Chapter 20

Remus woke, drenched in sweat. Was it a dream or was it a memory? He didn't know. Checking the clock, he saw that it was just after noon. He had to go talk to Sirius. After eating lunch, he would discuss this dream or memory with Sirius. Hopefully, his friend could provide some insight.

Sirius was quite surprised to see Remus limping into the library. He helped his friend to a chair. "What brings you here?"

"I had to talk to you. I've had a rather disturbing dream." It was difficult, but he related the dream to Sirius.

"And you don't know if this really happened or not?" Sirius asked, in a state of mild shock.

Remus shook his head. "No. It seemed far too real to be just a dream. Normally, I have very little memory of what happens when I am a wolf."

"Surely, it was a dream. I mean, the odds of finding a female are pretty slim," Sirius rationalized.

"Her niece is a werewolf," Remus replied soberly.

"Oh," said Sirius quietly. They stared at each other in silence for several seconds. "Surely, they would keep her locked up for full moon and on the Wolfsbane Potion," he offered hopefully.

Remus ran his hand through his hair. "But I can't be sure. It all seemed so real. I can remember her scent. I wish I could find out for sure."

"Yeah, that would go over well. Knock on the door to the Leah manor and ask if someone molested their daughter on full moon."

"I didn't molest her!" Remus defended. "It was... It's hard to explain."

"I'd really rather you didn't," replied Sirius dryly. He involuntarily shuddered at the thought of his friend having wolf sex.

"But if it did happen, then what? I can't hide it from Wendy. She keeps track of her family and would find out her niece was pregnant."

"What if she didn't get pregnant or the family decides to..."

"She was in heat, there is no question of that. I don't know what her family will do. I have to tell Wendy. She has a right to know."

"To know what? You don't even know if it happened. What if it is a dream? What does telling her accomplish? Besides, did she tell you about her arrangement with Malfoy? You don't owe her anything," insisted Sirius.

"I'm too tired to argue. I'm going to rest." With difficulty, Remus rose from his chair and limped his way upstairs.

---

Wendy returned home and Cappa immediately informed her that Remus had gone to Grimmauld Place. She wondered what could have led him to undertake such a journey while he was so weak.

She received her typical sarcastic welcome from Sirius. After he had hurled several insults at her, he informed her that Remus was resting upstairs. She saw him, asleep on the bed, and crawled in front of him, pressing her back against him. As he woke, she could feel him squeeze her.

"What a pleasant surprise," he whispered.

She rolled over to look at him. "What possessed you come here? I was quite surprised to find you gone when I got home."

"I had to see Sirius," he replied.

"And it was so urgent it couldn't wait another day? You were utterly exhausted this morning," she said her voice full of concern

He smiled weakly. "I still am, and yes, it was that important."

"What could be that important?" she asked cautiously.

"I may have done something, something terrible the other night," he replied sadly as he sat up in the bed.

"Had you bit and infected someone, Lucius surely would have brought that to my attention," she replied, also sitting.

He brushed her hair. "No, not that," he said quietly. "I believe there was another of my kind in the woods that night," he began gently.

"My niece," Wendy added. She wondered what point he was trying to make.

He nodded. "Yes. I dreamt after you left, only I think it was more than a dream, I think it was a memory. The sensations, the smells, the tastes, were too real for a mere dream."

"What did you remember?" she asked warily.

He kissed her softly on her forehead. "If what I remember is true, I found your niece in the woods. Since wolves are social animals, we played. As we played, I noticed a scent..." he paused, hoping he wouldn't have to explain further.

She saw the forlorn look on his face. "And the two of you? You..?" she asked, unable to say the words.

"We did, if it was a memory," he replied sadly.

"And you have no way of knowing if it was a memory or a dream?" She wasn't quite sure which was more disturbing. The thought of him mating with her niece bothered her, but having him dream about wolf sex was even more disturbing.

"I'm inclined to believe it's a memory because I have never had a dream like that before. It's not something I have contemplated."

