October 1, 1997

"Graves!"

I froze as Yaxley barked my name from the doorway as if I were a raccoon going through his garbage cans. He has been in a foul mood all day, snarling and storming about, looking for things that offended him. Yaxley had fired someone today for being a half-blood and having the gumption to eat at his desk (presumably to avoid management) which was not the thing to do anymore.

Percy looked over at me as Yaxley stormed over, slamming his hands on my desk in a threatening manner while the clock struck five for quitting time.

"Where were you yesterday?"

"I called in a personal day. Was there something going on?"

"The MACUSA Embassy had some sort of meeting yesterday, no, don't lie to me, I know you went!"

"I went to vote and confirm my presence for the census records. It was all very aboveboard and required of me as a citizen."

Yaxley raised an eyebrow, "As a citizen or a sitting president's daughter?"

Fuck.

Percy was shifting in his desk somewhere behind Yaxley, halfway to his feet and his hand moving towards his wand. I could barely acknowledge that as Yaxley snapped his fingers and pointed me towards the door, following me out like a menacing bat as he slammed the door to the Minister's office behind us, putting his hand on my back to shove me into a small, spare room that the Maintenance department had added a few weeks ago.

I staggered and stumbled into a crate in the room, catching the corner before I could hit the floor. The room was just full of various crates and boxes stacked against the wall with various labels speaking of the danger of the contents within. I would have to ask Percy to take a look sometime, because I doubted I would have the opportunity.

My hands were shaking. My throat was tight and the world had confined itself to the small office I had been shoved into with the menacing figure of Yaxley looming over me as he closed the door.

I was calm.

I was terrified.

"The Ministry needs to know where your loyalties lie."

I straightened my spine and turned to face him.

There was value in being Jack Graves' daughter. If Yaxley thought four children was three too many, I needed to sell myself as the one worth remaining unharmed.

"Do you think I would still be here if I was not committed to the world this Ministry is building?"

This version of myself hated No-Majs, Seeds were an affront and insult to the old magical bloodlines, possessing a dired out husk of a heart that bore an uncanny resemblance to a raisin. I was spiteful, bitter and hard, like a version of Umbridge in her political infancy. A hatred for her father's best opinions, rebelling in a way that was so hateful that she could never return home to America. I had to bury the crux of who I was under a veil of hatred, ignorance and spite and sincerely believe every word that passed my lips for the benefit of myself and those I loved.

"Your father and his government have isolated the Ministry and their allies!"

Right, I saw the Ministry approval polls this morning. Well, through them at any rate, the Ministry did run the Daily Prophet and a politically minded person could tell the high ratings were the inverse of the truth, or just hope that was the case. There were already shortages of notable imports from America and a slow down of magical goods from Canada as presumably Jack worked over the Canadians.

"A disgrace to the name of wizard! Consorting with mudbloods!" Yaxley stormed closer, breaking a box against the wall with a flick of his wand sending papers flying in all directions causing me to flinch.

"Do not judge me by my father," I managed to keep my voice steady by sheer force of will, "We have very different beliefs about the value of wizarding blood in the world. Jack can't see how they harm our culture and dilute the old bloodlines-"

I knew I screamed, but it did not register in my mind that the sound was coming from me.

The floor rushed up to meet me with the force that reminded me of the time Annette had run me down on her broomstick before a white light consumed my vision as every part of my body erupted in pain. It was as if I had been set on fire, but there was no smoke. As if I was being cut apart limb from limb, but there was no blood. My brain could not register the reality, only the intense pain in every part of my body as I thrashed on the floor.

I clenched my hands to make sure they were still attached to my body and had not been hacked away as my mind believed them to be as pained tears ran down my face, dripping off my chin. I could not recall a time when I was more aware of every bone and muscle of my body. The muscles twitching and twisting under my skin left me unbalanced, struggling and swaying to get off the floor.

Instead, my face was pressed against the floor as I struggled to breath, my head burning from a wound that I knew did not exist while I wheezed pathetically into the carpet.

"That was for lying to me."

The torture curse was categorized as dark, forbidden, magic for a reason. I now understood this intimately to the marrow of my bones. Yaxley was so calm about casting the spell, it was made worse for the lack of emotion behind it.

"This is to remind you of your place."

With the second casting I felt my mind trying to detach itself from the searing pain in my physical body.

