Blood of the Moon {Remus Lupin}

Chapter 17

Look at me go, two days in a row! And it even rhymes! :)

"Is it true then?" asked Megan as she placed a cup of tea and that day's Daily Prophet down on Auriga's desk. It was five minutes past nine, and Auriga had already been there for more than six hours. Megan was the first one in the office, other than herself and Cowell. She had just finished on the Floo with the Netherlands Ministry of Magic an hour ago, and had spent her time re-reading the report given to her by the Auror Office and writing it up properly to give to the various Ministry's of Magic that would want to take a look. She'd already had owls from Germany, the United States, the Burkinabe Ministry of Magic, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, and Spain and had arranged meetings on Thursday and Friday with France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. She would be required to attend a press conference on Monday, present the case on Tuesday to the International Confederation of Wizards alongside Mr Crouch and the Minister for Magic, and then after that would be constantly attending meetings with the Minister and the various concerned countries in an effort to restore trade and catch Black as quickly as possible.

She'd given herself a five-minute tea break between her Floo calls with Belgium and the Netherlands, and had daydreamed about being the one to catch him. Oh how sweet that would be...after all he'd put her through...all this work... But she'd soon snapped out of that and jumped back to work.

"Black's really escaped?" Megan asked, and Auriga looked up at her drearily. Then she looked down at the headline of the Prophet and took a sip of tea. NOTORIOUS MASS MURDERER SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN PRISON.

"Yep," Auriga said, "He's out."

"Thought you'd get the case," said John from across the room as he placed his briefcase on his desk. "I do not envy you."

"Nor do I," said Megan, now retreating to her own desk. "How long have you been here?"

"Six hours," Auriga replied with a yawn, "Got a meeting with Crouch in an hour, and another one with Fudge at eleven." John let out a low whistle as Maggie and Dean, another of their coworkers, walked in. Over the next ten minutes the others in her office came in, each of them greeting her and then pestering her for details of the case. The problem was, she had none.

Auriga had struggled with the angry French Minister for almost two hours before she could reach a temporary trade agreement with him until they met on Thursday. And she'd promised him a full report of her stock and trade predictions, along with all the measures the British Ministry were taking to capture Black. The Netherlands Minister, Mevr van der Berg had been far more pleasant, but still just as serious, and the Belgian Minister, Monsieur Dupont had been very calm about the whole thing, going as far as to joke about finally sending a representative who spoke French, Dutch and German.

She finished her final report and checked her watch. She had ten minutes before she needed to head off to Crouch's office. She set a timer on her watch and closed her eyes, dozing off almost instantly.

She woke up seconds later to feel her watch vibrating. That wasn't fair - she'd only been asleep for a few seconds! But no, it had definitely been five minutes. And she had that funny nap taste in her mouth. Auriga quickly got up and made herself a cup of tea before heading down the corridor to Crouch's office. Lot's of people smiled at her and said good morning as she passed, but she didn't really know them so she just smiled forcefully back until she finally reached her destination.

Auriga knocked on the open door and the young wizard sat at her old desk glanced up. Auriga vaguely recognised him as a boy from the year above her. "Good to see you, Auriga!" he said brightly, clearly not catching her solemn and exhausted mood. "I don't suppose you remember me? Toby Montague, year above you in Ravenclaw?"