September 20, 1997

Lucinda was in a state, and I could not say I was any better. She fixed the collar of my dress robes, a stately violet with silver trim that she said brought out my eyes.

Being in Lucinda's bedroom was different then I thought it would be. She had a massive walk-in closet that was mostly full of boxes and a vanity pressed against the wall where she had a small collection of perfume and lightweight shawls and scarfs that I had never seen her wear. I assumed those items belonged to her mother. Inside of this closet was an attached bathroom with a large bathtub and a shower. I was sure this was essentially a mother-in-law apartment of sorts, it was comfortable and it seemed a way for Lucinda to hide her own softer aspects away from prying eyes, a place of peace that fit the Lucinda I knew, but was so slightly askew to my own image and regular perception of her of lacking in frills and what she would call general nonsense.

Lucinda was wearing deep blue robes that seemed black in some lights while she turned and fiddled quietly with her jewelry of silver chains that whispered and clinked while shimmering like little specks of starlight. I could see the woman Lucinda had been in her younger years for a moment. She was tall and dignified, a flash of auburn in her brown hair giving her a hidden playfulness under a veneer of practicality. Lucinda became old before my eyes again, all gray hair with the wisdom of age in her eyes, a kind of cunning that one would have to get old to achieve.

"I'm not excited about this," Lucinda muttered as Tinsy strolled into the room with smelling salts on a tray just in case Lucinda or I came entirely undone. "Really this is going to be a disaster."

"No," I moved an escaped strand of hair from my face to entwine it with the hair I had pulled back into a more elegant bun than my usual style. Something loose and maybe a bit more flirtatious and romantic with small silver hair decorations that matched my robes and sparkled in my hair. "We can do this. The kids are at Tavish's place, we've hidden the place under charms and Tavish has sleeping potions to give them this evening in their hot chocolate."

It's not legal or ethical to give children sleep potions, let alone an infant outside of matters related to curses hags placed on babies in the 1800s, but the other choices were not ones we liked. Silencing charms do not have a long term benefit, generally only lasting an hour. If Lucinda was lucky, this would be her last hosting event, perhaps they had the loyalty of others to test instead, but if it was not, we would find another option.

We needed to succeed in this.

There were now six Muggle-Born children under Lucinda's protection, the new three were school children I had not met yet.

Failure was not an option.

Lucinda took a deep breath and turned her attention to Tinsy. "Mind your manners tonight, Tinsy. I give you and Barry a lot of freedom to speak your minds, but our guests tonight are far less permissive. Which means they're going to ignore you. I want you to report to me after the party and tell me everything you heard in their private discussions."

Tinsy nodded, a determined glint in her eyes. "Of course!"

"I thought you would like that," Lucinda smiled indulgently at Tinsy who was now doing her best to look innocent and distracted. "You are a strange elf, you know that?"

Tinsy just smiled.

"Three years ago I would have been thrilled by my involvement with Ministry social affairs, dealing with people with more money than sense. Now I dread it like nothing else."

"It'll be over soon," I said carefully. "One way or another."

"It better be. I've heard nothing about Potter or this rumored resistance of his since he escaped the Ministry. Have you heard anything?"

"Nothing," it was a singular word that carried a lot of weight. "He's gone, like smoke in the wind."

Lucinda sighed, her eyebrows knitting together in contemplation, like she was thinking about something I was struggling to wrap my mind around.

"Auntie?"

"Nothing. Just a thought." She brushed down her robes again and reached out to adjust my necklace with her long, cold fingers. "No need for you to worry about that right now, we have idiots to appease."

Oo0Oo0

As the clock struck five, I stood beside Lucinda in the Thornell entryway as various people I recognized from work walked up the pathway to the house.

An assortment of Department Heads that I recognized on sight, a few I rarely saw and had to guess by what I knew of them, a particular item of clothing, an accessory like a walking stick, or just a stupid, but fancy, hat of fur and feathers.

I counted about twenty people on the list for the Ministry, all old and politically powerful. There were more coming, an extension of invitations to prominent, but quiet, supporters of Voldemort. I noticed the Averys were on the list, something that made Lucinda roll her eyes, something about donations to Ministry causes and philanthropy, filling the void the Malfoys had left after Lucius was sent to Azkaban. In short, a big enough gathering to unbalance Lucinda with the short term notice of it. There were other names on the list, people I knew to be young up and comers to the new administration or people who were in the right office. Which is how Percy ended up on the guest list.

We were not sure if he was being watched and had to assume that was the case. As Percy reiterated to me last night, his family was far too close to Potter and even with his known break with the family, the new administration was waiting for him to put a toe out of line in reaching out to his family, who were knew were being watched over the Potter issue and being very open supporters of Dumbledore. We could only both make assumptions about what would happen next if that occurred, and none of the options were good.