"I see." She pulled away from him, trying to comprehend what she was hearing. The rational part of her mind knew that when he was the wolf, he had little control over his instincts. That was why he had hunted her; she had been the closest prey.

"You know it's not something I did on purpose, right?" She had to believe that he had very little control over his actions when he was a wolf.

"Yes. I'm just trying to think what this might mean. I mean, could you impregnate her?" She turned to face him.

"Possibly. It's not something I've read about, but as you know, little is written about werewolves."

She furrowed her brows in thought. "This could be quite interesting. I'm not entirely sure how my brother would react to that. I know he has been trying to arrange a marriage for her. This could either hasten or postpone that marriage."

"He wouldn't...have it...terminated, would he?" he asked tentatively.

She shrugged. "I have no idea. I think it depends on what she says. If she were to tell the truth, probably. He wouldn't want a werewolf's offspring in his family; he's still in denial of what she is. If she lies, and tells him she had a liaison with someone else, probably not. This, of course, assumes that she does not take a potion herself, without telling him what happened. If she remembers what happens, this may be the most likely scenario. Remember, she is a pureblood and we are taught not to let accidents happen." She saw that he looked somewhat disappointed. "What is it?"

"I don't know." He looked away momentarily. Turning back to her, he took her hands in his. "Marry me," he said abruptly.

Wendy was caught completely off-guard. "What?"

"When this is all over, say that you will marry me." Now that he had asked, he would not stop without an answer.

"Remus, this is all very sudden." She was slowly recovering from her shock.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "You have said that you love me and I love you. I know that you want a normal life as much as I do. That brief thought of my child being born into the world filled me with a sense of longing. I find I want that reality. I could see it happening with you. Be my wife and the mother of my children." He smiled warmly at her. He had always wanted a family and now he thought that he had to grasp at the chance before it got away from him.

She reached out to touch his arm. It was clear how much this meant to him. "I long ago gave up on that life. I'm damaged. I've been through too much," she replied sadly.

"We are both damaged and I don't care." He pulled her to him. "I can think of no reason why you should say no, unless it's who I am or who my parents were."

"You know that doesn't matter to me," she replied. It didn't matter after Edgar. He had proven that being pureblood didn't make you better, despite what she had been taught.

"Then say yes. I know I can't provide you much other than my unconditional love, but I hope that will be enough. After all, you were the one that said you would take happiness, even if it was only for a few years."

She couldn't help but smile at his honesty. "I did say that, didn't I? I guess I have no choice but to say yes, don't I?"

"I daresay you don't. So you will?" he asked to get confirmation.

"When we make it through all this, I will gladly marry you."

He kissed her passionately. "Thank you. You won't regret this decision. Though, I'm afraid I can't get you a proper ring," he admitted.

"Don't worry about it. I've never been much for jewelry. But if you insist on giving me a ring, I have my great-grandmother's ring. I'm sure she would have been honored to have a man like you in the family. She placed great store in personal integrity, something you have no shortage of. And before you ask, no, it is not the ring Edgar gave me. She only passed away a few years ago."

"Than I shall give you that ring since you accept me for who I am. I look forward to the day you can wear it with pride."

"As do I. How strange this is? That I should consent to marry a Gryffindor."

"Or that I should ask a Slytherin to marry me? House rivalry is really silly, isn't it?" he asked.

"It is. I'm glad I could see past it." A sly smile graced her expression. "I would love to tell my brother. I think he would have an apoplectic fit to hear that his sister, and last acknowledged survivor of the Westin family, was marrying a halfblood commoner who happens to be a werewolf. I think that will be an unexpected benefit." As much as she wanted nothing more than to celebrate their engagement, she could tell that he was still not fully recovered. "I suppose I should go help Black with dinner. I seem to recall you mentioning he wasn't much of a cook."

"No, he isn't. Help me downstairs. He's less likely to abuse you if I'm there." He tried to get up.

She pushed him back down. "No. Stay here. I can put up with him. Your rest is more important. One of us will come get you for dinner. Now that does bring up an interesting point. When are you going to tell him?"

