The three weeks that passed since Izzy and Harry's arrival home were rather tense. The attacks on Muggles had increased severely with them growing for what the Muggle world called 'a serial killer's work' to 'a series on unfortunate natural disasters' that ended up with dozens of deaths at once. Still, there didn't seem to be any attacks within the magical community yet, which both puzzled and gave a fake sense of safety to the population… Maybe he just wants to wipe all Muggles this time around, some selfishly thought.
It was around nine in the morning when Sirius woke up in his bed, one of his arms wrapped around Mia's waist as she slept on her side, facing him. She looked incredibly peaceful, though her hair was a mess and all the covers seemed to have been kicked away to his side of the bed, as she usually felt rather hot due to the raging hormones of pregnancy. He removed his arm from around her and moved his hand to touch the soft bump that was starting to form on her abdomen – every day that passed, he got more and more excited to meet that baby, though he still had several months ahead of him before that happened.
Sirius got up and, carefully enough not to wake her, he kissed his wife's cheek only to have her mumbling something under her breath and sinking her face further in the pillow, snatching his as well and holding it against her. Beautiful, he thought, looking at her sleeping form. Being pregnant really made her more beautiful than ever, as far as he could tell… It was with a grin that he grabbed and bunch of clothes, going to the bathroom in order to have a shower.
Around fifteen minutes later, he was already making his way into the kitchen, seeing the kids already at the table as soon as he got in. Harry seemed to be busy reading the Daily Prophet, while Izzy sat on the opposite side of the table eating absently and Kreacher stood on top of a little stool opposite the stove, cooking.
"Good morning," Sirius greeted them.
"Morning," Harry and Izzy chorused.
"Where's Alex?"
"Lulu came around ten minutes ago and took him – he was going to spend the day with her and Gabe, remember?" his daughter said.
"Oh, right, I'd completely forgotten it." He supposed he'd have to leave the usual morning session of tickling his son mercilessly for later that day… "So, is there anything interesting in the paper? Except for the usual rubbish, of course," he asked, making his way to go take a seat by Izzy's side.
"Well, apparently, they 'know' I'm the Chosen One, so to speak," Harry told him, apparently indifferent.
"Let me see that," Sirius requested, reaching for the newspaper Harry was passing to him. Apparently, the kid had once again made the headlines of the day…
HARRY POTTER: THE CHOSEN ONE?
Rumours continue to fly about the mysterious disturbance at the Ministry of Magic last month, during which He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was sighted once more.
Highly placed sources within the Ministry have confirmed that the disturbance centred on the fabled Hall of Prophecy.
Though Ministry spokes-wizards have thus far refused even to confirm the existence of such a place, a growing number of the Wizarding community believe that the Death Eaters now serving sentences in Azkaban for trespass and attempted theft were attempting to steal a prophecy. The nature of that prophecy is unknown, although speculation is rife that it concerns Harry Potter, the only person ever known to have survived the Killing Curse, and who is also known to have been at the Ministry on the night in question. Some are going so far as to call Potter 'the Chosen One,' believing that the prophecy names him as the only one who will be able to rid us of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. However, neither Potter nor his guardians accepted to make any comment on this matter.
Sirius rolled his eyes and stopped reading. "Long story short, they don't know a thing and are throwing pebbles at the air, hopping to hit a bird. They were bound to start wondering about why you were at the ministry when the battle happened."
Izzy nodded, agreeing with her father. "I suppose this must be why we kept getting Owls from the Prophet to get interviews or statements."
"They'd better wait somewhere comfortable because they're not getting it anytime soon," Harry stated, reaching for a piece of toast and taking a bite from it. He didn't want a thing to do with the Daily Prophet.
"They'll just keep on speculating and writing about it," Sirius pointed out. "The blokes just want stuff to sell papers."
"I think I got that fact back in my fourth year."
"Yeah, with Skeeter following you around all year, we should be worried if you hadn't," Izzy stated.
Sirius turned a few pages of the paper, just reading the headlines of the articles. He stopped when he reached the centre page and saw two large moving black-and-white pictures: one of a man with a lion-like mane of thick hair and a rather ravaged face who was identified as Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office, and another one of Amelia Bones, head of the Law Enforcement Department. Over their pictures, there was a headline, naming them as the two favourites to be nominated as next Minister of Magic. Behind their photos, there was a quote from Fudge, entitled as the still acting minister, wishing them well.
