Reparations for Dessert

Sirius Black thought the meeting was decidedly odd. Ted Tonks told him there would be a group of wizards getting together at the Tonks' house on Friday night. Sirius assumed it was a party. That assumption fell into doubt when he discovered that Amelia Bones, Agusta Longbottom, and even Judge Gonson were invited. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw five Aurors standing guard outside of the Tonks house after he apparated into their courtyard.

Sirius had rented an apartment as he cleaned out Grimmauld Place. The modifications to his new house were moving quickly. For a moment, he had considered moving into Hayley's apartment but he wanted to give that relationship every chance to succeed. Your new girlfriend does not need to see you sentimentally sort through your childhood toys.

Or does she? He should ask.

Sirius had also settled his affairs with the Tonks. He would always be in their debt no matter how much he paid them. In the strange calculus of emotions, they felt the same way, that they were fortunate to have helped him. The entire accounting was like trying to negotiate with house elves. Returning to the Tonks' house tonight felt both familiar and foreign.

Amelia called the dinner to order as the elves served the first course.

"I'd like to thank Smidgen and Kreacher for feeding us tonight. The meal looks amazing. I invited you here, but I am imposing on our relationship. I'm looking for advice. Some of what I say will be familiar. Some may be new to you. I've been asked to seek the office of Minister for Magic. I have a pet project and I don't want my politics to get in its way. Let me introduce someone who offered to help. This is Baron Mayhew. The Baron was the Attorney General and holds several other ranks as well. Most of the Prime Minister's cabinet do not know about Magical Britian. Baron Mayhew is an exception. A few months ago, his niece turned 11 and she received a letter."

There was a mixture of laughter, snickers, and polite applause. The Baron shrugged and smiled. Magical Britain had grown a little larger.

Amelia continued, "Corrupt individuals and families led a guerilla war against our magical society and against society in general. They killed and injured thousands of us, magicals and non-magicals alike. My brother and my sister-in-law are examples. It is not widely known that almost all the marked Death Eaters died or were captured last month. Obvious exceptions are the Death Eaters who were in Azkaban. We have been identifying and arresting their sympathizers for the last two weeks. The official news announcements will come out Tuesday morning. You may already have seen some missing person reports in the press. Please keep that information to yourselves until it is officially released.

"I am fortunate in that I can take care of my niece Susan. For every situation like mine, there are a dozen examples where victims continue to struggle. I want to establish a Reparations Commission so that injured parties can ask to be made whole. Employer's Liability Insurance does that for non-magicals who are injured at work. I want to set up similar boards who can disperse a mix of ministry funds and the assets recovered from the Death Eaters. Some families of the Death Eaters will have to sell their estates and start working for a living. That hides the large question of what should become of the assets left behind by the Death Eaters.

"How do we win the peace now that we may have won the war? Should a noble house have all its assets seized if even a single member was a death eater? How can we sort out extortion money from the voluntary donations that supported Tom Riddle? In many houses, there were both victims and perpetrators in the same house. Lord Black is a prominent example."

Amelia pointed to him and he raised his hand in acknowledgment.

"The problem spans generations. Some non-magicals have already made welfare applications to their local councils. We don't want every clumsy wizard to apply because he had a bump a decade ago and spent this month's rent money on drinks. This is not a court of law so we are not bound by legal precedents. I have sharper legal minds to help with that.

"I want to identify victims. In some cases, the only justice that I can give is to name the victim's murderer. I also propose to reduce the sentence of living Death Eaters by three months for every victim they can identify. I am aware that action would reduce the sentence of people who voluntarily and with forethought murdered an innocent person to earn their dark mark. To be eligible for the sentence reduction, the Death Eaters would have to take a magical vow to repudiate their beliefs. No sentence will run longer than ten years. For crimes with penalties beyond ten years, and for those who refuse the loyalty vow, I will seek The Veil.

"Now that you know my secrets, I'll leave you to your meal. Please use this opportunity to meet our extraordinary guests. If we don't talk tonight, then I'll meet with you over the next few days."

Sirius was unusually quiet. It took a moment for him to join in, though Amelia certainly deserved the applause. His mind was awhirl with what she had said. He went through the motions of eating as he sorted himself out. Several of the guests asked him about growing up in House Black at Grimmauld Place.

Sirius felt the tensions on both sides. His brother was a murderer. According to his house elf, Kreacher, Regulus Black had also died trying to stop Voldemort. In contrast, Sirius wanted to throw Lord Lucius Malfoy out onto the street if not through The Veil. Tempering that was the worry over what Draco would become if he saw his father as a victim rather than a murderer. It slowly dawned on Sirius that Lord Lucious Malfoy might be dead. That relief was temporary since it substituted one set of problems for another. Sirius wondered what he should do today to give Draco a descent future. How could the young wizard outgrow his excuses?

Every parent struggles with those questions. Sirius didn't have good answers. He didn't know as much about Draco as he should. What was Narcissa's roll with the Death Eaters in her house? He would have to ask.

At least he could put some of the money he got from Crouch and Dumbledore to good use. Better that it went to the victims and their families than collecting dust in his vaults. Aurors could search for years and not identify all of Voldemort's victims. Amelia said Voldemort's name was Tom Riddle. How strange.

Sirius enjoyed the entrees. He was confident that rat was not on the menu. To make sure, he chose to only eat the fish and chicken.

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Hearts and Wands

It had been a quiet and ordinary week. Sirius and Hayley were working at the new house. They had an uncharacteristically early start today. It was mid-morning and Sirius usually stopped for a cup of tea. Instead of calling Hayley and asking if she wanted a break, Sirius pulled the large sheet of drawings to the side and looked at the next sheet of contractor's notes. Tea would have to wait. That was when the family ring on his hand asked for his attention. He hadn't felt that before. Sirius was surprised.

