The doors at the back of the room closed. She felt a bit comforted by the fact that Kingsley was standing there, though she knew it had to be highly unorthodox to have an Auror present at a hearing like this, let alone have the Minister of Magic presiding over it.

"Generally the Department of Civil Affairs presides over cases such as this, but given the parties involved, it seemed fitting that I be present," Fudge said. "But given my lack of expertise in this area, Oriel Prott, head of the Department of Civil Affairs and Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge will also be presiding."

Oriel waved her wand a small stack of papers appeared in front of her. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she looked them over.

"This petition was filed by one Levi Ambrose Goldfinch as to the custody and well-being of Aurora Delphine Lupin," Oriel said. Even her voice sounded frail and breakable. "Mister Goldfinch, can you stand please." Levi got to his feet. "You posited that Aurora Lupin would be better off in the care of a biological relative rather than her adoptive father, is that correct?"

"Yes," Levi said.

"Your main argument is that you question his fitness as a parent," Oriel said. Levi nodded in agreement. She motioned for him to sit. "Remus John Lupin." He got to his feet beside Rory. She resisted the urge to stand with him. "You've been raising Aurora since she was a year old correct? According to our records, she was left in your care by Theodosia Goldfinch?"

"Yes," Remus said.

"There's been some question about whether or not Miss Goldfinch was of sound mind when she was left in your care. Can you speak to that?" Oriel asked.

Remus shook his head. "No. She didn't strike me as being unsound when I last spoke to her."

"You think a person in possession of all their mental faculties would leave their child with a werewolf?" Umbridge asked. Rory was ready to jump to her feet and scream at her but, Remus put a hand on her shoulder. A gentle reminder that this was not the time or place for one of her outbursts.

"Regardless," Oriel chimed back in, "you're still a curious choice. Are you employed, Mister Lupin?"

"No," he said.

"It says that the last time you had meaningful employment was when you were a professor at Hogwarts nearly two years ago," Oriel said.

"I for one find it curious that you're financially capable of providing for yourself, let alone a child," Umbridge said. "I'd be even more curious to know the balance of your Gringotts account. In fact-."

"Actually, according to the Magical Civil Affairs statute 654.A, unless someone is being accused of a crime, you cannot legally request that they provide you with financial information," Rory chimed in.

"And you are aware that you are not qualified to act as council?" Umbridge questioned.

"Apologies. I didn't mean to sound like I was council. I just know you're very insistent on the rules being followed and I know you would be upset with yourself if everything weren't completely above board," Rory said. Umbridge glared as Rory sat back down. If Rory didn't know any better, she'd say that her dad actually looked proud of her inappropriate outburst.

"Thank you for the keen observation," Umbridge said tersely. She looked as though she wanted to snap her quill in half. "We may not know the exact amount kept in your coffers, but do you think you're more financially capable than any of her relatives present here?"

"There are few who would be more financially sound than our present company," Remus said. The Malfoys, Blacks, and Goldfinches were some of the oldest, richest families in Britain. It wasn't a fair comparison. "Furthermore, as I said previously, I did spend a long time reaching out to her biological family before taking her in. Except-"

"Except the Malfoys, yes," Oriel said.

"I have seen firsthand how a child raised in the Malfoy family could turn out," Umbridge said. "I'm sure you had some experience with Draco Malfoy during your time as a teacher."

"Yes. He was academically gifted in my class and quite impressive in potions as well from what I heard," Remus said. "I didn't know him well beyond that."

"I have your daughter's disciplinary record here," Umbridge said. "While we're on the subject of Draco Malfoy, are you aware that Aurora was disciplined earlier this school year for breaking his nose?"

"Unfortunately," Remus said giving his daughter a look that definitively said "I told you so." She shrank a bit.

"She has quite the disciplinary record, from this school year alone," Umbridge said. "Generally, we see that as a sign of an unstable home environment."

"Sudden changes in behavior could also be due to trauma and unexpected life changes, such as being kidnapped and held captive by a death eater who'd posed as her teacher for an entire school year. Or perhaps her family who's had no contact with her for 14 years suddenly re-engaging with her," Remus said. "And be that as it may, I've told Aurora more than once that all of her feelings, good and bad, are valid, but she needs to learn to be responsible for how she acts on them. At the end of the day, she is still a teenager and no teenager can be counted upon to consistently behave all of the time. Not Aurora. Not even Draco Malfoy."