The Minister came to the door first, a serious expression on his face as he greeted Lucinda with the formalities one always extends to a host. A few flowers, several compliments on the front garden lawn and how lovely my aunt looked this evening while thanking her for opening her home at the Ministry's request, despite the relatively short notice.

I bit my tongue to not state that they only gave her two days to prepare.

Then everything disappeared in a flurry of shaking hands with sweaty people who were horrified or excited to be here, I went through the motions pretending to be anywhere else while engaging in this silly performance and trying not to laugh as Matilda Porter and Lucinda politely tried to break each other's fingers in a vice grip that some would consider unladylike if anyone noticed it under all of their pleasantries and compliments to one another.

Umbridge exchanged words of veiled politeness with me as I replayed my usual fantasy of popping her head like a pimple or boiling her in a large cauldron like the toad she was.

The new Ministry Heads who were known Death Eaters or Purists, because they're really the same thing these days, all had gross sweaty hands wrapped in a layer of moisture from being to warm and in the Averys' case, too wide eyed and pleased at what was dangled in front of them in a manner of increasing security as time went on and their allies attained more power and prestige in the offices that once housed Lucinda's allies. Harrow Avery's hand lingered in mine several seconds too long as he examined myself the way a jeweler would a diamond. Somehow I doubted he had forgotten our last encounter.

Percy trailed in at the end of the group, being the last to reach Lucinda and I at the door, managing to slip away from the Minister by falling into conversation with an elderly witch from the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Percy had been invited as a courtesy by the Minister, reasons we both understood and had no need to discuss much further beyond our own general horror at the unspoken and obvious threat of keeping him close and in line. He was wearing the blue dress robes I liked and spoke to Lucinda with a genuine warmth and interest which brightened her expression as she responded in kind. I allowed a moment of genuine smugness at my previous thought from months ago that the pair would get along under the right circumstances.

I ignored the formality of Percy's greeting to me, trying to forget for a moment we lived in the same flat and had to engage in a perpetual farce outside of our own home, which I hoped could someday be laughed at as a symptom of the dark clouds we lived under. Percy had the courtesy to not have sweaty hands, managing to place a lingering squeeze on my fingertips as he pulled away from me with a knowing, nervous kind of smile.

Lucinda and I exchanged a look, simultaneously exhaling quietly held sighs of annoyance before walking into the entryway, the heavy doors closing behind us as Lucinda called the attention of the visitors forced upon her to join her in the dining room.

The dining room was large and elaborate, the table was set with name cards for the attendees, each card was presented next to a corresponding plate from the nice china set that Lucinda took a quiet pride in. Beautiful silverware with carefully done artistic roses at the handles that matched the decorations at the edges of the plates and the bowls that held the small appetizers for the guests. A selection of French and Italian starter courses, bread and olives with dips and spreads, some had the addition of smoked salmon placed on top. There were carefully carved and cut fruits in fantastical shapes like stars, brooms and cauldrons among other traditionally wizardly images.

Lucinda took a position at the end of the table while the Minister took the seat opposite of her at the head of the long table. I had a seat to Lucinda's right, Percy was across from me and a couple of seats to the left. Across from me were a couple of senior officials I did not know, (perhaps they were donors) but appeared honored to be at this event.

Lucinda had reasons for everything, I assumed these were people she wanted more information about.

I allowed myself to take in the rest of the table, to examine the smug expressions of those I knew to openly support the new regime, those who took glee in hurting and hunting muggle-borns, meaning those who had the proper blood status and were openly accepting of the new status quo.

There were the Averys, Harrow with his parents looking smug as Harrow glanced around the room with look of both longing and disgust while he and his mother whispered back and forth to each other with occasional input from a wizard from the law office named Algernon Havemeyer.

The Averys were an older couple, Corvus and his wife Ianthe (nee Fawley) had an old world look and to them that made it clear they had wealth to spare. Ianthe was wearing beautiful jewels and silk robes that reminded me of things I had seen in books about late thirties wizarding fashion, but it was not done in a way that made it seem out of date, just charming and timeless. She was a small, thin woman who had blazing green eyes. Her husband Corvus had a beaky nose and tight lips, he wore an expression that reminded me of his son, snobbish and used to getting what he wanted, his hair was gray, but I could picture it as being quiet dark in his youth, something that would make him look like even more crowish. Harrow got his lack of chin from his mother apparently and the rest of him was the near image of his father, only far plainer in appearance with his brown hair.

I caught a better look at the woman who was one of Lucinda's many nemesis, Matilda Porter. She was a short, squat woman with starkly graying ash brown hair who would have gotten along with Umbridge if she did not have an overt preference for West Highland Terriers as displayed on her handbag.

Umbridge was giggling somewhere down the end of the table, somewhere out of my sight as the wine glasses began to fill.

It seemed the major shake ups in the Ministry administration had finally come to an end in the last couple of weeks. The Head of International Magical Cooperation, Oriana Peregrine, had been pushed down to a Deputy Head position and replaced with an odious old purist who was related to the Selwyn family who smacked his lips after every sip of wine.

