"The wizards... they don't like werewolves," Spencer said.

He was sitting at the dining room table in the Potter's house, Peter and Remus seated around the table, too. The radio crackled as Mad Eye Moody's speech played over the airwaves, the crowd at the Ministry grumbling and even booing at the mention of the werewolves.

Remus shook his head.

Peter said, "Werewolves are rated extremely dangerous in the wizarding textbooks." He glanced at Remus. "Not all of them are like you lot," he added quickly.

Spencer paused, listening to Moody's gruff voice. He looked at Remus, "Was the Minister for Magic good?"

"He was brave," Remus nodded.

Spencer asked, "So does the Queen and the Prime Minister know? About this other Minister?"

"They do," Remus replied. "The Minister for Magic is traditionally very close with the Royal Family, and there are yearly delegations to the Prime Minister, as well as contact during emergency situations - like this."

"How come it's a secret, then? That the wizards exist?" Spencer asked.

"Because muggles stole our magic and mistreated witches and wizards in the olden times," Peter said quickly before Remus could answer. Remus's eyebrow raised. "Which is why," Peter continued, "A lot of wizards believe in keeping magic to pureblood wizard families, to avoid being betrayed again, like they were a long time ago. Not all of us believe that, mind, but a lot do. The Dark Lord believes that, for example, and he's really bad."

"Dark Lord, Peter?"

Peter looked at Remus and shrugged, "So-called, at any rate." He looked at Spencer. "It's to protect wizards against You Know Who."

"But I don't know who?" Spencer looked confused.

Remus sighed, "There is a war on, between blood purists who believe, as Peter has said, that the muggles - non magical, folk, mind - are guilty of having tried to steal magic from the wizarding community. But the truth is there is nothing wrong with muggles, no reason to fear or hate them, whatever their leader may teach... He believes that muggles are lesser than, worth less, that they ought to be brought under wizarding control and forced to serve those of us with magic. He thinks they are no better than animals. And he uses people like us - wizard and muggle origin alike - because we are already mistreated and he uses such things to his advantage."

Spencer shook his head. "I can understand why there are werewolves that would be cruel and nasty.
Just learning about these things is making me so angry --" Spencer's voice shook. "Doesn't it make you angry?"

Peter looked alarmed.

But Remus nodded, "It does. I've been angry many years about many things... but anger never solved anything, violence never solves anything. You can't fight hatred with hatred - that's what Lily says."

Spencer nodded, "You're right. She's right." He stared at the table top and Peter looked between Remus and Spencer for a moment, picking at the sandwich on the plate before him nervously. "How do you - not - be angry?" Spencer asked.

Remus shrugged. "It's difficult at times. But my friends -" he smiled at Peter, "- help a lot."

Spencer looked at Remus and the look in his eyes was a desperate plea. Spencer didn't have that support system like Remus, did he? And the question in Spencer's pupils was "what do I do?" Remus felt profoundly sorry for him. Sorry for the boy who never asked to be turned.

His heart ached and he had to look away.

His mind was flooded then with the images Dumbledore had cast into his mind - just a few weeks ago now - of leaderless, lost and confused groups of werewolves who were seeking purpose, seeking a leader. They must be so scared and alone, Remus thought, recalling the terror and pain of the nights in the bomb shelter in York and the Shrieking Shack, back before his best mates had done something to keep him sane, to keep him safe. Those men and women were hurting, and they were reacting in pain, working through uncontrollable urges, and getting themselves into trouble...

Only you Remus, you are in a unique position and you alone can help them.

Dumbledore's words rang in Remus's head. He looked at Spencer, whose eyes were still wide with fear.

"I'll help you, Spencer," Remus promised.

Suddenly the living room lit up as the floo opened and Remus got up and went to see who'd arrived. Sirius was helping Lily up from the ash. "Pretty soon we'll be taking the car everywhere," Lily groaned. Already, she could feel it getting harder to move, her body becoming more tired, more requiring more energy. Sirius nodded - he could feel it, too, and he carefully made sure she was steady before he releard his grip on her.

"Where's James?" Remus asked, concerned.

"He had to finish working," Sirius said darkly.

"Working? Surely they've shut the Ministry down??"

"For visitors, yes. But they're investigating," Sirius said, "And James was apparently involved in some altercation, he's all torn up."

"Torn up?!"

"Bruises all over his chest," Lily said, "And Merlin knows what else! He's so exhausted and worried and --" She was running her hands over her stomach.

Remus's eyes followed her nervous hands for a moment, then he put his arms around her and guided her to the couch. It was such an un-Remus thing to do, he so rarely initiated physical contact with anyone besides Sirius, that Lily simply allowed him to lead her and sit her down. He sat beside her,
crossing his legs at the knee, and said, "James will be alright. He will. He is strong and capable and brave, and you need to relax." He reached over and stilled her hands. "For the baby."

