All Ends

[Rowena Jones]

Her heels tapped sharply on the tile floor as she strolled through the halls of St. Mungos. Her home away from home. These walls had seen her through her twenties, been witness to some of her greatest achievements and, though she was loathe to admit it, some of her failures too. She’d loved and lost in these walls. She’d been a student, a healer, a teacher and most recently an administrator. She’d grown and helped the hospital to grow too. But all good things had to come to an end and if she was being honest with herself, she’d stayed far longer than she’d wanted to. There was a deep pain that accompanied every step in these halls, an ache that the joy of being a part of such a great institution just didn’t soothe any more.

Rowena Jones had always been driven to push herself. She did not give up. And if she was needed, she would step up. After the War and the subsequent revelations, she’d thrown herself into the mess of Mungo’s finances and management. She may not be able to heal any more, be she’d be damned if she wouldn’t fix this problem. It had consumed her. Day and night, it had proven an ample distraction from the unravelling of her life. First her lessened magical ability, then her sleepless nights and finally the loss of the love of her life. While she poured over books, owled hundreds, no thousands of letters, considered impossible sums… she could forget everything else and for those precious moments she could pretend she was ok.

And then she’d done it. She secured financing for the next few years, hired new staff, overhauled the training programs and suddenly the problems weren’t that big anymore. They couldn’t consume her every thought, couldn’t distract. She became a figurehead for promotion, a celebrity to be flaunted and it had occurred to her, on one lonely night, that she’d been used all her life. The truths that had been revealed during the War, the prophecy that had dictated her path… and she realized that she didn’t want that anymore. No. Rowena Jones was taking back her life… even if it meant leaving it all behind.

So she’d hired one more person and the first step in Rowena’s new life began. That person was now walking besides her, quill racing over a notepad as he took careful notes while she spoke.

“Then you’ll have the meeting with the Board. Funds have been allocated already so you won’t have to worry about that.”

“And the Ministry…?”

“Have agreed and will be signing tomorrow. It’s all in the paperwork I gave you earlier.” Rowena smiled encouragingly at the man walking besides her. “Don’t worry so much. Everything is taken care of and, let’s be honest Matthew, you’ve excelled at every task I’ve thrown at you. I wouldn’t be lea-“

Shit. Rowena flung herself back into the corridor she’d just walked down, ignoring her companions surprised yelp as they collided. “Ssh.” She hissed as she peeked around the corner. Merlin, why was he here now? Hadn’t the gala last week been enough interaction for the month? She certainly didn’t have any meetings with him and there were no grand openings happening at Mungos today. He looked up and Rowena squeaked as their eyes met for a second before she ducked back out of sight.

“Quick. In here.” She said grabbing Matthew’s arm and dragging him into a nearby supply closet.

“Urm, why are we hiding?”

Rowena flushed, finally feeling embarrassed. “… Thomas Kingston….”

“Say no more. I’ll take care of it.” Matthew laughed slipping back out of the closet.

“Mr Kingston. I was hoping to run into you!” she heard him say and then their voices faded as her new favourite person led her least favourite person away.

Rowena waited a few more minutes to be sure she was safe, before exiting the closet. She got a few odd glances by a pair of nurses walking by. “Just checking the supplies…” she mumbled, cheeks flushing as she turned back in the direction of her office.

Boxes lined the walls, books tucked neatly inside, all ready to go. Technically she had until the end of the week, but there was little else to do. Between Matthew and herself, everything had been more than taken care of and she was left twiddling her thumbs. With nothing else to do now that her replacement was occupied, she decided she might as well go through her desk.

Half an hour later and she was left with three things. The delicate eagle feather quill that she’d bought for her own graduation present was quickly put in her ‘To Take Home’ box. Then there was the sad wilting potted plant that she just couldn’t manage to return to it’s former glory. Green-fingered she was not… and so it was with a frustrated sigh that the plant was put in the rubbish. Deep down she knew she couldn’t be good at everything, but damnit if it didn’t annoy her when that truth was made so obvious.