Peregrine was lucky.

Orson Turlington had been found dead in his home not even two weeks ago. He had faked a family tree to hide being Muggle-born and was found out. From what I understood, he put up a hell of a fight for a man with a bad leg. Another department head, Mark McKay- well, they only found pieces of him and a smear on the kitchen wall of his home.

I was pulled from my thoughts as the Minister spoke, his voice catching my attention despite the general lowness of his voice.

"How are things proceeding in the Department of Mysteries?"

Augustus Rookwood leaned back in his chair, moving his wine glass in a swirling motion on the table. This was a man comfortable with luxury, authority and power who reveled quietly in the attention that being a spy never seemed to provide.

I had heard the stories and rumors about Rookwood from the First War, he had been a spy for Voldemort during the war while working the the Department of Mysteries, a man who was well respected, good company, able to to camouflage himself into whatever people wanted him to be. He was trusted. A cunning bird, but who was in truth a cuckoo in the nest.

Rookwood was smarter than some of the other Death Eaters running the Ministry these days. He was not as dangerous as Yaxley, but he would be able to lure people into a false sense of security where Yaxley had too much latent violence in his eyes and in the set of his shoulders to make anyone comfortable. Rookwood had the gumption to be personable and that made him far more frightening.

"The Department of Mysteries is continuing its studies on the mudblood phenomenon," Rookwood smiled and took a sip of his wine. "We are making arrangements to perform experimentation on some of the convicted thieves to learn their secrets."

I wanted to ruin the party by developing a sudden bout of stomach flu, but I had no Weasley products on hand. It might be worth tossing a few galleons at the Terror Twins shop for security, I was sure Tavish and I could find a use for some of the devices and concoctions of Percy's brothers.

"What kind of experiments?" An older man spoke up gruffly from the center of the table. I did not know him from work, he must be a donor of some sort.

I could not imagine what kind of experimentation Rookwood was referencing, but it was easy to fill in the blanks.

"Nothing unseemly," Rookwood started slowly, all politeness and easy manners that made me understand how he had been so successful hiding his true allegiances before his original arrest. "A few samples, a few experiments we need live subjects for and a few we don't." He shrugged casually, almost disappointed in a way. "Such a shame this lack of true magical blood in the world."

"Then perhaps we should turn our focus to finding suitable spouses for our children from overseas," Selwyn stated from his position near the center of the table. "Some sympathetic to the status of purebloods in Britain."

Yaxley peered down towards me with a smile that was pointed and seemed to take joy in testing my loyalties in my own ancestral home. "Perhaps Miss Graves could be of some assistance in such an experiment?"

Yep. This is a test. I can't give them nothing, but I'm not going to give these small minded assholes anything useful either.

"I'm flattered you think so highly of my input, Mr. Yaxley," I laughed politely, bringing my hand to my mouth like Lucinda had taught me in a manners lesson back when I first came to the country. I must have been somewhat engaging from the smiles I was getting from the rest of the occupants. "But I'm hardly a person to consult on such matters of marriage and money when I really know nothing of either."

"Oh, come now, dear cousin," Harrow said with tones so sweet it could have melted butter and made me want to bristle under the insincerity I could sense. "You would know more about the matter then any of us."

I decided that I wanted these people to talk. I wanted to hear their incorrect opinions, but I also need to assume that this government would be long lasting and horrible. That long term disruption had to be my strategy of choice for the moment, people who bring misery deserve it in turn, but how could I make that happen? The borders with the United States can't be closed forever, the Ministry and MACUSA do too much business together… An idea came upon me so quickly it was like being struck by lightning.

"That's kind of you to say, Harrow," I paused, bringing my hand to my mouth in a manner that made me look thoughtful before I spoke again. "America is such a large country and the truly pure circles in New York are such a rarity. Perhaps if this is something the Ministry would wish to pursue, there are pureblood enclaves out in the western part of the country, Utah, Arizona, Oregon, that region is full of people who share your views with the conditions you are looking for in young people with the proper credentials."

I watched several people at the table lean forward with interest to listen to what I was saying.

Oh, this was delightful!

"Many of them are old gold rush money and believe in traditional lifestyles where the women want to stay home and raise the children and the men work family businesses until they inherit, if they work at all."

Lies and half-truths fell from my mouth with such ease I should have been alarmed.

WandWay was those things, yes, but they were far more radical and conservative than these supposed aristocrats. WandWay believed in our breeding the non-magical, most of these families had more children than they could afford in a literal sense, one family had fifteen children that I had heard about. The men wanted to be important political figures, many kissing up to federal legislatures on matters of interest, but having to pool their money as a group was a deterrent to individual success. The women were generally homeschooled, learning only household spells and nothing of real use, producing midwives as a way to fill time until they were married and having their own children. The men were homeschool graduates also, but learned more practical magic from their fathers and community leaders.

