and gestured at his wife to join him. A slender woman, just as blond as Malfoy, tiptoed onto the stage holding a tiny baby wrapped up in an intricate crocheted blanket. She passed the bundle to her husband, who kissed the baby on its head. The applause intensified.

With one last wave, Malfoy strode off the stage towards where Claudia was standing. With every step he took, the applause was drowned out more and more by the hysterical cries of the Malfoys' baby.

"Take him!" Malfoy barked, passed his son back to his wife the moment he was out of the view of the crowd, and went to talk to the man that Claudia assumed to be his election agent.

She tried to overhear what was being said but could not. The baby was screaming on the top of his lungs.

"Merlin's beard, take him away!" Malfoy hissed. "Cannot hear a word here."

The wife obliged and Claudia could finally overhear what was being said.

"Lucius, the Prophet wants to do the interview now," said the election agent.

"Who are they sending?" Malfoy asked.

"Skeeter."

"Good, good. Shows they're taking it seriously." He suddenly turned to Claudia, who stood frozen on the spot and was too slow to look away. "You are not needed anymore. My agent will let you know about the other events we have planned."

"Fine."

"Have a good evening!" the agent shouted after her, as she hurried out to send the rest of the security staff home.

"Bite me," she mumbled under her breath. All of this annoyed her to no end. Her job was now to guard this pretentious arse, to make sure no-one tried to assassinate him. This was not why she joined the Ministry! She joined to fight people like him!

Claudia still had not found her composure when she got home. "Your cousin-in-law-" she paused. "Is cousin-in-law a thing? He's running for Minister…"

"What? Malfoy?" Sirius snarled. "He's not even thirty."

"You wouldn't be able to tell from his speech," Claudia scoffed and went to the fridge to get a bottle of beer. "He sounds ancient. Returning to the old values," she tried mimicking Malfoy's pompous voice. "When people knew their place, and everyone worked together." Finally, she took a deep breath and looked up at Sirius. He was wearing a jacket and held his backpack casually over his shoulder. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Mission," he said. "Will be gone for a couple of days."

Claudia felt as if her heart dropped. They have not really been apart since they got back together, and she hated the idea he would be gone. "Where to?"

Sirius shrugged. "I have no idea. Meeting Fabian tonight. He knows where to go."

"Fabian?"

"Is that weird for you?" he said with a slight smile. "I promise I'll be nice."

"Fine," Claudia sighed and went to hug him. A wave of nausea took hold of her as she slowly let go off him. "Please be safe."

"I promise."

"Did you take the notebook with you?"

Sirius shook his head. "Moody said nothing traceable."

Claudia swallowed and tears began to force themselves into her eyes.

Sirius pulled her close to him again. "I promise I'll come back," he whispered in his girlfriend's hair and kissed her.

With Sirius gone, Claudia had absolutely nothing to distract her. She hated not knowing where he was or what he was doing. She tossed about in bed for hours, unable to stop picturing him being injured, captured, or dead. Like many others before him. At three in the morning, she gave up and went to make sleeping draught. It was that or a bottle of whiskey.

The first thing she did when she woke up was to glance at her tattoo. The Sirius star was still there, still intact. Somewhat relieved, she went to make a coffee. But the slight improvement to her mood was cut short by that morning's Daily Prophet

A flattering picture of Lucius Malfoy was plastered all over the front page.

'FINALLY. THE RACE BEGINS!" Run the headline.

'By Rita Skeeter.'

'After a week of lacklustre campaigning by Frederick Avery and the incumbent Minister, Lucius Malfoy arrived at the scene like a comet. His speech at the campaign launch last night was full of new ideas and delivered with passion and conviction unrivalled in this century.'

'It was clear from Mr Malfoy's embracement of family values that he has a nose for politics. The appearance of his beautiful wife and a young son was a master-stroke, painting a picture well in contrast with the troubles of our current Minister.'

Claudia groaned. She could not read it anymore. She scanned the rest of the front page.

'A SNAP POLL'

'Daily Prophet conducted an exclusive snap poll following Mr Malfoy's launch. Harold Minchum was still in the lead (35%) with Lucius Malfoy gaining fast (28%). And while Frederick Avery's campaign is faltering (5%), there is a large proportion of voters who are yet undecided. And there is plenty of time for Mr Malfoy to win them over!'