"This is because I can't get to your blood-traitor father."

The third was different for my brief notice that I had stopped screaming. It was not a curse that affected the body, not truly, it went after the brain of the victim, sending everything into a panicked frenzy of suffering in an instant.

People had lost their minds under this curse and now I understood why.

It stopped as suddenly as it began.

This would not happen again. I was learning from this mistake.

"This office no longer requires your service. You'll report to your head of department tomorrow morning for reassignment."

"Yes sir."

Yaxley pushed the tip of his shoe into my side.

"When MACUSA oversteps, when your father sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, you'll be the one I look for." His foot pushed deeper into my ribs. "I suggest you manage that fool Weathers and ensure he knows that your father's analysis is incorrect."

I did not register Yaxley leaving the room, I was far too focused on breathing and interpreting the half-spoken threat of Yaxley's words.

I was what I expected to be, a threat against my father, something to temper the rage of a man with a father's love.

Jack Graves was a righteous man though, to his own mind at various points, the threats against me may slow his responses, but that would not stop what he viewed as a national duty. My father was a fighter at heart, he would never truly surrender in a meaningful capacity. These people could not manage Jack Graves with threats. I was not sure there was anything in this world that truly scared him. If I saw my father again, I was going to be unbroken from this experience. I endure this for my own ends, not for Jack's pride or sense of duty. I was so far beyond politics now.

There were muttered voices outside the door, one of them I recognized as Percy who quickly ran into the room when it seemed Yaxley had finally left.

"Audrey!" He knelt next to me with a thump, his voice barely hiding his trembling, instead it flowed through his hands to my own hands that he was clutching tightly.

"I'm alright… Help me up."

He obliged my wishes quickly, helping me stay steady as my legs trembled beneath me.

"Let's get out of here," he tried to put my arm over his shoulders to help stabilize me but I stepped away.

"We can't be seen like that!"

"You were just tortured and relocated, I think-"

"I said no!"

Percy stepped away, but stayed close as I moved towards the door on unsteady legs. I had to walk out of here on my own.

"I'll go pack your desk."

"Thank you."

We staggered out of the Ministry a few minutes later, the frequent pained response of my muscles rippling through my body as we went through the Atrium which was quickly emptying of people. Percy and I did our usual routine of attempting to look as if we were saying quick goodbyes at the fountain before splitting off in separate directions to end up at different apparition points.

Seeing him in the alley near his flat was always a relief after a stressful parting in the atrium. I managed to pull the hood of my cloak up, wincing at the coolness of the charms that would alter my appearance fell over me like water, before wincing at the feeling of pins and needles shot through my body. It must have been a side affect of the torture and the apparition. I leaned back against the wall with a muffled, pained noise.

Percy put his arm over my shoulders, apologizing and asking if I was sure I was okay as he led me out of the alley and to the flat as my legs shook beneath me.

I stepped into the flat, not even bothering to take my shoes off as Percy helped me with my cloak. It was as if I were a giant bruise, tender to the touch while my muscles twitched angrily under my skin as they refused to respond to simple demands to undo a button or pry my shoes off with my other foot. If I opted to sit down to do so, I knew it would be a struggle to get back on my feet and I was not ready to admit the newfound extent of my weakness.

Percy's arm resumed its place around my shoulders and helped me limp into the bedroom where he helped me sit on the edge of the bed, clinically removing my shoes and other clothes before helping me into my nightgown. This was different. Normally we were throwing each other's clothes into the basket or into the corner of the room.

"Sorry," my voice was quiet. "I'm sorry you're going to be alone in there."

Percy, who had been so quiet from the time we left the Ministry, finally spoke. "It's better for the mission right? That we're separated?" He pulled back the duvet and began adjusting the pillows so I could sit up properly in the center of the bed.

"Yes. We knew this was not going to stay quiet forever."

"We did, but it did not have to go this badly."

"What do you mean? Yaxley is a brute. We both know that any encounter with him would end in violence. It's the only language he speaks."

Percy looked at me at last, and I suddenly noticed the desperate look in his eyes and the trembling in his hands that he had been masking.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"You were," I paused, trying to decide if what I was going to say sounded stupid. "I was thinking that you were not going to find me like that. We are leaving this hole in the ground together. I wanted to come home to you."

