Godfather

Through the narrowest of gaps between her eyelids, Claudia saw Sirius' skinny frame sitting on the edge of the bed and basking in the morning sun. "Morning-" she mumbled. "Is that coffee?" she feebly pointed at the mug in his hand.

"Morning-" Sirius extended his arm to help her sit up and then passed her the mug. "You aren't avoiding me, are you?"

"I'm not avoiding you," she said and took a long sip of the coffee. He was already asleep when she got to the Sandcastle the night before. "It's just a lot to get here every day. And I have so much in that flat that could incriminate me, I can't leave it unoccupied all the time."

"Why don't you move it all here?"

Claudia paused to come up with a counterargument but could not think of any. "That's not a bad idea," she finally whispered. "Since my most incriminating secret is already here."

Sirius smiled and gently rub his finger up and down her arm for a few seconds. "I need to ask you a favour," he said tentatively. "I need you to write to Remus and help him get here." He must have seen a frown cross Claudia's face because he reached for her hand and continued in a whisper. "Please- I need another person to talk to, train duelling with, otherwise you'll get sick of me."

"Or you'll get sick of me."

"Please, Claude, he's my only other friend…"

Claudia sighed. That was hard to argue with. "Do you know where to find him?"

"He asked me to send any letters- hang on, I've written it down." He reached into his bedside table. "Here-"

Turning the note with Remus' address around in her hand, Claudia let out another sigh. "Alright. I'll write to him."

And to her slight surprise, she did just that when she got to her office later that morning. There were no pleasantries, just a date, time and location. The regret, however, set in almost immediately after she posted the letter. Now, she would have to deal with him.

The following Thursday, Claudia forced herself to go to the Leaky Cauldron. When she entered, she was hit by an overwhelming wall of noise. The pub was packed, and it took her a while to find Remus' ragged form.

I'm so glad you've written," he jumped to his feet when he spotted her. "I was hoping we could-"

"I'm not here for you-" she cut him off, looked around and passed him a note with the Floo address of the derelict wizard house in Guernsey. "Take Floo to this place on Friday at nine o'clock. Do not be seen."

"I presume this is…" Remus trailed off.

"You don't need to know any more-" she signalled the landlord for another pint for Remus. "Drink your drink and smile, so that we can pretend we are having a civilised conversation."

The pint has appeared in front of Remus, and he took a sip.

"Are you not having one?"

"I don't drink-" she hissed but had enough wits about her not to openly blame him for her abstinence.

Remus, perhaps expecting Claudia to elaborate, took a second to speak again. "What's the mood like at the Ministry at the moment?" he mumbled finally.

"Everyone is ecstatic," she replied and looked around. No one was watching them. That was good, she would not have to keep this up for long.

"Were you there? At the World Cup?"

"Yeah-"

"With Neville?"

"No." She looked around again. The coast was still clear.

"That boy has really grown over the last year."

That had to be enough to make it look convincing. She could not talk about Neville with him like nothing had happened. When he was the reason she did not have it in her to fight to raise Neville at the end of the war- "I've got to go back to work." That was an outright lie. After she left the Leaky Cauldron without much of a goodbye, she went home, drunk one and a half measures of sleeping draught and collapsed into bed.

The following day, after dark, she met Remus by the Guernsey fireplace. Rather than suffering though a small-talk-filled walk with him, she chose to side-apparate him to the beach.

As planned, Sirius was already waiting there, pacing across the wet sand left by the waves. Without a word, the two men hugged, while Claudia watched them from a few steps away. One, two, three… She counted the length of the hug in her head. Finally, they let go off each other.

"Come for dinner," Sirius beamed at Remus and nudged him towards the boat. "I cooked plenty for all three of us."

Remus took a step in the direction of the wooden sailboat, but Claudia did not move.

"Claude, are you-" Sirius began to ask but stopped when he understood the look on her face.

"I'll come back later," she said. "Just send the boat back when you're done."

"I don't want to intrude-" Remus jumped in, speaking in a barely audible voice.

"I have work to do anyway," Claudia replied with her usual excuse. She knew she could not be civil around Remus but loved Sirius enough to not want to ruin this for him.

Sirius left Remus by the boat and walked up to her. "Claude-"

She put her hands on his chest and smiled. "It really is alright. I am glad you have another person to talk to, I really do. I just can't be there for it."

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," she nudged him away. "Have fun."

She kept a brave face on for as long as Sirius could see her as he sailed away. Then, she went back home and started to pack all the incriminating artefacts that were stashed away in the attic. That was sure to keep her mind off things.

By about midnight, the flat was unrecognisable. Dark magic books were covering Sirius' piano, the Pensieve was resting on the armchair, and the dining table was barely visible under a mountain of memories. If she left it like this and left for Guernsey… It did not bear thinking about what would happen if the aurors came to visit. So, she messaged Sirius that it was late and that she was going to come in the morning.