And finally, there was the photo. Fingers traced the happy smile of her face, moving to rest upon the male counterpart. They’d been so content once. Back when dates were walks in the park, adventures in bookshops, friendly duels and competitions. She’d chosen him, and he her. Until, one day they hadn’t chosen each other anymore. She was contemplating where to put the photo when there was a knock on the door.

[Max Kameren]

Sometimes, in certain rooms or if he caught certain smells in the air, it still felt like home. At times the sunlight would filter in through a window at the right angle, reflecting off the scuffed tile flooring and hitting Max’s eyes in just the right way to make him feel like he was ten years old again. This place had been his home then, a rare safe space in a world hostile to him and his family. It was why he’d chosen this place to make his career, hoping to expand that warm feeling of safety to others in his position. He’d grown up here; learned to heal, fallen in love, experienced his greatest joys and his most crushing losses. For most of his life, St. Mungo’s felt like a part of him.

But since then, things had shifted. St. Mungo’s had lost its status as a refuge, and in retrospect maybe had never been one to him at all.

“Things sure have changed around here in the last year,” Albert’s aura tinged in a way that felt bittersweet, sharing a deep-seated pain Max also carried. “Makes me feel like the ghost of Mungo’s past, haunting the hall with our old ways while these whip-smart youngsters heal circles around me.”

It wasn’t just Milton, or their friends taken by the Shadowloved. The hospital, once their home, felt different. For differing reasons, neither of them fit anymore. The world had shifted beneath Albert’s feet; something had shifted in Max’s heart. The place where Max had grown up died with Milton Bonham, the good memories marred by ugly truths revealed after his passing. Where Albert felt nostalgia, Max was relieved to see St. Mungo’s reformed into something new. Something in the shape of someone brighter and more capable than either of them.

Max chuckled, keeping his eyes ahead in case he crossed paths with the subject in question. He felt the same red pin as always, but he couldn’t track her routes through St. Mungo’s quite like he did in the good old days. “Yeah, she’s done a great job. Future’s bright.”

“Speaking of…” Albert paused in the hallway and leaned in, Max leaning to “I’ve spoken with Benoit in Ushant.”

Max’s perplexed look darkened to impatience. He shook his head. “Albert, I told you I was handling it – “

“The cottage is taken care of; in an anonymous trust. No names, so there’s no trail to follow you.” The pop in Albert’s ears he assumed was Max’s surprise, as the impatience twisted on his face into confusion. The old healer jerked his head and prompted the the shocked younger wizard into forward motion, shaking his head at whatever denials Max would spout quell his generosity. “After everything with Milton, and the hospital – “

“That wasn’t your fault, Albert.” Max cut in, taking longer strides to catch up to his old friend’s quickened pace. “You aren’t responsible for Milton’s failures.”

“Nonetheless.” Albert spoke up to stop Max’s interruption. The last two years brought a lot of change to Max Kameren, but not even the Shadowloved could break his inexhaustible need to argue. "You deserve a fresh start, Max. Escape the mess Milton, Kris, and I made for you.” He shrugged, winking with a wry smile. “Your plan to use your muggle grandfather’s name was transparent, anyway. The Prophet would’ve found you in a week.”

Max’s hard stare warmed. He shook his head with an exasperated sigh. “Thank you.”

“Was that so hard?” Albert clapped Max on the shoulder, gripping his thin frame tightly and slowing their steps to a leisurely pace. “The paperwork should be ready in about a month. Now you have time. Pack, say goodbyes. Tie up your loose ends. Which reminds me – “

Their conversation stalled only just long enough for Max to register the auras nearby too late. Albert opened a nearby office and pushed Max through the threshold, sending him stumbling forward with the door slamming behind him. He caught himself on the chair opposite the desk, his weight causing it to slip forward and push the desk itself into the office’s inhabitant. Rowena Jones’ aura sparkled in his sixth sense as ever, her surprise sparking the same amber of her eyes as her unannounced visitor flopped through the doorway.

“Ro, uh – damn you Albert!” Max pushed himself up, cursing over his shoulder at the jovial aura bouncing his way down the hall, his plan an irritating success. One last daring attempt to force a meet-cute, for old time’s sake. "Was supposed to be getting lunch with him. Up to his old tricks."

