Fighting Through The Grief

A week had passed since the day Hallie had lost her son. That day had been the worst of Hallie's life. There were tough competitors of that title. Hallie had heard the murder of her Father when her Mother had hidden her in the closet at the age of seven. The summer before Hallie's fourth year her brother was bitten by a werewolf, even attempted to attack her after his transformation due to the failure to recognise who he or she were. Hallie had even been tortured and abducted by Henry Yewbeam but that day Hallie Cooper said goodbye to her son the first time she held him in her arms, that day was the worst day of her life.

1. Isolation
A lot had happened in a week. She had discharged herself from St Mungo's the next day, moved into Grimmauld Place and handed in her resignation as an auror at the Ministry Of Magic. She was a talent witch, had worked her whole school and adult life to accomplish the feat of becoming an auror but now that mean't nothing. It was a responsible role, one that had brought her joy, heck she had even considered aborting her child because of her job... Hallie had almost chosen her career over her child, her son. She couldn't live with that. She'd only know her son for less than half an hour, Hallie would have gave up her entire career to carry her baby to term. There'd only been eleven more weeks to go. Eleven weeks has separated Hallie and her boy from a lifetime of happiness.

Eleven weeks had stood in the way of watching her son, Robert, take his first steps, of watching him ride a broomstick, discover a sense of humor, board the Hogwarts Express, meet the love of his life and be happy. He hadn't known all that and all that had stood in the way was eleven weeks.

Hallie hadn't gone into detail in her letter of resignation. There was also a month period to complete her notice, not that Hallie would be attending work. It would shock them no doubt, heck she practically ran the auror department at times, but they would never know the real reason why. At least not yet. Would they believe her missing, under the imperious curse, lost her mind? She didn't care, nor did she think about what they would think.

2. Anger
Blame had been one of the main things Hallie had felt the past week. Anger. She was angry at many people, it changed each day, and the ministry were at the top of her list. It was because of the ministry's marriage law she had fell pregnant in the first place. If she hadn't have been partnered with Theodore Rookwood then they would not have had sex and their son wouldn't have been conceived. She was angry at the ministry for not putting enough time and effort into finding James Blood, had they focused more on that issue - the real issue - as opposed to the marriage law Hallie would have provided the ministry (as the law states) with a happy, healthy child. If they dared ask her to 'provide' a child after this, after what they had put her through then they would not know what hit them. They say hell have not fury than a woman scored. Wrong. Hell have no fury than a woman who has just lost her child.
Of course it wasn't just the ministry and James Blood whom Hallie had issues with. Khaat Lupin and Marcus Belby were rather high up there. Had it not been for them, cantering along Diagon Alley as if they weren't at risk being out in the open, Hallie would never have gone to Knockturn Alley, never would have met James Blood and never would have lost her child. Never. However, had she not been on Diagon Alley then Hallie would never have met Khaat and Marcus. Had Henry Yewbeam not been in need of arresting for avoiding the marriage law Hallie would have been in the auror office not marching down to Eeylops with a warrant for his arrest.

3. Bargaining
However the real person Hallie was angry at was with herself. The past week, midst the turbulent roller coast that the anger stage of grief was, Hallie had tried to come up with ways it could have been avoided and each time Hallie found a new way she cursed herself, felt her blood begin to boil and a self destructive personna emerged from the shadows. The tapestry room in Grimmauld Place had been ripped apart. Every time Hallie came up with a solution, a way to avoid the problem there was a slash across one of the Black's faces.
Had she apparated to St Mungo's straight away perhaps the healers would have had more than a beatingless heart to go by.
Had Hallie left arresting Henry until after lunch and got more paperwork done in the morning then she would never have found herself on Diagon Alley.
Had Hallie decided not to face Henry, pass his arrest onto somebody else, then she would never have found herself on Diagon Alley.
If only she'd failed her NEWT's, not worked as hard then Hallie would never have become an auror, never would have been on Diagon Alley to arrest Henry and even if she had been there never in a million years would Marcus Belby have turned to her to accompany them.
If only Hallie had had an ab- No. That was no solution. That thought would never, ever, enter her mind.


