Love Is You

Chapter 29

~2 years later~
    It was june once again. Spring has left its place to summer as the weather got warmer and brighter each day. Scarlett woke up when the morning sun shined through the open window directly to her bed. She covered her face with the extra pillow. She liked neither mornings nor summer, Scarlett was more like a night and winter person. She liked their coldness and quietness maybe it's because they were similar to her personality.
     Scarlett's hiding attempt from the sun wasn't successful at all and she really needed to wake up. Today was a big day, it was the third year anniversary of her presidency. She had a meeting with the heads of the departments last week and they have announced her the decision that everyone still wants her to continue her job, there would be no election. All she had to do was make a statement about it to all ministry and the press then she could continue her job as the minister.
     Scarlett arrived the ministry quite early, she needed to do some last minute arrangements. While she was having her second morning tea, Corentin showed up.
"Good morning Scarlett." He smiled gently and sat down one of the armchairs in her room.
"Morning Corentin. Do you want tea?"
"Yes, please."
Scarlett poured freshly brewed English breakfast tea into her gold trimmed dark blue tea cups and handed it to Corentin with some biscuits. He thanked her while biting into the sugary biscuit. Scarlett could tell he was lowkey distressed, he had a habit that he would eat more just to avoid talking the subject which was causing the stress.
"Corentin, i know the favor i asked from you wasn't easy but i am sure you will do great. That will be better for everyone."
"Everything is already perfectly splendid, Scarlett. I just don't understand why do you want that but as i promised you, i will do whatever you wanted me to do..."
"Thank you Corentin, i can't thank you enough."
"I thank YOU minister."
"Minister." Scarlett chuckled softly.
Corentin finished of his tea and ate the biscuits before leaving. He would arrange press for the speech.
"You can come down in 20-25 minutes, everything will be ready at the time."
Scarlett nodded and continued her work while waiting.
     While Scarlett was up in her room, Sirius and Carina came to the ministry with Remus and soon they met with the Potters. They were chatting about this and that but James's remarks on Carina's work especially about Severus made her angry as always. Just like her mother, Carina wasn't very fond of James Potter either.  She excused herself and went to welcome her grandparents when she saw them walked in the door.
"Hey granny and grampa!"
"Hi my lovely!" Aurelia hugged her gently.
"Here is my beautiful girl!" Ricardus swirled her around herself then kissed her cheek.
They walked towards the front where the stage was while talking on their way. Some minutes later Severus joined them with a kind smile on his face. These three were the only people he would be comfortable around here. It was quite crowded at the ministry and he could feel the press's eyes on him since he was the "dark and grumpy lover" of the minister as the press says which he hated.
     Scarlett checked the clock and noticed it was the time. She took her speech paper she wrote and went to the hall where everyone was. Corentin was waiting for her at the backstage and escorted her to the front. The moment she walked at the stage, the flashes of the cameras and the loud applauses made her dizzy that she needed to stop to balance herself for a second. She walked to the stand slowly and smiled at the people before speaking.
"Ladies, gentlemen and the others; i welcome you all." She waited applauses to end before continue with her speech.
"Thank you for joining me here today. It is a very special day for me as it is my 3rd year as the Minister of Magic. In these 3 years we achieved alot than i expected, many thanks to you all who worked with me in here all day and night without any complaints. And also many thanks to all civilians who helped us. These applauses are for you!" Scarlett applauded to the crowd who joined her immediately.
"I want to talk about what does the ministry mean to me. You all know my parents, Aurelia and Ricardus Rose, they have devoted themselves to the ministry and because of that i can easily say Ministry of Magic became my second home. I remember being here when i grew up and since i was a little girl, i wanted to work here and be a part of this big family. Eventually i did." Scarlett smiled softly.
"Actually this dress i am wearing today is the same dress that i wore on my very first work day here when i was 19. And now i am 55, time flew fast. I must say working here was perfect and it made me the person who i am now and i am very thankful. But also i had to make some sacrifices and one of them was... myself." She stopped to drink some water and looked at the people who had confused expressions now. Scarlett cleared her throat and continued.
"Many of you know me for years and you can easily tell that i don't look the same anymore. 36 years' stress took a tool on me, both physically and mentally... What i am trying to say is... I will resign from my duty."
The audiences were astonished by her words. People were looking at each other in shock and murmuring unaudible things. Scarlett took a quick look at her parents who weren't any different than the rest. Scarlett was thinking this for months even a year to be honest so it wasn't a sudden decision but she haven't told anyone anything, except Corentin.
"I know there won't be any election and there is no candidates but i requested from my vice president , Corentin Howells, to take my duty after i informed him about my decision rather than throw him at it. And he accepted my offer kindly, again thank you Mr. Howells. I believe he will do great as the Minister of Magic. I talked alot but before i end it, i want to thank you all once again for everything. And i hope i was a good minister and coworker for you too. Thank you all for being here today and taking the time to patiently listen to what I had to say, it was the hardest speech i had to make. Farewell..."
