TWO WEEKS HAD COME AND GONE. In that amount of time, Leo had gotten used to his new routine. Wake up early, barely make it out of his apartment before six thirty, and then get to the Ministry just in time. Then while he was at work, his day consisted of numerous trips to and from from storage to make sure there were finished copies where they needed to be, and move them if he was putting away new ones. Every time he sat at his desk he hoped that Scrimgeour would come out of his office and tell him and Lydia that they were off desk duty. But that never happened. And it was starting to wear on Lydia, which was understandable. But it made Leo walk on eggshells around her— the littlest thing would irritated her.

"Doesn't it bother you that Scrimgeour is keeping us here?" Lydia asked as they both put away their quills and paper until the next day. "It's almost makes me want to just go and find cases myself." she added as Leo stood and waited for her to finish so they could walk out together.

"Lydia Corner wants to go rogue?" Leo asked, arching an eyebrow. "I'd love to see that."

"Don't get too excited, Black. I said almost." she replied looking up at him as they both walked away from their desks.

Leo shrugged, "Someday you'll just do it, it's much more fun than sitting at a desk all day."

Lydia scoffed, "That's not likely." she sighed, "So what are your plans for the night?" she asked.

"Probably off to the Leaky Cauldron for a bit," Leo replied as they approached the elevators.

The two of them were just about to step onto an elevator when a young witch caught up with them. She was a good five inches shorter than Leo at least. She had short blonde hair, and a dark red set of robes on. And in her hand she had a white piece of paper that was sealed with red wax.

"Glad I caught you, Mr. Black." she said with a small smile and then held up the letter to him, "Here you are," she said as he took it from her. "have a nice night." she said looking at Leo and then to Lydia before turning and leaving the two of them just before the doors shut.

       Leo sighed heavily as he turned the letter around to pop the wax seal. Part of him dreaded opening it, what if it was the letter telling him that he was already getting let go? He wasn't sure what he'd do then, there was a slim chance that the congress would consider taking him back...

"Great..." Leo muttered as he read through the short but to the point letter that he held in his hands.

"What is it?" Lydia asked.

"Just the letter telling me that I'll have to speak at my sisters trial." Leo frowned  folding the letter back up and then shoving it into his pocket. Meaning he'd, once again, have to show his brother and probably his mother that he really was an Auror. And not willing to bend any rules, even for Ella.

Lydia arched her brow, "I take it you won't be on her side of things?"

Leo scoffed, "Not likely." he replied, his tone filled with disappointment. The only thing worse than simply being called to testify against his sister, was knowing he was going to have to do it in front of his family. There was no way his parents would miss darling Dora's trial, and his brother wouldn't miss a chance to remind Leo once again that he had betrayed the entire family.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Lydia stayed as the two of them stepped into the elevator. "the Flo-network, please." Lydia said, offering the tall and thin wizard standing beside the buttons a small smile.

"Not bad?" Leo echoed, "You've clearly never heard of how important family loyalty is to my family."

Lydia furrowed her brows, "But your sister is a death eater," she began, "she could have killed you. surely your family will understand that."

Leo scoffed a little, "Have you heard of my cousin? Sirius Black? Breaking the in the name of blood purity isn't exactly unheard of or frowned on in the Black family." Leo said, hoping the hint of sarcasm was obvious in his voice. "Besides, Elladora missed on purpose. Killing me wouldn't be as fun as constantly making me the family disappointment."

Lydia stayed silent for a moment. "Well then, I'm sure they won't keep you in the courtroom too long. Usually they get the aurors out right away."

Leo shrugged a bit, he wasn't sure how accurate that claim was. At the congress, aurors were usually the longest bit of the trial or hearing. He hoped she was right though...

The two of them stood in the elevator in silence. Then when they got to their stop, Lydia parted ways with him. She made her way towards the tall hall that was lined with fireplaces, while Leo joined a short line to take a phone booth straight out of the Ministry.

Leo leaned against the glass of the phone booth once he was inside, and rubbed his face with his hands and let out a groan of frustration. He was far from happy about having to go to the trial, and the fact that he had to wait only a week to go was even more frustrating.  A week for him to imagine the disappointed look on his mother's face, a week to dread the silence from his father, and a week to already hate his brother for his lecture about what loyalty meant that he would no doubt give Leo as soon as he saw him outside of the Ministry.

When the phonebooth stopped above the ground, revealing night sky over London, and a street that had barely any street lights. Leo took a deep breath before stepping out of it and onto the pavement. Then he quickly disapparated before anyone could really see him, and landed in front of the Leaky Cauldron for his usual cup of coffee that he rarely actually drank.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Mona had already seen him.

"You look like hell," Ramona stated as she scooped up some dishes from a table and made her way towards the bar. "bad day?"

"Actually it was just fine until I was leaving." he replied as he took a seat in his usual spot and she disappeared in the back, only to come back with a cup of coffee in hand and some creamer in the other. "Remember my brother and his whole...family is loyalty thing and family should do anything for family lecture?"

Mona shrugged, "It rings a bell." she smirked a little bit, as if she was expecting Leo to make some sort of crack about his brother and family. But when he didn't react that way, her small smile quickly disappeared.

Leo let out a long huff of air, "Well today I found out, I get the pleasure of speaking at my sisters trial next week." he said as he poured a creamer into his coffee.

"For her?"

"For her arrest." he corrected her.

Mona frowned, "I'm sorry..." she said softly, "but at least that's a week away."

Leo scoffed, "Yeah...at least."

"You aren't thinking of not going...are you?"

Leo shook his head, "Oh no, I could honestly care less if Elladora ends up in Azkaban." he said simply, "I just know my family will be there to support her and I'm going to have to deal with them for weeks, maybe even forever after I tell them about Elladora."

"Well, good thing you can sometimes choose who you call family," Mona replied, "example, I have my brother, of course. My step-mother too...but I'd consider the Weasley's family.

*edited 8/1/2020*