Author's Note: This was written for the "Last Kiss Competition 2" at the HPFC Forum. My prompt was the song "When You're Gone" by Avril Lavigne. I chose the pairing myself, which just goes to show how strange I really am.
"I always needed time on my own
I never thought I'd need you there when I cry
And the days feel like years when I'm alone
And the bed where you lie is made up on your side
When you're gone
The pieces of my heart are missing you
When you're gone
The face I came to know is missing too"
Amelia Bones sat at her desk, quill in hand, writing up an incident report. It was almost midnight, well past the time she was paid to stay in her office. She had thought that being head of the Auror Office would be terribly exciting; co-ordinating missions, taking part in wand showdowns reminiscent of western films, generally just saving the world. Most of the time it was extremely rewarding work, if difficult. Catching Death Eaters wasn't exactly the easiest task. But one thing that Amelia had learnt was that Aurors were particularly good at their job, especially the part when it came to ditching paperwork on their unit chief. Reports had to be written and re-written, something which the field agents had no time for. That left the head of the operation to throw together something suitable to show her superiors: the heads of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She sighed, running her slender fingers through her short, blonde hair. Her dark blue eyes gazed down at the page; only a few more paragraphs to go. She dipped the quill nib into the ink and let her sloping letters fill the page.
"Bones!" a husky voice yelled from the corridor.
Amelia sighed again, but she couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on her face. The voice was one she knew all too well.
"I'm in, Fabian." she called back in her low, cool tone.
Fabian Prewett had been her partner back when she was a lowly witch in the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. They'd moved through the ranks together until she ran one of the highest branches and he was one of the most respected Aurors around. And, though she was technically his boss, he'd never stopped calling her "Bones" in his most disparaging of voices.
He walked into her office, well, sauntered as he always did, and leant against the side of her desk. He had golden-red hair and stormy grey eyes that seemed to laugh at everything you did. He had a brother, Gideon, and they looked very similar, except Fabian was taller and he smiled more. It was a beautiful smile, Amelia reflected, as her eyes followed him in. There were a lot of beautiful things about Fabian Prewett.
"Working late, Bones?" he said, picking up a piece of parchment and letting it float downwards, back onto the desk.
"Yes." Amelia said, watching it disapprovingly. "I don't suppose you've come to help? Your write up of today's...activities is what's keeping me here."
"I thought my write up was absolutely fine actually." Fabian said smoothly, a slight smirk on his lips.
"Get it in your thick skull, Prewett," Amelia responded dryly, "six bullet-points is not an adequate case report."
"Duly noted," Fabian teased, "Ma'am."
Amelia jerked her head to look at him and stood up, her eyes latching on to his.
"I don't see why you're being so flippant about this." she said. "You and Longbottom wasted valuable resources today. Chasing after a man because he had possible Death Eater connections and, I quote, 'he was hitting on Frank's girl'."
"Well he was." Fabian muttered.
"You're an Auror, for Merlin's sake!" Amelia continued. "Have a little self control. If Crouch heard about this, both of you would be on the chopping block regardless of any prior service to the Ministry. Just think about that."
"I will, Amelia." Fabian said, more sincerely this time.
The witch sat down and tried to hide a smile. Fabian had something about him that meant you just couldn't stay angry. Every woman in the ministry was slightly in love with him; Amelia was no exception. Sometimes she was glad that they no longer shared an office. It had been getting difficult for her look at him without wanting something more.
"Next time," she said quietly, "don't be stupid enough to tell everyone."
She turned back to her work and began to write again, her hand moving gracefully across the page.
"So if you're not here to sell yourself into slavery, what can I do for you?"
Fabian shuffled his feet a little awkwardly.
"I'm going away for a while." he said.
"Oh, Darling, how perfectly awful for you." Amelia said sarcastically, not even looking up from her parchment.
"And so," he went on, "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a drink with me later?"
Amelia turned to him and raised an eyebrow. They'd worked together for years. Why now did he suddenly feel the need to ask? Why couldn't he have asked a long time ago?
"I'm your boss." she said slowly. "It wouldn't be appropriate."
"Since when have I cared about appropriate, Bones?" Fabian grinned, his eyes sparkling.
"It's nearly twelve." Amelia commented. "Some of us have work in the morning."
"Then we can go for a drink when I get back." Fabian said, kneeling down and taking her hand. "Please. Say you will."
"Is this a proposal?" Amelia laughed.
Fabian looked at the floor and then said in earnest, "it could be, if you wanted it that way. Amelia Bones will you let me buy you a drink and then will you marry me?"
