The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind

Part 1, The First Rise

By Laura ([email protected])

Chapter 10: Choices

And now unto a short but necessary character list:

Secretary Raimy: A former Secretary of Magic for the Department of Magic in America. Unimportant to the storyline (as of right now at least).

Sir Nicholas: Just a reminder here actually. This is a reference to Nearly Headless Nick, who's living name was Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington.

Tatianna Melovic: Newly introduced in this chapter. You'll figure out who she is.

Go to the website: www.geocities.com/bch035/index

And now have fun...

"This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live."

~ Omar Bradley ~

Jessica slipped into something of a routine for classes. People gave her a wide berth after she ran out of dinner that first night. They didn't really talk to her at all, and that annoyed Jessica almost even more. Nothing was right.

And nothing would ever be right again, Jessica thought with a sigh.

The teachers initially gave her a wide berth as well. They left her to her own devices, never calling on or expecting anything from her. She didn't even act up.

The only place where things seemed to be mostly normal were in the intense Quidditch practices that Jeff was holding to prepare the team for the Ravenclaw match at the end of the month.

Jessica had started meeting with someone regularly Wednesday afternoons, an hour before Quidditch practice. It was a different Healer each week. She placated them every time. *I feel sad about Dad. I regret it. I'm trying to come to terms with it. Yes, he abused me. I was scared.* She mentally rolled her eyes. She did regret it however. And he did abuse them. And she had been scared, if only for Casey. But she wasn't the kind to want to "talk about it".

She always stopped short with telling the Healer why she and Casey had kept silent on the issue. She knew that they wanted to know, but they never asked her. She was going to wait to cross that bridge when she got there.

It wasn't until the third week back that the routine of classes, Quidditch, and weekly meetings changed. Jessica couldn't even exactly point out what it was that changed. She just knew when it did.

They were suppose to be changing rabbits into slippers. Jessica watched on as Narcissa worked on this feat. She hadn't been successful by the time that McGonagall walked up. McGonagall worked with her for a bit, finally helping her achieve it after only two or three minutes. McGonagall then looked over at Jessica, who still remained seated. She sighed as she just stared at Jessica.

What does she expect me to do, Jessica mused to herself. Use the wandless magic she doesn't know I have. No matter, if she even knew, Jessica couldn't perform the complex change with her rather weak wandless magic.

Finally, McGonagall asked, "Miss Ziners, what is the incantation for this spell?"

Jessica pronounced it clearly.

McGonagall nodded. "Can you please demonstrate as though you did have your wand?"

Jessica pictured herself pretending that her finger was her wand and bit back a cringe. Even though her wandless magic would not work, some magic would still happen. Then Jessica refigured the demonstration. *As though you did have your wand...*

Jessica stood up and acted as though she were gripping a real wand. She moved her wrist as though she were going to change Narcissa's rabbits.

McGonagall smiled and nodded. "Very good, Miss Ziners."

Jessica smiled back.

McGonagall went to move on down the line when she saw something. "Mr. Snape, please pay attention to your own work and not Miss Ziners."

The class erupted into snickers as Jessica swung around to catch a very red Severus jerking his eyes back to the rabbit slippers sitting in front of him. Jessica smiled to herself.

"I think he likes you," Narcissa whispered when McGonagall was a distance away.

"Me? Nah," Jessica dismissed. "I'm not...his type."

"And what, pray tell, is his type?" Narcissa asked with a giggle.

Jessica shrugged. "Some proper English chit. I'm a loud and obnoxious American. Not to mention the fact that I'll be put on trial for murder in a few months."

Narcissa shrugged and glanced behind them again. She burst into giggles. "He's staring again," she whispered.

This time, Jessica turned red as well.

* * *

*Dear Lily,

I'm sorry. I hadn't even given a thought to your father's business. I'll speak with Uncle Danny about it (he's in charge of our inheritance until we are of age). If your dad can wait until after things settle down with me, I'm sure Uncle Danny will work out an investment deal with him using our money.

Don't worry yourself about what was happening and what I did because of it. It's my mess to deal with alone. I don't want you to worry. No matter what happens, I want you to know that I'll always be friends with you. No matter where I am, I'm your friend.

Yes, I'll be playing in the Quidditch Match. All I need is a school governor to supervise, and Malcolm Black has already volunteered. As long as I don't do anything overly violent between now and then (and during the game), I'll be fine.

Your Friend,

Jess*

* * *

"I can't believe Dad's helping."

"I know, Sarah," Sirius said.

"She's a murderer. She's just like one of them."

"Despite what you say, James," Sirius added with a significant look in James' direction.

James rolled his eyes and buried his nose further in his Transfiguration textbook.

"What do you say, James?"

This caused James to pull his nose out of his book for the first time in an hour. Not because of the question, but because of who asked. Lily Evans.

"I say that Ziners ain't a murderer because Ziners was in a bad situation, and Sirius knows that," he responded before sticking his nose back in his book.

"So, it's true," Marlene McKinnon said as she and Dorcas Meadows butted in on the conversation.

"What's true?" Fabian Prewett asked as he walked up to their table. "And what are you guys fighting about anyway?"
"None of your--" James started to say before Sirius interrupted him.

"We're fighting over whether Ziners is a murderer or not. Potter here thinks not."

"*We're*," Dorcas said, with a roll of the eyes directed at Sirius, "asking if it's true."

"If what's true?" Fabian asked again.

"If Ziners was getting abused," Marlene said impatiently before looking at James again. "Was she? And don't say you don't know because I heard that your dad was going to get her and her brother out of their home the day she murdered their dad."

"It's none of your business, guys," James said, shutting his book angrily. "I'm going to go out for a bit. Don't wait up for me," James said, grabbing his bag and walking out of the Gryffindor Common Room without looking at anyone.

* * *

Casey had just finished supper and started looking at his Potions textbook when he heard the door open and shut. Casey looked up and waited to hear a voice or see a person to identify the intruder, but he neither saw nor heard anyone. This made him nervous when he heard a chuckle.

Suddenly, out of thin air, James Potter appeared.

Casey grinned. "Cool," he said quietly.

"Where's Pomfrey?" James asked quietly.

Casey nodded towards the closed door at the end of the ward. "In her office. She won't hear us if we talk quietly."

James nodded and pulled up a chair to the side of Casey's bed. The 12-year old sat with a silent thud.

Casey held out his hand. "Got to let me see it."

James smirked as he handed over the Invisibility Cloak. "You can't *see* it, dork."

Casey rolled his hands as James laughed quietly. Casey examined the cloak as James explained. "My dad got it for me for my 11^th birthday. He, of course, got me something else, something Mom wouldn't get mad at. Then, he took me outside and gave me this and told me not to tell Mom."

