Untethered

The first thing Claudia did the next day was to buy the most expensive bottle of whiskey she could find on her way to the Ministry and placed it on Moody's desk. He too deserved a Christmas present.

Then, she got to work. There were at least three cases her father was linked to: the kidnapping Linda was framed for, the Buttons murder that Mulciber got convicted for, and the Anderson attack in Geneva. She would have to go through all the old records meticulously to make sure nothing was missed, and there were no other leads she would need to follow up on.

The Anderson case was still at a complete standstill. She never got back anything from Emmanuel's hospital in Paris, and St Mungo's had not come forward with any new information either. She went through the papers, reminding herself of the name of the other two healers who worked on that dead witness. And there they were, healers Inkwood and Buckling.

Next, Claudia re-read their testimonies. The patient was in and out of coma and they could not explain why. Even when conscious, he struggled remembering anything – could not speak or move. He was not responding to any standard treatments, and was getting worse and worse. Every time he woke up from the coma, he seemed less and less conscious. Until one day, he did not wake up at all.

However, it was Inkwood's testimony that had an interesting addition.

"Towards the end, we tried using Legilimency to see if the cause was in his mind, and to get Crouch off our backs. But there was barely anything in there. Whatever curse he was hit with must have completely disintegrated his mind and soul."

Claudia paused for a second, playing with her necklaces from Sirius and Moody. That was indeed interesting, at least academically. But hardly a new lead. Maybe she ought to start with Button's murder. It was more familiar ground. And besides, she was sure Mulciber was not the one behind it. And the things that Marcus said…

Claudia took a deep breath. Marcus may have played her about Wilkes, may have killed Barraclough, but she was sure his reaction in the aftermath of Mulciber's trial was genuine. He said that their father sacrificed Archie. He said they wiped his memory and gave him up. If only she could find proof.

But her train of thought was interrupted by Moody. "Cheers for the whiskey."

"Merry Christmas, boss."

Moody looked around to make sure none of the other aurors on his team were around. "Anything good?" he mumbled and pointed at the files.

"Not yet." Claudia shook her head. "But I want to speak to Mulciber again."

Moody hummed. "It's too soon now. But we'll find an excuse for you to go to Azkaban again."

"And I also want to go see Ted."

"Good idea. Start there."

Keen to do something more useful than sit at a desk staring at files, Claudia picked up her jacket and set off to see the Tonkses.

"Social visit?" Ted asked as he opened the door.

"Afraid not," Claudia mumbled. "Buttons."

"Understood."

But it took a while before Claudia could get down to business. They were nearly family after all. Andromeda gave Claudia a long hug while Ted went to the kitchen to make tea.

"I saw Sirius the other week," Andromeda said when she finally released Claudia. "He looked so calm and happy again. I'm so happy for you both."

"He told you about our little hiccup?"

"No, he did not." Andromeda shook her head slightly. "But I'm not blind."

"It's all good now."

"I'm glad."

Ted emerged from the kitchen with a couple mugs of tea. "Should we drink these in my study?"

Claudia said goodbye to Andromeda, followed Ted to the study and sat down in a comfortable chair.

"What can I do for you, Claude?"

"I'm looking through some old cases, and I just wanted to see if you remembered anything else, that's all."

Ted shook his head. "No. I remember being in front of the Ministry, and then seeing you and the other auror on the Heath. I recall absolutely nothing in between."

"Have you or Buttons ever met Mulciber? Had any beef with him?"

Ted shook his head again. "Do you think someone else had ordered it?"

"You saw him at the trial," Claudia shrugged. "He was clearly not telling the whole truth. The healer himself said so."

"Typical Crouch," Ted puffed. "The conviction should never have stood. But he does not care about justice. He just cares about speed and numbers..."

"You won't hear me defending him…" Claudia smirked.

"Do the aurors also think he's dangerous?"

"Not sure I can speak for everyone… He may have implied some things to me that-" she paused and took a deep breath. "That make me think he's not the right person to be heading up that department."

"What things?"

"That I should testify I saw Mulciber when he tried to hang you."

Ted's face went bright red. "He did not!" he exclaimed and jumped to his feet. "You have to report it! He cannot get away with that!"

"He never directly asked me to do it," she shrugged. "Just hinted enough for me to understand, but not enough that it could not be explained away as a misunderstanding."

"Of course-" Ted began to pace around his study. "The whole system needs reform. It's archaic and corrupt-"

"Ted!" Andromeda burst through the door. "Dora fell down the stairs. St Mungo's. Let's go."

Claudia jumped up to standing. "I'll come with you."

