August 7, 1996

My Favorite Cousin,

When we last spoke I warned you about the dangers of bands of gobblers wandering through the streets of our hometown after escaping their pen. That has come to pass, I spotted several this morning seeking nibbles from the mayor and crowing about the quality of the food. The mayor has done his part, but I'm afraid the rest is up to you. While these flightless birds are harmless, the Tom has remained at home, but the two Jakes are looking to set up their own roost with a Jenny. The mayor is convinced the pair is on a wild goose chase.

I have heard rumors that the Tom wants to cross the pond for visitation after the home pen is deemed fit for a king. The more interesting bit is that one of his Jennys has flown the roost and into another, though her whereabouts are being kept quiet due to the situation with the owls who fly through the night silently like ghosts.

My wife wishes you the best of luck in avoiding these feathery devils. As do I. Please keep your eyes open, and your gate locked.

Love,

Your Favorite Cousin.

I folded the letter and slipped it back into my bag while the new Minister spoke with Percy, who had been afraid that Scrimgeour would promote his own staff and send the two of us to another department with less prestige. Those worries seemed to be abated for the moment if one was merely to go by Percy's glowing expression and excitable gestures as the Minister invited him back to his office. When the door clicked shut behind them I was left alone to contemplate Quincy's letter.

Quincy had sent this missive to me this morning by his raven, Koroneis, in the kind of code that one needed an understanding of context to really understand and I had to read it three times to make sure he was not just writing me nonsense.

Turkeys were proposed to become the symbol of MACUSA's government after we broke away from England. It was a suggestion made in jest, but gained real traction so quickly that the idea found its way into the No-Maj community as our congress decided to take it to the vote. The vote failed as President Jackson stated that it was a terrible idea for our national bird to be something so delicious and edible, which snapped enough representatives back to reality to pick the other option instead to avoid those questionable optics of eating a national bird and turkey became a little used joke term for magical Americans on the international stage depending on what stupid thing we had done that week.

The two Jakes were two young Aurors who had been sent to look for me in hostile territory, and potentially bring me back to the United States for safekeeping should I accept their service. It seemed that they were already on a merry chase in completely the wrong locations. It was part of the reason Quincy said he did not want to know where I lived, neither of us wanted him to risk his job for my right to privacy.

The mayor was Elihu, Quincy had given me some of the codenames they were using for general communications back home for their families. Owls were symbols of death in several Native American cultures, I imagined that was the code they were using for the Death Eaters.

The Tom was my father, the MACUSA President, which meant the my father was coming to England at some point in the future for political purposes, which was enough to turn my stomach. Though, it did sound like he wanted to handle this situation at home before he did the traditional ally visitations, and with things being so potentially volatile here with the Voldemort situation, Jack was probably waiting on more information and wanted to give the new Minister time to settle things. After all, if he got a chance to say anything then he would want to be informed on the matter. There was no way he would come here recklessly during a war, even for appearances. Jack was through like that. More caring about the details of politics than his family.

I returned to filing out supply request forms for the office, more parchment, fresh quills, extra ink and the like.

My eyes drifted over to Eddie's old desk. Percy and I had gotten letters from him at various points and compared notes on what exactly he was doing in Spain, reportedly he and Pearl were in the process of opening an English style pub in one of Spain's Wizarding enclaves not to far from a beach. He enjoyed it far more than government work and he and Pearl took daily walks on the beach during their breaks. It sounded wonderful! And romantic in a way that made my heart flutter. There was something to be said for a maturing romance. I was very happy for Eddie.

The memories of his wedding made me blush, all of it in relation to my memories of Percy from that night. The dance in particular was a memory that continuously drew me back when I was alone in my apartment and allowing my mind to wander. I could still do the steps from memory and recall the feel of his hand in mine.

Percy treated me no differently than he had before that night, but I could feel his eyes linger upon me throughout the workday, after brief meetings, when I asked him to clarify something or when he asked me to edit statements for the Minister or the press. With only the two of us in the office the past few weeks, Percy and I had started taking lunch together, doing our best to avoid discussions of the war and tragedy, speaking instead of books and newspaper crosswords. It was different and exciting in a way, but with the Minister finally moving into his proper office I knew that was going to change.