Casey laughed.

"You doing alright?" James asked, taking the cloak back from Casey.

Casey nodded and shrugged at the same time. "Alright, I suppose. I'm still having memory lapses. Mr. Figg thinks that might be permanent. I also have moments where I sort of lose my ability to think, but they pass as quickly as they come. I'm starting to walk too. Well, stand mainly, but I'm getting there. I also have this grey hair." Casey pointed it out. "Isn't it cool?"

James grinned and nodded.

"Why are you down here, anyway?"

James shrugged. "No reason really."

The two were silent for a second before Casey asked, "What are they saying in Gryffindor tower about us?"

"Nothing," James lied as he became *very interested* in the edge of the blanket that lay flat on James' side of the bed.

Casey rolled his eyes. "I know they're saying something, James."
He shrugged, still avoiding Casey's eyes. "A little here and there."

"None of it good?" He asked.

James shook his head. "Not from anybody but Lily, but hey," James finally looked back at Casey, "that's the Gryffindor-Slytherin feud for you."

Casey nodded.

"How's Jessica?" James asked.

Casey shook his head, he the one this time avoiding eye contact. "Not good."

"No one is doing good lately, are they?"

Casey shook his head.

* * *

"We have to figure things out, Jess," Casey said. "We have to figure out what we're going to say, what we're going to do. Figg wants to know things. I imagine Riley's in the wings, waiting for our story. Then there's the rest of the world. It happened, Jess. We can't change it. We just have to deal with it now."

"I'll just tell them the truth," Jessica said resolutely.

"What? That you *murdered* Dad? Then what, Jess? Have you thought past this grand scheme of being better than," Casey glanced nervously at the door to Pomfrey's office, "than you-know-who? You go to Azkaban, and here I am, *all alone*. *All alone* with you-know-who. All because you had to better than him."

"What's better, Casey? That I turn into what...you-know-who," she made a mockery of Casey's nickname for Tom, "wants? Or that I go to Azkaban and give you a chance?"

"That you give yourself a chance, Jessica," Casey growled before laying and turning his head towards the side away from Jessica. "Jessica," he murmured as he faced away from his sister, not so oblivious of her eyes on his back, "Mom died knowing that it was our choices and how we dealt with our choices that made us who we truly were in life. Wake me up when you realize it."

"But--"

"A mistake, Jessica. A well-intentioned, necessary in life, mistake. That's all it was. And if it had not occurred, we wouldn't be having this conversation now."

"Casey--"

"Wake me up when you realize what Mom died knowing."

Jessica looked at her brother's back for awhile longer before getting up and leaving the Hospital Ward.

* * *

"How's the search for Voldemort?" Riley Haderson asked, leaning against the doorframe of Marcus' office.

"Excuse me," Marcus heard before he answered Riley. Riley started to turn before he jumped and yelped. He backed away quickly to allow Moody in. Riley looked half terrified as he looked at Moody in quiet awe.

"What's this, Potter?" Moody growled as he gestured towards the now silent Riley.

"Riley, come in," Marcus said with a smirk. When the boy didn't react, Marcus said it louder, "Riley!" Finally, Riley jerked out of his state and walked all the way in, shutting the door behind him. He never once took his eyes from Moody.

"Shake your head, boy," Moody growled, "before your eyes get stuck."

Finally Riley looked away. "This is...this is..." he tried to tell Marcus.

"Alastor Moody," Marcus filled in with a grin.

"And this is?" Moody asked, looking at Marcus but gesturing towards Riley.

"This is Riley Haderson, Daniel Montgomery's commander."

Moody gave him a suspicious look. "I've heard about you."

"Y-y-you have?" Riley stuttered.

Marcus had to take a big sip of tea to keep from laughing.

"What in the hell is wrong with the boy, Potter?"

Marcus sputtered tea into his cup. He pulled the cup away. "It's called worship, Alastor. The kid's been trampling on Aurors' feet, especially Daniel's, since he was 13. He knows *everyone*. Every Auror, every legend, everything."

Alastor rolled his eyes. "The question is, how good did the boy come modeling himself after his so-called heroes."

"One of the best, and he didn't model himself after anybody."

Riley, who had finally snapped out of it, nodded. "Thank you, Marcus."

Marcus gave him a look. "That wasn't entirely a compliment. Your teacher was Daniel Montgomery after all."

Riley gave him an amused, challenging look. "I'm telling Danny you said that."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Like I'm afraid of *that* guy."

"And I'm telling him you said that too."

"What are you here for, boy?" Alastor asked, finally letting his annoyance at the play between the Aurors show.

Riley started to speak then cast an uncertain look at Alastor.

"He's been helping me on the Rin murder case and now the Voldemort case."

"Danny asked me to check on the Voldemort search. Also, if you're willing to divulge a little info on the Rin murder case, Danny said he would ever so graciously listen to it."

"How gracious of him," Marcus murmured as he scanned the memos from his 'in' box.

"What level of security does the boy have?" Alastor growled, glaring at Marcus.

Marcus looked at Moody over the top of his glasses. "The highest. Andorra Dumbledore trusts him."

Moody's suspicion was still there in its ever-present form, but his objections ceased. The only name with more weight in the Auror world than Andorra Dumbledore's was Albus Dumbledore.

To Riley, Marcus said, "We've linked Rin's murder to Voldemort."

Riley swallowed at that news before asking, "How strong is the evidence?"

Marcus sighed as he put the memo he was currently holding down on to his desk. He leaned back in his chair. "Nothing that would hold up in a court but would hold up for an Auror."

Riley nodded, understanding the evidence was either illegally obtained or obtained from someone who would never go to trial to act as a witness.

"How did Voldemort get in the Ministry, especially into the area with the Minister's office?"

"It could be Malfoy," Moody suddenly interjected.

Marcus shook his head. "Malfoy's a bad seed, but I don't think he's Voldemort. The only connection to Rin's murder he has is that he either did it on Voldemort's behalf or he let Voldemort into the building, neither of which I can currently prove.

"For now, I don't want Malfoy to think I'm suspecting anything more than I'm already obviously suspect."

"You think Malfoy knows you're suspicious of him?" Riley asked.

Marcus chuckled. "I don't need Voldemort to be suspicious of a Malfoy. No one needs a Voldemort to be suspicious of that lot."

Riley nodded.

"Either way, I don't think we're going to be able to say who Rin's murderer is until we figure out who this Voldemort is."

"Any new leads on Voldemort?" Riley asked as someone knocked on the door.