She looked at his hands on hers and then up at him.
Her eyes filled with tears, "Oh, Remus, you're right," she said - a bit more emotionally than Remus had expected her to be.

"Let me do your worrying for you Lilith," Sirius said. He thumped his palm against his chest, "I'll be the appointed emotion feeler!"

Lily laughed, "If only such things worked that way."

Peter and Spencer had come out to the living room by then and Spencer sat in Remus's usual chair as Peter climbed into the space on Lily's opposite side and hugged her arm.

"So who do you lot think the appointed Minister will be?" Sirius asked. "I hope it's Underhill. Bloke's a champ."

"It has to be someone from the Wizengamot," Remus reminded Sirius. Underhill's not on the Wizengamot, is he?"

"I don't believe so. He's also under review, James said," Lily murmured.

Sirius was sitting on the coffee table, shaking his head, "That's bullshit," he said.

"Under review for what?" Remus asked.

"Letting Greyback get away," Lily replied. "Heaven knows it's ridiculous. He didn't let him escape on purpose, but that Crouch fellow is calling Underhill and Moody both."

"But they got Blagojevic, so that's something," Sirius said.

"I'm sure Dumbledore is ripe over that," Remus murmured. "Blagojevic was supposed to be covered by the Order, wasn't he?"

"Yes, by Fabian Prewitt," Sirius said.

Silence fell over them.

Spencer cleared his throat and they all looked at him. "Who are these people?"

"Harry Underhill is James's boss at the Ministry. He's an Auror, which is a sort of magical policeman or detective. Moody is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement - he's the one you heard on the radio. Fabian Prewett was... a brilliant man, a friend, and one of Moody's head aurors who was.... he recently was killed, in a battle." Remus filled Spencer in, "The Minister, Harold Minchum, as you know, was murdered this morning."

"There are loads of deaths then," Spencer murmured.

"Blagojevic is a vampire, he was one of the suspected killers. He's a leader of the vampires, who's recently been getting involved with You Know Who's movement, we suspected - and now seems to be confirmed if he's hanging about with Greyback," Remus explained. "And Greyback..." He touched his shoulder and Spencer's eyes stared hard at the spot where Remus's scar was. The one that matched his own.

Spencer bit his lip, "So a vampire and a werewolf killed the wizard Minister."

Sirius grinned wickedly, "Sounds like a joke with a shitty punch line, dunnit? "

"Sirius," Lily admonished him.

Sirius quieted.

Spencer had laughed, though, and now he was shaking his head miserably, "This is all some elaborate... joke or something... I'm sure of it."

"Pinch yourself, if you think so," Sirius said.

"Do you think it could be Dumbledore?" Remus asked.

"For Minister?" Sirius asked.

"Sure why not? Dumbledore could certainly sort things out with a chance like that!" Remus said.

"What an unfortunate name," murmured Spencer.

"I hope he's not," Lily said, concerned. "I know he's a brilliant man, but -" She shook her head, "I mean what would Hogwarts do without him, for one, and for two..." Well she had a lot of the same reasons James did, just based on what he had told her, what she had seen in glimpses of love magic.

Remus shrugged, "Well I think he'd be a good option. Who else is there, even, taking away Moody and Underhill?"

"I suppose that's why the Wizengamot chooses."

"They'll do an election, too," Remus pointed out.

They sat talking about Minchum and the options for appointment, going so far as Remus pulling a textbook that had a slightly outdated copy of the list of members of the wizengamot from their book shelf at the flat to see who was among them. "See, he's a Supreme Mugwump," Remus said, tapping Dumbledore's name. "It just makes sense. And while he's interim, Professor Minnie would become Headmistress - they've done it before."

"Yeah but Dumbledore's been in trouble before," Sirius argued. "Remember when he was sacked in Fourth Year?"

"Yes, but he was reinstated, wasn't he?" Remus said.

It seemed like hours later when the floo lit and James came home, his eyes dazed and unfocused. They were sitting at dinner when he did and Lily quickly dropped her spoon in her bowl and got up, hurrying over to greet him with a gentle hug. "Honey," she said, her voice relieved, "You're finally home. God you must be so exhausted and - and starving. Here, come sit and eat and tell us about what happened..."

Sirius had waved his wand to summon another bowl of stew from the pot on the stove and Lily guided James over to the table where Remus pushed over a seat so James could sit next to Lily. He sank onto the chair, dropping his satchel and leaning back against the wood seat back, letting out a great gasp of exhaustion as he shoved his fingers under his glasses to rub his eyes. "Bloody hell it's been a long day," he groaned.

Spencer murmured, "Tell me about it."

