August 4, 1997
Percy and I spoke with Misty and Zara for close to two hours about what we had experienced in the Minister's Office. For a few minutes, they seemed to think we were joking, though they did not seem to believe the idea themselves. Percy was too serious to be a liar and while I was fanciful enough to create a story like that, I was not malicious that way. Once the truth sunk in, Misty and Zara began to panic, what did this mean? What was coming next? I had no answers for them, my brain was in a fog and I could not think of anything politically substantial to provide a basis for what would come next. All the other coups of a similar nature I could reference happened so long ago I could not apply it to the modern day. The Lebedev Affair, the Civil War, I had no comparisons to make despite the similarities on paper, the practice of attempted and successful coups were radically different. I could not go to Elihu right now, I needed more information about what was coming next. I may only have one chance to meet with him and I wanted it to be a through meeting where I put more than one shocking event on his plate.
Percy stayed long after Zara and Misty left, he spent the night at my apartment. Partially because he claimed to sleep better when I was nearby, also because I told him too as getting tortured was generally not good for someone's health. Percy had also placed an early morning floo call to Oliver, citing a hangover to avoid leaving my apartment for a morning run, which Oliver promptly asked when he was going to meet the girl, which embarrassed Percy and made him throw water on the fireplace and dosed Oliver in the process. Percy had opted to stay in bed until the late hours of the morning, keeping me there with him by way of muttered, senseless words and a tight grip on my waist.
The rest of the day was spent talking and planning over take out from a place down the street that I liked. We both realized how hard it is to make plans when we don't know the extent of the enemy's plans or if they have any at all. Percy did not need to know about my lousy cooking and I didn't want him to cook and find out how slim the pickings were in my kitchen. Plus his hands would occasionally tremble uncontrollably from Yaxley's torture.
The letters that we had received on Sunday morning were requests to bring our family trees to be viewed by the new head of Magical Law Enforcement on behalf of the newly forming office of magical bloodlines. The reason provided was that the government was interested for survey and inheritance purposes, continued explanation included phases such as inheritance claims, government project, ripping the true evil and corruption root and stem. They were decidedly vague on that last bit.
Percy and I decided to go to work together on Monday. Arrive early per the letter request and go in with the morning janitorial staff. We would arrive separately and make it appear we had met at the lift that would take us into the Ministry proper.
It was a very well thought out plan under the circumstances.
I fixed my cloak, connecting the gold clasp at my throat before stepping into the hallway. I could see the Carter family standing by the elevator, Claire and Paul Carter looked frazzled from more than just managing their three daughters. Everyone except Paul was in their pajamas and housecoats. It was pretty cute.
Claire bounced baby Grace on her hip to distract the baby's efforts to pull her corn yellow hair. Paul was speaking with his eldest daughter, Eleanor. She turned eleven last week. Claire had brought me a piece of cake as an apology for the noise she was sure I heard through the wall. I heard nothing, but I did want cake.
Paul Carter worked in the Charms Development, he explained that he worked mainly with other departments, mainly law enforcement, to keep them informed about new charms that had been approved by the Ministry and demonstrate how to use them in the field. I knew he had done a few raids with Arthur Weasley's department over the last few months.
"Hello Audrey," Claire chipped, her beaming smile was a regular resident on her face.
"Morning Miss Audrey." Eleanor and Kitty chimed together.
"Good morning! Nice to see you all." The doors of the elevator opened and I was sure I was going to throw up. I tossed and turned all night, the things that were keeping me going was drinking enough coffee to potentially see sounds. I did not want to go to the office. I really wanted to quit and walk into the depths of London to run a snake emporium or something, but I knew that if I ran away, something terrible would happen to me. Something I would have no forewarning of.
Paul ruffled his daughters hair affectionately before bending down to kiss Claire on the cheek and make cooing noises at the baby who made a happy noise in turn.
"I'll walk with you to the apparition point." Paul said quickly as he adjusted his coat. "I need to meet Weasley on a work matter."
We bid farewell to the rest of the Carter family and let the six in the morning silence of the elevator overtake us for a moment.
"Why are you going in so early?"
"Long story." I fiddled with my wand. "There's some kind of meeting."
"You got a letter too?" Paul pulled a letter that was identical to the ones Percy and I received yesterday about a request for family trees out of his pocket. The only difference was that Paul's date was this afternoon. "Very strange, don't you think?"