"Great," Claudia mumbled. "More Malfoy love-in." She turned the page only to find an exclusive interview with Malfoy plastered all over pages two and three. That was too much for Claudia and she threw the papers to the floor.

She drunk her coffee, got dressed and left for work. She had no intention hanging around the flat without Sirius around. Everything reminded her too much of his absence. Every picture, every piece of clothing he left lying around reminded her that he was away, reminded her of the odds of him not coming home.

But eventually, she did finish all her tasks for the day, had to come home again and face the cold and emptiness of their flat. This time, Claudia was smarter, she drunk the sleeping draught the moment she stepped through the door. That was the only way she was going to be able to handle this.

The next morning, it was the same routine. Check the tattoo, a quick shower, check the tattoo again, down a cup of coffee, check the tattoo… Eventually, she made it to work. Her day was busy enough that she survived till six o'clock, and it was time to get to an Order meeting.

"Ah, Claudia!" Dumbledore exclaimed as she entered. "Take a seat, take a seat." He pointed at a chair next to him. "Can you take us through the latest." He smiled. "Since you saved the day."

Claudia shrugged. "All I did was spot the Death Eaters on that meeting invite. I don't know anything else-" she glanced at Moody who was sitting on the other side of Dumbledore from her. "I'm not part of the investigation. Just sitting in the Minister's office and waiting for orders from Malfoy's agent-"

"Oh, stop whining!" Moody hissed at her before turning to face everyone else. "Ewan! Tell us where we are with the investigation."

Ewan gave Claudia an awkward, apologetic glance and began. "We have finished the checks on the electoral register. From a quick investigation, there are clearly muggleborns that are missing from that list. Our theory is that no sane muggleborn would vote for Avery or Malfoy, which is why Nott tried to take the vote from them."

"And we are sure this is Nott's doing? That he's a Death Eater?"

"We have no evidence against him or Carmichael," Moddy grumbled. "We looked."

"Claudia?" Dumbledore nudged her. She had no idea why she was being asked about Nott and Dumbledore must have seen the uncertainty in her eyes. "Didn't you used to date his nephew?" he added.

"Ehrr-" Claudia stuttered. This was not a conversation she wanted to have in front of the whole Order. But at least Sirius was not here to grind his teeth. "Briefly. He told me his uncle was a Death Eater. That's all I know… There is no evidence."

"And the nephew?" Bones asked. "He works in my department..."

"The nephew is clean," Claudia mumbled. "I know nothing more." She tried to shut the discussion down. Reliving her relationship with Julius was not a favourite pastime of hers.

"Anyway…" Ewan interjected to save Claudia further blushes. "We are continuing checks on all the other component parts of the electoral set up, and also – of course – looking for evidence on whoever meddled with the electoral register."

"Good, good," Dumbledore mumbled. "Now on the matter of young Mr Malfoy. Many of you will remember him for your Hogwarts days. There were many who-"

But Moody was getting impatient. "We all know he's a slick bastard, Albus. My only question is. How sure are we he's a Death Eater?"

Oscar was the first to speak. "He was always spouting bigoted nonsense. Obsessed with status. Would not surprise me at all if he was supporting Voldemort."

"I agree with Oscar," Benjy chipped in. "But whether he would openly fight for him, I don't know. Always been a bit of a coward; manipulating other people into fighting his battles."

"He did try to rope me into some pureblood secret society thing," Gideon added. "But never struck me as someone who would put his neck out for anyone but himself."

"The thing I don't get," Ewan said. "Why would Voldemort let two Death Eaters run against each other in the election and split the vote?"

"He wouldn't," Claudia said. "Not saying Malfoy isn't a Death Eater… But my friend told me about some polling she glanced at from Minchum's political team. Avery is not doing at all well. Maybe Voldemort felt that someone else had to take the reins? Maybe he's going to make Avery drop out?"

"I heard about that too," Dumbledore said with a nod. "Avery does not seem to be getting any traction."

"Hah," Moody barked. "If that's true, Avery can't be pleased. He was at school with Voldemort, got the experience, and now gets passed over by some upstart."

