Sorry about the delay. This chapter was HELL to write. Hopefully the next will be quicker.
Thank you again to everyone who reviewed: Stromsten, tambrathegreat, DZAuthor AKA DZMom, and as always my wonderful friend and cyber-stalker who kicks me if I don't write: Ikrona.
(Re-beta'ed by Dances With Vampires)
Chapter 11: Checkmate
"I require everything you have on your cases."
"But sir, you have copies-"
"I need everything," the chief officer reiterated, as men in suits entered the office and began unplugging computers.
"What's the meaning of this?" the detectives demanded, trying to grab their files as the men began collecting them, before loading them into archive boxes on a waiting trolley.
"What do you think – Hey, those cases are still open!"
"Sir, what's going on?" Janice demanded as one of the men yanked files roughly out of her hands.
"I'm sorry, but this audit has been ordered by the Prime Minister's office," he explained, clearly less than impressed by the fiasco. "It's beyond my control–"
"An audit? This isn't a bloody tax return – these are open cases! How are we supposed to do our jobs?"
"Everyone is as of now off-duty with suspended pay-" The words stuck in the Chief Officer's throat as protests erupted around him. "Until. . .until this audit is settled-"
"And what?" one of the detectives snapped. "Have the criminals been asked to kindly delay any murders or robberies until we're back on duty?"
"It's only investigation teams," the chief officer answered. "This is an order from the Prime Minister's office. I don't agree with it either. There is, however, nothing we can do; all investigation teams across London have been pulled off active-duty," he tried to reason despite his growing frustration.
"So what? They're just going to leave the bodies in the park?"
"What are we going to tell the families of victims?"
"Who in their right bloody mind passes this type of order?"
"What are they trying to cover up?"
"Officers may return to regular duties after the screening process-"
"Screening process! I've been working here for fifteen bloody years, and there has never been any audit or screening process-!"
"Oi, enough of that. We are trying to find out more. As soon as I have answers, you'll have answers. In the meantime, anyone who does not cooperate will be arrested for interfering with a federal investigation-"
The chief officer gritted his teeth as more protests erupted.
"Who's going to arrest us, exactly? Traffic control?"
"They're bloody insane!"
"All of you are ordered to leave your identification and side-arm here, and return home to await further instructions," the chief officer finished.
He reluctantly looked at the woman dressed formally in pink, who held out a gloved hand expectantly to him. He pulled his police identification from his back pocket and gave her an expression of utter contempt as he surrendered it.
"Very good, Officer Anderson. I can take over from here." A small, satisfied smile curled at the corners of her mouth as she turned to face everyone.
-.-.-
Maddie sat, very bored, outside the Minister's office. She had no idea where Tonks was, and in her opinion she'd shown enormous restraint in not taking the opportunity to go wandering around.
She counted the paper planes flying overhead, which couldn't be relevant in a political environment. She toyed with the idea of grabbing one, just to see what – if anything – would happen.
Meanwhile, Troy rubbed his forehead, trying to relieve the headache quickly building as he read through documents. It seemed his father made very few arrangements for what was to remain in the magical world. "Are you sure these are correct?"
"Goblins never make mistakes when it comes to anything of value. The residence, I'm afraid, is quite uninhabitable, and a magical residence left unmanaged quickly becomes infested with all sorts – this combined with the damage done when your father went Muggle. We here at the Ministry, however, will be quite happy to help you and your sister get the place back to its former glory. You have our full force, as well as our full support."
Troy sat back, looking at the Minister suspiciously. "That's awfully generous."
The Minister laughed nervously. "I'm sorry if I pushed too far. Of course, you and your sister are still very new to everything, and I should have realized that Dumbledore would neglect to mention facets of your position." He got to his feet and moved to the window, from which he could see all comings and goings in the Atrium below. "Pureblood witches and wizards are the backbone of our society; powerful families, such as the Malfoys, are integral."
"Powerful magically, or powerful financially?"
The Minister gave a small snort in irritation. "Both, of course. Many of the old bloodlines were lost to us in the last Wizarding war, giving families like yours quite the elevation. I am simply stating that you need us as much as we need you."
