Morning found Sirius crazed with worry. Three men in gray had come to take the mirror and Esme's body. He had played the good familiar as best he could, snarling and refusing to let any of them near her until Lorelei had to be called to take him away. She had taken him to her room and been drawing breath to speak to him when a Ministry official had pulled her aside.

There was a lot of paperwork involved in transporting a magical prisoner. The job of that had fallen to Lorelei, it seemed. She had to fill out all the forms, make all the arrangements, and contact the rest of her family. She had spent most of the night writing to her parents, trying to explain everything that had happened.

She was only grateful that she didn't have to tell them in person. It was hard enough just to write down that Esme had come to her after ten years with a cure taken from the blood of the monsters she had been hunting all the time they thought she was running with Dark magic.

I hate being wrong, Lorelei thought gloomily. She put her quill down to rub at her eyes. She was tired, and her eyes burned.

"And what are your plans for her familiar?" asked the official at her elbow. The image of Padfoot flickered through Lorelei's mind. Black dogs were sometimes thought to be harbingers of doom. She thought of Esme being executed for High Treason and felt her throat tighten. It wasn't supposed to be like this... Even when she had thought Esme had knowingly sent her to the vampires, Lorelei had never wanted her sister dead. Punished, certainly. But never dead. Nothing like what the Council was considering...

Her consolation was that the couldn't do anything until her family had all had a chance to get involved. Her parents were from two old and powerful families.Their influence might be able to slow down the Council enough to find a way out for Esme. She wished she knew what Sirius had done. She was certain that such a famous trouble-maker would've tried something.

Lorelei had half-hoped to find the orb and mirror empty and the black dog 'escaped' with Esme this morning. She had seen the mirror with her trapped sister inside it like a glass coffin, and her heart had constricted. She had wanted to smack Sirius. I left you alone with her all night! she had wanted to scream. Why are either of you still here??

A headache began to pound behind her stinging eyes. Finally, the official left, babbling something about breakfast. Lorelei tried to focus on her letter again and her handwriting wavered in front of her. She put the quill down again and covered her face with her hands. A soft sound made her look up, just as the door knob began to turn. Even Severus would knock, she thought, standing quickly. To her shock, it was Raye. The girl had been drifting around Hogwarts with a suspiciously cheerful grin, and now she smiled at Lorelei with what she could only describe as smug sweetness.

"I only wanted to check on you, Ms. Zephyr," the girl cooed. She tilted her head so that her long hair spilled over her shoulders. Since her return, she had given up the long braid. Now, her hair was always loose, swaying behind her with every movement. "This must be very trying for you."

A thousand misgivings flared to life in Lorelei's mind. She wasn't the liar Esme was, but she could fake a smile. Pulling her lips upward convincingly, Lorelei stepped toward Raye. The girl was forced to lean her head back to keep eye contact. Raye's hair pooled around her shouders again, covering her throat.

"It's kind of you to consider my feelings," Lorelei said. Her eyes narrowed to hide the flare of red as she opened up her sense to make sure the girl's heart was still beating. "Without a crossbow, that is."

Raye's sweetness faltered at that, but the smugness doubled to make up for it.

"I've given up on crossbow, ma'am," she said. "I've learned to be more reasonable."

"From who?" Lorelei's voice turned icy.

"From my penpal," Raye purred. "I got a letter today." And with that, she left, closing the door behind her.