Carpe diem – seize the cheque &...sors? part-2.2

Amelia Bones was in her office, trying and failing to concentrate on the moderately sized stack of parchments on her desk. The newest debacle from the Minister had generated quite a significant amount of follow-ups for many departments in the ministry, which obviously included her own.

What wasn't helping, in the slightest, was that everything that was required for them to be able to actually file their work, they had to requisition from the Minister's office. Be it the evidence from their various raids to a simple inquiry regarding the proper forms filled by the Aurors under the Minister's staff.

She had already received warning disguised as a generic statement from Senior Undersecretary Umbridge, twice, which stated that as the nature of the operations conducted during the apprehension of the dark forces was covert, Minister's office had sealed most of the reports and evidence under their authority which conveniently superseded everyone else's and for the security of the realm, it could not be bypassed, by anyone. While it had made cursing the bitch that much appealing, it still did nothing to help her or the other department heads with the matter.

It had been a little less than a week since she had had that enlightening conversation with Auror Captain Robards. When the shock of it all had lifted, she had spent a couple of thoughtful afternoons analyzing how she could go about unravelling the mystery. Since then, she had tapped many of her informants within the ministry, mostly muggleborn clerks, and found a multitude of discrepancies in the timeline that the Minister's goons had given her. They were isolated things, nothing that any other department heads would even look at twice.

One such example was the requisition forms for many Grade-1 and Grade-2 narcotics that have been filed much later than they were stated to have been used on a person of interest in a report one of Robard's boys had submitted.

It was understood that during an investigation, especially during covert operations, the paperwork did tend to get filed later than it was required to be. Hell, there were instances, she knew, where the correct forms had been found to be missing from the case files altogether. While the Aurors working on those cases had been severely reprimanded, mostly by her, the truth was as simple as that, such things were known to happen. But what wasn't known to happen nor was accepted, if found out, was the same thing happening with most of the other departments all in the span of the same period of time and the missing collaborating reports from anyone working in those departments.

And that was just one example. She was sure that there were numerous others that were hidden within the many files that had been sealed and possibly redacted under the authority of Minister's office.

While other department heads may have been placated by the Minister – given his recent rise to popularity, some might even be beckoned to his side by the weighty gold in their pockets – but after her chat with Robards, alarm bells were ringing in her head a hell of a lot louder than they had ever before.

As such, when she had seamed together these facts, it gave away many chinks in the story that the Minister had fed them all.

Even so, the simple truth was that even if she could get her hands on some of these transcripts which she couldn't, considering that they had been for 'Minister's eyes only', they would be dismissed as nothing more than circumstantial by the Wizengamot.

She had tried to send a few probes among the few obtuse people close to the minister but even they had been without success. It was disheartening, to say the least. The embers that had lit in her eyes when she had first caught Robards in his little lie were dimming in their intensity. The history was repeating itself. The chance to see the monsters suffer for murdering her brother and his family was slipping from hands, just like it had once before.

She was very close to descending to her previous pattern of ignoring everything else but her family when she heard a knock on her door.

Sighing irritably at the interruption, and promising herself to dock Miriam's pay for not doing her damn job, she barked her consent. "Enter."

A shaggy-haired head peeked in and she smothered her desire to curse out loud. It was as though she had just started noticing that she had been surrounded by morons most of her working life and that they were getting bolder by the minute. First had been that bastard Robards and then the minister of action Cornelius Obstinate Fudge himself, and now him.

This particular moron had been circling her for quite some time. Given his reputation, she was somewhat sure of his intentions. What confused her though, was his subtle hints about certain individuals that had been involved with him in the supposedoperation. Either it was his bizarre way of getting her attention or the time he had spent among the other morons had addled his brain. The Sirius Black she knew, little as she did, hadn't been stupid. Cheeky, Yes. Somewhat sapid, yes. But stupid? No, Sirius Black had never been stupid.

His voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Madam Bones! Hope you're well?" he asked, flashing her a smile she was loathed to admit was quite charming.

"Well enough, Lord Black. How can I help you?" she said, coming straight to the point and gestured with her hand for him to take a seat.

Sirius seemed to deflate a bit at that, presumably having understood that she wasn't in the mood to be charmed. "Ah, we will get to that. But first, I believe I should tell you that for this meeting, at least at first, I will be playing the part of a messenger, Regent Bones," said Sirius, taking the offered seat.

