It was lunchtime when one of the magazine’s assistants darkened the doorstep of Queen G’s office with an envelope in one hand and a refill of lemon and ginger tea in the other. Wordlessly, it was handed over and Genny was left alone, door open, to read through the contents.

Throughout her perusal of the letter, Genny’s expression, starting with mild confusion, turned to irritation to concern and finally returned to confusion. She continued to stare at the letter for at least another minute after her first read, allowing herself time to digest the words while her brain attempted to comprehend why on earth Kurby was writing to her about Lil Snigger’s harassment of him. She’d not been drinking so it definitely wasn’t some form of her overactive imagination.

Had Koko just lost her an asset on Level 4 as well as a very hands-on night-time companion?

“KOKO!” Her voice carried out of the office as she yelled. “Drag your arse in here with a f*$%ing good explanation or crawl in on your &*#@ing knees and get grovelling!” She’d definitely spent too many years working for Barnabus Cuffe! The crust old git had clearly influenced her.

She had gotten her coffee and made a few stops on the way to work - touching base with some of her contacts to see if there was anything in the air about those strange letters in the morning post. Nobody seemed the wiser, although none of her Ministry liaisons were around to comment on that side of things. Koko wasn't one to rush conversation at any rate, so she lingered to chat.

It was just around lunchtime when she waltzed into HQ, blazer sleeves casually rolled up and a thoughtful look on her made up face.

            “KOKO!”

She had just taken off her iconic hat when Queen Gen's bellow reached across the writers' bullpen. Koko exchanged glances with her colleagues. Yikes. "Bit early for the bottle," the little witch murmured under her breath before saluting the others and quickly heading towards her royal majesty's quarters.

"I'm not one of your weekend appetisers." Koko drawled as she entered the room with raised eyebrows, "I'd prefer to save my knees for peeping through keyholes," she reached into her pocket to procure Cuffe's letter from earlier that morning, but didn't hand it over just yet. "What am I explaining this time? Someone's feelings get trampled on again?"

“Someone’s feelings!?” Gen’s gaze shot up from rereading the letter again to stare at her apparent star reporter with wide eyes. A few stray curls fell down from her messy ponytail, framing a reddening face. “Oh no, you’re paid not to care about those. But you are paid write gossip, Koko. Not to &*%#ing harass people!”

The letter was thrown in her direction and Gen continued her rant.
“Only a few days after dealing with the fallout of that article that should never have gone to print and this! Head of Beasts marches into our offices and attacks the magazine’s owner and you choose to harass his colleague!?”

Queen G shouting wasn’t a regular occurrence. Normally she was chilled out and quite content to go along with things, stirring the pot. Today was the last straw after far too many complaints and threats. She liked Kurby Bagnold. He was fun to play up and with.

“You sent Kurby Bagnold %&$#ing glitter??”

Koko snatched the letter as it was thrown at her, quickly scanning its contents with a practiced eye while the other witch went on and on. Needless to say, she hadn't sent anything to the WCU Head. Not even a cheeky hello or a "how are things going in werewolf land" or whatever. And she definitely hadn't sent him glitter.

Glitter was for people who appreciated glitter, not Kurby Bagnold.

"I didn't send him shit." Koko flicked the letter back on to Gen's desk and then handed over the one from Cuffe, her mouth pushed out into a scowl. "Got this from Barnabas Cuffe of all people."

She thought about mentioning Edgar Carstairs but she hadn't brought that response with her, and it wasn't like she was interested in seeing something at Stardust anytime soon.

"I don't know what's going on but I'm not going around harassing anyone, yeah?" she told her editor with rare seriousness. "Been trying to lay low after the Spectre thing." People loved gossip but Koko knew that they also loved making Witch Weekly look like a real monster sometimes.

Koko Yukawa spoke with a serious tone. Not a serious tone to say ‘I have to fool the boss into thinking I’ve not been naughty’ but an actual real ‘I’m telling the truth’ seriousness. Gen took the offered letter and scanned over it several times. That was certainly Cuffe’s handwriting; she clearly remembered the vicious scrawl put to drafts of her work that she’d believed to be good. Cuffe’s quill marks had always told another story.

“You’ve asked for a job at the Prophet?” Clearly that wasn’t true. Everyone at the Weekly knew, from their editor, how Cuffe was to work for. Gen may even have exaggerated it just to deter her staff. She could just imagine Barney’s reaction. Well…in reality, she no longer needed to imagine his reaction. She had it here in ink on parchment.

"Been trying to lay low after the Spectre thing." Koko stated, and Gen nearly snorted.
“That’s clearly working for you.”

“Gen?” The assistant was back with another letter. Gen glanced between both women before opening her hand to take it.

“Last chance to own up if you’ve been on the gillyweed?” Maybe that was the explanation. Merlin knew gillyweed did crazy things to one’s mind.

            “You’ve asked for a job at the Prophet?”

Koko rolled her eyes. What would someone like her even do at the Daily Prophet? People at the Prophet were all about keeping the Ministry in one piece and she was all about making sure their employees didn't have it smooth sailing all the way. Not to mention, writing to Cuffe was way too direct a style for her. It was perfect for 'Lil Snigger' though.

Whoever wrote to these people had caught her voice.

"If I did these things I wouldn't blame the gillyweed, and you know it." Koko insisted, dropping into a chair opposite of Gen's desk and glancing at the letter that had just been handed over. "Something's rotten in Denmark, Gen. And for once, it isn't Lil Snigger."

One might ask what anyone could possibly have against this particular victim, but the list would have been far too long considering Koko’s repertoire. Lil Snigger was the perfect gossip fiend, and Koko was allowed to hide behind the Alias beautifully. Still unsure whether to believe her staff member’s innocence, Gen pursed her lips and started to rip open the envelope.