The barely coherent messages she got back made her smile. If she could not be his drinking buddy, at least Remus was there to fill in. It was better than Sirius drinking alone.

She was woken up early and sharply by a knock on her door, and her heart immediately sunk to her stomach when she saw all her possessions scattered around the flat. If this was the aurors again…

But it was not the aurors, it was Remus.

"What happened?" she gasped. Her mind could not help but picture drunk Sirius stumbling off a cliff.

"Sirius asked me to come help you move," Remus said hoarsely, stench of booze emitting from his every pore.

"I don't need help." It was just two trunks worth of stuff, three at most.

"Please-" Remus whispered and leaned against the doorframe for support. "I am not expecting you to forgive me because I helped carry your trunks. I'm here because Sirius can't be the one who helps you and it's killing him."

"So, he sent you instead?"

"Quite."

Claudia pondered the offer for a few seconds. "Fine, take this one-" she pointed at the heaviest truck. "Just don't throw up on it. It's got my Pensieve!"

By the time Claudia threw the remaining possessions into the other trunks and made it to the beach, Remus had done a round trip and was waiting for her by the empty boat. Without a word, he helped her put the trunks she brought into the boat, and held it still while she climbed in.

"Are you not coming?" she asked, when he gave the boat a slight push and took two steps back towards the beach.

"I'm going to head home. Say a goodbye to him for me."

"Sure," she mumbled, cast the spell and sailed off towards the Sandcastle.

Claudia resisted temptation to look back to where the hangover figure of Remus Lupin presumably still stood. The sharp winds brought tears into her eyes. It was definitely the wind. He did not deserve her sympathy-

Sirius was waiting by the jetty, and while his face suggested that he was expecting Remus back too, he did not say anything. Instead, he helped Claudia get everything into the library.

"Not bad, right?" he gestured with a smile. "I added some furniture to make you a study."

It was not bad at all, she thought as she looked around- a nice desk illuminated through a large window, spacious bookshelves… "Thank you," she mumbled and squeezed his hand. Of course, it was not as grand as her Department of Mysteries' office but Sirius did not need to know that. "I'm going to quickly unpack, just to make sure nothing had leaked or is otherwise damaged," she added quickly without looking at him. "If some of these memories escaped, they would give the whole island of Guernsey nightmares for weeks."

Claudia just finished sorting out the memories, relieved that all the flasks were intact, when Sirius placed his hands on her shoulders. "Please don't be mad at me," he whispered.

She spun around. "I'm not mad at you-" she whispered and reach for his unshaved cheek. "I think it's important you get to talk to Remus. I really do."

However, Sirius knew her better than that. "But?" he said quietly.

"There is no but, I promise. I'd just ruin it for you if I stayed… I can't forgive him. I just can't."

Sirius leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm not asking you to." The smell of drink overwhelmed Claudia's senses.

"You stink!" she said with a grimace. "It's making me nauseous."

"You're nauseous because you haven't eaten anything since yesterday lunchtime." Sirius laughed. "Am I wrong?"

"You aren't wrong," she replied sheepishly.

"Come on, then, I got some dinner leftovers."

They spent the rest of the day eating and talking about every last detail of the Triwizard Tournament and about politics, and ended up sitting on the veranda just as the sun was setting. It was no warm summer evening. They needed four blankets and a firepit to keep them warm. Claudia was re-reading Cassandra Trelawney's diaries, and sharing the most bizarre snippets with Sirius, who was stretched on the ratan sofa with his head in her lap.

"Listen to this," Claudia chuckled. "She got hold of a theory that soulmates have matching birthmarks. She found quite a unique one on her bum. And this whole entry, she's trying to decide how best to check which of the man she shortlisted as her potential soulmates have the same one."

Sirius did not react, which made Claudia peek over the edge of the book. He was asleep in her lap, with the tiniest of smiles on his face.

She smiled to herself too and sunk her fingers into his hair.

Sirius stirred. "What is it?" he uttered.

Claudia shrugged. Nothing was it. If anything, everything was perfectly normal. They were both saner than they have been in years. "You're fine…" she whispered. "You didn't yell at me over Remus. You are sleeping well. You're fine."

With a little stretch, Sirius sat back up. "I didn't want to tell you because you're smug enough already, but I've been practicing Occlumency."

"And it's working?"

"Yes." He wrapped her in her arms. "And I like it here. I especially like it when you're here."

"I like it here too," she mumbled and sunk into his embrace, dying to enjoy whatever pleasures these weekend was to bring.

When Claudia got to the office on Monday, feeling rather warmer on the inside than usual, she found Oscar pacing in her office.

"Who let you in here?" she said with difficulty due to a rather large lump in her throat. Was she in trouble again? Was he here to warn her? Or arrest her?

But Oscar ignored her question. "I'm going to Albania tonight to look for Bertha Jorkins."

"I'm glad Ludo agreed-"

"There is nothing to be glad about," Oscar barked. "I did not want to go. It feels awfully lot like a punishment," he added, glaring.