"My brother told me that the consensus in the Prophet is that Malfoy is going to play the family-man card during the election," Gideon spoked. "Will get traction given the reason Minchum had to call the elections. And Avery isn't exactly strong in that Department…"

"I know at least of one affair he had," Claudia mumbled, somewhat distracted by the mention of Fabian. After all, he was at the same mission as Sirius. She glanced at her tattoo. Still intact.

"And then there are the inevitable questions about why his daughter is missing from the photo opportunities," Oscar said with a smirk. "Why not make the point of the fact that you have a young auror in the family?"

That made Claudia chuckle involuntarily. "And my mother might have to speak and say something intelligent. That would not end well."

"And of course, the purebloods don't like divorce," Bones said. "And Avery is on his second marriage."

"What?" Claudia breathed out. Everything and everyone in the room seemed to have stopped moving. "He is what?" she repeated into stunned silence.

Bones' eyes widened slightly as he stared back at her. "I didn't realise you didn't-" he swallowed. "I didn't realise you didn't know. I'm sorry."

Claudia recovered her composure and waved her hand as to try to dismiss the tense atmosphere that had built-up in the room. "Don't worry. I don't care. Just shock."

"Sorry," Bones mumbled and began cleaning his glasses.

Dumbledore looked at him, then at Claudia, and then back at Bones. "I think we might leave it there for today…"

Someone else raised their hand and started to speak about some mission they have been on. But Claudia did not hear a word of what they said. Her eyes were fixed on Bones, who was still cleaning his glasses, desperate to avoid her eye contact. Before Claudia found her bearings, everyone began to get up. She stood up too and rushed towards Bones. She needed to know more.

He grimaced. "Apologies again for springing that on you like that."

"It really is alright. I have no illusions about my father. But please tell me more. Who was she? What happened?"

"I met him for the first time when he was a young official at the Ministry. Met his wife a few times too. She was a bit older than him, I'd think, intelligent." He paused to think. "I can't really remember her name."

"How did he end up with my mother?"

Bones' forehead contracted. "She was his secretary. The rumour was he got her pregnant."

"My mother was a secretary?" Claudia gasped.

"She wasn't very good from what I remember-" Bones awkwardly scratched his head. "But she was quite popular with the staff. The young, male staff."

Claudia was starting to find it quite hard to contain her glee. "I didn't know my mother worked," she smirked. "She always told me that working wasn't for a proper pureblood lady."

"Well, she is a half-blood."

"WHAT?" Claudia gasped. The glee was gone, and pure shock had returned. Her mother was a half-blood?!

"Normally, I wouldn't care, of course." Bones hurled out apologetically. "But we all thought it was rathe funny, given your father's views. She wasn't rich either."

"You have no idea-" but then Claudia caught something in the corner of her eye. Someone entering the room. Someone tall in a familiar leather jacket. "Excuse me-" she mumbled without looking at Bones, run across the room and jumped into Sirius' embrace. "I'm so happy you're back," she mumbled into his chest while the built-up anxiety drained out of her body. Then, without warning, she burst out laughing.

"You alright?" Sirius chuckled. "You look almost too happy to see me."

"Oh, it's not you."

Sirius smirked. "I'm flattered."

"Let's go home, I'll tell you everything."

She grabbed Sirius' hand, dragged him into the street and apparated them home.

"So, we were talking about the election-"

But Sirius put his index finger across Claudia's lips. "One more thing," he whispered, run his hand up the back of Claudia's neck and pulled her closer to him. "I want to kiss you first."

Claudia sunk into his embrace. "I really did miss you," she whispered as their lips parted. "I don't know how I'm going to cope if you go on more and more missions."

Sirius kissed her head. He said nothing. And Claudia did not blame him. There was nothing he could have said to reassure her, nor to lift her spirit. The war sucked, but they had no choice but to fight it…

"Anyway," she said. "Back to what Bones told me. "My mother is a half-blood. I just found out-"

"Don't tell me you turned into a blood purist," Sirius said with a laugh.

Claudia poked him with an elbow, before crashing into the sofa. "Of course not! But this explains so much about my mother… And my father for that matter. You have no idea." It all suddenly made sense. All of her mother's shallow efforts to turn Claudia into a young pureblood lady, rather than letting her be herself. All rooted in Cassandra's insecurity, and self-doubt. And her father's hatred of her friends, anything that was not befitting of an Avery; he must have blamed his wife's bloodline for spoiling his chance for a proper legacy.