Max  saw the disorder his ungraceful entrance had cause and grimaced, pulling the chair back to its original place and coming around to move the desk. As he did, he couldn't help but notice the photo sitting alone on her desk. He paused, tilting his head and smiling as the memory came back to him. “Didn't Bryn take that? Drinks after the Faux-Floo? What a day that was...” He glanced around the room, taking in the boxes surrounding them. “Moving offices?”

[Rowena Jones]

The knock had been light, just a second warning before the door opened and a man fell through it, long limbs, messy hair and green eyes wide in surprise before he collided with her furniture.
Rowena let out a small huff of almost pain as the desk was pushed into her chest and she quickly scooted herself back to relieve the pressure.

“What- Wh—” she stuttered, gaze settling questioningly on her ex.

“Ro, uh – damn you Albert! Was supposed to be getting lunch with him. Up to his old tricks."

The witch snorted in amusement at that reveal. “Should have guessed he’d interfere,” she muttered under her breath. She’d obviously had to inform him of her departure from the hospital, and had found herself spilling more than she’d originally intended to tell anyone. And he had then apparently taken it upon himself to make her face her biggest challenge – saying goodbye to Max.

The fact was that there was very little left tying her to this life. Her circle of friends had always been small… and they all had their own lives, important things happening. They were moving forward, leaving the past few ugly years behind. And she was so happy for them. It didn’t erase her scars but it soothed the pain to know that they’d come out of the War and people were flourishing still. It gave her hope that maybe she could flourish too.

She knew that what she was doing was right. She’d spoken it out loud and felt her shoulders release from the invisible weight piled on by her current life. Every step forward felt lighter. Her mind sparked with excitement from all the possibilities that awaited her… but her heart. Her heart still tugged her firmly back to one thing, one man and it made her doubt everything… if only he would… but no. She couldn’t ask him.

Rowena was pulled out of that spiral as Max noticed the photo on her desk.

“Didn't Bryn take that? Drinks after the Faux-Floo? What a day that was...”

She couldn’t help but smile at the flood of memories from the day. “Yeah. And then he had that competition with Rogers about who could stick the most peanuts up their nose…” she shook her head at the thought. “I remember not being sure I was going to keep him in my Department… and you convinced me to give him another shot. I never thanked you for that.” And then they’d gone back to hers and laid in bed too exhausted to do anything but enjoy the comfort of each other’s proximity.

“Moving offices?”

Rowena followed Max’s gaze to the boxes and realizing she couldn’t exactly explain them away, nodded slowly. “Something like that. I’m surprised Albert didn’t tell you what was happening…”

She wasn’t ready. Last time she’d left him without explanation, she’d been half mad, and she’d swore that she would do it properly this time. She’d felt bad enough leaving his house that last time, and had quickly scrawled a note hoping it would be enough. It had been a coward’s way out, she admitted, but the tension had gotten too much and she didn’t want Max to think her a lovesick fool… even if it might be true.

“What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were avoiding daylight and crowds.” She teased. Mungo’s wasn’t exactly a discreet place to visit, being an area of such history to them both. She hadn’t been able to avoid it but he definitely had. It seemed strange that he would be here unless…of course. “Oh! Did Albert tell you about the Potions Lab?” It had been her guilty indulgence. Something they’d talked about back when they’d curled up together and passed the late-night hours. Back then it had all been theoretical. Small ways they could improve the hospital if they’d had the chance. They’d laughed about it, their ideas getting more and more ridiculous as the night progressed, but she’d never forgotten his thoughts about the Potions Department.

Albert must have wanted to show Max… though she wished he hadn’t. After their breakup, she’d poured her heart into that area in an attempt to rid herself of the feelings that plagued her. She was sure that Max would know the true depth of her emotion if he walked those new rooms.

“What did you think?”

[Max Kameren]

Max should have expected an ambush. Even in the old days, though Milton put his administrative stamp on the situations that brought Max and Rowena together it was always Albert pulling the puppet strings. Though this time, it wasn’t unwelcome. Tie up your loose ends, he said. Their relationship in the last year was nothing but loose ends; they’d picked back up after his escape, fallen apart, and drifted into a murky friendship. Max’s departure would put a finality on their status that formed a pit in his stomach whenever he thought about it.

