The Big Dipper

The Meeting at the Ministry

Ursula received her Hogwarts letter the very last week of July. She had returned home after her father's wedding and spent the following weeks playing Quidditch with Draco and tending to the garden at Corvus Manor. Dimsey and Helgie kept the house in excellent shape while she was away at Hogwarts, and when she was home, Ursula found herself spending more and more time at Corvus Manor.

Lucius was still seething over Dobby's liberation, so Ursula kept her house elves well clear. He had made no plans for a replacement, however, so Weesy would suffice. Ursula's meeting with the Improper Use of Magic Office was only two weeks away. She had acquired a retainer from a Muggle dentist in London — the Grangers had been quite lovely — and if her meeting went well she would soon have the Mandrake leaf necessary to begin the process.

Of course, all anyone could talk about was Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban. No one had ever escaped before, and no one could figure out how he did it. Luckily for Ursula, she felt quite safe tucked away in the countryside. The Weasleys were quite lucky as well; she saw in the paper Arthur Weasley had won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw, and would be spending the summer on holiday in Egypt.

"Letters for you, Ursula, Draco," said Lucius, absorbed in the Daily Prophet as usual.

"Finally," drawled Draco, opening his letter eagerly.

Ursula moved her own newspaper off of her plate and deftly opened the yellowed envelope, lifting the wax seal with her letter opener and pulling out the letters within. The envelope felt distinctly heavier than usual, and she tipped a silver and green badge into the palm of her hand.

"Ah, a Prefect's badge," said Lucius approvingly, lowering his newspaper. "Well done."

Ursula smiled, turning the badge over in her hand, admiring the large P emblazoned in the Slytherin snake. She quite liked it. She would have to owl her friends and see who else had received a badge. She set the badge aside as Weesy set a plate of food in front of her and sipped her tea as she unfurled her newspaper.

BLACK STILL AT LARGE

Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.

"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."

Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis.

"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it — who'd believe him if he did?"

While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.

"How long until they catch him?" said Ursula rhetorically, tossing the paper aside as well. Sirius's gaunt face stared up at her, pale and sunken, his skin waxy and his eyes shadowed. His eyes were the only part of him that seemed alive. Ursula turned the paper over. She recognized the expression in his eyes and it unsettled her.

"Utter incompetence is how he escaped in the first place," said Lucius dryly. He would never say such a thing to Cornelius Fudge, of course. "They say he was You-Know-Who's right hand man."