The Big Dipper

Black Manor

Anastasia's idea of a small dinner party to celebrate Ursula and Hadrian's engagement turned out to mean inviting every extended relative Hadrian had, both Selwyn and Rowle, and some of the Malfoy cousins, who weren't even related to Ursula. She made it through the ordeal without any problems, although with so many recent developments in the war, she had little attention to spare for her engagement.

Ursula returned to the sanctuary engaged, and had to grin and bear the congratulations she received from practically everyone. Only Charlie, Genevieve, and Rue knew the truth, and Ursula wasn't keen to share it with anyone else. She often used the excuse of not wanting to get it damaged to avoid wearing her engagement ring, but at mealtimes and such she couldn't avoid it.

"You're an excellent liar, you know," muttered Rue as she bandaged Ursula's arm after a particularly nasty encounter with a Norwegian Ridgeback.

"I'm glad you think so," murmured Ursula in reply.

Being back at the sanctuary certainly made it easier to avoid some of the problems she was facing back home, but Ursula had a growing feeling of despair, as if something bad was coming, and soon. Unfortunately, the way she dealt with this feeling was by avoiding her father's letters all together. Ken had, of course, seen the news of her engagement, and he was not pleased to find out via the front page of a newspaper. But more than that he was worried about her, which was evident in the increasingly anxious letters he sent, and meant that she could not write back, because if she did, she would tell him everything, and she couldn't do that.

Avoiding Ken's letters was a terrible decision, but Ursula panicked each time one arrived, and could not find the adequate words to write back. If she was going to tell him the truth, it needed to be in person, but she wasn't sure if she could even manage that. As long as he didn't get involved, as long as Voldemort didn't know about him, he was safe, and that was all that mattered to Ursula.

As April arrived, Ursula received ever more updates from Draco and offered him assistance on mending the Vanishing Cabinet, the twin of which resided in Corvus Manor. She was worried about him, both his safety and his health, and still saw too many flaws in his plan, all of which she relayed to Dumbledore. Ursula was made to attend the wedding of Caster Malfoy — Draco's cousin through his grandfather's side — and Ophelia Selwyn, Cressida's elder sister. She had scarcely returned to the sanctuary when her prediction of bad news came true, in the most awful way.

It was at breakfast time, in the middle of the week, when Ursula received the news. She had just been handed her mail for the morning, and in between the grim issue of the Daily Prophet and the letter from Hadrian, there was a hastily folded, slightly tear-stained letter. It was natural, therefore, for Ursula to open said letter first, and open it she did, although she did not like what she found.

"Oh my..." said Ursula, clapping a hand to her mouth. Abandoning her breakfast, she grabbed the rest of her mail and hurried from the room, leaving her confused friends behind.

"What was that all about?" asked Charlie. Genevieve shrugged.

"No idea," she said. They both perked up when Marius entered the dining room, but his eyebrows were creased into a frown.

"Ursula will be taking a few days off," he announced. "She is returning to England today, and she will return by Saturday."

"What? Why?" said Charlie, rising from his chair.

"I suggest you ask her yourself," said Marius grimly. Charlie wasted no time in leaving the dining room, with Genevieve on his heels. They found Ursula in her tent, hastily rifling through the drawers of her desk.

"Either you've gone mad or something's happened," said Charlie, frowning and crossing his arms.

"Henry Montgomery was attacked," said Ursula, withdrawing a key from a secret compartment. Pocketing the key, she swept the papers scattered across her desk into a neat stack.