"Why would your father marry her?" Sirius interrupted Claudia's train of thought.

"The plot thickens, my dear." Claudia chuckled. "He was married before but got my mother pregnant."

"And he married her?"

"I know!" Claudia exclaimed. "I thought murder would be his preferred option!"

"Doing the right thing? That really does not sound like him."

Claudia frowned. That was true. "He must have had some other reason. He wouldn't do it because it was right. Or out of love…" She dropped her head on Sirius' shoulder.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Nothing," Claudia shrugged. "Just knowing is enough."

He wrapped his arms around her. Between the warmth of his embrace, and the familiar smell of his cologne, Claudia's eyes began to close.

"Do you want some dinner?" Sirius mumbled.

"If you cook it…"

Claudia had no idea what day or time it was when Sirius woke her up with a warm plate of vegetable soup. They ate it, and went straight to bed like an old, married couple.

The weeks in run up to Christmas were very busy for Claudia. Malfoy had an event in every city or a village. Big crowds of people, many not exactly generous to the people who turn up to protest him. There was always a brawl or two for Claudia to sort out.

One evening, Claudia was sitting in the office, preparing for another busy day, when Millicent Bagnold strolled into the office. "Is he still around?" the seasoned Ministry official asked?

"The Minister's gone home."

Claudia expected Bagnold to walk right out of the office, but instead, she collapsed into a chair.

"I can't believe we are where we are," Bagnold sighed. "It's always the same with man. They get near power, and it's just ego, ego and more ego."

Claudia stared at Bagnold with her mouth slightly ajar. Finally, she summoned enough courage. "You'd think they'd have bigger things to worry about these days."

"Exactly! Our world is quite literally on fire and all the lot on the Board can focus on is how to manipulate themselves into a better job. It's fucking tiring!" Bagnold stopped. "Sorry. I feel like I'm oversharing."

Claudia shrugged. "I get it. It's stressful." Then, she smiled to herself. "You should run for Minister."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous."

"Why not? You have the experience, the integrity; you know how it works better than any of them."

"Aren't you supposed to be impartial?"

Claudia could feel the blood rising into her face. "Sorry."

"I'm just joking," Bagnold said with a smile before glancing at her watch. "I have to go home. I've got a dinner party to give."

"Have a good evening!"

"Go home," Bagnold said warmly and disappeared.

Eventually, Claudia did finish her work and made her way home. Sirius was already in bed, reading one of the Le Carré books.

Claudia grabbed a leftover sandwich from the kitchen and jumped into the bed to join him. "Enjoying the book?"

"Very grateful you are home," he mumbled sleepily and put the book aside. "I was trying to stay up until you get home. But this book is way too complicate to follow this late in the evening…"

"It is not!" Claudia chuckled and bit into the sandwich. "I just had a really weird chat with Millicent Bagnold. She said the Minister and the others are just about the ego. And I think she's right, you know. She's so clever and ballsy." She took another bite. "You should have seen her at the Board few weeks ago. She point blank told Minchum that if he wanted to lie, he-" she paused and frowned. Sirius was now curled up in a ball against her side and his eyes were closed. "Are you sleeping?"

"No, no," he mumbled with his eyes still closed. "I'm definitely listening…"

"Anyway, Minchum was completely stumped. It's so impressive for someone to speak truth to power like that. And these Ministry nodding dogs really do need it! I want to be like her one day. Just kick their arses if they are not…" Claudia trailed off and placed her hand gently on Sirius' back. He was breathing softly now and there was no point asking is he was asleep again. He definitely was!

She smiled to herself and leaned down to kiss him on the head. "Good night," she whispered. All she got back was a low groan. She finished her sandwich, showered and soon was able to join Sirius in the warm bed, where she always felt like nothing that was going on outside the flat mattered. It was a guaranteed moment of peace and pure happiness.

When she woke up, Sirius was already in the kitchen making coffee. He passed Claudia a steaming mug. "Did I fall asleep halfway through a conversation last night?"

