I stood up so fast I knocked the chair over. "Fudge!" I yelled, and I sprinted up the stairs. "Fudge!"
I reached the top of the stairs and gazed around, searching desperately for that trademark bowler hat. He was nowhere in sight.
What if I had ruined everything? I had to find Fudge right away, and fix this. Desperate, I grabbed the first person I saw. "Did you see where Fudge went?" I demanded.
The wizard recoiled from my touch. I grimaced, realizing I must have been giving off an aura of dementor. "He said he was going to his office," he said in a strangled tone.
Without waiting another moment, I turned on the spot and Disapparated.
As soon as Serena vanished up the stairs, Francine and Nick pushed away from each other. "Finally, it's over," Nick sputtered, choking.
Francine wiped a hand across her mouth. "You taste like a Christian Muggle!" she spat. "Yuck!"
"Well sorry for not having a soul as black as you'd hoped," he snapped back.
"Me too."
Nick scowled as best a dementor could scowl. "I hope you turn into a human and marry and have children!"
Francine gaped in horror. "How dare you!" She looked through the one-way glass. "If Serena isn't happy at the end of this, I'm going to suck that Fudge dry for all the heaven he's put me through."
Aaaaand that's how the dementor witch got a boyfriend.
*I hope the Christian Muggle jibe doesn't offend anyone. I'm Christian, so it should be okay, right?
And I don't care if dementors feed on love. They take their souls like they take their coffee: black as night and sweet as sin.*