The flavor of polyjuice potion was a hard taste to wash out of her mouth, its bitter aftertaste still lingering on Florence's tongue as she fixed up her appearance in the mirror. It was an odd sensation, looking at the mirror and being stared down at a reflection that wasn't your own, she thought as she fixed up the buttons on Reuben Avery's ministry uniform, which Florence had managed to take by walking in to his own home under the guise of the polyjuice potion.

Reuben Avery was a known drunkard, which was a surprise to Florence, as he was also a member of the Wizengamot, who were supposed to be some of the best and clean cut Ministry workers. Reuben spent his nights at Hog's Head drinking away at his sorrows, which made the situation more convenient for Florence, who had managed to easily subdue, tie up and hide him in his drunken state. Using one of Sloan's sleeping potions that she had found in his bag, it would be awhile until Reuben would be able to wake up, giving Florence the time to walk into the Ministry and finish her mission without his interference.

"Darling," came the voice of Avery's meek wife, who stood tentatively at the doorway, Florence looking at her from the mirror. She could tell by the way his wife moved around her that he was abusive, as Mrs. Avery looked deathly afraid of him every time they had to interact, "I have your favorite tie in the wash, I-I didn't think you were coming home this morning so I didn't think- I didn't think to prepare it, I--"

"Its okay." Florence said, in her voice that she altered with a spell to be deep enough to impersonate Avery's. She knew he would be cruel to his wife when it came to small matters like a favorite tie, but Florence did not have the heart to play the part. She saw the surprise on her face, her eyes lighting up with slight hope. It pained her to see women in such pitiful situations, and she felt sorry for Mrs. Avery, that she had been stuck in a life with such a dreadful husband.

"I have to go to work early today. A lot of matters to settle." Florence said curtly, before grabbing the leather briefcase by the side of the dresser, where she had transferred all of Sloan's Auror kit in, as it was more inconspicuous for her to be carrying it around as opposed to a backpack.

"Will you be home for dinner?" his wife asked, touching his shoulder before he could make it out of the threshold, Florence shrugging off her affectionate touch. She did not want to give her hope that her husband had changed, as it would all go back to normal once she was finished with her impersonation. "Don't wait for me." she told Mrs. Avery curtly, before walking out the door.

She apparated as soon as she was out of their mansion, Florence coming face to face with the ministry building looming over her. She had gone through Sloan's notebook the night before, as Aurors were trained to learn and keep as much information about the people they planned on impersonating. It gave her the upper hand, going through every single one of Avery's  morning routines as she walked in to the building, trying to make him seem as normal as possible. Florence went up to the front desk to collect his files for the day, but had been cut off by a familiar face before she could go up to Avery's office

Lucius Malfoy came in to view, his jaw tense as he approached. Florence could feel panic swirling in her stomach, but kept a stern face, "Lucius," she said in acknowledgement, Lucius Malfoy simply cocking one of his brows in response, "I know you spend your days off drowning yourself in a bottle, Reuben, and I have never been one to judge your endeavors outside of work, despite how despicable they are, however I must ask you to get your act together for today's session."

Florence's brows furrowed together, looking over the files in her arms, "I was not informed of a session today."

Lucius rolled his eyes, "We sent an owl to your home. Your wife did not tell you?"

She shook her head, "No, she didn't tell me anything."

"Well you weren't wrong when you said she's good for nothing," Lucius scoffed, "There's been an update on the list of Undesirables." he told her, Florence steeling herself so as to not give anything away with her facial expressions, "Seventy-nine and Eighty were found in a supposedly abandoned cabin in the woods."

"And what of Seventy-eight?" she asked him, feeling weird about referring to herself with a number instead of her name, "Seventy-eight escaped. Seventy-nine and Eighty were interrogated about her whereabouts however it is apparent that they do not know anything."

"So what is this session about?"

"Well that Fawley brat is throwing a tantrum." Lucius scoffed, "The Dark Lord wishes for us to convene about the most appropriate way to deal with the two Undesirables before giving in to Miss Fawley's requests."

"Which is...?"

"She wants to use them as bait. To lure out Seventy-eight." Lucius said, his voice spiteful and bitter, "I think it is unwise for the Dark Lord to give that family the time of his day to hear out their requests. Their mission is nothing but personal revenge and helps our cause in absolutely no way. Raegan Fawley is nothing more than a brat who needs to get over herself."

