They had only been working on the case for a couple of days when the owls started flooding the apartment. Apparently, Lucius had been called to trial, which Aurelia found pretty fair considering he had as a matter of fact taken the mark. Her family, however, would not have it, and seemed to think the lost daughter was finally of some use now that she had a job none of them had wanted her to get in the first place. Ambrosia's letter had come first.

"Aurelia,

I hope this letter finds you well. Your father and I haven't seen you in a while, and needless to say, we missed you at your brother's funeral.

I'm afraid I bring you more bad news. Lucius is to stand trial tomorrow, November 7th, and your family needs you to testify in his favour. Your uncle has reached out to all his contacts in high places, but your testimony as an employee at the Wizengamot will be invaluable.

I will be awaiting your response and expect to see you at the ministry tomorrow morning at 9 am sharp.

Sincerely,

Your mother."

It infuriated her. That they would guilt her for not attending her death eater brother's funeral, when they knew what he had done. That they would use that against her, to try and guilt her into testifying to get her death eater cousin released when he had put himself in this bloody situation. That her mother had the audacity to write her now, when she hadn't bothered to check in on her throughout all the death she had seen the past couple of months. That she reached out now, only because she needed something from her. And Aurelia would be damned if she gave it to her.

Abraxas' letter came next. Her uncle wasn't nearly as courteous as her mother had been, not that her mother had been courteous in the first place, but that just went to show how determined her uncle was. He practically demanded her testimony and made several threats as to how she would be made heirless and married off to some wrinkly old murderer. Needless to say, Abraxas wasn't a pleasant man. But then again, he only had one child, and Aurelia understood that no matter how scary the man was, it was now his turn to be scared. If Lucius ended up in Azkaban for life, he had nothing but a traitor niece, and a one year old to continue his legacy. And legacies were important to stubborn old pureblood wizards like himself.

For once, her uncle's threats didn't scare her. Not because they were empty, because they certainly were not. No, Aurelia had simply lost too much to care about such stupid threats. She had something much more important to worry about than legacies and marriages. She had lost three of her best friends within a couple of months, she had even lost her spiteful, idiot brother, and she was fiercely determined not to lose the man she loved as well. Sirius was more important than her uncle's threats, and certainly more important than her very guilty, idiot cousin Lucius.

Throughout the day, letter after letter came flying in the window, each more violent than the other, all of them from one of the very controlling Malfoy twins that were her mother and uncle. Eventually the girl had tired so of them that she closed all the windows and refused to let another owl in, poor Remus and Regulus having to work with the constant tapping sound of beaks against glass windows.

"Why don't you just do it?!" Remus exclaimed suddenly, standing up from his chair abruptly to let the birds in with a maddened look on his face.

"It'll stop this damn noise, we'll work more efficiently, and it won't take you that long to just go there and make a bloody statement!"

"It's a principle, Remus."

"Oh, I want Malfoy locked up as much as anyone but I can't stand another minute of this absolute torture!" the Gryffindor burst out, letting the birds back out the window as he had taken the letters from them.

"Rem," Regulus tried, ever the calm energy in their chaotic workspace, placing his hand on the other man's arm, which was immediately snatched away.

"I will not calm down, you tell her, Reg! Tell her to go testify!"

"I'm not going, Remus. You're welcome to leave if this is all too much for you, but I'm not giving in to their threats anymore!"

"FINE," the werewolf spat out, throwing himself back down on his chair, picking up the parchment he had been working on before the owls drove him half mad.

"For what it's worth I think you're doing the right thing," Regulus mumbled at his friend, offering her a weak smile.

"Of course, you do," the other man muttered, letting out a deep sigh as he tried to calm himself.

It was past sundown when a stubborn knock on the apartment door brought the three out of the concentration in trying to make a case for Sirius. Sirius, who's apartment they were working from. An apartment that shouldn't be getting visitors at this hour, particularly not as its owner was imprisoned. The mere sound froze the girl solid in her seat, and in a matter of seconds she had imagined every possible terrible scenario and potential person outside that door. A girl, she thought. Someone who had taken her place as the person Sirius cared for. A ministry official, perhaps, there to take Regulus away, like all the other people she loved had been taken away. A death eater, who had yet to be imprisoned, come to take out the last of the spies.

