One aspect of serendipity to bear in mind ...
Harry’s favorite time of the day was lunchtime. It was, usually, the only time that the whole of the office was quiet. Aaron had taken the hour off to have lunch with a friend in Diagon. There were no meetings, no floo calls, no howlers.
Quiet.
Of course, this was the only time that Harry had to catch up on all the paperwork that’d been building up since he started returning to the field, but he didn’t mind it. He was back in the field. He was doing real and proper Auror work. The papers kept talking about how he was stretched too thin, doing too many things, but maybe that was what he’d needed.
Harry Potter finally felt like he was getting a handle on being the head of the MLE while, simultaneously, not hating every single minute of the day. He was no longer stuck in his office for twenty (or more) hours and was able to participate in a very real way with the other Aurors, instead of simply signing his name on their requisition forms.
Signing his name had become infinitely easier since Mira’s triplicate signature charm had been developed and approved for use in the Ministry. It was helpful beyond measure, but Harry couldn’t help the slight damper it put on his day when he used it - it was one of the main reasons that Mira had resigned as his secretary.
He knew she’d never really been here to stay, and Aaron was just as capable, but Harry missed being able to see her every day. He missed walking through the outer doors and seeing her smiling at her desk, going over his appointments or shredding useless mail with the flick of her wrist.
She’d reminded him to eat.
Mira was in the same building but she could have been a thousand miles away, for all they’d seen each other in the last few months. Harry’d finally gotten better at visiting Hermione and checking in on Ron - who was happily married and as content as he’d ever seen - but between them, the MLE, and fieldwork, it left very little time for much else. Including sleep.
Signing the last paper quickly, Harry stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth. Chewing, he looked up when a knocking sounded at the outer door. Eyebrows knitting together, he brushed the crumbs from his hands on his trousers before slipping his wand up his sleeve. There were no meetings planned for the rest of the afternoon. In fact, he had grand plans to head down to the training room while it’d be empty and spar with the new dummy he’d ordered.
Passing Aaron’s desk, he opened the door to the hallway and found a man standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
He’d never met Aaron’s boyfriend before, but had heard his assistant blather on about the man in great detail. Harry wasn’t sure if this man could be described as ‘dashingly handsome’ and ‘the cat’s pajamas’ but he supposed he looked fit enough.
“I’m sorry, Aaron’s out at lunch right now. I could take a message for you?” Harry asked, grabbing a pen and paper from the nearby desk.
“Aaron?” The tall man’s brow knit in confusion. “I was actually looking for Mira? Mira Montgomery? I was told by the receptionist she was in this office suite?”
Harry looked up from the pad he’d been prepared to write on, lips turning downward at Mira’s name. “Why?”
When he saw the other man’s face fall, he cleared his throat. He hadn’t meant for that word to come out as it had sounded. “I mean...” He put the paper and pen back on Aaron’s desk before crossing his arms over his chest. “Why would you be looking for Mira here? She’s in the charm’s department now.”
His lips turned down. “The directory in the Atrium said...”
“Jason?”
*~*~*~*
Mira’s heels tapped smartly as she clipped through the quiet halls of the MLE, a leather satchel and paper bag clasped firmly in one hand. She’d made her way through the Ministry toward this particular floor with an air of anticipation, but she was unsettled now, and it wasn’t the atypical quiet. The MLE was always hushed during the lunch hour; most took the opportunity to de-stress and grab a bite.
But not everyone. Not the man Mira was currently heading toward.
But no, it wasn’t the quiet. If Mira could pin point it, she’d lay the blame at Mrs. Potts. The MLE’s daytime receptionist had been at the Ministry longer than anyone currently working could remember, and she was known for being rather ornery. Still, the grey-haired woman had always been amiable with Mira. This particular afternoon, however, the canny look in the elder woman’s eye and the smile that was more... something, and less kindly, had Mira on edge. Mrs. Potts was up to something.
Or perhaps Mira hadn’t visited Harry and the MLE in so long that she’d just forgotten the quirks inherent to this particular quarter of the Ministry.
Either way, it was unsettling, and Mira only increased her pace.
She glanced over her shoulder at the last corner, but didn’t see anyone following her. Not that anyone would in this part of the Ministry. It was the MLE, not a dark park in Oxford. When she faced forward again, Mira’s gaze fell upon a man in the doorway she was headed toward, and her eyes widened as she slowed to a stop several meters away.