"If I may," Oriel chimed in, "Mister Lupin is correct in his observation. I don't think the girl's behavior can be looked at as a fair indicator of her circumstances. But there is another issue I'd like to address. You are a werewolf. This is undisputed."

"Naturally," Remus said.

"There isn't a lot of data on werewolves as parents, but we have some data about their interactions with children. Roughly 90% of all werewolf attacks are on children. Nearly 99% of those attacks are fatal. There is a 1 in 100,000 chance that a child born to a werewolf will not also be a werewolf. Are you familiar with these statistics?" Oriel asked.

Remus paused. "Yes."

Tears stung Rory's eyes. She couldn't believe her dad was so composed. Every word this woman had said was practically a slap in the face, a punch in the gut. As if her dad didn't keep a mental list of all the things that could ever go wrong.

"Are you familiar with the person who collected the majority of the data I just read?" Oriel asked.

Rory wasn't surprised at his nod, but she was shocked by his answer.

"My father, Lyall Lupin," Remus said.

Rory felt like she could be sick. But it made sense. Rory had known her whole life her dad was a werewolf. She knew that her grandfather had insulted Fenrir Greyback somehow and, in retaliation, Greyback had attacked her dad. If Lyall Lupin had accumulated all of this information on werewolves, what had he said that had upset Greyback?

Rory loved her grandfather and admired his brain, his work ethic, and the depth of his research. But, there was a time before he was such a strong advocate for lycanthropes. And maybe it had taken this horrible thing happening to his own son for Lyall to see that he was wrong, but it seemed to make people more inclined to agree with his former stance.

"You have done a remarkable job raising this girl to be intelligent and healthy and that is a standard I've seen not met here so often," Oriel said. "But the fact remains that, statistically, every day that she stays in your care, she is in danger of being hurt or killed or worse."

"That's not true!" Rory said. She was openly sobbing now. This was really happening. There weren't enough laws in the library that she could memorize that would stop their hatred from pulling her away from her father.

Remus shushed her, sitting down beside her. She wrapped her arms around him and cried.

The room was silent for a moment. Fudge, Oriel, and even Umbridge looked uncomfortable.

"Seeing as Aurora does have family better suited to seeing to her safety and well-being, I'm going to agree that this petition has merit and hereby Release her from the custody of Remus John Lupin, effective upon completion of her 5th year coursework at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Oriel said.

Rory could hardly hear the woman over the sound of her own crying.

"As to the matter of her placement," Umbridge started, "my recommendation-."

"I don't want her," Narcissa said. Rory looked over to her. "She's never been kind to my son and I will not have her under my roof. I came here today to be sure she didn't find some way to weasel her way into my home."

Rory was thankful for that small miracle at least. And Umbridge looked decidedly unhappy about this as well.

"Andromeda Tonks, are you present?" Oriel asked. Andromeda stood. She pushed a lock of her brown hair behind her ear. "Are you, like Mister Goldfinch, willing to take her in?"

"I did her a disservice turning her away 14 years ago. And I'm here today to make amends for that however I can," Andromeda said. Oriel looked through her papers and raised an eyebrow.

"You've one child already?" she asked.

"Adult child. She's an Auror now," Andromeda said. "Sometimes keeps herself too busy here to visit, but I am immensely proud of her."

"And Mister Goldfinch, you have no children?" Oriel asked.

"None," Levi said. "I know you might find that to be a black mark in my favor, but it just means she would have all of my attention."

"I'm sure. But I find it concerning that you spent nearly two decades letting people believe you might be dead somewhere and have suddenly returned to ask to take care of this girl," Oriel said. "In my opinion, Mrs. Tonks, given your long-term stability and your successes with your own daughter-"

"Prott, a word," Fudge said.

Something was wrong. Rory could feel it. She watched Umbridge, Fudge, and Oriel Prott commiserate. Rory clung closely to her dad.

When the three were done, Fudge and Umbridge seemed satisfied. Oriel on the other hand had a hint of irritation to her voice.

"After conferring with my colleagues, we've decided that it makes the most sense to place Aurora with her uncle, the petitioner, Levi Goldfinch," Oriel said.

The floor seemed to drop out beneath her. No. She could not go to Levi. She couldn't. Wouldn't. She would be more likely to let someone smuggle her off the train in their trunk rather than step foot anywhere with a psychopath.

But Fudge struck his gavel down. The sound reverberated through the room like the sound of a hammer against the brick of her home as it was slowly being torn down.

She was crying again. At least these assholes had the decency to let her cry in peace and not kick her out of the room.

