At the Bones' house, Susan woke up in the morning remembering what happened yesterday and if it wasn't for the locket around her neck, she would think it was all a dream. Yesterday was one of the best nights she had, she felt the joy of being together and enjoying cooking. Now she understands why Pomona usually cooks in Hufflepuff.
She went down to the kitchen since it was late and she was a bit hungry, but on her way, some kind of message appeared in front of her. She was surprised, but when she read it she realized that it was from her friend, who promised to contact her yesterday.
In the message, it was written that in case she was alone again today or in the following days, she could tell him about her so that she could accompany her, and, if she had her aunt's permission, go out with him a take a walk.
Susan went downstairs excited and found her aunt cooking lunch, she was a little surprised at how late it was, but recording until the hour she stayed listening to the stories of her friend, it didn't seem so strange.
"Susan, you're awake, I'm already preparing lunch, but you can have something simple for breakfast if you're hungry," Amelia told her.
"Merry Christmas Aunt"
"Oh...right, Merry Christmas" Amelia remembered.
Susan took something and went to the dining room to have some breakfast, shortly after, her aunt arrived to accompany her and talk with her about yesterday.
"Susan…" Amelia began.
"Did you eat the gouchis... or giou...? Did you eat what we prepared yesterday?" She asked, not quite remembering the name.
"Yes... they were delicious" she answered smiling when she saw the joy on her niece's face, not many times had she seen her so animated.
"I made them, kneaded them, stretched them, and cut them into strips…" she began to relate the whole process in which she participated and Amelia could only listen in silence.
"I'm glad you had fun, but I wanted to ask you who was the boy from yesterday, it's not normal that he can pass all our protections" Amelia asked, it was something she cared to know.
"But you already know who is, aunt"
"I know it?"
"I wrote to you about him many times...for quite some time. Didn't you read my letters?" Susan's expression of joy was rapidly fading.
"No... yes, I did read them, only..." Amelia will try to explain herself. It's not that she didn't read them, but, with the number of things to do, she only focused on seeing if Susan was okay and the rest she willingly ignored.
"You didn't pay attention to them" The cheerful Susan from the beginning was already gone.
"It's not that I didn't pay attention to them...just that I forgot" was the only excuse she could come up with.
"Never mind…" she said somewhat depressed, in a way she didn't feel this was weird "I…?"
"Yes?"
"You... Are you going to stay home with me these days?" She asked, somewhat hopefully. Although she found the idea of going out with Red very nice, she still had much more desire to spend time with her aunt.
"Sorry Susan, I let an intern with the rest of my work, but he won't be able to do everything, a lot of documents need my signature... I'll have to leave in a few hours, but I'll see if I can take a day off before you leave to come back to Hogwarts"
"Hum..." Susan snorted holding back her annoyance "So at least you can let me out these days?"
"Going out where?"
"Red asked me out with him"
"I can't do that, he's a stranger, I can't let you go alone with him"
"That he is not a stranger!" Susan screamed and angrily stood up from the table.
"Susan! Calm down"
"Why should I? You don't care about me and you don't even let me enjoy these holidays" Susan yelled.
"That's not true, if I care about you" Amelia exclaimed, surprised since Susan had never shown such a state of fury before.
"Then why are you never here?! Why do I have to spend the night alone, waiting for you, to the point of not being able to stay awake from exhaustion?! And it wasn't just yesterday, it's always the same, I don't remember the times we were able to have dinner together... if it wasn't for Red coming to keep me company, then this would be just another night" Susan was crying consumed by anger, sadness and frustration.
"Susan, that's not it, it's just that the work…" Amelia felt pain in her chest from the words she heard.
"It's always work...! Is work more important than me? Well, so be it, but if you won't let me spend time with you, at least let me spend it with someone else, and don't leave me locked up here alone... When I was little you took care of me and spent time with me, but now I see you less and less... now the only thing you do is not let me die of hunger or cold, nothing else" Susan was shattered inside, she was releasing resentments and repressed feelings.
