Meeting him
You hadn’t seen him in over 8 years.
His dark hair was longer, and his skin appeared even more tanned, emitting a healthy glow of somebody who spent a lot of time outside. It had always been an unkempt mess; one you had loved to run your hand through.
But now it was lightly styled back, giving a neater look. He had grown up immensely, towering over most people in the room and taken up in a conversation with Ms. Hublot and her assistant, his deep laughter roaming through the room. Fortunately, he hadn't noticed you yet, with the room being crowded with government employees.
Your stomached was in knots. When had been the last time you breathed? Focusing on taking deep breaths through you nose and exhaling through your mouth, counting ten seconds each, your eyes searched for the exit.
You wanted to get up from your seat at the conference table, but your legs felt shaky, and you feared you would collapse as soon as you tried to get up.
It had started as an inconspicuous day.
You had dressed neatly in a pencil skirt, low heels and a white blouse wearing small gold earrings and your hair tied together, giving you a wholly professional appearance. These were your formal outfits you only wore when you were called out of your research lab on two levels below the ground, to the Heights, as you liked to call the other departments in the higher levels of the building.
You had to attend a meeting with a British delegation on a joined security program. Carrying your notes, you walked into the room and took a seat in the back of the conference room. You mostly stayed out of the spotlight and only having to explain a few things from time to time to the politicians.
This meeting was a special one, since your boss was there too, presenting a topic you had both worked on. You had seen some indicators of potential increase in the density of magical residue and on further analysis it was largely dark magic. With the evidence you and your boss had decided on informing the Auror Departement of your findings.
But as you took your seat and pulling a pen out to take some notes on the comments, your eyes fell on him.
He was there, sitting in the middle of the conference table in sleek black cloak, radiating a kind confidence you didn't recognize yet. Gone was the unsteadiness of his youth. But he still wore the same kind of glasses you remember him with. And his black hair was still a mess, but a bit tamer. He seemed more tanned and had grown significantly in height and muscles.
The familiar stunning intense green gaze he gave to the people around him, making them feel important. Whenever he had looked at you, you had felt like the only person in the world. He had this spark in his eyes and he was one of the few people who felt like was really listening to you while you spoke.
You can imagine how that genuine attitude had helped him to advance politically. Apart from being the Savior. Apart from being beautiful. Apart from having the attributes a good leader needed. You could draw his sincere smile with his eyes closed knowing it from heart.
After a moment being stunned and too overwhelmed to process your current situations, still staring at him, you remembered where you were. And that you needed to get out of here. You needed to leave the room so he wouldn’t notice.
Springing up and leaving through the door wouldn’t work now since most people had settled down and the noise quieting down, waiting for the presentationist to begin. You could sneak out when people were occupied with listening, but you worried about your boss being confused with your absence.
So, you sat down on a chair in the back as the meeting started, not listening to a single word, keeping your head down as sweat formed on your forehead. You pressed your fingernails into your thighs under the chair, hoping the sting would help you focus. What should you do? Had he noticed?
And then, when he was introduced himself, as if anyone didn’t know that he was Harry Potter, the Savior of the Wizarding World and now Minister of Magic of Britain, his green eyes felt on you. You could feel the blood in your cheeks boil and waited for the world to explode. His eyes growing big and he stumbled on his words.
He had seen you. Should you leave? You had to leave. You had to get out of this room. Not caring about the presentation now and hearing Harry stutter, struggling to remember what he wanted to say, you stood up and walked straight to the door.
After some painful seconds, everyone in the room staring at you as you left, you finally reached the door and closed it behind you.
You collapsed against the wall and tried to take some deep breaths. Shit, he was here. Of course, he was, a meeting with the British Delegation, you should have looked the participants up beforehand! You could have asked your colleague to take over. Why were you so stupid?
And why does it still hurt so much to see him? Was it dramatic and childish for you to leave the meeting?
After all, it has been such a long time since it all happened, and you both were adults now.
You should be handling seeing your childhood ex-boyfriend. Isn’t that what a grown-up would do?
But it still hurt. The horror of meeting and having to talk to him was too much. You felt it in your bones that it would break you.
The delegation was here for three days. Surely you could avoid them for that time, hide out in your basement lab, and everything would be fine.
Back in your office after calming yourself down, your boss had returned from that meeting.
You explained to her your sudden disappearance with a problem in your potion experiment that you had to attend to immediately.
She accepted that excuse without questioning it. Leonie Voucher, with her elegant grey and white hair, smart blue eyes and dainty appeal was like a mother and mentor for you. She always believed in the good of a person and never doubted you.
“Oh, and the Minister had requested a meeting with you.”
Your throat constricted.
“What ... What Minister?” You shrieked, hoping desperately she meant Ms. Hublot, the Canadian Minister of Magic.
“Harry Potter”, Leonie was already on the go, distracted by the lilac dust in the glass cube of her the lab.
“Why?” you tried to keep breathing and seem calm.
“I don’t know, some technical questions about the issue, I suppose.”
No, no, no. That couldn’t happen. You couldn’t talk to him, pretending that nothing had happened. Pretending he was not the man that will always be a part of you.
You took a deep breath, remembering Draco. Not that there was any risk, but you couldn’t let Harry Potter back into the lives of both of you.
After all, this was only a work meeting. How bad could it get?