Have you read this?

[Delight Urquart]

Sundays were the Hufflepuff’s day off from work, and of late, work had been rather tiring. Being an Urquart and working in the Daily Prophet wasn’t exactly a comfortable link to make of late. Delight had taken a rather long lie in before wandering downstairs in her dressing gown, padding to the remains of the breakfast things. She picked up the day’s paper as she sorted through the rack of toast for the best pieces with one hand, and quickly felt her appetite drain.

Barefoot, she took the stairs two at a time, and bundled into the twin’s room without so much as knocking. “Have you seen the paper?” Delight demanded, green eyes wide as she threw herself onto the end of Ruby’s bed, shoving the paper in question towards her sister. “How can he say such things!” She hoped their Papa hadn’t seen it, but it was hard to imagine that he hadn’t.

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Ruby was a heavy sleeper and she liked to sleep in. Not even the recent troubling events at home could change that. As such, when Delight burst into her room that morning, she'd still been asleep.

She was initially irritated at having been awoken, but then she saw her sister's distress. What had happened now?

She picked up the newspaper. There was a picture of some old man and their Papa's name. Interest piqued, she read the article. By the time she was done, her heart was racing.

He wanted for their Papa to resign! She remembered how the Wizengamot had taken that decision about the marriage ban without their Papa present. Ruby had thought it fishy at the time. That day's article wasn't easing her paranoia that some evil Ministry people were planning a coup.

"They're trying to overthrow Papa!" Ruby exclaimed. Oh, what could that mean for them?

  

[Delight Urquart]

Delight hugged her knees to her chest as Ruby read the paper, eyes scouring her face and willing her to hurry up. The news was worrying- it sounded like Mr Malfoy had just been waiting for the slightest excuse to call for their Papa to resign and this was now it, but Merlin knew how long it had been in the works for. The whole attack couldn’t have been planned too, could it? Surely even someone like that wouldn’t be so malicious as to harm an innocent girl.

“There’s not going to be a coup, Ruby.” She said. “We’re not Americans.” Nobody would be making tea in Inverness harbour, Delight was pretty sure of that. Hogsmeade's streets weren't exactly wide enough for cannons either. “But maybe they could- I don’t know- pass a vote of no confidence like muggles do, and force another election.” Even Delight had her doubts that their Papa could win another vote. They’d passed the Marriage Law without his input, and that made it sound like any high-up support he might have had was waning, and she doubted his popularity with the people was at a sky-high level either.

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Ruby could bet that the French didn't think of themselves as Americans before the French Revolution happened. She also didn't know history quite well to know which event had come first.

"And what then?" Ruby said. That would be like the modern way of overthrowing their Papa. He wouldn't have left office in a respectable manner, once his office had ended. He would be a disgraced Minister. He probably wouldn't receive an honorary seat on the Wizengamot. He'd probably be kicked out of the Ministry for good. And then their family would end up disgraced and destitute. They'd all end up on the streets!

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   Topaz Urquart

[Topaz Urquart]

Topaz had started trying to pretend everything was normal--because sooner or later, it had to be. Things would never be the same, but if this was going to be the way things were for the rest of her life forever, there would eventually have to be a new sort of normal, and she was trying to find it, wherever it was. She'd gotten up early that Sunday, as she usually did, and got dressed and read a bit of one of the books someone had sent her. She sat quietly in the armchair by the window so that she didn't disturb Ruby, who was still asleep and probably would be just about forever. Ruby always slept so late on Sundays that Topaz felt as though half the day was gone before she got up, but that was nothing new.

When the owl arrived with the Prophet she read that in the armchair by the window, too--or at least, she read the first page. The rest of it she couldn't bring herself to even start--and why would it matter, anyway?

