Crouch

Barty Crouch Jr enjoyed watching the commotion in the bullpen. The activity surrounding the 'tragedy' in Diagon Alley was fun for him. His mission was to listen in and report back to Voldemort. The Dark Lord will enjoy finding out that two of Harry Fawkes' bitches were in the blast radius... he thought with a small smile.

Seeing Amelia Bones filling out some paperwork, he decided to walk over. "Good morning Amelia, terrible what happened today." He said, adopting an appropriately sorrowful look.

"It is." She said, frowning at her paperwork. "We lost three Aurors." She sighed sadly, "Hammer, Stout, and Grayson." They had been good Aurors. Constance Hammer, in particular, had been a friend from her days at Hogwarts. "Moody asked me to come and assist routing the papers to their proper places." She said, as she tapped her wand to the stack and it began to fly away.

"I'd be happy to help you." He offered. "There's no one heading to Azkaban today."

Amelia shook her head, "I'm nearly done. All I have left are the copies to make for Moody to take to Bagnold." She looked at Barty, "What do they have you doing today that you're looking for extra work?"

"Technically I'm not working today. I came by when I heard about the attack to see if I could help. But it's a closed scene and no one here has enough seniority to let me pass." He shrugged, "Since I can't work the scene and you are nearly done, I'm going to get a cuppa. You are welcome to join me at the canteen." He offered her. Barty was a well-known flirt in the department. Nearly every witch had been to dinner with him or had it offered. Constance Hammer, one of the dead Aurors, had been out with Barty a few times. She'd been holding out a hope that it would turn serious, but Barty Crouch Junior was the least serious person she'd ever met.

He never treats anything like it's important...Amelia thought with some annoyance. If he hadn't failed the Patronus test, he could send a messenger to Moody. It was known, by all the wizards, and the witches who hadn't fallen for his supposed boyish charm, that the only reason he was an Auror at all, was that his father demanded nothing less. The newly-installed Director for the department, Bartemious Crouch Sr, was a hard man. He was absolutely dedicated to the laws of Magical Britain. "Actually, I have to meet Diana. We are going back to Hogsmeade for patrols after I finish this and she finishes her own tasks."

At the thought of the witch most considered one of the most attractive in their department, Barty smiled again, "You two lucked out, didn't you? Best friends getting the same beat." He scratched his chin absently, "You two were in the village when the attack happened a few months ago, right?"

Amelia nodded, "We were. I saw Professor Fawkes take the hand of that up-jumped supposed 'Dark Lord' clean off with a cutting charm of all things." She grinned, "Diana and I used burning charms to take care of his little walking corpse-pile." For a moment she thought she saw a flicker of anger in the eyes of the easy-going man. "You alright Barty?"

"Fine, fine. Just angry about missing out again. I was working with the broomstick inspectors at Wimborne. The most exciting thing there was getting a splinter." Barty drew his wand and cast a tempus charm, "I'm going to the canteen Bones, I'll see you around."

Amelia watched his retreating form and then turned back to her paperwork. She didn't see Barty slip into the records room. He smiled charmingly at the clerk, "Hello Queenie, how are you?"

Queenie Greengrass was the middle child of the Greengrass family. She didn't have the title of Primary Heir that her brother Martyn had, nor was she the baby of the family like her sister Dionne, who could charm their parents into anything. She hadn't inherited her mother's lithe form either, instead, she was short and stout like her father. Seeing the handsome son of the Director smiling at her caused Queenie to blush. "H-hello Barty, what can I do for you?" she asked him.

"Hey, I want to boot-polish a little, could you get me a copy of the report on the explosion in the Alley today?" He leaned in, "You must be wearing a new perfume today, you smell absolutely delicious."

Queenie went red and giggled. She looked into the files that had just landed in her basket. Tapping her wand to them, she made a copy of the file. "Here you are, Barty." She handed him the file. "The charm will fade in a few hours, sorry."

"That's fine Queenie, I only need it long enough to read the file and convince my father to let me do something more complicated than polish his badge." He winked and walked out of the office. Stupid cow...He thought with a smirk as he stepped out of the hallway into an out of the way office. He read through the file carefully, making sure to commit everything to memory. Once his task was complete he used his wand to vanish the copy before leaving the office.