Coming around the desk, Max’s eyes strayed to the photo in Rowena’s hands. “Didn't Bryn take that? Drinks after the Faux-Floo? What a day that was...”

“Yeah. And then he had that competition with Rogers about who could stick the most peanuts up their nose…” Max laughed, his smile widening slightly as he watched his arm in the photo snake around Rowena’s shoulders and pull her tight for the camera flash. His hand unconsciously found the back of her chair as he leaned in to look closer. “I remember not being sure I was going to keep him in my Department… and you convinced me to give him another shot. I never thanked you for that.”

“I knew he’d be a fantastic healer with the right teacher, and you were perfect. He would’ve been, too.” The memory from the photo was sweet, but like everything at Mungo’s it wasn’t long before the more painful memories crept back in. Max bit his lip, glancing around the office and taking in the boxes around them. “Moving offices?”

“Something like that. I’m surprised Albert didn’t tell you what was happening…” Max arched a questioning brow down at her. What did that mean? Was it not just the office she was leaving? “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were avoiding daylight and crowds.” She teased.

“You’re right! I forgot this wing was where they store all the spotlights and marching bands…” Max furrowed his brow, glancing around the room with a wry smirk. “I was visiting with Albert, he’s helping me with something.”

Here he was, it was time to tell her about his plans to disappear from the magnifying glass they’d been put under, but he was shying away. Max wasn’t ready to let her go, not yet.

“Oh! Did Albert tell you about the Potions Lab?”

“Potions Lab?” Max cocked his head at the mention. Echoes of their past musings rang in his ears. He hadn’t heard anything from Albert, or anyone outside of the pipe dreams he and Rowena had talked about years ago.

“What did you think?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He smiled wryly, his brow furrowing in confusion at the grin growing across her face.

[Rowena Jones]

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Rowena paused, her next words dying before they could be formed. “You haven’t seen it?” Heart and mind warred once again. Heart won and a smile graced her lips, lighting her face in delightful anticipation. If their goodbye was coming, she would make sure that she left him with only good memories. She stood and before she could think twice about it, she grabbed his hand, pulling him after her and out of the office.

“Come with me,” she said without giving him a choice in the matter as she dragged him down the hospital halls.

Dating an Empath had always meant she’d had to be hyper aware of her emotions. It had always felt like he was one step ahead of her, knowing how she was feeling sometimes before she even knew herself. There had been moments where it had frustrated her, left her feeling in the dark, always guessing how he would react.

They reached the end of a corridor and tall doors blocked their way, the words Potio Laboratorium. Ad investigationem, creandi et sana proudly announcing their location. Rowena paused there, Max’s warmth bringing her a comfort that she’d been lacking these past weeks. She realized she still clasped his hand in hers and reluctantly let it go.

“Before we go in… I should tell you. I’m leaving Mungos.” She said. I’m leaving the country, she added silently, still not brave enough to take that step. “I wanted to leave knowing I’d done everything I could. And I wanted to…” she paused, struggling to find the right words. “Do you remember that night? We’d stayed up to see the super moon, had our picnic under the stars, and we were talking about work…” she chuckled thinking back on it. They’d been such workaholics… “Anyway, you mentioned how you would have changed the Potions Department if you had the funds and the authority…”

Rowena pushed open the doors and stepped aside to let Max enter. “Well… I had the funds and the authority.”

The Potions Department of old had been an essential but often overlooked area of the hospital. The rooms Max and Jackson had used had been small and cramped. The stock cupboard had been limited and she’d remembered many occasions Max complaining that he’d often had to send Assistants to other areas to retrieve necessary ingredients. She’d fought hard to get that all fixed and the result faced them now.

Several rooms branched off the main hallway, rooms of varying temperatures and lighting to accommodate the complexities of potion making. Shelves and cupboards lined the hallway and main room, full of all and every ingredient, empty vials ready to be filled, and all the tools of the trade. Several people bustled around, paying them very little attention as they worked. Here and there on the walls, there were still black and white photos of hands holding vials, bubbling cauldrons, and the crinkled smiles of recovered patients.