"That's a very good question. I think he still needs some time to get used to us. I'll tell him when the time is right."

She kissed him gently on the lips. "That's okay. I like having a secret." The fewer people that knew about it, the less likely the wrong person would hear about it.

Lying back on the bed, Remus felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had no idea what had possessed him to propose in that manner. To date, he had never really considered marriage; there was so much going on with the Order and the coming war. He had just been content to have a long-term lover, but it had suddenly seemed that he needed more in life. Thankfully, she had said yes. Now that it was over, he had no idea how he would have reacted had she said no.

---

It had been about a week since the events at her brother's house. Remus and Wendy were enjoying breakfast when Cappa brought in the Daily Prophet. "Do you mind?" Remus asked.

"Go ahead," she replied.

"Oh my!" he exclaimed and flattened the paper on the table.

Wendy leaned forward to see what he was looking at. "They what?! They must be mad. They fired Albus?" She got up and stood behind him to better read the article.

"There aren't a lot of details to the article," Remus said as he scanned the article. "I'll go to headquarters and see what happens. He may get in touch with us and give us directions." He gave her a quick kiss. "I'll let you know what I learn."

---

Remus found Sirius eating breakfast in the kitchen. "Have you heard?" he asked.

"Albus came by last night after he was sacked. He's gone into hiding, but didn't leave any orders. He said he would be in touch as the situation dictated."

"What does that mean?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. At least now he'll have time to work on fighting the Ministry's disinformation campaign. Maybe he can get about recruiting more help? Everyone keeps saying the big battle is coming, but we still only have about twenty people in the Order."

"Wendy seems confident that push come to shove the Aurors will side with Albus against Voldemort," Remus offered.

"Nice sentiment when they spout whatever dribble Fudge tells them to," Sirius replied sarcastically.

"Now, you know that Amelia Bones is quite sensible. They have the same atmosphere at the Ministry that there is at Hogwarts, you have to toe the party line or invite the wrong kind of scrutiny. Once they have the proof necessary to speak out that Voldemort has returned, they will."

"And what if we don't get the warning? What if the battle starts without us able to recruit more help? We've already received reports on the numbers the Death Eaters have, and it doesn't look good. If all those small groups can be mobilized, we will be seriously outnumbered, even if we get the Aurors on our side."

"True, but we've seen the caliber of person the Death Eaters are recruiting. I think the skill of the Aurors can overcome the numerical difference."

"For every good Auror like Kingsley, you've got someone like Tonks. Sure, she knows what she's doing, but she has a clumsy streak that could cause problems."

Remus decided not to bring up the fact that Wendy had been researching Dark Magic that could be used against Voldemort. He had assisted a little, but he wasn't as fluent in the ancient languages so he was only of limited help. "Well, the Aurors have the experience dealing with Dark Magic. Of course, I'm not sure how much Dark Magic some of these Death Eater's know." He wondered how many people like Bella they had? People like that could cause serious difficulties.

"Well, even without Dark Magic, they can still cause a lot of trouble." Sirius ate a few more bites of his cereal. "I wonder how Harry is going to do without Albus there? He wasn't doing too well with Umbridge before."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. It's safest for him at Hogwarts. I guess we'll just sit tight until Albus contacts us."

"She hasn't had any more crazy plans to get you killed, has she?" Sirius asked after a long pause.

"Sirius, be nice. That's never been her intention. She's just a little overzealous at times." He still hadn't told Sirius about their engagement, and this was the reason why.

"I still have no idea how you can defend her."

"Let's not talk about that right now. I suppose that we will be having an Order meeting tonight? I guess I'll get the word out."

"Oh, that's right. When I ask the hard questions, just run away." Sirius chided.

Remus regained his seat. "I know it bothers you. It bothers me, but all of us have agreed that we would do anything to see You-Know-Who defeated. I'll see you this evening."

