An Apartment On The Eastern End Of Diagon

Max gazed up at her, his brown eyes were blazing. He held his fingers up close together, until they were only an inch apart. "I'm THIS close to getting fired!" he snapped.

Libby took a step back. Max was pretty terrifying when he was angry. She was silent for a moment before asking him, "What happened at the meeting today?"

He shook his head. "It wasn't really the meeting itself. One of the goblin's THREATENED to burn down my apartment if I don't start bringing in more treasure. And, he'll fire me." he clenched his teeth. "I really hate that goblin."

"WHAT?!" Libby hollered, looking mad herself. "That's completely unfair!"

"Yeah, rubbish about me not bringing in enough treasure." he fumed. "Huh, I'd like to see one of those slimy creatures do what I do all day, everyday..." he grumbled darkly.

Libby nodded slowly in agreement, turning this over in her head. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't think of any advice, except for "just quit already," but Max would never do that. Since she didn't have anything to say, she crossed the hall and gave him a hug.

Max just continued to hug her silently. After a long period of silence, he spoke up again.

He pushed back a strand of her hair behind her ear, and mumbled into it. "Hey, I've really enjoyed you staying with me this past time."

Libby half-shut her eyes, leaning her head into his chest. She felt her stomach drop when he said that. "Yeah," she murmured, suddenly feeling guilty. "Er, I have too."

Max continued to talk, but he spoke up a bit. "In all honesty, I was getting kind of lonely. I'm used to a noisy house, and it was just so... quiet when I came home from work. It's really nice to have someone else in the house."

Libby nodded stiffly. "I'm glad," she said slowly, feeling as if every word was carefully calculated to make her feel even worse. "Really, thank you for letting me stay here... it means a lot. I don't know how I'll ever repay you for this."

He shook his head. "You don't need too."

"No, I will! I don't know how, but I will." Libby pulled out of the hug, smiling. "But for now, I must take care of some unfinished business." She disappeared into the guest room, beginning to unpack everything. How could she leave after he said all of that? How?

It was up around ten, and it was a chilly night. Max had started a nice warm fire in the fireplace, and he was sitting in front of it on the couch, while reading a book.

Libby plopped down on the couch next to Max, holding a book of her own. She was shivering slightly--it was a pretty cool night. She pulled her legs up to her chest. "Hey, Max," she greeted. "Thanks for starting a fire, it's chilly tonight, huh?"

"It is." he set down his book, and he placed it on the end table next to the couch. "Do you need a blanket? You seem really cold."

Libby smiled softly. "Yeah, a blanket would be nice, actually."

"I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, Max came out with a medium sized dark blue blanket, and handed it to her. "Here, take it." and he sat back down. "So, how's work been going? It's nice to see you finally dressed. And wearing deodorant."

Libby pulled the blanket around her, letting out a sigh. "It's been going absolutely wonderful. Did I tell you? I got a promotion to being an official Healer."

"Really?! That's pretty impressive. You're really young, too." Max slunk down, and he stared into the bright red-orange flames of the fire. "You must be really good at what you do, then."

"Yeah..." Libby stared into the fire as well, grinning widely. "I did something for a friend of mine--er, I still do--and she managed to pull a few strings. Even though I told her that she didn't have to."

"Oh really... Kelsi, I think her name is? How is she doing? She was always really hyper."

"She's doing very well! She's teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts now, and... she's a lot more mature."

"She's already teaching?" Max stared at her with raised eyebrows. "I think she's too young. The kids are only going to be a year younger then her. They could hit on her, for all we know."

"Yeah, they could. The older ones, anyway. The first-years hopefully won't have the common sense to do that. But my sister's there, she'll straighten anyone out, I'll bet."

"You're right... but your sister-Holly's her name, right?-I never thought of her being rough. She always struck me to be a bit of a... doormat."