Ch 13
Draco yawned with pleasure as he stretched his arms on this sunny Friday morning. Blaise hadn’t contacted him for help because Macnair had already been captured, so he was off the hook, and Agyness had come to realize that the triumphant threesome weren’t all that they were cracked up to be. No matter how gleeful he was about this, he couldn’t help but remember that crestfallen look on her face as they left Granger’s office. He moved his hand over his forehead to sweep the blonde hair from his face, almost sweeping away the image of her tearful, dark brown eyes with it. It didn’t work one bit: her sad eyes seemed to bore into his mind

He sprung out of bed and strolled across the carpeted floor towards the bathroom, whistling a tune as he did so to try to block her gloomy face from his mind. Why concentrate on that negative face when everything else in life was going so well?
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Agyness traveled across the entry level of the Ministry to the elevators in a frenzied pace. Her first late day. She hoped that Draco wouldn’t mind. She couldn’t help but fuss with her long, brunette locks of hair as the elevator traveled downward; she had barely even enough time to brush her hair, much less to eat a meal or pick out presentable clothes. She had tossed on a cream-colored, sleeveless, ruffled blouse and some black dress pants. The pants were freshly pressed, so that wasn’t an issue. It was her wrinkled blouse that was causing her to smooth it out like a madwoman in the elevator. A sympathetic, hunched witch in the right corner of the elevator touched her old, wrinkled hand to Agyness’s arm as she spoke in a withered, motherly voice, “Don’t worry yourself, dearie. I can fix that up in a mo’.” With the tap of her short, stubby wand on the fabric, the blouse’s wrinkles were gone.

“Thank you, ma’am!” Agyness called from behind and waved as she sprinted out of the elevator and through the corridor, almost losing her balance in her black stilettos. With her smiling, haggard face, the kind witch gave her a simple nod and with the swish of her purple, glittering robes, she had turned the corner to head for the courtroom. To Agyness’s dismay, Draco’s door was already completely opened inward. A few feet away from the wooden door, she stopped her pace to catch her breath and smooth out her clothes one last time before entering.

She entered to find Harry and Draco face to face in front of the fireplace, both with menacing looks on their faces. Each gripped their wand tightly in their hand. Harry’s knuckles and nails were a ghostly white with the emotion that he was suppressing. She gasped; it was all she could do to keep from dropping her wand. “Wha-?” She asked, her face puzzled as her mouth gaped open. Both men turned to face her, Draco’s face softening slightly as Harry’s remained as cold as stone. “I was just leaving,” Harry darkly muttered, striding through the office towards the doorway where a confused Agyness still stood. “Excuse me,” He roughly stated, waiting for her to move from his path. Agyness’s face hardened to match his and stepped to the side, leaving just enough room for him to pass. As Harry strode into the corridor, she unpleasantly remarked, “You’re excused.” Harry didn’t turn but rather ignored her comment. He strode away with his brown traveling cloak billowing behind him.

Agyness reentered the office and slammed the door behind her. Her dark eyebrows rose, her large brown eyes widened, and her pink lips pursed as she looked at Draco, nonverbally asking him to elaborate on what had just happened. Draco settled into the black-leathered chair behind his desk, dipped his eagle-feather quill in an ink bottle, and began to write on a fresh piece of parchment, “Nothing of your concern, darling.” Getting the hint, Agyness made an effort to soften her features and sauntered to the chair across from him. This was apparently not the time for story telling.
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It was the end of another workday. During their time in the office, Agyness had been dying to know what had happened before she had arrived. Once Draco had locked the door with his wand, he took her hand and silently led her down the corridor. His usual grin of contentment had been replaced by one of blankness, almost of unconsciousness. Something wasn’t right. When they turned the corner to head to the elevator, they ran into Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all of whom were exiting Harry’s palace of a head’s office. “Surprise, surprise,” Agyness dismally thought, waiting for another confrontation to begin. In a split second, Draco had wrapped one arm around her waist, ran the hand of his other arm through her hair, and scooped her into a passionate kiss. It had happened so quickly that her instinctive reaction caused her to wrap both arms around his neck and reciprocate.

When Draco released her, the others had left. Agyness was mystified, to say the least. Before she could form a sentence, Draco began to speak, a smile coming to his face, “Why don’t we do something tonight?” After a quick moment of thought, Agyness concluded that the present Draco was definitely an improvement from the stoic Draco, so she replied with a beam, “Sure, why don’t you come to my flat? I’m an excellent cook, y’know.” Draco nodded and grinned even wider, if that was possible. The old Draco of Hogwarts-past would have been appalled by the idea of a simple London flat and simple home cooking. But he had changed in the years since Voldemort’s downfall; he had begun to appreciate the simple pleasures in life and had begun to realize, for the most part, that money was not the answer to all. “Just wish Potter and pals could comprehend that,” Draco thought. After a quick chat about Agyness’s address, the date was set.

After a quick, departing kiss in the bustling entry level, Agyness began to head out. As she passed the vast network of fireplaces connected to the Floo Network, she noticed Ron and Hermione, hand in hand, entering one of them. Agyness stopped to wave and crack a smile. Ron simply turned away and Hermione, a stern look coming to her face, quickly grabbed a handful of floo powder and with a shower of powder, they had vanished. Without realizing it, Agyness’s eyes had begun to tear up. She was, or rather had been, friends with all of them. But now, all of them had become her enemies just because of her blossoming relationship. What hurt the most was the loss of the one that she had been closest to, Hermione. Agyness brought her index finger to her face to quickly wipe a tear away before she hurried off.

She tried to banish those thoughts of gloom from her mind as she hurried through the Ministry, her black stilettos clacking on the polished tile. She had a date tonight, and she didn’t want to ruin the evening with her tears.