"Yes, I can't think of any similar programs in MACUSA."
Paul's brow furrowed, "My father was an electrician, my mum worked retail. I don't see what the Ministry would need with that information."
"I've wondered the same thing. I can't think of any reason for it."
"Maybe it's just some mass government survey or something." Paul shrugged, "I do charms for a living, what do I know?"
We stepped out of the elevator and stepped out into the dark street to make our way to the apparition point in the alley nearby. The sun was beginning to come up, I could not see the sun yet, but the sky had taken on a lighter hue and the streetlights were beginning to dim.
"What's going on in the Minister's office these days?"
The Minister's been assassinated. I think I'm being watched and I'm afraid to say anything about it to you or anyone else because you will think I'm crazy!
"Nothing. It's dead boring."
"Did you know anything about Scrimgeour's resignation?"
I knew so much. "No, it was a surprise to me too. He never said a word about it to the office."
"Hm, maybe he had a breakdown?"
I did not like Scrimgeour much, but his defiance to Voldemort would be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. "No, I don't think that was it."
Paul nodded as we arrived at the alley. I rested my hand on my wand and let Paul go first, he had an actual job to do. When I heard the loud crack of disapperation, I walked down the alley myself. Stopped to puke in a nearby trash can. Planted my feet firmly several feet away from the trash can that now smelled like coffee infused stomach bile and a stench I referred to as trash juice before spinning around to open my eyes in an equally filthy alley where I could see Percy waiting at the alley opening checking his pocket watch to try and not make it look like he was waiting for someone.
"Morning Percy!"
"Morning Audrey! You going in early too?"
This show was so stupid but neither of us had felt safe since Friday.
"Yes, lots to do today."
We made our way over the abandoned muggle building only to find a member of Magical Maintenance standing in front of the entrance, he was clad in No-Maj attire for ease of work and to blend in with the passing muggles.
"Lift's out." He pointed down the street. "The loo around the corner is open."
"I'm sorry," Percy's voice was firm. "Please explain."
"I said what I said."
"He's wondering how the bathroom works as an entry." I clarified before Percy could dig into this uncomfortable looking middle-aged man.
"Ya get flushed."
"I beg your pardon?" I was very shocked for a lot of reasons.
"Ya step inta the toilets with the outta orda sign and flush yaselves."
"That's unsanitary!" Percy's expression was thunderstruck.
The maintenance wizard shrugged. "That's wha' I was told. Just passin' on the message."
Percy walked ahead while I thanked the man quickly and jogged to catch up with him.
"Ridiculous!"
"Why would they change the entrances? Is the floo still open?"
"No idea."
"It's like they're corralling us in."
Percy paused, "They want to see us coming in like the interns or entry level staff."
"I've never flushed myself down a toilet to go to work!"
"No, but I think they'll drop us in the Atrium to go through the visitors entrance, not the employee entrance."
"Like we're coming for an interview."
"Right."
An interview about if we would stay employed with the new administration.
The pieces were not all on the board, but a few were almost in place.
Percy seemed of the same mind as I was on the matter. We parted at the bathrooms with the out of order sign with a quick nod and stepped inside.
I remembered the instructions provided by the maintenance wizard and, in one of the lowest points of my life, I stepped into the toilet, wearing my favorite pair of work shoes, wincing at the cold water and the feeling of it filling my shoes and quickly pulled the lever.
The rush of cold in the pipe was suffocating and cold. It was like drowning but it was over too quickly to really say so.
Being dropped into the empty Atrium was like taking a breath of fresh air. I dried myself off with a few taps of my wand and saw Percy shaking out his cloak nearby before tapping his shoes dry of (presumably clean) toilet water. He made his way over to me, repeating the courtesies that we had uttered on the street not even fifteen minutes ago as we moved away from the very edge to the Atrium towards its very heart.
