2 YEARS LATER

The promotion that I'd been eyeing since the friendly quidditch tournament almost two years ago, had only just been given to me. Merlin, it had taken some patience on my part but eventually my patience paid off. I should have been pleased about it, and I was, but I couldn't help but think that it was all very bittersweet. Last night I had headed home, thrilled at my promotion, only to wake up this morning to my picture gracing the front of every newspaper in the country. It wasn't just any picture; it was a picture of me kissing Viktor after he'd dropped me off following our last date.

How had anyone gotten their hands on the picture? For one thing, I had been in Bulgaria when it was taken and we had been certain that no one was following us. So how on earth was it that someone had managed to not only take that picture, but have it plastered all over the papers within a matter of days.

Arriving into work this morning had been hell. I tried to act like I wasn't noticing the fingers pointed my way but it was exceedingly difficult to do. They were all wondering whether I'd earned my promotion based on my own merit or if I'd gotten it because of my 'Bulgarian bon-bon' boyfriend. Merlin it wasn't fair! I hadn't worked for years under Lynch to have my achievements reduced to this; some no-good reporter wondering if the department was using my status as the girlfriend of an international quidditch star to boost its status.

I'd never heard a bigger load of crap.

Shutting the door to my office behind me, I cast a charm around the room to block out the whispers that followed after me. Setting my bag on top of my new desk, I settled into my seat with a sigh and rubbed at my head to prevent the oncoming headache. I wasn't supposed to be worrying about any of this right now. I was supposed to be fronting the expansion of the quidditch league, working with the team of ministry workers that I'd handpicked to work alongside. But here I was, wondering why Rita bloody Skeeter still had loyal readers.

The door to my office was pushed open abruptly and I bolted upright in my seat. Looking to the door, I watched as Mandy rushed into the room and ran straight towards my desk. She stood on the other side, eyeing me expectantly and all I did was look past her to the door she's left open. Realising what she'd done, she flushed and backtracked to shut the door before returning to stand beside my desk. She continued to wait eagerly for something and I finally noticed the papers she had clutched to her chest.

"Are those the papers I asked you to bring to me?" I asked, holding out my hand for them.

Her face fell a little as she gave me the papers. I flicked through them and didn't even look up when I heard her exasperated sigh. "Are you really not going to say anything?"

I didn't bother to look from the papers. "About what?"

"About what?" She repeated in disbelief, "About Krum!"

"Oh. That."

"That! How can you say it like it's nothing," she demanded and I rolled my eyes.

Turning my attention away from the forms I needed to fill in, I leaned back in my seat. Meeting her waiting eyes, I crossed my arms. "Fine. What do you want to know Mandy? Keep in mind that I don't have all day to answer your questions."

"The article I read said that you'd been dating since the tournament," she started excitedly, transfiguring one of my paperweights into a chair. She sat down, making herself comfortable and I realised she wasn't planning on leaving my office anytime soon. "For over two years now –"

"That's a lie," I cut in, watching her expression falter for a second. "We haven't been dating since the tournament."

"But Skeeter said she got a picture of you kissing," she protested, sitting upright.

"Well she did," I admitted, "But it took longer for Krum to convince me to date him."

"Not the other way round?" she questioned suspiciously, eyebrows rising.

"No." I narrowed my eyes at her.

She raised her hands in surrender, "Why did it take so long then? For him to convince you?"

"Because I have a knack for overthinking everything." Giving her an arched eyebrow, I asked dryly, "Is that the end of your curiosity?"

"Nowhere near." Folding her arms, she pressed them to the edge of my desk before moving on to her next question. "Is he the reason you kept accepting business trips to Bulgaria?"

"Yes."

"Ok." She fought a smile. "So where did he take you on your first date."

"Nowhere fancy if that's what you're wondering." Picking up my quill, I played absentmindedly with it. "It was during the tournament, after the Bulgarian team's first game. We went to dinner but because I didn't want anyone to see us, we had dinner in my cabin."

"In your cabin, huh?" she teased.

"Nothing happened," I said firmly, "We had dinner and that was it."

She nodded sagely at my words, "You don't want him to think you're easy."

"It took practically three years for me to agree to be the man's girlfriend," I muttered with a roll of my eyes, "I hardly worried about him thinking I was 'easy'. Glancing at the clock, I looked back to the younger girl, "One more question Mandy and that's it."

"How did you get together," she asked after a moment's thought. Before I could answer, she hurriedly added, "Or almost get together the first time – before the tournament business that is."

"I guess you could say that I had Lynch to thank for that – he'd sent me on ministry business to Bulgaria because he couldn't be bothered to go. I was only supposed to be meeting with the minister as he watched one of the matches and well, I ended up running into him."

"That's it," she questioned, growing irate, "That's all you're going to tell me? The magazine article said he saved you from a stray bludger?"

"How many articles have you read?" I threw back, briefly hearing the door open. "And for your information, I saved him from that stray bludger."

"No way," she marvelled eyes growing wide.

"Vay," a voice agreed from behind her. I rose to my feet, watching the Bulgarian man who was making his way towards me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, stepping away from my desk.

When I was close enough, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his chest. Mandy let out a very unprofessional squeal at the action, which had him drawing away from me to cast a concerned look at the younger girl. She hurriedly composed herself under his eyes, pretending to get busy with fixing my desk.

"I heard about the news," he answered, eyeing Mandy closer. She took the hint and hurriedly left the room.

"What should we do now?" I looked to him for advice, wanting him to give me some sort of answer that would magically fix everything.

"Vot else." He reached out to take my hand, "Now we don't have to hide anything. We don't need to sneak around anymore."