Hello everyone! I hope you are all well and healthy in this crazy times! I apologize for the delayed chapter, I actually intended to post it much sooner, but Covid hit my home country again and therefore I have spent most of my time either helping at the Covid-ICU department or studying for my medical finals (ironically, one of them was epidemiology exam).

Nevertheless, I hope you'll like this chapter. Please, let me know, what you think, I just love reading your reviews!

Special thanks, to iRedeem for a review that warmed my hear!

She finished writing and put her quill aside. Caroline smiled for herself, although it was a tiring day for her and it was already pretty late, she felt like she actually finally moved a bit forward. And if everything went well, she could be back in her job in few days and even attend the ball at the end of it.

Suddenly, the letter flew away from her and she quickly turned around in order to follow it. Her husband stood behind her, with a smug smirk on his face, his wand in one hand and her letter addressed to her superior in the other.

"Let me see, love," he said and without even waiting for her to answer, started to read it.

She didn't protest. There was nothing in the letter he would disagree with, she was sure of it.

As soon as he finished it, he looked back at his wife, approval on his face.

"It looks pretty good," he commented.

She ignored it and raised her eyebrows in return. "Have you been watching me for a long time?"

"Only last ten minutes or so," he answered smugly, "I'm surprised you haven't noticed. Or are you finally putting your mental radars down for me?"

The healer hid her emotions. She was fully aware of the very moment he approached their room. "I was focused on the letter."

"I'm sure you were." His voice dropped a bit and she looked at him more closely. He gained back some of the weight he lost in Azkaban, and even some of the muscles were back. And now, wearing black trousers with a matching black shirt, with the playful smile on his lips, he looked the healthiest she's seen him since his escape from prison. And definitely the most attractive.

Slowly he approached her and she could feel the tension in the room rising. When he was standing just next to her and her heart was beating fast, he put his hand on her cheek and looked at her. "Merlin knows I missed you all the time in Azkaban, Carol."

He put his head down a bit and kissed her. It was needy and passionate and so very different from the few kisses they shared since their reunion.

He soon put her even closer and she raised her hands to his hair. But he didn't stop and moved his attention towards her neck, and a soft moan escaped her mouth. He quickly started working on removing her dressing gown and she moved on to remove his shirt.

Only when they both stood there half naked and quickly progressing, did Rabastan stop for a second and said in a very husky voice.

"This is your last chance to say no, Caroline. Otherwise, I won't hold back. It's been too long."

"Then don't hold back," she just looked him in the eyes and whispered back.

That was all the encouragement he needed, and her vision got blurry afterwards. They've ended up in the bed few moments later, quickly removing the last pieces of their clothes. It wasn't a slow love making. Rabastan didn't lie when he said he wouldn't hold back, and he entered her as soon, as he felt she was ready.

They both moaned in unison as he thrusted into her, increasing his speed with every second. It didn't take long before he collapsed on her, a loud moan escaping his mouth, while still kissing her neck.

He looked up at her, and moved his hands around her body, completely covered in sweat.

"I say it was about bloody time we did that," he said with a smirk and she chuckled. "But," he started again, while slowly taking one of her breasts, "I think we have a lot of catching up to do."

xXx

She looked at herself in the mirror and let out a smile. Once again, her friend her overdone herself.

"My dear, you just look dashing," Narcissa commented from a side. Caroline turned in her direction and gave her an honest warm smile. Her companion looked as perfect as always, with a dark green dress, that empowered her figure and highlighted her aristocratic face.

Caroline on the other hand, wore a dark red low-cut dress, with a high slit on her left side and her hair were put in a complicated bun on the top of her head. Oh, her mother-in-law would love that. Except for the colour. The red, she would hate.

"Thank you, Cissy. You look as perfect as always."

Before her friend could answer, there was a short knock on the door and Lucius entered the room, with Rabastan and Severus right behind him.

The master of the house looked at them both, before approaching his wife, taking her hand and slightly kissing her knuckles, before moving to Caroline and doing the same.

"Madam Lestrange, allow me to comment, that you look absolutely ravishing tonight. And – if I may be so bold," he turned to Rabastan before finishing the sentence, "should I be your husband, I would regret it very much, that I could not attend the ball by your side."

"There's no point in emphasising the obvious, Lucius. But she does, indeed, look beautiful." Caroline's heart warmed a bit as she felt a hint of warmness in her husband voice.

"Make sure to keep an eye on her, Severus," Caroline's calmness disappeared the moment she felt a tiny bit of threat in this Rabastan's comment towards Severus and she was sure the Potions master heard and felt it, too. Her husband didn't even try to hide it.

But her friend didn't seem to let his emotionless mask slip even a little and answered with his usual cold voice. "Don't worry, Rabastan. I'll make sure to take care of her."

Stupid men. Did Severus really need to say it like this? But before this could escalate into something Caroline didn't want, Lucius stepped into the scene.

"I believe it is time for us to go. It would be very impolite to be late," he said and approached his wife. As he said it, both Rabastan and Severus looked at each other and nodded.

Rabastan then approached Caroline, so that he stood just few centimetres from her, looked right in her eyes and let his usual guard slip. Be careful. And behave.

The thoughts she read in his mind were as clear as he would say them aloud. And while looking into his eyes, Caroline had a feeling she saw through his usual coldness.

She heard Lucius clear his throat and politely say they really needed to go in order to arrive on time. Rabastan didn't seem too happy about it, but he looked at his wife, then on Severus, who stood just few steps from them, and kissed Caroline possessively.

Lucius cleared his throat again, and this time, Rabastan actually stepped away from his wife and let the potions master take his place at Caroline's side.