In short, not people who would normally be potential partners for old pure blood families in Britain. They had no money left to be interesting to them. Their rich donors and supporters were so few, and supported the group more than the replaceable individual, but their blood status became a matter more valuable than galleons and dragon hearts. The only people of wealth in WandWay were the direct descendants and current leaders of the cult, they kept their money in tightly managed oligarchy, remaining rich through the donations of their poor followers at revelry meetings where tithe was taken for continued membership. I knew far too much about this topic.

"How wonderful!" Umbridge cooed and I struggled to keep a neutral expression.

If these people wanted more pureblood stock to breed with, then I wanted them to end up with people who would be useless to their long term goals and make them poorer than a Weasley for it.

I could imagine a girl with minimal education and the right blood status looking good on paper, her father and a politically powerful man from her cult having coached her on the right things to say, but having other motives related to the cult she grew up in. A girl who would not be threatening to this order of Voldemort's who needed soldiers and simpering servants. Perhaps these wives, unaccustomed to fortune and home management on such a scale would overcompensate and overspend, putting the families in a financial hole even faster then she could pop out proper pureblood children with foreign manners and parroting their mother's extremism. An understanding of two children at most soon becoming three, five, or seven all being 'accidents' would split what remained of many of these old money fortunes and give these families too much internal drama to really be politically powerful.

Or they would send the younger sons to join Voldemort, which would leave many daughters without potential husbands, bringing more extreme infighting and competition for minimal resources as second sons moved down the class ladder away from easy opportunities. The bare branches of family trees. Though, the old families did believe in some aspects of the old dowry system and would soon find their own funds quickly diminished by passels of children they had no real interest in, just solely obligation to the family name.

It was not perfect, but it was a form of long term chaos that I was learning to embrace.

The added advantage would be putting WandWay under political scrutiny from MACUSA for associating with a foreign fascist regime. This could help end WandWay's grip on the Virtus Party for good, giving Jack every excuse he would need to bring their lobbyist groups into question in a natural way, ending political power and influence that was so recent to the group.

"I can't think of more perfect partners for such a project," I concluded with a smile.

Two birds. One stone.

"Well, that is a fascinating idea," Selwyn said slowly, something brightening behind his eyes at the potential of my proposal. "Perhaps we could invest in that in the coming months as we discuss the real issues here in Britain."

"Yes, a lack of pure blood pride and a lack of pure blood children are a disservice to everything we are trying to build here, wouldn't you agree Minister?"

Thicknesse nodded from his position at the head of the table like the puppet he was. "It is an excellent suggestion for everything that has gone amiss in our society."

"Perhaps there would be grounds to establish a new office in the Ministry to help manage such things? We had astrologers back in the day for these sorts of matters to help arrange marriages and the like."

"Finally, a booming economy for seers!"

There was laughter up and down the table.

"We'll have to figure out how to get in touch with them, direct communication to America is being monitored, but perhaps if we come in through a third party…"

Oh, Merlin, they were taking me seriously!

Percy glanced over at me with wide eyes before looking back towards the center of the table where the bulk of this discussion was taking place.

Lucinda was keeping her face carefully neutral as she sipped her wine.

"Now what about our own young people here?"

I didn't even have to look at Percy to know he was struggling to follow Lucinda's example of unbothered nonchalance.

"We can't just hand off our own pureblood families to lesser stock. I'm sure we still have avenues to explore here in the country."

"That is something we should examine more closely." The older man took a deep breath. "There are so few of our kind left. Perhaps we could examine the family trees and provide opportunities for our own young people to meet and mingle, and introduce them to respectable individuals of good breeding while we work on reaching out to other sources of reputable magical bloodlines."

I knew this man had a daughter who was working as a secretary in my department. She was very new to the job.

It reminded me of Liberty Ricci, the daughter of a rich industrialist back in what was called the Gilded Age after the Civil War. Miss Ricci had a very ambitious father who had climbed up out of poverty and created one of the biggest broom companies in America, achieving real social and political influence with his money, married the daughter of one of his investors and hosted many political soirees that were the toast of many prominent politicians, business leaders, artists, intellectuals and athletes who rode his brooms. Lorenzo Ricci created one of the first big company monopolies of Magical America, but the old money set like my family never welcomed him into their circles. New money, even in greater quantities than their own, had no place in their world of old-fashioned methodologies or upstart immigrant orphans.

Of course my great-great grandfather, Arnaud Graves, did marry a new money upstart's daughter, a socialite and philanthropist named Audrey Reeve, deeply embarrassing several of his elderly aunts in the process. Her father, Carew Reeve, started one of the most well respected companies that created dragonhide clothing. This marriage and the investment it offered the family allowed the Graves family to maintain prominence in the New York social scene, outlasting other families who lost their wealth and political reach from pride and scorn of the new money immigrants.