---

When Wendy arrived at the Ministry, everyone was whispering in the corridors about Dumbledore's removal as headmaster. She sought out Kingsley, hoping he would have more information than she had seen in the paper. She found him at his desk working on paperwork. "Kingsley, you know what happened last night?"

"Some of it." He handed her a report.

"They sent you?" she asked incredulously as she skimmed the report.

"Yup. Fun evening, let me tell you. I can't tell you much more than what was in the papers. I have no idea how he got out of there, but he was gone without a trace."

They both looked up when a voice boomed across the room, "All Aurors report to the briefing room, immediately."

Wendy raised an eyebrow as she looked at Kingsley. "One guess what this is about," she muttered as they filed into the briefing room.

On the wall was projected a picture of Albus Dumbledore. Rufus Scrimgeour was standing at the podium. Everyone filed in quickly and settled into their seats. No one was speaking. It was rare for the head of the Auror Office to speak to them as a group.

He spoke without preamble. "You all saw the paper this morning. Albus Dumbledore is now our number one priority."

There was some murmuring and whispering amongst the Aurors.

"Westin, something amusing?" Rufus asked as he noticed she was laughing at something.

"Not to question you or the Ministry, sir, but I would think that locating the escaped Death Eaters would be more important."

"I guess you didn't read the paper, did you, Westin? Dumbledore was raising an army to be used against the Ministry. We can't have a man that was trying to undermine the government on the loose."

"Oh, yes, a bunch of half-trained teenagers are a real threat to the Ministry. Ten fully trained Death Eaters are a much lower priority," she replied sarcastically. She ignored Kingsley, who was anxiously tugging at her sleeve in an attempt to get her to be quiet.

Rufus gave her a smug grin. "Well, now that I see you are on the same page, I think this would be a good investigation for you to head. Come up with a plan by lunch and present it to me."

Wendy scowled and leaned back in her seat. She hadn't expected that and sat in silence as Rufus summarized Kingsley and Dawlish's reports of the attempt to arrest Dumbledore. There really wasn't any illuminating that hadn't been revealed in the paper.

After they were out of the briefing room, Kingsley whispered, "I was trying to get you to shut up."

"I know. I've really got to learn to keep my mouth shut, don't I?"

"Yeah. Would you like some tips on hopeless searches?" He held a straight face for only a few seconds before laughing. His search for Sirius had become a legendary failure.

"Thanks, but I'll figure it out."

---

Albus Dumbledore had gone to ground so effectively that even the Order members couldn't find him. He did send them instructions, but he did not meet with them. Remus was concerned that they had not heard much from Hogwarts since his departure. As expected, Umbridge was ruling with an iron fist. Unfortunately, the Ministry seemed to be taking the same direction. The Aurors were kept incredibly busy with fieldwork, trying to locate the still at-large escapees.

With little else to do, and Wendy occupied with Ministry's search, Remus was spending a lot of time at Grimmauld Place with Sirius. Over the last couple of weeks, he and Sirius seemed to have come to an understanding that they would not discuss her. This pained Remus. He had always hoped that when he found someone special, he would be able to share his feelings with Sirius, but that was not to be the case.

He had once again tried to speak with Sirius about Wendy. Rather than listen to anything Remus had to say about Wendy, Sirius had childishly left the room, claiming he needed to search for Kreacher. Remus had been left to study the cryptic message they had received from Dumbledore two days ago. None of the Order had been able to decipher it so far. While he normally enjoyed puzzles and had engaged in mental exercises with Dumbledore while he had been a teacher, this was far more difficult than any of those puzzles.

Now the two of them were staring at each other across the table. They had just finished having an interesting conversation with Harry about their fifteen year-old selves.

Sirius finally broke the silence. "Go ahead, I know you're dying to say it."

"Sirius, you just finished admitting a lot of people are idiots at fifteen, yourself included. She's changed."

"Why are you so keen to talk about her?"

Remus ran his hands nervously across the table. "I never thought that I would be in love, not like this. I had always hoped to be able to talk to you, like James used to talk to us about Lily. You know, I'm going to marry her."