"Yup." Claudia took a sip of the coffee. It made her feel heavenly.

"About Millicent Bagnold?"

"Yup." Another sip.

"You mad?"

"No," she said with a smile. "Not since you bribed me with coffee."

Sirius pulled his girlfriend closer to him and kissed her. "Are you working today?"

"Yeah." She glanced at their kitchen clock. "And I'm already late. Malfoy likes an early start for his campaign speeches."

"How have you not punched him yet, I'll never know…"

"Tell me about it. Same speech over and over. And it's such bollocks."

"Stay safe."

Claudia gave Sirius a quick kiss and vanished to work.

A couple hours later, she was leaning against a wall in a portico of some old wizarding manor in the middle of nowhere. Few yards of her was Lucius Malfoy, about half-way through his standard election speech. Return to the old ways, family values, stopping the pointless war, rebuilding our world to its former glory. Blah, blah, blah. She knew it by heart at this point.

But the monotony was interrupted when she spotted a commotion in the crowd. "What are you doing for people like me, eh?" an unkempt middle-aged man in tattered robes yelled over Malfoy.

Malfoy froze. His eyes narrowed for a moment into a menacing stare, but he soon recovered his political façade. "What is your name, sir?"

"Travers."

"That Travers? The Sacred Twenty-Eight Travers?"

"Yeah. I'm as pureblood as they get. But look at me now-" Travers threw his arms into the air. "My business has been destroyed by mudblood's habits-" the crowd grumbled. Even at a Malfoy election rally, the mudblood slur caused discomfort. "They are ruining the wizarding world," he continued seemingly undeterred.

"Bullshit!" Someone yelled from the crowd. "You've gambled all your money away. We all know that."

In a flash, Travers took out his wand and threw a hex in the direction of his challenger. Within a second, few other people got their wands out and chaotic duelling ensued.

"Immobulus!" Claudia yelled from the portico and they all froze momentarily. "You," she pointed at one patrol officer. "Arrest Travers." She turned to the other officer. "And you the guy who he hexed." The patrol officers began to move, but it was a lot of people for Claudia to freeze and the effect did not last long. But luckily, the patrol officer just about managed to bound Travers before the spell wore off.

"I've done nothing wrong!" Travers yelled as he was being dragged away from the crowd.

Claudia was just about to go help the patrol officer, when Malfoy began speaking again-

"This is exactly what is wrong with our society. An honest man of good blood is silenced when he tries to speak the truth and-"

But he did not get to finish his sentence.

Wooosh! Something hit the wall behind where Malfoy was speaking.

"And I get attack for telling the truth!" Malfoy added, shaking his fist in the air.

Claudia grabbed Malfoy's arm and dragged him to the side. "Time to go."

"The Ministry is trying to silence me!" Malfoy yelled. More and more projectiles flew over Claudia's head, as she tried to get the struggling wannabe Minister out of the way of the angry crowd.

Splat! Something awfully wet landed on Claudia cheek. She groaned and tried to brush it off. It was slimy and disgusting. "Fuck, just move you moron" she hissed and shoved Malfoy even harder through the door of the manor.

"Unhand me you. You have no right," he protested as she shut the door behind them.

"I was trying to keep you safe. These people were not exactly your biggest fans!" she growled, wiping the rest of the egg off her face.

"You disgust me more than a mudblood," he said in an icy tone as he flicked his hair over his shoulder. It did not escape Claudia's attention that he too was covered in egg yolk. "You turned your back on your people, your family. And look at you now. You're nothing more than Crouch's pathetic lackey..."

Before Claudia even knew what she was doing, her wand was in her hand and Malfoy was crumbled on the ground. "I rather be Crouch's lackey than turn out like you."

"How dare you?" he spluttered and collected himself from the floor. "You-"

Claudia pointed her wand right at his heart. "Say one more word and it's going to be a lot worse."

"Worse?" Malfoy gave a hollow laugh. "I am not the one who is about to lose their job."

And he turned out to be right. When Claudia got back to the Minister's office later that day, a note from Carmichael was waiting for her. She was fired from her Malfoy duties, as well as the Ministry. She was to pack her things immediately and never come back.