Hallie had not yet found acceptance nor depression, the other two stages of grief. One could argue Hallie has been depressed the entire time. Since excluding herself from society, not leaving the walls of Grimmauld Place and going through these horrific feelings of anger and bargaining. In spite of all that Hallie still had that ember of optimism inside of her. She didn't want to give up, she didn't want to roll over and cry for all eternity Hallie wanted to make a difference. The order was what kept Hallie alive. It distracted her from her grieving, gave her a focus and kept her strong.

Ultimately the person at fault, besides herself, was the marriage law and James Blood. There was a snake in the ministry and a werewolf on the prowl. Both were a hinder to society, a problem for the country and Hallie wasn't going to let them continue their reign over the wizarding population anymore. She'd gone over evidence, information members of the order had brought to her, information she'd discovered herself. The snake in the ministry had to be someone in a high position or influencing someone in a high position.

Gideon Pierce. Was he the pawn whilst the snake was the King? Or was he the king, disguised as the knight or the bishop? Hallie wasn't sure but he defiantly had a part to play. He had to have a part to play in this. If not Pierce then that would mean...

Elijah Krum. He and Levski had conducted the meetings in the office before Pierce moved in, the same office where a classified document on the marriage law was found. Furthermore Krum had resigned from the Order, left. Was this because if he were to be found out then everyone would turn against him even more, hate on him for being a spy? Then again wouldn't he have remained a member, to continue spying and be one move ahead of those who tried to bring the person behind the marriage law down? Perhaps he wasn't behind the marriage law but surely it was worth a conversation with him. Maybe Elijah Krum knew more than he was letting on?

Thankfully a conversation had been granted between the two. Hallie had wrote to Elijah requesting a meeting and, after stating only on a neutral ground, Hallie had decided to go for a fast food restaurant not too far from Grimmauld Place. It was perhaps not as neutral as Krum would have liked but right now, given her emotional state, Hallie didn't want to be too far from Grimmauld Place, nor did she intend to travel further into the wizarding world. On the plus side a muggle cafe mean't there was absolutely no chance of being overhead by a witch or wizard and there was no chance of a duel breaking out if Hallie's emotions overtook her. The blonde may be grieving but she still kept a steady head and being carted to Azkaban for break the international statue of secrecy wasn't how her story was going to end.

After ordered a cup of tea, no sugar, Hallie sat down in one of the booths of the McDonalds. A week ago she would be accompanied with a large fries, a double cheeseburger and a tropicana but that was a week ago and a lot had happened in a week. Sipping her tea Hallie patiently waited homing that Mr Krum wouldn't stand her up.

“Theodore, you need to get out of my bar.”

It was a simple enough request, one that Elijah Krum had been trying in vain to impress upon his friend for nearly an hour, more than four after closing time. Theodore grunted, though the words seemed to have gone unattended to as the man continued to keep his head buried in his arms, the shirt sleeves sodden with a mixture of alcohol and tears. He’d gone to Elijah first, to drown his sorrows in the usual manner purebloods had the habit of doing. Elijah, upon the intelligence being muted to him sorrowfully, closed his restaurant early and the two commiserated.

He’d not wanted to relive his own personal tragedy in trying to get to the bottom of Theodore’s. But he had. As Theodore spoke, his lips moving uselessly over pained sounds, Elijah felt the loss of warmth in his arms and he poured the whisky a little more liberally. Katherine. Kitty. His baby girl. She was like smoke to him. He could perceive her in the finest corners of his mind, imagine her face, see her smile and feel the down of her scarlet hair. Yet she was gone. Snatched from him and none of the revenge the world could provide could console him.

Mira did. Mira consoled him. He loved her, still, even though they were long finished. Their daughter was the light of his world. Whilst he had his other children, nothing compared to the feeling of his own infant in his arms and he loved Alice dearly, passionately, madly and he did not think in a million years he would be able to come back from that if he was to lose her – if he was to lose any of his other children. It wasn’t something easily lived through. Indeed, he doubted Theodore was going to make it through the night if he continued down the road he was going.

