September 30, 1996

Sharing time in the file office was not something that happened often with anyone. I was prone to taking my time looking for things out of a combination of distraction and an instinctive need to avoid Dolores Umbridge. Which often meant doing the bulk of my file hunting for the department alone. Would using magic make this easier? Absolutely. Did these files have very long, complex titles and subcategories of numbers and letters? Yes. Which normally indicates that the system was not designed by anyone who did secretarial work of any sort.

Meaning Percy had whole sections memorized because he worked in three expansive catch all categories. Today he was next to me looking for something a bit more specific.

I did not dislike the company, it was just different to have another person in the room who would periodically catch my eye and smile at me while butterflies danced in my stomach.

Get a grip, Audrey.

"Can I pick your brain about something?"

Percy seemed to perk up like I had dangled a treat in front of him as he closed a file drawer before sliding open another and sitting on the floor next to me. "Of course!"

"What do you think about Dumbledore?"

That was clearly not what he was expecting from me by the way his expression shifted and his jaw clenched in irritation.

"What brought this on?"

I pushed my hair back out of my face as I thought very carefully about what I was going to say next. Percy was not duplicitous, he was a very honest kind of person which meant he would say things in the heat of the moment if he was riled up enough.

"This… political flux he's in with the Ministry. A powerful, well-respected figure like Dumbledore doesn't go from that to persona non grata over the course of four months, even for insisting on what was a crazy statement at the time."

Percy exhaled the breath he was holding and I focused on the strands of hair that were drifting across his forehead that had escaped whatever potion he had used on his hair that morning in an effort to look older and more professional.

"His return to public life has been nonexistent. No interviews with the papers, he does not seem to be willing to work openly with the Ministry if the last several months are anything to go by."

He gave a stiff nod of agreement.

Okay. I think he was hooked, now if I can get him to do his favorite thing. Talk.

There was no hesitation from Percy. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"Yes."

He tapped his fingers on the folders he was holding, seeming to collect his thoughts. "I don't trust Dumbledore."

One of my eyebrows raised of its own volition, his voice was direct and firm.

"There was always something weird going on at Hogwarts, especially after Potter started attending. Five years ago Dumbledore hid some magical artifact in the school and Potter gets the idea to go after it with my little brother Ron and their friend Hermione."

Hermione is a really unusual name. Wait, I thought Potter's friend's name was Rupert? Guess Eddie got that wrong.

"Ron beat a giant chess set and got a concussion."

"How do you get a concussion playing chess?"

"He was the piece."

"Oh. Okay."

"The year after that there was a basilisk slithering through the pipes or some such nonsense and-" he paused for a moment, something distant and angry in his eyes- "paralyzed multiple muggle-born students before taking my sister into its chamber."

Basilisk. They were giant snakes often hailed as a King of Serpents, but I did not understand that label as they were an accident of nature and magic. I believed Horned Serpents were the true rulers of the serpentine, if there was such a thing, because they were a part of nature, not a mockery of it. Why the hell was one slithering loose in a school?

"Your sister?"

Percy nodded, "Ron and Harry found their way to the chamber and got Ginny out when we had given her up for dead."

"How old was your sister?"

"Eleven."

I thought about the picture I had seen in Arthur's office, my thoughts lingering on the little girl in the photograph and felt my stomach drop in horror.

"I heard a rumor that Potter could talk to snakes? Is there any truth to that?"

Percy nodded, "Yes, everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin and attacked those students. It's more likely there was another parselmouth wandering around unsupervised."

"Unsupervised?"

"They're dangerous, it's the sign of a dark wizard."

"That's not true!"

He gave me a look.

"Illvermorny's founder, Isolt Sayre could understand snakes, it's a big part of our magical history. She was a descendent of Slytherin and she was not a bad person for being able to understand snake language. I don't see how two instances of that you know of a rare gift being badly used means all parselmouths will turn to dark arts."