Izzy glanced at the newspaper over her father's arm, raising an eyebrow. "So, if Fudge's been sacked two months ago already, how come he's still ruling the ministry?"
"He's not," Sirius replied. "Some committee is ruling the ministry until the Wizengamot elects the new minister in tomorrow's vote. Fudge may still wear the title of 'Minister' but he doesn't have the power to as much as borrow a quill from the ministry's supplies."
"I don't know about the other bloke but I think Madam Bones would make a much better minister than Fudge," Harry pointed out. She'd rubbed as a fair type of person.
Sirius nodded in agreement. "One thing is for sure, from what I know of her and what Dumbledore has told me about Scrimgeour, they don't seem the type that cracks easily under pressure like that Fudge dumba…"
He was interrupted by a sound of cracking fire in the fireplace and all of them turned their faces to it to see what it was.
"Must be Ron and Ginny in the floo," Izzy stated. "We'd told them to come here around this time." She turned her face to her father. "You're still taking us to Diagon Alley today, aren't you, Daddy? You promised you'd take us to see Fred and George's new shop."
Sirius chuckled. "I am, Izzybel, don't worry. As if I didn't want to see it too… and Moony working in a joke shop."
"He's got to have plenty of experience in that area, dealing with you and my dad in Hogwarts for years," Harry pointed out just as his best mate stumbled his way out of the fire, ashes all over his red hair and face, making Harry snort. "Nice entrance."
"Oh, come off it," the redhead said, a little irritably. "I just tripped."
"Sure you did," Harry said. Floo and Ron had never seemed to agree much, if he recalled it well.
Before Ron could protest further, the girl in question also stepped out of the fire, though a lot more gracefully than her brother. "Oh, look! It's the Chosen One," she said, pointing at Harry with a mock-amazed look on her face, making him raise an eyebrow at her. "I wonder if he'd give me an autograph and a kiss if I asked him to."
"Very funny, Gin," Harry said, dryly as he got up to go join them, having already finished his breakfast. "I knew you'd find a way to get a kick out of that."
She chuckled and kissed his cheek in amusement. "Just doing my job."
"I'm sure the twins will be more than happy to add their own set of jokes later today," Izzy pointed out, standing up and making her way to them too.
"It wouldn't be Fred and George if they weren't," Ginny agreed, chuckling.
Harry grinned. He knew that too – what would be of him without his friends and his family? "Is it okay if we go upstairs to the living room?" he asked Sirius.
"Do you even need to ask? As long as you don't start snogging on the sofa…"
"Not with me around, they won't," Ron said, giving both his sister and his best friend warning looks. "Remember the deal? No snogging in front of me or I may change my mind about you guys dating." That won him a slap on the back of the head, courtesy of his sister. "Hey!"
"That's for being a git," she let him know, following Harry and making her way to the stairs that led to the ground floor with Ron following in a protest and Izzy just chuckling behind them.
Seconds later, Sirius heard the kids stopping talking to each other and greeting Mia, practically all at the same time. Then, he saw his wife coming through the door, a slightly sleepy expression on her face. "Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked as she made her way to him, sitting and curling against his side. "I hate sleeping late – it feels like I'm wasting the day."
"You looked so peaceful," he said, putting one arm around her and kissing her brow. "Besides, I've only been up for half an hour. It's not that long, love."
Uninterested in pressing the matter, she pulled away a bit to look at him. "What happened to my 'good morning' kiss?"
"Nothing, it's right here," he said, reaching for her face with his hand and pressing his lips against hers softly, increasing the pressure as her response got fiercer. When they pulled away, like he did every morning since she'd told him she was pregnant, he leaned down her rounding abdomen.
She smiled when he looked up. "You know, you should start thinking of names for that baby."
"Me?"
Mia nodded. "Well, I picked the ones for Izzy and for Alex – it's only fair you get to pick this one's. But don't worry, you still have nearly six months ahead of you to decide."
"So, let's say I wanted to call it a really awful name like… I dunno, Dolores after our beloved former co-worker. You'd just let me?"
She rolled her eyes. "I obviously have the right to rule out the ones I hate. And, by the way, don't even think of naming the kid after one of us – that's just cheating."
"You're just trying to make my job harder," he accused, mock-glaring. "Fine, I suppose I can handle the job of finding a decent name… But for now," he said, reaching for a fork and the plate of breakfast food Kreacher had placed on the table a minute before and passing it to Mia, "it's time for you to feed the mommy and the baby. You're gonna need the energy if we're dropping by the joke shop like we planned."