And her dad hasn't said anything yet either, just sat there with her arms around him, letting her cry. She didn't care that she had to go take her History of Magic OWL or eventually go back to school. She wanted to go home, with her dad. She wanted to sit in their little flat in London and go back to a time before Levi Goldfinch had ever steamrolled his way into her life.

"Aurora," Remus finally said.

"It's not fair," she said.

"I know," he said.

"You're my dad," she said. "And he's—."

"No one's going to let you go with Levi," he said. "We'll figure something out. I promise."

She wiped her eyes, but new tears filled them immediately.

"Did Grampy really say all those things?" she asked.

Remus nodded. "And more."

She shook her head. "Greyback… When he attacked you… What did Grampy say to… I can't imagine."

He placed a hand on Rory's back. "Let's take a walk. They'll be coming to get you for your exam."

They finally stood and walked from the room.

"I think was a few years younger than you when I finally found out what exactly my father said to upset Greyback," Remus said. The corridor was mostly deserted. The people that did pass by gave them a wide berth.

"Was it bad?" she asked.

He nodded. "So bad in fact that after my mother passed away I didn't feel obligated to speak to him after I graduated… Until you showed up. Because I couldn't take care of you on my own."

"You didn't talk to Grampy for almost three years?" she asked. He nodded. Rory couldn't imagine being so angry with her father that she stopped speaking to him. She thought about all the times she'd been angry with him over the summer or during winter break. She hadn't been so angry that the slightest inconvenience wouldn't send her running back to her dad for help.

"Do you think you'd have made up with him if I hadn't come along?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I don't think I'd have made the effort."

"Even though it was something he said before you got attacked?" she asked.

"If he hadn't said or believed it in the first place, I wouldn't have been attacked at all," he said.

Rory was a little shocked at the bitterness in his voice, but she'd never really considered that her dad might blame her grandfather for the way things had turned out for him.

She hugged him tightly. "You don't have to tell me what he said."

"I wasn't going to," he said. She managed a chuckle even as tears stung her eyes again. "We're going to figure this out. Don't worry."

She nodded. Her dad hadn't let her down so far. She had to trust him again this time.

"Enjoying the last of your time together?"

Rory wiped her and looked up to see Lucius Malfoy striding toward them.

"Can I help you, Lucius?" Remus asked.

"I'm just here to escort Miss Aurora here to History of Magic exam," he said. Rory rolled her eyes.

She didn't want to deal with this man right now. She didn't want to deal with a Malfoy on a regular day, but she was especially not in the mood for it today, after all this.

"Sorry for the way things turned out for you today, by the way," Lucius said.

Rory was about to tell him to shove his words of consolation up his ass, but, Remus seemed to sense that she was about to snap. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Temporary, I'm sure," Remus said. "Good luck with your exam."

She hugged him tightly. "Love you, Dad."

"Love you too," he said.

Reluctantly, Rory walked with Lucius to the lift. She gave her dad one last wave before the doors closed in front of her. She reclined back against the wall, as far from Lucius as she could manage.

When the doors opened, she followed behind him into the Department of Magical Education.

"Shouldn't I be going to the Examinations Authority?" she asked.

"Many of them are occupied with OWLs and Newts as it turns out. I've volunteered my office for your exam," he said.

Rory kept her groan inside. This exam was going to be a nightmare already, and now she had to sit across from Lucius Malfoy while she took it. This day was a ball of shit rolling downhill. And there was still plenty of day left yet to go.

Lucius' office was kind of impressive. He had a large mahogany desk. There were pictures of his wife and child to his credit. There were accolades and news articles framed on the wall and lots of magical objects she couldn't identify.

He flicked his wand a desk appeared in the corner of the room. It had a quill and ink on it, the same she'd been using the last two weeks for all of her OWLs. She took her seat. Lucius sat at his desk and watched her closely.

Something about all of this felt off, but she'd been feeling that way since the Astronomy OWL the night before. And Lucius Malfoy as a human being just made her uneasy in general.

"Good luck," he said. There was a knock on the door and a man with a folder of papers in his hand walked in.

"Good afternoon, Lucius," the man said. He saw Aurora and smiled. "And you must be Aurora Lupin." He turned back to Lucius, "Thanks again for the use of your office. Things are absolutely mad down in Examinations this week. Auror exams next week and that's always insanity."

"No trouble," Lucius said. "Don't let me disturb you."

Rory didn't register the examiner's name as he gave her instructions and then placed the test down in front of her.