But Ted and Andromeda's anxieties seemed largely unfounded. Nymphadora did not seem especially phased by her injuries. Once she was sitting in her St Mungo's bed, she kept poking her injured floppy foot with her finger and showing off her colourful hair to any healer that was willing to listen. It was clear to Claudia she was no longer needed, and decided to make her way home.

As she walked towards the exit, Claudia spotted a sign above a door: 'Maladies of the Mind'.

All thought of going home was now abandoned. She pushed open the door to the wing, flashed her auror badge at the guard who tried to stop her and strolled down the corridor.

"Excuse me," she said in the direction of the first healer she saw. "I'm looking for Buckling and-."

"Oh," the healer stopped in his tracks. "He died. About a year ago."

"What happened?"

"Some accident, I don't really know."

"And Inkwood?"

"End of the corridor, the door on the right."

"Thank you."

She found the door easily enough, then took a few deep breaths and knocked.

"Come in!"

Claudia opened the door and the healer occupying the office turned around and smiled. "What can I do for you?" He looked young for a healer, maybe in his thirties, and very much like someone who would have half of Hogwarts on their knees.

"Are you Mr Inkwood?"

"Yes."

Claudia was finding his constant smiling almost disconcerting. "I'm Claudia Avery from the Auror Office."

The expression on Inkwood's face could not have changed any quicker. The pleasant demeanour was gone in a flash. "What do you want?" he barked.

"I want to ask you some questions about that Ministry official you and Buckling's looked after."

"I have nothing more to tell you."

Claudia refused to take no for an answer. Inkwood's behaviour convinced her there was something here to follow up. "Have you ever tried extracting his memories?"

"No."

"Your testimony said you did Legilimency on him towards the end."

Inkwood shifted uncomfortably. "Just something we briefly tried. Desperate attempt to see how alive he still was."

Claudia measured him. None of this was exactly convincing. "I thought there was some talk of Crouch wanting his memory restored."

"Crouch wants a lot of things from us that we cannot do," Inkwood hissed. "Now, if you excuse me…"

Claudia knew when to give up, at least for the time being. She would have to regroup, do more research, and come back.

"Have a good day," she mumbled and turned on her heel to walk out. As she walked past Inkwood's bookshelf, her necklace from Moody started going crazy (burning against her skin). She reached up to touch the shelf.

"That really is all," Inkwood barked. "Please leave." He added, walked towards Claudia and as much as shoved her out of the door.

Full of suspicion, Claudia went home. Sirius was pacing the living room, dressed in a jacket and a scarf when she entered.

He sighed with relief the moment he saw her and glanced at his watch.

"I'm not that late," Claudia mumbled.

"That's not it. Moody drafted me to do a long mission and I didn't want to go without explaining."

"What mission?"

"He wants me to follow Bagnold everywhere she goes."

"Doesn't she have an official security team?"

"She does, but Moody doesn't trust them."

"So, you're going to do what? Stalk her?"

"Pretty much. And report to Moody anything suspicious."

Claudia sighed. "For how long?"

"I might be gone until the election. Moody got me an invisible tent to pitch up in front of her house." Sirius took a couple of steps closer to Claudia and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I might be able to pop in every now and then. But from what Moody said, not for much more than a shower and a comfortable bed."

"Please be careful."

"I promise."

Cold and alone, Claudia found the chapter on recovering memories in Sirius' dark Legilimency book. To help her focus on Legilimency, rather than Sirius' whereabouts (and the fact he was likely to be gone for weeks), she poured herself a rather large glass of whiskey. It was not exactly the best bedtime reading, but it was helpful. What she learnt was that there were two ways to extract someone's memories – create copies and rip them out. Ripping them out was more permanent, but left scars on the soul... The more you ripped out, the weaker the soul got. Eventually, it got too scarred to ever recover. It may have been a little farfetched, but it sounded exactly like what happened to that witness.

Claudia could barely sleep that night at the thought someone could have so easily rip her consciousness out of her. The only thing that kept her calm was the fact she was seeing Agrippa in the morning and could get a low down on what could be going on. Luckily for Claudia, she managed to dose off and soon, she found herself in the Department of Mysteries.

"I was meaning to ask you last time," Agrippa said as they walked through the entrance vestibule. "With your talent for Legilimency, I'm surprised it had not surfaced before… It usually does."

Claudia shrugged. "Well, I've never tried it before."

"It can be unintentional," he explained. "Have you ever unintentionally read someone's mind? Maybe when you were little?"

"No… I don't think so," she replied, but then paused for a second and mindlessly scratched the back of her head. "But I always felt like I understood people's intentions. I could read them quite well."

"Well, that may have been latent Legilimency. You may have been doing it without realising."

"Interesting…" Claudia mumbled just as they arrived at Agrippa's office.