"Or maybe for something else I feel like doing before we leave," she replied, giving him a suggestive look. "The kids seem too entertained to bother very much about us taking an extra half-hour before we leave."
"Well, aren't you feisty, these days?" he asked, grinning.
"Blame it on the hormones," she said, taking a bite of her eggs.
They'd outdone themselves, Sirius had to recognize seconds after he'd stepped into the joke shop. It was colourful, fun and completely out of the ordinary: the paradise for any prankster and an escape from the dark reality that haunted these days…
The shop was, as Ron had described it, packed with people of all ages, though kids were the majority. Still, it wasn't hard to spot one of the twins in the middle of the crowd, thanks to his Weasley red hair, standing with a little blonde girl behind the counter, apparently helping her registering sales.
"No wonder those guys are swimming in galleons…" Ginny said, nodding in approval, glancing at a bunch of tiny furry animals running inside a cage.
"They're brilliant," Izzy said under her breath as she looked around in amazement.
"Well, thank you very much, Miss Black," a familiar voice said as the other twin approached them.
At the same time Izzy turned to face him, Ginny looked up at him as well. "Hey, George," his sister greeted him and, before he could hint he wasn't George, she continued. "Don't even try – I know it's you."
He huffed. "Can't even give a bloke a chance to pull a healthy joke…"
Sirius chuckled. "Hazards of the job. But really, you've done a great job here – Merlin, you'd give us all Marauders a run for our money."
"That's what Moony keeps telling us," George pointed out.
"Well, he's completely right about it," Sirius assured him.
"Is he around, by the way?" Mia inquired before she looked at Sirius. "We should drop by and say hello to him."
"Obviously," he agreed.
"Last time I checked, he was upstairs handling our negotiations with the ministry– you can there. The stairs are that way," he pointed at a door behind the counter, indicating the stairs were right behind it. "And tell him that if he gets us a good deal we'll bloody raise his salary. I swear half the galleons we make are because of him."
Sirius snorted. "We'll make sure we pass him the message," he said, circling Mia's expanding waist with his arm before they dived into the thick crowd. The elbows sticking everywhere and sweaty people were just one of the many reasons for them to hate crowds with a passion.
They found their way to the office, inside of which their old friend seemed to be having a serious conversation via floo. "… we'll make sure the products arrive by the end of the week, the werewolf said, apparently finishing the conversation. He only noticed them then he turned around from the fireplace. "Oh, I wasn't expecting to see you guys here."
"We thought we might come for a visit," Sirius told him, sitting on the chair opposite his friend's desk, Mia doing the same by his side. "What are you guys selling to the ministry? Canary creams for them to feed to all the gits in there?"
"Actually, Fred and George are developing a line of 'serious products'," he explained, looking rather proud. "Shield hats, shield cloaks and all sorts of defensive stuff. It's having an enormous success."
Mia smiled. "You're looking really good, Remus. This place suits you."
Sirius nodded in agreement with his wife. Accepting that job from Fred and George as their accountant/manager/babysitter at times had certainly changed a lot in his friend's life. He looked a lot less shaggy and sounded even less melancholic, these days – though Sirius imagined that last part might have more to do with a certain pink-haired auror than with the new job.
It was a silent acknowledgement that Remus had ended up accepting Tonks's proposition concerning him staying with her in her flat while she recovered from her injuries and that, even three weeks after she'd gone back to work, he still hadn't moved back to his place. Sirius liked to believe he'd given a push to it with the advice he'd given his friend – Merlin knew the guy was self-pitying and pig-headed enough to keep himself away from Tonks, thinking it was the best for her.
"I suppose keeping busy is good for me," Remus replied, forcing a nonchalant tone as he sat behind the tidy wooden desk, pretending to be tidying a bunch of rolls of parchment.
"We all know it's not just about being 'busy'," Sirius said. "You've found the job. Just with the right amount of responsibility for Remus Lupin and with enough mischief for a Marauder. Not to mention that you probably have the funniest bosses that ever lived," Sirius said with a chuckle. "Comfortable as an old shoe."