The Atrium was seemingly empty but could hear shouts and noise bouncing off the high ceiling. A maintenance wizard was looking at curtains that hung from the ceiling to the floor where the Fountain of Magical Brethren sat in the center of the Atrium as a pinnacle of the profession of what the British viewed as progressive politics. An illusion of equality under the system, but in my years here, I felt I had learned the truth of the matter. America had its flaws, but we did at least have liaisons with goblins within the government sector that worked with them directly. House Elf enslavement was in a steep decline since the No-Maj Civil War, the ones that remained in service had generally come within the last generation or two with people who had their own traditions, taking advantage of government loopholes, but arriving senior elves were promised a percentage of money upon their master's demise for years of service. Free elves in America were generally able to find work with cleaning or catering companies, a few worked for MACUSA as part of the janitorial staff. Others found families who would pay them in some manner for their services. It was not perfect, but things were getting better, if Tinsy was a sign of American House Elf independence I was sure there were interesting changes coming. Here, this nation had been stagnant politically for decades that had allowed the Death Eaters to fester.
Now there was something else being put up in the fountain's place behind a large curtain. I had not heard anything about maintenance on the statue of Magical Brethren. I had gathered after the chaos from Dumbledore's duel with Voldemort two years ago that it was difficult to find artists who could work on the material and truly repair it. Magic has its limits and artists have their pride.
Percy and I passed by the curtains as the maintenance wizard tried to peek behind the curtain with no success due to repealing charms. We stepped into the elevator in silence, unsure of what the next few hours would bring as we rode up alone. Percy took my hand and squeezed it tightly before letting it go just as suddenly as the elevator stopped at the Minister's floor.
I did not want to go.
But duty demanded my feet to move and I stepped out of the elevator with a swimming gut as if my father had taken me out on Lake Superior in that stupid boat again. The water was rougher than he thought and I puked in the boat and over the side of the boat until he got us back to shore where my mother was reading on the beach. It was the worst vacation ever.
This was the worst job ever and at least bad vacations ended. I was not sure I could say the same for this job.
Percy and I exchanged a look before opening the door to the Support Staff Office to reveal two familiar figures talking inside.
Pius Thicknesse continued to have a vacant look about him, Thicknesse was not the real threat in this office and I was not concerned about the new Minister. He was merely the latest idiot, puppet really, to stumble into this job through means either stupid or nefarious. The real threat in this room was Yaxley. He was holding papers and wearing the official insignia of the Head of the Law Enforcement Office and I felt nothing but complete and utter contempt, something hot and angry brewing in my gut as I quietly walked to my desk to wait for this pair of traitors to finish their discussion.
I did not have to wait long.
Yaxley turned his attention to Percy first and I rested my hand on my wand, rubbing the handle to try and stay calm. Yaxley had his back to me. I could kill him. It would be so easy.
"Follow me, Weasley." Yaxley led Percy to Umbridge's office. Strange. Percy followed with his papers under his arm and a quick glance at me before the office door clicked closed, leaving me alone with the Minister who quickly retreated to his own office with nary a word. It was well before my actual shift and any sort of meeting that was scheduled for the staff.
I was alone in a silent, empty office and going over my documents again. Lucinda had been very thorough in providing me a copy of the Ainsley family tree. She made comments of course, that I had nothing to worry about, that Ainsleys were very good at marriage, that Lucinda's mother, my great-grandmother, was a Selwyn and they were an old pureblood family of the sort that the Ainsleys liked to marry.
Lucinda had wondered why I needed this for work, she questioned the letter I had received in the same way I had but it was easier to acquiesce to the Ministry's strange demands. When she asked about Scrimgeour's retirement after reading the article in the Daily Prophet, all I could tell her was that I had sincere doubts about that being the case. Something in my countenance gave Lucinda pause, she did not prod any further, silently trusting me to tell me everything when I could. I had some information, but it was useless without a fuller picture of the situation. One I was hoping to find today.
I shuffled my own papers in the folder and double checked the contents. I took in the names listed on the family along with the family photographs Lucinda had included. It had been a nice talk despite the circumstances. I found out that one of my ancestor's names was Lundy. Who would do that to a baby?
I paced around the office, careful not to disturb the Death Eater in the Minister's office with my anxiety.
When Percy emerged half an hour later, he looked tired but alive and that was all I could ask for.
We exchanged a look as he walked towards me at a rapid pace.
"They're checking bloodstatus." His voice was low and manic for his disbelief and incoming panic. "That's what this is about!"
I froze.
"What?"
"Yaxley only wants the office staffed by those with pureblood ancestry." He looked at me as my mind whirred. I motioned him away before Yaxley could come out of the office to call me in next.
