In the Shadow of Azkaban

Volume II: LIX

Kassia's Point-of-View
The Ministry of Magic
December 1893

"Aesop?" My voice was low as my heels clicked loudly against the square, black tiles extending the length of the Ministry.

"We'll discuss whatever is on your mind once we're in Elladora's office." His voice sounded relaxed, but he hadn't even looked down at me when he was speaking. It was like he was talking to the air in front of him.

I wanted so badly to reach out and touch his hand, but I knew better than to perpetuate rumors. Especially here.

We went up the lifts and strolled through the multiple corridors to wind up in Dinah's old workroom.

It was empty, and I took a seat on a dark chaise that appeared to be previously conjured. The silence was deafening until Aesop maneuvered his way behind the desk and slumped into the chair.

He folded his hands over the table while his eyes bore into mine.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out loudly.

Aesop's eyebrows pulled up into his hairline, and his face looked rather smug. But he did not respond, which, in my mind, meant he had not accepted the apology. My face scrunched in frustration.

"You want more? I'm sorry, Ace. I'm sorry for asking so much of you all the time. Any time I needed you. I'm sorry I was the one who forced you out of this position at the Ministry." I choked on some of the cries that muddled my throat.

"And I'm sorry you were the one who has to relinquish the girl's auror position and sentence Milton. Is that what you wanted? Are you quite satisfied with yourself now?" I noticed my eyes welling with more tears, and he offered his hands for me to hold. I blinked away whatever despair was trying to seep its way into my life.

And I shied away. I folded myself to be as small as possible in the chaise. My voice was breaking with each word, "It's why I left for Greece."

Sharp interrupted, "Kassia."

I ignored his call. "I couldn't stand my surroundings, hearing about all you were accomplishing when I spent time with Dinah and Elladora. You were succeeding, but—"

"Kassia."

I shot daggers at him signaling I wanted to finish my plea., "I was the reason you could not continue on as an auror. The guilt had been eating away at me every damn day."

"Kass. Stop." Aesop strolled around the desk and sat beside me on the chaise. He picked my limp body up and drug me onto his lap. His arms encompassed me, and I remembered how safe I felt with him before.

Before everything went awry.

And he had forgiven me; he had lain with me. But I needed to let him know how I perceived the situation and why I left for so long.

His voice was muffled in my hair when he finally spoke more than a few words, "Kassia Behrakis. I hold remorse for many things, but the greatest folly of my own doing was letting you go. I left. Not you. Do not ever place blame on yourself for that." His fingers stroked my hair and down the nape of my neck.

The sensation calmed me down more than I realized. My sobbing ceased, and I was aware my body became less tense in his grasp.

Aesop pulled away and spoke in my ear, "I'm going to put my word in for you and Antoinette to rejoin the Ministry."

I pressed my fingers into his thighs to sit up straighter. My eyes were level with his. "You don't need to do that."

"Yes, I do. I want to. Everything I do in life is to please you, Kassia. You must know that. I love you. It's a senseless declaration compared to how you physically affect me, but I have and will love you for the rest of our lives." His eyes glinted in this lighting, and I pulled him in a tight embrace. Aesop brought a sense of belonging I had never had the pleasure of knowing.