"Are you blaming me for this too?"

Oscar shook his head. "Not really… But I have so much work to do here, a kid, and Moody- he's not well, Claudia." He sighed and dropped into Claudia's sofa. "His memory is going. I thought Hogwarts would be good for him but he's not himself. I think leaving his house, made it all worse."

"I can look after Moody for both of us."

"No, you can't. When was the last time you've even seen him?"

"He's been freezing me out!"

"Try harder, please… Letter every week, and a long one. And try to go see him at least once a month."

"Fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Thanks… And now, I need to go talk to another mad, old man." he said and pushed himself up to standing. "Give me strength-"

"Which one?"

"Crouch."

"What did he do now?"

"Do you ever feel like you're the only sane person around, and everyone else is losing their mind?"

"Do I ever?" she smirked before returning to the matter of Crouch. "Has the stress of it all got to him?"

"Who knows. Either that or his latest assistant's been feeding him Confusing Concoction instead if his tea."

That made her laugh. "Be safe in Albania," she said and stood on her tip toes to give him a hug. "And I promise to write to Moody straight away."

But Claudia's first letter that week went unanswered, and so did the second. She tried not to think too much of it, since Moody must have been busy with the teaching. At least she got some reports on his activities from Neville, who seemed impressed (albeit still a little terrified) of his new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Nevertheless, she was hatching a plan to surprise when she got some free time over a weekend.

Unfortunately, free time at weekends was scarce. She spent every one of them at the Sandcastle, trying to make up the time she was not able to spend there during the week either due to work, or due to it being Remus' turn to keep Sirius busy. But the weekend was hers- They slept, cooked, practice duelling… Sirius started a herb garden for Claudia to use in her potions. It may have seem dull, but they would do anything that would help them remember what normal life was supposed to feel like.

Monday mornings were always hard for Claudia, as she had to say goodbye to a weekend in Sirius' arms and welcome a week full of work and sailing, which got progressively more unpleasant as the autumn winds got stronger and colder. But this Monday morning was worst still as it fell on Halloween.

There was no smile on Sirius' face when he woke up that morning. There was barely an acknowledgment that Claudia existed. It was only to be expected on the anniversary of James' and Lily's death, the anniversary of Peter's betrayal, and Sirius'- she could not even finish that thought. Twelve years in that place… Unthinkable.

"Do you want me to stay?" Claudia whispered. "I can tell them I'm not coming in today, make up some excuse." She only saw the sea from the corner of her eye, but even that short glimpse made the prospect of staying in bed all day quite appealing.

But to her disappointment, Sirius shook his head. "This is going to be easier if I'm alone."

"It's never easier to be alone. I know that better than anyone."

"That's not what I meant-" he reached for her hand. "There is nothing anyone can do to make me feel better today, not even you. I know exactly how today is going to go, and I rather you weren't collateral damage."

"But-"

"I promise not to drink too much," he interrupted her with a forced smile.

"Should I write to Remus? Ask him to come?" Her heart ached as she said that.

"No."

"Alright," she whispered, somewhat relieved that Remus was not wanted either. "I'll come tomorrow, ok? Maybe take the Wednesday off, help you with some Occlumency."

Sirius hugged her and kissed her on her hair. "I love you."

The journey from the Sandcastle made Claudia feel cold such that she had previously only experienced in the proximity of dementors. She counted herself lucky that she could spent her day working in front of a fireplace, even though she spent most of it trying to convince herself that leaving Sirius alone was the right decision. She nearly gave up and went back to the Sandcastle, when she picked up a memo from Crouch.

'The dragon task is fast approaching. I do not trust the Romanian dragon keepers. Do you have any concoctions that could subdue (or potentially kill) a dragon in case of an emergency?'

A quick conversation with Griffin, the Department of Mysteries' go-to man on anything creature-related, revealed that there was a lot more detail Claudia needed before Griffin could give her the answer to Crouch's question.

Griffin's excited chatter about dragons ringing in her ear, she went to Crouch's office. She could have written a memo, but she wanted to see whether Oscar was right about the state of the man.

"Can I help you, Miss Avery?" a tall, red-headed boy jumped to his feet when she tried to walk past him to knock on Crouch's door.

It must have been one of the Weasleys, but which one? "Crouch sent me this-" she waved the memo around- "and I have questions."

"He's at Hogwarts today, for the selection of the Triwizard Tournament champions. He said he might stop by the office afterwards, but I cannot make any promises."

"And when will that be?"

"Around nine, I would imagine."

So, Claudia returned to her office, worked some more and, just before nine o'clock, made her way to the Department of the International Magical Cooperation once again.

"Is he back?"

"Yes. But he should not be disturbed. The selection did not go as expected."

"What happened?"

"Mr Crouch has everything under control. Just a minor headache about the champions. This Potter boy…"

"What about the Potter boy?" Claudia was getting a little impatient.