"I got a new task for you today," Agrippa said and moved towards the bookshelf. "I obtained memories of someone who had suffered from hallucinations. It's a really good exercise to distinguish planted images from real memories and thoughts."

"Interesting…"

"It's an auror, tortured to insanity by Grindelwald. You will need a strong stomach."

"Alright…" she mumbled, wondering what someone like Grindelwald, or Voldemort, could do to someone's mind if they knew how to rip their soul and consciousness apart. The Azkaban Dementors would be a walk in the park in comparison-

"You seem distracted."

"So- sorry," Claudia apologised, stuttering. "You were saying?"

"What's on your mind?"

Claudia sighed. "I was reading this Legilimency book last night. Would you mind if I picked your brain?"

Agrippa returned the memories to his shelf and sat down in the armchair facing Claudia. "The book I gave you?"

"No, a different one." She took it out of her bag and placed it on the little table between them.

"Where did you get this?" he whispered.

"My boyfriend gave it to me for my birthday."

"Strange gift," he said with a small chuckle.

"My interest is academic, I swear…" Claudia felt the need to clarify. "Well, largely academic. I think there might be a link to a case I'm working on. It's about erasing or extracting certain memories. I'm not quite sure yet."

"And you don't mean erasing them the usual way when performing obliviation, by obscuring them."

"No." Claudia shook her head. "I mean the method of actually ripping them out of someone's brain. All of them. Until there's basically nothing left."

"It's possible, but it's banned."

"Do you think there are any circumstance the Ministry would authorise that to get evidence from someone who is in and out of coma?"

Agrippa took a moment to respond. "They would struggle to find a healer or a Legilimens who would perform it. I certainly would not."

"Interesting…"

"Anything else?"

"Not yet."

"Good. Now." Agrippa jumped to his feet again. "Shall we review those hallucinations?"

They did and Agrippa was right. It was so interesting, Claudia spent whole day in his office combing through those memories. She only briefly popped into her office at the end of the day to write another letter to Emmanuel in Paris. She needed to talk to him and short of actually getting on a boat to the continent, it was the best she could do.

She spent the next week following Inkwood, who was currently the only lead she had. She found some bushes near his house that she could hide in in the early morning, and wait for him to open his bedroom curtains. Every morning, without fail, he did that at six-thirty before going down to his kitchen to make one piece of toast and a cup of tea. An hour later, she could see a faint green flash through the kitchen window. That was Claudia's cue to apparate to St Mungo's to see that was where Inkwood was indeed heading. And every day, that was what he did. By Thursday, she could not take it any more and decided to check through the Geneva files. Again. All ten boxes of them.

Oscar was the only other person in there. Moody and Ewan were in interrogation, and Adebayo was out somewhere.

"Want a coffee?" Oscar asked and stretched his back out.

"I'll take one," Claudia said with a sigh. She was reading though witness testimonies for what felt like a millionth time.

"Get me one with milk, no sugar then, will you?" he said and leaned over his papers again.

"Fuck off," Claudia said with a scoff. "It was your idea. I'm not getting up."

"You got way too comfortable here, Avery," Oscar said with a smirk as he got up. "Any other trainee tells me to fuck off, and I'll have them for breakfast."

"Shut up and make me a coffee."

Laughing to himself, Oscar disappeared into the Auror Office kitchen and returned five minutes later with two cups of coffee. "How is it going he asked? Cross-checking all the boss' old files."

"Still better than having to deal with Malfoy every day."

"I guess-" Oscar began but got interrupted by a memo flying into their office. He grabbed it from the air, skimmed it and then passed it to Claudia. "Ewan's handwriting."

Claudia picked it up and glanced at it.

"You both might want to come and watch this interrogation. Room C."

"Let's go," Oscar said and shoved all his sensitive papers into his safe.

"I'm not sure the boss would be too happy with me being there."

"Oh, come on, we're just going to watch from the adjacent room. He won't even know you are there."

Claudia nodded, locked her things into her own safe and they both set off.

"What happened?" Oscar asked when they caught a glimpse of Ewan in front of 'Room C'.

"Can't stop," he said. "But you'll see. Major breakthrough."

Claudia and Oscar shuffled into the small room next to 'Room C' where you could see through a glass and watch what was going on in the interrogation. It was a neat invention. The story was that a Head of DMLE about twenty years prior saw these things in a muggle movie, and sent a couple of agents to a muggle glassing company to get them installed. Claudia was sure there was an easier way to do this with magic, but they worked rather well.

Ewan slid a piece of parchment across the table to a fair-headed man in his thirties. "Can you tell me what these are, Mr Bristlecone?" he spoke, his voice audible through a special spell that created one-way sound tunnel between the two rooms.