Amelia pursed her lips and looked at him with mock pity.
"I'm going to need a ring, Prewett."
Fabian looked around the room and then stood up, walking over to one of her filing cabinets. He took a metal paper clip from a small metal bowl and began to twist it out of shape.
"There," he said, slipping the wonky paper clip circle on to her finger, "one ring."
Amelia lifted her hand up to the light and pretended to examine it.
"Beautiful, Darling." she said. "You should take this up professionally."
"But then I wouldn't get to see you everyday."
Amelia put her hand down on her lap and looked at him. He stared back in a way that no one had ever stared at her before. In a way that, she knew, no one would ever stare at her again. It was almost like he wasn't joking.
"Fabian," she whispered, "you can't be serious?"
"I knew you would say this." Fabian laughed, though it was cold and mirthless. "Why shouldn't I be? Why shouldn't I be serious about marrying a beautiful, talented, annoyingly smart woman that I've loved from the moment we met?"
"You hardly know me." Amelia said weakly.
"That's the worst lie I've ever heard." Fabian replied. "I know you better than my own family. I like you more too."
He grabbed her hand and pulled her from her chair, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Amelia," he said softly, "I'm going away on Order business. It'll be dangerous, more so than usual, and I don't know if I'll return. If I do, I want to come back and have the life with you that I've fantasized about. If I don't, then I want to leave you knowing how much you meant to me. I'm scared, so scared about everything, but somehow, when I look at you, I feel like I'm going to be okay. Like you're the only thing that matters. And no, this isn't exactly how I planned it. It's not conventional or sensible, but who the hell needs an ordinary romance anyway? I love you, Amelia Susan Bones, and I want you to marry me."
"Alright." was the only response Amelia could come up with. She slipped from his arms and went over to the filing cabinet. Taking a paper clip, she bent it into shape and, with shaking hands, put it on his finger.
"There." she breathed. "Now it's almost official."
Fabian, somewhere between crying and laughing, pulled her into a kiss, his hands gently caressing the line of her chin. His lips were soft and warm, his kiss the kind that Amelia had imagined could come from his beautiful smile. She moved closer into his body, her arms draping over his shoulders; this had to be what being alive was for.
Resting his nose against hers, Fabian said, "so we'll be getting that drink then?"
Amelia laughed and to Fabian it sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world.
"I'll be waiting." she smiled.
"You'd better be!" Fabian replied, before turning to leave the room.
"You'd better come back!" Amelia called after him.
"I'll try." he said.
"Try is not good enough!" Amelia shouted. "God damn it, Prewett, you will come back and make me your wife!"
"Alright, Ma'am." Fabian said as he left. "I will."
But he didn't.
Amelia Bones walked across the dark wood floor of the Atrium, her black robes swishing around her ankles. It had been an exhausting morning and, as the Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, it wasn't about to get any easier. She flicked her fingers through her greying-blonde hair and tried to look a little more enthusiastic.
"Madame Bones." a voice called from behind her.
Arthur Weasley walked up behind her and gave a quick smile. Amelia responded with a polite nod.
"Yes, Mr Weasley?" she said.
The balding, red headed man fumbled through his cloak before producing an envelope.
"My wife and I were cleaning the attic out yesterday." Arthur said, clearly a little embarrassed to be talking about his domestic chores with her. "We found this and Molly thought, perhaps, that you would want it."
He handed her the envelope and rushed off into the crowd.
A little confused, Amelia ripped open the seal with a well manicured finger. Tilting it slightly, she let the contents fall out. On to the centre of her palm fell a wonky, twisted, metal circle. Reaching into her robes, she pulled out a chain that hung around her neck, the chain the held the metal circle's partner. She wore it always, a reminder of the life she could have had but lost. It was what drove her. There had been times at the start when she had wanted to throw it away, when she had hated it and him. Hated him for changing her world, then going off into the darkness and leaving her. If he had just kept his mouth shut, she could have lived in ignorance of his feelings. But he didn't and the feelings had stayed with her. She'd cried alone, wishing he could have been beside her, grieving for a man who had never officially been hers.
Sometimes, she hated him. But then she remembered the way he used to make her laugh. How she'd felt when he held her for a second, so many years ago. How, for a brief moment, she imagined sharing everything with somebody else. Their first kiss had been their last kiss. They'd been a couple for a day, engaged for a matter of hours and yet she had loved him for a lifetime. It wasn't conventional or sensible, but, as Fabian had once said, "who the hell needs an ordinary romance anyway?"