"Sure you are," Sirius replied dryly.

"Seriously, when this is all over, she has agreed to marry me." He watched the look of shock wash across his friends face. "I'd like you to be there, be my best man."

When Sirius recovered his powers of speech, he replied, "You are serious about this, aren't you?" He watched Remus nod. "All right then, I suppose if you're happy. Maybe you can convince me what you see in her."

Remus smiled brightly before trying to convince Sirius that Wendy was not the same person she had been.

---

Wendy arrived home and hexed the chair in the hall to bits. For three weeks she had been spearheading the fruitless search for Dumbledore. More like, wasting her energy trying to find someone that she knew no one would ever find. She had finally decided to try to talk to Amelia. Perhaps she could be the voice of reason, as she had known Albus from their days on the Wizengamot together. That meeting had gone far worse than she had expected.

"Wendy? What's wrong?" asked Remus, who was cautiously hiding around the corner to the library.

"The Ministry, that's what's wrong. They insist on wasting resources hunting for Albus. I'm wasting time that I could be spending looking for escaped Death Eaters. I tried to convince Amelia this is a useless search, that if he doesn't want to be found, we won't find him. She not only didn't support me, but reprimanded me for my lack of results. Reprimanded me! And then she had the nerve to suggest that if I wasn't up to the task, that perhaps I would be better suited for a desk job. Like that's any different from what I'm doing now."

He had determined that she wasn't likely to hex anything else and wrapped his arms around her. He decided it was best to say nothing.

When there was a knock at the door, she exclaimed, "Oh, bloody hell!"

Remus quickly moved out of sight as she yanked the door open.

"What they hell do you want?"

"Well, now. Is that any way to greet me? I'd heard what a horrid day you had had, and came by to offer some support," replied Lucius.

"Yeah, well, I don't need any, so you can just bugger off!" She was mad enough, she didn't care that she was treading on thin ice by risking his wrath.

Lucius pushed his way into the house. "I don't think that I will. You seem to have forgotten about our arrangement. You haven't been replying to my messages."

"You'll forgive me if I've been a bit busy. Someone decided I should be in charge of the hunt for Dumbledore. As you can imagine, that's going to take up quite a bit of my time. I'm really quite tired."

"Well, then, perhaps the Ministry would be interested in learning that one of their Aurors was trespassing on private property, harassing a prominent citizen, and attacking an employee of that citizen?"

"That happened more than a month ago. They won't care anymore."

He grabbed her possessively. "Do you want to take that chance? I seem to recall that Amelia was quite upset with you, and didn't you admit to me that you were one misstep away from being pulled from the field?"

"True, but I think you will recall that I have a housemate? He's in the library." She hoped that reminder would be enough to get him to leave.

Lucius loosened his grip slightly and pulled her out of the entrance hall and into the drawing room. "I'm sure we can arrange something."

Wendy was trying to determine if he was especially upset by her refusal. She hadn't expected to see him today, and hadn't had a chance to take one of the antidote potions she had developed. Perhaps her anger was enough to allow her to maintain control. "Lucius, please, I've been working on this for days on end. I haven't got any energy."

Before she could react, Lucius pulled her tight for a passionate kiss. When he released her, she was panting heavily. "What about now?"

Her body was beginning to betray her conscious mind. "Lucius, please, he might see," she protested, though not as forcefully as before.

---

Remus was having a hard time hearing what was happening. He heard Malfoy trying to use his blackmail information, but little after Wendy mentioned that she was not alone in the house and had been led into the drawing room. Still gripping his wand tightly, he wanted to charge into the drawing room and hex Malfoy. Unfortunately, he knew that was not a good idea. While Malfoy may not recognize him, it was possible that his description would get back to Wendy's brother, and Timor might make the connection.

Peering around the library doorframe, he strained to make out the whispers coming from the drawing room. They were speaking too quietly for him to make out the words. He was considering what to do next, when he heard Wendy exclaim, "Oh, Lucius!"