“Turns out Bryn liked muggle photography. His sister sent these photos a few months ago after she went through his things. Thought we might like them.” Rowena stopped by a large print. Two people stood around a cauldron, heads bent close together as they worked. It was backlit, rendering the people unrecognizable… if she didn’t have the memory of that very day.

Her heart was in her throat as she watched Max take it all in. She’d tried her best to get his vision to come to life. “Max… I…” Rowena huffed, annoyed at her inability to convey her thoughts. She settled for an anxious... “What do you think?”

[Max Kameren]

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Max’s brow furrowed at the spark of Rowena’s aura, intrigued.

“You haven’t seen it?” Max leaned back so she could stand and nearly jumped at the surprise of her taking his hand, arching an even more curious brow as she led him out the door. “Come with me,” she said without giving him a choice in the matter as she dragged him down the hospital halls.

They came to a stop in front of a set of closed doors he didn’t recognize. Potions Laboratorium. Ad investigationem, creandi et sana... His brow furrowed in disbelief. He looked down at Rowena in search of an explanation. When she dropped his hand he found he immediately missed it.

“Before we go in… I should tell you. I’m leaving St. Mungo’s.” She said. Max had figured as much by her innocuous answer to his question earlier. He kept listening, glancing between his ex and the letters above the doorway as she spoke. “I wanted to leave knowing I’d done everything I could. […] Do you remember that night? We’d stayed up to see the super moon, had our picnic under the stars, and we were talking about our work…”

“‘Picnic’ is a generous term for Indian takeout and a bottle of sherry we stole out of Cutter’s desk, but yeah.” He chuckled, trying to relieve the tension building up as it started to dawn on him what she was getting at. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for what was on the other side of that door, or what it meant about his relationship to the woman standing next to him.

“Anyway, you mentioned how you would have changed the Potions Department if you had the funds and authority…” Rowena pushed open the doors and stepped aside to present the entrance to Max. “Well… I had the funds and the authority.”

Max’s sixth sense told him a lot about others’ lives, gave him a window into intentions and the ability to be a step ahead of others who didn’t have his abilities. With Rowena, though, he often found the blind spots those abilities left him with. His ex was a particularly complex person; he could read her emotions, sure, but they were often so conflicted that he couldn’t parse them. The words she would say often only made the puzzle more difficult; more often than not the two were in disagreement. She would tell him to leave, but her aura would haunt him. When their golden thread would fray and fade away, her aura kept him tied.

This was a statement he didn’t need either for. As she guided him through the wing’s halls Max’s eyes glazed over glassy with tears, words unable to get past his covered mouth even if he could find them. It was all here. Everything they’d talked about, two ambitious kids daydreaming about what good they could do in their world. She did it. Rowena left a mark on the hospital that he’d been far too broken to ever make himself.

The initial shock morphed into waves of emotion whenever Max would notice another detail: the ventilation system, the research office, the sheer number of Potions Masters hurrying around them as he took in their surroundings. Some of the photos on the walls he recognized, faces of people he had helped heal. Their interactions had been brief, but he never forgot a patient. One larger portrait made him pause; two silhouettes leaning over a cauldron, backlit but instantly recognizable if you knew the subjects.

“Turns out Bryn liked muggle photography. His sister sent these photos a few months ago after she went through his things. Thought we might like them.” Max tried to furtively wipe his eyes while Rowena was turned away from him. He took a deep breath and turned to take it all in again. He didn’t want to miss a single thing, wouldn’t dare to forget a second of this moment. It was so much more than he ever thought was possible.The only thing that could pull his attention was the aura shining next to him.

“Max… I…” She huffed and he felt it. That bungled slurry of emotions that he could never make sense of, but this time he didn’t think he could bear it if she was saying goodbye. He knew it was complicated, that he was planning to leave, but any life he made away from her couldn’t feel fulfilled. He turned to face her, reflecting the same anxiety that was wavering in her voice. “What do you think?”

