"Hey ... at least you can get a closer look?"

Aubrey blinked in disbelief before exhaling slowly to calm herself down, "This could be priceless - "

"No, it's really not," Saskia replied, "The original is far more glimmery ... it's not a big deal."

"Yes, it is!"

"... you're right, it completely is!" Saskia exclaimed with double the enthusiasm of Aubrey. 

"We ... we need to let someone know, this could be bad, we could get into such trouble ... but we still need to tell someone," Aubrey added firmly, to ensure there was no doubt about her sentiment. She turned to Saskia, her eyes wide with horror and almost spluttered with laughter at Saskia's near perfect imitation.

"My Dad's around here somewhere, I'm sure he can help us," Aubrey said, holding the door open for Saskia who remained frozen. To prompt her, Aubrey gestured to the outside and only then did Saskia step through, a broad grin on her face, "Why do you look so happy?"

"It's a joke..."

"OI!" The pair of them turned just in time to see one of the men from earlier rushing towards them. Aubrey swivelled, feeling Saskia tug on her sleeve.

"Aubrey, we need to hide, that's one of the bad men - "

"Shhh," Aubrey scolded sternly, briefly shivering at how much like her mother she sounded, "The last time we hid, that happened..."

"Excuse me, that room is classified and locked ... " He glanced from them to the door several times, "How ... how did you get in there?"

"Um ... I'm not sure," Aubrey admitted, glancing at Saskia who in turn looked back at her with an identical pleading glance, "We were ... just looking for someone and then when we went in there, something happened ... there was this gong hanging from the ceiling which ... which fell..."

She had anticipated a look of horror on the man's face but he simply maintained the current level, "I ... I will have that investigated but the repercussions of trespassing on Ministry property can be very severe - "

"We're not trespassing, the door was unlocked!" Saskia said suddenly.

"That's still trespassing."

"Well, it sounds a bit like an invitation - "

"No, it's evidently not," The man replied sternly, "You two need to come with me."

Saskia remained still until Aubrey tugged at her arm. Still, she looked hesitant, murmuring, "Aubrey, he's bad ... "

"Look, I don't like the ministry either, but we can't do anything on our own. My parents are experts in this place ... I assume," Aubrey added carefully, "They can do more for us."

The man clearly hadn't heard her as his next question was to ask if she were with someone. Aubrey quickly replied, wanting to get back to her family as soon as possible, "I'm with my parents, they were here to see Fudge."

"Name? I'll send them an aeroplane, someone will speak to them there about the very severe consequences - "

Saskia leant towards Aubrey's ear, softly whispering, "Those aeroplanes are so cool. I don't think I'll ever stop being shocked, not even if I died."

"Jasper and Mary Jackson," She replied without hesitation, "They might be out by now - "

"I'll send them down once we arrive."

"It really wasn't me who broke the gong, nor Saskia," Aubrey decided to add, rushing forwards a little so she kept pace with him, "It just snapped, I can give you my memory for a pensieve if you must ... it really wasn't me."

"Look, I don't want to discuss the ... gong or whatever," The man huffed, "I'm a busy man, once I drop you down with my assistant, he'll deal with the rest. Are you two sisters?"

Aubrey laughed, "What? Why?"

"Well, only one of you told me your parents," He said condescendingly, "So I figured that was the only explanation ..." He trailed off, glancing over his shoulder before coming to a stop, "Where did she go?"

"What?" Aubrey turned around, her brow furrowing as she was met with empty space, "She has short legs maybe she just got left behind ... SASKIA!" Aubrey retraced her steps, peering around a corner just a few meters back, "She's not there..."

"Bet she bolted, the little bugger," The man hissed, "Is your friend always like this?"

"She's not my friend, we'd just met..."

He blinked a few times, "Then why the devil were you with her?"

Any explanation she could give probably wouldn't put her in a particularly intelligent light so she instead stared back. After a few moments, the man clearly got tired of waiting, grumbling something about pesky teens before leading her away. Upon arriving at his office which was considerably grander than Mr Weasleys, the man barked several orders at his assistant regarding the situation before leaving them alone. Whilst she didn't believe the Ministry official was worthy of hiding from, you could tell a lot about a man from how he treated his perceived inferiors and he was not coming off favourably. Luckily, his assistant was much gentler, offering her a stale biscuit from a tin before calling for her parents.

Her parents weren't too happy with her, although they were more relieved to see she was okay and not 'delivering unknown packages to rich men' - as it turned out, Isabelle was a far worse liar than her sister. Eventually, after some stern words from Mary and a heated debate, they managed to negotiate a lesser sentence for her trespassing, able to blame it on the absent Saskia. After what felt like hours, the family left, Dulcie's grin even broader than when she arrived.

By the time they got home, Cynthia had returned, a pencil whilst numerous others were blending and shading for her. The moment the door closed, she looked up, "Fun day at the Ministry? The Abbey was wonderful ... and I didn't see any horny ghosts, you'll be pleased to know."

"Shame," Dulcie said, eager to recite the events, "Well, I'll let you decide. Dad almost got into a fistfight with Fudge, Mary tried to force feed him a sedative pie, Aubrey destroyed a priceless gong - "

"Knock off," Aubrey corrected, "Saskia said it was a knock-off."

"So we're believing imaginary friends now?" Dulcie teased, pushing her sister's head forwards as she slung her jacket onto the coat rack.

"I'd say it was good news ..." Isabelle said ominously, " ... for Fudge. He doesn't need to make up trouble to discredit Aubrey, now the papers have actual proof. Congratulations, Aubrey - "

"I didn't do it though, it just fell!"