The Dark Lord will want to know what the department knows. He thought as he made his way to the apparation point and vanished from the DMLE.

Scene Break

Bellatrix sat beside Harry at St. Mungos. Andromeda was sitting up in her bed, looking out the window. Before Narcissa had been born, Andromeda had been her best friend. She'd nearly been killed because of the man she'd once followed.

There has to be an end to this. She thought as she took Harry's hand. He squeezed it gently and she took comfort in it. "You look like you have too many thoughts in your head." Harry said to her, "What are they?"

"Riddle has nearly caused the deaths of members of my family. I almost lost my father and my sister to his actions." She looked at their hands, "I served him willingly. I've seen what could have happened." She ignored the look on Andromeda's face, "How could I have ever believed anything he said?"

"You were looking for a way out of your marriage. He promised you freedom." Harry said quietly, "You are free now." He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

Andromeda watched the moment between Harry and Bellatrix with open longing. She remembered when she believed that Ted could love her that way. She knew it was the near-death experience talking, but she missed her ex-husband. She wanted someone to look at her like Harry looked at Bellatrix or Narcissa.

When she'd left the family, it had been with her head held high. She'd been proud to abandon her families blood-supremacist views. She had planned to live her life, happily and with the man, she'd believed she'd loved.

Now she was pregnant with a child he would never meet and officially the consort of another man. Ted had ignored her and cheated on her. She could have forgiven the ignoring, but the cheating? Never.

"Are you alright Andromeda?' Harry asked, pulling her from her reverie.

Blinking, she nodded, "I'm fine. Just thinking is all." But she was not fine. Harry, for all his faults, could at least tell that much.

"Hey, Bella, will you give us some privacy?" Harry asked his wife. She nodded and slowly rose, exiting the room. "Now that it's just us," He said, "Will you please tell me what's wrong?"

"You are not a Legilimens Harry Fawkes, don't act like one," Andromeda said quickly. "Save your concern for your spouses."

"You are a member of my family." He said quietly, "I just want to know if I can do anything."

"Yes. You can go back to my last year at Hogwarts and convince me to pick a different wizard than Ted Tonks. You can also help me by-" She took a deep breath, "By acting like you could have a shred of interest in me. You practically live in Cissy and Bella's eyes. How often have we talked since we met?" She looked at him, and Harry saw a wealth of pain her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Andromeda. What can I do to make it up to you?" Harry said, placing a hand on hers.

At that touch, the stubborn tears began to prick at the corner of her eyes again. "Look at me so that my daughter will believe that you care about me too." Internally, she cursed herself. A brush with death and she was practically begging Harry to love her. She felt Harry's hand squeeze hers gently.

Harry felt the gentle pressure as Andromeda squeezed his hand back.

It was a start.

Scene Break

Regina Parkinson, now back home, found herself in an unusual position: playing host to her cousin Patricia. Patricia, for once wasn't insulting her. In fact, her normally abrasive cousin wasn't doing anything except sitting by the fireplace staring into it.

Virginia Parkinson and her husband Gregor had died in the explosion. Patricia had been knocked down and spent several moments trapped under the corpses of her parents. Now, her closest family still living in Britain was the cousin she had spent both years bullying.

Now she would be staying with them until she reached her majority. Patricia was still so stunned that she had barely paid notice to the television in the other room. Mrs. Parkinson came downstairs, smoothing her hands over her dress. "Patricia, dear, your bed is made and I've moved Regina's things from her second dresser. Would you like to see your new room?" She asked kindly. Ellen Parkinson had not expected any of this. She knew that she had family in the magical world, but they had never treated her side of the family with any sort of kindness. Ellen had raised Regina alone all of her life, her daughter is the result of a brief relationship she'd had with a young Irish soldier who'd lodged with her parents.

Silently, Patricia rose and went up the stairs, Ellen following her. Emotions. I have emotions regarding my cousin. Regina thought with equal parts annoyance at feeling pity, and guilt at being annoyed. Her parents just died Regina, you need to act like you have some sort of emotional depth. She drew out some parchment and began to write a letter to James.