It wasn't as if we could date. That would just be bad optics, especially in such a small department and Percy was such a stringent follower of the Ministry policy guidebook, (his copy had highlights I had seen them!) that even a single date was out of the question. I could not subject him to the scrutiny of my family relations, that would not be fair to him. Percy was driven, ambitious and I respected that, but he was enough like my father to cause me concern. Maybe could learn when to temper his pursuit of power and know when he had enough to be happy, or his knowledge of my family's connections would light such a fire under him that he would burn us both to ash.

It was… easier and safer to keep him at arms length. Getting involved with me would put a target on his back as much as mine.

The door to the Minister's office opened and Percy emerged with a smug, triumphant smile as he made his way over to my desk. He had definitely been praised for something or several things and had a lot of extra pep in his step.

"The Minister wants to see you."

"Have I done something wrong?"

"No, never!" He retorted quickly, his brow knit in confusion. "I told him you are the best secretary I've ever had!"

You've had two at least, but okay.

"That's nice of you to say."

"It's the truth."

I rose from my desk, I hated having official meetings with new bosses. It was always awkward. Percy gave me an encouraging smile, one not wrapped in smug self importance, that was so earnest and surprising that I almost froze to the spot.

Time stopped for several seconds before I was able to collect myself and go to the Minister's office. I could feel him watch me walk to the door and I knew the moment he took his eyes off me before I knocked on the door.

"Enter!" The voice from the other side of the door was muffled.

I opened the door, wincing at the soft creak of the heavy door.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes. Please close the door and have a seat."

I did as I was bid.

Scrimgeour had a mane of greying red hair that made him look like an old lion. There was nothing soft in his face, he had a sternness to his countenance that I expected from a Head Auror. His glasses rested on the end of his nose as he skimmed through his reports, I noted the file on his desk had my name on it.

He nudged a glass container of lemon drops towards me, wordlessly inviting me to help myself. I ensured the one I pocketed was wrapped and untampered.

Scrimgeour was trying to make me comfortable, though he had none of Fudge's natural ease, he looked content, but also displaced. A man more accustomed to the battlefield with people he trusted was now in a position of global power and influence. The way he sat in the chair, a bit like a king with the expression of a contented cat, told me much more. Scrimgeour looked like a man who had achieved a lifelong ambition. In comparison, Fudge had a real warmth to him, he genuinely liked people, he liked to teach and manage, but Scrimgeour was a different kind of creature, he reminded me of Grandpa Atticus.

I would have to be very careful.

"I have been meaning to meet individually with members of this office to discuss performance and expectations. I have found very little, if anything wrong in that regard, you and Weasley have been more than adequate in handling the daily affairs of this office while I managed the response with the Law Enforcement Division."

"Thank you. The day to day affairs never changed much despite everything going on."

"No reason why they should, the return of You-Know-Who is such a small thing."

Small? I didn't like that at all. It was dismissive of the panic and the suddenness of the change in political power in the country.

"I'm not sure what you mean." I did my best to sound small and stupid an attempt to entice him to braggadocio where he would talk to much and I could get a firm measure of the man instead of the Minister.

"I'm sure you would understand the power of government better than most. If the Ministry panics, the people will lose all control of themselves. Mass hysteria is a weakness we cannot allow, the people must be cautious, but they must maintain faith in their leaders to lead them." He smiled in a way that reminded me of a cat that caught a canary. "Even the eyes of the international stage are upon us and we cannot show weakness."

My breath caught in my throat, something inside of me understanding why Scrimgeour had not moved his favorites to the Minister's office with him.

"I'm told MACUSA's new president is unusually well connected."

I stayed silent.

"That his eldest daughter has left home and somehow ended up with a job here at the Ministry of Magic."

I did my best to not puke on the Minister's desk as Scrimgeour's expression grew more smug.

"How lucky to have an expert on MACUSA politics on my own staff."

Expert seemed an empty sort of word.

"Someone who understands Jack Graves and what his motives would be should he decide to become… invested in this incident."

I felt myself tense at the mention of Jack Graves, my shoulders tightened and my jaw clenched.