Marcus nodded towards the door. "Riley, can you get that?"
Riley opened the door a bit to peak who was outside. A second later, he opened the door wide to let Tom Riddle in. Tom gave a surprised look at the number of people in the office.

Once the door was shut behind Tom, he commented. "Marcus, you're making too many friends."

Marcus smiled. "Tom, I believe you know Alastor Moody."

Tom nodded.

"Riley, I don't know if you've met Tom..." Marcus trailed off as Riley nodded.

"Yeah, we've met before. He visited Jeffrey Ziners occasionally. I believe," Riley looked at Tom, "that you and Jeffrey went to school together."

Tom nodded as a feint sad look came to his face. "Yes, we had. It is a very sad thing that happened to him."

Riley nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is," he replied quietly before turning to Marcus.

"Is Tom privy to the particular case we were discussing a moment ago?"
Marcus nodded. "He's been working rather heavily on it."
Riley threw Tom an acknowledgement before turning to Marcus to ask again, "Any new leads on Voldemort yet?"

Marcus shook his head. "No, unfortunately not. How about at your end?"

Riley shook his head. "Not too much, I'm afraid."

Tom's ears perked up, "Nothing?"

Riley stalled for a second before frowning and shaking his head. "No, I'm afraid not."

"Are you sure?" This time, it was Marcus piping up. He wondered about the kid's stall and feared that Danny might be keeping something from him. Danny was so use to having to keep the Dark Operators a secret, secrecy became a habit.

"Not on the Voldemort case," Riley answered. "Nothing new."

A carefully framed answer, Marcus thought to himself.

"Anyway," Riley said, "I've got to be heading out. I've got a few owls to answer before I run an errand for Danny."

"How is Jessica Ziners doing anyway?" Marcus asked.

"Haven't seen her yet," Riley said. "Rohan won't let me at her. Said after the last time I talked to her, she became quieter than ever."

"You still haven't talked to her about what happened on Christmas?" Marcus asked in surprise.

Riley took a deep breath but shook his head. "Nope. I have a pretty good idea what happened, but there are two questions I haven't answered totally. I'm pretty sure Jess has those answers."

"The longer you wait, the more the answer will change," Alastor said.

"I'm not waiting," Riley said. "I'm not allowed to get near Jessica. Short of breaking into the Hospital Ward of Hogwarts, I'm not going to be near her for awhile. Rohan's tried to ask her, he says, but she won't talk. He thinks she's playacting and all this stuff, stalling until she finds the answer she wants to give." Riley shrugged. "I'll get in there eventually. Anyway, got to run."

They all said bye to Riley. When the three turned back to each other, Marcus saw an unexplainable grin pass on Tom's face.

"What is it?" Marcus asked him.

"What? Oh," Tom shook his head, "nothing. Just the boy's determination is amusing."

Marcus nodded and ignored his unsettled feeling at Tom. Tom was just a bit creepy. That's what made him good, Marcus reminded himself. That's what made him good at what he did.

That's what made him *very* good.

* * *

"She's merely going through the motions. Worse than since the start of school."

Gary turned when Jeff Rin spoke. The boy stood next to him as they watched the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team walk up to the castle. Jessica dragged along behind, tired and depressed. The Slytherins had lost miserably, and the rest of the team wasn't speaking to her right now.

"It was before the game," Jeff continued when he saw he had Gary's attention. "I think it started after she got back from visiting her brother last night."

Gary gave the tall, young man a side look. Gary has also seen Jessica leaving her brother and the Hospital Ward the previous night. She had left around two a.m. "What were you doing up at two in the morning?"

Jeff returned the look. "More importantly, what were *you* doing up at two in the morning?" Jeff's grin gave him away at the end, and Gary merely shook his head as Jeff chuckled.

"Anyway, I think something happened between her and her brother. They probably had some words." Jeff sighed. "I like Casey. He's got a good head on his shoulders for being a little kid. He was probably trying to talk some sense into Jessica for something."

Gary gave a noncommittal nod.

Jeff shrugged again before saying to Gary before they parted ways, "I wish I knew, or someone at least knew, what to say to her to make her feel better."

Jeff didn't hear Gary's response.

"I wish someone did too."

* * *

Jessica looked up from her feet when she felt someone looking at her. She looked up to see the Bloody Baron hovering above her. She sat and stared at the ghost, he merely returning her gaze with his dead eyes. They were in her room, Jessica sitting on the floor next to the end of her bed, her knees pulled loosely up to her stomach, her arms loosely wrapped around them, her hands loosely holding each other. It was the night of the Quidditch game, the one she had blown. She and her brother weren't speaking to each other. Before last night, she had visited morning, mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon, late-afternoon, early evening, supper, and at night. She hadn't seen Casey since last night however.

And now the Bloody Baron was hovering in her room, looking at her.

The Bloody Baron, Slytherin's house ghost, usually avoided everybody, including the Slytherins. His usual only exceptions were to mumble about the other houses to the Slytherin House students.

She was content right now to stare at the Bloody Baron. He was looking straight back at her, straight into her eyes, not even seeming fascinated when they changed from their sad green-blue to their defeated blue.

"You are a disgrace to the house of Slytherin," the Bloody Baron finally said.

"You speak," she said in mock shock.

"Did you not hear me, silly girl?"

Jessica finally looked away. "Yes, I did. I am a disgrace to the house of Slytherin." She rubbed one eye. "Tell me something I don't know."

"It is not because you cannot become what this 'you-know-who' wants you to become."

Jessica looked back at the Bloody Baron. "You were eavesdropping," she accused. That was the same way Casey had referred to Tom in the Hospital Ward.

"You are a dumb little girl too," he said as he huffed and moved away to cast a disapproving look around her messy room.

"Okay, I give up," she said in mock surrender. "Why do *you* think I'm a disgrace to the house of Slytherin?"

"You take a blow and fall like a Gryffindor," he responded, his back to her. When she snorted in amusement, he spun to her. "A *true* Slytherin would have taken the blow and come back up fighting. A *true* Slytherin would have turned the situation to their benefit, even if they didn't like it in the first place."

"Hey, I did something. I turned the situation, and it didn't work out right. It's my fault, so I'm rising to deal with the situation. If Casey comes out of this situation intact, I did turn it the direction I wanted it to go."

"Oh, save this sacrificial lamb bit for Sir Nicholas. That's what a Gryffindor would do."

"What do you want me to do??!!" She yelled at the ghost. "Be a true Slytherin. Follow you-know-who like I was meant to?"

The Bloody Baron rolled his eyes as he started floating around the room again. "Why does everyone assume we Slytherins are all pure evil at heart? I will tell you what, Miss Ziners," the ghost looked back at her and pointed at her before pointing at himself, "I was at the top of my class. Nothing and no one could stop me from being the best. But I wasn't evil. I died defending a dreaded Gryffindor and a dumb Muggle."