Sirius turned away from the drawings and raised his head. The unfinished bedroom he was using as an office looked the same as it had a few moments ago. There wasn't a sound out of place. Sirius's hands were in his lap. The ring shouted again for his attention. Now his wand was out of his holster and in his hand a moment later. It was in his hand by reflex rather than conscious thought.

Sirius shouted, "Stop where you are." The shout gave away his location, but it also gave the intruder fair warning. Why was he being "fair" when his ring was yelling at him? He would consider that question later.

Sirius heard footsteps. They were probably women's shoes on the rough unfinished floor based on the sound and tempo as the stranger walked down the hallway. It wasn't Hayley. She was wearing trainers today.

"It's me. I'm back," a woman's voice cried out.

He felt a privacy charm being cast. Someone who looked like Hayley Shafiq walked through the unfinished doorway.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" She asked. She kept walking towards him. The voice wasn't quite right. The walk was slightly off. The smile and the mannerisms were not exactly Hayley's. On top of that, the ring was screaming at him. Then Sirius noticed the witch's wand. The witch had a wand in her hand and it wasn't Hayley's wand.

Sirius stunned her. He cast the spell right through the desk and stunned the witch without voicing an incantation. The stranger who looked like Hayley Shafiq fell to the floor like a child's toy sliding off a table.

That made sense to Sirius. He'd certainly put enough magic into the spell. Sirius felt the privacy charm fade away. That was a fair indication of who cast that charm. He wasn't used to casting a spell right through the back of a desk but it certainly worked this time.

Sirius stood up in a sudden panic. "Hayley?!" he shouted. If that stranger was here to look like Hayley, then where was the real witch? What had happened to her?

"Yes, dear?" A few seconds later, a second Hayley Shafiq walked through the open doorway. Now his ring was only whispering to him. His emotions were still a roar in his ears.

"Show.. Show me your wand," Sirius said. It was all he could do not to scream the request.

Hayley read his emotions and the shaking wand in his hand. She slowly lifted her forearm while taking particular care to point her arm away from Sirius. Her wrist holster put her wand in hand. "You shouted and then I heard a spell," she said.

Sirius looked at the wand and nodded. He lowered his hand.

Hayley turned her attention to the woman lying on the floor and then scanned the rest of the room before her eyes again settled on Sirius. "Hmm. Any problems besides the body on the floor? Do you know how strange it is to walk into a room and see yourself crumpled on the ground?"

The stranger's clothes matched what Hayley was wearing yesterday. Her hair matched Hayley's light brown in both color and style. The hairband was wrong, but Hayley awarded the stranger an A+ for effort. The floor of the unfinished room was dirty.

Sirius walked quickly around the makeshift construction desk and threw his arms around the witch standing in front of him. The speed and force of the hug caught Hayley off guard. She still had her wand in her hand. He held her close and slowly rocked the two of them from side to side. Given a moment to recover, she hugged him back.

"You're not injured?" he asked. His question was a whispered confession.

"Not a bit. Pads, will you be alright?"

She felt him shrug and then squeeze her tighter. Hayley caressed the back of his neck with her free hand. She held him and was in no hurry to let go. When they untangled their embrace, Hayley raised her wand to cast a spell.

"Stop," Sirius said.

"Kreacher and Corky come here," he said. He thought for a moment and added, "Dobby come here."

The three elves appeared, each with their characteristic sound. The ministry would not allow elves to testify in court, but each of these three elves had forgotten more about magic than most wizards had learned.

Sirius nodded to Hayley and she cast the Revelio charm. The intruder's body and clothing changed as the Glamour spell faded away. Sirius and Hayley walked slowly around the strange woman and studied her. The three elves trailed behind.

Though she was face down, Narcissa Malfoy appeared on their floor, or at least something with her face, her hair and her clothes. Hayley picked up Narcissa's wand and handed it to Sirius.

"I was going to ask if you wanted a cup and a bite." Hayley turned and walked out of their temporary construction office. She called from the hallway, "I'll cancel your appointments."

"Well shit. Let me call Amelia," he said. "Remember what you saw," Sirius said to the three elves. Their usually large eyes seemed even larger as the eves stared at Lady Malfoy.

Hayley shouted to him from the next room. "You might want to cast the Incarcerous first?" she asked.

Right.

Sirius muttered to himself, "Right. Secure the scene before calling for help." He'd learned that. Honestly, he had, but right now he was out of practice and acting like a rookie again.

It took concentration. Fortunately, he remembered the wand movements and the incantation. It came back to him as he cast the Incarcerous spell. Narcissa Malfoy, or someone who looked like her, was securely bound. He added a silencing charm for good measure. They didn't have a floo connection yet since their home was under construction. Sirius Black cast a Patronis to call Amelia Bones. He hoped she wasn't busy.

Sirius stood over the woman's body. He put his wand back into its holster. He had a few seconds to think. The construction drawings and notes were forgotten. Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black, had put on a Glamour and arrived unannounced with a wand in her hand. She had done that for a reason. There was trouble in House Black and Sirius was standing in the very center of it.

It would have been so much simpler if Narcissa had simply talked over tea.
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Authors Notes- Feedback is appreciated. What did you think of a desperate Narcissa Malfoy? Why do you think Narcissa acted as she did? Can you imagine someone taking the appearance of somebody you love?

I wondered about using dark magic as a story element to redeem Kreacher. Perhaps Kreacher can go where others fear to tread because he'd lived with the dark magic in Grimmauld Place for so long. Also, the concerns that others express about Kreacher's safety and wellbeing might come as a surprise and reach the elf. Just a thought.

Slow