“Jason?”
The tall man’s head turned toward the familiar voice, and he smiled when he saw her. “There you are.” He stepped away from the doorway and the frowning man in it, and closed the small distance to Mira. “These are for you.”
The three purple irises were held out to her, and Mira took them in something of a daze, confusion permeating her expression. “Thank you.”
Her gaze flicked past Jason to Harry, and much to her chagrin, she could feel her skin heat. There was no reason to be embarrassed, of course, as Jason was just a friend she’d met at a defense charms seminar a few months back, but that didn’t stop her cheeks from pinkening.
She licked her lips and looked back to Jason. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d surprise you for lunch,” he said, a genuine smile turning his lips and lighting his eyes. “Seems one of the directories in the Atrium is out of date though, because I seem to have landed on the wrong floor.” His expression dimmed in slight confusion. “Though the receptionist by the lift indicated you would be down here.”
So Mrs. Potts had been up to something.
“I used to work here,” Mira said by way of partial explanation. “For Harry. I mean, Mr. Potter,” she corrected herself. Her gaze flicked to Harry again, and for some reason her heart seemed to speed, pulse pounding. She wasn’t sure why.
“I’m actually here at all because I was going to have a sandwich with him,” she said, gaze going back to Jason with a small, wry grin as she held up her satchel and the paper bag. “One of my old duties was making sure the director ate.”
Harry watched Mira and the man exchange conversation quietly, though his eyes strayed to Mira more often than than not. He hadn’t seen her in longer than he would have liked. The fact that she’d been on her way up to surprise him for lunch had his mouth turning up in a smile, before he realized that it wouldn’t be happening. Not now, anyway.
Because of Jason.
Realizing he looked a bit odd, standing there with a small glower on his face and his arms crossed over his chest, Harry let his arms drop to his sides. “She did an excellent job of it, too.”
Mira’s cheeks warmed even more when her eyes shifted to Harry. “Someone had to make sure you made it through they day without growing faint.” Her smile brightened, blue eyes lighting with her humor as she met Harry’s gaze.
Jason turned back to glance at the man who had initially greeted him, and digesting the few things Mira had said about the slightly mussed, bespeckled fellow, it dawned on him who, exactly, this man was. His brows rose as he digested the fact that the bloody savior of the wizarding world and Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department had been prepared to take notes for the missing occupant of the office like some secretary. And that he and Mira were apparently quite familiar with one another, if the smiles they were exchanging were any indication.
A moment was spared to brace himself, and then Jason stepped forward in such a way as to put himself between the two. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter,” he said, hand out.
Harry’s line of sight to Mira had been interrupted by the man. Blinking a few times, Harry looked down at the man’s outstretched hand. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to shake the man’s hand; he’d just interrupted something Harry’d wanted to do. Talk to Mira. Have lunch with Mira. See Mira.
He took the man’s hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Jason grinned. He grinned because it was the only thing he could do to make this unexpected tangle less unwieldy.
“Sorry to steal your ex-employee away, but you understand.” Jason could tell by Harry’s expression that he didn’t, but he soldiered on. He’d been planning this for weeks. Mira was different than other women and he wanted more than the afternoon talks over coffee or tea they’d been having for the past few months. He wasn’t going to give up now just because of a few unplanned misunderstandings.
Releasing the director’s hand, Jason stepped back to Mira. “How about it then? I’m sure you can make it back here again,” he said, smile and voice cajoling. “You’re in the same building, after all.”
Mira’s blue eyes flicked to Harry, and once again, her pulse was pounding. She’d felt centered, if only for a moment, but now she was muddled and unsure. However, when a warm hand cupped her bent elbow, Mira’s gaze shifted back to Jason and his easy smile. He was right, she supposed. She could just come back down to have lunch with Harry again another time. It wasn’t as if her visit to the MLE was planned; she’d just had the last minute thought to order sandwiches and drop by. It was no different than what Jason had done, and she knew for a fact he’d come from Leeds. His lunch hour was probably already half done at this point, and she didn’t want to send him back across the isle after a fruitless trip.
