Blood of the Moon {Remus Lupin}

Chapter 27

Look at her go...two days in a row!! Thanks for all your support! :)

Auriga was feeling rather bitter about the fact that she hadn't been invited to Hogwarts to open the Triwizard Tournament. After all, she was the one that had arranged it all. They wanted to import dragons into the country for Merlin's sake. Discretely and confidentially. And who had managed to arrange that with the Department for the Regulation and Control of magical creatures? Her! So why hadn't she been invited? How come Crouch got all the credit? And Bagman too!

Perhaps it was just as well. She did have all this paperwork to get through from the fiasco last month with the Death Eaters. And the Americans wanted to review the terms of their agreement to help find Black. Especially after that slight problem at Hogwarts.

Auriga dared a glance at the clock on her wall. She really ought to be leaving if she wanted to be on time for dinner with her parents. She'd been dreading it all day, mostly because she was planning on questioning them about the World Cup. She half-knew their answer already, but she didn't want to hear it. Not at all.

*****

Auriga was sat opposite her father and next to her mother in Snidget, sipping at some elf-made wine, and trying to find the courage to ask. "So, how's work going, dear?" asked her mother.

"Oh, as well as it always is in International Relations," Auriga said, trying to be light-hearted. Her mother chuckled and her father smiled. "Except there's a lot of paperwork from the World Cup. And the French keep demanding meetings with me - they think Black was behind it."

Narcissa Malfoy snorted, and her husband shot her a warning look. "You don't know anything, do you, Father?" Auriga asked, careful to keep her voice down. Lucius Malfoy looked at her, narrowing his eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"Why would your father know about that sort of thing?" her mother asked, sounding suspicious.

"Because I heard his voice," Auriga said, stiffening in her chair, and wiping her hands on her napkin.

"Ask me no questions," her father said, "And I will tell you no lies." Now it was his turn to receive a warning look form his spouse.

"So you were there!" hissed Auriga, her face growing hot with anger. "Have you got any idea how much damage you caused? I've been correcting things for weeks! This could damage my whole career!" She was careful to whisper all this, lest the people around them hear.

"You are in no position to lecture us about causing damage, young lady," her mother warned. "That wedding cost us a small fortune-"

"Narcissa," warned her father. Her mother closed her mouth. "Auriga," Lucius Malfoy continued calmly, "You ought to remember your position in society. And that there's no harm in having a little fun now and again. As for your career...I'll take care of it."

Auriga saw very little point in arguing further. And she supposed the muggles deserved it. "Thank you, Father," she said, taking another sip of her wine.

*****

"How was it, Sir?" Auriga asked as Mr Crouch walked past her office door. Judging by the time, he'd just returned from Hogwarts, where he'd been judging the first task. Auriga was very interested in the tournament, having set it up, but now she'd been kept out the loop. They hadn't even given her details of how Harry Potter had managed to enter himself, but it was probably Dumbledore's fault. It usually was.

"Oh yes, very good," said Crouch, looking everywhere but at Auriga, "Dragons. But I must get going...lots of work to do." Auriga hadn't really spoken to Crouch recently, but she was sure he was behaving oddly.