Ruby was still asleep, and Topaz didn't want to wake her up by crying. She was also just tired of crying. She wished she could hate the man who had written it, because of what he said about Papa, but she couldn't. What he was saying about werewolves in general was true, wasn't it? If Topaz had been attacked by one and she hadn't been bitten, wouldn't everyone in their family have felt the same way about it? If there had been a law about rounding up all of the werewolves and making them live somewhere where they couldn't hurt people, none of this would have happened to her. It was too late now, too late for her, but she knew why people would want this. If she could have gone back in time, maybe she would have wanted it, too.

Maybe Papa wouldn't have. Papa thought everyone deserved a chance. But if Papa had known what was going to happen to her, would he have argued against a law like the one the man was talking about? Would he have wanted werewolves to be free to walk about if it meant there was a risk that the attack would happen to her? If he didn't have her to think about now, would he have supported a law like that one?

Topaz had folded up the newspaper and left it on her desk, still walking quietly to avoid disturbing Ruby. She knew what she needed to do. Papa loved her--that much was clear, from the night of the attack to everything that had happened since and the wonderful things he'd sent in to the Prophet--but she understood why people wouldn't trust him to be rationale about these things when they affected her so much. She wasn't sure they were wrong, either--maybe Papa loved her enough to be irrational about them. Which meant that maybe, just by being here and existing, she was opening up the door for the thing that had happened to her to happen to someone else.

She took a small suitcase from the closet and went in to the bathroom down the hall and methodically started packing the things she would need.

She'd have to write a note. Not to Papa--though of course to him too--but a note to everyone, a note to the Prophet, or else they might think that she wasn't really leaving. They might think that Papa was just hiding her away somewhere, and that would make things even worse for him. She mentally tried to compose the note as she packed up her toiletries, so that she wouldn't have to agonize over it when she sat down to write it. Ruby slept forever, but Topaz didn't want her to wake up while she was still here and see what she was doing. Ruby wouldn't understand.

Topaz checked the clock in the hallway and thought she probably still had at least an hour before Ruby woke up. That would be enough time to pack some clothes and write her notes, and then she'd go downstairs and floo all the way to London. She didn't know what she'd do then. She supposed maybe she could try and get on a boat to somewhere, but then what would she do on the first of September?

She was busy thinking about that conundrum when she reached the door, so she didn't hear the voices until she'd already opened it and was face to face not only with Ruby, who was very much awake, but with Delight, too. Topaz's heart sank and she felt quite suddenly defeated--there was no way she could tell her sisters that she was running away, because they wouldn't let her--she knew they wouldn't let her--but the suitcase was already half packed by her side, so what on earth was she supposed to do now?

"Good morning," she said, in a very small voice. She set the suitcase down and stared at the floor, feeling rather embarrassed at having been 'caught,' so to speak.

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Delight didn't have a chance to respond before the door was opened once more. Topaz stood at the frame, with a suitcase in hand which she then put down. Ruby actually had to glance at her twin's bed and then back at her. She hadn't noticed that she wasn't still in bed.

"Are you going somewhere, Topaz?" Ruby said suspiciously. She could already half guess what this was about. She and Topaz had, after all, planned to run away to America only a month ago.

  

[Delight Urquart]

Delight turned, and spotted Topaz not up and reading downstairs, like she’d assumed, but rather preparing, it looked like, for a trip.

Silently, the Hufflepuff rose and took the case from her sister’s hand before she could protest, putting it where she had been sat at the foot of Ruby’s bed. “Is this over the paper?” Delight quizzed, raising an eyebrow.

  

[Topaz Urquart]

Topaz didn't particularly want to answer either of the questions, because she thought the answer to both was fairly obvious. Ruby already knew where she was going, about as well as Topaz did, at any rate. Away. And if Delight had already read the paper, then she already knew why. It would have been obvious to Delight, Topaz thought--she was older and more mature than Ruby was, and she understood politics and the way the world worked better than her twin did. Delight would know that there wasn't any way Papa could make laws on werewolves while she was here.

Shoulders slumping, she moved just far enough into the room to shut the door behind her. Being stuck talking about this with Delight and Ruby was bad, but it would only get worse if Bash or Nanny or (Merlin forbid) Papa walked by and got involved in the conversation.