"And how do I need you?"
"Tell me – after you finish with the meagre education Dumbledore's throwing you, what do you plan on doing then? Good-natured as his intentions may sound, they are completely self-serving; he has plotted to supplant me for some time, using this ruse of one of the most terror-inspiring dark wizards known. Now let's throw yourself and your. . .delightful. . .sister into the mix – long-lost Pureblood line returns and sides with him. I've certain you read the news; the papers love you. As much as it pains me to say this, I wouldn't doubt if he was, in fact, the one who orchestrated the attacks on the Muggles that your sister Eliza has been investigating. Maybe he tried to get to your brother, and he refused. Hogwarts is not the only magic school out there; there are far more which may better serve your needs. Parlez-vous francais, per chance?"
Troy got to his feet, bouncing the Gringotts key in his hand as he walked to the Minister and appearing deep in thought. "So far, Dumbledore hasn't openly tried to manipulate me."
"I'm not trying to manipulate you, my dear boy. There are far more out there with needs greater than mine. I am only saying that you were born to be a political chess piece, as no one else seems to have had the courtesy to tell you so, but it's entirely up to you whether you're a king or a rook. All I'm asking is if I have your support, or not." Troy was about to answer when the Minister clapped his hands together, sharply turning away from the window. "Anyway, moving on from the dreadful bore of politics," he said brightly, returning to his desk, "I can arrange to have a clean-up crew at your estate, and have the residence back up and running in. . .judging by these photos, a few months. As for your existing assets, Mr. Weasley will provide you with a list of recommended and safe investment options by owl later this afternoon. Now, I'm terribly sorry, but I do have a great deal of business to attend to."
Troy took one last glance out of the window to try and understand what he was looking at. Something in the flurry of paper planes and bustling staff didn't belong. He shook himself, attributing the feeling to the discomfort her felt any time too much magic was around. "Of course," he replied, collecting the file the Minister handed him.
"It was a pleasure, and I do hope to see you again soon - you are, of course, welcome at any time, and you can reach me by owl should you have any further thoughts on anything discussed today, or questions."
The Minister bid him farewell with a firm handshake, and the door snapped shut behind him. Maybe there had been something wrong with the view, he thought.
He looked at the comfortable chairs lining the wall, expecting to see Maddie looking very bored - but they were all empty.
"Eh, shit. . .," he groaned, grinding his teeth.
-.-.-
"Open this door at once!"
"Fuck off!"
"I swear to you - if you do not open this door-"
"Oh, please, what can you possibly do to me that hasn't already been done - or apparently will be done!"
"I don't give a damn about what happens to you, but if you think for one moment that I am going to let you drag my daughter down and have her turned into an abomination, then you have seriously underestimated me! Now open this bloody door!" Lucius pounded a fist against the door to her bedroom.
"You're so 'great' and 'powerful'," Eliza mocked. "You open it!"
Lucius's face twisted with fury as he tried the spell again. He couldn't remember how it got to this; he didn't remember his master actually leaving, or blasting the ensuite door off its hinges and throwing Eliza against the wall. He vaguely remembered something blowing up; he wasn't sure if it was his emotion or hers that did it. He remembered somehow being expelled from the room and facing a door which he simply could not open - it wasn't possible; he had tried every spell he knew, he had tried blowing the damned thing to hell, but it did nothing; he had resorted to brute strength, slamming his full weight against the door, and still nothing.
"You brought this on both of us!" he yelled.
There was silence on the other side. He dropped to the level of the keyhole to try and see what she was doing. The door jerked open, and he nearly fell in.
"No, you did when you fucking kidnapped me!" Eliza slammed the door shut with enough force to nearly break his nose. "If you think that I'm going to even touch you, let alone have a kid with you, you have another thing coming!"
"Oh sure, pick the werewolf over me, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time together - fighting over a dead rabbit!" he said, putting all his strength behind turning the door handle, until it snapped off. He threw it down the hall. "Open the door this instant - you don't want me to force my way in there!"