"He cheated and got himself selected as the fourth champion."

Claudia suddenly remembered the dragons. "But he's fourteen. He can't compete in the tournament." Then she thought of the Sphynx… If Harry inherited James' caution, the consequences were not worth thinking about. The last thing Sirius needed was a dead godson.

"Mr Crouch said-"

"Has he called the Board to discuss this?" she interrupted.

"He does not feel there is a need."

Did this boy think he had a right to brush her off like this? Claudia frowned and took a few steps past his desk, but the presumed Weasley jumped to his feet and blocked the door with his tall, skinny frame. "He does not want to be disturbed," he said with the look of a peacock who inflated himself to deter a predator.

"Then go tell him he needs to call the Board. Or I'll do it myself."

The assistant vanished through the tiniest opening in the door (Claudia did not manage to get the glimpse of the office's occupant), and was back within the minute. He'll call the Board for eight o'clock tomorrow.

Claudia turned to leave. No matter the promise she made to Sirius, she had to get to Guernsey. He needed to hear this from her.

By the time she was at the foot of the Sandcastle, it was nearly midnight. The walk from the sea to the orchard was dark and made nearly impossible by the strong winds. It was a far cry from how it felt like to walk up here in the summer, she thought as she pulled her coat tighter against her body. At least, there was still light in the kitchen-

Sirius was sat at the table, staring at the bottom of an empty whiskey bottle. Unwashed dishes were piled up on either side of him. "Claude- I really meant-" He jumped to his feet when he noticed her. "Fuck-" he slipped on some broken glass but managed to steady himself by holding the edge of the table. "Why did you come?"

"It couldn't wait-" she shut the door behind her.

Despite the state of him, Sirius caught on immediately. "What's wrong?"

"Harry's been chosen as the champion for the Triwizard Tournament." She pre-empted his questions with a gesture. "No, I don't know how he managed it. The age limit was supposed to be unbreakable."

Sirius stumbled towards the stove and put on a coffee pot.

"Can we go sit somewhere else?" Claudia muttered. "I can't bear the stink of the empty bottles."

"That stink is probably me," Sirius uttered and shoved his whole head under the water tap.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's freezing!" Claudia shrieked.

Sirius threw his head back, spraying half the kitchen wall with water in the process. "It will sober me up."

Coffee pot in hand, they made their way to the sitting room.

Claudia began even before they sat down. "I've been mulling it on the way over here and there are three possible explanations for this. First- he found a way to beat the age line and put forward his own name."

"I don't think so-"

"He is James's son-" She immediately realised this was not a thing to say on the anniversary of James' death, and clasped her mouth shut. But Sirius smiled a little, which made her continue. "Don't pretend you two wouldn't have tried to compete if you were in his shoes," she added softly.

"Harry's different, I guarantee you- What's your other explanation?"

Claudia was far from convinced but continued anyway. "Second option is that someone did it as a prank-"

"Nah, it's not a very good prank. Just makes them popular."

Now he was really wrong. "This is where you don't understand. I was the weird kid. It would be horrifying to be a centre of attention like this, particularly against your will. But I agree this is the least likely…" She took a breath before getting into the more difficult conversation. "The third option is someone did it to hurt him. A rival student, or-"

"You don't think Snivellus would have the nerve, do you?"

"Not under Dumbledore's nose, no. There is another person though- Karkarov, the Durmstrang's Headmaster."

A scowl appeared on Sirius' face. "Why does that name ring a bell?"

"Do you remember the Death Eater that Moody and I arrested in France?"

"Well, it has to be him, then." Sirius began to get up. To do what, Claudia was not exactly sure.

"I don't know. He was never that committed, and he sold them all out to avoid Azkaban."

"I remember that, now you say it. Not very popular with the Death Eaters in there… What does Dumbledore think?"

Claudia shrugged. "Don't know- And I'm not asking him."

"I'll write to him." She could swear she saw a brief eye roll on his face. "What does Moody say?"

"I'm yet to write to him. Although I know what he's going to say, if he bothers to reply to me- Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater," she smirked. "He must be having a lot of fun following Snape around the castle."

Sirius chuckled. "Thanks. I needed that imagery in my head today... Speaking of Moody- That attack on him does not sound like a coincidence anymore, does it? They must have tried to stop him getting to Hogwarts. They know he'd protect Harry."

"I don't know… Maybe…" Claudia whispered, remembering Oscar's words, and looked at her watch. "After we write these letters, I should either go to sleep for a couple of hours or go back to London. The Ministry is going to be heaving tomorrow."

"Go to sleep. I'll make you breakfast. Feeding you is my contribution to the war effort," he said bitterly and helped her up to standing.

She barely managed to keep her eyes open while writing Moody's letter. All she could manage was to ask him for his thoughts on the champions' selection and to tell him that she would come to see him the next Hogsmeade weekend. She knew he'd like the Hog's Head, so suggested to meet there at noon.