Well, in any case, unlike Forewin's daughter, Liberty Ricci knew how to work. She was charming and not a blood purist. She got into MACUSA on her own merits, helped ensure the passing of legislation that bettered the lives of House Elves and Goblins in America, building her husband's career to eventually became a prominent politician in his own right, serving as the vice president under Seraphina Picquery.

All under the watchful, careful gaze of her ambitious father who made sure she met a promising young man with a future ahead of him, someone untarnished by the mentality of the old school society, with their money, connections and moral failings.

"Perhaps it would not go amiss to put these ideas into… serious consideration."

I would give up half of my mother's jewelry to be inside of Percy's head at this moment. He was doing a wonderful job holding onto his composure and a generally polite, bland countenance and expression, but our discussion tonight was going to be absolutely unhinged.

The food suddenly appeared on the table, a collection of salads and other first course assortments graced the table with several small pops while more wine simultaneously appeared with it the conversation shifted to policies and the progress of the Muggle-born Commission. Though, there were still whispers and schemes that ran down the table of proper introductions and potential marriages that would follow, the potential judged by wealth and blood status before anything else, preferably the latter over all other things.

Oo0Oo0

When the dinner came to an end I wanted to go stand awkwardly near the Minister with Percy, but hosting obligations left me acting as Lucinda's third arm of pleasing personality and charm offensive. Lucinda needed me more after I gabbed my way into the good opinion of people who were at best neutral to me before. The chatter in the dining room extended out to the ballroom for more spacious, private conversations as people grouped off with wine in hand while the House Elves dutifully refilled every glass, watching and listening to those who refused to take notice of them. I could see Tinsy's ears batting back and forth as she refilled Umbridge's glass while levitating a small plate of fancy horderves, a slight smile on her face as I engaged an elderly donor about the fixtures and paintings on the wall. I could see my grandfather Callum hiding in one of them, watching the gathering with an unfriendly expression behind a tree, his red hair blending into the sunset behind him.

Barry was on the other side of the room, every bit the model of expectation society had for House Elves, quiet, servile and apologetically polite about a whole manner of things, but there was a quiet spark in his eyes as he presented a choice of wine to a couple of Department Heads standing with Rookwood. Barry was calm under pressure and was lockstep with Lucinda for far more than ideas of servitude and a bond to the family.

The donor thanked me for answering her questions before being pulled into another chat with another donor.

My attention was grabbed by the sound of a familiar voice behind me.

"Hello Audrey."

I turned, managing my expression to the most pleasant smile I could manage. "Evening Harrow, how are you?"

Harrow's brown hair had been swept back, crisp for the generous amount of added hair potion to keep it in place. His brown eyes were almost amber from catching the nearby light, adding to his plain, but slightly hawkish appearance. I did not find Harrow attractive for a lot of reasons, but he did clean up very well and I could safely say he was never scruffy and always very put together.

The last real interaction I had with cousin Harrow was during the Gala last year where I kissed Percy in the hedge maze after Harrow proposed to me and tried to drag me over to my father to get his permission to date me without my consent. That event still made my skin crawl. Harrow was an easy man to avoid, but I had nothing to hide behind at this point, no one to use as an excuse and this was just a very awkward encounter for a lot of reasons.

"Well enough," his eyes drifted over me and I ignored the goosebumps sliding across my skin. "How is work?"

"Fine," I did my best to sound pleased with the whole business of my job. "Thicknesse is far less imposing than Scrimgeour ever was."

Harrow smiled, "I can imagine that being the case, Scrimgeour was a bit of a mismatch to the position."

Yes and no. Was Scrimgeour after political power? Yes. Did he have good intentions? Mostly. Was he willing to die standing up to evil in the final moments of his life? Absolutely.

"You could say that," I kept my tone diplomatic, hoping that Harrow would go anywhere else to schmooze, like Umbridge or another Ministry donor family. "He was always fair to his own view of the world."

Harrow smiled down at me, an expression of smug arrogance that I found familiar in many ways.

"My father has been formally cleared of the charges you found so distasteful last year."

My mind whirred as I analyzed every possible way to keep myself safe long term from things I said in ignorance and anger back in December.

"I'm sorry I said that," my words were being chosen carefully as I walked on the edge of a knife. "I must admit that I have done a lot of… soul searching since our last discussion."

"Yes, clearly," Harrow smiled at me, there was a slight wrinkle forming at the corner of his mouth when he did so.

I was not sure if he believed me or not, but it would have to be enough.

"How is your father?"

"Busy, I assume. I've not heard anything from him in months." I paused, wondering how much to say in truth and lies. "I don't think he's interested in any of my associations."

"Or perhaps he approves of them." Harrow leaned closer to me, his hand trailing up my arm as he whispered in my ear. "MACUSA is a militaristic nation after all, they dislike the muggles as much as we do."