But before she could process the news of losing her job, she found another note from Moody. "Carmichael has no power to fire you. But you're reassigned back to my team. Come to the office immediately. And frankly… I am getting VERY SICK of saving your arse, Avery!"

Claudia sighed. "Great, a bollocking from Moody is exactly what I need." She sat on her chair for a moment to process what happened. Hexing Malfoy, what was she thinking? It was only ever going to end this way… Slowly, she collected herself and began to pack her things.

"I mentioned what you said at my dinner party-" a soft voice startled Claudia.

She looked up and saw Millicent Bagnold, leaning over her desk with a hint of a smile. "Excuse me?"

"I spoke to my friends about your suggestion that I should run for Minister," Bagnold explained. "I expected to get a couple of laughs. But instead, they all stayed at mine till four in the morning and now I have a manifesto." She took something out of her pocket and handed it over to Claudia.

"It's written on a napkin," the young auror said uncertainly.

"Yes, it is. What do you think?"

Claudia glanced at it and handed it back to Bagnold. "Sure it's great. Sorry, I got reassigned. I need to pack my things."

"What happened?"

"I did something dumb."

"Do you want me to put a word in?"

Claudia shook her head. "That's not necessary. I've actually been missing the Auror Office. This is good for me." She picked up the box from her desk with all her belongings, and made her way back to Level Two.

She did not know exactly what kind of bollocking she was expecting when she returned, but she certainly was not expecting Oscar and Ewan standing up by their desks, grinning from ear to ear and giving her a standing ovation. Claudia could not help but to chuckle. But that happiness was short lived.

"Avery, my office," Moody growled. "NOW!"

To Oscar's and Ewan's chuckling, Claudia dragged her heels to Moody's office.

"Leave the door open!"

Great, and audience, Claudia thought. "Let me explain..." she began.

"How could you possibly explain?!" Moody yelled. "That was reckless! I told you to keep your head down."

"But-"

"I told you I needed you there," he dropped his voice to an icy whisper. "The Order needed you there."

"Sorry."

"Get out of my sight!"

Sheepishly, Claudia began to back out of Moody's office. There was no point defending herself. She knew she fucked up.

"Desk duty only!" Moody yelled after her when she walked though door. "And you don't even breathe without my say so!"

Claudia sighed and stood frozen in the middle of the room as Moody kicked the door shut behind her. Oscar walked over to her and squeezed her in his arms. "Look, at least you didn't get suspended this time."

"I should get going," she mumbled as he let go off her.

"Have a drink with us," Ewan added and reached into his drawers. "We missed you."

"Alright," Claudia sighed, and they all sat down around Ewan's desk. "I was meaning to ask you," she turned to Oscar. "What happened with Fionulla? I saw her the other day, still working…"

Oscar shrugged. "I tried to arrest her but was told in no uncertain terms that I was being delusional and to drop it."

Claudia frowned. "Is the Minister protecting her?"

"Would make sense if he was the one who sent her to spy on the Prophet."

"Good grief," Claudia took a sip of whatever liquor Ewan had poured out. "How low can he stoop?"

"Low…"

Eventually, Claudia made it home and, in a few days, found herself at James' and Lily' for Christmas lunch. The house smelled like cookies and eggnog, Sirius was playing Christmas carols on Lily's piano and Claudia was sitting comfortably on the couch, reading the Daily Prophet over Remus' shoulder. There was a long article about how the moderate vote was split between Bagnold and Minchum, giving Malfoy an easy path to victory. Avery had become an irrelevance.

"It's inevitable Bagnold will drop out of the race," Remus mused. "When is the deadline?"

"Thirtieth of December," Claudia replied. "And I wouldn't underestimate her. Minchum has absolutely nothing on Bagnold and he knows it."

Sirius stopped playing, dropped to the couch next to Claudia and chuckled. "Claude's got a crush on her."

"I do not have a crush on her," Claudia defended herself.

"Really?" Sirius teased her. "All I hear is Bagnold this, Bagnold that…"

Claudia playfully punched his arm. "Shut up."

"I'm starting to think I should worry," Sirius quipped before leaning even closer to Claudia and whispering in her ear. "Do I need to worry?"

"Only if you don't shut up right now," Claudia chuckled.

"Enough politics!" Lily barked, as she entered the sitting room, Harry in her arms.