The ecstasy in her voice made his blood boil. He knew that it was not her fault, that Malfoy was using some sort of potion on her, but it didn't make him feel any less jealous. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to calm himself, telling himself he had accepted this arrangement, even if he didn't like it and that if he did anything, it would jeopardize them both.

When he heard the front door open and close, he cautiously moved out of the library. He was not entirely surprised to find that Wendy was not in the drawing room. Deciding he didn't want to be alone, he headed over to Grimmauld Place.

---

"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked when he saw his friend standing in the doorway.

"Nice to see you, too," replied a tired Remus.

"I don't mean it like that; I thought you had a big romantic dinner planned for this evening?"

"Yeah, well, something came up," Remus said gruffly.

"Did you want to talk about it?" Sirius offered.

"Not particularly," replied Remus. "I just wanted some company."

"Let me finish up with Buckbeak and we can play some cards."

"Sounds good. I'll put together a snack." Since he had not yet had dinner, he was quite hungry.

---

It was nearly midnight, and Sirius could tell that Remus still did not have his mind in the game. He could tell the Remus didn't want to leave, but he wasn't sure what his friend wanted. The few attempts he had made at conversation had failed, with Remus only answering in short sentences. Sirius finally put the cards down. "Why don't we try this again later? You don't seem to be that interested in playing anyway."

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I'm a little preoccupied," he said as he dropped his cards to the table and leaned back in his chair.

"I'll say. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"I'm sure."

By now Sirius was almost positive this had something to do with Wendy. "Remus..."

"Sirius!" he started angrily, but he realized he wasn't made at Sirius, but Malfoy. "He came by tonight, and he's definitely doing something to her, but I'm not sure what."

He didn't get to say anymore because he was interrupted by a voice at the door. "I thought I might find you here," Wendy said.

Sirius thought she looked as miserable as Remus. The two of them had reached an uneasy truce over the last several weeks. "How did you get in?"

"I let myself in the door. You really should put a more complex locking charm up. The first time I saw Remus unlock the door, I knew I could replicate the spell." She turned her attention to Remus. "Did you want to come home?"

"I'll be there shortly," he replied. Once she was gone, he turned his attention to Sirius. "We need to do something about him. I can't stand what he's doing to her."

"So what? You think we should take him out?" Sirius asked, making it clear that attacking one of wizarding Britain's most prominent citizens was a ludicrous idea.

Remus ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know. I just want him away from her. I almost did something stupid tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."

---

When he returned home, he found Wendy sitting in the darkened drawing room, hugging one of the throw pillows. "How are you doing?" he asked gently. When she looked at him, he could see the lamp from the hall catching the tears running down her cheeks.

"I couldn't resist him. I tried, but I couldn't."

He sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "I know." He was trying his best not to start crying, too. "Did he say anything to you?"

She sniffed, trying to control her sniffling. "He-he mentioned that he was going to be busy. That something big was going to happen soon. I didn't really get the chance to ask him too much." She paused for a few seconds. "He wants to get together again... soon," she added quietly.

"Perhaps you can be better prepared then," he offered in a whisper.

She held him in silence for several long seconds. "I don't deserve you."

He stroked her hair. "Of course you do." After that, he did nothing more than hold her, providing her the comfort she needed.

---

Wendy had gone to the Ministry to file another round of reports on the status of her search for Dumbledore. Naturally, there was little substance to these reports, but she had to file them so that her superiors thought she was actively searching for missing wizard. In truth, she had decided to take it as a challenge to find the old man, just to see if she could find him, but nothing she had done had yielded any clues.

When she looked at her in basket, she noticed the top piece of paper was a summons to Amelia Bones' office. It had no details about why she was being summoned. As this was an urgent summons, she set down the incomplete reports and decided to get it over with.