"Test postal ballot papers. We've been making some with all the candidates currently in the race. To prepare for the final production."

"Are you sure?"

"I work for Carmichael. I am sure this is a ballot paper."

"Who did I vote for?"

The detainee glanced at the ballot. "Malfoy."

Ewan picked up the ballot paper again. "Funny you should say that. I ticked the box for Bagnold. Then I put it in the envelope, left it in my desk overnight and voila." He pointed theatrically at the piece of parchment. "It switched to Malfoy."

"That's impossible."

"I thought so too, so I went to get some more of your sample ballots. The same thing happened with fifty others!"

The detainee folded his arms over his chest. "What's that got to do with me?"

"We found these in your office."

Claudia was fully expecting Bristlecone to break down, to start shaking, to deny it. But instead, he burst out into high-pitched laughter.

"Fine. I confess. I charmed those ballots," he finally managed to speak. "And I don't have any regrets. I would do it again in a heartbeat."

"Did Carmichael made you do this?"

"No, he's a coward."

Moody shifted in his chair. "Did Malfoy put you up to this?"

The detainee scoffed. "No. I've never met him. I just thought I'll show a little initiative."

"Why?" Ewan resumed the interrogation following Moody's interruption.

"Because I'm sick of these mudbloods running the show. We need proper leadership, someone who will turn this place around."

Moody stood up so abruptly that the chair he was sitting on toppled. "Take him to Azkaban to await trial. I've heard enough."

Claudia saw Moody walk out of the interrogation room and within a second, he was standing in the door a yard away from her and Oscar, glaring at them both. "Aren't you two busy enough?"

"Malfoy had to know," Claudia exclaimed.

"No way this was just a coincidence, boss." Oscar added.

"Of course, Malfoy knew," Moody grumbled. "We're going to let this cocky bastard stew in Azkaban for a bit, and then we'll crack him."

"What happens now?" Claudia asked. "We don't know who else he was working with. We cannot risk it was just him. This election is rigged!"

"That's up to the Minister," Moody said, and his frown deepened. "If only there was someone working in the Minister's office who could tell us what he was planning."

But before Claudia could muster an apology, Moody was gone again.

"I'm starting to think he might not get over it," Oscar smirked.

"Yup," Claudia sighed and dropped in a chair.

"You alright? The boss will come ar-"

"I'm not worried about the boss. It's just-"

"Just what?"

"I feel so useless… And it's like Mulciber all over again."

"At least this fall guy seems to be confessing on his own will." Oscar glanced at his watch. "Are you coming to the meeting?"

"What meeting?"

"The meeting."

"Oh," Claudia said with a involuntary chuckle. "I forgot you know about those now."

They were both a little late to the meeting, and just managed to grab a couple of chairs either side of Sirius, who Claudia had not seen since he left over a week ago. She quickly leaned in and gave him a kiss. "So glad to see you. How has it been?"

But they got shushed by Bones, and the meeting began. Dorcas, the young auror who replaced Claudia as the Order agent in the Minister's office, was the first to speak. "There was a Board meeting earlier. I heard a few things, but I was not allowed to come. All I know is that they will now allow in-person voting as well as the postal ballots. Anyone who does not want to risk their ballot being rigged can come into the Ministry to vote."

"But that will hugely increase the security risk."

A frown had appeared on Claudia's face. This could not have been their plan all along, could it? To get caught to force the Ministry to hold an election in person. Get everyone there to cause havoc. Claudia's eyes shot towards Moody, and then Sirius. They were both clearly thinking the same.

"What are the security arrangements going to be like?" she mumbled.

But before Dorcas could answer, Moody snarled. "You could have told us if you did not get yourself fired!"

Claudia rolled her eyes. She understood why Moody kept up the pretence he was punishing her, but she was getting rather tired of it. "I'll speak to my old contacts. See if I can find something out."

"You better," Moody grumbled but Claudia could swear she could see the slightest wink in his eye.

"Actually," Dorcas cleared her throat. "I am in the Minister's office now and Carmichael is in charge of the security arrangements."

"Not DMLE?" Moody asked.

"No."

Moody frowned and turned to Claudia. "Find out why."

They spent the rest of the Order meeting discussing Minchum's chances. The consensus was they were bleak. The news of the scandal have not gone away, and it very much seemed like he run out of ideas of what to do to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Sirius tried to cheer everyone up by raving about Bagnold's performance on the election campaign, but it hardly improved the mood.

"What do we do if Malfoy wins?" Bones finally asked the question that was on everyone's mind. And seemingly, no one felt like answering it either.

"We're fucked," Sirius finally interrupted the silence. "That's what."

"Are there some protocols at the Ministry, Alastor?" Bones asked.