Her brain kept jumping back and forth between the questions on the test, the feeling of unending dread that had been clinging to her since she'd woken up, and her dad. She repeatedly had to wipe tears from her eyes while she wrote and refocus her brain while she worked out what she meant to say. Lucius Malfoy was the least of her distractions right now.

When she was finished, the examiner collected her paper.

"Congratulations, you are officially done with your OWLs. I bet you feel relieved," the examiner said.

Relief was the farthest thing from her mind. She was angry. She was supposed to be at school. She was supposed to finish this exam, have lunch, and then spend the rest of the evening, and probably even the last week of term, happily snogging her boyfriend. Then she was supposed to go home and spend the summer with her dad.

Instead, she was sitting in Lucius Malfoy's office.

When Rory didn't respond to him, he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"If you don't mind, could you escort Miss Lupin to Dolores Umbridge's office? We'd hate for her to be late getting back to school," Lucius said.

"Yes, of course," he said with a nod. "Come along."

Rory started to follow the examiner from the room.

"Enjoy the rest of your evening," Lucius said. Rory looked over her shoulder at him. He was scribbling at something on his desk. "I'm sure it will be eventful."

Well, that was a red flag if Rory ever heard one.

She followed her examiner from the office, eager to be away from Lucius as soon as humanly possible.

The Ministry was a maze. Aside from the many endless signs designating departments and offices, Rory couldn't keep track of where she was. They stepped onto one lift, walked down a corridor, and got onto another. Along the way, a few people paused to say hello to her escort, who responded only with nods. Rory was starting to feel a little bad for taking her bad mood out on him.

When the doors opened after she'd gotten on a second lift, a long hallway stood in front of her. They were in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which Rory found confusing because she knew Umbridge's office was one floor down at the very least.

"I thought I was supposed to—."

"Walk," he said. He brandished his wand at her.

Right. This day was supposed to be a shit show. Why would she be allowed to go back to Hogwarts? She'd told Harry as much last night. She wasn't going to be there to stop him from being reckless. But maybe his recklessness was a direct result of her not being there. She knew something was going to happen and had warned him that it would.

What was happening at Hogwarts? Why was she being kept at the Ministry?

She walked down the corridor. He led her through a series of doors until they came to one at the end of a long hallway. Above it there was a sign that said "Holding and Interrogation."

He pushed the door open and he ushered her through. There were a series of cells with metal doors with only a singular viewing window to see into the room. Only one of the cell doors was open.

Rory's feet stopped her, but he shoved her forward and then into the cell. She turned just in time to see the cell door slam in her face. She turned around again and examined the room. There was a metal table and a metal chair. Stone walls, stone floor, and lamps on the wall were so dim, that she thought for sure that Snape had to have given them a lesson in bad lighting.

She knew she wasn't in the room for a long, but certainly, enough time had passed that someone had to have noticed that she wasn't back at school. It had to have been close to five o'clock when she'd finished her exam. People had been leaving for the day when she was being walked down here. Someone had to be looking for her. Even Umbridge wouldn't want a student to go missing on her watch. Someone had to be looking for her.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall and backed away from the door. The knob turned and she felt a jolt of fear.

When the door opened, her blood ran cold. Levi was there, but he wasn't alone. Beside him stood Lucius Malfoy.

She grabbed her wand and held it out in front of her.

Levi sighed. "Aurora, this will be much simpler if you do as you're told."

"That sounds like a terrible idea if I'm being honest," she said.

Lucius pulled out his wand. Much to her dismay, he disarmed her easily. Contrary to popular belief, she would not, in fact, make a good Auror. She was shit at dueling.

"I would hate to have to make you, but if we have to resort to drastic measures then so be it," Lucius said.

"Just do as he says, Aurora. He promised I wouldn't have to be around for the screaming," Levi said.

Rory took another step back. Before she could say another word, her body went rigid. She knew this feeling. It was the same as when Crouch controlled her last year.

As hard as she tried, she could not fight off the compulsion to walk from the cell. She followed Lucius and Levi down the corridor. She was right when she suspected that people would be leaving. The Ministry was a ghost town now.

They put her on a lift and she rode up to the ninth floor. They took her down a few corridors until they came to the Department of Mysteries.

As they passed through the door, Rory felt herself regain control of her body. She stumbled over her feet. They ushered her through another door and into a small office. Lucius shoved her down into a chair.

"What do you—?"

"They are doing exactly as they were instructed."

Rory felt cold. She didn't know this voice, be she knew his aura. She'd felt this before. Every wicked and evil thought she'd help push from Harry's mind, it was right there in the room with her.