I glanced over to see Percy looking at Harrow with a level of quiet rage I had never seen from him before. His eyes were piercing and his jaw was set tight, I was surprised he escaped the notice of the people he was with.

"Yes, yes they do." I stepped away from Harrow with a smile. "Please excuse me, I'm afraid Lucinda needs me."

"Of course, it's always best to adhere to Lucinda's wishes."

It was easy to slip to Lucinda's side for a moment, to carefully inquire if there was anything she needed of me while she regarded me with a momentary confusion before looking somewhere behind me and giving me an understanding nod.

"Lucinda, how are you this evening?" Ianthe Avery came over so quietly and smiled so sweetly I would have believed her sincere if she had not been admiring the shifting details on the walls on her way into the house with such abandon that she would have been slack jawed if not for her self control.

"Well, as always," a slight smile graced Lucinda's face, a prodding little comment about her good health giving her a moment of satisfaction. "My Healer says I'm in alarmingly good shape for my age. I told him it comes from not having children to chase after or a husband to hold me back in life."

Ianthe tittered in a way that made it clear to me what she really thought of Lucinda's comment.

Hag.

"There has been much discussion on the matter of marriage this evening."

"Far too much I think," Lucinda countered wryly. "Speaking as someone who never married."

"Though, you did try to arrange a match for Lucina some years ago." Ianthe countered as she looked up at Lucinda and glanced towards me, something glimmering in her eyes. "I must wonder if you have any thoughts for Audrey?"

I froze, managing to maintain my composure through sheer force of will.

"It was really more of an introduction, but no one has really come to mind. We're not a Sacred Twenty-Eight family and I refuse to introduce her to someone of more dubious origins."

"Understandable. Young people do need to be guided on these matters. Their future spouses need to meet with… familial approval. Especially these days."

I tilted my head slightly, trying my best to look the part of an ingenue from an old morality novel. "How so? I would hate to disappoint my dear Auntie."

Ianthe looked at me with an expression of such superiority that I felt myself relax in the knowledge that she was a smug sort of woman and stupider for it.

"Dear girl, I don't see how you could make any marriage less than a Sacred Twenty-Eight family." She reached out and put two fingers under my chin to guide my face left and right as she took in my profile. "You're not quite as pretty as your mother, but I'm sure you'll be valuable on the marriage market with all of your exciting… foreign connections."

The gesture reminded me so strongly of Vanessa that it took my mind an embarrassingly long time to make sense of the backhanded comment as I thanked Ianthe for the compliment.

"I do maintain, Lucinda, that if Audrey and Harrow marry it will solve every problem between us and our families."

That would be a good solution. If I was not living with another man and actively having sex with him.

"Oh, Ianthe, I'm sure your son is old enough and well off enough to court any girl he fancies."

Except me. I like men who are not purist scumbags and have chins.

"Yes," Ianthe sighed, "it's really a matter of finding the right girl with the proper background."

I felt as if that was a comment directed to me specifically, shivers ran up my spine as my eyes found Harrow chatting with an older man across the room.

I spent the rest of the evening staying within Lucinda's view as I worked my way around the room on her behalf. All chatter and smiles, kind assurances and polite inquiries while I slowly realized that maybe I was in over my head.

When the end of the evening came and the terrible guests were filing out the door, saying final farewells and polite goodbyes I found myself alone with Lucinda who was chatting amicably with Percy. Something I found very interesting and I struggled to keep a straight face for the Minister, who was trying to speak to me about some meeting he had coming up next week.

The entryway was soon emptied and the intrusive guests were just colorful figures disappearing down the path.

"I like your young man," Lucinda broke the silence as the door clicked closed, saving us from the burdens of continued politeness.

I turned quickly to look at Lucinda in a wide-eyed surprise at the sudden topic. "Um… Thank you. I like him too."

"He's punctual, polite and personable," Lucinda continued with a slight smile as she peered at me over the rims of her glasses. "Though I still think you're too good for him-"

"Auntie!"

Lucinda held up her hand, her manner playful as a slight smile tugged at her lips. "But I think he's good for you. He's not equipped to play these stupid little games, he clearly has no patience for it. I think it's good for you to have people like that in your life."

"Is this about what I said about the WandWay sect?"

"A bit," Lucinda paused. "That was smart, but the smug superiority of being the smartest person in the room is more addicting than helpful. Why would you give them that valuable piece of information?"

I smiled, "Jack's State of the Union is coming up, he's going to formally announce the closing of the border and sanctions on trade with Britain. Knowing Jack, that means he's already watching potential Purist supporters in America already. That means every letter coming into the country will be monitored, every letter leaving the country will be read and copied for future reference. WandWay will be monitored for having outside purist affiliations, despite having some power and influence in Jack's political party. We have our own problems with people who share the views of the purists here, why not make it easier for MACUSA to cut them off at the knees?"

Lucinda chuckled, "Two birds, one stone."

