Chapter Sixteen

The once messy half of the cubicle that had belonged to Roger was empty. It was heart breaking. And Leo just stood in the doorway, staring at the broken quill on the floor that was the only indication that someone once occupied that area. The scars on his chest burned slightly, but he was starting to get used to the feeling. Healer Marco had said that since they were curse scars, they'd take a little while longer to heal. But Leo was quite sure his chest would have hurt regardless.

They'd kept him in the hospital for over a week, claiming they were just making sure he hadn't been hit with a curse they didn't detect at first. The days went by as a mixture of hellish and bearable. His parents visited him the day after his one sided argument with Roger. His mother brought three pies with her, alternating between yelling at him and kissing him in relief. His father told him it was stupid to have gone in the building alone, but when his mother went to get coffee, he told Leopold that he was proud of him, in true Gryffindor fashion. The next day they brought Stewart with them, who gave Leo a huge box of Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and lamented jokingly that he was unfairly deprived of only childom.

Some reporters from theDaily Prophet tried to weasel information out of him, but as he hadn't been to headquarters since the incident, he had no idea what he was allowed to say. He merely told them that he had foolishly charged into the building alone, and if it hadn't been for his fellow Aurors, he wouldn't be around to answer their questions.

Michael and Terry came by as well, Michael just as furious with Leo as Roger had been, Terry a bit more understanding. Neither denied him friendship, though, both staying until visiting hours were over to play poker with him. When Leo had asked about Roger, however, they gained looks of pity and anger, saying Roger didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Leo had refused to see anyone after that and was relieved when Healer Marco finally let him leave. Cho escorted him to his flat, where Terry, Michael, Adrian, Eddie, Jonathan, and others were waiting with a welcome home banner on the wall and a party on their minds. Cho laughingly told them that Leo had to take it easy on the firewhiskey, but no one listened. Leo quietly got drunker and drunker as the fact that Roger really didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore slowly sunk in. For the first time, Leo felt hollow and no amount of firewhiskey could fill him.

"He put in a request for a new partner yesterday," Kingsley Shacklebolt said from behind Leopold.

"I've noticed," Leo replied under his breath.

"I told him I wouldn't give him one. So he quit." Leo's head snapped up and he looked at Shaklebolt. "Perhaps you can talk him into coming back?"

"He does not want to talk to me."

"When has that ever stopped you from opening your mouth?"

"Touché, sir."

"I need to have a word with you, actually."

"Right. Your office it is." Leo followed Shacklebolt along the all too familiar path to his office. Leo sat down in the big plush chair, involuntarily putting his head in his hands in weariness.

"Are you all right, Ackerley?"

"Fine, sir."

"The healers tell me you should make a full recovery."

"You don't say."

"Do you need to take some time off? Perhaps visit the shore for a holiday?"

"No. That's the last thing I need."

"I owe you an apology, Ackerley," Shacklebolt began. Leo raised his head in surprise. He wasn't quite sure he heard correctly. "It was my fault you so foolhardily went to that building alone. I realized that I have been putting a lot of, shall we say, undue pressure on you about the Potter case."

"That's an understatement."

"I'm leaving it up to you to decide what you'd like to do next."

"What can I do? My reputation will never be the same, I lost my best friend, and I'mmarried to the guy! What's left for me to do? I think I've run the gamut of things left to accomplish in my life. I've hit rock bloody bottom, what the hell would you do?" Leopold snapped angrily. He hadn't meant to yell at Shacklebolt like that, it just sort of poured out of him involuntarily. This was Shacklebolt's fault, after all. All of it. Leo had led a quiet, uneventful, women-filled existence before Shacklebolt unleashed this unholy mess upon him. Shacklebolt stared at him, slightly shocked at Leo's outburst, but no less understanding. "I'm sorry, sir. Can I just—can I get back to work?" Leo's scars were burning again and he briefly wished that the cuts had been deep enough to kill him. He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind, though, standing up to leave Shacklebolt's office.

"Are you sure you're okay to work?" At that moment, Leo wasn't sure if he was even okay to walk, but he decided not to look a gift hippogriff in the mouth.

"Actually, can I take the day off? I mean, it's Thursday and I hardly work on Fridays as it is. I'm sure after a nice long weekend, I'll be ready and raring to go to perform my important ministry approved duties."

"Yes, well, you only have seven sick days left. Use them wisely."

"I shall keep that in mind, sir." Leopold turned to leave but paused. "I do not accept your apology, by the way. At least not yet." With that, Leo walked out of the office and almost walked into Ernie Macmillan.

"Leo! So glad to see you're all right. You had us worried, mate."

"Yeah, thanks, Macmillan. I'm so happy to have been in your thoughts." Ernie ignored Leo's scathing sarcasm. He actually beamed, puffing up his chest a bit.

"I was about to talk to Shacklebolt about you, to tell the truth. Did you know I was chosen as a full fledged Auror?"

"Were you now? Congratulations." Ernie again didn't seem to catch Leo's lack of enthusiasm. He seemed proud to have been congratulated by a veteran Auror. Leo resisted the urge to walk away and leave Ernie alone with his ego.

"Thanks. Anyway, I heard you were in need of a new partner, and I figured that since we work so well together—"

"I'm going to have to stop you there, Macmillan. I'm not in the market for a new partner, as it were."