"She does need to let it go," Florence agreed with a nod, "She's failed her mission twice now, I too don't get why the Dark Lord is still doing her favors."

"Her father wasn't that great of a Death Eater anyway..." he sneered, "But no matter, I need your help in convincing the rest of the council to do anything but turn over their authority to the Fawleys. They will listen to you, as you have been a council member for a good number of years now, as opposed to those boneheads that have just been appointed for the sake of filling up empty seats."

"Seventy-nine and Eighty are still in the building?"

"Yes, holed up in the Minister's office. Yaxley is with them right now."

"I'd suggest doubling security, wouldn't want them getting away." Florence told him, so as to not sound suspicious, which made Lucius Malfoy laugh, "Very little chance of that happening with what they've been through the past couple hours. Their security shouldn't be a problem. Focus on your part."

"I'll do what I can, Lucius."

"Good. I'll see you at the court room in an hour." he said, before walking off, Florence finally being able to breath again. She hoped that Lucius had not suspected anything, that she was able to play along without giving her identity away. Florence now knew where Julien and Sloan were. It was only a matter of figuring out how to get to them before the Wizengamot session. She hurriedly got on the elevator, deciding to try to map out her plan in the comforts of Avery's office.

Stepping out of the elevator, Florence looked around the hallway to make sure she was alone, before taking her polyjuice flask out of her pocket, uncapping it and taking another big swig. Her face scrunched up in disgust, keeping the flask and continuing her walk to his office.

Avery's office was quite spacious, far bigger than the office that her mother had before. The walls were painted a dull gray, which were bare with the exception of a few stray picture frames that were hung thoughtlessly. There was a big family portrait behind Avery's desk, Florence recognizing his wife, who held the same fearful eyes even in the photos, and two boys, both of whom she remembered vaguely during her time in Hogwarts.

She pulled up his chair, sitting down and opening her briefcase to pull out a map of the Ministry which Sloan always kept with him for some odd reason. She always thought her uncle was too paranoid for his own good, but in this instance, she was quite thankful for his paranoia. The Wizengamot often convened in Courtroom Ten, which was two floors above the Minister's office, where Florence wanted to be. She needed to be able to get there without raising any questions from anyone.

Florence heard the office door shut close, which made her sit upright abruptly, looking around the room for any sign of anyone coming in, however there was no one.

She was about to reach for her wand in her pocket when she felt a hand clamp over her mouth from behind. Florence struggled briefly, trying to scream through her suppressed mouth but only heard the sound of the person whispering a sleeping spell. She suddenly felt her eyes get heavier, the world blurring around her. Before she could even piece together her next thought, she was out cold.

----------

Yaxley let out an annoyed sigh at the sound of a knock on the door, setting his tea down on the table as he rose to answer it. This was not what he signed up for, he thought bitterly, feeling more like a babysitter than anything else. If it has not been the Dark Lord himself who had requested his help on keeping the Undesirables in check, he would have already complained. It was bad enough that he wasn't participating in any of the action-filled missions, what made matters worse was the fact that he had to deal with Raegan Fawley and her equally incessant mother, who kept nagging him about the conditions of their captives.

He opened the door to find an unfamiliar blonde girl standing at the other side of the threshold, a indifferent look on her face. "Mr. Dolohov sent me here to summon you." she said curtly, making Yaxley's frown deepen, "I can't leave my post, he knows that."

"He said it was important." she insisted, "If you aren't there in ten minutes, it will be my fault."

Yaxley rolled his eyes, before glancing at the office door, his brows stitching into a frown, before he grunted in annoyance, "This better be important, otherwise that dolt will regret it." he muttered, before looking to the girl, "You, stay here. If the prisoners are gone by the time I come back, I will have your head, literally."

She nodded curtly, stepping aside to let Yaxley pass before going in to the office.

Just as he was about to turn a corner, he felt himself trip over his own feet, face planting harshly on the carpeted hallway. He tried to move his legs to stand back up, but felt as though he had lost the ability to control his limbs. He looked up, seeing a brunette girl looming over him, "Heard you were working yourself too hard." she said to him, "I think you deserve a little nap time."

Yaxley dropped to the ground with a loud thud, Nicolai looking around to see if anyone was nearby. She hoisted up his arms, dragging him into a broom closet to the best of her abilities. The door barely closed, the short brunette girl leaning all her weight into it until she heard it click. Making her way back to the Minister's office, she saw Alexander approaching, an unconscious Florence in his arms, who was wearing a suit that was slightly bigger than her.