"Yes. MACUSA is also watching other countries in Eastern Europe, something about the purist affiliations to the Death Eaters back during the original uprising. Even if these letters come in and out of the country through other channels, they'll still be on MACUSA's radar."

"And it builds your position with the administration. Nicely done."

A compliment from Lucinda was like winning a gold medal. It was the way her eyes gleamed and the way her lips parted in an amused, slightly toothy smile that made me feel as if I had made as many correct choices as I could under these circumstances. I was not sure if there were right choices to make on this chessboard of social politics, but I was willing and able to try to keep playing this game where I had to make up the rules as I went along.

The violet dress robes I wore now seemed more of a costume than armor against the world beyond the conspiracy and was feeling more ridiculous for it. I was not sure I could ever go back to being a comfortable observer in this world of money and privilege, the little girl who sat on the upstairs landing of her home to look at the beautiful clothes and craft silly private stories of love, romance and sheer frivolity seemed so far gone she was more of a lonely fantasy. I was not sure I really belonged in this world below the upstairs landing either, there was no genuineness to the idle rich, there was no humanity to be found in those who sought power and oppression who viewed people as chattel in exchange for power, money and access to the resources the former provided.

"I need to go check on Percy."

"And I need to check on Tavish and the children," Lucinda brushed a strand of hair out of my face and back behind my ear, a gesture so affectionate and unusual that I stopped cold for a moment. "Don't pay any mind to that cow Ianthe, you're a very pretty young woman with enough brains in your head to make it a problem."

"Thank you, but that is a very strange thing to say."

Lucinda paused, her lips pressing together in a thin line as her mind worked to put an explanation together. "I think that you would have an easier life if you were as dumb as these people want you to be. Just a head of fluff with room for pretty trinkets, childrearing and overall just being an ornament on a rich man's arm. You are far too smart for that and you've made your life harder for it." She began to clean the carpet with a few waves of her wand. "I did want you to marry someone rich, that's no secret, but I also wanted that person to be stupid enough for you to manage. It's a safer kind of arrangement to have a dumb husband whose purse strings you control, a delicate balance of letting him think he is in control while you handle all of the important things behind his back, managing someone who has never had an original thought in his life." Lucinda put her wand away in her sleeve, "But that is a miserable life, I've seen it with friends of mine, and I think you have found far too much of yourself to live that way. In short, you learned far too much from your parents' mistakes."

That earned a giggle from me as I took off my bracelets.

"I think young Mr. Weasley will be a lovely addition to the family."

My eyebrows hit my hairline in surprise. "You've barely spoken to him!"

"Are you wanting me to find reasons to dislike him?"

"No!" My response was far quicker than it needed to be, causing Lucinda to stare at me with an unimpressed expression. "I'm just surprised."

"Well, he's not a purist or a fascist and that does mean a lot these days. I may have more opinions under a sane government. I'm also reserving my opinions on your… Living arrangements."

I was too shocked to say anything in response.

Lucinda raised an eyebrow, her glasses slipping slightly down her nose. "If you think I did not piece that together over the last couple of months I must take back my compliments on your intelligence."

"I have no comment," my voice betraying my shock at how perceptive Lucinda was as I plastered an awkward smile on my face as I set the clasp on my cloak before reaching for the door handle to go to the apparition point. "I'll send you a note in a couple of days."

"Please do."

I walked to the apparition point stiffly, trying to pretend Lucinda and I had a nice talk about flower arranging and abnormalities of Scotland's weather patterns. I turned on my heel, the blur of green grass disappearing to a dank smelly alleyway where I quickly charmed myself to resemble a cousin of mine per my usual routine and made my way back home.

When I entered the apartment, my charms fell away to reveal my true face and the clothes I was actually wearing as I put my cloak on the hook.

Percy was still in his dress robes, pacing irately around his flat like an irritated house cat as he pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered to himself. Oh, nevermind, this was a full conversation with himself, he's clearly not happy.

"I'm back!" Percy stopped and turned to face me, his face red at being caught having what appeared to be the early stages of his unhinged rant for the evening. "Lucinda likes you by the way."

"Yes, that is the most important thing to come out of this evening." His eyes looked over me carefully, "You look really beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you. I think you're very handsome." I moved closer to him, loosening his tie a little bit more than he already had and playfully popped open the button that sat on his collarbone. I could feel him moving under my hands, like he was purely a collection of pent up energy that was desperately searching for a place to go. "The tie just pulls it all together."

Percy chuckled quietly, bending over slightly to kiss me.

When he pulled back it was like the incredulousness of the evening had come back to the forefront of his mind.

"This is insanity!"

I had been waiting for this. The post dinner analysis and decompression now that we were both free to speak our minds in our own home. The half wild look in his eyes mixed in with the anger of everything that had been discussed under the fine carvings and polished glasses and goblets that spoke of the long ago years of the Ainsley family's wealth and moderate standing in Pureblood society.