Scarlett saluted the audiences kindly when they applauded her with enthusiasm. The moment she went back to backstage, she couldn't hold her tears anymore and let them shed. Corentin came back right after her and escorted her back to her room.
"It was a beautiful speech Scarlett. I am lucky to work with you, thank you for being there for me all the time."
"I couldn't ask for a better vice president Corentin. You did excellent, thanks again." She sat down on her big velvet armchair and closed her eyes.
"I will go back down and take the control of the press before they find you."
Before Corentin could open the door, it wide opened by Ricardus followed by Aurelia, Carina and Severus. They have just entered the room, the door opened again. This time it was Sirius and his fellows. Scarlett sighed deeply, still eyes closed.
"Before you ask anything i know what i did and no, it wasn't  a sudden decision. Yes, i didn't tell anyone except Corentin. No, i won't regret."
She looked at their faces, it was hard to tell what they were thinking at the moment.
"It is your life darling and you know the best for yourself."
Ricardus broke the silence and hugged his daughter. Aurelia joined them with full support. They were a very close family and always stood behind each others' decisions. Scarlett always thought she was very lucky to have them as her parents, she wouldn't trade them for anything. They all talked for awhile in Scarlett's room and helped her to pack some stuff since she would be moving out from here in a week.
     One hour later Scarlett was at Severus's home and in his embrace, she was relaxing in silence while he was playing with her hair slowly. Severus haven't spoken anything about today yet but he was lowkey resentful because of her behaviour. He could understand she wanted to keep her decision a secret but she could easily tell him. He would't do anything to stop her or else. Actually Severus has suspected that Scarlett was up to something or hiding something from him, he knew her long enough to tell that but he has decided to keep his questions to himself since Scarlett formed the habit of running away furiously when someone forced her into a converstion that she didn't want to talk about.
     They were cuddling on the sofa for sometime in the same position until Scarlett dropped another bomb.
"I bought my retirement house in Naxos."
Severus's hand which was caressing her hair stopped in its place when he heard what she just said. Severus shifted himself which caused Scarlett to look at him.
"Scarlett what are you doing?" His voice was full of concern.
"Living my life?"
Severus sighed at her answer. "Why are you so secretive lately? If you would have shared this or resigning decision with me or your family, no one would say anything to stop you."
"Some things developed without my control and i had to make decisions that are good for me and for the people around me. I didn't want to cause any more stress on any of you. I was a stress source enough in the past 3 years anyways..."
"You don't have to go through anything by yourself Scar. We all love you and care about you."
"That is why i wanted to hide it! I don't want my loved ones to suffer with me!" The tears were running down on her rosey cheeks.
"Love... I don't understand, what do you mean?"
Scarlett looked down while scratching her hands in stress, she wasn't sure what to do but maybe telling Severus everything wasn't the worst idea. And it was hard to keep everything in secret for 3 years, that was causing herself even more stress. She took a deep breath and sat straight.
"Severus, use legilimency on me."
"Why is that Scarlett?"
"Just do it. You will have your answers."
     Scarlett looked straight into his black orbs and moments later Severus penetrated her mind. The memories started appear; the very next day after their Paros holiday Scarlett got dizzy and fell down from the last steps of her house's staircase. The other memory showed Scarlett's St. Mungos visit followed with her healer telling about her heart disease and how there's no known cure for it but they could slow it down with strong medications. The next one showed the seizure she had during the meeting and another one showed the heart attack Scarlett had when she was alone but managed to apparate to St. Mungos on time. And the rest of the memories were just Scarlett was suffering with dizziness and faintings through the years.
     Severus stopped reading her mind, he couldn't take it anymore. His cheeks were wet from the tears, he wasn't expecting to see such things. Something like that has never crossed his mind even for a second. Without saying anything, he pulled Scarlett into his embrace and held her into his body protectively. Severus cried with Scarlett, he wasn't the type of man who would like to show his vulnerable side to anyone even the closest person but he couldn't help himself. His heart ached with sadness, he felt guilty about the moments that Scarlett didn't want to meet with him for couple of days and he has thought that she was making excuses because she wants to break up. He couldn't believe his stupidity, clearly she was losing weight more than normal and weaker than usual but he didn't think anything serious about it but the stress of her job was the reason.
      Severus kissed her head while caressing her back softly then he pulled away to look at her.
"I won't let this damn disease to take you away  from me." He said firmly but the pain in his voice was noticible.
"I don't wanna go..." Scarlett mumbled as she wiped Severus' tears away tenderly.
The lovers kissed each other with full of love. The kiss was nothing sexual but just to comfort  each other' pain with their love.