'And if you don't turn up, I'll make up some reason to come to the castle instead,' she ended the letter with a joke. 'So don't even try to avoid me.'

When Claudia woke up, Sirius' side of the bed was empty. She got dressed and staggered down to the kitchen, their letters to Dumbledore and Moody in hand.

"Have you slept at all?" she mumbled at Sirius, who was leaning over the stove frying something. She rubbed his back.

"Just kept thinking about Harry," he sighed. "How dangerous is this tournament? Please don't sugarcoat it."

"We're talking dragons, remember? I need to post these letters, and I've got the Board meeting this morning-" she glanced at her watch, she needed to go now. "I'll try to get him out of it. But I have to go."

"Take this with you-" Sirius threw the content of the pan into a paper bag and passed it to her. "Stop grimacing, it's French toast."

Claudia ate one of the toasts on the boat (and Sirius was right, there was no need to grimace) and one on her way to the Minister's office for the Board meeting.

She was just chewing the last bit of it when she rounded a corner and nearly crashed into Fudge.

"Good breakfast?" he mumbled. "I wouldn't mind a bite to eat myself."

"Sorry," she said with her mouth full.

"Didn't have you down as a cook."

Claudia smiled awkwardly and finally managed to swallow. Mercifully, they were now by the door to his office and there was no need to respond.

Fudge entered first and his eyes immediately landed on the same red-headed assistant that Claudia had a run in with yesterday. "Who are you?" the Minister barked. "And where is Barty?"

"Mr Crouch is not well. He requested that I represent him." He was clutching to a piece of parchment as if his life depended on it.

"We don't allow representatives. Just give me that piece of paper and go."

"Allow me, Cornelius-" Umbridge said and cleared her throat- "we cannot quite conduct this meeting at a confidential level anyway-" she threw a side glance at Claudia- "so why should not young-" she paused.

"Percy Weasley-" the young assistant filled in. "At your service, ma'am."

"Why should young Weasley not stay?"

Claudia scoffed. "Sirius Black is responsible for this too, I suppose?" The whole Board turned in her direction, which meant only one thing. She said those words much louder than she intended to.

A few of the Board members let out a stifled laugh.

"We have to consider the possibility-" Runcorn interjected. You could always count on him to back up whatever nonsense Umbridge was spouting.

"While we are at it-" Ludo Bagman said, trying not to laugh- "could we look into what shoe size he has? I seemed to have lost my best pair at the World Cup." The Board members' stifled laughs turned louder, even Fudge let out a little chuckle.

But Umbridge was not amused. "He is Potter's godfather, and the Goblet could have recognised him as his legal guardian. If anyone had the opportunity to put the name in, it was him. And we know he tried to kill the boy last year." Her eyes narrowed and stared at Claudia with renewed vigour. "And I would imagine he knows that a fourteen-year-old could get seriously hurt during these tasks." Maybe Claudia was being paranoid, but was Umbridge insinuating that Claudia was passing information about the tournament to Sirius?

"It had to be him!" Runcorn added, interrupting Claudia's thought. "He managed to penetrate Hogwarts, managed to get past the World Cup security-"

"Except it could not have been him at the World Cup," Claudia hissed in response. "As I'm sure the Minister have told you-" she looked at Umbridge, who blinked twice, inadvertently making it clear she had not been told. That cheered up Claudia to no end. "One needs the Dark Mark tattoo to cast the spell, and Sirius Black does not have one."

"If anyone would know, it would be you, I suppose-" Umbridge's face was twisted in such fury, it matched the colour of her pick robes.

"It's very clearly written in his Azkaban records. Surely you have high enough clearance to have seen those?"

Claudia would swear that sparks started to fly out of Umbridge's ears at that exact moment. But the board was spared further outbursts, as Amelia Bones interjected. "If we could get back to the matter at hand. We need to be taking this seriously. It's a flagship event for the Ministry. What do you think would happen if Potter does not make it? Do you know what all the international papers would say?"

"That the Ministry killed Harry Potter!" The Head of the Department of Accident and Catastrophes muttered under his breath.

"Let's get to work then." Fudge sighed and gestured for everyone to take their seats. "Weasley, out. This meeting will be for Board members only."

Gleefully, Claudia took her seat. The hardest thing was to not look at Umbridge every five seconds to see how miserable she was that Claudia was allowed to stay.

The meeting was short. Amelia's view that letting Harry Potter kill himself during the Tournament would not look good for the Ministry was not universally shared (despite Claudia's valiant efforts to support the Head of DMLE). Some, including Ludo, thought that this was a terrific idea to raise the Tournament's profile. But the upshot was that no one had any idea what they could do about his selection, even if they wanted to.

"I'm going to go see Dumbledore," Fudge sighed. "There has to be a way to get the Potter boy out of this." A with those words, the Minister stood up to leave and the meeting was over.