"Merely died?" Jessica snorted in amusement. "You look like you were slaughtered."

The Bloody Baron shrugged as though the matter meant little. "We Slytherins do not go down lightly." He had been turning away from her, but suddenly swung back to face her, pointing his pudgy finger at her once again. "This brings me back to my point. We Slytherins do not lie down and let the opponent trample over us. As long as there is strength enough to breathe even the lightest breath, we fight."

"I'm not going down lightly," Jessica said, her voice rising with each sentence she spoke, her body following the rise until she was standing and approaching the Bloody Baron, her finger pointing at him the entire time. "I've protected Casey for 11 years. I've had to learn spells I shouldn't know. I've had to practice words I shouldn't ever have had to say. After every beating, I didn't stop my practice. I kept going. I went to school. I smiled and laughed when I was suppose to. I yelled and demanded when it was required of me. I was quiet when I was told to be so. And I performed the spells they asked of me. No matter how much they demanded of me to look at them as my masters, I did not. I kept practicing. Then the day when I knew he was going to finally take Casey, I advanced on him and did not stop when it was required of me or when he tried to beat me into submission. When I recovered from being unconscious, I got right back up and called my wand. And I said the words. I killed my father despite my wounds or Casey's. What more do you expect of me?!"

"I hear what's said in here. I know of the presence you speak of. I know your father was not that presence. You have more to go, Miss Ziners." When she didn't respond, he continued.

"You were born in the type of family that so populates the House of Slytherin, a family where little choice is offered. What sets the great Slytherins apart is when they don't follow the crowd, but their mind. It's not the wish of a decision, but the action of it."

This time she did respond and when she did, her voice was hoarse. "I made my decision, and I acted with it. It was wrong, and now I have no choice but to follow with my determination to protect the heirs and take their names to the grave with me. Unfortunately, that will happen sooner rather than later."

"With the death of your father, did you not prove to you-know-who that you are willing to fight for your freedom?"

"No, it proved that I was stupid enough not to know a better deal when I saw it. If I hadn't killed Dad, I would be dealing with an evil which I know how to deal with it."

"That may be partly true, Miss Ziners. The devil you know is usually better than the devil you don't. But Miss Ziners, it is not the exact action you took that should contain your focus. A true Slytherin does not live in the past and past decisions as others do. We live for the decision. It is not where we are, but where we can be. It is not what we have done, but what we can do. You made the decision, now what are you going to do about it?

"Slytherins do not make mistakes. We merely make different opportunities. It's the same chess board. The pieces are merely moved, one bishop dead. You are an exposed piece right now. An exposed piece is at great risk, yes, but, as the saying goes, with great risk comes great reward. As an exposed piece, you are at great risk, but, here, you can also do the most damage.

"You know things, Miss Ziners, things, I believe, I cannot even imagine. You cannot speak your knowledge to authorities because, as a Slytherin, we live under a different law, but there are things, Miss Ziners, many things, you can do. Your piece is under great threat, but you are not yet checkmated, my dear girl. You are a great threat to this Voldemort, but until now you've been sheltered by the other pieces. In one move, you eliminated Voldemort's bishop. You are under threat, but in this position, you are also a threat. You have never been such a threat before, Miss Ziners, and if I were to venture a guess, it would be that Voldemort is unsure of where he stands on your board. He is unsure, and he is watching you, waiting for your next move. The next move is yours to make."

The Bloody Baron finally paused and looked at Jessica, but her head and her eyes were off to the side now, the Bloody Baron's surprising words - the action of speech itself coupled with the actual speech - finally creeping through a hole in Jessica's stubborn 'in-the-box' logic. Unknown to Jessica, the ghost watched her carefully, waiting for that perfect moment to get her attention again.

The Bloody Baron knew it came when her face slowly turned back up to his.

"You're only given to a fate when you hand yourself over to it. If you give yourself over to Azkaban, then failure will become your fate. If you give yourself over to Voldemort and do his bidding, then he is your fate. If you fight for what you want, if you fight for it until your very last breath, then your fate is to be Jessica Ziners, no more, no less.

"You already acted. You can't change that no matter how hard you think about it. A Gryffindor would wallow in that. A true Slytherin thinks how to turn that past action to his advantage.

"So are you a follower of Voldemort, a whiny Gryffindor, or a powerful and true Slytherin? The choice belongs to no one but you, Miss Ziners, and if you believe that you are truly a Slytherin, not even this powerful Voldemort can take away your ability to choose who you are."

* * *

It was midnight at McKiney's Pub. McKiney's pub was located in a London back alley and only served the bottom of the barrel of both the magic and the Muggle worlds.

When the elderly man walked in, his appearance drew no one's attention, and that was the way he preferred it. He was a hunched over old man and barely stood on his own two feet with a cane; his body was covered with a cape and his head, the cape's hood. Coming out of his hood was a face more wrinkles than it was features and grey hair long, stringy, and so grotesque-looking that it didn't even look like real hair but more like some monster that had died on the man's head.

Many in McKiney's Pub knew of him. He was Old Man Kippen, a left over from the Grindelwald era. He was ancient even then, people said, but he was one of the fiercest killers. He was such a unique and dangerous weapon that Grindelwald had kept him very close and very hidden, even from the members of his closest circle. This was so Kippen could kill those members easily if Grindelwald feared their betrayal. It was also so potential traitors could not identify him. The Muggle pond scum in McKiney's Pub also knew of him. He had once been a fierce killer in their world as well, rumor was, and though he was old, they still feared him. Little did they know that their fear wasn't completely groundless.

Current rumor was that Kippen was looking for a way to kill Albus Dumbledore, wanting to avenge the death of his master. No one quite knew where he stood on this Voldemort character however. There were rumors that Voldemort's people were trying to recruit Kippen but because of his demand for complete secrecy, no one knew for sure.

This night, Kippen went straight to a dark back, corner booth. Two men were sitting there. Kippen merely looked at them. The two men quickly moved. Both were Muggles and knew nothing of Kippen's magic ties, but their boss did, and the men feared their boss a great deal as well as this legendary Kippen. Their boss, even though he was a mere Muggle, was powerful and smart. He knew if he protected the killers, the less likely he would be killed.

The men stood and pushed open the hidden door. Kippen was quickly let into the "Muggle Back Room". Kippen hobbled his way to another dark back, corner booth. The two in the back corner, a man and a woman this time, were smaller than the previous guards, but their magic made up for their lack of size. Kippen was even more quickly let into this secret back door. It led to the "Magic Back Room".