Without a word Max wrapped his arms around Rowena’s waist, lifting her off her feet into a passionate kiss. For two years they’d gone back and forth, fought and made up, fretted about what was and wasn’t possible for their relationship. They never knew what to say, even with empathy Max found himself grasping at anything to try to make her happy. He didn’t have the words then and didn’t now for how he felt, but he knew he never wanted to stop kissing her.

[Rowena Jones]

This. This was what had been missing. They belonged together and her body knew his and fit so perfectly. She didn’t have to think twice as she returned his kiss, reveling in the way her skin warmed to his every touch and the happy beat of her heart pounding in her chest.

A loud bang, followed by the sound of several people coughing as smoke erupted from a nearby cauldron brought her back to the present. The ventilation system kicked in, sucking the smoke away before it could cause any harm as Rowena glanced in the direction of quiet mutters and blushed furiously. She was suddenly acutely aware of her surroundings… and the audience they’d had to that passionate display.

“Shit. Come on,” she muttered, grabbing Max’s hand once again and leading him to a nearby, currently unoccupied office. She grabbed the boxes of as yet unsorted parchments and files and moved them around to create some sort of seating… anything to keep her hands busy while she tried to process.

It was useless. She looked at Max, and couldn’t help herself. It’d been months. Months of tension, fears, acute loneliness. Months since she’d allowed herself to just fall into the depths of her feelings for the man next to her. She leaned up to kiss him again. And again. And again. It was never enough. It would never be enough.

Which meant…

Rowena pressed one last desperate kiss against his lips, before making herself take several steps back and sit. It actually hurt to separate herself so.

“You never make it easy do you…” she finally said softly. “This is not how I pictured doing this. I had a plan… and it definitely didn’t involve us sitting on cardboard boxes… But Max, I’m going to say something and I need you to just shut up and listen. And save your funny and undoubtably clever remarks until I’m done.”

She rubbed her forehead in frustration as she tried to find the right way to say, well everything. “I’m not just leaving Mungos. I’m leaving everything. I’ve sold everything. I’m…” she sighed. “I don’t know who I am, and I just feel like the little things I do know about myself are suffocating under the expectations that come with my life here. I’m not the witch people expect me to be… I’m not, I can’t be her. Everyday I’m faced with magic that I can’t do anymore and it hurts Max. It hurts that in too many ways, I’m not magical enough for this World anymore and I know that if I keep pushing forward, keep pretending… that this life will kill me, as surely as my sister tried to do.”

She angrily brushed away the tears that had built up and fallen down her cheeks during her speech. She’d cried enough to last a lifetime and she knew that the next few moments might give her more reason to cry, but she pushed through. It had to be done. They couldn’t keep going like this, backwards and forwards, tugging each other’s emotions around.

“This is going to sound crazy… but I don’t have a plan beyond leaving.” It was crazy. She knew. Rowena Jones, the queen of plans, research and meticulous detail, didn’t have a plan beyond packing up a few meagre belongings and leaving. Complete insanity.

“All I know is that I have to get out of this country. I was thinking an island, Muggle, quiet. Peaceful. Maybe I will take up gardening.” She remembered the sad plant she’d just thrown in the bin. “Or cooking.” Also a known weakness of hers.. “Or painting. Besides the point. I’m leaving and I am saying goodbye to everyone and I have to do it… but then there’s you… and you throw everything into question because I don’t want to say goodbye to you.”

Merlin, this had been so much easier in her head. And when they’d been broken up and they’d agreed it was for the best but then he’d kissed her and it wasn’t anymore. She knew, she just knew that walking away from Max would mean that whatever life she made for herself would be incomplete. He was it for her.

“I know. I know we’ve been here before and I know there’s so many arguments as to why we shouldn’t try again. I don’t even know how it would work but I do know thatI can’t live without you Max. I’ve tried and I can’t. It’s like I’m missing a whole part of myself and I can’t get a full breath without you by my side. You’re the one person I want to sit in silence with. You’re my first thought in the morning. You are, and have been for a very long time, everything. I want to spend the rest, of my hopefully, very boring quiet life, with you. I want to spend my days criticizing your choices because I think I know better and argue with you when you try to prove me wrong. I want to live the rest of my life knowing that you’ll always keep me on my toes, challenge me, frustrate me with your infuriating tendency to mess up my books. I want to watch your nose crinkle in distaste as I drink my too sweet tea and hear you laugh when I burn our breakfast. Again.”