On her way back to the Department of Mysteries, Claudia saw Umbridge whispering with the man she now knew to be her cousin, Granville Lace. The disgusting excuse for a man was back in his Auror robes. That suspension did not last long, Claudia thought as she passed them. Determined to go ask Oscar for gossip and what this meant for his job, she soon realised Oscar was in Albania… With Moody at Hogwarts and Ewan having gone back to America, she had no more allies left in that place.

Fudge's conversation with Dumbledore could not have taken long, as Auberon walked into Claudia's office well before lunch and announced the Minister wanted to see her.

"Tell him I'll be there in ten minutes."

"He's here," Auberon mouthed and pointed over his shoulder. "He came to see you."

Claudia raised her eyebrows as if she was asking Auberon why on Earth would the Minister of Magic come to her office, but the assistant only shrugged and then jumped out of the way, as the Minister barged past him.

"How did it go?" Claudia said quickly, looking around her desk to see if anything needed tidying away.

"Do you have anything to drink?" Fudge asked and took a seat without an invitation.

"Coffee?"

"Anything stronger?"

"I'm afraid not," Claudia said and went to pour them both a cup of coffee.

"Dumbledore is concerned that if Potter does not compete, the Goblet might work like an unbreakable vow."

"So, Potter would die anyway."

"Is it possible? For an object to have such powers?"

"I think so. But let me check with our Mind Room to be sure. I'll send you a memo once I'm done."

"I'll wait here, if you don't mind," Fudge said tentatively, looking a lot like a man who needed a break.

"Would you like me to ask my assistant to fetch you some lunch?"

"Could you? The mince from the canteen. My office usually asks them to make it extra crispy…" he hurled out. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Extra crispy…" Claudia mumbled, wondering how she got here, and left. She passed the Minister's message to Auberon and then made her way to the Mind Room.

She found Marcin in the middle of the room, chatting to Édith and absolutely beaming. "You look happy," Claudia remarked when she joined them.

"Remember my upgraded veritaserum?" Marcin said.

He made an amazing discovery-" Édith explained. "Cuts the cost and production time."

"Good for you," Claudia said with a forced smile. This would make it harder to keep it out of the law enforcement's hands. "Do you have a second?"

"I'll leave," Édith said.

"You don't have to. I just need to check whether a magical object could act as an unbreakable vow." When neither of the Unspeakables offered an immediate response, Claudia explained what she knew about the Goblet.

"Absolutely is possible," Marcin said finally. "I would need to get my hands on it to be sure."

"I'll try."

Marcin nodded and quickly excused himself, leaving Claudia alone with Édith.

"We've heard about the four champions… I suspect you'll be busy."

"I wish it was only about work," Claudia sighed. "I knew Potter's parents, so this is all a little too personal for my liking."

"And you're such a fan of the personal touch-" Édith quipped, then smiled. "If you ever need a friend to talk to- We were quite good at being friends."

"Be careful what you wish for. All my friends end up in trouble…" Claudia replied with a smirk, then leaned closer to her ex-girlfriend. "Fudge is currently eating his lunch, hiding in my office. I think he's head enough of being the Minister."

"I head a rumour that he really likes you. I'm surprised to find out it's actually true."

"I have no idea why." Claudia chuckled. "I think he must be the first person who didn't hate me right after we met. It's all very odd."

"I didn't hate you."

"But you did think I was weird."

"Well, you are weird."

Claudia laughed, patted Édith on the shoulder and went back to tackle the Goblet with a little bit more spring in her step.

After Fudge finished his secret lunch in Claudia's office, he reluctantly went back to Hogwarts to try to convince Dumbledore to let the Unspeakables examine the Goblet. By the time he got back to tell Claudia that he failed, it was so late that she decided to stay in London that night. And, once in bed, she put all she learned that day into a message to Sirius. His answer was simple:

'Fucking Ministry. Useless as ever.'

"Hard to argue with that," she mumbled to herself, shoved her notebook under the pillow and reached for her sleeping draught.

On Thursday, Claudia snuck out of her office early to get Sirius a birthday present and to finally go see him at the Sandcastle. A quick walk through Diagon Alley made it clear that nothing she could buy there would cheer him up. What was she supposed to give a man who spent twelve years in Azkaban? A nice quill?

She would have to venture somewhere a little more adventurous. Unfortunately, she could not set foot in Borgin and Burke, since the books she borrowed in personal capacity were still with the aurors, so she decided to sneak into the Knockturn Alley's biggest bookshop. She needed something that would keep him busy, something that would come in handy if the war was to rear its head again. She run her finger across the spine of all these fascinating books, and then stopped and smiled.

'Battle potions and concoctions.'

That looked promising. She opened the booked randomly and her eyes landed on a fascinating heading- 'bombs'. She grinned. Bombs will make a nice addition to the Sandcastle defences, and they are bound to cheer Sirius up. Just then- all her sense were overwhelmed by an impossible loud noise.