Remus sighed. Sometimes it felt like he didn't deserve any of that, his life turning around for better in a matter of such short months. He felt genuinely happy for the first time in years, even with the war blowing up all around him. And, he knew, now was too late to give it all up, even if his martyr self kept telling him he should: he felt like he belonged in that job and Dora… well, the fact that he'd moved in with her without even noticing it spoke for itself. He was too far gone to pull away from any of it and happy about that fact. "Hum, so how are the kids?" he asked, changing the subject. "Did you bring them?"
Mia nodded. "Yes, they're downstairs with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. Lulu's taken Alex for the day, though. We'll bring him some other day."
He nodded. That reminded him that Dora had suggested they babysit Alex together some day – she liked kids, loved them, actually, and that fact made him a little uneasy sometimes… He glanced at Mia's pregnant belly and gulped, immediately looking away.
Just as he did, there was a knock on the door and it opened, Bill Weasley's head peaked into the room.
"Sorry to interrupt but I have an urgent message to give Mia," he said, apologetic as opened the door further and stepped in, closing the door behind him.
Mia raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
He nodded. "Dumbledore flooed your place but you weren't there and Kreacher told him you were here – I was the closest one to pass them message 'cause I was at Gringotts. It seems they need you at the order's headquarters ASAP. As a healer, I mean. They needed someone trustworthy – he said Sirius should come too if it was possible."
At first, she wondered why they'd called her if they needed a healer, since she wasn't practicing anymore. But then she recalled there probably wasn't anyone else available – Elizabeth was on vacation with her family out of the country and Madam Pomfrey would likely be hard to contact, seeing as she was out of the castle enjoying her Summer Break as well.
"What happened?" Sirius inquired, worried. "What do they need a healer for?"
Bill shrugged. "No idea. Dumbledore just asked me to give you the message – he seemed to be busy. I've got to get back to the bank… the Goblins are pretty strict about the break times."
"Sure, sure," Sirius mumbled. "Thanks for passing the message – we'll see if we can let you know what it is about later."
The oldest of the Weasley children nodded and thanked them before quickly making his way out of the room, leaving the three alone again.
"There must have been an attack," Remus concluded.
Mia and Sirius nodded. "Sounds likely," Sirius stated. "We should get going, then, if it's so urgent."
"But what about the kids? What do we do with them? Send them back home?" Mia asked.
"No, let them be. I'll keep an eye on them," Remus promised. "They're safe here, don't worry – the shop may be a public place but the twins were careful with the wards: the upper floor where they have the apartment is like a fortress. I'll make sure they're safe if, Merlin help not, something happens."
"Thank you, Remus," Mia said, getting up at the same time Sirius did the same. "If they ask where we went…"
"…I'll say you're running some errands for Dumbledore – that's all we really know at the moment. Go, they'll be just fine."
Leaving their friends and the kids behind, they quickly made their way out of the store through the back door and apparated a couple of streets away from the headquarters. They walked in a fast pace hand in hand, silently comforting each other from the tension they were feeling at the moment, until they reached the pearl white coloured house and made their way to the lower ground floor that was the order's domain.
The entrance was locked, they noticed, so they knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before they were able to hear steps on the opposite side of the door and, to Mia's surprise, it was her father's voice that asked who it was.
"It's me, Gabe, Mia," she said. "Dumbledore had me called. I'm with Sirius."
"You know I've got to check," his voice came through the door. "What's your mother's full name?"
Mia sighed. "Lucy Kathleen Graham, also known as Lulu, though you usually call her Luce."
The door clicked as soon as she finished saying it and Gabriel opened it. "Get in. Quick," he told them cautiously, rushing them in to close the door back behind them.
"I thought you were with Lulu and Alex," she said.
He nodded. "I was but I got summoned. They're fine, don't worry."
"There's been an attack, hasn't it?" Sirius inquired.
He nodded gravelly. "Two, actually. At the same time to specific targets."
"Who?" Mia asked.
"Rufus Scrimgeour and Amelia Bones," Gabriel told them.
"They're the two favourites to become minister," Sirius said. "It can't be a coincidence that they were targeted."
Mia gulped. "Did any of them…?"
"Not yet. Bones is here – they used the Cruciatus on her for a while but there doesn't seem to be permanent damage but we had you called to make sure. But Scrimgeour… I didn't see him but, according to Dumbledore, he's a mess and they had to take him to St. Mungo's immediately."
"But how the hell did they get to them?" Sirius asked. Scrimgeour was head auror.