"But it's our first election!" Remus protested.

"And Harry's first Christmas!" Lily laughed. "At least give it a rest today." Then she turned to Claudia. "Can I have a quick word?"

Claudia nodded, stood up and followed Lily to the corner of the room.

"I was meaning to ask you first, but then I didn't see you," Lily said somewhat nervously. "Marlene was going to be alone for Christmas, so I asked her for lunch. I hope it's alright with you."

Claudia's stomach turned but she managed to recover her smile before Lily noticed anything was wrong. "I promise to behave," she said. She had only seen Marlene in Order meetings since she got back together with Sirius and even that was enough. But this was Lily's house and Marlene was her best friend, so Claudia could do little but suck it up. Even Sirius managed to survive a mission with Fabian! She had to do her bit too.

"Thank you," Lily said and squeezed her shoulder.

Alice, Frank and Neville were next to arrive through the fireplace.

"Your mum not coming?" Lily asked Alice as she gave her a brief hug. "How is she doing?"

"Much better, but still not being up to meeting a lot of people."

Claudia said hello to Alice and Frank, before carefully taking Neville from Alice's arms. "Let me show you around," she whispered. She began with introducing little Neville to her friends, before showing him the piano, James' old broom that hung above the fireplace, and a framed picture from James' and Lily's wedding with everyone in it. Claudia and Sirius were in an embrace, laughing, and as the picture moved, Sirius planted a kiss on Claudia's temple. But Neville did not much care. He showed the most interest in a ficus plant standing in the corner. But eventually, Neville got bored of trying to reach for the ficus leaves and Claudia sat back down on the couch. Sirius was now holding Harry. They were too little to play with each other, but it was still nice, having the god-family altogether.

"Awwww." Lily's face melted into a smile as she took a picture of the four of them. "You're so cute together!"

"Don't!" Sirius laughed and he glanced at Claudia. He clearly remembered the conversation they had in Edinburg about kids as well as she did. "We are not letting you bully us into having a kid!"

"Oh, you will succumb-" Lily laughed but got interrupted by Marlene's arrival.

Marlene took a glass of eggnog from Lily and sat down in an armchair on the opposite side of the room from where Claudia and Sirius were sitting.

"How have you been, Marlene?" Remus asked.

"Good, good," she replied. "Work has been busy."

Claudia cleared her throat, remembering the promise she made to Lily. "Bones seems like a really nice person to work for."

"He is," Marlene whispered uncertainly with a side-glance at Claudia.

"He's clearly one of the more competent people in the Order," Sirius smirked.

Marlene gave him a shy smile and nodded.

Seeing that was too much for Claudia. The smile Marlene gave Sirius made some rather unpleasant images flash through her head. She knew none of this was Marlene's fault, but she just could not help hating her. She just could not stop picturing them together and it made her blood boil.

"Sorry," she mumbled and stood up. "I think Neville wants his mummy." She crossed the room to give Neville to Alice and then scuttered to hide in the kitchen. She ran the cold water and splashed her face with it. Then, she leaned over the sink and took a few deep breaths.

"You're alright?" she heard James' voice behind her and turned.

Claudia sighed. "It was hard being apart from him, you know? Watch him with someone else-" she whispered. "I deal with it by not thinking about it. But seeing her talk to him. I can't stop picturing-" she trailed off.

"You know he loves you, right?" James interrupted her.

"I know."

"He would literally die for you. No questions asked."

"I know."

"And he was miserable when you were apart. I know he missed you."

Claudia could not help but chuckle. "You don't have to overdo it, I'll be fine…"

"I'm not overdoing it," James protested. "Whenever he'd come over, he would just sit in silence for hours, always glancing at that picture from our wedding that's hanging in the living room. And then more often than not, he'd stay over on our couch. I think he struggled being in your flat on his own."

"Thank you for looking after him."

"It was not easy!" James laughed softly. "Let me tell you. It was not easy! Do you know how many times I came down in the middle of the night and found him playing something depressing on Lily's piano! What was that song…" he trailed off.

"Thanks, James," Claudia whispered and flung her arms against his neck.

"I know I wasn't always your biggest fan, but I can't tell you how much I love having you in my life," James said and squeezed her in his arms. "Love of My Life!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"What?"