Percy smiled darkly, "I was thinking the same thing when I was tortured when the Ministry fell."

I winced. Seeing that was more terrible than my being tortured today.

"You were what I was thinking about, when I could think at all. That if I died, maybe it would buy you the time to get to safety."

"I… I wasn't going to leave you like that. I've always thought that we were leaving together, one way or another. What else do you think about when something like this happens? We're never going to be safe, but we'll always get through these things together."

"I want to do more."

"I'm sorry?"

Percy held my hand, squeezing it as he sat at the edge of the bed, he moved my hand up to kiss the inside of my wrist with an aching tenderness. I would have pressed for more of that if I was not so sore.

"I can't just sit and wait and do nothing."

"You're doing everything!"

"No, because I get to come home to a place of safety, sleep in your arms and not have to deal with the nasiness outside our door." He peered up at me, a look in his eyes that filled me with stone cold dread. "If Lucinda disagrees, we can do this alone."

"We're getting more done as part of a team!"

"It's not enough!"

Percy looked away from me, preferring to stare at the wall with slumped shoulders. The low light of the sinking sun peeked through the blinds and fell across him, giving his hair a soft glow, making it look like the ember of a dying fire.

The action was thoughtless and natural. I sat up fully, ignoring the aches in my body, shifting closer to Percy to hug him from behind, nuzzling my face in the crook of his shoulder as I pressed myself fully against his back.

"We have each other, it'll be alright."

His fingers twined themselves with mine as he sighed, his other hand moving upwards to caress my hair and keep me in place.

"I'll talk to Lucinda," my lips moved against his skin, the sound muffled slightly, "we're getting more children in the house."

Percy tensed slightly, his hand moving away from my head as he tried to move away from me for a moment before I caught onto his thinking and giggled awkwardly.

"Not ours."

"Good. That would be very inconvenient right now."

I nodded before kissing the side of his neck and taking an opportunity to kiss his cheek as well, the warmth of him enticing and speaking of his own embarrassment on some level.

"Not that I don't-! I mean-!"

"I know what you mean." I ran my fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp gently and encouraging him to sag slightly in my grasp for a moment. "Children are lovely."

As long as we don't make a copy of Alex. I couldn't handle that level of stress.

"When the war is over, I… want to talk more about it."

"Or if we need to focus on the future for a time."

I couldn't see his face, but it made the discussion about a future talk easier for the two of us at the moment. It was all ease and contentment that I found so hard to describe on so many levels.

We lived lives of chaos and uncertainty, but the love between us was quiet and stabilizing, despite everything. Being together was the most normal thing we had, it was simple to just breathe in his essence, bask in his presence and allow every aspect of this man I loved to comfort me through a sense of earnest closeness and intimacy.

I could never describe the depths of it to another soul.

The next few minutes were spent with me pulling Percy gently back onto the bed atop me with soft assurances of the state of my health that may not have been entirely true but buried under want and a need for closeness that the last few minutes could not sate.

"We shouldn't…" Percy murmured against my mouth but he was making no real efforts to escape my clutches.

"I'm fine, really!"

"You -mmph- weren't fifteen minutes ago."

"Not important." My nightgown was moving up my legs and the aches in my body disappeared from my knowledge of the present and replaced with the instinct of desire and the ache of need that came with it that overrode everything else with a burning intensity-

"PERCE!"

Percy swore as we separated with a wet smacking sound at the noise from the living room that I recognized as Oliver.

This happened too much to be normal.

Percy ran out of the room, managing to fix his trousers before he made it into the hallway.

I threw on his bathrobe, feeling like I had been doused with cold water for a multitude of reasons.

Oliver was standing in our living room, looking very stressed.

The real surprise was the girl standing behind him trying to catch her breath. She was blonde, trim, athletic looking and looked more stressed out than Oliver, if that was even possible..

"We need your help."

"What happened?" Percy asked as I motioned the girl over to the couch and made the usual offer of tea, coffee and leftovers.

"Tea would be nice, thank you."

She leaned back, letting herself sink back into the sofa as I went to the kitchen to start the kettle and dig into the good tea that Percy liked to hide in one of my empty coffee pots.

"I've been hiding Katie in my flat for about two weeks, but we saw the Snatchers across the street. We think they're watching the place."