Draco rounded the corner (as judging from the yelling, the Dark Lord had left some time ago), only to find his father using himself as a human battering ram. He picked up the door handle and pondered his next move. Logic told him to run - get out of there and take Arnica to the farthest edge of the grounds until something blew up, or one or both of them were dead. . .but at the same time, his curiosity was itching something fierce to know what had had happened to result in the complete and utter breakdown of his father's decorum and dignity. Logic won, and he quickly left the scene to seek out Arnica, trying to think of a convincing excuse as to why her "fwend" wouldn't be around anymore.
Lucius sat in the hallway, exhausted and bruised beyond measure, staring at the door and the marks along the walls where he had tried to blast his way in. That bloody door. He rubbed his shoulder, trying to relieve the pain as he contemplated his next wave of attacks.
That woman would listen to reason even if it killed him, which at this point - he contemplated - it may very well.
He would be damned before he handed his daughter over to those abominations. If it was just Eliza, hell, he would wrap her up in a gift basket - let them deal with her. At least they wouldn't be given restrictions on what they could and couldn't do, beyond kill her.
But no. He couldn't use a single Unforgivable Curse, and he wanted to give her a right royal douse of pain right now.
"Do you honestly think I'm happy about any of this?" he demanded.
"Unless in this world men carry children to term, frankly I'm not interested in hearing about how traumatic those five minutes will be for you - if it even lasted that long," Eliza snapped.
Lucius grabbed a piece of broken frame from one of the demolished pictures, and threw it full force at the door. Stupid whey-faced little bitch. She couldn't stay this emotional forever - at some point, the magic that was stopping him from getting in there and wringing her little neck would-
"I see Draco wasn't exaggerating," a voice commented, startling Lucius who pointed his wand at the intruder. "You're in no shape to handle a fight in which your opponent can fight back," Severus warned, his wand in turn pointing at the pitiful wreck that was Lucius. "Look at yourself, Malfoy, reduced to a wreck by a witch who doesn't even have a wand. Arnica is one thing, but this is pathetic." Severus scowled, lowering his wand.
"She won't open the door!"
"Looking at the state you're in," Severus said, "I wouldn't either. She isn't going anywhere. Go get yourself sorted out; I'll be waiting in your study. And then you can explain what has prompted. . .this. . ." He flicked his hand casually at Lucius.
"Not until she listens to reason!"
"Yes, because you are currently the epitome of 'reason'. You have practically destroyed this corridor, and used yourself as a human battering ram. But she's the one being unreasonable. Of course."
"How dare you-!" Lucius got shakily to his feet, every muscle protesting in agony.
"Stand up and walk in a straight line, Lucius – that is how I dare. Now, you can either accept my help, or you can continue bashing your head against a stone wall."
Lucius scowled. Even if he only looked half as bad as he felt, 'pathetic' was just too generous. "You'll tell no one of this." It wasn't so much an order as a plea. If anyone ever found out. . .how would they fear and respect him then?
"Your reputation is quite safe," Severus assured, casually putting his wand away.
Lucius waved his wand at the door, and what appeared to be clear bricks boarded up the space before vanishing. He might not be able to get in, but he wasn't about to take the chance that she could get out.
-.-.-
Lucius sat in his chair, nursing a generous helping of whatever was in the glass Severus poured him.
"So let me make sure I understand," Severus said after listening to Lucius's rant, which in all was mostly complaining about the 'insufferable woman', and less about what had actually caused the entire fiasco. "Eliza has to have a child with you, or else she and Arnica both go to Greyback?"
Lucius nodded into his drink in confirmation.
"And she has to agree to it, and make an Unbreakable Vow over it? All of this being of her own free will?"
Lucius nodded again.
"And you thought that blowing up a door, attacking and trying to kill her, followed by – judging from when Draco contacted me – approximately three hours of threats and insults slung back and forth. . .would somehow endear her to this idea?"
"That woman," Lucius spat, "has caused me nothing but grief since the moment I met her."
"You mean attacked her." Severus raised a brow at him.