"No," Moody shook his head. "I'll try to knock some sense into Crouch. At least have a plan to destroy records they could abuse."

And with that, the meeting was over.

"Do you have to go back to the field tonight?" Claudia mumbled into Sirius' chest when they were standing out on the street, finally alone.

"Not tonight," he sighed. "Tomorrow morning."

They bought some dinner in the chippy in the way home, and ate it in bed. Her stomach full of chips, Claudia dropped into the pillow. Sirius leaned over her and kissed her. His fingers ran across her face, neck and chestbone.

"What's this?" he whispered, picking up Moody's necklace between his fingers.

"It's from Moody."

Sirius grimaced. "What?"

"I know, weird," Claudia laughed. "It's a Probity Probe."

"That makes more sense," Sirius laughed and kissed her again. Claudia hung her arms around his neck and pulled him into the bed. She was tired but there was no way she was letting him go without having him kiss every inch of her body. Who knew when they were going to see each other again.

Claudia was already asleep by the time Sirius got out of the shower. All she had by the morning was a faint memory of them exchanging a few words. And when it was time to go, he was still fast asleep and she did not have the heart to wake him. She made him a cup of coffee, placed it on the bedside table and left for work.

Work… If you could call a whole day of aimlessly watching Inkwood work. If someone told her when she was at school that this is what the Auror Office would be like, she would have saved herself the trouble of applying. Mercifully, the workday was soon over, and Claudia could finally drag Berenice to the Auror Office for a drink. If there was someone in the Minister's office who kept their ear to the ground, and would tell Claudia everything, it was Berenice.

Everyone else has gone either home or on a mission, which allowed Claudia exclusive use of the office and Oscar's secret whiskey stash.

"You've missed so much drama!" Berenice laughed even before she sat down.

"Do tell," Claudia chuckled and took a sip.

"First of all. I have big news. The Minister is announcing tomorrow morning that he's dropping out of the race."

"What?"

"I know!"

"How? What happened?"

"Well," Berenice took another sip. "Between us. Headmaster Dumbledore just appeared in his office really late last night, and insisted on having a word with the Minister. Minchum sent us all home, and then this morning he told us he was dropping out of the race. I can only imagine Dumbledore had something to do with it."

"So, Bagnold or Malfoy."

Berenice sighed. "I know who I'd rather have."

Claudia took another slow sip. She was starting to feel the whiskey not only in her throat but also in her head. "Can't believe we'll actually get to vote for the first time."

"I know!"

"And in person, I gather… I wonder though, is it going to be safe?" Claudia mumbled, averting her gaze.

Berenice did not seem to notice the slight change of topic. "Carmichael seems to have it under control."

Claudia sighed. "I was hoping DMLE would be called in to do it. I miss it; was hoping to get a second chance."

"Shouldn't have gotten fired."

"Don't you start as well." Claudia paused and filled up their glasses again. "Do you know why Carmichael is in charge of security rather than Crouch?"

"He wanted it and the Minister couldn't afford to piss him off." Berenice paused and scratched her head. "Although it might not matter now he's not running."

"I bet Crouch will try to claw it back."

"He'll probably have a decent chance."

Claudia got what she wanted, so she finished her drink and ushered Berenice home. She liked her company, but there was only so much gossip she could take in one night. Especially, because she could sense that Berenice was about to move on to who was sleeping with whom.

The moment Claudia stepped over the threshold of the empty flat, a fresh wave of anxiety washed over her. But her tattoo was still there, so she tried her best to go around her evening. But reading did not work and neither did listening to Sirius' music. She could not stop worrying.

By one o'clock, she was still laying wide awake on the sofa and just about had enough. She got up and dragged her heels to the kitchen. She could cook something; after all she could not quite remember whether she had dinner or not. But it was late, and cooking was hard work. Her eyes have subsequently landed on a bottle of firewhiskey. That was tempting. She reached for it, but as she did, she nearly knocked over a bottle of sleeping drought she made earlier.

"That would do," she mumbled, measured up a double portion of the potion and downed it. She just about had time to brush her teeth before the potion took hold and Claudia fell asleep.

When she opened the papers the following morning, it was instantly clear that Berenice was right. Minchum was out, and the election just became a two-horse race. She glanced over to Sirius' pillow, which was still eerily empty. How she wished he was here to talk about this all. Her eyes travelled to her tattoo, which was still intact.

"Bloody Order. Stealing my boyfriend…" she sighed, brushed her fingers over Sirius' pillow and went to get some coffee. As she drank it, she pondered what this meant. Malfoy's campaign was based on fighting Minchum's sleaze and incompetence, not a woman with integrity and reputation for being extremely efficient.