After a drawn out moment, Mira’s lips finally turned up into a small smile. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
When she looked back at Harry, she felt her skin heat again. Part of her was disappointed she’d miss this time with him, but what was a few more weeks when it’d already been months? She ignored the further disappointment that thought brought, shifted her satchel to her other hand, and stepped past Jason to hold out the paper bag. “Here. I know you haven’t had anything. The roast beef was for you, and the cupcake for Aaron.”
Harry took the bag. Of course she’d remembered he loved roast beef. She remembered almost everything. What he remembered never really mattered. It was all inconsequential things; what she liked to listen to when she was doing reports versus what she liked to listen to while working on school work. Which type of pen she preferred. The smell of her perfume, though he’d never known the name of it.
Mira dropped her gaze when he took the bag, and then lifted it seconds later. “Soon, okay?”
“Sure. You know where I am,” he answered with a small turn of his lips.
He took a moment longer looking at her before he shifted his attention to Jason, the man who’d ruined their would-be lunch. “Hope you’re taking her some place fancy. She deserves it. She works really hard.” Nodding at both of them, Harry left them in the doorway and went back into his office to eat his sandwich. And Aaron’s cupcake.
Mira swallowed the disappointment that was sour in her mouth and didn’t wait more than half a second before turning a small smile up to Jason. “You heard him. Somewhere fancy,” she teased.
“Fancy?” Jason grinned. He liked her smile. He especially liked when it was aimed at him. “I can do fancy.”
Mira forced herself not to look back over her shoulder as Jason led her back toward the lift. She had no reason to be disappointed. Jason was right; she could literally take a jaunt down the stairs anytime to see Harry. It was only a matter of making it happen.
Plus, she thought, as she glanced up at Jason, her current companion was a nice man and very interesting to talk to, besides. They’d been on several dates and she’d had a really good time with him. No, she hadn’t expected him to show up at work, and she definitely hadn’t expected it to happen in front of Harry, but he’d thought of her; he’d brought her flowers, and he had obviously planned a nice surprise for her. She hadn’t dated in years, but as Mira glanced down at the irises in her hand, a warmer smile turned her lips and she had to admit that being sought after was rather nice.
SUMMARY: A gentleman caller comes looking for Mira at the Ministry for a surprise lunch date, but gets the wrong directions to her office -- he gets directions to her old office. The one she shared with Harry.
Quiet.
Of course, this was the only time that Harry had to catch up on all the paperwork that’d been building up since he started returning to the field, but he didn’t mind it. He was back in the field. He was doing real and proper Auror work. The papers kept talking about how he was stretched too thin, doing too many things, but maybe that was what he’d needed.
Harry Potter finally felt like he was getting a handle on being the head of the MLE while, simultaneously, not hating every single minute of the day. He was no longer stuck in his office for twenty (or more) hours and was able to participate in a very real way with the other Aurors, instead of simply signing his name on their requisition forms.
Signing his name had become infinitely easier since Mira’s triplicate signature charm had been developed and approved for use in the Ministry. It was helpful beyond measure, but Harry couldn’t help the slight damper it put on his day when he used it - it was one of the main reasons that Mira had resigned as his secretary.
He knew she’d never really been here to stay, and Aaron was just as capable, but Harry missed being able to see her every day. He missed walking through the outer doors and seeing her smiling at her desk, going over his appointments or shredding useless mail with the flick of her wrist.
She’d reminded him to eat.
Mira was in the same building but she could have been a thousand miles away, for all they’d seen each other in the last few months. Harry’d finally gotten better at visiting Hermione and checking in on Ron - who was happily married and as content as he’d ever seen - but between them, the MLE, and fieldwork, it left very little time for much else. Including sleep.
Signing the last paper quickly, Harry stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth. Chewing, he looked up when a knocking sounded at the outer door. Eyebrows knitting together, he brushed the crumbs from his hands on his trousers before slipping his wand up his sleeve. There were no meetings planned for the rest of the afternoon. In fact, he had grand plans to head down to the training room while it’d be empty and spar with the new dummy he’d ordered.
Passing Aaron’s desk, he opened the door to the hallway and found a man standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
He’d never met Aaron’s boyfriend before, but had heard his assistant blather on about the man in great detail. Harry wasn’t sure if this man could be described as ‘dashingly handsome’ and ‘the cat’s pajamas’ but he supposed he looked fit enough.