I knew I should stop, but I was tired of sitting on an opinion that was different from the common view. MACUSA had a fairly tolerant view of the serpent tongued, but those who had the gift kept quiet probably from vast European influence on American society and the abilities' scary reputation. There was a time when European settlers tried to stamp out the gift in indigenous communities in America and they tried the same in India years later. There were still massive pockets of distrust for those who could speak with snakes, but it was no longer a death sentence due to the need for rustic MACUSA assignments. Not entirely trusted, but needed in many ways. It was why my father wanted me to stay quiet about it, it would be a scandal of some sort if word got out. A parseltongue in one of the oldest and most well regarded families in Magical America, unimaginable! Along with how it would upset my mother who was openly depressed and sickly by that point.

The fact that Jack was actively having an affair with Vanessa would have upset my mom far more than my hissing.

In many of my father's pockets of influence, my parseltongue ability would have turned his voters away from him. They were fickle and easily frightened. Perhaps I should have gone home to hiss with a rattlesnake on a street corner in front of MACUSA headquarters before the presidential election?

That would have been a sight.

"Really? Name one parselmouth who did not turn to dark magic?"

"Why would one who didn't turn to dark magic say they could talk to snakes if it would erase every good thing they accomplished? It's called prejudice, Percy."

"Fine, maybe we disagree."

"Oh, we do!"

"Perhaps we could pick this up another time?"

"I'd love to!"

His eyes met mine in a moment that made me flush for reasons other than temper. "We haven't had lunch together in a while."

I raised an eyebrow, "Our schedules don't allow it."

"Well, maybe we should make time for that. We do a lot of…" His hand drifted over the files he was holding, my eyes lingering on the freckles on his hands and trailing up his wrist before disappearing under the sleeve of his robes. "Cross pollination of our immensely important administrative tasks."

I giggled. I handled the general office schedule and extraneous paperwork for Umbridge, Percy handled the Minister's affairs, minor paperwork and took notes in major meetings for him of various sorts. There was no real cross pollination between our jobs in any capacity, if I had to spend a whole day with Scrimgeour I would throw myself down the stairs. Though, spending the day with Umbridge was not much better, at least she would stay in her office or attend other meetings on the Minister's behalf, leaving me to my own devices for the most part.

"Lunch sounds nice." Percy's face lit up, either from his smile or the growing blush of color across his cheeks or some combination of the two. "We've gotten off topic."

"Hm, what was the topic?"

"Dumbledore, you were telling me about the giant snake in Hogwarts."

"Right, Dumbledore," Percy scoffed. "The year after that, Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban, gets into the Gryffindor tower and tries to stab my brother."

Was his family cursed? Or was it just the proximity to one Harry Potter?

"Why would he try to stab your brother?"

"He thought he was Harry."

"That's unfortunate."

"And then, Dumbledore traps my brother in the Black Lake for Potter's Triwizard Task. Frankly Audrey, the man's lost his mind. He has no care for the safety of the students under his care and has been allowed to do as he pleases without any oversight in the process. Even old wizards can succumb to… well, lapses of the mind."

"Did anyone die from these lapses of the mind?"

"No, but there were multiple near misses. Please tell me your Ilvermorny was not like this?"

"No… The worst thing that ever happened there was a student teacher falling down the stairs. He was fine."

He took down three eleven year olds with him who seemed to cushion the blows. The children were fine.

"That sounds dangerous. He should have been using the railing."

"He was, he just lost his balance while talking to his mentor teacher."

Percy got to his feet, closing a file drawer with a clunk and tucking the files under his arm before reaching down to help me rise, his hand was warm and was slow to release my fingers as he gazed down at me with a thoughtless kind of smile that made my stomach flip.

I had images of things I wondered about in the dead of night in that moment, primarily what kissing Percy would be like. I did not think he was the 'shove a tongue down a girl's throat' type, but I had no real comparison to that experience.

I had missed our lunch breaks, they were friendly discussions about anything but politics, sometimes we would team up on crossword puzzles but with Scrimgeour and Umbridge arriving at the top office, our coordinated breaks had been among the first things to fall to the wayside.