It took her a second to realise that what she heard was something metal clattering against the stone floors right at her feet.

When she looked down, she cursed.

Deep red flames were shooting up from a large candle holder.

She tried to move but it was too late. Her trouser leg was engulfed in flames, and soon enough-

Her scream echoed around the room. Searing pain shot up her leg.

"You fool!" The shop keeper yelled, waved his wand, and the flames retreated towards the candle holder until the only remnants of the incident was the charred floor. "Look where you're going."

"I didn't do anything!" She limped towards the cash register and threw the book on the counter. "How much?"

"Not sure I should be selling this to someone as clumsy as you."

Claudia threw a couple of galleons on the counter, snatched the book and hobbled out of the shop. She leaned against the wall the moment she was out and pulled up her trouser leg. Half her shin was burnt to the crisp. Whatever that was, it was not ordinary flames. She gritted her teeth and drew her wand. A few basic healing spells later, she felt well enough to make her way to the Sandcastle.

It was raining, and Claudia was soaking wet by the time she got to the island. And the healing job she did on her leg proved to be useless. Her wet trousers were sticking to the burn, making it impossible for her to see the damage or to keep the pain away.

But eventually, after nearly chewing through her lip, she made it off the boat and up the orchard.

"Happy birthday," she mumbled when she entered the living room where Sirius was sat, but her voice was barely recognisable through the clattering of teeth. Holding onto an ornate sideboard, she limped towards the nearest chair.

"What happened to you?" Sirius ran towards her, grabbed her and led her towards the fireplace. The sight of the fires made her pain ten times worse.

"The boat ride was miserable, and-" she let him help her into the armchair- "I walked into a candle holder earlier. I tried healing it-"

"You tried healing it?" Sirius sighed, kneeled in front of her, and tore off her trousers. "Claude- you should've gone to St Mungo's."

"It's just a tiny burn," she said with her eyes closed and teeth firmly shut together, as if that would stop the agony.

But gradually, the sound of Sirius' spell casting calmed her down and slowly, the pain washed away too.

"Try standing on it," he whispered eventually, and Claudia was finally brave enough to open her eyes and look down. Her leg was still pink, but the burned flesh was gone. "That's so much better. How did you-"

"I actually know how to heal," he extended his arm and lifted her up to standing. "How's the pain?"

"Much better now I'm here," she said with a smile and threw her arms around his neck.

"You aren't going to cute your way out of this. That could've got infected. You could have been really ill." He let go off her and walked towards a cabinet. "In fact, you aren't out of the woods. You have to drink-" he rummaged through a drawer. "Drink this."

Claudia opened the vial and sniffed it. The fragrance of lavender, key ingredient of the sleeping draught, was noticeable. "This is going to put me to sleep."

"It will also prevent infection."

"But what about your birthday?"

Sirius exhaled and wrapped his arms around her. "We'll celebrate tomorrow."

"But I have to wo-"

"You are not going to work tomorrow. You're lucky I'm not forcing you to go to St Mungo's right now. These were some powerful flames. What spell was it?"

"I don't know, a candle holder fell over in a bookshop I was in." That reminded her of the present, and she reached to the pocket of her coat to take out a slightly damp package. "Happy birthday, again."

"Did you get hurt buying me a present?" he said and brushed her hair. Then – out of nowhere - he scooped her up in his arms. "Let's read it in bed." He took a few steps toward the stairs leading upstairs. "And stop wriggling! You're too heavy to be wriggling."

Once Claudia was in bed and drank the potions Sirius was forcing her to take, he sat down next to her and ripped apart the packaging. "You know me so well," he said with a smile and kissed her.

"Yes, I do," she replied with a whisper as her eyes closed. The potion worked fast. And so did Sirius' healing magic. By the following evening, her leg was as good as new.

The only excitement for the next two weeks was provided by a Daily Prophet profile published about Harry. It was full of the usual Rita Skeeter garbage but did absolutely nothing for Sirius' mood.

"Sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it." He kept spitting up lines from the article, followed by what could only be described as death threats against its author.

Claudia knew she had to tread carefully, choosing not to tell him about another accident she got herself into when some muggle scaffolding nearly fell on her head. She did not tell Moody either in one of her letters. If he ever bothered to reply to her, he would probably think someone was trying to kill her.

But even keeping her accident from him did not help. When she got to the Sandcastle that weekend, it took her about two seconds to determine that Sirius was in the worst mood he had been since he came back from Egypt. He was pacing the living room, kicking everything in his path. Well, that was her trip to Hogsmeade to see Moody cancelled…

"I need to talk to Harry," he barked the moment he noticed her.

"How?"

"Floo. I can stick my head in a fireplace and speak to him in the Gryffindor common room."

Claudia stared at him for a while, with her mouth slightly ajar. Did she hear him right? "That's ridiculous," she uttered finally.

"I wrote to Dumbledore. He said he'll make it possible. It's all arranged."