Elijah resolved to write to Keiran and Millie. In the end it was the blonde woman who turned up, arms crossed over her chest as she entered in through the back door. Elijah embraced her tightly, kissing her temple fondly as he commented on how lovely she looked, a customary thing to fall from the artist’s lips, and she returned that he was merely drunk and he laughed a barking guffaw that agreed with her but he was not nearly as inebriated as Theodore who fell from his stool and into her arms, slopping a kiss over her cheek and expressing glibly how much he loved her.

“I love you too, Theo,” she winced, taking a step back with one foot to brace his weight on her thinner frame. “C’mon you great arse, stand up.”

The two battled for a while, Theodore bursting into a fresh round of tears which made Elijah wince and Millie entirely lose her easy, mocking tone. She embraced him tightly, the man finding his feet and lifting her up off of the floor. He spun them for a few moments before setting Millie down, muttering quietly that he’d like to go. She nodded, smoothing her hands fondly across his cheeks as a mother would their child and she looked to Elijah, inquiring if he’d be alright. He’d be alright, he assured her. He would kip in the back room. With a crack the other two left.

And Elijah was alone to finish the whisky.

The Bulgarian man woke to the sound of tapping on the window in his office. He’d passed out on the chaise couch and had been dead to the world until an owl came in search of him. Hung over and decidedly irritable he lifted his wand and set the window flying open, causing the owl to flop into the room. Elijah turned over, tossing his wand away, and groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. He was bitten then, by the livid being and the post was dropped on his chest. He flipped it away and shouted aimlessly at the bird before dropping his arm, his hand groping out for the post.

An hour later and Elijah had managed to go home, found everything safe and secure at home with his old nanny, Stelladora, having elected to take care of the children and he changed, made the breakfast for them and, crucially, sobered up. He promised to be home early, having no intention of going back to the bar, and apparated from the parlour after kissing his eldest daughter goodbye. Then he found himself outside of Grimmauld Place, much as it upset him, and from there it was only a stone’s throw to the fast food restaurant he’d been summoned to.

Elijah loathed being summoned yet with his hands in his pockets he found himself entering the restaurant, his nose wrinkling at the less than pleasant smells that emanated from the kitchen behind the counter. Deciding to order something, Elijah lifted his gaze up to the board as he entered the cue. In the end he purchased a couple of blueberry muffins and a cup of coffee, decidedly unimpressed with what was on offer. It was decided then that Elijah preferred his privileged pureblood life. He’d shirked the pureblood part but he liked the money and he liked the nice restaurants. He hadn’t realised how distasteful he actually was of such establishments until he owned a restaurant of his own. This certainly was not a place he wanted to go with anyone.

It was easy to find Hallie, sat in a booth nursing a cup of tea which looked about as appetising as his coffee and the offering he’d gotten from the counter. Nonetheless, after pocketing his Muggle money he sat down opposite her, putting his coffee down and reaching into the bag to supply her with a muffin, setting out his own in front of him.

“A little birdie told me something and personal experience tells me you’ve not been eating a whole lot lately.” Elijah began gently, tapping the table in the direction of the muffin. “If you only pick at it, sweetheart, at least have something.”

He had a feeling that Theodore shouldn’t have told him. He had a feeling he shouldn’t have told Hallie he knew. Elijah wasn’t going to scrimp over what was what, however. He knew how to look after people. Granted, he wouldn’t have done it with a muffin and a cup of tea atypically but it was a start.

“I would have gotten you something else,” Elijah added after taking a mouthful of his coffee. He glanced at it despairingly and set it down again. “But the coffee is shite so I don’t expect the food to be much better. Muffins are generally safe, aren’t they? I’m more of an eggs and bacon kind of bloke, I fear.” He sat back and looked at her expectantly, wondering idly what this was all about.

“We’re not here for any other reason but the fact that you want to know something, aren’t we?” He inquired interestedly. “Now what, pray tell, pretty lady, would that be I wonder?”

Hallie's world momentarily froze. Light began to curl at the edges of her world as Elijah recognised her loss. It would have to have been Theodore who'd mentioned the what had happened for Hallie hadn't told a soul, even her own Mother didn't yet know. That struck a chord in Hallie, a lump momentarily bubbled up her throat yearning to escape but in a blink it had gone. Everything that the bubble represented was pushed back down inside of her. One day the bubble would need to be popped but today that wasn't that day. His name was too painful on the ear.