"Susan..."
"You don't even deign to give me a gift that I can truly appreciate"
"I did send you a gift, this..." she tried to clarify, but she was stopped.
"Yes, next to my bed, the nimbus 2000, the broom that everyone wants... just like the dress from the previous year... or the necklace from the year before that... they are all gifts that many can want but not have, but I don't want that… I just want you to spend time with me, nothing else…" I scream heartbreakingly.
"I..."
"Look what Red gave me, it's not as expensive as what you gave me, but it was the best gift I've had in a long time" Susan, in her uncontrolled state, threw the locket at her aunt without realizing that this action it could hurt her or break the gift she cherished so much.
Susan ran upstairs and into her room, she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, so she pushed a piece of furniture against the door so it couldn't be opened so easily with a simple spell and then she threw herself on her bed to cry.
Downstairs in the dining room, Amelia was also terribly distraught, although she knew that what she made could bring Susan down, I don't expect she would have hurt her that much. Amelia was so affected that she even sat on a chair because of the weakness of her legs and her tears began to drip from her eyes, without crying, but with a slight moan.
She thought about what she was doing all this, she chose to continue with the work despite the fact that it consumed a lot of her time in order to prevent other people from going through what she did.
She wanted to try to prevent cases like hers, where she lost almost her entire family to dark wizards... from happening again, but she didn't realize that maybe by trying to save others, neglected the only family left behind.
Both women of the Bones' family stayed for lunch that day, neither of them in the mood to eat.
Amelia, who was looking at what time it was, since she was supposed to go to work in a couple of hours to continue with her tasks, hesitated. It was worth it?
Her internal struggle was interrupted when she received an owl at her house, this owl had with it a letter and a rectangular package. When she checked the letter she saw that it was from the intern that worked with her. For a moment she thought it was a complaint that 'why wasn't she back yet' and although she didn't want to see a letter like this at the moment, she still opened it in case it was an emergency.
"To my dear Amelia, merry Christmas, I hope you are having a good time. I know you must be enjoying your time with your niece and I would hate to interrupt you, but I also know that with your personality, I may end up seeing you again today. For that reason, it is to make things easier for you and give you more time to enjoy with your family I have sent you all the documents that I could do and that you only need your approval, this way you can finish them from home.
I hope this helps you and prevents me from seeing you here so soon... in a good way.
Your dear slave... I mean assistant... Tenebrius ;)"
After reading the letter, Amelia opened the package that had an expansion spell inside, not very big, but enough for her to get into a small mountain of papers. She took them out and checked them, she didn't give them an exhaustive look, but with what she saw she realized that if she did it here she could spend most of the day without going to the office.
She was partly excited. If they paid the interns anything, she might have fought for a raise. With this, she could spend more time with Susan without too many complications, but she had to fix her situation first.
Amelia got up and was about to go up to look for her niece when she inadvertently kicked something on the ground, when she looked down at her and saw that it was the locket that Susan had thrown at her. She picked it up and tried to appreciate it, Susan said it was one of the best gifts she had ever received and she wanted to understand why, so she opened it.
She was surprised, they were photos of several people, including her, which were not recorded taken, and it even seemed that it was taken by surprise. In some of those photos, there was Susan who showed an expression of joy that touched her, she began to cry once again recording the photos that she had with her family on her desk, now she understood what Susan said.
In the end, there were some photos of the boy from yesterday with poses and idiotic faces, but it was not the time to think about it, she had to go see Susan.
Amelia was outside Susan's room, she had tried to get in, but the door was locked. She didn't want to force it, so she was calling Susan from outside. She knocked several times, but she didn't get an answer, so she became worried and impatient, causing her to knock more desperately and was about to break down the door if necessary.
Susan woke up to her aunt's screams, she had cried so much that she fell asleep.
Just as Amelia was about to pull out her wand to slam the door open, she heard a sound, similar to scraping a piece of furniture, and soon after the door swung open and she saw her niece's face through the door.
"Aunt?"