"Aubrey," Mary said following on from her step-daughter, "Look, honey, we know it wasn't you but there's no need to lie to protect your friend."

"She's a stranger!"

" ... same difference," Mary brushed it off. From the table where they were casually sat, Isabelle and Dulcie laughed, earning themselves a glare from Mary, "You two aren't off the hook either - "

"You're not my real mum!"

"We're grown-ups now!"

"Hardly," Cynthia murmured.

The two girls instantly garbled back but Jasper cut in, not having any of it, "Letting your baby sister run off was irresponsible - "

"Says the man who threatened to snap Fudge's 'phoney' wand in half," Dulcie replied with the utmost sass, "That's right, we heard through the door."

"Courtesy of moi," Isabelle laughed.

"We will discuss this later," Jasper replied firmly, his wife taking off from where he finished.

"Aubrey, honey, it's just made us look a bit foolish now, hasn't it, us coming in there to discount your trouble-making and then you get involved with that. Look, I know that's not you, you're a good girl but you can't let strangers like Saskia trick you into things like that, alright?"

"Mum - "

"Aubrey, we're not angry," Mary said firmly, "But perhaps it's best to stop with the letters for now and just keep a low profile."

With that, her mother disappeared into the kitchen, Jasper quickly following after his wife. As he did so, he paused in the doorway. His lips pressed together into an awkward smile, "We're fine with a little teenage rebellion, Aubrey, believe me, we are but maybe ... try to do something less expensive next time."

• • •

News of the stunts travelled first and combined with Aubrey's earlier visit to Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, meant that Arthur soon caught wind of the events, passing them onto to the current residence of Grimmauld place over supper. Given all the events that had taken place over the holidays, including Harry's sudden arrival and subsequent trial, the escapades paled in comparison. However, Fred was particularly interested, more impressed than anything much to his horror.

"She knocked down some rune infested gong? Wicked," Fred grinned, taking a sip of his water although the beaming smile was still visible from behind it.

"I thought she was a friend of yours," Arthur said, "You mentioned her a couple of times - "

"A couple?" George sniggered, "And they're more than just friends."

"Best friends?" Ron guessed.

"Yes, Ron, the very best of friends," George repeated back to him. Sadly, everyone else in the family was a little less fooled.

"It makes sense she's a bit of a troublemaker," Ginny said, as Fred began to go slightly red, "I can't imagine either of you with anyone ... normal."

"Normal? What does that mean?"

"Rule abiding," Ginny replied simply.

"She is usually ... "

"Not when Fred's around," George was quick to add.

Mr and Mrs Weasley raised their eyebrows at each other but given the awkward looks exchanged by some of the non-Weasleys, they decided now was not the time to tease their son. Besides, George could do plenty of that later on, after the two boys had retired to their room for the night. 

"Maybe she's acting out because you haven't written to her."

Fred reclined leisurely on his bed, "I did write to her ... and you know it wasn't my fault."

Due to the increased threat from the resurgence of Lord Voldemort, the entire family had spent the summer at Grimmauld Place, a stealthy location, containing an equally stealthy organisation, the Order of the Phoenix.

Whilst everyone else there had been permitted to write some heavily censored letters, one look at the letter he'd intended to send to Aubrey had got him, put under a permanent summer ban. Not only had it been slightly uncomfortable to read due to the excessive romantic puns, between the twins they'd somehow managed to include almost every off-limits details mentioned by Dumbledore. 

For the most part, the ban hadn't really been an issue for them. Due to some very complex strategies, they'd managed to place supply distribution into Lee's hand for the time being so thanks to that and Harry's generous donation of his winnings, their fledgeling business had managed to continue. Of course, last year had hindered them somewhat but they'd quickly made up for lost time over the summer with plenty of new products.

Still, it wasn't even the ban or lack of time that had stopped him from writing to Aubrey. 

Due to one of their inventions, extendable ears, they'd managed to overhear quite a lot from the Order meetings that took place downstairs. From there, they overheard many things, Voldemort wanting a weapon he didn't have before along with endless quarrels between Snape and Sirius. Arthur also mentioned in passing that some letters had been snatched without a trace. Deatheaters were not the confirmed cause but it was highly suspect. Given the events of last year, Aubrey was already well known by the organisation and he didn't want to make her any more of a target by implicating her with letters bearing Order information. 

The one letter he sent may have been weird but at least it was near untraceable and said the minimum of what needed to be said.

"I suppose," George shrugged, "It will be good to see the girls again - "

"She'll be forgiving," Fred cut in, lost in his own world, "I mean, she's forgiven worse and once I explain, she'll get it. The half arse letters only made Harry angry, I sense she'd rather I just tell her all in person than send her phoney little 'Life is brilliant! Hope you're having a cracking summer!' type things ... right?"

George smiled, "Fred, she is your ... more than friend. You know her better than me."

"I think she'll be forgiving."

"Good, me too," George confirmed, "I hope Lexy will be too ... not that she was expecting letters from me anyway."

"Well, we can explain to her too," Fred replied, "It's not like her though to destroy ministry property ... although she has spent the holidays with that mad dad of hers."

"Plus the last year hasn't been easy on her ..." The two suddenly locked eyes, "Do you think she's cracked or ... not her?"

For a moment, Fred genuinely considered this before shrugging, "Nah, I'm sure there are reasons behind it other than that. She is her. We go back in a week anyway, I'll find out then."

• • •

I can't bloody write Snape's name anymore without calling him 'Sneverus Snerp' in my head. I don't even know why and it's genuinely getting annoying - E x