"I'll get it," mumbled the youngest of the three, swallowing down hard and nervously pulling his hands through raven hair as he got up from his seat and walked over to the front door of his brother's apartment.

"Reggie," greeted a strained, cold voice as the young man opened the door, shock obvious on his face.

"Cissy. What… what are you doing here?"

"Save it, Reg. I'm here for the girl."

"I don't… what girl? There's no girl here," the younger Black cousin tried, nervously, grey eyes shifting between the young woman in front of him, and the sleeping child on her hip.

"You always were a terrible liar," Narcissa spat out, pushing past her youngest cousin into the dangerously silent apartment, finally finding the odd pair by the kitchen table that was buried in heaps of parchment.

"N-Narcissa," Aurelia managed, biting down on her bottom lip as her eyes went wide. Truthfully, she hadn't seen her cousin's wife in years, but she had once considered the woman her friend. What surprised her most, though, wasn't seeing her again so suddenly, nor the child on her hip. It was the fact that she had known exactly where to find her. She hadn't told anyone where she were, and the fact that the owls had been able to track her down… well, they were owls. That was what they did. Narcissa, on the other hand, had been greatly underestimated by the younger woman.

"There you are. You remember Draco, your cou- right. You wouldn't, seeing as you haven't once taken the chance to visit. He's seventeen months old. Seventeen, Aurelia. If you had at least shown up to the christening you would know we chose you as his godmother."

"I… I'm…" the girl found herself frozen in the spot again, as tears that were very much uncalled for begun forming in the corners of her eyes at the excessive amount of information and guilt that was being thrown at her. She was a terrible person, that was all she could think. There was a sweet, innocent sleeping child right in front of her, and she hadn't taken the time to see him, no less find out that she was his godmother, in the seventeen months he had lived.

"A word, in private." Narcissa wasn't asking, that much was obvious. She was making demands, and Aurelia didn't want to know what would happen if she refused them.

"Reg, take the baby," the woman demanded, holding Draco out to her cousin.

"Me? I-"

"Hold. Your. Cousin. Regulus."

"Right," he breathed, hesitatingly reaching out and taking the child off his cousin, who immediately pushed the other woman into another room and closed the door behind them.

"Have I ever asked anything of you?" the older of the two women asked sternly, as the door had closed behind them.

"No," Aurelia replied honestly, a small sigh revealing that she already knew where this conversation was going.

"Well, I'm asking now," Narcissa breathed, a glimpse of vulnerability making its way across her face before she continued. "I need you to testify for Lucius. Your position makes you more reliable, they will take you seriously."

"You know what, Narcissa. I'm sorry your husband got himself into this mess. I truly am. But as I've already told everyone else, I can't help Lucius."

"Aurelia, please. He's your cousin."

"Yes, well I'm busy trying to help your cousin, remember him? Sirius? An actual innocent person."

"Please," Narcissa begged, eyes welling up. "You're the closest thing he's ever had to a sister. He loves you."

"That doesn't matter. I wouldn't testify for my own brother even if I could," Aurelia shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest – trying to disconnect from her emotions.

"Augustus is dead! Don't you understand that? If you keep this up you're not going to have any family left before long!"

"This was their choice," Aurelia managed, practically shaking after hearing the words that had been thrown at her. Augustus was dead. So was Marlene, James and Lily. She would never see them again. There was a good chance she would never see Sirius again, and if Lucius ended up being sent to Azkaban, she would never see him again either. Her mind raced back to a chilly September evening in Hogsmeade several years prior, to her cousin – all tough exterior and insults – speaking words she'd never thought she'd hear from him: "Not only do I want you to survive this war, but believe it or not, I wish for you to be happy."

"Yes, it was their choice. And it was a bloody stupid one. But now it's your choice. Lucius needs you, and Draco… Draco needs his father."

"Harry needs his godfather," Aurelia muttered in response, grey eyes shiny as she looked up to face her cousin's wife. "He lost both his parents."

"You don't have to compare, Aurelia. You can help them both. Please."