If he was hoping for an active response from the woman after referring to her other title as the Regent of Noble and Most Ancient House of Bones, he was sorely disappointed. Amelia's only visible reaction was an elegantly raised left brow.

After a short staring contest, in which Sirius' face didn't betray his thoughts as she was hoping it might, she sighed. "May I ask who this message is from, Lord Black?"

"Certainly," Sirius replied.

When he didn't say anything else, she scowled at him. "Well?"

"Well what, Regent Bones?" asked Sirius, his voice tinged with suppressed humour.

Amelia visibly collected herself and breathed in deeply to keep herself from strangling the man. "Who. Is. The Message. From, Lord Black?" she asked with gritted teeth.

"That, I am afraid, I cannot disclose at the moment," Sirius answered, emphasizing his supposed inability.

Now, this caught her attention. "Do you expect me to believe that you, a Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House, bound yourself to an oath?" she asked sceptically.

Sirius' face didn't change and he replied with his usual nonchalance. "Something similar, yes."

Intrigued despite herself, Amelia motioned for him to continue.

"You see, Regent Bones, I have been approached by a house to float an idea in front of you. They wish to see how willing your house might be of joining your house with their own by the way of matrimony. Now, it's nothing concrete yet, they simply wanted to understand how Lord and Lady Bones would react to such an offer. It is their understanding that Lord Bones have named you Regent for the house because they do not wish to indulge in the political quagmire that is our Wizengamot. Hence I was asked to approach you. I wouldn't even consider doing such a thing for anyone if I hadn't discovered that House Black owed them a favour or two in the past. And since we do, I am asked to inquire about your opinion on the matter." Even as he started speaking, Sirius was signalling with his hands, putting two fingers on his left ear, he made a cross sign with the other hand once and then waved it twice.

If Amelia was expecting anything, this was definitely not it. While she had known Sirius to have been an Auror years ago, to see him use a skill he had learned, howsoever briefly, in such a manner was highly unusual, even from him.

Though she had understood his signal, she was still considering whether to give him what he wanted even as he completed the gibberish he was spouting off for anyone's benefit. There have been many assassination attempts on her in her long career as a field operative and then the Director of the DMLE. This looked like a moderately good enough setup for another. It was only her strong belief in her still sharp skills with her wand and the confidence that she could drop Sirius relatively quickly before his hand reached anywhere near his wand coupled with a chance to talk to a person who had been involved in the latest mess the ministry was hosting, edged her decision towards granting his request.

Hearing Sirius still droning something about what the offer from the mysterious house entailed, she gave him a sharp nod and replied, "Of course Lord Black. I appreciate you coming to me with such a request. I believe the idea wouldn't have been entertained by my Lord Bones. But a better way to approach would have been something much less formal. A lunch get together perhaps? For now, though, this meeting is impeding my working hours and as you can see by the parchments stacked on my desk, I have much to do still. How about we meet next week? I am sure I'll be able to fit you in my schedule."

Sirius got up from the seat and moved towards the door. "Much appreciated, Madam Bones. I will send an owl with their answer, whatever it may be. Thank you for your time." With that, he opened the door and closed it with a soft thud.

Sirius was still in her office though. Having just played the scene for the benefit of the possible listener in case of her office having any listening charms or the like.

With agility that came with experience, Amelia took out her wand and in a scant few seconds, her desk was warded with an Auror grade silencing ward. When she was about to open her mouth to speak, Sirius lifted his finger to his lips and brought out his own wand and started casting a spell, the wand movements for which, she hadn't ever seen before. And considering the kind of knowledge she had, it was saying something. She felt was something akin to a wave pass through her, the telltale signs of a ward encompassing her. Thinking it to be similar to an anti-surveillance ward of Black's own, she uncoiled slightly.

"Now that you have got your cone of silence, mind telling me why this was necessary and what you really want, Lord Black?" she asked without preamble.

"Sirius, please Madam Bones. I believe the conversation we are about to have will need some level of trust and familiarity between us," Sirius said before getting back into his just vacated seat.

Amelia looked at him with sharp eyes for a moment before she slowly nodded. "Very well. Amelia then. Now please answer my question."

Sirius nodded. "This was necessary, yes, because there are people in your department that have access to your office. No matter how sure are you of their allegiances, the people who asked me to take this meeting are sure that at least some of them, if not all, are answering to someone else besides you. Possibly multiple someones." When he saw she was about to tell him off or something similar, he spoke quickly. "Now, this isn't about that. Not for the moment, at least. This is about something much more important."

