WHO: Louis Bonaccord and Dianna Dobbs
WHAT: Random run-ins?
WHERE: The Ministry
WHEN: Late tonight!



As much as Louis hated being an intern, he found it quite remarkable and irritating that the Ministry was where he was spending his Saturday night. The lift was silent and empty as he made his way down from his office, and while he thought burying himself in his work would keep his mind busy, it had done the opposite. The emptiness of the offices had just managed to give his mind more reason to brood and focus on the fact that Dianna Dobbs was getting married tomorrow. Today! It was past midnight.

He should kick Adian for opening this floodgate of emotions. He had been fine. Things had been accepted. Louis had decided that he was most definitely not going to marry Dianna Dobbs, and that it was a good thing. But the second someone showed concern, the moment Adian hinted that he believed Louis may have felt that there was still something left, he’d been drowning in questions, regrets, confusion.

They had not dated in years! Literal years! They only dated for one year, really, but it had been a wonderful one. She was on par with him, she could knock him down with one swift roll of her tongue. In his worldly travels he had not met someone who remotely compared to Dianna Dobbs, so how could he possibly think he was going to find another woman like her now that his life was stationary? He couldn’t even make himself go to the wedding now, and now---now he didn’t know when he’d see her again.

The lift doors opened and Louis nearly dropped dead on the ground.

“Di?”

Dianna Dobbs stood in front of the open doors of the lift, hair wild about her head and looking remarkably perfect for someone who seemed completely and utterly frazzled. It was something only she could accomplish, and Louis gaped, stupidly, unsure what he could do. If it was one of those romantic radio shows that his sister and her friends used to listen to during their sleepovers, he’d grab her and kiss her right there, but the fact remained that Dianna had a shiny ring on her hand and was supposed to be walking down the aisle in less than twelve hours.

“What---” he began, but she stepped into the lift, pushed one of the buttons, and grabbed hold to a handle hanging above her head. Louis couldn’t take his eyes off of her as the lift zoomed sideways and up, completely missing the floor that he was supposed to get off at. He looked her over, noting that she was dressed impeccably, as if having come from a fancy dinner, and in her hand was clutched a ministy identification card with a familar face that was most definitely not Dianna’s, but he could not put his finger on it.

The lift came to a stop and Dianna flew out the moment the doors opened. It took him a second, but Louis’ feet finally unstuck from the ground and he chased after her in silence. Their footsteps were heavy in the empty corridors, but he knew this floor--they weren’t going to be alone. It was the Department of Magical Transportation, and she had just burst through the double doors towards the portkey port.

He was about to shout out, to call to her, but Dianna broke her stride and whirled around to face him, eyes ablaze.

“How did you know I’d be here?” she demanded, stomping toward him. Louis put his hands up in defense. “How did you know? Were you spying on me?”

“I haven’t seen you in months!” Louis retorted, completely and utterly confused. “I work here, how did you get in so late?”

He watched her slip the ID into her cloak pocket and he had the sudden realization that her hitwizard of a brother had either lent his sister his work ID or she’d gotten good at swiping things undetected. Dianna scoffed, running a hand through her hair, her glorious hair that somehow had managed to look as if it should be sticking out at all ends.

“This is the Fates punishing me,” she murmured, walking away. Louis kept up her pace, walking beside her. “I’m being punished and I haven’t even done anything yet!”

“You’re going mad,” he said bluntly. “What’s the matter? Shouldn’t you be in bed? You’re getting married tomorrow.”

Dianna let out a loud laugh, “Oh, that’s not happening!”

Louis felt his heart stop, and apparently when he was stumped, his mouth took over, “Does the Hufflepuff know?”

She raised her eyebrows and Louis’ ears burnt. Dianna sighed, “No, I left a note. It was only polite.”

“Only barbarians would leave without a note,” Louis agreed.

They stood in silence, staring at each other and looking as if ready to lean forward into a kiss that ended novels, that caused fireworks.

But instead, they both burst into laughter and Dianna flung her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Please don’t think of me as flighty or cruel,” she whispered in his ear. Louis’ arms held her tightly and he shook his head fiercely. “I’m not ready, I thought I was! It would’ve been beautiful, but I---”

“You don’t have to explain---”

“---I thought about you and how you’ve seen the world and---I want to do that too! I want to see---everything!”

Louis shut his eyes, knowing the strangling feeling that made one think that life was never going to be interesting again. When the end of his Hogwarts career had struck and he was left with absolutely no direction, not even the faintest idea of what he wanted to accomplish in life, it had felt like all the air had been sucked from the world. Running away on his Grand Tour had been the only solution, the only way to breathe again.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Dianna admitted, pulling back. She frowned. “The other side of the world, I guess.”

“I know people on the other side of the world,” Louis said slowly, eyebrows going high. Dianna’s eyes lit up and she took on a thoughtful expression.

“Are you offering to escort me there, Monsieur Bonaccord?”

“Do I get to kiss you?” She whacked him hard in the side. Louis coughed, but he was grinning from ear to ear. “I had to ask!”

“Just because I’m running away from my fiance the night before my wedding---” Dianna gulped, but then straightened her shoulders, “---does not mean I’m going to fall into the arms of the first gentleman I see.”

“Gentleman?”

“Just take me to the other side of the world, Bonaccord.”