33. Sentence
I was gardening on a cool windy day, when there was a faint popping sound in the meadow in front of the house. Molly was in the kitchen and I saw her crane her neck to look out the window at the sound. I walked around the side of the Burrow and stood partly hidden by a corner, peering out into the meadow.
An unfamiliar wizard was making his way towards the house, holding his hat in one hand and his case in another, dark blue robes flapping in the wind. He was from the Ministry.
My heart jumped into my throat. I turned and hurried back around the house to the garden. My first instinct was to hide, to flee, but then I heard Molly talking with him, and his voice–a patient, tenor voice–asking, "Is Mrs. Lupin here?"
"Yes, she is. Do come in. Wilma?" Molly called. Her footsteps approached the back door, and I looked up at her fearfully when she appeared.
There was nothing else for it. Holding my muddy hands in front of me, I went into the house. All of the possibilities scrambled in my mind. It could be that something terrible had happened to Remus. It could be about Lucius. What if they had found out about my miscarriage and were here to take me away to somewhere awful? Molly stood silently nearby while I rinsed the earth from my hands and dried them. Then I went to face the wizard in the entryway.
He was a bit taller than me, and had a thin and businesslike face. He looked about thirty. "Hello, Mrs. Lupin. Hornibus Hiltch, at your service. I am here to discuss your case against Lucius Malfoy."
The name alone made my stomach harden.
I hadn't heard from Poppy at all since she had gone alone to the Ministry on the first of February. I'd begun to get nervous about how the Ministry would respond to her evidence. I'd thought, after the silence, that they had disregarded it. But clearly it was being taken more seriously than I'd realised.
Molly looked at me nervously. I nodded to Mr. Hiltch. "Of course."
"Is there a private place we can sit down?"
"Right this way," said Molly, and we led Mr. Hiltch into the sitting room. "May I offer you some tea?" Molly asked, as he got himself settled. I watched him place his hat and his case on the table.
"Yes, please, Mrs. Weasley," said Mr. Hiltch. "Thank you." I knew he only wanted her out of the room, but at least he was being polite.
Molly gave me one last look, and after I nodded that I would be alright, she turned and went out.
I kept silent as he unlocked his case with his wand, and took out a roll of official Ministry parchment. He unrolled it and offered it to me. I took it. "Lucius Malfoy came before the Wizengamot last week," Mr. Hiltch told me. "He has been sentenced to a year in Azkaban."
I looked up at him, wide-eyed, and then returned my focus to the parchment. The writing was formal and a bit complicated, but the point of it was easy enough to understand. It was the official document declaring that the Wizengamot had found Lucius Malfoy guilty of using a contraceptive charm, which placed him in violation of the Marriage Law.
Of course he was going to prison because of the contraceptive charm, and not of his violent actions. I took issue with this, but knew not to complain. Even one year in Azkaban was a far greater punishment than I would have expected.
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say. Luckily Mr. Hiltch didn't seem to expect me to say anything. When I was finished reading the parchment he took it back, rolled it again, and replaced it in his case. Then he took out a sealed letter which was addressed to me from the Ministry. "I have also been sent to deliver this," he said.
Perhaps this would contain some information about Remus. I ripped open the seal, not waiting for an invitation.
Dear Mrs. Lupin,
In light of the events of the 31st of January, the overseers of fertility and copulation under the Marriage Law have deemed it appropriate to offer you a period of recovery. Therefore, you will not be required to report intercourse in your next fertile window, which concludes the 2nd of March.
However, if your husband has not returned by the 5th of March, you will be required to select a new husband of your choosing, with whom you must fulfil the monthly requirement by the 1st of April. The enclosed form must be signed by both parties and submitted to the Ministry by the 20th of March in this case.
The enclosed form looked exactly like the one I had signed with Remus. On it was written the marriage contract, and two small lines, for signatures.
I had pushed from my mind the requirement of a new husband if Remus did not return, but of course had not completely forgotten. I had foolishly hoped that, perhaps, the Ministry would forget.
I had to admit I wasn't very touched by this one-month courtesy. It felt like a move to maintain their respectability, rather than acknowledging that their poor matchmaking had gotten me into this mess in the first place.
"Does anyone at the Ministry have any way of contacting my husband?" I asked Mr. Hiltch. It hurt to say the words, my husband, but I felt they gave my question a kind of authority it would otherwise have lacked.
"Unfortunately," said Hornibus Hiltch, "Mr. Lupin's whereabouts remain unknown. We have tried to reach out to take disciplinary measures, but our owls have come back having been unable to find him. Of course, if this changes, you will be notified. Any more questions?"
"No," I said. I had much to think about now, and wanted Mr. Hiltch to leave.
We heard the kettle whistling but he clearly wasn't interested in staying for tea. "My apologies, Mrs. Weasley," he said to Molly as he opened the front door, putting on his hat. "Very tight schedule." And then he left.
Of course Molly was just as relieved as I was that he was gone. I told her everything that had happened, from Lucius's sentence (she didn't think a year in Azkaban was nearly enough), to the new marriage form, and the Ministry's lack of knowledge as to Remus's whereabouts.
Molly poured me a cup of tea from the boiling kettle, and I held it against my chest as I reread the new letter. I had more time–or, at least the illusion of it. I knew it would go by much too fast.