"Susan..." Amelia sighed in relief "I'm glad you're fine, I was worried when you didn't answer"
"Sorry" she apologized really embarrassed "Sorry for yelling at you, I didn't mean to, it's just…"
"Don't go on, it was my mistake, I know... you don't have to apologize for anything, I do"
"No, I know why you do what you do, but I still can't help but feel bad about it."
"I can pass?"
"Yes"
Susan opened the door and then they both sat on the bed, Amelia taking the locket out of her pocket, and putting it in front of her.
"Ah..." Susan noticed the locket and remembered what she did, so she quickly took it and put it against her chest "sorry...sorry...sorry... She repeatedly apologized to the locket, feeling annoyed at her mistake.
"Susan, you're right, I don't spend enough time with you" Amelia said seeing her niece apologizing with the necklace "My assistant sent my work home, so I could stay with you today... If that's what you want...?"
"Really?... but I don't want that to get in the way of your work"
"It won't…although you may have to see me sign papers for a while, sorry for not being able to give you the Christmas you wanted" she felt distraught at the thought that this is not the right way to spend this day.
"I also have to do some studies for school... we can do our things together until we finish..." She said uncertainly.
Amelia smiled, seeing her niece's responsibility. Even though she was annoyed that she spent her time doing things for the ministry, she still understood that her work was important.
Amelia hugged her hard for a while, and then they both went downstairs to eat something, since they were starving. Once they finished eating, they both got to work, each at a different table but very close to each other.
When they worked, they were both very focused. They hardly spoke to each other, not out of displeasure or the like, rather they were so into each other's business that they didn't think it was necessary, the 'Bones' style of work.
Once they finished, they both sat on the sofa to have an afternoon snack and talk to each other. Amelia talked about her life in the office, but she had very little interesting to say, so she started talking about her new intern, some stories about him, and a few rumors.
Amelia also asked Susan about school and apologized again for not paying enough attention to her letters. And what she most asked her niece about was the red-haired boy from yesterday. The more she listened, the more complicated her emotions became, and she didn't make it any easier to see the expression on her niece's face as she talked about him.
Susan asked her again if she could go out with him in the next few days and Amelia hesitated to accept, she said that she would answer tomorrow after seeing if she could take the day to accompany them since she didn't want to leave the two children alone.
With dinner time approaching, Amelia was thinking about what to prepare, the day passed quickly and she forgot about it. She couldn't make an extravagant dinner on short notice, but she would try to make it something special that she would enjoy.
Susan, seeing that her aunt was deciding what to cook, asked her if they could cook together what she prepared yesterday since her memory was one she cherished and she wanted to have the same memory with her aunt.
Amelia didn't know how to cook that dish, but seeing her niece's desire, she accepted and they both started doing what they can under Susan's descriptions. She had no idea how Red prepared the sauce, so she let her aunt decide how to make it, and for the dough part, she recorded parts but not perfectly.
Amelia was surprised that Susan wanted to prepare everything with her own hands and not with magic, but she let her do it because she said that's how she did it the first time and that she liked it a lot. They had some setbacks that they fixed as best they could and made Amelia do a few touch-ups with magic at the end to prevent it from being something inedible.
Once finished, they served the food at the table and ate. The sauce was different but it was not bad, the food was not as good, because there were even more mistakes than yesterday, but they both enjoyed it since at dinner they talked about the whole process and had fun with it. It wouldn't have occurred to Amelia that talking about something as simple as 'cooking something wrong' could make her niece so happy.
They spent some more time chatting until Susan went to sleep. Amelia was tired, but she still didn't go to sleep, but she went back to the ministry.
...
Amelia walked into her office and saw that there was inside it. At the small desk next to hers, her assistant was still typing at a surprising speed.
"Still here?!" She exclaims.
"Amelia? What are you doing here?" Tenebrius was also surprised.
"I came to finish work. What are you still doing here? When did you leave?" She told him as she sat down at her desk.
"How do you think I was able to send you so many reports?"