"I was the one who got clobbered over the head with a lamp, she attacked first! I was just talking."
"Lucius, I've seen you 'just talking' as you so delicately phrase it, and if anyone with the exception of the Dark Lord were to ever 'just talk' to me like that, I can assure you it would be something more lethal than a lamp." Severus took a deep sigh and sat back. "Well. . .that brings me up to speed. So how exactly do you plan on changing her mind? Given your current strategy thus far, this ought to be good."
"Changing her mind?" Lucius asked, slightly confused.
"Changing her mind so that she takes the Vow and has a child with you, in order to save you from sending your youngest dog bones for Christmas," Severus snapped irritably. "I was under the impression that that is what you are somehow trying to achieve?"
Lucius growled, getting to his feet. "I have no intention of having a child with that woman."
"Excellent, I'm sure Arnica will have a wonderful time with the other 'wolfies'; that is, if Greyback doesn't get overly excited and kill her in the process of turning her," Severus muttered sarcastically, also getting out of his chair and heading to the door.
"Where are you going?"
Severus stopped at the door. "I'm quite certain you are not the only person in this manor who requires some treatment of wounds, so whilst you sort out your priorities, I'm going to check on 'that woman', as you call her. In the event that you do get some sense into you and decide to do what is necessary to protect your family, she should actually be in fit health to bear children. I might even put in a good word for you."
Lucius scoffed, ignoring Severus taking a book from the shelf and staring bitterly out the window.
-.-.-
Troy stood anxiously by the elevator, desperately trying to think of where he might find Maddie.
The door opened, and at the sight of Tonks and Mad-Eye he breathed a sigh of relief – until he realized that the short woman behind them, despite having Maddie's colouring, was not in fact Maddie.
"Where's Maddie?" Tonks asked cheerfully, looking past him.
"No. . .I was hoping she was with you," he said, taking a deep and very uncomfortable breath.
"What? This is the Ministry of Magic, not a theme park! I thought she was with you!" Tonks half-panicked.
"She was! But she was pissing off the Minister, so I kicked her out. I thought you guys would be outside waiting for us!"
Both Mad-Eye and Tonks gave an irate, exasperated sigh.
"Okay," Mad-Eye said, thinking out loud, "you're bored, fifteen, first time here – where do you go?"
Tonks gave a whimpering groan. "I don't know, there are so many places. . .that girl's a niffler, any shiny thing. . ." She glanced up and groaned again. "the messages. . .ohhh, she could be anywhere."
"Isn't there some P.A. system or something here – what do you do if there's a fire?" Troy asked.
"Put it out," Mad-Eye answered.
"Well. . .what about security cameras?"
"We don't have those."
"Well. . .what do you do when there's someone here that isn't supposed to be here?"
"Don't let them in."
"Oh, well, now you're just trying to be helpful," Troy scoffed sarcastically.
-.-.-
Severus removed the barrier before the door Lucius had placed there. He raised an eyebrow at the missing handle and shook his head.
He knocked.
"Piss off!"
"Oh, you're about as agreeable as your eldest brother. . ."
The door opened a crack, enough for Severus to catch a glimmer of an eye. "Troy?"
"That would be his name, yes."
The door snapped shut. Severus gave a mental groan.
"You're lying. The others have him safe."
"I never said otherwise. I only want to check on you to make sure that you aren't injured."
"No, thank you."
"Your sister Maddie is up without fail at the crack of dawn every morning. Quite unusual for a girl her age, wouldn't you say?" The door opened a slither again - but it was enough for him to jam his foot in the way before she could think better of it.
"How do you know that?"
"Because we moved the kitchen meetings to that time when the rest of the red-headed gaggle arrived, so that we wouldn't be interrupted," Severus replied impatiently, "and once again we find ourselves putting up silencing wards so that she won't hear something she isn't meant to, such as her sister's unwillingness to allow a friend to check on her injuries." He could practically hear her weighing her options.
"Is he there with you?"
"I am quite alone."