"I found your file to be particularly interesting, Miss Graves once I broke the privacy charms on it, being Minister of Magic comes with all sorts of privileges, and asked Cornelius about the finer details. Cornelius tried to lie to me, that you were just some distant cousin to Jack Graves, but I told him the investigation I did on your background told me otherwise."

I felt ill. He had given my record a closer look than I thought he would, clearly, and intelligently not taking Fudge's word on anything from the last few years of his years as Minister. I was not sure how long I could keep that quiet from a Head Auror, but in my experience, a desk promotion after a career of excitement created laziness in a person.

"Cornelius then informed me that he had given you his word that your privacy would be protected should you choose to stay with the Ministry after the election and I intend to honor that promise."

Scrimgeour did not trust Fudge. Smart man. Though perhaps he did not truly trust anybody.

I could handle this. He's honoring an old agreement. I'll be fine.

"Is there anything else you would like to add?"

"Only that I would be of no use to you in that regard. I have not spoken to Jack Graves or his family since I left his employ last year."

"Really? Your own father is an acting president and you have not spoken to him?"

My last thread of hope at Scrimgeour being a total fool was completely dashed. All I would have to do is stay calm, treat him like I treated my father and I could still come out of this conversation with some advantage or clinging to the edge of the pit my lies had dug.

"We both have other things we would rather do with our time," my tone decisive and brokering no argument on the matter.

Scrimgeour wore a look of curiosity as if he were wondering how two teenagers who were estranged from their families had ended up working in the Minister's office. Something I often wondered about myself, but had long ago written off as a parenting need of the Fudges.

"I was wondering if you could relay a message to your great-aunt on behalf of MCPIF?" He slid an envelope towards me, which I picked up nervously. "Matilda thinks it would be wise to push the event back to welcome President Graves when he visits us in December. I think it's a wonderful idea."

"President Graves?"

Wait… Lucinda was going to be absolutely homicidal over this! Jack Graves in her home? If she did not assassinate him I would be surprised and even more impressed by her self control.

"Perhaps, given these present circumstances, it might be wise to lay aside these family grudges and decide where to place your loyalties?"

Lucinda. That's where my loyalties are. Jack can go sit on a cactus.

"My loyalty is to the Ministry, sir, you have no cause to worry in that regard, but the conditions of my loyalty remain the same as they did under Minister Fudge, I'm sure you understand my caution in this regard?"

Choke on a lemon drop, Scrimgeour.

"Of course. The press can be vicious and I can understand not wanting to open the door to that kind of scrutiny, it would provide an incorrect impression about MACUSA influence on the Ministry, but I assure you that you will have no need to worry about that during my time in office."

I have no need to worry so long as our interests align.

I was not unaware of this possibility. That I would become a political tool of some sort for the incoming administrations both here and abroad, but I did not think it would happen so quickly or be so spelled out. I needed to be smart.

The front Scrimgeour wishes to present is a careless one.

To Scrimgeour's credit, he changed the topic, wishing to discuss my work in the Minister's office over the past year.

"Your work here has been exemplary."

Though, that comment felt more like appeasement and obligation for a man who wanted me on staff for my family connections. Would I still have a position if I didn't have a connection to Jack Graves?

I let Scrimgeour talk, nodding my head quietly while I thought about the best way to break this news to Lucinda before coming to peace with there really was no good way to tell her any of this. The meeting soon after with disgust and dismay swirling around inside me like a whirlpool as I held the letter I had been asked to deliver to Lucinda.

Oo0Oo0

Lucinda's brow furrowed, her lips were a thin line, her hands shook as she read the letter a second time.

"No. Absolutely not!" She slammed the letter on the table and began to pace irately around the table. "It will be a cold day in hell before I welcome that man into my home! I don't give a damn what the Minister says!"

I reached over to pull the letter towards me as I sipped my rare cup of afternoon coffee.

Dear Madam Ainsley,

We are sad to request another change of date, but MCPIF hopes that this will be a satisfactory resolution to these scheduling issues. As you know, there has been ongoing social unrest with the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The new president of MACUSA is scheduled to arrive for his first international visit in early December, the date to be confirmed in the coming weeks, and per our arrangement and investment in your home, we must abide by this opportunity to raise civil funds to support civilians who are in crisis.