The water was beginning to boil as I put everything Oliver was saying together. Katie was muggle-born. Snatchers were out looking for her, something about her must have seemed to be an easy target on paper.

There was a shuffling around the room and I turned to find Oliver had put himself next to Katie on the couch while Percy took my usual chair.

I made the tea while the low voices carried on in the living room, Katie occasionally chiming in to offer clarification. Her thoughts were that she was viewed as an easy Snatcher target because she had just graduated Hogwarts, no work connections and a vulnerable youth on the edge of society in a lot of ways while she tried to start her life.

I brought Katie her tea, which she took with a muttered thank you and a tired attempt at a smile.

"Why would you come here?" I asked slowly, "We both work for the Ministry, doesn't that seem dangerous?"

Oliver gave me a hard stare from where he was sitting on the couch. "Don't tell me you two aren't up to something."

I paused, Oliver knew Percy very well, years of friendship gave people a real understanding of another person for both good and ill. Perhaps I could use this time to put an idea in place.

"What? Oliver, what makes you think I would be up to mischief?" Percy sounded sincerely offended by the accusation and I was quite proud of him.

I took the empty seat on Oliver's other side, tightening the bathrobe I was wearing before doing so to chase off the chill in the air.

"I know you."

I stepped in quickly to try and preserve Percy's reputation and self perception. "Percy's never put a toe out of line in his life. Even I know that and I've not known him as long as you have."

Oliver turned to me. "School rules, reasonable laws, he loves that stuff. None of this shit can even masquerade as reasonable. There's no Quidditch for Merlin's sake!"

Katie snorted into her tea.

I would consider committing crimes if Quadpot was banned, but I could not say that. It would make me look like a crazy person.

"I've not heard anything about Potter," I said slowly, feeling out how this change in conversation could go. "Is he leading a resistance or is he running around with his head cut off like the rest of us?"

I did not have to look at Oliver and Katie to feel the force of their glares.

"Harry's no coward," Katie's voice was low. "If he's not here then he's doing something."

I raised my hand to keep the peace, "I don't know him, I would not blame him in any case."

It felt dangerous to say anything different.

I glanced over at Percy who was looking anywhere else in the room.

We needed help. Oliver wanted to help Katie, I wanted to do more for the persecuted now that I was out of the Minister's Office. Having Katie meant we would secure Oliver's loyalty beyond his friendship with Percy. It was a cold thing to acknowledge, but we needed help and even if Percy wanted to be more active, I had other ideas for him.

I felt like a commander or general of troops on a battlefield, there was no mercy or views of internal goodness of people. Just a cold practicality of the resources at my disposal. Even if Lucinda did not approve, I was not going to let someone with all of Oliver's apparent freetime and now confirmed interest go back to hiding in his flat. Not with someone he cleared cared about affected and the fire in his eyes.

"You're right."

I stood up, crossing my arms in front of my chest, putting myself in a position of power.

"I have resources, if you want them to keep Katie safe," I held out my hand and Oliver grabbed it like a drowning man before I even finished. "Then I expect loyalty from you."

I did not tell Oliver and Katie everything, only that I had connections that could help Katie in exchange for help from the both of them in some capacities and conditions that would be finalized later. I needed to talk to Lucinda.

If Lucinda was unwilling to accept my proposal, then I had no problem using Oliver as an independent proxy while Percy and I were confined to Ministry watchlists. Working independent of Lucinda was a cold way to think, but if she could not budge to do what I thought needed to be done in an effort to keep me safe when I truly was no longer so no matter what happened next. There was no help from MACUSA or any other foreign government expected to come, no sign of Potter, no sign of anyone coming forward out of the shadows to lead the people to victory.

We were on our own.

Oo0Oo0

Author's Notes: Funny story, this chapter and the next were supposed to be one chapter and I split them late in writing what turned out to be the next chapter. Like an idiot. It flowed better storywise and both chapters are… dark. This chapter is a really good ending point to the MACUSA arc that ties into the… second-to-last (?) arc.

Final chapter count at present is between 80-90 chapters- Because my notes and summaries run the risk of alteration. Yay brain.

I just noticed we're officially in the two year anniversary of this very long, very strange story. I want to thank everyone for reading, commenting and supporting this story over the literal years of posting. It's an honor and a pleasure to take you all on this long, weird journey and I look forward to what appears to be another year of posting.