"But I heard that Roger—" Leo raised his voice to block out Macmillan's words. He really didn't want to hear this weasel's take on Leo's failed friendship.

"I'm going to be working solo for a little while. If it happens that I need a partner after that, I'll know who to call on." Leopold walked away before Ernie could answer. He quickly headed to the lift and out the main entrance of the ministry, hoping that no one else would stop him.

Leopold instinctively headed to the Leaky Cauldron, lifting the hood of his cloak to shield himself from the coming cold. He realized, however, that going to the Leaky alone wasn't as good as having company. So Leopold kept walking, not really paying attention to where he was going until he ran into someone.

"I'm sorry—oh. Hi." Leo looked up to find Harry looking at him almost sheepishly, his hands shoved, of course, in his pockets. He was bundled up tightly, scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose. Leopold shifted uneasily, trying to smile casually but failing miserably. He looked at everything but Harry until finally, he foolishly met the other man's stare.

"Hi," his voice was muffled, but still distinct. His eyes flashed behind his glasses and Leo was torn between running away from him and hugging him. "All right?"

"As all right as can be expected. There may be some scarring and I lost my partner, but collateral damage, right?" Harry raised his eyebrows, which looked almost comical with his extreme bundling. Leo was reminded of how young Potter actually was.

"What happened to Roger?"

"I was almost killed so he never wants to see me again. Quit the department and everything." It hurt Leo to say it out loud, but more importantly it hurt him to say it to Potter. It wasn't really his fault that Leo had gone on that suicide mission to save him. Leo couldn't, and didn't want to, blame anyone but himself. And Shacklebolt.

"I don't understand."

"I do, but that's why we were friends." Harry paused, shifting his weight from foot to foot either to keep himself warm or to distract himself. Leo sighed and looked away again. He wanted to leave, he wanted to get a drink, he wanted to know how he was supposed to act around Harry now.

"I didn't get a chance to say it before, but thank you for rescuing me. I—er—I know it wasn't easy for you, but I really appreciate it." Harry took a step forward, lowering the scarf, and Leo unconsciously took one back. A strange look of hurt briefly crossed Harry's face. Leo regretted it instantly and was once more torn between running away and hugging the man.

"Wasn't easy? Ha, I'm a ministry trained Auror. It was nothing. I'd do it again, in fact. Those dastardly fellows didn't know what was coming to them." Leo pretended to duel with an unseen person in a halfhearted attempt to be playful. Harry reached out and grabbed Leo's arm.

"Shut up, Leo."

"You know, I'm tired of being told to shut up," Leopold said, wrenching his arm out of Harry's grasp. "I have to go. It's cold out here." Which was true; mid November and already the cold was powerful enough to set into one's bones. It didn't help that Harry was staring at Leo with his cold, shrewd green eyes. Leo started to walk away, rethinking his decision not to go to the Leaky.

"Don't—I have to tell you something," Harry mumbled, an unsaid plea infused within the statement.

"What? You already thanked me."

"Yeah, it's not that it's—" As Leo watched Harry struggle to find the right words it became clear to him and he realized that he didn't want Harry to say anything. That acknowledging it would make it both real and unbearable. There would be others, he was sure. And after this ordeal, Leo had managed to double his chances of finding someone else. That thought, coupled with Harry's endearing uncertainty, made Leo smile.

"How's Ginny?" Harry stared at Leo for a moment and Leo was unsure if Harry understood that Leo knew what Harry was trying to say and was partially grateful for it.

"Ginny…Ginny says she wants to get back together," Harry said. He looked down at his booted feet, his voice sounding slightly pained. "She said that my getting nabbed put things in perspective." Leo didn't know what to say. His mind had inexplicably clouded over once Harry answered the question. His words wrapped Leo in a kind of stifling fog that even the cold couldn't penetrate. Leo had expected it but that didn't mean he wanted it to be true. Of course she wanted Harry back and Harry should go back. That was how it was supposed to be.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? I don't have to hang around you anymore and you're reunited with the vivacious love of your life. Everyone wins." Harry hesitated, watching Leo cautiously. Leo carefully kept his face blank, taking another unconscious step backward. He wouldn't feel right about making this any harder for Harry than it already was. Love shouldn't be bottled up, but on the other hand, it shouldn't ruin one's life either.

"Right," Harry replied softly. "Right."

"Yeah," Leo whispered, glancing away again. "Everyone wins." They both fell silent, a cold wind whipping across them unmercifully. Harry cleared his throat and Leo looked at him. Harry tried to smile but seemed to give up halfway.

"I'll see you around the department, then?"

"No. I don't think you will."

"What?"

"I think I'm going to try my hand at the Department of International Magical Cooperation. I need to brush up on my Gobbledegook first, though." Leo was as surprised at his sudden decision as Harry was. But Leo knew, once he said it, that it was the right one to have made. His mother was right, he had to determine if he had what it took to be an Auror, and when he thought about it, he didn't think he did.

"Oh. Well, good luck."

"Thanks. Right back at you." Leo turned and started walking away. Then he stopped, knowing it couldn't just end like this, unsaid yet strongly felt words between them. "Oh and, Potter?"

"Yeah?"

"See you Friday at the Leaky?" A slow smile played across Harry's face. He shoved his hands into his pockets once more, slipping back into his arrogant Gryffindor persona. Leo was glad for it.

"Sure. I'll even let you buy me a drink."

"A dubious honor I'm willing to accept."