"Take her bag, its heavy." he grunted, Nicolai taking the leather briefcase that he was barely holding on to with his one hand. "How'd you know who she was?"

"Mr. Avery has a mistress in our department. She always fixes him up some tea when he stops by in the mornings but he walked past her office this morning." he explained, the two of them walking to where Hadley was waiting at the office, "Plus he looked decent. Avery always has twelve different stains on his dress shirt when he comes in for work."

"Smart guy," Nicolai chuckled, opening the door for Xander as he carried Florence inside.

He set her down on one of the chairs at the waiting room to the Minister's office, Hadley emerging a few minutes later with Julien leaning heavily against her, his clothes bloody and slightly torn. Sloan was hobbling closely behind them, a look of worry on their faces at the sight of Florence unconscious and passed out on one of the chairs, "What happened to her? Is she okay?" Sloan asked urgently, Nicolai nodding, "She's fine, Xander just had to subdue her so he could strip off the effects of the polyjuice potion she was taking."

"Who was she disguised as?" he looked to Xander, as Nicolai made a beeline towards Julien to try and patch him up to the best of her abilities.

"Reuben Avery."

For a split second, Xander saw Sloan's lips tug upward into a small smile, "That was a good choice. How'd you know it was her?"

He shrugged, "Mr. Avery never looks put together. Something just looked off."

"Smart boy," Sloan said, patting him on the back, "This is good and all, but we don't really have a way out of here. Its not like we can all waltz out the main exit like this."

"Sirius arranged that for us. We just need to go down two floors into Jane's old office." Nicolai explained, "Emmy is there waiting for us. She can take us all to the Manor without setting off any of the people watching the premises."

"Well that's not really a cakewalk either, going down two floors with two prisoners and an unconscious girl in Avery's clothes."

Nicolai dug into the pocket of her scrubs, taking out a vial and handing it to Hadley, "This will wake Flo up. We might need to fight our way down a little so we'll need all the help we can get."

"Alright, bottom's up, Flo..." she said, uncorking the vial and slowly pouring it into Florence's mouth. She continued to lay motionless for awhile, her eyes then shot open as she gasped for air. Hadley patted her back as she continued to cough, looking around at the people surrounding her, her eyes landing on Jules and Sloan, "You're okay..." she managed to say in between her coughing.

"Awfully stupid of you to try and bust us out of here without any help." Sloan told her with a slight frown, "Good thing you have good friends."

"Where are we?" She asked as Hadley and Xander helped her back up on her feet, "Are we still in the Ministry?"

"Afraid so," Hadley said, "Now come on, we haven't got much time. The Wizengamot will be holding their session too and they'll be looking for Avery and Yaxley."

They moved cautiously through the hallways, wands drawn and ready to duel if needed. Julien was limping as he leaned most of his weight against Alexander, while Sloan was being propped up by Nicolai. The group had made it safely to one of the lifts, Hadley quickly punching in the floor where Jane's old office was located at.

They made their way down, anxious and fearful that they might run in to the wrong people. Hadley kept her finger on the button, hoping that would keep it from stopping at other floors. Faces blurred by as they descended, Florence clutching Sloan tighter every time they passed by a floor. The doors opened up to an empty hallway, much to their relief, piling out of the lift as fast as they could manage, looking around frantically for any signs of danger as they pushed forward towards Jane's old office.

Hadley had heard footsteps as soon as they were about to approach a corner, raising her wand as she readied a defensive spell.

"S'okay, no need for that!" A voice said, Florence letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of Tonks, her hair now a deep shade of emerald green, "I've brought reinforcements. Emmy's waiting for us. Coast is clear, far as I know."

"Good to see you, Dora." Sloan said, smiling weakly as Tonks slung one of his arms around her shoulder, "You look like a proper mess, Price." she said with a chuckle, before looking over to Julien, "So do you, Price junior."

"We can look for supplies in the Manor, I'll fix you two right up." Nicolai said, as they continued to move down the hallway.

They got to the front of the office successfully, Hadley unlocking the door with the spell, throwing it open to find a black haired woman sitting in what once was Jane's office chair, a firm grip on Emmy with a wand pointed to her throat. Florence felt anger rise up her chest, whipping her wand out in a fury and pointing it to the woman who threatened the life of the sole being left from her childhood, "You let her go, right now."