The door opened with painful reluctance. His eyes quickly surveyed her as he stepped into the room, his boots crunching on broken ornaments she had no doubt imagined hitting Lucius with. He wasn't sure if the sight that greeted him was better or worse than he anticipated; he had expected the withered frame from her hunger strike - another of Lucius's furious rants. The dark purple choker around her throat would need attention, as would the gash on her forehead - but other than that, there didn't seem to be any lasting physical damage.
The speed in which she put distance between them was enough to tell him about her current mental state and position of trust. He cast his eyes about the room, giving himself a pretty clear image of what had happened when Lucius's rage had taken over to the point that he couldn't remember most of it. He took the seat farthest from her and set the book he had picked from Lucius's shelf on the table, not forcing her to meet his eyes as she stood awkwardly in the corner.
"Your brother has quite an impressive temper when it suits him, I don't doubt you're as stubborn a fool as he. I've never heard of anyone so unimpressed to learn that they're a wizard. Your sister, on the other hand. . .something tells me I will be spending a lot of time giving her detention."
Eliza moved a little closer, using the bedpost as feeble protection. "What do you mean?"
"I am the Potions Master at Hogwarts. Maddie has been enrolled, and I will be seeing a lot more of her than I care to."
Eliza processed this information. "If you're. . .why. . .?"
"I'm a spy. For both."
Eliza chewed her lip, wondering if she really wanted to know the answer to the next question – who was he really a spy for? She decided she didn't. "Are they. . .safe?"
"They are safe in the sense that the Dark Lord cannot get to them personally, but that isn't to say that there aren't others who can."
Eliza understood what he was saying. Others like him.
She glanced at the book, not liking where this chat was headed, desperately searching for a change of topic. She needed to believe they were safe, that they were out of reach - even if it was only wishful thinking.
Severus followed her gaze and slid the book across the table, inviting her. "Lucius has informed me of your shared predicament."
"There's nothing shared about it."
"I think if you read that, you'll find there is. The Dark Lord is giving you a choice: Lucius - willingly. . .or this." Eliza noticed the lip curl as he tapped the book. "I don't expect that you know much about werewolves beyond romantic notions. I'm not telling you to take the deal, I'm just illuminating your options," he said. Eliza was finally close enough to sit. "Fenrir Greyback. I won't insult you by asking you to trust me when I say, Lucius is by far the preferable option. I wish that I could tell you that everything in this book is fiction designed to scare children into behaving themselves, but if anything it is severely understated in comparison to the crimes and atrocities that Greyback has - and will - commit. Assuming if - and I stress if - you survive the changing process, you will be at the bottom of the food chain in the pack. They won't be restricted in their treatment of you; the line will simply be that they cannot kill you. Intentionally. Death at a full moon is far from uncommon when there are so many in one place. With Lucius, you at least stand a chance of some semblance of a life."
Eliza put the book down. "They aren't going to rescue me, are they?"
Severus sighed. "Lucius holds the influence of the right people in this world. At this point, any attempt to rescue you would result in their situation going from bad to worse, and that isn't affordable," he said bluntly. "If it were anyone else holding you captive, the situation would be quite different. I'm sorry."
Eliza hugged herself, wishing she could pretend she hadn't heard or that she didn't understand, but the words burned over and over inside her ears.
"Right now your options are limited. In time, the situation may change enough that you can be rescued. However, if you are sent to Fenrir, that will be impossible; wizards have hunted him for decades, and anyone who found him would no doubt be killed on sight, no matter who they were. His kind are hated, and with good reason," he added. "Read the book and make your choice."
-.-.-
Lucius stood in the centre of the wreckage which had been his study. Nothing, it seemed, could shift the pain of the crushing vice that was clamping down on his heart. He picked up a portrait of Arnica, the glass broken, turning her beautiful bright eyed smile sinister beneath the shards. Tears of anger and failure threaten to spill as painful rage began to build at his failure as a father, grinding teeth so hard they could have cracked. He used his wand to send a paperweight flying at the wall, smashing with the force despite it being made of solid glass.
He sank to the floor.