Hallie still had a baby bump, after only a week it hadn't gone down much (unfortunately) but at least the blonde didn't look as far gone as she was. Of course she'd noticed, a few times Hallie had even looked in the mirror and placed a hand there hoping to feel a kick or a gurgle. Nothing. Her son was gone.

Denial was an unusual stage of grief. It was more of a hope, a burst of optimism that the loss had been a dream. It hadn't. Hallie had to keep a level head, remind herself her abdomen was now only home to a sac of digestive organs. There was no baby. As a result the blonde tended to avoid the mirror, in fact she tended to avoid looking at her body altogether. Hallie had enough internal scars, a physical reminder wasn't exactly needed.

'Thank you, Elijah.' Hallie spoke, her words toneless and empty as she reached the muffin and picked a knuckle-sized bite. She'd refrained herself from asking how Theodore was for she had no sympathy for him. He had walked out. He hadn't stayed by her side to bid farewell. His son had never known a Father. Hallie had never known a husband. No husband would leave his wife to go through the excruciating pain of holding their deceased child alone. They were done as far as Hallie was concerned and if Theodore felt otherwise he would have found her. It had been a week and she hadn't seen him, heck Hallie would be glad to never see him again.

'I want to know everything you know about the marriage law.' Hallie stated formally but determined.

“Do you now?” The dark-haired wizard inquired rhetorically, his voice cool and even.

So, they weren’t there to talk about anything pertinent to the last few weeks. Elijah inclined his head interestedly, trying to perceive whether or not Hallie actually wanted to know. But of course, there was only one man in England who was as embroiled in the nightmare wreaked upon their world as Gideon Pierce and unfortunately he was sat in the booth opposite Hallie Cooper. Elijah picked up his coffee for the sake of something to do and took a sip, the disgusting fluid becoming somewhat more palatable with every mouthful.

“Why would you want to know what I know?” Elijah asked softly, setting the cup down.

The Bulgarian man lifted his arm up and threw it over the back of the booth, turning a little to assess her more carefully. The light specked off of the rings on his fingers and he pressed his lips together, trying to find a way of successfully diverting her attention – but Elijah was not so naïve as to assume he could. Here was a woman who needed something to give her life purpose. He didn’t, however, think she was going to find it in digging through that pit of diabolical intrigue.

“You don’t want to deal with this, Hallie,” Elijah spoke gently. “It’s not your battle.”

He didn't understand, Hallie hadn't expected him to but then again she hadn't expected he would have declined her invite to Grimmauld Place. She had noticed he hadn't answered, attempted to divert her and sway her away from her mission. That wasn't going to happen, nothing was going to stand in her way of dethroning the man (or woman) who had sentenced her to a pregnancy with Theodore Rookwood.

However this wasn't just for Hallie, of course it would please her, but she wanted to protect the nation and bring about their right to choose who they love, live their lives with and raise a child with. Hallie situation wasn't perfect, perhaps hers was the worst it could be but there would no doubt be as many couples in a terrible situation too. Hallie wanted to change that. Her Father had raised her to be strong, focused and do things for the good of others and unveiling the demon behind this law would be one step in that process.

She hadn't thought much about what she'd done once she discovered the culprit, perhaps she had resigned in haste. Hallie could hardly action an arrest warrant and arrest whoever was behind this, not now she'd resigned her right to do so as an auror. In spite of that Hallie had hope there would be a way. The order was a team, each from different walks of life and each with their own strengths. Together they would find a way.

'No but it is my battle.' Hallie replied, lowing her tone ominously as the embers started to crackle into larger flames. 'It is my battle. If I don't choose to fight this then nobody else will.'

Bringing her tone back to normal, sitting back against the cushioned booth (Hallie had learned forward in her response to Elijah) and composing herself she continued: 'You were the deputy minister for magic when the law was actioned. Robert Lupin was out of action, you were basically running the country but... But I don't think it was you behind the law. If it was you would still be deputy minister, and although you're not you must know more than you're letting on.'

The smirking features of Elijah Krum rose up across the planes and junctures of his face. He couldn’t deny the resoluteness within the woman but he objected to it in the same manner he was sure Theodore would have done had their roles been merrily reversed. Perhaps they were archaic and outdated as men. Perhaps they were far too much like their fathers and grandfathers before them but for whatever reason, Elijah knew that nothing came out well from a woman’s dogged determination.