Percy held the door open for me. He was such a gentleman, it was a little disorienting at points. I don't think I ever touched a doorknob if we were going to the same place, even when we were having some sort of disagreement. There was something intensely old fashioned about it that had grown on me over the last year.

"I don't know what else to tell you about the Dumbledore issue, Audrey." Percy shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "He's an old, powerful wizard in a tower with more control than he needs over one of the greatest repositories of magical history in the world."

A strange thought came to my mind. Albus Dumbledore was old, powerful and worked outside of the Ministry's view and control. He had confessed to a child army last year, though that was later proven false, but the membership for such a group did exist. If teenagers could come up with something like that and be so underhanded, I was willing to bet they had learned it from the adults in their lives in some capacity.

What if Dumbledore had an organization of his own? He had enough magical power and respect outside the Ministry to do so and Dumbledore did fight Voldemort a few months ago. Paramilitary groups always had spies, I had listened to enough of grandpa's lectures to learn that much. The previous year had not instilled in me any great trust for the British Ministry of Magic, and I'm sure that sense of distrust was more prevalent in those who had grown up during a time when Dumbledore was far more regarded as a wizard.

If anyone had the connections I needed to lay a new path to finding Alex or Thalia, then it would be worth the risk to reach out to Albus Dumbledore.

How would I reach him? How would I ensure my letter was read for a meeting to be set or even just to get a response from a very influential wizard?

The letter began to draft itself in my mind as Percy and I returned to the office.

"Of course, Dumbledore has never had any real oversight in how he runs Hogwarts," Percy quickly stepped ahead of me to open the office door for me as he found a new angle to focus his dislike. "It's purely reputation, no one wants to enforce any true management of Hogwarts, to tell him how an efficient, safe school is run or how many regulations he's breaking that year with whatever harebrained affair he's involved with. The school is desperately in need of good management after the last few years."

Dear Professor Dumbledore- No. Headmaster is more formal.

I returned to my desk as Percy continued to speak, drifting to the Hogwarts Board as a new topic, most of them being elderly and half not having their own children and therefore not being very understanding of issues related to modern education or the influence of Dumbledore's management.

"It's a school, not a cult of personality!"

I nodded in agreement, wondering if I should play the MACUSA First Daughter card before deciding against it. I would have this meeting on my own merits if I could, if Dumbledore pieced my relations by my accent I would be honest if it would advance my plea for aid.

I glanced over at Percy who was arranging the papers he had pulled for the Minister, his silence speaking more to his return to duty than a lack of interest in the topic we had been discussing. I enjoyed talking with Percy, he was very smart where he could sometimes leave me feeling like a bit of an idiot for a lack of intrinsic understanding of the minutiae of government policy in this country. There were also occasions where he would say some really stupid stuff that, in turn, made me feel like a genius.

There was a conduct handbook open on my desk. Odd. I left mine in the lower drawer of my desk and this one was brand new. What kind of monster would do that to a new book?

Consilium 394 - Office Fraternization

Collected statements with regards to inner-office fraternizing, (see Consilium 184 - 200.34 subsection B-2 in the collective volumes of Ministry policy guide) involved parties in the same office can face being assigned to separate departments, one party volunteering to relocate to a new department or, per the recommendations of their supervisor, terminated from their position at the Ministry of Magic.

Inner-office relationships can be detrimental to a work environment, creating discomfort in coworkers, amplifying alliances and lay waste to an idea of fair advancement. Particularly if one of the parties is in a position of power over another, a department manager, supervisor or even just a senior clerk.

I paused at mentioning of senior clerk and looked over at Percy who was deep in the files he had just pulled at his desk.

There was an intense heat along my face as I looked slowly around the office only to find Dolores Umbridge peering at me from her office door with a smug, frog-like smile that told me all I needed to know about this book's origins. I knew a threat when I read one.

Was she calling me a hussy?