Jack Graves was a half-blood by the most traditional definition. Lucina Graves was an old style pureblood. It would do me no harm to clean up the Graves family as much as I could. If Percy and I were being interviewed first, they wanted to see our loyalties, our connections, Percy's in any case, and it would make us political hostages. I needed to play a man who was starting a very long day, there needed to be nothing exceptional that implied current political power and pull in my family history. I needed to make sure that Elihu would not cooperate with the current Ministry and would support my story if they asked him for more details on my American family.
Happy place, Audrey. Find the place where your lies live.
Yaxley stepped out of the room and I had a moment of cold horror as he looked at me.
"Graves."
Nothing else I could do now. It was out of my hands.
The office was still a gaudy pink, but the cat plates were meowing from a box on the floor along with another box labeled files and desk decor. Yaxley sitting in this very pink room gave an air of amusement to the whole thing.
"Is Madam Umbridge taking a new position?"
"Yes, she'll be heading a brand new department."
"Oh, what's the department?"
Yaxley ignored the question and told me to stand in front of the white sheet that was dangling from the wall as he fiddled with a camera. He took a picture from the front, one to get my profile as if it were a mugshot. Which it could have very well been.
Followed Yaxley's lead and sat across from him at the desk as he made himself comfortable in Umbridge's seat. He looked ridiculous.
He wordlessly reached out for my folder of quickly thrown together family history.
We sat in silence as he went through the papers, the only sound in the room was papers rustling and turning. I saw no point in this. This was a pointless thing that was sure to lead to something terrible or stupid.
Yaxley examined my paperwork with a careful eye. A red inkwell at his side, the ink dripping off his hovering quill like blood from a wound.
"The Ainsley family name is extinct in the male line and their closest relatives are the…"
"Averys," I finished managing to hide the disgust in my voice. "I think. There's an inheritance issue that I don't understand."
I understood it perfectly, but if I'm working for arrogant, hateful goons, I did not need to stand out. I needed to play to the lowest common denominator. I would rather have them think I was dumb enough to be used or too dumb to be truly useful.
Yaxley flipped through the family tree I had provided, his eyes trailing over my maternal line. I watched his eyes scan the documents with an eagle eyed attention to detail. "The Ainsleys have never been known for their magical prowess, they've never produced any wizards of note."
Don't insult Lucinda like that!
"But they are well connected."
Just get through the meeting, Audrey.
"Your great-grandmother is a Belinda Selwyn?"
I nodded, Lucinda gave me a quick overview of her family as she helped me fill out this last minute paperwork yesterday afternoon. Belinda Selwyn was a younger daughter of the Selwyn family of the proclaimed Sacred Twenty-Eight, she had a sizable inheritance that had brought Thornell to its present state of acceptability. Belinda had been very like Lucinda in regard to tradition and social standing. Belinda was good with money, but she was also a woman of means and taste. I gathered the pair had moments where they could not stand one another for it, a combination of Belinda's disappointment in not producing a son and having such a practically minded, independent daughter instead.
"The Macmillians are a respectable family," his lip curled in disgust, "but they have very loose regard for who they associate with."
"I can't say I've met any of my Macmillan cousins."
He seemed satisfied with that. That a line was being adhered too about my association with noted blood traitor families.
"So you're from a third rate pure-blood family on your mother's side," Yaxley turned the page to the family tree for my American relatives, it was a quick handwritten thing I had made over the weekend with help from the Graves Family Grimoire I had to help fill in some of the gaps. "It appears your father's family is very well regarded, but we could not find any information on their blood status." He gave me a stoney stare. "MACUSA's Embassy is uncooperative."
Better be. Elihu's not dumb enough to just hand over anything like that if it's on hand and he generally doesn't work weekends. Elihu had probably found out this morning with everyone else in this country that Scrimgeour had 'stepped down.' Elihu had spoken of his family history to me before, how his grandparents were No-Maj Holocaust survivors, how his mother was a Seed and felt like a reflection to her parents' hope of opportunities and safety in America. Family trees are not the business of the government. I needed to speak with Elihu and tell him everything that happened at the first opportunity, I did not trust that we were not being watched. I would have to be sneaky about it.
