All in the Family

Chapter 68: Mayhem at the Ministry

They landed in yet another office, though to call it such was a bit grand. More like a cubicle that was waiting on an upgrade. There was paperwork set up in neat, alphabetical files along the desk that was hardly wider than the chair beneath it, and yet still seemed to find room for the inkpot. A nameplate was the only thing out of place, only the first few letters visible and the rest obscured by a picture of the Weasley family.

The eight of them had been crammed in tighter quarters, but it wasn't fun to have no elbow room in the minuscule space, nor particularly fun to scavenge for the book. It was at the bottom of a stack of papers with freshly signed ink from Crouch over an import of a sphynx that seemed forgotten, the large majority of everything current was complaints and requests for reimbursements of their damaged property from that catastrophe of a Cup.

Remus accidentally tipped it all to the floor as he tried to dig the book out, then winced and muttered an apology to no one here. Potter forced a laugh no one acknowledged as Remus began Mayhem at the Ministry, eyes flickering to the floor once more and mentally agreeing.

Lily shifted uneasily in sympathy as Mr. Roberts gave the improper goodbye upon Harry's group leaving, well aware that could have so easily been her or her family under other circumstances. On pure instinct, her mind flickered to the thought Sev would never let that happen to her, but then she shifted even more uncomfortably as she wondered how true that was. Considering the lot he'd been hanging around so much lately...

The Weasleys made their way home with much a'fuss from their mother, then Harry slipped off to Ron's room and spent some time worrying about Sirius Black not having replied yet. The present Marauders, all four of them she checked, looked surprised and even concerned at this news. Even Regulus Black could be visibly seen biting the inside of his cheek, and Frank and Alice exchanged a bewildered look the man wasn't keeping in better contact with his godson after the news Harry had delivered; still all Lily could think of was her absent friend.

How long had they been missing? Was he worried at all about her? What would she say to him when she saw him again? She tried hard not to look accusingly at Lupin as the last conversation they'd had simmered in the back of her mind.

"...thought we were supposed to be friends?" Snape was saying, "Best friends?"

"We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?"

Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face.

"That was nothing," said Snape. "It was a laugh, that's all."

All his throwaway comments, all his pestering and assumptions about what the Marauders got up to, and he'd been right all along. Would she tell him? Was it not fair to admit to him he'd been right all along, they were up to something in school?

She knew now, even more than him, the insides of their group. Yet it still gave her no better insight of who was in the right in their constant fights. Pettigrew still had dried blood on his face and was avoiding looking at any of his so-called friends, Potter was standing slightly apart from his other two friends with a miserable look on his face and gazing up at the ceiling without taking in a word of what the Ministry was going through any more than her.

Even the Weasley family's inner squabble about some writer giving Arthur some bad light and Percy defending his boss over his father wasn't really holding her attention, she had her own misgiving feelings to worry about.

Regulus, on the other hand, couldn't help but stare on in fascination as Lupin's derivative voice spoke for Percy made his feelings clear. He would have thought Sirius more than anyone would be sticking up for Percy, but he was hissing his displeasure as well into Lupin's ear apparently and had stopped prodding along the edges of his own bloodied nose. Considering the blood traitors he still sort of thought them to be, he'd been under the slight impression from what he'd seen of their family they were all very close, this was an odd perspective to see their inner quarrelings were no different than his family's.

"Dress robes? Of all the silly things for the school to add?" Alice giggled a bit and squeezed Frank's hand. He startled a bit and dragged his attention to her from his own thoughts, but then admitted sheepishly he hadn't caught what she said.

"What's the matter?" She asked as Ron began complaining to his mother about the pair he got. They did sound a bit old fashioned.

He hesitated for a moment but didn't bother lying to her, sharing his impending worry. "I'm ah, wondering what Harry's going to encounter at school this year is all. Something's obviously building up to happen, again."

She wanted to laugh that having to dress up had him so worried, but Lupin gave them the warning the chapter was about to end before she could respond, and she winced a bit at the parting lines showing more discourse running in the Burrow as Ron lamented his poor state again. She gazed once more about the office, eyes lingering on the Weasley family photo on the desk. She couldn't help but mentally agree her boyfriend was probably right to be worried at this rate.

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