This… thing with Percy had to come to an end. I could be kept here for political purposes, Percy did not have that kind of protection. If one could even call it that.

I had always been good at taking hints.

Oo0Oo0

I placed the key in the lock with a heavy sigh and felt the weight of a very heavy envelope in my pocket. I had no optimism that the recipient would read it. A great wizard would probably cast this aside as junk mail, if he was even in his office at all. Dumbledore had been taking a lot of trips out of Hogwarts if Ministry intelligence was correct. Meaning Auror Dawlish had been hexed by Dumbledore for being caught following him.

Dawlish was the kind of Auror my grandfather would be embarrassed by, talented plainly, but a lack of sense in the field was never something that could be truly remedied.

The crashing noise down the hall made me jump and pull out my wand. Was it the Aurors from the secret service? Did they finally figure out where I lived?

No.

It was something else.

The House Elf at the end of the hall had large, tennis ball-like eyes and large, bat-like ears that made me feel as if she was staring into my soul.

I ran after the House Elf with a startled shout as it ran up the nearby staircase to the roof. I didn't think House Elves were very fast runners. They were small and short legged, I did not expect a problem with pursuit aside from my wearing heels, I kicked them off on the stairs to take the stairs two at a time, the shoes clunking as they rolled down the staircase.

The elf blasted the door open to the rooftop with my pursuit gaining more traction in nylon covered feet.

There was such familiarity under the dirt on her face and the burgundy blouse she wore as a dress.

"Stop!"

The elf froze suddenly and turned to look at me.

"Tinsy?"

The House Elf gave a squeak of joy and ran towards me, wrapping her arms around my leg with a crushing grip. "Miss Audrey! Tinsy has looked all over for Audrey Graves and found her at last!"

"Tinsy!" I sputtered as I tried to gently shake Tinsy off my leg. I lost my balance and fell back onto the hard stone of the roof with a thump. "I gave you clothes, you're free! You can go where you like! No masters to hold you back in life!" The leg that had Tinsy wrapped around it was growing wet with either water from the puddle I had landed in or Tinsy's tears. Probably both.

Tinsy looked up, her bulbous eyes were drowning in tears. "Tinsy was happy to be free of Mistress! Tinsy missed Audrey Graves. Tinsy wishes to stay with little mistress!"

There was a silence that left me feeling, not terrible, but regretful. Freeing Tinsy had been an impulsive stab at my step-mother, who liked to have her around as a status symbol. I had not considered the consequences of freeing an elf that had never been truly loyal to my family after my mother died. Tinsy was part of Lucina Ainsley's dowry, she was loyal only to Alex… and me. Tinsy only completed orders given by the two of us with any efficiency or speed, not that Alex and I often had orders to give, both of us seeing Tinsy as more of a babysitter of sorts who would often bring us snacks even if we were not hungry while we were doing homework. Tinsy never did that for anyone else in the house. My hand flew up into my face with a resounding smack.

Tinsy gasped, "Miss Audrey, don't punish yourself!"

"I freed you from your bond to the house, but not to me right?" I pulled a glove out of my pocket. "Here Tinsy." I held it out to the House Elf still clutching my leg like it was her link to life itself. "Will this work?"

Tinsy looked up at me with such a fearsome expression that I was taken aback by it. She did not move. She did not blink. I moved the glove closer. Tinsy's face grew harder and I felt distinctly uncomfortable.

"No work for free house elves," She said coolly as she reached up and moved my hand away with her cold fingers. "Hard to use magic when we're not bound to a home."

I blinked as my mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. "So you are free then?" Something clicked in my mind. "Have you been cleaning my apartment?"

"Tinsy chooses to stay with Audrey Graves." She raised her head and glared defiantly. "Tinsy likes magic. And you."

I would take that as a yes to the apartment question.

I did not know much about House Elves, I had never asked about it, I had just accepted Tinsy's presence in my life without learning about her or House Elves in general. Did a home or family act as a focus for Tinsy to use her magic the way a wand did for most wix?