As Kippen headed to the opposite back corner, a bar maid rushed to the bar to get Kippen's usual drink. By the time Kippen had made his way to his destination, the bar maid had nervously laid his drink on the table. Kippen dismissed her angrily. The man across from him grinned. "You have yet to lose your touch, Mr. Kippen."

"I will never lose my touch, you sniveling little gnome." Kippen sighed. "The truth is, McGregor, magic is the most brilliant thing in the world. No matter how old you are, the magic is still strong."

"Like with Albus Dumbledore."

Kippen moved his hand so angrily that his own drink glass broke, McGregor's glass broke, and the two glasses at the booth behind them both broke as well. "You do not mention that terrible name here! I'm going!" Kippen grunted as he started to wobbly stand up.

McGregor put up a staying hand. "No, no, don't go. I'm sorry, Mr. Kippen. I will never speak that terrible name again. You are infinitely better and stronger and smarter than that Muggle loving half-blood."

Kippen sat back down. "Unfortunately, he is not a half-blood. Just a half-blood loving bastard."

McGregor quickly nodded in agreement. "I don't get why anyone follows that bastard. They should follow you."

Kippen growled. "Don't kiss up, you gnome." He glanced at the bar to see that the bar maid was already at their table with their new drinks. She scurried away again after setting them down. McGregor looked around for himself to make sure that they were safe. He knew that Kippen already knew who and what was around them. He had already checked that, even if McGregor hadn't seen him do it. But the man would get angry if McGregor didn't check. And McGregor couldn't afford angering the man again. Who knew if he would run off permanently this time?

"Ruthford Street in Manchester," McGregor finally said. "Thomas O'Linny's house. There is a meeting there at 5 p.m. April 3^rd. Afterwards, we will attack The Leaky Cauldron in London at midnight that same night."

"Is your boss going to be there?"

McGregor shook his head. "No. He doesn't even know about it. It's a birthday present per say to him. But it's not his birthday. At least I don't think so. I don't actually know."

Kippen nodded.

"Are you going to be there?" McGregor asked.

Kippen shrugged noncommittally. "If I feel like it." Kippen took a drink, dribbling down his chin as he did so. McGregor had done well so far on not cringing at Kippen's ugly face, but this made him cringe...a little. The man's face was positively disgusting looking. Kippen then slowly wobbled to his standing position. He was about to leave when he turned and said to McGregor in a growl, "And be careful about who you recruit boy. The sloppy way you tried to recruit me thinks that you are sloppy with everyone else. The way you go, you might recruit the other side. I don't want a part of that if that's the way you do business."

McGregor quickly shook his head. "I assure you, Sir, if I did this bad with you, it was an accident. My boss trusts me with a lot of other things."

Kippen snorted in disbelief as he turned and left the same way he came in.

* * *

Old Man Kippen walked straight to Bryant Road after his annoying meeting with that little gnome McGregor. It wasn't going to be long, and that boy was going to get himself killed. Kippen gave it until one a.m.. He thought it was going to be a lot longer before the meeting, but he knew when he had looked at the two in the booth behind them. He had recognized one of them as one of Voldemort's actual trusted servants. They were tailing McGregor. Kippen smiled to himself as he Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. He nodded at the man behind the bar before heading up to his room.

It was an hour later when Riley Haderson walked out of the Leaky Cauldron and headed back to his hotel room. He laughed quietly to himself. He was definitely better looking than his alter ego Kippen. But, he did have to admit, Kippen was more effective at being an Auror than he was himself.

* * *

Jessica thought deep into the night about the Bloody Baron's words. Choice. It was a funny word, this 'choice'. It was probably the most powerful ability in the world, even over magic, she thought.

The Bloody Baron had said that everyone makes mistakes. But Slytherins. She had to smile at that, but she frowned but a second later as she remembered what the Bloody Baron had said what they made instead. Different opportunities.

Choice. Different opportunities. Casey had told her it was our choices that made us who we really are. She chose to kill. But as the Slytherin ghost had said, it was what she did with the consequences that mattered. It was what she did with these "different opportunities" that mattered now.

But Jessica wasn't sure she was strong enough. After all, there was a difference between 12-year old kids and ancient, cranky Potion Masters that had lived through it all before. Gary had once said no to the same thing Jessica wanted to say no to, but he had been 18 when he had said it.

The pieces were different, in different places. Slytherins live under different laws. Choice. Choice. Choice. Talking to anyone about what she knew was out of the question. It was up to her. It was up to Jessica to help those fighting against Voldemort fight Voldemort in a way they couldn't even began to imagine. It was all up to Jessica now. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but if she planned to go that way, she would have to figure it out. Because she had a feeling fighting Voldemort as a member of his own side wasn't going to be the easiest task she ever undertook.

But was she willing to pay a price?

Jessica needed to talk to Casey, and she intended to make him talk back even if he didn't want to.

* * *

It was the next afternoon when Jessica drifted to the Hospital Ward. Her feet were silent, and she didn't bother to announce herself right away.

"Rohan said we're going to start walking tomorrow. Actually, we'll probably only get into the standing." Casey shrugged. "Anyway, he thinks I'll be able to walk again, so I'm not going to complain."

The stern Madam Pomfrey gave Casey a soft smile. Jessica guessed his enthusiasm was probably entertaining the nurse. Jessica, on the other hand, was experiencing mixed feelings. One of which sadness because Casey had never told her his good news about walking, though she wasn't sure she should have expected to hear the news considering she hadn't seen nor talked to him for four days now. The other thing, other than the happiness that she felt that her brother would indeed walk again, was that she was worried that her brother had been around Rohan when she had not been present.

"Well, as long as when you start walking you don't go running around my Ward causing havoc, I won't complain," Madam Pomfrey said in mock sternness. Casey laughed.

Madam Pomfrey finished her daily examination of Casey, finishing off by giving him a swallow of a pain relieving potion, before she walked to the bed down the room where a Fourth Year lay sick.

Casey stayed sitting up in his bed for a few minutes, his eyes on his feet, his mouth silent. Finally, he spoke but didn't look up. "Did you need something?"

Jessica had been standing by the end of the pulled curtain on Casey's left side throughout the entire examination, not saying a word. She had been so quiet in her entrance that even Madam Pomfrey hadn't noticed her. She hadn't thought Casey had noticed either, but she knew she probably should have known better.

Jessica looked everywhere but at her brother as she walked forward. "Yeah, I need a lot of things to tell you the truth, one of which is logic. That's why I'm here now."

Casey didn't respond, or even look at her, so she walked forward and sat in the visitor's chair. She looked at her hands as she spoke.

"Someone talked to me, and he made a lot of sense. On top of what you said, it made me wonder some things. But..."

