A/C: I'm surprised that no one's commented on certain changes to GOF canon that was made in this story. Nevertheless, I wrote this chapter ages ago to address how some of those changes came to be. We now return... to Chapter 103 ;)

Rewind, Monday August 16th, 1993

After her release, the following two days were mostly spent sleeping, gorging on chocolate, and spending time with her parents. These next few days are meant to be dedicated to visits from both sides of the family, who will no doubt coo over her poor state after spending months in a "coma" a.k.a Azkaban.

Before they can do that, however, Melissa has to answer a summons from the Minister of Magic himself.

"Don't worry," Ted Tonks said calmly as he guided her through the Atrium, "whatever he wants to speak to you about, I'll be right here with you."

"Thanks," she said weakly. Honestly, she was just so exhausted. An actual coma sounds like a great idea right about now. Instead, she had to once again go through reception giving her flack for not having a wand, harsh finger-pointing and whispers from political staff, and harsher looks from aurors as she and her law-wizard made their way up to Level One.

"Minister Fudge is just at another meeting," the secretary advised. "He'll be returning shortly."

"Thank you, ma'am," they each said politely, taking a seat in the hallway to bide their time. Melissa sat listlessly, staring out at the endless row of mahogany doors in the large hallway. Her shoes brushed against the carpet below her, so thick and a nice shade of purple, and she had to hold back a compulsion to lay on the thick carpet in lieu of an actual bed.

Her thoughts were interrupted as one of the doors slammed open. A middle-aged woman wearing a pink, business-like dress stormed out of an office clenching a sheet of parchment in her hand.

"Imelda! I need to see Cornelius immediately!"

"Is there a problem, Dolores?"

"Yes, there's a problem! What's this I'm hearing about pushback on our werewolf legislation?!"

"You'll have to speak with Cornelius when he returns from-"

Melissa didn't care about what they were talking about. What she cared about was the speaker herself.

Dolores. Dolores Umbridge.

Oh, she smiled darkly, I can use this. Yes… Now how to do it…?

A plan formed quickly, and she schooled her expression as needed. Not one of calm, but of shock and horror! She stared at the pink-wrapped toad. She stared and stared, letting her eyes fall glassy with imagination. Then finally, finally, the woman caught her.

Umbridge glowered, "It's rude to stare, you know."

Melissa didn't move a millimetre.

"Melissa?" With a voice of concern, Ted gently shook her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

She broke out of her 'trance', sputtering. "Uh- Wh- What? Sorry, did you say something?"

"Are you alright?" He asked again.

"Uh-" she winced with fear. "Yeah, sorry, I just thought I saw-" at that moment she 're-noticed' Umbridge, and let her face fall in surprise, then concern. "It's-" She looked away with an expression of guilt. "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, Mister Tonks."

"That's alright, Melissa. Just take it easy, alright?"

She nodded mutely, looking down at her lap instead of making eye contact with the adults. She did manage to hear a scoff as Umbridge muttered about how, "Children have no respect," but otherwise the room went momentarily quiet.

The awkward silence only abated as the Minister stepped out of the elevator. The secretary took charge as Umbridge began to do a fake cough for attention, "Minister Fudge, Miss Bennett and Mister Tonks are here for their appointment."

"Yes, thank you, Imelda. Hello, hello, to you both! I do apologize for the wait. I was just in a delightful meeting with Bagman and Wilkins about some exciting ideas for next year-"

"Cornelius," Umbridge said sweetly, her wide smile as fake as her tone, "I need just a quick word from you about this alarming notice I've gotten about our werewolf legislation-"

"I'm afraid it will have to wait, Dolores," he looked over at Melissa with a …almost with a hunger in his eyes. "Once this meeting is done you'll have my full attention."

The woman's face twitched before simpering, "I understand. Thank you, Cornelius."

"My pleasure. Now, come along, you two, come along." Fudge gestured for the pair to follow him into his office.

Melissa, however, walked slowly after them. Partially out of weakness, partially so that she could be in Umbridge's hearing. With large, sorrowful eyes, she whispered to Umbridge in a voice hushed with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright," the woman said in a frosty tone. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She looked slightly relieved, but still held some concern, "It's- well, I saw you-"

"Melissa," Ted called out, "don't keep the Minister waiting!"

"R-right! Sorry!" She gave a last glance at Umbridge, muttering an ashamed, "Sorry," as she walked into the Minister's office.