"You are alleging that some of my people are spies and you consider that not important?" she asked, anger lacing her tone.

Sirius was unperturbed by her tone. "At this moment, no, I do not. As I said, the matter I wish to discuss is far more important," he said with a grim expression.

Taking another deep breath and forgoing the issue of him being sent to her by someone else, Amelia sat back into her seat. "Alright then. You have five minutes to convince me. If you fail to do that, you and I will be crossing wands,and I assure you, Sirius, you will not be coming out untouched when I am done."

"Fair enough," he shrugged. "let's start with some simple questions first. You have read the reports of the recent operation?"

"I have. What of it?" she replied, tightening the grip on her wand that was sitting on her thigh.

"There were some names mentioned in one of the reports you received from Auror Captain Robards. What are your thoughts on the criminals who were reportedly killed?" Sirius asked. Even though he had posed it as a question, Sirius was sure that she understood what he was implying when he saw her eye twitch, ever so slightly.

"I think they got what anyone would if they broke the number of laws those criminals had broken," Amelia answered not quite able to keep the pretence of normalcy when talking about the butchers.

"Hmm. Even Mr Runcorn, Amelia? You think he got what he deserved?" Sirius asked intently.

"As I said, they were criminals who had broken quite a number of our laws. They were given every opportunity to change their ways and they failed to do so. What happened in the operation…I support it," she answered.

Sirius had to hand it to her. She had said that with more calm that he knew he'd be able to muster if he was asked about the bastard he'd had to end. Regardless, he drove ahead. "I see. But correct me if I am wrong, I was not really in my right mind back then, having just lost my two closest friends, so there is a possibility that I may be mistaking the name, but I did hear that a Runcorn was killed in a raid conducted by you and your team during the time ministry was capturing the squirters after Voldemort fell. Now, I know of only two Runcorn brothers on either side of the spectrum myself, and since one of them is still alive and at present works in your own department, can you help me understand how a guy who was already K.I.A. got his name plastered on the list of casualties for an operation conducted five years later?"

"Why don't you tell me? You were involved in the operation after all. You would know the details better than I would, wouldn't you?" she shot back.

He paused. "I would, yes. But let's put a pin on it for now. I've got another question though… When did you get so rusty?" he asked almost conversationally.

"Excuse me?" As soon as the sharp words left her lips, everything below her neck down went numb at once. The wand in her hand slipped from her fingers and went clattering down on the floor and she dropped back in her chair as if her strings were cut. She was aware of everything around her, could see it just as she could before, but what she couldn't do was feel her body respond to any of her directions. It was highly disconcerting for a woman who wanted to be in control as much as she did and it showed as much from her scowling face and dangerously glaring eyes. While they did contain a little fear in them, the retribution that they promised, was far more prominent.

It was too bad for her that her captor wasn't much bothered by it. Sirius slowly stood up from his seat and flicked his wand at the doors, locking them shut.

"You see, a young friend of mine and I, we each have a theory," he began. "Me? I think that you have lost your way, Amelia. I think that after years of fighting and losing against these corrupt politicians and these murdering savages, you have finally decided to give in. Well, if you can't defeat them, join them. Right? So you have stopped pointing fingers and started dipping them in the same sludge that runs through their veins. Nobody would blame you for that. It's understandable. Human nature in fact," he shrugged.

"But my mate, he…he thinks you're just grown weary, Madam Bones. That you have grown tired of all the machinations and all the ploys that administrations like this one have been pulling long since. He thinks that given hope, you will get back up and join the fight again. He thinks that you still want to believe that someone, somewhere is doing something to prevent these vermins from taking over, even if you can't do anything about it anymore. He thinks that your blood still boils when you think about Edger's murderers getting away without so much as a slap on their wrists. That you think of ripping their hearts from their chests when you are alone at night. That you're still, deep down, waiting for justice nay for revenge."

By now, there was magic rolling off of Amelia in waves. While she couldn't escape her invisible bonds nor could feel her body, her fierce-looking eyes glared daggers at Sirius even as he circled her desk as he spoke. But even then, she didn't let the tears in her eyes leave her stony eyes. Sirius was sure that if he let her loose this instance, he would not have been able to save himself from her wrath, even with his wand in hand.