Remus flushed as Sirius looked over at Spencer, then back to James. "What happened after we left?" he asked.

"Well... They said Moody was slow to respond - slower than he ought to be, and when he was on the stand, explaining why his response time was down, it was because he was out of the office, he was down the kirkyard paying respects to the Prewett Twins grave..." James looked down at the stew, "Then Bartemius Crouch -- the bastard -- he actually asked Moody if he realized that while he was mourning the already dead he'd neglected to respond to the calls to return to the Ministry and - and may very well be the reason that Minchum is dead."

"No!" Lily gasped.

"What an arsehole!" Sirius burst, "What an absolute fucking asshole!"

"How could he?" Lily asked, "Ohhh poor Moody, he must be positively broken."

"That's utterly unfair, pinning it on him like that," Remus said, shaking his head.

"The appointed Minister made it her first act in office to give Moody a leave of absence."

"The Minister's a woman?" Lily asked in surprised, her face lit with interest.

"Who is it?" Remus asked, looking a bit disappointed he'd been wrong about Dumbledore.

"Millicent Bagnold," James replied.

Remus's brow creased, "Well she must be new to the Wizengamot - at least since '77 - she wasn't on the list."

"She's younger than the others on the wizengamot, but apparently has been a very strong member already. She does training in the Auror Training Department, according to Frank, and is in a book club with his mum of all things... He says she's a good candidate for it, so I suppose once she's vetted and all, the wizengamot will make the official announcement. She's already gone to speak with the muggle Prime Minister tonight."

"So how is she then?" Sirius asked.

James sighed. "Well... She said that it was clear he needed more time to mourn and recover from his loss. She barked at Crouch for having said such a thing and told him that if he thought he could do better than Moody then he could run the Department but to remember that the Department could not afford any further mess ups in the meantime... It felt like a very kind way to reprimand Crouch that got the point across without being unprofessional... I sort of like her for that, but we'll see what comes next. So anyway Moody's been put on a sort of sabbatical I guess. He's not sacked or demoted or anything, just... suspended... aside from some mandatory training that's been instated."

They all fell silent. 

"They didn't sack Underhill did they?!" Sirius barked suddenly, half standing in anger. Remus touched his husband's forearm to calm him down and Sirius looked at Remus, then lowered in his seat, though his face was still flushed with anger. "He's second in the Department, isn't he? It ought to be him in charge, then, not that fucking crab barnacle, Crouch."

"No, no," James said. "But Underhill's going to be taking over the training for Bagnold while she's playing at Minister. He's been suspended from the Blackburn case."

Remus frowned.

"She said it's too closely related to Greyback and it could be seen as a suspicious act that he's failed to report names and locations to the Interspecies Liaison office, like he's on Greyback's side or something. Which, you know he isn't, he's just -- protecting the werewolves that are innocent, really... Like he said earlier to you, Rey, the Ministry sees that as a breach because of the registry requirement in the Restriction Act. So now he's going to be heading up this new mandatory training that all members of the Ministry will be required to undergo."

"What sort of new training?" Lily asked.

James hesitated, then replied, "Underhill mentioned that we had both Blagojevic and Greyback in the room and engaged in duels for some time when he gave his testimony - which we did! - but the Minister believes we ought to have been able to stop him... She's decided to implement a -- a new sort of killing curse."

There was silence around the table for the second time that night. All of them stared at James with gap-mouthed expressions - aside from Spencer, who looked confused. "A killing curse?" he asked, "That sounds bad."

"Oh it's bad alright," Remus answered, not taking his eyes off James. "Is she mental?"

"Clearly she is," Sirius interjected.

James said, "It was posed that if either myself or Underhill had been cleared to take him out with a single spell we would have been able to subdue them and capture both Greyback and Blagojevic... So she's announced a kill on sight for Greyback - and the entire Magical Law Enforcement department will undergo a special training and register, their wands will be numbered and the magical residue will give positive identification exactly what wand cast the curse and only officially licensed Aurors will be trained in it's use..."

"But the killing curse is forbidden," hissed Sirius.

"It's not the same curse," James replied. "Furthermore it's a silent incantation so that it can't be used by anyone not trained in its use. The idea is that it's a controlled curse and there would only be a very few appropriate times to use it - one instance is if there's been a kill on sight order - such as there's been declared now on Greyback."

Remus shook his head. "I mean, they aren't wrong about Greyback, but what if there was a case where the suspect is actually innocent? Is it guilty until proven innocent?"

James answered, "I don't know."

Silence fell over the table again.

Finally, Remus reached across the table and took his spoon, holding it up to him.

James took the spoon.

"Eat," Remus said, "You'll feel better."

James nodded and scooped some of the stew into his mouth.