Upon arriving at Amelia's office, the secretary instructed her to wait. Wendy sat in the chair in the reception area trying to determine why she was there. If it was about the search for Dumbledore, they really had no reason to reprimand her for a lack of results. After all, Kingsley hadn't turned up a solid lead on Black in many months and no one had captured any of the escaped Death Eaters. To the best of her knowledge, she hadn't done anything else to garner the wrong sort of attention, so she was at a loss to explain why she was there.

After about fifteen minutes, the secretary told her Amelia was ready to see her. Upon entering the office, Wendy was about to open her mouth to say something, when she saw the angry look on Amelia's face and decided silence was the best course of action. She also decided that it would be presumptuous to take a seat and remained standing.

Amelia angrily waved a file folder at Wendy. "Do you know what this is?"

"I'm afraid not," Wendy replied cautiously.

"This..." Amelia stabbed the file for emphasis. "Is your personnel record."

Wendy started having a bad feeling about where this discussion was going, but chose to say nothing. She tried to keep her outward demeanor neutral.

"Do you know why I have it?" Amelia asked pointedly.

Wendy knew it was best to take a guess. "Because someone submitted a complaint?"

"More than just that." Amelia opened the file and pulled out sheets of parchment, one after the other. "This one is for trespassing. This one is for unprovoked attack on a civilian. This one alleges that you are in possession of a dangerous Dark artifact. Should I go on?"

Wendy reached forward and picked up the new complaints. "These are all events that happened more than a month ago. Surely you don't put credence in something that wasn't reported right away?" Lucius. She knew that he was behind this. His name wasn't on any of the reports, but this was his doing.

Amelia pointed at one of them. "This one is only dated a couple of days ago. I can only assume that your brother was protecting you, but when you did this, he decided he needed to act."

Wendy grabbed the sheet of parchment. She grew incensed as she read. "This never happened. I never did this. It's all lies," she said defensively.

"But you don't deny the others?"

"I don't have any Dark artifacts." At least none that her brother would know about. "He's making that up. You should let me search his house and show you what I turn up."

"Yes, so you can get back at him."

"What? No! I would never do that."

"You have been warned in the past about your conduct."

Wendy interrupted, "You don't believe that drivel, do you?"

Amelia spoke louder, over Wendy's protestations, "As a result of your continued difficulty in adhering to the rules, you are being placed on suspension..."

"SUSPENSION!"

"BE QUIET! Effective immediately you are placed on suspension. You will turn over your badge and you will be escorted home."

"Escorted home? What? You don't want me to cause a scene here?" Wendy's head was swirling as her life seemed to come crashing down around her.

"Once there, you will allow the escort to search your property," Amelia continued.

"On what grounds?" Wendy asked defensively.

"On the grounds of this report. We have a duty to investigate all reports of Dark artifacts and magic from reputable sources. This – is a reputable source."

"I can't believe this," Wendy cried out in disbelief.

"Believe it. You have been walking the edge since you were hired. Once we have concluded our investigation, you will be notified."

"You're going to fire me, aren't you?" She could not believe this was happening. True, she had pushed the rules to the boundary, but she had never crossed that boundary. The last decade had been dedicated to rooting out Dark wizards and preventing the rise of another Dark Lord. Now she was being told that her services were not needed. She had no doubt that the investigation would go against her. Clearly the Ministry had decided it was inconvenient to have her around.

"That depends on the outcome of the investigation. If you have truly done nothing wrong, you will be allowed to return to work. If not..." Amelia held out her hand, waiting for Wendy's badge.

Wendy had over her badge and left the office. Waiting outside were two Aurors that she was not particularly close to. She assumed that was why they had been chosen.

"Sorry about this, Wendy," said Bates, the elder of the two, apologetically.

"Yeah, well, my brother is an arse. I'm surprised he didn't do this long ago." They didn't say anything else as they left the Ministry. She knew that any incriminating Dark artifacts she had were safely locked behind wards and wouldn't be found. She had some books that were questionable, but they should be overlooked. Hopefully Remus wasn't at home. She knew that he spent most of his days with Sirius if he wasn't working. She was pretty sure he was working today.