No matter her response, this was necessary. He and Harold had fought over this very thing for hours. Harold was of the mind that they couldn't yet trust the woman because of her actions and more importantly inactions as of date. And his own thinking was along the lines of bringing Amelia into the fold if only so they had another inside source excluding him.

But it didn't change the facts. The fact that whatever decision they made, they had to make sure that she wouldn't become a liability. The reason for such a thought was the results of their research into her. They had found out that the rate of successful prosecutions in the past few years had dwindled from an acceptable to a free for all. The day to day happenings of the Auror department was more or less being handled by one of her Master Aurors, Rufus Scrimgeour, in Amelia's stead and he was doing a shoddy job of it. Amelia had, for all intents and purposes, given up on prosecuting any and all criminals by herself even when the Aurors in charge of the cases had been able to collect ample evidence. It was no secret that Scrimgeour had his eyes set on Amelia's chair ever since her claws had been cut. And Scrimgeour being the political animal that he was, was playing his cards in favour of those who would back him in his race to become the new head of the DMLE.

It was truly disheartening to have to find out that the state of affairs of a community that had boasted to have birthed the most wizened warlocks of all times to have degraded this low.

While this didn't mean that Wizarding Britain was becoming a thief's paradise, considering that the matters that involved the head of DMLE to take part in person were few and far between, it still did affect their community. The Aurors were still doing their jobs and an average witch or wizard still lived their lives in relative peace.

But the big fish, the cunning savages, those death munchers, they still broke laws almost unimpeded.

For it to change and for them to know if they could bet on her, Amelia needed to be vetted.

Thoroughly.

And this was what he was doing right now.

He wasn't really bothered by the power rolling off of her. Harold had taught him the ward he had used earlier. There was no chance of her escaping. One thing he had learned about the kid was that he had a repertoire of spells that anybody would be hard-pressed to match. And Harold had promised him that the containing ward was capable of handling much more than what Amelia was capable of. What it didn't save him from though, was the murderous glare that he was receiving from her.

Soldering on, he attempted to channel her thoughts towards a proper target for her release. "I want to be wrong, Amelia. Oh, you have no idea how much I wish myself to be wrong. We may not have worked together even once, but the Amelia Bones I had heard of from the other Seniors was a resolute woman. She never admitted defeat. Never. Not when the odds weren't in her favour. Not for anything. Now I see here a woman who did nothing while the beasts picked off the carcasses of innocent at their leisure. What happened to that bold woman, Amelia? What happened to the woman who still wished to save the world? What happened to her, Amelia? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!" he shouted, his face close enough to her's that he could feel her hot, jagged, burning breath on his face.

"THEY KILLED HER BROTHER, YOU BASTARD! THOSE SAVAGES BUTCHERED HIM! THEY TORE HER WORLD APART! THEY KILLED EVERYONE! EVERYONE! They killed everyone…they… and they…got away…with it," she broke down after that. Sobbing, as tears, hot and fiery, flowed through her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. The emotions she had suppressed all those years, at this moment when she was bound and reminded of her failures, they all flared back again. Her inability to save the ones she loved. The blood, sweat, and tears she spent, all to see the monsters getting away without their comeuppance. The hate she felt to see them walk away unscathed even as she could see the blood of countless innocents from their hands. The numbness that followed. The pain and the heartbreak. It came alive again.

"Let it all out, Amelia," Sirius soothed waving his wand to remove the containment ward. When she moved to slap him, though he could see it coming, he let her. Catching her hand in his he held onto it. "Let it all out…"

Her body seemed to move on its own as she leaned on Sirius and let herself go.

She didn't know how long she cried, remembering her brother. She cried for her loss. She cried for everything that her brother had missed in his life. His family. It had been his greatest treasure. She cried for so long that when she finally came to, her eyes were rimmed red and her voice was hoarse. What surprised her the most was that Sirius was still sitting right beside her, holding her hand.

Seeing her coherent enough, Sirius looked right in her eyes. "The bastards who wronged you, Amelia. Those kinslayers, those butchers…I am not one of them, Amelia. I am not one of them. I think it's about time you knew the truth. And when I am done, you'd know why I had to do what I did. And when we're done with that, you'll have a present waiting for you.

"The one you've been waiting for all those years."

When she looked at him, more than a little confused, he gave her a savage grin in return.

"I have a feeling you'd remember this lunar eclipse forever, Madam Bones."

-x-x-x-x-x-

~ Review Please ~