He had tried so desperately to protect her from anything that would harm her. She had been the only good thing to come from a final desperate attempt to save his marriage to a wife who cared more for her sister than their happiness. Draco was eleven, away at Hogwarts when she was born, and he had hoped that maybe with a child at home again, some life and happiness might return to Narcissa. But the damage her sisters had done seemed irreversible; after Andromeda betrayed them, what time she didn't spend shopping trying fill the empty place in her heart which where her elder sister had once resided, was spent visiting Bellatrix, or. . .after Bellatrix was locked in Azkaban. . .pleading and arguing with him to force the Minister to issue her a full pardon for her crimes. How many times had he tried to explain that their reputation and safety within the magical community depended on distancing themselves from her sister? How could they claim to have been under the imperious curse whilst openly associating themselves with one of the Dark Lords most vocal – not to mention hated – supporters of the Dark Lord?
He shook himself, failing to drive away the memories that teetered beyond the range of his sight. Maybe he should have done it. . .after all, it had been when she lost Bellatrix that the interest and love for her family seemed to wither. How many times had he suggested that she spend some time with Draco in Diagon Alley? She was there often enough. But no, after those two had put her through, even her own son couldn't bring back the spark of happiness in her eyes.
She played the dutiful wife - made the expected appearances on her husband's arm at social events and the like. But even then, she wasn't really there. They slept in separate rooms for years.
He hadn't wanted another child, didn't want to take what little attention Draco was receiving from his mother away from him. . .but it was his sake that he pressed so hard. Maybe if she had another child, she would remember her son; maybe it would bring back the romance they shared in their youth; maybe it would fill the sorrowful hole in her heart. He could still remember how her eyes lit up the first time she laid them on Draco. She couldn't take him into her arms fast enough. They had all been so happy. . .
When the Healers brought Arnica for her to hold, she rolled over and said she wasn't in the mood, leaving the midwife awkward as Lucius swooped in to claim their daughter. When she recovered enough to return home, she immediately left to visit Bellatrix and took an impromptu holiday, not so much as looking at the baby girl so desperate for a mother's love and touch. She stopped attending the social events, stopped shopping, stopped attending meals with the family. She spent all of her time either locked in her room crying, or at Azkaban during visiting hours.
She died years before they placed her body into the ground.
That first moment he held their daughter in his arms, he swore he would keep her safe no matter what. He spent the past four years trying to protect her from a mother too sad to see the sunshine in her hair, from the tears, scrapes, bumps, and bruises, from the monsters that hid in her cupboards and under her bed. He tried to shield her from those who would wish her harm, and when the Dark Lord returned, from himself. His little. . .golden. . .crowned. . .princess. . .
-.-.-
"Where the bloody hell have you been!" Troy demanded, as the elevator doors opened on Maddie being escorted by two burly men.
"Do you know this girl?" one asked.
"Right now, I wish I didn't. Thank you for finding her-"
"She was trying to break into the Department of Mysteries, which is a restricted area," the man interrupted angrily.
"I wasn't trying to break in!" Maddie snapped. "I was following the paper planes, and then I found a rat going along the passageway, so I followed it! I had no idea where it was going-"
"She has been telling us this lie repeatedly," the other man said. "Now if you'll excuse us, we need to escort her to the undersecretary so that she can decide what is to be done with this intruder."
"That won't be necessary, Rolf," Tonks quickly jumped in. "I have the authority to deal with this breach of security."
Rolf didn't look impressed, or convinced for that matter. However, he was happy to hand over the lippy teen and return to his post.
-.-.-
Troy ranted at Maddie's stupidity, chiding her for all matters of worry and concern she had caused, and ignoring her indignant protests. To add to all of his frustration and annoyance, it wasn't the fact that she had gone wandering around in a strange building and tried to break into a restricted area that seemed to bother Tonks and Mad-Eye, so much as this supposed lie about a rat.
"Are you sure it was a rat?" Tonks asked, still not entirely convinced.
"I know what a rat looks like," Maddie replied indignantly as they returned to the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. "Why is it so unbelievable that there's a rat in the building?"