"But what?" Casey asked when she didn't continue. Unknown to Jessica, her brother had finally looked at her, but it was only to see the top of her head.

"But..." Jessica tried again but stopped when she heard Madam Pomfrey walk near.

"Oh, Miss Ziners," Madam Pomfrey said. "I was wondering who was here... Visiting hours end in one hour. Make sure you're done by then. And keep your voices down."

When she walked away, Jessica finally looked at her brother to see him looking at her. Her eyes locked on his, she spoke in his head.

*I'm only 12, Casey. I'm not a match for Tom.*

*Yeah, you are*, Casey insisted. *Tom was 16 when he first put words into actions. You were 12.*

*Even if that would make me a match for Tom, I'm not willing to sacrifice you or Uncle Danny or anyone else for that matter.*

*You still don't get it, do you, Jess? At this point, it doesn't matter whether or not we want someone to die, be it me, you, Uncle Danny, or Tom. Tom's already set that into motion. The spies during the Grindelwald years said it wasn't a matter of containing Grindelwald but a matter of stopping him.*

*But we can't tell who Voldemort is because they wouldn't believe us. Mr. Potter trusts Tom. He would demand pretty hefty evidence. And though Uncle Danny doesn't like Tom, he would demand evidence too. No matter what we do, Tom gets away.*

Casey frowned. *I know. But we can't submit to him. And we can't declare defeat. We're the only thing that the other side has against Tom. But what do we do about it?*

Jessica looked away, both her brother and her thinking in complete silence. What could be their evidence against Tom? Jessica wondered. But even if they gave it, Tom would give the order for Uncle Danny, Riley, and Andorra to be murdered. And there were many people in the Ministry, people who would more than likely be present at his arrest, that he could give the order to - and even in such a fashion, no one would really wonder about it until after Uncle Danny, Riley, and Andorra were all dead. And there was the matter that all arrests of higher up Aurors - and working with Marcus Potter made Tom such said Auror - had to be cleared by the Minster of Magic, and Jessica had no doubt that Ignatius Malfoy would alert Tom long before the arrest could be made. (And if Jessica was willing to cover herself in that route, she would not only have to gather evidence against Tom but against Mr. Malfoy as well.) How could they get Tom?

It was when she asked herself this question, this question she had asked herself many times before she came to believe Tom was too powerful for her, it was in that question asked at this present time that Jessica suddenly had her answer.

"He said to me--," she said, but Casey interrupted her.

"Jessica," he whispered harshly.

It took her a second to realize. She grinned sheepishly at him before continuing, but, this time, in their heads. *He said to me--*

*And he is?* Casey asked, interrupting her again.

*The Bloody Baron. He's the one I was talking about when I said that someone talked to me and made a lot of sense.*

*The Bloody Baron actually had a conversation with you?* Casey asked in surprise.

Jessica nodded. *But, as I was saying, the Bloody Baron said to me that we Slytherins live by different laws than the rest. Our problem with Tom is that we follow the laws that govern non-Slytherins.*

*Yeah, we need to stop doing that, don't we?* Casey asked with a grin.

The corner of Jessica's mouth went up. *That would be a start.*

*Are you okay, Jess?* Casey asked quietly when Jessica said no more.

Jessica frowned. *Not yet.*

*Are you going to give yourself over to Azkaban?"*

To this, Jessica was silent for some time. Was she ready to give herself over to Azkaban prison? It would stop this. If she did that--or if she killed herself--she wouldn't be available to be a tool of Tom's.

Mom had died knowing that Jessica and her brother were worth saving, that they may have the chance of survival on a side other than Tom's, a chance that she had lost so long before then. But Jessica had murdered her own father. But as the Bloody Baron had said, that wasn't the matter now. That had happened. It was in the past. It was what she would do about it that mattered right now.

And right now, Jessica had a little brother to protect and a magical world to try to help. Because Jessica wasn't ever going to be a regular kid, and it was about time she stopped trying to be a regular kid.

She was born with a blood that dictated her life, but that didn't mean she had a choice about what direction her life could take from here. Now was the time to act like she had a choice that was hers and only hers to make.

*No, I'm not going to give myself over to Azkaban if I can help it. There is always the matter of the trial though and whether or not they're going to give me hard time.*

*But we'll get through it, Jess. We've made it too far to stop now.*

Jessica chuckled and nodded.

Casey had also smiled but now he frowned. *It's only going to get harder, Jess. All the way to that trial and after, it's only going to get harder for us.*

Jessica nodded, a solemn look on her face.

*But we're Slytherins*, she said. *We fight until our very last breath.*

Neither kid saw or heard the ghost behind the curtain, so no one noticed the Bloody Baron smile as he drifted out of the Hospital Ward.

* * *

"How are they?"

Rohan gave Riley Haderson a look. "And why do you want to know?"

"Because they're my friends."

"No."

"No what?"

"No, you can't see them."

"Why not?" Riley growled.

"Because she's doing something different now, and it's making me more nervous than before," Rohan said as he walked into the blistering cold outside Hogwarts front doors.

"What's she doing now?" Riley asked.

"She's being compliant," he answered, pulling his cloak tighter around himself.

Riley was silent for a moment, pulling his own cloak tighter, shivering a little as he was not use to the cold, before saying, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Rohan stopped and gave Riley a disbelieving look. "Don't pull that bullshit with me. You claim to know her. Is Jessica suddenly being compliant a good thing?"
"Damit, Rohan. I need to talk to her."

"And I want you to get that information. To have gotten the version of the story you wanted, you should have talked to her the day of the incident, but you know as well as I do, Jessica would not have spoken to anyone. She's so distrusting of anyone that on the day of the incident and the many days afterward, she would not allow me to be alone with her brother any second of any day, despite the fact that the one person I think she trusts in this school - Gary Rum - trusted me to take care of Casey. To tell you the honest truth, I don't think she trusts you any more than she trusts me. And to be even more honest, Riley, I don't even think she trusts Daniel Montgomery any more than either of us.

"If she plans on having the truth come out, it will. If she doesn't intend for the truth to come out, it never will. And I don't think it ever would have, even if you had asked Christmas Day."

"The only problem in your equation, Rohan, is that I know what happened, and if I'm right, Jessica won't just go to jail for murder. She'll go to jail for treason. You can see my anxiety, can't you?"

Suddenly, a large Mottled Owl flew and landed onto Riley's shoulder. The Auror gave the American Department of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement's owl a perturbed look before grabbing the note off its leg. He read over the note with a startled surprise.

"What is it?" Rohan asked, noticing his look.