Bagnold's biggest election weakness was that her department at the Ministry was a bit small, and she had no proven experience of high office. But even that was a lot more than Malfoy had. Avery may have had a better chance against Bagnold in this regard.

The three weeks until the election were torturous. Sirius was still out most of the time and Claudia, finding it hard to cope home alone, was spending more and more time in the office and on official auror business, relying on either whiskey or sleeping drought to shut of her brain at night to get at least few hours sleep.

She could not even face seeing their friends. They would all want to know how she was coping with Sirius out, and what she was working on, and she had absolutely no intention of discussing either of those things. Every time she even thought about the case against her father, she wanted to scream, frustrated by the lack of progress.

The mood in the office has gone sour too. Crouch insisted on an expedited trial for Bristlecone, who was found guilty and sent to Azkaban for twenty years. Even by Crouch's standards, it was a rushed trial. No time to put together a proper case, no time to try to establish who else may have been behind it. All Crouch seemed to care about was having his picture plastered all over the front page of the Prophet as the hero who saved the election. Moody was having absolutely none of it, and ordered Ewan to work the case in secret.

Encouraged by Moody's bolshy attitude, and frustrated that Inkwood seemed to be an absolute dead end, Claudia had decided to throw caution in the wind.

"Ewan," Claudia said and jumped to sit on her colleague's desk. "Were you planning to go to Azkaban at some point to have another go at your fall guy? To see if he softened up?"

"Yeah. Today."

"Can I come with you?"

Ewan's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"I'm bored of Moody's files. Please! I promise to keep my mouth shut and the boss will never know."

It took her nearly half an hour to convince Ewan to let her come along, but finally he did and by the late afternoon, they were both standing in the secure portkey area of the Ministry. As ever, they got searched, surrendered their wands and were on their way.

It was the same story as last time - screams and flashbacks the moment she stepped out of the boundary of the protective enchantments. But this time these were neither about Claudia's mother, nor her insecurities about Sirius. It was only one thought that tormented her. Sirius was dead.

She shut her eyes and bit her lip. "Get out of my fucking head." She lowered her head and hurried towards the interrogation room. Once there, she collapsed into the chair and gripped her left forearm. The relief was instantaneous. She could feel the warmth emitting from her tattoo, almost as if it was pulsating. She smiled to herself. She probably imagined the fact the tattoo was trying to keep her warm, but it was nevertheless a nice reminder that Sirius was still alive.

Soon, Bristlecone was brought to them. You could see Azkaban had affected him physically, but mentally, he was still that defiant piece of shit they interrogated at the Ministry and gave them absolutely nothing.

"Some people hold up better than others," Ewan shrugged as the guards led Bristlecone away, the chilling shrieks of the other inmates coming though the crack in the door. "Give it a few weeks though."

"It makes me queasy. I know they're prisoners and stuff-"

"It makes everyone queasy. But so far no one found a safer way to keep this lot in check…"

"Would you mind if I checked on a prisoner?"

"Who?"

"Mulciber…"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"I just want to see how he's doing in here. We both know there was more to it."

"I know better than to argue." Ewan stood up. "I'm going to walk back to the portkey very slowly. You have fifteen minutes."

"Thank you."

"I know nothing about this."

"Thank you."

Once Ewan left, Claudia hurried to ask the guard to bring Mulciber. Unlike Bristlecone, he did look like he had been through hell. Out of a deep pocket, she took out a piece of chocolate that was not taken off her during the search and passed it to Mulciber. He reached for it with bony, shaking fingers and shoved it whole into his mouth. Claudia watched him intently for about a minute, before he finally raised his eyes.

"Avery," he mumbled.

Claudia smiled at him and nodded. One better than last time, she thought, at least he knew who she was.

"Is Marcus safe?"

Claudia sunk her fingers into her thighs. Marcus' safety was the least of her concerns. He should be rotting here with Mulciber if there was any justice in the world. But an outburst like that was unlikely to help right now.

"Marcus is fine," she replied through gritted teeth.

"He needs to be careful." Mulciber's voice shook. "They'll set him up. Just like they set me up."

"Who set you up?"

But instead of responding, Mulciber blinked and kept staring at her.

"Did you hear me? Who set you up?"

Mulciber blinked again. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"Fuck," Claudia mumbled and glanced at her watch. Her fifteen minutes was almost up, and there was no point continuing. The memory charm must have taken hold again. "I will be back."

But Mulciber was not going to respond to her. He grabbed the table between his fingers, began to rock back and forth, and hum something.

"Guard!" Claudia yelled as she walked over to the door. They took Mulciber back to his cell, and she legged it to the portkey to meet up with Ewan again, feeling a little happier than this morning. Mulciber may have been a wreck, but the memory charm seemed to be wearing off (at least when he was under the influence of the Dementors). She will just have to come back and try again.