"They don't want Papa to be Minister," she said quietly, looking at her shoes and avoiding answering either question directly. "While he has a--a malevolent creature as a daughter," she said, her eyes beginning to sting with tears as she quoted the phrase from the article.

  

[Ruby Urquart]

Topaz seemed close to tears. "Oh, Topaz!" Ruby exclaimed. "That old man didn't want Papa as Minister anyway!" Maybe Ruby didn't know politics like her sisters did, but she knew that their father had political enemies. He wasn't liked by everyone - by the posh, pureblooded sorts.

  

[Delight Urquart]

”Ruby’s right.” Delight said, getting up. “They’ve been waiting for a chance to criticise him ever since he was elected.” Delight said, taking Topaz’s hand and pulling her onto her twin’s bed with them both. Why couldn’t all of this go away? The election and having Papa as a minister had been fun when they could pretend they were as good as princesses, but now they’d lost so very much, and the whole thing was looking like it had been doomed from the start.

“And you going on the lam is hardly going to help things.” She added, a little more sternly. “They’d only accuse Papa of trying to hide you or they’d make you a criminal fugitive, and really, Azkaban robes really aren’t your colour at all.”

  

[Topaz Urquart]

"I was going to write a letter," Topaz protested weakly. "So they knew it wasn't Papa's idea." She didn't want Delight to think she was just being stupid and babyish about this. She had thought about it and she had tried to make a rational decision--though the tears clinging to the corners of her eyes betrayed her emotional investment, as well. Delight's talk of Azkaban robes wasn't really helping her nerves any, for all that she knew that her sister was probably just trying to lighten the mood and make a joke.

"It's--" she started, then paused, not sure what to say. Would Delight and Ruby understand? She didn't know whether they would, but it wasn't as though she could avoid telling them now. Her plans to run away had been entirely sabotaged, and she was now surrounded by sisters. "He's right," she said, and then the tears started immediately. "He's mean and awful and cruel but he's right. If he wasn't your Papa, would you want him to make laws about w-w-werewolves with me in the house?"

  

[Ruby Urquart]

"I wouldn't care!" Ruby assured her sister and it was actually a genuine answer. Ruby had never had strong opinions about politics or werewolves. Her only opinion about werewolves was that they were scary and dangerous, but she'd never had to personally encounter one so those sentiments were as strong as her belief that... bears were dangerous.

  

[Delight Urquart]

”Papa’s loyalty is to you, not his job.” Delight said. If their father had cared about power with even a single fibre of his being, he would have cast out Topaz and anyone who stood by her, but that wasn’t who he was. “He doesn’t care what people say. He married Mama when nobody wished him to, just like Auntie Evelyn married Uncle Matthew. He managed to get elected despite the scandal, after all, it won’t matter to him!”

  

[Topaz Urquart]

Topaz heard what her sisters were saying, and she knew that Delight's points weren't inaccurate. Papa cared about her more than he cared about the Ministry, which is why he'd wrote those wonderful things to the paper at the beginning of the month. What she was less convinced of, however, was whether he should have felt that way. She might have been his daughter, but she was just one person--and she'd already been bitten. Shouldn't the Minister of Magic care more about the hundreds of other people in England who could still be saved from this kind of life? Didn't he owe that to them, because of his position?

"It'll matter to them," she protested, her tone uncertain as she glanced over at where she'd left her copy of the Daily Prophet. "What if they really do ask him to step down?"

  

[Ruby Urquart]

The thought of her Papa being sacked was a terrifying one and a horrible possibility in these days. Who would have thought that they'd come to this? When he had first been elected, she and Delight had daydreamed about all the balls they'd attend as the Minister's daughters, as something akin to magical princesses. Now, Topaz was making that hypothesis and Ruby couldn't find it in herself to shoot it down.

She remained silent.

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   Topaz Urquart