Riley glanced up at Rohan before giving the bird a treat. The bird flew off. "I'm being summoned back to the States. It seems that we have a new Secretary of Magic."

Rohan raised his eyebrows at that. "How did they do that without any press?"

"Never underestimate Andorra Dumbledore's determination to do something." Riley folded the parchment and placed it in an inner pocket of his cloak. "I've got to get back to the States."

When Riley just walked away without saying another word, Rohan called after him, "I expect you to see me before you talk to the children!"

Riley didn't respond or even stop his gait.

"Do I need to put guards on those kids that don't feel any loyalty to you?" Rohan asked.

Riley never looked back.

* * *

"Tatianna Melovic."

"Sounds Russian."

"It is Russian."

"Sounds like a female."

"It *is* a female, you moron."

"Then why did you start that sentence off with an 'it'?"

"Nothing like surrounding yourself with the best and the brightest," Daniel murmured. The Dark Operators were sitting around a conference table, waiting for their meeting with the new Secretary of Magic.

"I heard she was old," came another comment, ignoring Daniel's comment.

"Tell me, Riley," Daniel continued, "how is that when we have the highest level of security possible in the Department that we still have rumors at this level?"

"We're humans, not books," Riley said, his eyes on "The Times" as he sipped his coffee. "We're made up of grey matter, not the black and white facts of books."

Every murmur of conversation at the table stopped as everyone looked at Riley blankly. Riley never noticed as his eyes remained on the paper.

"Stop being philosophical at seven in the morning," Daniel finally said.

Riley finally looked up from the paper, and, upon noticing all the eyes in the room on him, he grinned. "Can't help it," he said.

The door slammed open and a very tall older witch said without looking up, "Time is money people. What is this meeting about?"

Andorra, who was following her, gave the Dark Operators a pleading look. They all bit their tongues, which kept their comments back *and* any greeting. This caused the unknown woman to look up. She looked at the group curiously. They just stared back.

As Andorra turned to seal the door and soundproof the room, she could be heard to murmur on a groan, "Oh, this is going to be fun."

Andorra turned back to the group with a deep breath. "Guys, this is our newly voted in secretary, Tatianna Melovic. Tatianna, this is the Dark Operators."

The Dark Operators took Melovic in. She was tall - probably about six feet - and had thick, wavy salt-and-pepper hair that reached below her waist. Her face was tanned, her cheekbones high, her eyes a piercing dark blue. She was absolutely gorgeous, everyone in the room noticed, with the exception that she exuded her Ice Princess personality in waves. Riley and Daniel exchanged a worried look.

Melovic gave Andorra a look. "Dark Operators?"
"Yes, Dark Operators." Daniel was surprised to see Andorra ring her hands nervously as she spoke. "I said that I would have to explain the next meeting."

"Yes, I would expect no less," Melovic said as she sat down. Andorra went over to the chair next to Melovic but only merely stood behind it.

"The Dark Operators may be a bit hard to explain, so be patient with me.

"After Grindelwald, Secretary Raimy decided that there was a special force needed to deal directly with the underworld, a force not held down by the laws of our magical world, be it in magical society or in magical law. The group is only to be directly questioned by one person."

"The Secretary of Magic," Melovic answered.

*And here was the kicker*, Daniel thought as he waited for Andorra to respond, which she finally did, looking directly at Tatianna.

"The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Melovic started to respond, but, Daniel saw with relief, she was stopped by Andorra's hand. His boss was finally getting herself together.

"The team is carefully chosen. After they accept the invitation to the team, they are given further, careful training. They are constantly observed and watched by the Head of Magical Law Enforcement and a team chosen by the Secretary of Magic. The Dark Operators are allowed to do much, but we do draw the line at the Unforgivable Curses."

Daniel and Riley exchanged another look, both men very successfully fighting grins as the words *liar, liar, pants on fire* went through both their heads. Neither dared a look at Andorra as she continued, her voice serious and more firm by the second.

"Their actions and missions never have to be checked with the Secretary, and even their arrests don't always have to be reported. The less known about their actions, the more chance we have that the other side does not know that anyone is on to the them."

"I imagine you have already figured out that Jonathon Ziners has informed this Lord Voldemort of who you are."

Before Andorra could speak, Daniel said, "It is true that Jonathon Ziners knew our names, our faces, and our general mission, but that was where it began and ended, the same as it will for you. If we planned on being completely secret from the Ministry, we wouldn't have our base of operations located at the Ministry. But if we did that, what would differentiate ourselves from the bad guys?" Without waiting for answer, Daniel continued.

"After my team's interrogation of Jonathon Ziners and his two accomplices, we have found that yes, this Lord Voldemort does know of our existence, and he knows our names, but when he inquired of our methods of operation, a key piece of information to taking the team down, Jonathon could not speak even a word. No one outside our team and Andorra and the very few trusted members of our supervisory squad know how we work, who does what, whose forte is what, how things get done, when we arrest and when we do other things, how we get our information, or even if we decide to act on certain offenses. No one outside the team and Andorra know if the team member's have a family, who their best friends are, or even if they have a life outside of this team. The only exception to this is me and that's because of my niece and nephew. The only living location commonly known to the Ministry is my location, and that's only commonly known to the higher up Ministry workers. And after what happened, we examined everyone with a fine-toothed comb. Either way, I can't and am not willing to run and hide because this chickenshit who's so powerful he's terrified to use his own name knows *my name*." Daniel wasn't going to add that he left out important factors, like the fact the Dark Operators were three stronger - Daniel telling Josh Benson, Richie Thender, and Feng Chong to stay at home today and avoid the new secretary for as long as humanly possible. Daniel knew that in a perfect world, Tatianna Melovic would never notice the three, but this was not a perfect world and Tatianna Melovic didn't look like someone who missed much. Daniel also didn't add that his team was really much larger than that, contacts everywhere and in places that most Aurors paid their life for. There were some facts better left off. Like when they use the Crucio to get information from the bad guys. There was just some information better left unknown.

"I apologize that this team probably gave you a surprise, but I'm not sorry for what we do. If it weren't for us, Jonathon Ziners would still be the secretary, the Department none the wiser." Daniel's gaze gentled on the new secretary, hoping to have made the point that he would stick by his team no matter what but also hoping to give the impression that he was willing to work a little with the Department itself. He didn't want to burn this bridge before it was built.

Tatianna Melovic looked at him for a very long time before she slowly nodded. "I will take a look at the team before I decide whether or not to keep it. In one week's time, I will put a team together to examine this team's uses, functions, and necessity."

The present team members all piped up. Melovic give them a stern look, and though they stopped soon, it was not the look that deterred them, but Daniel's hand which silenced them. "Either way," Daniel merely said. "Are we dismissed?"