"Arranging pureblooded marriages through a Ministry Department? That's not governance, that's social control! There is no precedence for any of this nonsense in any historical guidebook of policy!" He was pacing around the room again, walking so quickly his robes were catching air with the speed of his turns at the end of the room, giving him the appearance of what Great-Aunt Armista called a whirling dervish.

"They don't have the power or finances to ensure any of this comes to pass in any capacity." My voice was calm. "You've seen the same reports I have. They're talking in terms of what they want their ideal world to look like with a small prominent ruling class and a large underclass of low wage workers they can feel superior over. They can do this socially, but not politically and that's a matter of using and abusing Lucinda's hosting contract."

"That's not even half of why I'm angry!" Percy stopped cold in the middle of the room, looking at me with a level of focus that was not unusual for Percy, but had a different kind of intensity to it. "A fair suggestion to make marriage alliances with foreign purebloods who share their beliefs."

There it was.

I shrugged, "I'm only interesting to the Averys because of my connection to Lucinda and the MACUSA government. I've told you about the house and inheritance issue. Those people I told them about, they're crazy purists with no money who are already being watched by MACUSA if I know Jack at all and they're too desperate to attain real power and expand their beliefs to look this alliance gift horse in the mouth."

Percy took a deep breath, steadying himself as I straightened a sleeve.

"This situation is already bad, Audrey, there is no need to make it worse for your father's benefit."

"I've given them a lot of rope to leave a large paper trail for us to copy and set aside. This kind of social control is not something viewed favorably with the ICW, if we can't pin these people for crimes against humanity, we can get them for conspiracy and what the law views as a lesser inhumane act than attempted genocide." I took a deep breath, "We do not get to play games for short term benefit anymore. We need to start looking into arranging long term self-destruction for these people. If they're going to hang themselves, I want them to swing!"

"I need to tell you something."

I tilted my head slightly.

Percy put his hands in the pockets of his robes, he hunched slightly with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I've been… gumming up the works so to speak at the Ministry."

I sat down slowly. "How?"

"Uh… Well, I've been adding extra steps to every day to day task in relation to the Muggle-born Commission for almost a week. It's well hidden. The color of the ink, sign-offs by particular officials who are generally out of the office, like Una Brighton who's very pregnant."

"Oh Merlin!"

"These new Department Heads don't know the system, Thicknesse is very easy to sway if I say something about efficiency and high standards of governance. With enough red tape in place, I could theoretically get Yaxley or Umbridge to repeat every single step before they can make formal charges. You know, changing the regulation color to red, maybe black next month per safety precautions against forgeries with enough time. More signatures because of approvals and double checking the work because all things must be above board. The family trees must be done in ink only of a specific color, pictures of relatives are required under new regulation MC0014-"

"That's the sexiest thing I had ever heard in my life." My hand flew over my mouth at the suddenness of this uncontrolled declaration.

Percy stopped short and looked at me with darkening eyes and a bright flush to his cheeks and ears. My own face did not feel much better as a tangled idea unraveled itself from the mess of my mind.

No, focus Audrey!

"I… please don't get caught."

"I won't." His voice was slow as he took a few steps forward, closing the gap between us. "Everything is up to code and in writing. It's all a matter of interpretation of those rules. I just prefer to follow them to the letter, much in the way management should."

He kissed me slowly, his hands caressing my face.

When we pulled apart, my knees were weak and I found myself saying something else.

"I'm not sure I want to take the dress robes off."

"Alright?"

I slid my arms around him and looked up at him with a mischievous expression.

"It was hard to get on and I think that these can be… pushed aside."

Watching Percy's eyes light up like that was an accomplishment.

"That's covert, Miss Graves." His voice dropped to a low, flirtatious tone as he stooped down to whisper in my ear, a hand coming to rest on my lower back.

I giggled as he half led, half pulled me towards the bedroom, his grip on my waist tight and persuasive as the door closed behind us and our world became solely focused on each other.

Oo0Oo0

Author's Note: This is what happens when a safety guy and a politician team up. One has moral obligations, the other will throw theirs aside for what they view as a greater purpose.

Audrey earns her Slytherin creds. You may recognize WandWay from chapter one of the story. :)

On that note, I'm going on hiatus. I'm taking July off to work on my dissertation case study- the classes have been so disorganized, it's just going to be much easier to do that and get it done to edit properly in August. I don't intend to stop writing this story, but my output will be too slow to maintain regular updates and I'm going to start looking for work. I will post a chapter the first week of August, update you all on the schedule and resume regular posting in September at the latest.

On another note, my Tumblr (Roguepen) is open and I am available to answer any questions related to the writing process, my notes on MACUSA, American Aurors/ American Magical history, side/ minor characters like Annette/ Alex, etc. I have a lot of notes or thoughts that I don't think are scheduled for the story and I'm happy to answer them.

See you August 5th!