Chapter Seventeen: Final Chapter

"Leo! It's lunchtime. Are you ready?" Leo looked up from the photograph he'd be analyzing in time to see Miles Bletchley bound excitedly into his office. Patricia Stimpson was following close behind already bundled up to brace the cold.

"Lunch already? What's the time?" Leo asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He'd been staring at the photo for a good hour, still unable to decipher where exactly the breach of law had occurred. He had to admit that a lot of the time he'd spent staring at the space around the photograph thinking about the departments that would probably have a firewhiskey stash he could pilfer. But he was glad for the interruption, regardless.

"Noon, man, let's go. I've been ready to eat since eleven but Patricia made me wait," Bletchley whined, throwing Patricia a foul look.

"Some of us had work to get done, Miles, we're not all lazy like you," Patricia replied, folding her arms across her chest indignantly.

"I resent that and I demand you buy me a drink at lunch."

"You two ought to get married and do us a favor," Leo cut off Patricia's response. They both made noises of extreme protest as Leo gathered his cloak and coat and followed them out of his office. They continued to argue as the three of them headed to the lifts. Leo eventually tuned them out. This had become his monotonous routine in Magical Cooperation: wake up, go to work, immerse himself in tedium, eat lunch with the bicker twins, come back for more tedium, then go home.

It was driving Leo insane.

He missed the unpredictability of being an Auror. He missed going out on strange cases with Roger. He missed solving those cases and celebrating his cleverness. He missed forcing trainees to fill out his paperwork. He even missed Kingsley Shacklebolt. Well, he missed the idea of Kingsley Shacklebolt, at least.

He wasn't sure what he should do now that he realized the one decision he made in good faith turned out not to be the right one. There was no one he could talk to who could possibly have good advice.

Except maybe Roger.

Rumor around the ministry was that after Leo quit, Shacklebolt somehow persuaded Roger to rejoin. And perhaps it was because he was partnered with Harry Potter or because Roger willingly came back because of Leo's absence, but the situation burned Leo more than his former wounds ever did. Leo was too afraid of what Roger would say to try and talk to him again. Their usual group drinking outings, while still rather fun with their ever growing circle of friends now that Harry had joined and brought Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and sometimes Gruesome Ginny with him, were oftentimes incredibly awkward and depressing, and Leo found himself going home with random witches just to keep his mind off of his former best friend. And although he was civil with Harry, friendly even, Leo couldn't help but growl in jealousy whenever he saw Harry and Ginny together.

"Hey, Leo? Are you all right?" Patricia asked kindly, watching Leo with concerned green eyes as they stepped onto the lift.

"Yes. Fine. But I'm not very hungry, now that I think about it. You guys don't mind if I skip lunch today, do you?"

"That's fine with us as long as you're okay." They stopped walking, and Patricia patted Leo kindly on the arm. Leo smiled, nodded, and they squashed in the lift with about four other wizards. As the grates clattered shut, Leo could hear Miles whining about having to wait for Leo for no reason. Leo sighed, hesitated for a moment, then pushed the button to summon a lift of his own. He rode alone, smiling a little to himself with the voice announced his arrival to his previous home away from home.

"Well, Ackerley. I never thought I'd see you on this level again. What brings you here? Something Magical Cooperation couldn't handle?" Samantha Fawcett teased, stepping onto the recently vacated lift. "I must say, it's not the same around here without you slacking off." And with a little wave, she was whisked away.

Leopold hesitated before continuing on. Perhaps wandering around his former department wasn't such a good idea. Yet he didn't leave, he just walked the beaten path to the office on the corner, an office he'd spent more time in than he cared to admit.

"I don't actually remember what the man said," a familiar voice said sheepishly. "I wasn't, ah, paying attention."

"You've been doing this for three years, shouldn't you know how to run a case by now?" Another familiar voice scoffed.

"I know how to run a case, don't talk down to me you—" Leopold stood in the doorway of his former cubical. Roger cut his sentence short upon seeing his ex-partner. Several emotions passed across his face in rapid succession. He went from excited to confused to angry in seconds. The anger was what shone through the most. "You."

"Hey," Leo said, addressing both Harry, who had looked annoyed before he noticed Leo but now looked nervous, and Roger. Leo noticed that Harry hadn't decorated his side of the cubical at all, whereas Roger's was exactly the way it was before he quit. It was odd to see someone else sitting at his desk, but Harry made it odder by not claiming the desk as his own. Did he expect Leo to come back and claim it?

"Hi," Harry replied. He glanced from Leo to Roger and cleared his throat.

"What do you want?" Roger demanded hotly.

"I was wondering if I could have a word."

"No." Leo sighed, looking up at Harry. Harry shrugged and winced, not at all encouraging. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Roger, please." Roger didn't reply, he merely continued to write his report with noticeable force on his quill. After a second it snapped and he snarled, rummaging around in his desk to find another.