Maybe this lie I had crafted would protect my father too if he had to come back to Britain.
I was happy they had interviewed Percy first, his warning had given me a chance to clean up my family tree and plan for my own meeting to ensure I could keep my position in the Minister's Office as something other than a political prisoner. I was not leaving Percy alone there if I could help it. We were better off as a team where we could watch each other's backs.
"Generally Americans care more about someone having the gift of magic, but the Graves family is a little more discerning then that." I smiled sweetly, doing my best impression of Umbridge's saccharine sweetness. "We do appreciate what marrying someone with what you call pureblood ancestry can bring the family as a whole. Connections and magical power are things that those who have neither cannot understand. My grandfather said that my grandmother was one of the most powerful witches he had ever met and her being from a well regarded magical family was a definite addition to his regard."
Lies.
"The Turings helped create the magical district of New York, the strip is named after the family, the Turing District is very well regarded in New York Society, and they still have a family home there for the social season."
Wrong Turings. My grandmother was a Seed, her parents were No-Maj's with more children they could afford and a few criminal connections due to Prohibition, my No-Maj great-grandfather was very good at getting liquor to sell for extra money, never enough to get caught by the mob, but enough to help keep food on the table for his seven children. It was easy to hide distilleries when one managed to win a small rental building in a game of cards. Though the compliments Grandpa Atticus made about Grandma Ophelia being a powerful witch were very true. They both served in the war against Grindelwald together, Ophelia in a medical division. Atticus led a covert unit to team up with local resistance groups to get deeper into Europe from France to start finding and killing powerful Grindelwald supporters. Atticus mentioned he killed one prominent supporter in a very nasty fight, but the details were classified for another few decades.
I did not think that the Ministry were looking solely for blood status credentials, they would have no workers if they were the case. Zeal from an individual could erase any doubts given by more questionable parentage.
"The Graves family have served as MACUSA Aurors for over seven generations and played an important role in settling the country. I don't think a family willing to dilute themselves with the blood of No-Majs or what you refer to as Muggleborns could have accomplished everything that my ancestors have."
I don't even like No-Majs, but the words were uncomfortable and disgusting as they left my mouth. But I needed to stay with Percy. I needed to stay in this job to stay with him. The discomfort was worth my own disgust. I knew what kind of game I was stuck playing now and everything I knew about this nation's views of blood status and class was going to be needed to keep myself safe until I had a plan for what to do and see what the next weeks would bring.
"What does your father do?"
"He works in wand regulations and my mother has been dead for about fifteen years."
Yaxley looked down at my family tree again. There was something brewing in his eyes that I did not like. I left my step mother off the tree as she was not a blood relative, per the instructions on the paperwork that was sent to me over the weekend. A way to guard myself. Secrets did not stay secret forever, but if Yaxley was going to be nosy, he could look himself. I had no desire to make his life easier. After he tortured Percy, I decided to make his life as difficult as I could manage.
If Yaxley knew anything at all, I was not going to make my life harder by confirming it outright. After all, if he wants the full story, let him work it out himself. He will be too busy to put everything towards something so silly as the specifics of one pureblood family tree. That would make him look insane and he had too many other things to do in relation to helping to finish his master's hostile takeover.
Yaxley stamped my family tree with his seal of approval and informed me that I could return to the Minister's Office.
I left the office with a muttered thank you for his time and walked out the door, unsure of what to think about anything.
I just knew that my time here in the Minister's Office was now indefinite.
Percy looked at me with such relief as I exited the room that my stomach turned and twisted in a combination of my own relief and excitement at seeing his own.
We were not safe, but we were together and that was really all we could ask for at the moment.
With Yaxley's work complete in our office, he moved on to his new domain as Head of the Law Enforcement Office after a quick word to Thicknesse who poked his head out of the office like a gopher from a hole. Percy and I found ourselves left to our own devices and our own thoughts as mechanizations of the new regime began with whispers behind closed doors. The work we had was busy and pointless, as if they understood that we knew too much, which we did and did not.
Percy was usually privy to the Minister's meetings, but for the moment he had been demoted in practice until they were sure of his loyalties. I watched his eyes flicker between the door to the Minister's Office and the door into the corridor as his foot tapped in irritation behind the desk for close to two hours, neither of us wanted to leave our desks to have a hot drink or get one of the snacks I had hidden in our breakroom.