“Have you thought that perhaps there are more delicate forces at work that do not need a Gryffindor sense of injustice butting in?” Elijah inquired.

He’d dealt his own blows with the law. It had been his weapon of choosing just as it was now Gideon’s. He had orchestrated more than he cared to admit. From it he had seen some very interesting developments, of course. The power of dissenting voices had never been stronger, so mired in oppression. He, like so many others, had wheedled out of it. Excuses had been given here, there, everywhere. They’d found reasons not to commit themselves to the holiest of sacraments.

“I am offended you think so little of me, Hallie,” he chuckled. “What is so unlikely about me creating the law and stepping away to watch the entire world burn?”

Elijah twiddled his fingers through the air, illustrating the supposed burning. He smirked. Of course, it wouldn’t be him. No, he wouldn’t be so foolish. He’d enact it of course. But then, so would any man stuck in an impossible situation. Elijah had hindsight now. He wouldn’t have done anything differently though. At the time he’d lacked that foresight he needed. By the time he had come out, gotten clarity, it had all gone to hell.

“I do know more than I am letting on, you are correct, Mrs Rookwood,” he acknowledged. “However, what on earth would make you think I am going to let such a thing slip to you, of all people? I made my position clear. I am not playing cat and mouse with the Order. I see no friendly faces there. I am more at home amongst the Death Eaters for sake of kith and kin though I do not hold their feelings on political matters. I prefer neutrality, after all. You’re more able to plot your next move.”

Elijah took another sip of his coffee, adding, “You can’t do this,” he accused lightly, “because you feel it is your battle. This is politics. There is a lot more to it than that and by all accounts – you’ve left the Ministry haven’t you?” Elijah quirked an eyebrow at her. “I still have friends there. The question is do you because the most foolish thing you have done is give up that job if you really want to play the role of the somewhat pitiful Gryffindor determined to right all the wrongs that we have enacted upon you as vagrant politicians, hell bent on ruining your life.”

“Say I am – behind the law, that is. What would you do to me, sat here in this ruddy restaurant? Hm? What do you propose to do to the perpetrators of what is, I hasten to remind you, legal? Anything you will do will only result in a long Azkaban sentence that I am sure anyone would be glad to give to a Cooper and the first Gryffindor Rookwood for … donkey’s years.” Elijah blew a lock of hair out of his eyes. “It would be a rub, wouldn’t it? A Rookwood goes to Azkaban as an Order member, not a Death Eater which is the accepted norm. But a righteous act would cause it, a hath-no-fury attack on the government. Yes, I'm convinced. You should save your energies, sweetheart. You won't rush this. You have to let a river run its course."

Hallie sat there rather perplexed. That was a lot of information to take in sixty seconds or so and Hallie had to remain silent for a moment after Elijah concluded with his pretentious little hair blow to mull his words over. She hadn't been wrong about one thing: he did know more than he was letting on. More than he wanted to tell her. Perhaps she had been stupid to think he would divulge all the secrets onto her, allow her to take another move into placing whoever was behind all this into checkmate.

Naturally, after taking such a blow Hallie wasn't one to sit back and accept the remarks of Elijah Krum. As he rightly said, she was a Gryffindor. A Gryffindor who, had gotten better at it over the years, still found it difficult to know when to hold her tongue.

'I don't need to be an auror to have eyes in the ministry.' Hallie replied, although perhaps this statement was more in an attempt to nullify Krum's accusations of her foolishness. At that moment she didn't know exactly which members of the Order worked for the ministry, she wasn't focused, barriers were rising in different areas of her brain, shutting information off from one part to the next.

'This law isn't legal, everybody knows that. The entire nation knows that the law was a forgery. It wont be long before people begin to realise we are falling into a dictatorship, restricting what we can and can not do, who we can and can not be with. Once word is out about who is the culprit, once people have someone who they can outwardly blame for the demolition of our country then it wont be long before there's a revolution.'