Gabe shrugged. "All I know is that they got Scrimgeour in the middle of the street – witnesses say there were over half a dozen Death Eaters just to get him but that he gave one hell of a fight before they wounded him – and Bones in her own place. According to what she said, she managed to lock herself in a room for a while and sent a Patronus straight to the auror department. Kingsley managed to get there with a team in time and had Tonks bringing her straight here to make sure they wouldn't be able to finish the job."
"Merlin," Sirius said under his breath. "They wanted to start big when changing targets to wizards instead of muggles."
"Where is she?"
"In one of the smaller bedroom – Tonks is there keeping an eye on her," he informed her.
"I'll go check on her, then," she turned to Sirius. "Maybe you should stay here – she'll want her privacy."
He nodded and leaned to kiss her cheek. "I'll wait for you to get back."
Like Gabriel had said, Mia found them in the small bedroom that had barely been touched since the times Lily and James Potter lived in that house. She could barely recognize the Amelia Bones she'd met in the previous year in that pale, exhausted woman that rested on the small bed.
"How is she?" she asked Tonks.
"She feels a little shaky but is holding firm," the metamorphagus said. "Mostly, she's just worried. We got her out of there just in time – Bellatrix was there. She escaped before we could do anything. She was the one using the Cruciatus, according to Bones."
"She's a really sick bitch," Mia said under her breath, her hand covering the bump on her stomach. Bellatrix might have killed her and her baby little more than a month before. She let out a sigh and approached the pale woman on the bed, trying to keep her voice as soothing as possible. Trying to seem calm for the patient helped them feel calm as well – that was a technique they'd thought her as a trainee."
"Madam Bones," she said. "I'm…"
"Mia Black," Bones finished. "I remember we've met before. You're Harry Potter's godmother." She forced a smile. "I wish we'd met again in a more pleasant occasion."
Mia smiled back softly. "You're not the only one. How are you feeling?"
"I've had better days but I understand my fate could have been a lot worse," she stated. "Professor Dumbledore insisted to have me checked by a healer."
"I just need to cast a few diagnosis spells – it shouldn't take long," Mia assured her – if she wasn't too rusty, that was. While that sort of spells had been routine when she practiced healing, it had been a while since she'd used them.
Thankfully, it all went smoothly and, with Bones's cooperation she was done in ten minutes. While Mia worked, the other woman talked to her: she expressed grief for what the world was turning into and, in a moment of heavier sorrow, told her about her husband, Edgar Bones, who Mia faintly remembered to belong to the first order, being killed during the first war. That made her feel a slight pang in her heart, fearing, like she did when she got herself thinking of the war, that Sirius would share that fate.
The woman ended up sinking into unconsciousness at some point, drained by the fatigue just as Mia concluded there wasn't be any sort of permanent damage caused by the Cruciatus.
Scrimgeour, however, wasn't so lucky, as Dumbledore arrived with bad news just as Mia and Tonks had joined Sirius and Gabe in the main room of the headquarters.
"Rufus Scrimgeour didn't make it," Dumbledore had informed them, sorrowful. "The healers couldn't do anything - there was too much damage done to him."
"So, they managed to kill one of the favourites for Minister," Sirius said through his teeth, immensely frustrated. "What for? Try to send more messages?"
"I'm afraid this time it was because he knows neither Madam Bones nor Rufus Scrimgeour would be corrupted by him," Dumbledore said. "Lord Voldemort fears them but, thank Merlin, he didn't completely succeed in getting them out of his way. It's almost certain Amelia Bones will be the next Minister of Magic and she'll protect the Wizarding World in every way she can."
"She's a strong woman," Mia mused. For the first time since Sirius had been arrested due to the ministry's incompetence, she felt admiration for a minister of potential minister.
"But she'll need protection," Tonks pointed out. "We'll have someone assigned to her permanently – there's already been one attempt to her life, after all."
"This is not going to get any easier, is it?" Sirius asked. "Even with her as minister. They'll keep wiping people until that snake-faced son of a bitch has it all."
"Or until someone stops him," Mia said, reaching for his hand. Until Harry stops him, she thought, grieving and hoping at the same time. Hopefully, she thought, hopefully he'd be ready when the time came.
A/N: Well, the first death occurred (don't worry I won't start killing people left, right and centre). I hope you liked the chapter. Next week, however, I'll be going to Paris for the school break and, though I can't promise because I don't know if my internet will work there, I'm hoping to post anyway. Cross fingers for it :D Feedback is very welcome. Review!