While we are disappointed in not being able to see the wonderful gardens Thornell is known for at their peak of beauty, we have full trust in you and your staff to make due in these trying times.

Best Regards,

Matilda Porter

"That self-righteous bitch!" Lucinda continued, her sudden language pulling me back to reality. I had rarely heard Lucinda swear, and I had never heard her be this angry before. Her tone was akin to a snarling beast, as if this letter and the noted arrival of my father had unleashed something feral that she had long repressed. "This was deliberate! Jack Graves will never have a warm welcome in my home! If the Ministry wants me to host that cretin then I will do everything I possibly can to make him miserable as long as he is within the walls of Thornell! Mark my words!"

I loved Lucinda a little more everyday.

"I also had a meeting with the Minister today."

Lucinda stopped cold and looked at me. "About what?"

I gave her the short version, recounting his knowledge of who my father was and that he seemed willing to make it useful to him. Lucinda's face grew red. I had never thought Lucinda could get visibly angry. I always thought her anger was of a colder nature but something about the stress and the combined knowledge of my father's visit had pushed her over the edge of temper.

"What an insult to me! To my family! To you!"

She began to pace again, "Scrimgeour wants a hold on you. You have valuable connections and him lording your father over you means he can keep you in line and quiet for whenever he needs!" She stopped suddenly as she fully processed everything, "He needs you to soften his meeting with your father when he arrives."

I nodded. It was the kind of thing I knew other people did, I just never thought it would happen to me, though I can't say it was unexpected.

"Why though?"

"International relations, I'm a valuable pawn even if I'm not speaking with Jack. Elihu and Jack don't get along, that's common knowledge. My affirming that everything is going well on the Voldemort-"

"Must you!"

"-Front, then Scrimgeour gets less open criticism from foreign allies, criticism which would dismantle his narrative here at home. Elihu is telling MACUSA everything, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Jack Graves is not an enemy or opponent Scrimgeour wants and criticism from MACUSA carries weight."

Lucinda was quiet, she took a deep breath and wiped her glasses with the sleeve of her robe. "Mind your tone with Scrimgeour and keep your head down, you need to live quietly, but that does not mean bowing to his political whims like a puppet. Outright defiance is not the way to handle this."

"I agree."

Playing at the sentient desk lamp for my father had prepared me for this, though Scrimgeour seemed to be of the opinion that I was more politically able then my father believed. Life was easier when powerful men thought I was apathetic or an idiot.

Lucinda marched to the door and flung it open with the force of a hurricane. Letting in fresh air as she leaned out the door, her gaze on the nearby greenhouse that Tavish favored for its proximity to his favorite hedge rows.

"TAVISH!"

Tavish popped out of his greenhouse with a bemused, contended expression. "Yeh?"

"We have a problem! That winter wedding we hosted ten years ago, do you still have the plans for it?"

"Aye! Why?"

"The Numpty is coming to our home!"

Tavish immediately looked murderous. "Wha'cha need, Lucy?"

Lucinda motioned towards his hut and stormed out the door towards it with a fresh energy in her step that seemed purely powered by her own rage. Tavish was quick to take the hint and follow her, stripping off his gloves to leave on the ground next to the greenhouse for his return.

"I'll tell you on the way!"

The door slammed closed with a flick of her wand and I was left alone with the letter and my cup of coffee.

Oo0Oo0

August 10, 1996

I stared at the beautiful grey sky above me and collected my bearings for a moment as Lucinda's shoes crunched across the grass. The fresh, clean smell of the fresh cut grass was dull, but present if I knew what to look for. Lucinda's boots came into view along with the hand she reached out with to help me to my feet.

My expectations for Lucinda were to be a strict disciplinarian of sorts, but I did not imagine that to encompass dueling skill alongside her managerial role within the house.

"You're hesitating."

"Well, you're getting on in years, I don't want to hurt you."

"Don't mention a woman's age, even in generalities."