Daniel was thoroughly impressed that Melovic didn't take the bait, though he knew by her look that she had noticed it. He wasn't sure she knew it exactly, but he knew it. Whether they kept the team or not, whether the Dark Operators had the explicit permission of the Department or not...either way, his team was going to do their job.

The team started out the door, but Andorra's voice stopped them. "Riley, if you could stay behind..."

Riley looked at Daniel. Daniel looked at Andorra. She didn't look about to respond to Daniel, but she finally did in a whisper. "It's about Jessica's case."

Daniel didn't look back at Riley as he led the team out. Riley turned to Andorra and Tatianna, his face not showing that Daniel's opinion of him meant the world to him. Andorra had to congratulate the boy.

After the door had been shut and resealed, Andorra turned to Tatianna. "This is Riley Haderson, the lead investigator on the Ziners murder trial."

"An investigator on her uncle's own team," Tatianna said with a forcibly patient grin. "How very inappropriate."

Before Riley had a chance to retort - something Andorra had known he was just about to do, evident by the open mouth - Andorra spoke.

"Now that she has put a name with the face, Riley," Andorra said with a sweet smile Riley's direction, "could you go back to your team now?"

Riley nodded immediately and left.

Andorra turned back to Tatianna, her sweet grin leaving. "And having known the boy all of two seconds, how did your quick brain deduce that?"

Ah, Andorra felt like her old self finally. Andorra had been nervous to introduce the Dark Operators because of their legalities, but now that it came to a defense of her own decisions, she was ready to become the woman that Tatianna had met and had, to Tatianna's own chagrin, been nervously waiting for.

"My quick brain, Miss Dumbledore, can deduce a great many things probably as fast, if not faster, than yours, but that is not the topic of discussion now. If you require as to my reasons for believing the inappropriateness of the assignment of Mr. Haderson to Miss Ziners case, it is by my mere observation of the young man around his team leader. His entire team, for that matter, had the same actions. Utter loyalty, which I do not necessarily see as a bad vice, but here I do see it as problematic."

"Well, I will give you credit for observation, but there is a quality in this situation which you sorely lack. It is not your fault because it is a quality that takes time in one place. It is the quality of knowing the people that work here and understanding how they work. I know that you have not given me the benefit of the doubt before, but I beg of you to give it to me now.

"If there is one thing I know about Riley Haderson, it *is* that, indeed, he wants, if nothing else, to never do anything that will make Daniel Montgomery think badly of him. From the second Riley met Daniel, Riley has practically worshipped the ground Daniel walks on. And if there is a second thing I know about Riley, it's that he knows Daniel better than anyone in the world, so I know that he knows that Daniel highly respects certain qualities and holds them in the highest regard and expects everyone around him to do the same. Honor, integrity, honesty, and hard work, only to mention just a few. Riley knows that if he were to botch this case at all - just to fudge one fact to help Jessica - that Daniel would disown him without a second thought.

"And if your mind needs proof of that - Riley could have charged Jessica with self-defense. None of us would be wiser. But he did not."

"And if I were to take your word for it," Tatianna said through a tense grin, "why chose him and not another capable investigator?"

"He's the only one that is not afraid of Daniel."

Finally, the tense face broke and Tatianna gave a fraction of a grin. "Well, I imagine that particular quality is rare among the Aurors."

Andorra grinned too. "Yes, it is.

"Honestly though, Tatianna. Put together your team, do your investigation, settle your own feelings about the Dark Operators. But, *please*, think long and hard before you disband them. These guys have gotten further into the dark world than any other organization before them. The group works, and I don't think we really want to know how they do it."

Tatianna gave a mild nod. "But I still want the investigation."

Andorra nodded. "I understand. But please run your team of investigators by me before you do that. I really don't want anyone to know about these guys." There was a silence before Andorra said quietly, "I know you don't agree with Riley as lead investigator on Miss Ziners' case, but I didn't make that decision lightly. Daniel was already extremely emotional over the incident. I needed someone on the case who was not only not afraid of Daniel but someone who knows precisely how to handle him. And I also needed a damn good investigator. Riley is the only Auror that fits that bill. And yes, I know that to fit that bill, I had to make the sacrifice of having Riley having been close to those he is investigating, but in our business, you have to make those kind of sacrifices in favor of more important things.

"I wanted you as secretary, Tatianna. I wanted you specifically. You were the best Unspeakable trainer out there. You headed up our secret Unspeakable office in Russia and kept it so secret that I don't even think Daniel knows about it, which is saying something. During Grindelwald's time, we had not one Unspeakable cross over to his side, which we can't even say is true for even our top Aurors of that era. I'm praying that I can trust you and that I can trust that you will keep our top guys on our side during this fight with this Lord Voldemort, and I'm praying that you can weed out any that have turned already.

"And because I am not only trusting you with the lives of those here at this Department but with the lives of every American witch and wizard, probably more, I ask you this one thing.

"To trust my judgment of how I run my department."

* * *

Daniel grabbed Riley's elbow and yanked him off to the side of the main bull pen of the Department of Magic.

"Hello, Daniel. How are you doing?" Riley asked with a grin.

Daniel rolled his eyes before saying, "I finally remembered where I've heard the name Tatianna Melovic before."

"You've heard the name before?" Riley asked, surprised.

"Yeah. She ran something in Russia for the American Department of Magic. Some secret Unspeakable facility. It was opened a few years before Grindelwald started wreaking havoc. It changed hands about fifteen years ago. Melovic's been being re-introduced to America and regular society and a regular, public job since then."

"She any good?" Riley asked, leaning against the wall and biting back a laugh as Daniel took a bite out of a cookie Riley hadn't noticed the man had been holding until a second ago.

"As an Unspeakable?" Daniel said after swallowing, "One of the best. As a boss? A bitch but excellent. Efficient, organized, knows what she's doing and how best to put people to make her organization run efficiently. As a person? Again, a bitch, but she's straight-laced. Hates the bad guys as much as an Auror does."

Riley nodded. "So, prospective good Secretary, barring the event in which she might disband us."

"Barring that," Daniel agreed after another bite of his cookie, "she'll be good. A bitch and a hard-ass, but she most likely won't turn. And she's not stupid."

"Which could be good or could be bad. What's your preliminary feeling?"

"First, what's yours?"

"A bitch, but not working for the bad guys."

"Same opinion here," Daniel said, finishing off all but one small bite of his cookie.

"You do realize you look ridiculous eating a cookie? The office terror eating a cookie." Riley grinned at him. Riley laughed when Daniel threw the rest of the cookie at him before taking off back towards the Dark Operators' office.

To be continued...