"Do you want to head to the meeting together?" Ewan asked when they were back at the Ministry and out of reach of the Dementors.

"I'm going to go to records. See if I can find anything about Mulciber. Anything I've missed."

"Anything you want me to tell them?"

Claudia recounted the conversation with Berenice about Crouch having a chance putting himself in charge of election security, now that Carmichael was out of the picture. Crouch might have been a real arse, dead set on abusing his power, but at least he was not a Death Eater…

Within half an hour, Claudia was sitting on the floor in Records, with everything on the Buttons' and Anderson's cases in front of her, and a stale sandwich in her hand.

But everything she looked at was just another dead end. Emmanuel and Mulciber's memory were the only leads she had, and neither looked especially promising right now. She bit into the sandwich, but instantly gagged and spat it out into her hand.

It was disgusting. It must have gotten off.

Claudia threw it towards the bin with all the force she could muster, dropped her head into her hands and started to sob.

Everything was going to shit! She lost her job in the Minister's office. And this great thing Moody's asked her to work on was turning out to be the greatest poison chalice in the history of the wizarding world. And worst of all, she knew her father did all these things! She just knew! And he was still just walking free… And there was nothing she could do about it.

"Tough case?" a sharp voice interrupted her thoughts.

Claudia wiped her eyes. "Frustrating. I know there is more to it-"

"Go home, love. Try again tomorrow," the Record keeper said with a smile that was probably intended to be encouraging but came across as creepy.

"I can't…"

"I need to lock up here."

"What time is it?"

"Nearly midnight."

"I didn't realise," she mumbled, and collected all her files. "I'll get out of here."

Claudia dragged her heels home. She was not particularly looking forward to a night alone in the cold bed, thinking up horrifying scenarios of what happened to Sirius. So much so, that she seriously contemplated sleeping on the floor of Moody's office.

It turned out that, however, she did not need to make her usual choice between sleeping drought and whiskey that night.

Sirius was in bed, fast asleep. He mumbled something about trying to stay awake when she climbed into bed to join him and squeezed her in his arms.

In the morning, Claudia woke up warm for a change. She purred when she realised she was not in that bed alone. "You're still here," she whispered and turned over.

Sirius was just waking up too. "I'm here."

"Do you need to go anywhere today?"

"Just the vote. And with the election over, you'll get sick of me being around."

"Unlikely," she kissed him. Then, she frowned. "I forgot it was election day already."

"Forgotten?" Sirius mumbled. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know…"

"I've seen the fridge, Claude," Sirius whispered. "All the food we had is still in there. Have you eaten anything at all?"

"I ate at work," she replied, remembering her disgusting sandwich.

"Talk to me."

Claudia sighed. "I've been feeling so useless. I've been going through records finding absolutely nothing new, and following some dumb healer around for weeks. All the while-" she stopped and pulled a pillow over her head to growl in it.

But Sirius pulled the pillow off her face. "All the while what?"

"All the while the whole order is idolising Dorcas for doing my old job half as well as I could. And even you get to follow Bagnold everywhere she goes! It's not fair!"

"Claude." He brushed her hair off her face with his index finger. "You can't expect to send a Death Eater to jail every week, or save the election-"

"None of that matters as long as my father walks free!" she barked and sat up.

"Of course it matters. You are doing enough, more than enough. And you need to look after yourself."

"I don't have the time…"

"You have to. The Order needs you strong. I need you strong."

Claudia finally gave in and buried her face in Sirius' chest. "Never leave me here alone again. I can't cope with it-"

Sirius planted a kiss on her head. "Given all the crap you've been through, you're coping better than anyone else in this world would. And you still have our friends if you're feeling down and I'm not here. They care about you."

"I know. I just couldn't face it…"

"I get it," Sirius sighed. "But consider it next time. Please."

Claudia did not have the strength to argue. She wrapped her arms around Sirius and just laid there. She'd give anything to be able to stay like that all day, alas it was not to be. "What time do you have to be there?"

"We have time."

It was nearly eight before they managed to get out of bed, just enough time for a quick shower, a coffee and beans on toast that Sirius had prepared and practically force-fed his girlfriend.

"I forgot to ask you earlier," Sirius said, as they were both getting dressed in the bedroom. "Were you doing something weird yesterday afternoon?"

"Why?" Claudia asked, as she sat on the bed, pulling on her socks.

"My arm was feeling weird. Like my tattoo was freezing it from the inside."

Claudia froze and slowly lifted her head. "I was in Azkaban. You know, feeling like your soul is being sucked out of you."

Sirius stopped buttoning his shirt. "You don't think that…"

Claudia remembered the pulsating. Suddenly, it did not feel that far-fetched. "We did more with that spell than just make the tattoos show if we're alive?"