Inside were 2 pieces of parchment. The shorter note, written in a scruffy handwriting barely legible, caused the Editor to squint, taking a long moment of difficulty to read the barely formed words. Her perfectly glossed lips definitely twitched in distaste at ‘Mrs Gamp’.
Carefully, as if it might explode, Gen slid the Head Auror’s note across the desk and unfolded the second letter.

The handwriting was unmistakably that of the witch sat opposite her and the ink was glittery, something most of her reporters (including herself) used when writing to readers.
The more the Editor read, the wider her eyes grew. Koko definitely didn’t send it.

“It is Lil Snigger, Koko, and she’s been busy.” The letter was handed over and Gen leaned back in her own seat, lifting her mug to her lips. “I’m shocked Pratt didn’t come and scream at me himself. You’re asking the Head Auror, in writing, if he can ‘get it up’…”

Koko reached over for the letter, and found herself gaping at the handwriting. That was her handwriting. If she'd found something like this in her flat she would have assumed she'd written it after too many shots of fairy tequila. And, well, she'd not done anything that stupid since she was fresh out of Hogwarts.

She swept her thumb over the glittery ink. This was well done. This was a bloody professional imitation.

            "...scream at me himself. You’re aasking the Head Auror, in writing, if he can ‘get it up’…"

"Of course not, it's Pratt not Spectre!" Koko snapped, thinking that Ed Pratt had neither the balls nor the recklessness to march in here on a vendetta. "I wouldn't ask him shit if I didn't think he'd spill tea over one of his stupid exes."

Which he wouldn't, because he had children, and people like Pratt did not tattle about things that would screw up their kids. He wasn't like Genny. Koko handed the letter back, scowling to herself. Someone must have been sharpening their axe for ages before setting her up like this.

"What do you want to do?" she asked her editor - Lil Snigger was a fiction, but the fiction was going to get them into trouble if they didn't act. "I could report the forgeries. Would clear us with level two at least."

“Do you want to report it?” The magazine’s editor wasn’t eager to get level 2 involved in their business after her meet with Carstairs the day before. The letter stunk of a revenge attempt but no one could really be clear who considering the time it would take to get such a decent grasp of Koko’s handwriting.

“Or…” She began, her mind racing to catch up with the possible ramifications of these letters. “I sack Lil Snigger.” Probably to complaints from readers. “We need to take control of this problem instead of handing it over to law enforcement. I can hardly see them taking it seriously.” Witch Weekly were an annoyance for Level 2, but they really didn’t help themselves to become endearing. Reporters were supposed to irritate government, they needed to keep them on their toes.

“If I find out this was you, Koko, you’re out on your arse and I’ll make sure that the only job you find writing is to ink obituaries for the Quibbler. They don't use glitter.” She didn’t trust her reporter completely, but then, Gen didn’t trust anyone really. You never knew a person, especially one that spent her career hiding behind an alias. “If we handle this in house, Snigger’s out and Yukawa is in the open. Can you handle that? People knowing you?”

Firing Lil Snigger?

Koko lowered her gaze, no longer watching Gen with her usual interest, tossing the idea around the inside of her head instead. Lil Snigger had been around for a while. She had entertained their readers in all kinds of outlandish and dramatic ways, making a mockery of powerful people who would realise their social clout was useless in the face of a few well placed assumptions on the printed page. It had, she could admit to herself, given her one hell of a power trip.

Queen G didn't know. Her editor enjoyed the game but she didn't enjoy it in the same way Koko did, watching giants fall.

And now she would be the one falling. Or her pseudonym would be anyway. She sighed, glancing up at the other woman's threats. Yeck, Cuffe really rubbed off on Gen. It was starting to get on her nerves.

            "Can you handle that? People knowing you?"

"I won't report it. I'll tone down my writing as Yukawa, it'll be fine." Koko muttered dismissively - most of her contacts knew her by her real name and assumed she was some lesser being who worked at Witch Weekly, so she could come out as a reporter in name.

Given some time so as not to arouse suspicion.

But Lil Snigger. It was kind of painful to let that go over something like a bunch of harmless letters. "I'm taking the day off," she said abruptly. "You do whatever you have to do to cover your arse, Gen." Koko turned on her heels, not doubting for one moment that the older witch was worried about her own brand more than anything else . "I need to go buy my alter ego a hard drink or four."

“I'm taking the day off,” Koko stated, leaving Gen staring with raised eyebrows. Perhaps the witch wasn’t quite sure of who decided when she got a day off. Hardly a day, in reality, considering the witch didn’t tend to appear in the office until the late morning at the earliest. Normally Gen wouldn’t complain about such, considering the articles created under the pseudonym of Lil Snigger. This week, however, after Spectre barging in to hex Sandy, a near miss in a telling off from the Head of Level 2 and now these letters, Gen was quite sure that anything Koko did right now would irritate her.

Koko turned to leave the room and Gen, still recovering from the surprising condemnation about covering her own arse, placed her mug down on the desk perhaps a little too forcefully because hot tea jumped out over the side, covered one of the letters on her desk.

“Take the bloody week and find out who the hell your alter ego sent these letters to!” she shouted after her snarky reporter. This had nothing to do with covering her own arse. Koko had messed up somewhere to allow these forgeries and now Witch Weekly was possibly going to pay the price. It was her job to protect the magazine from an inevitable downfall if Lil Snigger was allowed to continue writing there.

With a wave of wand, the door magically slammed shut leaving Genny alone in the office. She cleared the desk of any spilt tea and pulled a piece of parchment a quill to sit before her.

“To my dearest readers, it is with sadness and compassion that…”