"You know my daughter only wants you." The woman spoke, "Your uncle, your cousin, were means to get to you. The longer you stayed hidden, the longer you put the lives of the people you care about in danger. Do you see the state of them? That is all your fault."

"Let Emmy go. She's not a part of this."

"Anyone who tries to keep you from us is a part of this," she said, "Your house elf said she would rather die than give you up."

"Well she's not going to die. I won't let you hurt her."

"Fawley, this is getting exhausting, leave the girl alone." Sloan said, "If you and your daughter want someone to punish for your husband, take me. Kill me like my brother killed him."

"I don't want you, I want the girl." she said firmly, "You are nothing, Sloan Price. You have felt the pain all these years, you are no use to me if you're used to the suffering."

"You leave my niece alone, or I swear to Merlin—"

"If I go with you, will you let them go?" Florence spoke, opposition immediately coming from everyone else.

"Florence, no." Julien protested, watching as his cousin stared down the woman who still held Emmy tightly, "I'll let every one of them escape. Even your elf. You have my word on that. If not, I'll call back up and have you all arrested."

"Like hell," Sloan seethed, "Florence, don't be stupid."

"I don't really see another choice, Sloan. Please." Florence shot back, before looking Mrs. Fawley dead in the eyes, "Let Emmy go first. And I'll come with you."

With great hesitation on her face, she loosened her grip on the house elf, who ran towards Florence with tears streaming down her face, hugging her leg as she crouched down, "Miss Florence..."

"Emmy, don't cry... you've always been there for me all my life. Please let me do the same for you, at least once."

"Its my job," Emmy said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, "Its my job. I promised Miss Jane..." she said, her eyes wandering to a portrait of Jane that still remained hanging on the wall, a ghost of a smile dawning on her face as she nodded slightly, "Miss Jane... I promise..."

The house elf spun around, and with a flick of her wrist sent Mrs. Fawley hurtling back, causing her chair to crash into the drawers. With a few more hand waves she managed to push back the heavy oak desk against her, pinning her in place. Tonks took the opportunity to disarm the woman, her wand flying out of her hand and cluttering to the floor.

"You will not take Miss Florence!" Emmy cried, the loudest her voice had ever been, "I made promise to Miss Jane!" she declared, using more of her power as she pushed more furniture into Mrs. Fawley, who wriggled helplessly as she was trapped.

"Miss, take my hand!" Emmy cried to Florence, who clasped her small hand in one and reached out to grab Nicolai, "Everyone, hold on to each other!"

Florence knew it took Emmy almost all of her energy to be able to apparate several people at once, the house elf shutting her eyes in focus as the others watched as Mrs. Fawley frantically tried to push the heavy desk off of herself.

Florence felt as though she was being thrown through time and space, her head feeling as though she was spinning as she shut her eyes, keeping a firm grip on Emmy and Nicolai, and hoping everyone else was okay as well.

After a few seconds she landed on what felt like grass grass rather harshly, groaning at the impact. She saw up as quickly as she could, opening her eyes and looking around to do a mental head count. Hadley, Nic, Xander, Sloan, Julien, Tonks, Emmy.

She looked around and saw the familiar shrubbery of her back yard, making her exhale sharply. She heard a door open, to be followed by multiple footsteps.

"You're okay!" A voice exclaimed in pure relief, Sirius helping her off of her ground and pulling her into a hug, Florence seeing Matthew standing a few ways away, "We were so worried about you."

Remus and Tonks were helping Sloan and Julien into the house, while Xander helped Nicolai and Hadley back up on their feet.

"We wouldn't have made it without Emmy." Florence said, heading to the house elf after she broke away from Sirius. She got down on her knees to be in eye level of the house elf, smiling at her before pulling her in to a warm embrace, "Emmy. You've always been my guardian angel. Thank you."

"No need for thanks." Emmy said, "I promised Miss Jane, keep you safe. Always."

"We keep each other safe." she corrected, "Emmy, I would do anything for you, I hope you know how much I love you."

Emmy planted a chaste kiss on Florence's cheek, "Emmy is lucky to have Miss Florence."

"We're lucky to have each other."

//////

a.n: HELLLOOOO I hope you forgive me for seemingly dropping off the face of the earth. Real life (college) got in the way of my creative process but I'm back now yay! I hope you enjoyed this chapter & I'm currently working on the next chapter as you're reading this :)

-Denise