James,

Patricia is staying with us now. Her parents were killed in the attack. Please refrain from pranking her. This is one of the few times I am glad that my mother is non-magical. I very much doubt my aunt and uncle would have taken me in.

I am already looking forward to class beginning next week. I really want to have something to occupy myself with. I keep feeling bad for Patricia, then feeling angry because of how she'd treated me, then feeling guilty about being angry. I have too many thoughts in my head at the moment, please help me deal with them by sending something to make me laugh. Literally, anything will be fine.

Also some dark chocolate frogs. Dark chocolate. Not that super-sweet milk chocolate guff that you like. If you can't guess from my charming and upbeat attitude, I like dark, bitter chocolate.

I also miss you I suppose.

Regina

That should do...She thought as she rolled it up. She tied a ribbon around it and walked into the backyard of her home. There was a large outdoor birdcage against the back wall and inside it was a short ball of fluff and pinfeathers she called Cedric.

"Cedric, will you please deliver this to James Potter at Potter Manor in Guernsey?" She tied the note around the little owl's leg and watched as he flew out the cage and into the blue sky. He began flying east when she shouted up to him, "Ced! Guernsey is west of here, west!" The little owl turned and began to fly in the correct direction.

"I didn't know you had an owl." Came the quiet voice of her cousin. Turning, Regina saw Patricia standing at the door. "We- we were on our way to buy an owl for me." The red-rimmed brown eyes of her cousin filled with tears again and Regina suppressed a wince and then hugged Patricia.

Please don't get snot on me. Regina thought as she let Patricia cry against her. I don't like emotions. I really don't like emotions. Oh, Morrigan, she's going to get snot on my shirt, I know it.

But, she was snot-free as Patricia let go and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry," Patricia said quietly stepping back.

Regina still didn't like her cousin, but she knew something important. Patricia had been through a very traumatizing event. Regina wasn't sure if she was a good person or not, but she knew enough that she couldn't let Patricia look this miserable without at least trying to make her feel somewhat better. "We're here now. We live in the same house. We won't always get along, but we can at least try not to hate each other." She said to Patricia.

"Your mother is very kind." Patricia said, "Mother wouldn't have let you inside our house." Regina refrained from pointing out that she had thought the same thing just a few moments earlier.

Life was very strange sometimes. She'd ended up with her least favorite relative living with her. But that least favorite relative was in a position that Regina would gladly trade anything to avoid. Regina loved her mother dearly, she was the only person she could say unashamedly that she loved with her whole heart.

"So," Patricia said, in an effort to keep from dwelling on her status as an orphan. "You attended the wedding of Professor Fawkes. As the date of James Potter no less. How was it?"

That caused a small smile to ghost upon the lips of Regina, "Fine. It was- it was fine. We've agreed to begin dating." Suddenly she remembered dancing with him, kissing him after Sirius had accidentally made her realize that she cared about James more than she had allowed herself to believe.

"Dating James Potter? Keep that up and you might end up respectable."

Did Patricia just make a joke? Regina wasn't the best at reading people. Her expertise was in spells, particularly the Arithmancy books she had bought at Diagon Alley. Arithmancy and Runes were subjects that fascinated her. She could read the magic in those disciplines far better than she could the intentions of others. "Mab forbid I'm not respectable to the poncey upperclassmen," Regina replied dryly, causing Patricia to actually laugh for the possibly the first time in all the time she had known her cousin.

Maybe this could work out... A thought shared by both girls. Tragedy has a way of showing people their true selves. Patricia had been welcomed into the home of people her own parents wouldn't have spit on if they were on fire. She decided that she would make sure they were aware she was grateful. Regina had a glimpse of her worst fear. She would never let her mother believe she was being ungrateful.

The two girls walked back into the house. Regina decided that it was time for Patricia to learn about television. "Patricia, I'm going to show you something called 'New Scotland Yard'...Mum loves it..."

Thus began Patricia's introduction, not just to muggle television in general, but procedural crime shows. It would end up sparking something within the mostly unmotivated student, but she didn't know that yet.