"Er, I'm going to get some coffee," Harry said, awkwardly. He stood up and made his way to the door. He paused before exiting, briefly squeezing Leo's arm in reassurance. His touch sent chills across Leo's body, but Leo kept himself focused on what he was going to say to Roger. It took all his willpower not to run his fingers along Harry's soft brown hand. It was going after Harry that got Leo in this mess to begin with.

"You don't have to leave," Roger said, finally looking up from his work. "This shouldn't take long." Harry froze at the door, gazing imploringly at Leo. He looked like he wanted to do anything but stay there. Leopold could almost hear him trying to think of reasons to leave.

"Roger, honestly, you're being a child," Leo snapped.

"Harry doesn't have to flee from his own office because you barged in."

"I'm not fleeing, I'm getting coffee. I like coffee; it'll be an adventure. Merlin knows I haven't had one of those in a while." And Harry hurried off before Roger could object. Roger glared at Leo for a moment before sighing and turning away. Leopold slowly stepped further into the office.

"Just go, Leo."

"Come on, Roger. This is ridiculous. We've been friends for years and you just drop me for this? I'm sorry! I didn't think. Can't you just let it go?"

"Let it go? Let itgo? You almost died, Leo! Do you just not care?"

"Of course I care! I was scared as hell that night. I would have given anything to have you there with me. But I just did it, Roger. I didn't think about it. I didn't purposely go without you. Shacklebolt threatened to sack me or worse and I just had so much on my mind so I went. I charged into that stupid building with a blank mind. I couldn't even tell you how I got out of there alive." Instead of easing Roger's anger, Leo only seemed to be making it worse. He just wanted to know what Roger wanted from him. There was no way Leo was going to let this friendship die because of Harry Potter.

"You obviously don't need me, Leo, so what's the problem?" Now Leo was getting angry. Did Roger think he wanted to play the hero when he ran into that building? If he only knew how terrified Leo had been at the time, how he couldn't stop envisioning horrible things happening to Harry and how much that frightened him. How when he heard the Killing Curse thrown at him, his life flashed before his eyes. How if he had a time turner, he'd go back and stop himself from going into that building without backup. But Leo didn't tell him all of that. He didn't know if he could say all of that, even if Roger was his best friend.

"All right. Fine, Roger. I'm not going to argue with you. I don't have the energy for this. You want to be a git about it, that's okay with me." Leo turned back and headed out of the office. He passed the break room on the way and kept his eyes down. He heard Harry making exaggerated coffee producing noises so as to drown out the sounds of a broken friendship. Leo didn't look up until he was at the lift.

He supposed he could somehow get used to not having Roger in his life anymore. His mother was right: he was a grown man. Things changed. He didn't like it and it made him intensely miserable, but such was life.

Leo furiously jabbed the button to summon the lift. This was all Shacklebolt's fault.

As the golden grates clanged open, Leo heard quick footsteps behind him. Thinking someone was trying to catch the lift before it took off, Leo stepped inside without looking back.

"Wait, Leo." Leo spun around and was shocked to find Roger standing before him. The grates began to close and Leo almost let them, but instead he stuck his hand out to stop them at the last minute.

"What?"

"You're sorry."

"That's what I said."

"And you won't do something stupid like that again."

"I'm not planning on it, no." Roger opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and glanced away. Leo waited, hoping, hand gripping the grate tightly.

"Do you want to go get lunch?" He said, finally. Leo frowned, confused by the unexpected question. Slowly pure elation replaced his confusion as he realized that this was Roger's thickheaded way of saying he forgave him. Leo couldn't put his relief into words, he simply stepped out of the lift, a large and extremely goofy smile on his face.

"Are you buying?"

"Hell no. You should be paying for my lunches for the rest of your life. My forgiveness doesn't come cheap, you know."

"Yeah, but the rest of you does." They paused, Roger snorted resentfully, and they laughed. It was probably the most forced and awkward laugh they had ever shared, yet Leo didn't care. All that mattered to him was that they were laughing, and as long as Leopold didn't find himself on the verge of death again, they'd keep sharing laughs.

"I take you back and the first thing you do is insult me? Perhaps I should rethink this friendship thing."

"Admit it, Roger. You need me. I heard what Harry said about your lack of Auror skills."

"I've been rather preoccupied. My best friend and partner recently abandoned me and I was quite used to him doing all the busy work."

"Excuses excuses." Leo glanced at Roger, who was smiling just as goofily as Leo was. "Do you think Shacklebolt will give me my job back?"

"Well considering the man almost got you killed, I'd say he owes you a favor. But who knows with that bloke."

"If I spend one more day in Magical Cooperation, I just may go insane."

"Stop being so dramatic, Leo."

Thanks for reading!