“I’m sorry, Aaron’s out at lunch right now. I could take a message for you?” Harry asked, grabbing a pen and paper from the nearby desk.
“Aaron?” The tall man’s brow knit in confusion. “I was actually looking for Mira? Mira Montgomery? I was told by the receptionist she was in this office suite?”
Harry looked up from the pad he’d been prepared to write on, lips turning downward at Mira’s name. “Why?”
When he saw the other man’s face fall, he cleared his throat. He hadn’t meant for that word to come out as it had sounded. “I mean...” He put the paper and pen back on Aaron’s desk before crossing his arms over his chest. “Why would you be looking for Mira here? She’s in the charm’s department now.”
His lips turned down. “The directory in the Atrium said...”
“Jason?”
*~*~*~*
Mira’s heels tapped smartly as she clipped through the quiet halls of the MLE, a leather satchel and paper bag clasped firmly in one hand. She’d made her way through the Ministry toward this particular floor with an air of anticipation, but she was unsettled now, and it wasn’t the atypical quiet. The MLE was always hushed during the lunch hour; most took the opportunity to de-stress and grab a bite.
But not everyone. Not the man Mira was currently heading toward.
But no, it wasn’t the quiet. If Mira could pin point it, she’d lay the blame at Mrs. Potts. The MLE’s daytime receptionist had been at the Ministry longer than anyone currently working could remember, and she was known for being rather ornery. Still, the grey-haired woman had always been amiable with Mira. This particular afternoon, however, the canny look in the elder woman’s eye and the smile that was more... something, and less kindly, had Mira on edge. Mrs. Potts was up to something.
Or perhaps Mira hadn’t visited Harry and the MLE in so long that she’d just forgotten the quirks inherent to this particular quarter of the Ministry.
Either way, it was unsettling, and Mira only increased her pace.
She glanced over her shoulder at the last corner, but didn’t see anyone following her. Not that anyone would in this part of the Ministry. It was the MLE, not a dark park in Oxford. When she faced forward again, Mira’s gaze fell upon a man in the doorway she was headed toward, and her eyes widened as she slowed to a stop several meters away.
“Jason?”
The tall man’s head turned toward the familiar voice, and he smiled when he saw her. “There you are.” He stepped away from the doorway and the frowning man in it, and closed the small distance to Mira. “These are for you.”
The three purple irises were held out to her, and Mira took them in something of a daze, confusion permeating her expression. “Thank you.”
Her gaze flicked past Jason to Harry, and much to her chagrin, she could feel her skin heat. There was no reason to be embarrassed, of course, as Jason was just a friend she’d met at a defense charms seminar a few months back, but that didn’t stop her cheeks from pinkening.
She licked her lips and looked back to Jason. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d surprise you for lunch,” he said, a genuine smile turning his lips and lighting his eyes. “Seems one of the directories in the Atrium is out of date though, because I seem to have landed on the wrong floor.” His expression dimmed in slight confusion. “Though the receptionist by the lift indicated you would be down here.”
So Mrs. Potts had been up to something.
“I used to work here,” Mira said by way of partial explanation. “For Harry. I mean, Mr. Potter,” she corrected herself. Her gaze flicked to Harry again, and for some reason her heart seemed to speed, pulse pounding. She wasn’t sure why.
“I’m actually here at all because I was going to have a sandwich with him,” she said, gaze going back to Jason with a small, wry grin as she held up her satchel and the paper bag. “One of my old duties was making sure the director ate.”
Harry watched Mira and the man exchange conversation quietly, though his eyes strayed to Mira more often than than not. He hadn’t seen her in longer than he would have liked. The fact that she’d been on her way up to surprise him for lunch had his mouth turning up in a smile, before he realized that it wouldn’t be happening. Not now, anyway.
Because of Jason.
Realizing he looked a bit odd, standing there with a small glower on his face and his arms crossed over his chest, Harry let his arms drop to his sides. “She did an excellent job of it, too.”
Mira’s cheeks warmed even more when her eyes shifted to Harry. “Someone had to make sure you made it through they day without growing faint.” Her smile brightened, blue eyes lighting with her humor as she met Harry’s gaze.