It wasn’t enough. Words were never enough. But it was all she had so she sat there and looked at him, with her heart in her eyes and hoped that he felt the same.

[Max Kameren]

Time stopped. When they kissed, his other senses faded into her aura and she became everything. Kissing Rowena was feeling like one with the universe. Being around her just felt… right. In a world where Max felt left behind, forgotten and somehow still singled out, with her he just fit. He had never realized that piece of him was missing until she was in his life, but in the years since he ached when it was gone. Now, he wasn’t sure if he could bear losing that feeling again.

The sound of a cauldron exploding broke through their peaceful moment and brought Max and Rowena back to reality, where sever pairs of Healer’s eyes stared on at them. “Shit. Come on,” Max returned her to the floor as Rowena cursed, ducking his head apologetically and stifling a chuckle as she pulled him away by the hand. Finally, the gossip mill got the show it had been begging them for.

Rowena led him to an empty office filled with boxes, paperwork, and abandoned desks. He watched as she fidgeted with the piles, leaning against a cluttered desk and trying to make sense of her aura. She’d pitched rather dramatically from the euphoria of their kiss to a spiral of anxiety that put him on edge.

Was she overreacting, or was he underreacting? Should he be more worried? Max knew the world was uncertain by now, and even with his bigger plans on the horizon, now that they knew how they felt he couldn’t find it in him to be afraid. If he had her, that was it. Rowena was everything. The rest they could figure out; if the literal forces of darkness couldn’t tear them apart, he doubted the fishermen of Ushant could do it either.

She stopped her fiddling and turned to him. The look on her face was enough. He pushed off the desk and met her halfway in a kiss, then another. He kissed her like he’d wanted to every day for the last two years. Like he wanted to for the rest of his life. But when he tried to pull her closer she instead pushed away, taking a step back and sinking onto a pile of boxes she’d stacked into a chair.

“Spent already…?” Max’s joke was barely off his lips before he caught the seriousness of her look and fell onto a pile across from her with concern.

“You never make it easy do you…” she finally said softly. “This is not how I pictured doing this. I had a plan… and it definitely didn’t involve us sitting on cardboard boxes… But Max, I’m going to say something and I need you to just shut up and listen. And save your funny and undoubtably clever remarks until I’m done.”

Max met her gaze and leaned forward, taking her free hand in both of his. He knew as well as she did that there were a lot of things to be sorted out for their reunion to finally stick. She had no idea about what he was planning. Another disappearance, but this time just from the public eye. He had seen the expectations put on his father by the Wizarding World tear him apart; his peaceful ending had been anything but. Max wanted a real, fresh start. Rowena deserved one too.

“I’m not just leaving Mungos. I’m leaving everything. I’ve sold everything. I’m…” she sighed. “I don’t know who I am, and […] if I keep pushing forward, keep pretending… that this life will kill me, as surely as my sister tried to do. This is going to sound crazy… but I don’t have a plan beyond leaving.”

Maybe Fate was finally on their side.

His face warmed and Max squeezed her hand. It was his turn to cry now, bowing his head wiping tears away with the back of his hand and nodding along as Rowena continued.

“All I know is that I have to get out of this country. I was thinking an island, Muggle, quiet. Peaceful. Maybe I will take up gardening.” Gardening? Max couldn’t help but smirk, looking back up at Rowena with a playful glint in his emerald eyes. “Or cooking.” He snorted. “Or painting. Besides the point. I’m leaving and I am saying goodbye to everyone and I have to do it… but then there’s you… and you throw everything into question because I don’t want to say goodbye to you.”

Max closed the space between them and kissed her, opening his aura to let the joy he felt flow into her. This wasn’t goodbye, not for them. “Have dinner with me tonight. Come round the house, I have a surprise for you. Please.”