'I'm pretty sure the ministry doesn't have enough people really on it's side to protect it when that time comes? I'm also certain Azkaban doesn't have enough cells to accommodate for almost ever citizen in Britain. And if the ministry-

Hallie paused for a moment, the corner of her eye noticing a little girl looking at her rather with a bamboozled expression on her face, before returning to her low tones so only Elijah could hear.

'And if the ministry did attempt to send anybody who rebelled to Azkaban then that'd just be proof of how weak the person behind the law really is, to go back on what they stand for because they're worried that they'll lose their power. The marriage law is to increase the population, throwing everybody into Azkaban will do just about the opposite.'

It was heartfelt, neither offensive or defensive at the same time. This issue was perhaps the only one thing Hallie was passionate about. All the life, the hope, the energy had been drained from her given the rollercoaster of 'life' she'd been speeding along. This had to go right. One thing had to go right for once in her life.

A staunch, disbelieving eyebrow lifted across the pale expanse of vaguely freckled forehead. Elijah rubbed his lips against each other and he appraised Hallie idly, wondering to himself that it was no wonder Theodore struggled to contain her. There was a disparity between the Coopers and the Rookwoods that was a gulf, one that could not be bridge or crossed either way. It was that which made the law impractical but he wasn’t sure that it was for lack of trying on Theodore’s part and biased though Elijah was, he was sure that the man had only ever endeavoured to make Hallie see his point of view and not accept hers. Elijah was wilfully going to become as guilty of that as their friend, it seemed.

“A dictatorship?” He spluttered in mock-disbelief. “Truly, you live in a fantasy world don’t you? That law is no forgery. That implies it was a copy which would further imply it was legal and in law in the first place. That it is not, I assure you. I was there the day it went through the Wizengamot. My signature and seal is on that document along with everyone else in that courtroom barring, of course, the Chief Warlock herself and someone stood in her stead of that making it legal. So forgery it is not. Legal, it most certainly is. Much to your utter dismay, I presume.”

Elijah sat back, not realising he’d sat forward rather roughly to assert himself and he picked up the coffee cup again, alighting his dark gaze around the restaurant briefly before putting it back down.

“If you’re looking for a dictator and you’re not looking to the Minister, I suggest you should chew the cud over him anyway. If someone independent of our esteemed and absentee leader is running the country then I believe the fault lies with him anyway, no? Neglecting our prized world and all the rest of it, hm?” Elijah brought a hand to his heart in a false nationalist expression of feeling and he dropped it back down to the table within a moment.

Elijah wasn’t so happy to throw Robert under the bus. He understood the circumstances surrounding the disappearance far better than perhaps he should have been allowed to. His patience had worn, however. He had despaired of being left alone with a law he could not control. He didn’t know where the legislation had been coming from. He’d found himself signing it and in turn signing off his power and whilst at the time when supplied with statistics and all the rest he had acquiesced to the idea of its suitability, things had changed rather rapidly.

“There’s not been a demolition, don’t be so dramatic,” Elijah rolled his eyes. “And no, the Ministry does not have any friends but it has never and will never have friends. That is part of being a government. And yes, the Ministry can throw everyone in Azkaban if they are so desirous. The Muggles know how to make children. Sex isn’t necessary as they have so proved. However, we need to replace lost stock. We need to meet out the so-called ‘pure blood.’ That’s the point of the law, if you’d take care to think for a minute.”

“After the Welsh Green Itch,” Elijah went on. “We had to do something. We didn’t have a choice. There was no one left. Purebloods were dropping like flies and when those bloody potioneers came and started talking about magical blood percentages there wasn’t anything left to do. We had to move the old pureblood families and dilute them. That was why the law was put into place. It wasn’t to ruin your life, it was to make it easier on the kids to come. It was to make sure Squibs aren’t born left, right and centre. Do you know what happens to Squibs in my family? In Theodore’s? They’re killed.” Elijah paused briefly, trying to reconcile that fact with his own person, what he knew of his own identity. It wasn’t like that.

“There is a reason why,” he took a breath, “this law is important. What was due was an entire generation of Squibs. That was what was expected. That’s a generation dead and quietly buried before we even begin. This was designed to dilute. This was designed to fix this country, not break it in two. We needed populous. We needed witches and wizards. Which meant we needed breeding. We needed Half-Bloods being born and this is what has happened. It will happen. This isn’t about dictating. It’s much more important than that.”