Jason turned back to glance at the man who had initially greeted him, and digesting the few things Mira had said about the slightly mussed, bespeckled fellow, it dawned on him who, exactly, this man was. His brows rose as he digested the fact that the bloody savior of the wizarding world and Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department had been prepared to take notes for the missing occupant of the office like some secretary. And that he and Mira were apparently quite familiar with one another, if the smiles they were exchanging were any indication.
A moment was spared to brace himself, and then Jason stepped forward in such a way as to put himself between the two. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter,” he said, hand out.
Harry’s line of sight to Mira had been interrupted by the man. Blinking a few times, Harry looked down at the man’s outstretched hand. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to shake the man’s hand; he’d just interrupted something Harry’d wanted to do. Talk to Mira. Have lunch with Mira. See Mira.
He took the man’s hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Jason grinned. He grinned because it was the only thing he could do to make this unexpected tangle less unwieldy.
“Sorry to steal your ex-employee away, but you understand.” Jason could tell by Harry’s expression that he didn’t, but he soldiered on. He’d been planning this for weeks. Mira was different than other women and he wanted more than the afternoon talks over coffee or tea they’d been having for the past few months. He wasn’t going to give up now just because of a few unplanned misunderstandings.
Releasing the director’s hand, Jason stepped back to Mira. “How about it then? I’m sure you can make it back here again,” he said, smile and voice cajoling. “You’re in the same building, after all.”
Mira’s blue eyes flicked to Harry, and once again, her pulse was pounding. She’d felt centered, if only for a moment, but now she was muddled and unsure. However, when a warm hand cupped her bent elbow, Mira’s gaze shifted back to Jason and his easy smile. He was right, she supposed. She could just come back down to have lunch with Harry again another time. It wasn’t as if her visit to the MLE was planned; she’d just had the last minute thought to order sandwiches and drop by. It was no different than what Jason had done, and she knew for a fact he’d come from Leeds. His lunch hour was probably already half done at this point, and she didn’t want to send him back across the isle after a fruitless trip.
After a drawn out moment, Mira’s lips finally turned up into a small smile. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
When she looked back at Harry, she felt her skin heat again. Part of her was disappointed she’d miss this time with him, but what was a few more weeks when it’d already been months? She ignored the further disappointment that thought brought, shifted her satchel to her other hand, and stepped past Jason to hold out the paper bag. “Here. I know you haven’t had anything. The roast beef was for you, and the cupcake for Aaron.”
Harry took the bag. Of course she’d remembered he loved roast beef. She remembered almost everything. What he remembered never really mattered. It was all inconsequential things; what she liked to listen to when she was doing reports versus what she liked to listen to while working on school work. Which type of pen she preferred. The smell of her perfume, though he’d never known the name of it.
Mira dropped her gaze when he took the bag, and then lifted it seconds later. “Soon, okay?”
“Sure. You know where I am,” he answered with a small turn of his lips.
He took a moment longer looking at her before he shifted his attention to Jason, the man who’d ruined their would-be lunch. “Hope you’re taking her some place fancy. She deserves it. She works really hard.” Nodding at both of them, Harry left them in the doorway and went back into his office to eat his sandwich. And Aaron’s cupcake.
Mira swallowed the disappointment that was sour in her mouth and didn’t wait more than half a second before turning a small smile up to Jason. “You heard him. Somewhere fancy,” she teased.
“Fancy?” Jason grinned. He liked her smile. He especially liked when it was aimed at him. “I can do fancy.”
Mira forced herself not to look back over her shoulder as Jason led her back toward the lift. She had no reason to be disappointed. Jason was right; she could literally take a jaunt down the stairs anytime to see Harry. It was only a matter of making it happen.
Plus, she thought, as she glanced up at Jason, her current companion was a nice man and very interesting to talk to, besides. They’d been on several dates and she’d had a really good time with him. No, she hadn’t expected him to show up at work, and she definitely hadn’t expected it to happen in front of Harry, but he’d thought of her; he’d brought her flowers, and he had obviously planned a nice surprise for her. She hadn’t dated in years, but as Mira glanced down at the irises in her hand, a warmer smile turned her lips and she had to admit that being sought after was rather nice.
SUMMARY: A gentleman caller comes looking for Mira at the Ministry for a surprise lunch date, but gets the wrong directions to her office -- he gets directions to her old office. The one she shared with Harry.