Behind her, Umbridge muttered, "What on earth is wrong with that girl?"

"You know who that is, don't you?" Imelda said in a gossiping tone, the rest of her words were muffled from her hearing as Ted closed the door.

On the inside, Melissa relished in the words. Bait, set!

"Don't be shy now, have a seat," Minister Fudge offered chairs to the two of them, which each took with thanks. He looked over to Ted, "And, you are…?"

"Ted Tonks, Miss Bennett's law wizard," he answered. "As Miss Bennett is a minor, and a muggleborn, she requested that a familiar adult wizard be present for this meeting. Particularly as the reason for her summons was not outright stated."

The Minister looked mildly surprised, though he recovered quickly. "Ah, yes, of course. Well, not to worry, there are no legal matters to discuss today." He chuckled as if he told some sort of joke. He leaned forward with hands clasped, looking gleefully conspiratorial. "Now, you've proven yourself to be quite adept as a seer. As such, I am hoping you can do a reading for me about the rest of my tenure as Minister."

Seriously? Well that's going to be tricky. Does she even remember anything about how his term ends? Is he the one that gets killed in book seven? No, wait, didn't shit go down at the end of book five when Dumbledore and Voldemort had that big showdown?

"Of course," he continued, not waiting to hear an answer from her as he got up and walked to a shelf full of trinkets, "I've prepared several divination tools you can use. Are you better with cards or with the crystal ball?"

"Ah," shit, there's no way I can lie about that, "I've never tried them. I don't take divination class."

"What? Preposterous!" The man sputtered, letting the crystal ball fall back onto its cushion. "An egregious scheduling error, no doubt! Then again, the Board of Governors have said that the staff and scheduling will be a problem next year. I ought to speak to Albus, we need to resolve this error immediately-"

"If you'd like," because lord knows she doesn't need Dumbledore having another go at mucking up her schedule, "I can try another way. Usually it happens at random, but sometimes if I hold a person's hand and focus, I can get some flashes."

"Ah! Marvellous!" Fudge practically skipped back to his desk.

As he did, Melissa's mind raced over what to say. She's pretty sure that he loses an election or resigns because of the Voldemort thing, but she can't possibly get away with saying the truth. A simple lie would also be boring. So… maybe she can turn this into an advantage of some sort?

"Here, my dear," he offered his hand to her. "Be sure to focus on my career, won't you?"

"Yes, sir." She clasped his hand between both of her own, well aware of Ted's cautious eyes on them. Something useful. He denies Voldemort's return, even with attacks and witnesses. There's something about whomever is disguised as Moody. He'll blame Cedric's death as an accident. Fucking prick- oh, there's an idea!

It took another long minute of a plan formulating, Fudge's hand clammy against her own, before she opened her eyes with a worried frown.

"Well?" He asked. "What do you see?"

"Uh… I'm not sure if there's a gentle way to ask this, but are you planning to resign before the next election?"

"What?" His hand yanked away. "Of course not!"

"Perhaps you should explain what you saw," Ted said calmly. His eyes looked amused at the exchange.

"Well, it's just, I saw you in a press conference saying just that," she explained. "You didn't look that much older than you do now, so I thought…"

"But why?" Fudge moaned loudly. "What could possibly happen to make me ever want to resign?"

"Some sort of international incident, from the sounds of it," she answered. She then offered her hands, "May I?"

With a nervous sigh, Fudge consented to a deeper reading. She closed her eyes and focused her mind, trying to remember voices, holding them in a way to fake what she once did true.

Then her head twitched in action. "Now, now, everyone calm down!" she spoke aloud with Fudge's cadence, "No one can say for sure exactly how the boy died."

"Of course not, Monsieur Fudge! Zat is because no one could see anyzing!"

"Now, now, Madame, what Cornelius is trying to say-"

"Non, Dumbly-dorr! I will not stand for zis!"

"She's right, Dumbledore," She threw on a new accent for this one. "Pretend all you like, but this was no accident. The boy was murdered! Do you think our Ministries will stand for this?!"

Melissa let go of his hand, throwing her back against the chair in wide-eyed shock. "Ho-ly fuck!" She blinked at Fudge with those wide eyes. "Okay, that was unexpected."

"What happens?!" Ted asked, "Who died?"

"I'm not sure. A boy- a champion- but at Hogwarts?"