"Not you yet...? Go home, you've already done too much, you have to go to rest... today is Christmas"
"And you?"
"Me what?"
"What are you doing here? From my assumptions and how tired you look, I can say that you've slept the least or not at all. It's not healthy for you to come at this hour if you haven't rested" Tenebrius stood in front of her, but Amelia didn't even look at him, her gaze was on the files on the table.
"That doesn't matter, I appreciate what you did for me, it helped me a lot when I need it... but it's time for you to go rest, I'll be fine" she said, unable to avoid yawning.
"What is more important, your job or your health?"
"..." Amelia paused for a moment, just today her niece told her something similar...
"Aren't you going to stop?
"Yes I will... but not now, I want to finish everything as soon as possible to have tomorrow free, I need it"
"Okay," Tenbrius sighed, moving behind Amelia without her noticing due to exhaustion. There, behind her back, Tenebrius suddenly began massaging Amelia's shoulders as he used her blood magic to relax her and replenish some of the tired witch's energy.
"What are you doing?!" Amelia exclaimed as she became aware of her assistant's hands on her shoulders, but in the next moment, she felt strangely better.
"If you're going to continue like this, then let me help you out a bit... it may not get you the sleep you need, but it will make things more bearable."
"How...?" Amelia said with her eyes closed as she relaxed and enjoyed the feeling a bit.
"Chinese Traditional Technique"
"Weren't you Japanese?"
"Technically I'm British... But does that matter...?" Tenebrius continued with the recovering massage as he very lightly applied [Ecstasy] to allow Amelia to enjoy it lightly and cover-up that he really wasn't that good at massaging, reminding himself to practice for the future.
"Akaichi?"
"Yes?"
"Did you secretly take a picture of me?" She asked, remembering the locket Susan had and the contents of it.
"... Yes... I'm sorry...my workmate told me that a friend from Hogwarts asked if she could take a picture of you looking as pretty as possible. Since I work here I offered to do it myself and I did so, I took a photo while you're looking at the painting of your niece since it is the moment that you're usually seen most radiant... sorry"
"Um..."
"I am fired?"
"No... but next time you have to let me know... at least after taking the picture. That's enough, I have to keep working if I want the day off tomorrow." Amelia removed Tenebrius's hands from her shoulders.
"Do you need the day off tomorrow so much?"
"More than anything" replied Amelia, who has already started to work.
"... Then, how about you leave it to me?"
"..." Amelia looked up at her intern.
"You know how good I am at these things. You can sleep here in the office for a while, while I write most of the reports and fill out the documents, then you get up for half an hour or an hour, review and sign them and then come back. We'll keep doing that until tomorrow and we can save time and you can rest" Tenebrius explained.
"I'm not sure..."
"If I fail in this and I do things wrong, you can send me to Azkaban, it would not be so difficult for you"
"..." Amelia hesitated, since she really needed to sleep, not only for herself, but also to be cognizant of tomorrow "Can I trust you on this?"
"You cannot completely trust me, but you can be sure that I will fulfill my mission"
"..." Amelia took her time to think about it and ended up agreeing "Fine, wake me up when you're done"
"No problem, by the way, eat this" Tenebrius said handing out a kind of fluffy bread, "this bread will help you sleep, it will improve your quality of sleep by approximately 6%"
Amelia hesitated for a moment but, at this point, she had nothing to lose. After a few checks with her wand, which she didn't bother to hide from her assistant, she consumed it.
After eating, she transfigured her chair into some kind of makeshift bed and lay back, quickly falling asleep. Tenebrius, seeing her sleep, began his work, also consuming some of her food with special effects to have a better performance.
After a couple of hours, Tenebrius wakes Amelia up so she can finish the paperwork, and once it's done, she's back to sleep, and Tenebrius back to work. This continued for the rest of the day until the next morning when Amelia woke up and noticed that most of the day's work was done and she decided to send a letter to Susan, indicating that she is allowed to go out this afternoon, but that she would accompany