“However,” he picked up his coffee cup again. “You may want to look to a certain man called Gideon Pierce,” Elijah wiggled his eyebrows. “Have your revolution by all means, poppet. Throw him in Azkaban and lock away the key but this was never about controlling the masses. This was about controlling the purebloods. About diluting their blood. Didn’t work entirely though. Now, it is about control. I’d start there, sweetheart.”

'But, it was in the Daily Prophet that Robert Lupin's signature had been forged. Khaat said it herself in her expose with Pansy Parkinson-Nott.' Hallie replied, although her tone was slightly more confused about what exactly was now happening. Was Elijah trying to trick her, confuse her into thinking the marriage law wasn't illegal, that it was something the entire ministry wanted. If that truly was the case then why would Khaat have lied? To rally up a riot in hope Robert could go back into power? Hallie had hoped meeting with Elijah Krum would provide more answers. She was mistaken. This meeting had only rolled up a long list of more problems.

Hallie knew the Lupins. She had been trusted by them, taken to their safehouse. Hallie had met the minister, learned in the flesh about the extent of the damage he'd dealt during his assassination attempt. Khaat had to have been telling Pansy the truth that the marriage law was a forgery. But then, why would Elijah make out it was legal and the rumors were merely false accusations. Was he trying to cover his own back, shield himself for his own mistakes? Did Elijah really believe that the marriage law was legal? Was he a culprit or merely a person in denial?

Hallie clutched tightly onto her gone-cold-tea. Elijah was looking at this from one perspective and one perspective only: a purebloods. This law, although the purebloods didn't realise, only favoured them. Had that stopped them from marrying each other? No. Hallie had heard of a fair few arranged pure blood marriages to avoid diluting their blood. The law, although Krum thought it necessary, wasn't working.

'This law only benefits the purebloods, and the majority of them are so far up themselves that they're too proud to see that. A fair few have married each other out of haste to avoid diluting their blood. The marriage law isn't the answer. It never was the answer.'

'The marriage law is so flawed. Did the ministry really think that this would change the attitudes of pureblood families? Those who did obey the law are probably in unhappy marriages, they're more likely to have affairs and what do you get? Purebloods finding a way back together and continuing to produce-'

The word Hallie had been looking for was children. However, that, much like Theodore, was a word that couldn't escape her lips.

Hallie nudged her cup distractedly. Her eyes darted from Elijah and up to the ceiling, abscent of thought for a moment whilst she tried to regain herself. After ten seconds had passed, though it felt like more, Hallie brought her attention back to Elijah. She'd been getting too lost in thought, the heat of the moment was leading her on before she'd stumbled. Gotten ahead of herself.

'Gideon Pierce.' Hallie repeated. Of course. The document highlighting the marriage law had been in his desk. Until now Hallie hadn't known whether it belonged to Krum or Levski who'd used the office to host marriage meetings or if it was a new addition to the office from Pierce. It looked as though she'd just gotten her answer.

“It doesn’t favour anyone!” Elijah spoke somewhat heatedly, “and that’s the point. If someone slips through the cracks because they think they’re being clever they’re damn fools. The Notts, let’s take them. Theodore had Alexander marry a Malfoy and you mark my words that line is as dead as it is at the moment standing. What we were told was that the reason why purebloods were dropping like flies was because the blood was weak. For all of the bravado, pure blood is dead in the water. If they have children, something will go wrong. If not in the immediate line then further down – if not Squibs then blood diseases, abnormalities in physique or infertility like we see now in this generation, if it isn’t in them already!”

Elijah took a breath, reaching up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. He picked up his coffee cup and took another hearty swig, finishing it off before setting it down with a resounding clop.

“They’ll get their comeuppance, you mark my words.” He sat back, considering his own daughter for a second. Alice was of Anderson stock. They kept pure without interbreeding. They’d learnt that the hard way. The Krums were a different breed of course but she’d already been exhibiting signs of magic, much to Elijah’s imminent relief. He sat back, picking up the muffin and he looked at Hallie carefully, weighing up her expression coolly.

“Gideon Pierce,” he agreed. “There’s your dictator.”