He sat down on the bed next to her. "It's an imprint, a mirror, of a soul in a way. So plausible I'd feel it if your soul was being starved by the Dementors of anything resembling happiness."

"Was it just cold to touch?"

"You know when you get cold or sick and you feel the waves of chill running up your back? It was a bit like that but coming from my forearm."

"Did it affect your mood?"

Siris shrugged. "Of course it did, but that was probably just anxiety about what on Earth was happening to you."

"I guess." She glanced at the clock. "We're really late now."

They apparated to the Ministry atrium that was already buzzing with witches and wizards in robes of every conceivable colour and material. But they were still outnumbered by people in uniform. Hundreds of them. Claudia had never seen anything like it; aurors, Hit Wizards, patrol officers all working together to search every person, confiscate every wand, and descend on anyone who looked like they might be trouble.

Claudia and Sirius hung around the atrium, just keeping an eye on everything and making sure the official security did not miss a beat. They had a chance to grab a few words with Remus and Peter who both in came to vote. Understandably, the Potters and the Longbottoms chose the sensible option and voted postally.

Everything went smoothly, and at eight in the evening, it was finally time for the results to be announced. Claudia did not feel as much useless anymore as an absolute nervous wreck. They were literal minutes away from Lucius Malfoy, a likely Death Eater, potentially becoming the second youngest Minister of Magic in the history.

Carmichael was the first to arrive on the makeshift podium, clutching an envelope in this hand. Bagnold and Malfoy soon followed and stood either side of him.

You could hear the pin drop in the atrium as Carmichael opened the envelope.

"Number of total ballots cast," Carmichael spoke. "Two thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven."

Claudia looked at Sirius. Was it a lot? What did it mean?

"Ballots cast for Lucius Abraxas Armand Malfoy," Carmichael continued. "One thousand, three hundred and forty-five."

Claudia was desperately trying to do the mental math, but just could not. There was semi-excited murmur going around the atrium, but she still had no idea which way this was going. She gripped Sirius' hand as tight as she could.

"Ballots cast for Millicent Frances Bagnold, one thousand four hundred and ninety-"

Claudia did not hear the rest of the number, or the number of spoilt ballots that came after.

Carmichael's voice got drowned in cheers.

Bagnold won the election.

Sirius grabbed Claudia in his arms and spun her around. "She won!"

"I can't believe it!" Claudia exclaimed. She could feel her whole body shaking with excitement.

But the crowd quietened down, and Claudia turned back to the stage to see that the new Minister of Magic has now taken centre stage and was gesturing to indicate she wanted silence.

"I am one for action, not words, so I will keep this brief," Bagnold began with a huge smile on her face. "Thank you to all who put your trust in me. Who voted for me, encouraged me, told me I could do this."

Claudia was tearing up. It was mostly out of relief, but also happiness for this formidable woman. She glanced at Malfoy. He was standing behind Bagnold, his face completely unreadable. He must have been wondering if he would be the one giving that speech right now, if Minchum had not dropped out. Or what Voldemort was going to do to him…

Malfoy's eyes travelled across the room until they settled on Claudia. She averted her gaze as fast as she could and turned her attention back to Bagnold's speech.

"But I promise today to be a Minister for all who are on the side of justice and the law. Together, we will win this war and flourish. I want you all to be able to trust the Ministry. We will be more open, more welcoming of suggestions. I want you to feel we are on your side."

Claudia's tears were now flowing freely, and Sirius pulled her into a hug.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I have a crush on her," Claudia whispered back.

Sirius laughed. "I think I do too."

"Because without the support of the people," Bagnold's strong voice kept echoing through the atrium. "The Minister and the Ministry are nothing. We will not succeed in bringing about peace and prosperity without you. I will work every waking hour of every day to gain your trust and keep it. And now, it's time to get on with it!"

And with those words, she bowed her head a little and left the stage to another enormous roar from the crowd.

Claudia wiped her eyes. "If we ever have a kid, I'm naming them Millicent."

"Even if it's a boy? Might be bit unusual-"

Claudia laughed. "Even if it's a boy-"

But then, someone shrieked.

Claudia jumped and Sirius froze.

She looked around the room for the source of the commotion, her wand drawn, ready to strike.

But it was just a couple of Bagnold supporters shrieking with glee.

"Just excitement," Claudia whispered and grabbed Sirius' arm to steady herself more than anything else. "Just excitement…" She would be lying if she said her heart was not in her throat right now.

"Let's get home before someone murders us for real," Sirius mumbled. "I don't expect Voldemort is especially happy right now."

Claudia sighed. "I dread to think what his next move is going to be..."