"That was the song he played over and over!"

Claudia grimaced. "Oh, that is depressing."

They both laughed, still in an embrace.

"You alright here?" Claudia looked over James' shoulder to see Sirius' head popping though the doorframe.

"Just chatting to James."

Sirius walked over to them and joined in with the hug. "I might be drunk on eggnog, but I love you two," he laughed and squeezed them both so hard it hurt.

Eventually, all three of them made it back to the living room.

"Is Peter not coming?" Marlene asked innocently. After all, she was not at Sirius' birthday party and must have been in the dark about what happened.

"No, he's staying with his parents," Lily said, her mouth a little narrower than usual.

"Serves him right!" Sirius growled.

"Sirius!" Lily and Remus barked in unison.

"He's your friend. We are at war, and people are dying everywhere. Don't say things like this," Lily exclaimed.

"Would it really kill you to be nicer to him?" Remus added, in an equally disapproving tone.

"Sorry…" Sirius mumbled sheepishly.

"Now go send him an owl and tell him to be here for afternoon tea," Lily said with her hands on her hips. "It's Harry's first Christmas and I won't have one of his uncles missing."

Eventually, Peter did come, and Sirius did try to be nice. Lily standing over him with a whip definitely helped ensure that. But Claudia could not quite shake the impression that Peter would rather not be there. He was shiftly and kept avoiding the conversation. Eventually, there were no more cookies or eggnog, and everyone dispersed home. Except Remus, who went to spend the evening with Gideon's family.

The following morning, Claudia got torn from a rather pleasant dream by loud banging. "Open up!" Moody's voice echoed through the flat.

"Fuck," Claudia mumbled and jumped out of bed. Her legs almost gave the way from under her. She pulled on yesterday's clothes she found on the floor, threw blanket over Sirius, who was still somehow fast asleep and stark naked. Tiptoeing, she closed the door to the bedroom behind her and went to open the door.

"Sorry about the charade the other day," Moody grumbled as he invited himself in and pushed past Claudia to sit on her couch.

"Charade?" she asked with the arms crossed against her chest. She was still very annoyed about being yelled at like a child. Even if she knew it was her fault.

"I need you to do something," Moody explained. "And it's much better if everyone believes you're in the doghouse."

"So you aren't really mad at me? For screwing up? Letting the Order down?"

"Not really," Moody shrugged. "Dorcas has joined the Order and already taken your old job."

"Great, so-" Claudia began with a frown on her face.

"Do you want to know what I need you to do or not?" Moody interrupted.

"Fine."

"It's time to make a move. I need you to put together all the evidence against your father. Off the books. Nothing goes into the records room. If there are issues, come only to me. Trust no one."

"No one?" she whispered in utter disbelief. This was finally it. She was going to get justice.

No one," Moody nodded. "I'll talk to the others in good time, but not yet. If they ask, you're suspended and I'm making you catalogue my old cases."

Claudia broke into a smile. This is what she had been waiting for since she was fourteen. "Do you want a coffee?"

"Sure. I can stay a while." Moody stretched out and put his muddy shoes on the coffee table.

After a minute or so, when she was in the kitchen, he added. "Oh, in case you don't know, your father dropped out of the election race. Looks like you were right."

"I guess it's some consolation he won't be the Minister," she said as she re-entered the living room with a couple cups of coffee.

"We'll get him, Claudia. I promise," Moody said as he took one cup out of her hand. "And I got you something…"

"What?"

Moody reached into his pocket for a small package and handed it to Claudia. "For Christmas."

A silvery necklace fell out of the wrapping into Claudia's palm. The pendant was a long, thin ingot with runes marking that Claudia struggled to read. "A necklace?" she whispered. Moody may have just as well handed her a unicorn in that moment. This was so unlike him.

"Better than that," Moody said with a smile. "It's a miniature Probity Probe. It detects spells of concealment and hidden magical objects."

That was more like him! Without thinking, Claudia flung her arms around Moody's neck. "Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."

The moment she did that, she realised how awkward this whole thing was. This was Moody! But before she managed to let go of her boss, he gave her a slow pat on her back. "You're welcome, kid. Merry Christmas."