"Because there are vermin wards protecting it; magical and non-magical vermin can do a tremendous amount of damage. Can you imagine if the Ministry had a Doxy infestation?"
"What's a Doxy?" Maddie asked curiously.
"Never mind, my point is you couldn't have seen a rat - it's impossible."
"Well, then the wards are broken. I don't know anything else that has four legs, is yay long with whiskers and fur, and a gross, wormy tail."
Sirius's head snapped up from the paper he was reading. "Who said Wormtail?" he demanded, startling most who hadn't even noticed he was there.
"I said worm-y tail. You know, like rats and mice have. . .they're so disgusting, why can't they have fur on them? Or a tuft like chinchillas; they're so cute-"
"Never mind that. Start from the beginning," Sirius said, having only half-listened to the discussion.
"Sirius, honestly, it's nothing," Tonks sighed. "She just claims to have seen a rat in the Ministry of Magic. You know as well as I do that there are no vermin in the Ministry-"
"Unless they aren't vermin." Sirius got to his feet. "You need to talk to Dumbledore right away."
"There's nothing to talk about-"
"Peter Pettigrew's Animagus form is a rat, Tonks. He is an unregistered Animagus just like me, and wouldn't be affected by the wards because he – despite all characteristics – isn't a rat. If he was at the Ministry, Dumbledore needs to know about it. And we need to know why."
"I'm confused," Maddie said simply, helping herself to one of the pieces of cold toast that had been saved for them. "Why would anyone want to turn into a rat? I mean, cats and dogs are cool, but I think I'd want to turn into a lion. . .or a bird - that would be cool."
"Maddie, quill, parchment, write," Sirius said, pushing her into a seat and handing her the tools.
"Write what?"
"Everything that happened whilst it's still fresh in your memory." Sirius pointed at the parchment.
"Even the part where I stole a slice of birthday cake?"
Troy groaned.
-.-.-
Sirius read through the page as she finished writing it. "Where's the description of the rat?"
Maddie snorted. "What's to describe? It's a rat."
"You used a page describing the cake - there's not even two lines here about the rat! Did it have any markings, was it missing any toes-?"
"I didn't think to count its toes," she replied, folding her arms. "I was more interested in where it was going than what it looked like. Besides, what do you plan on doing? Catching some rats and putting them in a line-up for me to identify?"
"Maddie, why don't you go upstairs now?" Tonks said
Maddie didn't even realize she had been bundled out of the kitchen until the door closed in her face.
"Was it something I said?"
A moment later the door opened again and Troy was jostled out.
-.-.-
The Prime Minister sat in his office, listening to the reports given by the heads of the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence. The men's hands shook as they tried to remain calm. How could anyone have not questioned such an order before it reached this point? It would be all over the evening news; that is, if they didn't get the story pieced together before the late afternoon report. The Ministry of Defence was already forming a list of terrorist organizations with the resources and manpower to pull off this sort of heist. He could already see the panic.
God, how he wanted to run to his children and hug them. When he was sworn in as Minister, he never dreamed of such a disaster happening on his watch. Right now, he would have taken five hundred dead in a bombing of Trafalgar Square.
"Has her Royal Majesty been informed?"
"No, sir, we thought it best. . ."
"Of course. . .," he sighed. How in God's name do you tell the queen of England that more than bodies have been taken away from the morgues, and case evidence - some over ten years old - has all been handed over to some unknown, unauthorized organization? How would they prosecute the criminals awaiting trial with all evidence missing? How would they explain to families that they couldn't collect the bodies of their loved ones to lay them to rest? How were they to calm down a nation in which every identity and piece of personal information had been stolen?
How could so much have been taken away before someone bothered to call and ask questions? He held his head in his hands as he tried to think straight, tried not to think of the stock market crashing like a 747 nosediving into the ocean, or rioters flooding the streets of London and the complete and utter chaos that would follow. The economy would collapse when people panicked and withdrew every last penny from their accounts. They would have to freeze everything - but that would only create more panic.
He sat back in his chair, and looked up at the ceiling. "God help us all."