Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Thirty-four: In the Eye of the Storm

"Test of my patience; there's things that we'll never know."

-Harry Styles, Fine Line

Ember worked at Books Less Travelled four days a week. It was tranquil work that she thoroughly enjoyed. Restocking shelves, making complimentary tea for customers, speaking to people who had never heard the name Voldemort. It was the first time she could remember not being afraid of engaging in conversation. The past year had been walked along egg shells, even with Draco more often than not; so, recommending the small collection of books that she knew to guests and goofing off with co-workers was so entirely youthful that she finally felt balanced.

Max Wyatt was a twenty five year old that had just had his first child with his fiancée and needed a flexible but steady job to help pay the bills. He was a short fellow with light brown hair, hazel eyes, and the quickest wit and driest sarcasm she had ever found in anyone. And she spent the last year in the company of both Draco and Blaise.

Bianca Ravenfoot was a bookworm that was taking a gap year to find herself before starting university the next fall. She was tall and lean and had flowing honey blonde hair. She wore large glasses that his most of her face, but she was nice and honest and Ember quickly became friends with her.

Her boss, Astrid's father, was nicknamed Wallace the Wizard because he was fascinatingly good at finding obscure books for customers. Someone could give the blandest broken version of a plot that they were looking for, and Wallace would know the name of the book, the year it was published, and the exact location it was in the shop. She had to admit, if she didn't know that wizards actually existed, she would buy into the nickname too.

Sometimes she could coax Draco into coming to work with her. He would generally stay out of the way; finding a corner to burrow in and take a random, or what she thought as random, book to read. He rarely ever finished a book, and placed them back in their respective spots when Ember was ready to depart. He got along with Max and Bianca and even Wallace the Wizard, but she had yet to convince him to join her in her work. Which in all honesty, was okay.

She would spend her mornings walking across the sleepy town, sometimes with a pre-caffeinated Draco and sometimes by herself. Her afternoons were spent with normalcy in the book shop. But her evenings were by far her favorite part of her day for they were entirely reserved for Draco.

If he hadn't come with her to work, he would be waiting for her in the inn by the time she got home and have some idea of how they could spend the evening. Sometimes it was simply taking a walk by the river, sometimes it was staying in and watching movies on the telly and playing card games until they were deliriously sleep deprived. No matter what they did to occupy their time, Ember counted herself lucky. The dreary cloud that had always hovered over Draco since the moment she met him was dissipating marginally.

He seemed happy. He smiled and joked more. Gone were the dark conversations that had ruled their relationship and in its place laughter and communication were embraced. They grew to places she didn't even know existed. They knew the dark stuff, the heavy baggage had been laid bare most carelessly, so now they had nothing but time to discover the little things.

The weeks passed and before they knew it, it was the beginnings of December. Both had done exactly what they said they wouldn't; they had gotten comfortable in their sleepy little town of Saint-Sauveur. Their shoulders relaxed, minds at ease, and guards down. They hadn't heard a stitch of news from the wizarding world and were all the more happy for it.

If Voldemort had succeeded in his annihilation of Harry there would be signs of his domination, even in the muggle news. Draco knew what to look for, and even a world away, they picked up the international journal every morning just to be sure that everything was how it should be.