Fudge paled. "Oh dear!"

"You know what she's talking about," Ted stated in an accusatory tone.

Fudge shifted nervously, "Ah, well, you see-" he swallowed nervously, "it's all hush-hush at the moment, but I've been arranging for a restart of the Triwizard Tournament."

"The what?"

Oh. Right. Ted's muggleborn, too.

"The issue isn't this tournament," Melissa said slowly, as if to herself, "the issue is that no one can see what's happening. A maze, or… underwater… a task that's obscured from witnesses. Because of that, the fur-clad man and the tall lady suspect foul play."

Fudge released a deep breath, "Ludo mentioned an idea involving Black Lake. Of course! I'll speak to him immediately! And I'll have Chrysanthos work on better relations with Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to keep in their Headmasters' good graces. There will be no deaths on my watch!"

"I'm glad to hear it," Ted said testily.

"Ah," Fudge looked back at Melissa, as if he had forgotten about her, "thank you, my dear. Be sure to keep in touch!"

"As you wish, sir." Noooo, thank you! But while we're on the subject… "Um, if I can offer some advice, I think the exchange students would be able to bond with us better by sharing classes with us, or having quidditch games together. Maybe they'd even stand up against their headmasters should things go bad."

The idea brought a gleam to Fudge's eye. "Brilliant idea! I'll pass the thought along to Ludo. Come now, no time to lose!"

They were marshalled out the door, Fudge eager to race down the hall to talk to whomever he needs to talk to, waving off Umbridge's second speaking attempt in the process.

Seer Talk One, complete. Seer Talk Two…

Umbridge twisted in step to stare down at Melissa. "Miss Bennett, is it? If I could have a word?"

It was hardly a request, her tone entirely stating it as an order. Melissa gave her a shy nod and walked right over to her, following her into her office, giving no care that Ted was trying to enter the room, too. Umbridge shooed him off, and Melissa had to give reassurances to calm the man down. He eventually relented, and soon Melissa was alone in a room with Dolores Umbridge.

Delightful.

"Now," the woman sat primly at her desk, "you are going to tell me exactly what you saw when you looked at me."

"I- I'm sorry, it was an accident-"

"I don't care about that!" She snapped. "What- did you- see?"

Melissa's whole countenance was one of shame. "Something terrible. Something you should never have to go through."

"Enough vague words! Out with it, girl!"

"Right, sorry, it's just…" she took a deep breath, successfully pulling off glistening tears as she opened her eyes. "I saw you outside, near a wood or a forest. A group of wizards accost you. You tell them that you're there on Ministry business, but they don't care. They laugh at you, disarm you, and-" she gave a painful gasp- "they rip your clothes off, and- and-" her eyes shut, "it's awful!" She looked back up at Dolores, who looked wary and distrustful. "No woman deserves to go through that!"

Umbridge stared at her, hard. "Who are they?"

"I don't recognize their faces," Melissa answered. "A redhead, two blonds, three had dark hair. Most were tall and-" her face flushed scarlet, "and, um, big."

"Tall and big?" Umbridge said slowly with annoyance.

Melissa nodded, still flush, pointing downward as she said. "Yeah, um, big." She snapped her head up. "Sorry! That was indecent! Forget that I said that part! I've never seen one before and there's were- oh, Merlin, forget I said all of that!" She hid her face shamefully.

It seemed to make an impression, however, as Umbridge sounded less suspicious. "You say this is Ministry business, when it happens?"

"I- I don't know if the Ministry business is about those men, or just about why you're somewhere outside near a forest-"

A loud knock on the door interrupted, and Ted opened the door without a 'by your leave'. "Excuse me, Madam Undersecretary, but I need to return Miss Bennett home immediately."

"Ah, yes. Us girls were just finishing our talk," Umbridge said with a smile.

"Right," Melissa let out a shaky breath. Still, it's as good an opening as any, so she stood up and gave the bitch a worried, yet hopeful look. "Please stay safe, Ma'am. Goodbye!"

She bolted out of the door, allowing Ted to take over and keep Umbridge at bay. When they got into the elevator, Melissa released another shaky breath.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"Hopefully, I just prevented a future disaster," she answered. An answer he was willing to accept.

Because, lord know, if that bitch ever lays a hand (or blood quill) on Harry …she'll have to find a way to kill the bitch and hide the body to avoid another, eternal, stint in Azkaban.