Thorns

Down the memory lane

The sun was almost up when Amberrose and Edgar ended their night patrol. The little city was still quiet, only a few children could be heard screaming and laughing inside the house while the mother was probably preparing breakfast. The few houses were small but seemed cosy and cheerful. Here and there, Amberrose stopped to admire the spring flowers. Each garden was different as if they were competing with each other.

Soon, the tiny houses were replaced by a big alley full of little cafeterias, shops, restaurants and even a block or two, here and there. Those blocks were mainly inhabited by different Ministry officials who couldn't have found better accommodation. Most of them, especially unmarried ones, preferred to live there as they could get a chance of catching the glance of one of the young Aurors from OZD. It wasn't a secret anymore that this was one of the places the young women preferred to spend their time after finishing work.

Amberrose and Edgar were very funny sights to see. He was like a mountain, tall and strong, while she seemed like a tiny doll compared to him. She was barely half his height and so, she was constantly forced to pick up the pace to keep up with him.

The Head Auror would have seemed cute if it hadn't been for the dark cloak that covered her entire body. Yet, even if her outfit hid every inch of her skin, causing her to resemble a miniature version of a Dementor - the reason why people had used to name her 'die Kleine Dementorin' - the elegance of her posture combined with the creativity of the design offered her a queenish look. Even those who secretly named her die Kleine Dementorin could hardly portray her as being ugly or scary. In fact, despite the numerous rumours regarding her accident, they all expected to find a very beautiful woman behind all those layers of fabric.

Some even said she'd found a way to never get old and the young officials seemed to believe the legends that surrounded the mysterious woman in black. Many of them wanted to meet her, but very few dared to actually speak with her, despite the many times they'd bragged to others they would succeed to conquer her heart.

"You have an admirer." Edgar laughed as they passed by the window of one of the Ministry officials' apartments and he caught the glance of the lone bachelor directed at his little companion. The man pulled the curtains as he'd noticed he'd been seen, but it was a bit too late.

"Only one? Disappointing," she joked. "He will back down as soon as he meets me," Amberrose added. The fact didn't seem to bother her much. It had been a long time since she had paid any attention to what men thought about her. Much as she'd tried to lie to herself that looks weren't everything, she'd learned the hard way that men would back down as soon as she takes the veil down.

"You know," he continued, "men find you quite attractive."

"If you ask me, I'll say men are very strange creatures," she spoke as if analyzing the utility of a certain element in an academic essay. "With all my body language courses and my Legilimency powers, I couldn't decipher how exactly their brains function sometimes." This topic wasn't exactly the thing she'd expected to debate now even if she'd read the same thing on their faces numerous times. "I won't add the fact that I'm not young anymore. Not even for wizard's standards."

"Your posture, your voice, your energy, your every action. It's hard to picture anything but a very attractive woman behind your cloak. And they aren't wrong. I bet that during your school years, you had every boy wrapped around your little finger."

"They treated me more like a jewel than a human being. I'd be a liar if I say I didn't enjoy the attention. I was so confident that I thought I could make one of the boys give up his plots and dark ambitions for me. Deep down, I hoped people saw more than a nice face. I hoped he considered me someone special. In the end, it seemed I was just a trophy for him. He only wanted me as he'd always wanted the things other people desired. Now, he is the darkest wizard of our times. So, my beauty didn't serve me much, and neither did my intelligence. The only comfort I have is that there is something he desired and he had never had." It was regret in her voice and maybe a little disappointment.