The Big Dipper

Players and Pawns

After the excitement of the last few days, it was almost comforting to be able to get back to normal, or whatever normal meant during a war. Ursula was back at the sanctuary, and she and the others had a renewed sense of companionship after having all participated in the rescue at King's Cross. They tuned into Potterwatch as a group each week, and Ursula kept those who were curious up to date with the news of the war. She knew far more than would ever be reported in the Daily Prophet, after all.

Voldemort was furious that not a single muggleborn had been caught on the train, and Ursula felt a vindictive sort of pleasure that she knew the true reason why. The Dark Lord was amassing ever large groups of Snatchers and other menial followers to carry out his dirty work, but he would never find the muggleborns he so desperately looked for.

Ursula felt a strange sense of pride every time she visited Black Manor. Considering the circumstances, the many inhabitants were practically flourishing. The new arrivals, who cropped up once a week or so, sometimes more infrequently, were getting steadily more desperate and disheveled. They were comforted over tea, given a warm bed, and contributed what they could to caring for the many children crowding the house. One adult had found it unsavory that a werewolf was staying in the house, however young he was, but Ursula had angrily told him he could either accept it or leave. Black Manor was like a hotel, except it was free to stay and the guests wouldn't leave, at least until the war was over.

Slowly but surely, the leaves began to change color as September moved into October. The wind picked up and the temperature cooled down. Most of her friends had younger siblings back at Hogwarts, dangerous though it now seemed, and overall things seemed to have calmed down. In the blur of war, the painful uncertainty of what might happen next followed them all like a constant shadow, but when no developments were made, particularly on the side of the Death Eaters, for days, and when those days turned into weeks, Ursula and the others could breathe a little easier.

Her nightmares had largely subsided. Rather than waking up nearly every night gasping and trembling, her sleep was interrupted perhaps once a week, and sometimes even more infrequently. It had taken two straight weeks of using a Sleeping Draught to get her sleep schedule back on track, but in the end it had worked.

Like Felix, who returned home nearly every night to see his wife, Ursula began leaving in the evenings every few days. She couldn't risk missing any more Death Eater meetings, for she needed to be absolutely up-to-date with new plans if she was to make her own plans in response. To her, it seemed like the war was at a crucial stage, but neither side was making mistakes, so they were at a stalemate. That said, it was far easier to plan during a time of relative peace than frantic disasters.

Ursula settled back into her routine at the Ridgebit Dragon Sanctuary, utilizing her weekends off to visit Fred. Even after Death Eater meetings, she rarely stayed at Corvus Manor anymore. The reminders of the horrors that had occurred there always seemed to make her nightmares worse. When she was with Fred, however, she was safe.

Ursula attended the wedding of Benjamin Travers and Emmeline West in late September. It was a huge honor for the West family to marry into a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but the newlywed couple did look genuinely in love, which was always a good sign. She went with Hadrian, as was expected, and endured several hours of compliments on how good they looked together and questions as to how soon they were to wed.

Much of Ursula's time in England was spent on her own wedding preparations, irritating though it was and far more time-consuming than she would've liked. She half suspected Narcissa kept a calendar counting down the days to her wedding, despite it being seven months away.

"Tu es magnifique, ma chérie," said Jean-Luc Rousseau, the French wizard designing Ursula's wedding dress, at her next fitting.

"Oui," said Ursula, turning to admire herself in the mirror. "Merci beaucoup, Jean-Luc. Il est parfait."