Tavish snickered from the open door of his greenhouse where he was moving potted plants outside to reorganize while he cleared an infestation of creatures from his primary greenhouse. The work to begin growing plants for this winter political affair was going to be immense but he claimed he was more then up to the challenge, he had some ideas for indoor plants that he wanted to take care of while he waited for the snow fall to put up his sculptures and the maze. He peered in at Lucinda and I with a smile as she helped me to my feet after putting me on the ground with an unusually fast knockback jinx.

"I thought the Graves family taught their children how to duel once they could hold a wand?"

My face reddened in embarrassment. Alex's dueling club trophies flashed through my memories, the disappointment of the Defense teacher when he realized he would not have another Graves for his dueling team, my grandfather hanging his head before fixing my stance again before acknowledging that there would be no Auror ranking for me. He taught me to cast a shield charm to keep myself alive in times of trouble before turning his attention to Alex and Quincy. He gave the boys copies of his grimoire, a collection of magic from generations of the family's hunt for dark wix and told me to find a nice office job where I wouldn't be called to duel for perceived slights.

Dueling was not exactly legal in the States, but formal duels did often occur with the government turning a blind eye to such displays. If a duel reached the government's ears and they did nothing, then the common view was that someone involved in this affair had some unpleasantness coming of one sort or another. The courtesy was just to show up, fire sparks into the air and end the whole affair, but sometimes that was not enough to end the grudge. All children knew the procedures of a duel, either learning it in school or at the knees of older relatives who had to handle these things. Taking part in an affair, abusing a child, being a nuisance or the town bully. There was one very famous duel when a wizard did his best to murder his brother-in-law for abusing the wizard's sister and went after him with a severing charm, cutting him all over his body and leaving him to bleed out before a neighbor called for a Healer. No charges were filed, as no witnesses could collaborate the story as it was labeled a family affair. The brother-in-law was killed in a bar fight a couple of years later.

"Your stance is unbalanced, your wand grip is loose but workable-"

I looked up at Lucinda, my brows knit together in confusion, praise of any sort was never expected during my previous dueling lessons.

"Don't look so shocked. You're too smart to just reach for fifth year material, I want to see what kind of spells you can do when I'm not putting pressure on you."

It took me a moment to nod and follow Lucinda out the door to the yard where the three crows who made their home in front of Thornell cawed loudly in the tree.

After an hour of displaying my spell craft on a poor old tree as Lucinda offered me advice, occasional correction and requests for particular spells. She wanted to see everything, Transfiguration, Charms and Defensive spells so she could comment on the American technique. Her criticisms were almost nonexistent, Lucinda was a woman who expected perfection and to not hear anything but offers of technique correction was unusual.

"Who told you that you were not a good duelist? You have a decent base, but you need to find that thing that makes you hesitate and squash it."

I bit my lower lip and nodded quietly.

Lucinda paused and adjusted her glasses thoughtfully.

"I can teach you Occlumency if you're interested, I believe you might have a bit of a talent for it. Could be helpful to you in that rats nest of a Ministry."

"I've read a bit about the theories behind Occlumency, but I've never had a chance to try it."

Lucinda examined me with a critical, but sympathetic gaze, "Those fool relatives of yours left you to rot in obscurity because you don't fit into their ideals and that's their loss, I can help you grow into something better than what they wanted from you."

That was… nice to hear.

"When would we start?"

"As soon as you read the books I give you in their entirety, and you manage to defeat me in a duel we'll set up time for lessons."

I wanted to learn Occlumency. I felt a fire stirring inside of me that I had never felt before, it was a desire to push the boundaries of my knowledge outside of schoolbooks and classes I generally coasted through. I was being offered an opportunity to learn a branch of magic that schools never discussed, something old, dangerous and complicated that one needed to find a master to truly understand and learn the craft.

"I accept."

Oo0Oo0

Author's Note: There is a lot going on here.

Harry's a bigger fish than Jack Graves in Scrimgeour's eyes, but he's warming up his strategy to get to Harry by using Audrey as practice. Only, she may end up a less malleable target than Percy in a few ways.

Yes, Lucinda and Tavish have privately referred to Jack as The Numpty in private for years. This is the first time they've done so in front of Audrey, because Lucinda has manners.