Agatha the tea witch never arrived with her little cart of tea, milk and offensively brewed coffee. I wondered where she was. She was my first nemesis in this country and held a special place in my heart for giving me the worst coffee I had ever had in my life. I found out later that she had been among the first interrogated by one of the new department heads about her blood status. Agatha kept her job, but she refused to come to the Minister's Office in sheer irritation.
When I received a memo to deliver some papers to Umbridge in her newly forming department, I leapt at the opportunity to do so. I needed to know what was going on. I needed to understand what kind of world I was in now.
It was a long walk down to the new department. It was a sub-office under the registration department, which was under the Law Enforcement Office, where people would apply for citizenship or get the papers for a newborn baby. There were better ways to sort bureaucracy, but I was American and no one wanted to hear my opinions on the matter because this was how it was always done.
There was no plaque on the door that announced what this department was, but they did have the biggest office on the floor. It made me nervous. Something was wrong with this in a way I could not place yet. I knocked on the door as a courtesy and stepped inside.
I looked around the room, there were a bunch of young clerks I had seen from various offices, their desks emboldened with familiar names from Lucinda's forced party attendance. Jasmine Rosier. Cecil Bulstrode. Archibald Parkinson. The three were shifting desks and organizing various office supplies. They were low level staff and not very bright, I would barely trust any of the three to arrange an office.
A few others I recognized as new interns with prominent family names were going through some paperwork in a large filing cabinet in the back. I paid them no mind as they sorted the folders into different piles and whispered to each other.
The door to the office nearby was slightly ajar and featured Dolores Umbridge's name on a gold plaque and something… disgusting on the door.
It was an eye.
The eye was an electric blue color and moved around the room, watching everything going on in a dizzying dance.
What the hell?
Why?
The eye focused in my direction and I felt it was peering through me.
I moved my eyes to a nearby table that had a set of sketch pencils and some paints. The piece of art was of a woman being strangled by a the thorny stem of a plant I recognized as a healing plant, called stranglewart, which was a counter to the plants actual purpose as an antidote to many threatening curses and amplifier of the effects of many other potions if used in the correct doses.
A Peaceful Pureblood Society
This looked like design work, an early sketch and not a final draft.
Oh I do not like this…
"Miss Graves!" Umbridge's voice snapped me out of my disgust as she emerged from her office clad in her usual array of eyesore pink and ambled over in my direction with a purpose.
Oh, Isolt, now I have to play nice with Umbridge. I can do that. I have spent the last ten minutes planning how to do so.
She was holding a clipboard with what appeared to be a list that she was adding too. When she stopped in front of me I spared a glance down to read the top of the list.
Troublesome Mudbloods
Hermione Granger
I could not make out any names further down the list. I could not risk it.
"Madam Umbridge," I instilled my voice with as much chirpy sincerity as I could manage. "Congratulations on your new position."
Now I don't have to see you every day.
"Well, we must all serve the Minister in our own ways."
"Change is always good for personal development." I managed to sound more sincere then I felt as something shiny around Umbridge's neck caught my attention. "That's a lovely necklace, Dolores, is it new?"
"This old thing? It's an heirloom from the Selwyn family of which I am distantly related."
"Oh! How lovely!" I paused a vicious thought crossing my mind. "My great grandmother was a Selwyn. Would that make you my cousin, Dolores?"
I would hold the look on her face close to my heart for the rest of my life. The slightly widened eyes, the reddening of her face, and her smile taking on an appearance of suddenly being stuck to her face with a sticking charm.
I completed my task, taking my time to make Umbridge suffer the indignity of my presence with polite small talk while she pretended to be happy about it. It was just so delicious.
The price for it was paid at the end of the day when the accounting secretary sent me a memo on Misty's behalf stating that she had been fired after a bloodstatus interview with Umbridge.
Oo0Oo0
Author's Note: I don't imagine there was immediate violence employed, I think the changes happened quickly in the background and were carefully prepared like a whet stone on a sword. The Ministry cannot go after muggle-borns wands blazing, they need to make sure their house is clean and full of supporters first, their lives are easier if the rest of the world does not catch on right away and early resistance is crushed or removed.
Also, Lake Superior is a nightmare dressed like a pretty lake. I speak from experience.