They have then turned towards the floo and one by one stepped in, towards the green flames that would take them to the Ministry, where the ball was held.

Lucius was guiding them to the ball room, with Narcissa by his side and Caroline with Severus just few steps behind them as they were passing more and more people while they were getting closer, and soon had to stop to greet some of them.

The first time she stopped was when she met James Tyler, her co-worker from the department for treatment of poisons and plant poisoning. He was five years younger than her, a Hufflepuff with usually very warm smile.

"Caroline," he said with a pleasant smile and kissed her on both cheeks, "it's very nice to see you're well! We were really worried, when you didn't come to work and didn't return our owls."

"I'm well, James, thank you," she answered back, and then she carefully put a bit more worrying mask on her face, "but you know, with everything that's going around, it didn't feel safe for me."

The young man seemed to understand that immediately and quickly replied. "Of course, I mean, under your circumstances… totally understandable." But before she could engage in the conversation a bit more, Severus took her arm and nodded towards Lucius. Caroline sent a look towards her companion, who was just shaking hands with Tiberius Nott and quickly looked back to the younger healer.

"If you excuse me, James, I'm afraid I must be going now. But I do hope you could spare me a minute or two and we could talk tonight," she said with a warm smile and sent a tiny piece of reassurance his way. In his mind, Caroline has explained her disappearance well enough.

Before he had the time to answer, Severus was already guiding her forward, directly in the direction to meet with the Malfoys and Lord Nott with his wife.

As they were approaching them, Severus carefully moved a bit closer to her and barely audibly whispered: "Shields up." He didn't even need to say it. Her mental shields were up high since the moment they stepped into Malfoy Manor and she wouldn't let them slip a bit.

Once they've approached the two couples, the attention moved to them. Tiberius Nott, whom she knew about too well, looked at her first and his eyes narrowed. She had to keep her emotions in check as not to show the disgust she felt when seeing his thoughts and for the first time, she questioned whether wearing the red dress was a good idea.

Being a man of protocol, Tiberius first addressed her with an elegant kiss on her hand and silent "Madam Lestrange" whispered in such a way she was sure Rabastan wouldn't have like it and then turned towards Severus by her side.

"Severus, I see you've stolen the most beautiful single lady for yourself tonight," he chuckled.

"Last time I checked, Caroline was married to Lord Lestrange, Tiberius. I hardly find that status describing her as a single lady." The potions master didn't move a muscle in his face as he replied and neither did Caroline. She quickly sent a look towards the Malfoys who seemed to watch their exchange with a deep interest.

"Oh how foolish of me, my apologies. It's easy to forget when it's such a long time I've seen you together, Madam Lestrange." This time, it was time for Caroline to narrow her eyes as she went a bit into the man's mind and didn't like the way this conversation was heading. "Have you heard anything from you husband? I can understand that this situation can be very stressful for you. Is this why no one heard from you during the past few weeks? I can only imagine your brother was worried. "

Lies. All of it. It was almost a year since she spoke to Tiberius Nott on the last St. Mungo's Annual Ball and she almost forgot how disgusting she found the man.

"I haven't heard from my husband in many years, Lord Nott. But thank you for your concerns, it was indeed a stressful time for me. I went for a holiday in order to rest a bit and have some time for myself," she put a sweet mask and lied with her abilities in such a way that anyone would believe it.

"My friends, I think we should slowly head towards the Ball room. The minister and the director of St. Mungo's will start with the welcoming speech in few minutes," Lucius pointed out in his usual diplomatic way and no one argued with that. As they went, and Nott started a silent conversation with Severus, Caroline used that opportunity to very carefully go through some of the Deatheater's memories and thoughts.

Moments later, she listened to the director saying his thanks to all the Mungo's workers and supporters and politely clapped in the end of his speech. She was just about to lean over to Severus and whisper him that she could use one more glass of wine when she felt a new focus on her.

Caroline carefully leaned back in her chair, not showing any change in her emotions, but her mind was on alert. Even for her, it was impossible to identify what was happening with such a high concentration of people in one place. But she felt she was someone's centre of attention.

She just noticed one of the aurors – Dawlish, who seemed to be looking in her way, when Severus uttered barely soundly that her brother was here and Caroline twitched uncomfortably in her chair. The representative of the Mungo's board was just naming all the sponsors and thanking them, and once he finished, the applause melted down, and everyone was starting to chat and raise from their chairs, Caroline and Severus both stood up, offering a polite smile to the Malfoys, and saying they would bring all of them something good to drink.

Severus offered her his arm and they went on their way, when three men and one woman in auror cloacks approached them.

"Madam Lestrange," Dawlish started as the first of them to speak.

Caroline held her head high and checked her mental defences before strongly answering. "Yes?"

"I am Senior auror Dawlish. Please, do pardon us the interruption, but I am afraid you must come with us." The witch didn't let a single emotion slip but in her mind, she rolled her eyes. He knew very well she knew him and he didn't have to introduce himself.

"Is there a problem?" the cold, diplomatic voice of Lucius Malfoy appeared next to them and asked.

"Not at all Mr. Malfoy. But I am afraid Madame Lestrange needs to come with us. We are under orders from Head Auror Scrimgeneur, as Madam Lestrange is to be asked some questions regarding her disappearance in the past weeks and her possible connection with the escaped prisoners," Dawlish answered calmly.

"Madam Lestrange stayed with us. She didn't feel safe, as I am sure you can imagine," Narcissa came to help with her cold but elegant voice. By that time, most people around them were already focused on them, wondering what was happening.

"We will be the judges to that," sounded the voice of Rufus Scrimgeneur from behind them.