"But… Look, Tinsy," my head began to pound with an oncoming headache. "I've left all of that…" I waved my hand around as the words sat on the tip of my tongue. "Pomp and circumstance of being a Graves behind in America, I'm a normal clerk in the Ministry of Magic now and having a House Elf at my beck and call is going to make me more noticeable than I already am."

I paused for a moment, realizing for a moment I was still sitting in a puddle before the flood of questions in my mind pushed that little detail aside for the moment.

"How did you even get here? The transportation office would never let a house elf leave without a wix with them."

"Tinsy took a No-Maj ship." She turned her nose up in an expression of smugness mixed with disgust. "It was filthy, but Tinsy fixed that!"

"Really?"

She nodded, her smile a pure kind of smug. "They cannot fold sheets, or cook. Sailors tried to remove Tinsy with a No-Maj preacher but Tinsy fixed him! Nasty, filthy place."

"What did you do to the preacher, Tinsy?"

"Tinsy threw sheets at him to show how filthy these No-Majs were!"

Merlin's beard, there were some No-Maj sailors out there who probably thought their ship had some kind of demon onboard. That would not go over well with the International Statute if word got out.

"When did you leave Byrgen House?"

"A week after you. Tinsy wanted to leave just before that woman's next party."

She did not have to tell me she stayed to watch the chaos, it was all over her face.

"Magic became hard for Tinsy after Audrey Graves left home. Harder to move things and clean, unable to use magic at all until Tinsy decided to get on a boat to find you."

Interesting. Was House Elf magic tied to a person or a home? Could they make a person their home in a sense? It was an interesting idea but not one I could examine at the moment.

Yeah. I did not have it in me to send her on her way.

"Okay, but I have conditions. I will pay you a galleon a week to help Lucinda at her home and I will help you find a new position if that is ever something you want." Tinsy made a noise of disagreement. "Also, you cannot follow me to work, it's weird. You'll also have to try and get along with Barry, my Great-Aunt's House Elf."

Tinsy nodded as she wiped the tears from her bulbous eyes before something I said registered in her mind.

"She has an elf, and you want Tinsy there too?"

She looked very judgmental at the thought of a House Elf needing help with a family. Like it offended her elvish pride and sensibilities.

"There is a lot going on, the house needs to be spotless. The garden, immaculate. It's too much work for one elf, two elderly wix and I can only help on the weekends because of work. You will be greatly appreciated."

Tinsy beamed, I had never thought of Tinsy as proud, but I had never thought of myself as being brave either so I guess we were both products of our environment.

An idea came upon me as Tinsy's eyes glimmered with pride. I pulled the letter I had finished between mindless paperwork and ran my fingers over the wax seal of the envelope.

"Tinsy. I have a favor to ask before you go to my aunt."

"Yes?"

"I need you to deliver a letter. Alex has made himself unplottable, and this letter must go to a man who could help me find him." I shifted so I was on my knees in front of Tinsy, who looked increasingly determined at the mention of Alex. "I need this task done in secrecy. Can you do that?"

Tinsy nodded as I pressed the envelope into her hands.

"I need this letter delivered to Albus Dumbledore."

Oo0Oo0

Author's Note: I like the idea that House Elves stay with a family as a kind of focus for their magic the way a wand works for wizards, it's why they just don't pick up and leave when they're being abused, access to some sort of power is safety. After Tinsy was freed and her magic began to dull, (the equivalent of a snapped wand) then she decided to focus her new freedom on finding Audrey she had restored enough to her to do as she used Audrey as a mental concentration to access all of her power, a home point so to speak. That's my House Elf head canon.

Tinsy is unusually independent minded for an elf, she's also a fairly young elf, maybe their equivalent of late teens, early twenties though I think they age much more slowly than humans. Peak energy for a longer period of time. She's smug, driven and efficient. Basically a hyper-competent assistant with more opinions. She comprehends that she is free, but understands that it gives her far more ground to disobey.