"But-"

"I need to warn him about Karkarov. About the dragons."

"You can't tell him about the dragons. I obtained that information in confidence and my job-"

"Dragons!" Sirius yelled. "You want my fourteen-year-old godson to face dragons without a warning."

"All I'm saying is that if they connect that information to me, we are both in danger."

"Harry's in more danger."

"Sirius-"

"I am talking to him tomorrow night. There is a wizard house on the next island. We can use the Floo there. They out for the weekend. I think."

"You think?"

"It'll be fine…"

"Sirius. This is the craziest thing. Why didn't you involve me in the planning?"

"Because you think it's the craziest thing. You don't have to come."

"I'm not letting you do this on your own."

"Fine. Then don't try to talk me out of it."

He barely said a word to Claudia for the next twenty-four hours, resisting all attempts from her to talk about it.

On Sunday, just after midnight, she watched hopelessly as Sirius kneeled in front of a stranger's fireplace and stuck his head in.

There was silence. She assumed she could not hear what Harry was saying.

"Never mind me, how are you?" Sirius asked. She could hear him reply.

Whatever Harry was responding with was taking forever, Claudia thought, and nervously looked through the curtain. The moon was hiding behind the clouds and the garden was pitch black.

"Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we'll get to that in a minute –" Sirius finally got to speak again. "I haven't got long here … I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about.'"

So Harry knew about the dragons already. Claudia could feel her chest lighten a little. She knew there was precisely zero chance Sirius would have kept that information to himself. The inevitable argument was averted.

"Karkarov." Sirius' voice interrupted her train of thought. "Harry, he was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you? He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year – to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkarov. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."

Right, Claudia grimaced. Moody caught him. But her desire to set the record straight was interrupted by a rustling noise coming out of the hedges. It was probably a fox, but it would have been unwise to take the risk. Claudia pulled the invisibility cloak over her head and snuck outside.

There was something sitting on the garden fence. Too small for a fox. Too round for a cat. Claudia's eyes finally adjusted. It was a head. A human head!

Was it the proprietor coming back early? A nosey neighbour? Muggle police?

Claudia did not have time to run through all the options. She raised her wand and, refusing to take any chances, obliviated them. After she watched them go back into the neighbouring house like nothing happened, Claudia went back inside the sitting room where Sirius was still kneeling in front of the fireplace, and threw around some more protective charms. "Hurry up," she hissed at him. There was no telling how quickly the neighbour was going to come back, or who they were going to call.

"Right – these dragons," said Sirius, speaking very quickly now. "There's a way, Harry. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell – dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single stunner. You need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon – But you can do it alone... There is a way, and a simple spell's all you need. Just–"

And just then, his head emerged from the flames.

"You didn't have to hurry up that much. I dealt with the nosey neighbour for now. Go back and tell him about the spell."

"Someone was coming. Can't go back."

"Well, this was worth it, then-" she said bitterly.

"What do you want me to do?" Sirius barked. "Nothing? Leave him to it?"

"You aren't going to be any help to him if you get caught. If you get us both caught."

"I told you didn't have to come." He jumped to his feet and took a few steps towards the door.

"Of course I did-"

But Sirius said nothing in response. He walked out of the door and pop, apparated away.

Claudia groaned, then looked around. "Shall I tidy up this mess myself?" she whispered to herself and raised her want to get rid of the ambers in the fire. "And thank you for dealing with that neighbour." Claudia locked the door behind her and apparated herself.

Sirius was pacing the beach, where their enchanted boat lay waiting.

Claudia ignored him and marched towards the boat. She pushed it into the sea and jumped into it.

"Hey-" Sirius yelled and run through the shallows to join her. "What are you playing at?" he added once he was in the boat.

"So, now we are waiting for each other?"

Sirius' shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry. I just feel so useless. I'm his godfather, for fuck's sake. And all I can do is this? I should be there for him."

Claudia watched him suffer for good few seconds. He was rubbing his palms like he always used to when things became too much. Eventually, when she remained silent, he looked up at her. His eyes pleading with her to say something, anything that might lift his spirits.

"You will find a way to make it up to him," she said. "You're good at making people forgive you. You always have been."

He smiled and tried to stand up in the boat to go sit near Claudia, but it wobbled so hard, he lost his balance and – with a rather undignified shriek – fell into the sea.

Claudia threw herself towards the edge of the boat and just managed to grab his hand among the waves. Her heart was beating so loudly in her ears, it pushed out the ocean. This was not how Sirius was going to go. She wedged herself under the seat for balance and, with all her strength, helped Sirius back into the boat. Curses and sea water were flowing out of his mouth in equal measure.

But he lost his balance again and fell right on top of Claudia. She wrapped her arms around his freezing, soaked torso. "You're an idiot," she whispered, and his shoulders began to shake. "Are you laughing or crying?" she added and took out some stinking seaweed out of his hair.

"Who the fuck knows anymore."