December 31st 1921.
London, United Kingdom.
Theseus Scamander's house.

He stayed for the night and the entirety of the next day before he headed back to London. During the time he was away from the French woman, he found himself thinking of her constantly, it was as if Amélie had built herself a home in his head and refused to leave, now, Theseus was covered in her. He just thought of her laugh, her scent, her hair, her touch, her kiss...Bloody hell. That night was definitely a terrible idea and this was the consequence of the love affair.

  Not so far from where he was, Amélie had the same symptoms, Theseus was constantly running through her mind. And, in all honesty, it was agonising. It was as if they had taken a drug they couldn't breathe without. And what was the remedy? Each other.

Suddenly, there were unexpected meetings, or days in which they were going to deliver information personally to each other just to see one another.

  They'd find themselves on complicated situations, situations in which their lips would meet the second the doors of their offices were closed and locked, in which they had to be extremely quiet, where they had to leave everything tidy and make sure not to spoil their clothes to look completely normal when they walked out. Usually, these meetings would be taken to their houses later on the afternoon.

They're a funny thing, illicit affairs and clandestine meetings. You need to be very careful for the world not to know. You have to make sure nobody sees you leave from the other's house. Even if nobody knows you in that town, people speak. You need to make sure to keep your eyes down, take the road less travelled by, keep perfumes on shelves to make sure you leave no trace behind when you walk out...like you don't even exist. Like you're a ghost. What's interesting is how everything was born from a single glance, a stolen stare in a beautiful and crowded room.

Theseus woke up and looked at the ceiling. It was cold even if he was covered by the blankets. He turned on the mattress and inhaled the soft notes of her perfume on his pillow. He closed his eyes and frowned as he found himself missing her touch, her kiss, her presence. He sighed and sat up. He stood up and headed to the kitchen to have his morning tea, as the water boiled, he approached the entrance of his house and opened the door to find his paper on the ground. He took it and walked back in.

  He read how the elections and the campaigns of each candidate that were running for the position of International Confederation of Wizards' Supreme Mugwump were going. Vicência Santos was taking the lead and she had his vote. He drank his tea and prepared some food for breakfast, when he was done, he washed every dish and cup he used and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

After washing the last shades of sleep off his body, he stepped into his bedroom to get dressed, a sigh left his mouth when he saw his tux was all ready for tonight. He didn't want to go. Balls come with the job, they're formalities the head of office should attend, but he's tired. Christmas' ball was not long ago and he wondered if he had to go. Then he had an idea as he brushed his teeth. One that might be stupid, but hey, all his stupid ideas end up being his best ones. Well, there are a few exceptions, but we won't go into detail.

He dressed up with a casual black suit, a white shirt, and his favourite black tie with silver straps on it. He threw on his coat when he had tied his shoelaces and then grabbed the tux. He walked out of the bedroom and made his way towards the kitchen. He left the suit on one of the stools and opened the cupboard where he keeps the liquor. He grabbed a bottle of rosé, gathered his stuff, and headed out.

Would this work out? Perhaps. Would it be odd? Hopefully not. Would she be home or out? Hopefully she'd be home. Would she be at the Ministry getting some last minute work done? He hopes not.

He didn't know the answers to the many questions that flashed across his head as he walked down the snowy London streets and deapparated from the street just to appear on another country, half a mile away from her tiny house.

  He walked up the three steps and knocked on the door. There was only silence. He waited patiently and knocked again, three times just to hear more silence. He walked downstairs and looked up, trying to spot the witch through the windows or the lights off. But they were on. She must be home, he thought.

  He moved up to knock once again, but before his knuckles could hit the wood, it opened, revealing Amélie. Her hair was wet, water dripped down her legs and puddled beneath her feet, a bathrobe over her skin and a towel dying her hair.

"Theseus."
"Élie." His cheeks turned red and burned his skin. He has seen her naked before, he had been allowed to undress her, and he had seen her the very next morning wearing his or her clothes, but he had never seen her like this. This view had a different effect on him for some unknown reason. She chuckled nervously as she looked at the snowy streets. "I'm sorry, I should- I should've written to you first, not just show up."

"No, it's alright, don't worry about it." They stood there with an awkward silence falling over them. "Come in." She said stepping aside for him to enter. He left the tux on the coat rack and placed the bottle of rosé on the counter.

"Did I force you out of the tub?"

"No, I finished when you knocked. I just needed my robe."

"Oh." He nodded and she smiled. "Okay."

"Thes?"

"Hm?"

"What are you doing here?" A soft groan left his mouth as he started to step closer to her.

"In all honesty, I don't know."

"Oh." He nodded and closed the gap between them with an urged kiss. She kissed him back and let her hands fly to his hair to play with his curls while his own hands traveled up and down her back. She broke the kiss when she ran out of breath and moved her head slightly backwards, giving him access to her neck. She closed her eyes as her hand found his wand in an inner pocket of his coat, with a flick of it, the sofa expanded and he started walking towards it.

  Amélie took his coat off and he let her remove the pieces of clothing he had just put on. As he took off his shirt, she left the wand on the ground and unbuckled his belt. As he took off his trousers, she started to undo the bathrobe's bow, but he stopped her hands quickly. His eyes looked deeply into hers as he removed the bow and slipped the white and soft fabric off her body.

  She kissed him again as he laid her down gently on the mattress and placed himself on top of her. Theseus moved from her lips towards her neck again as her hands traveled through his wide shoulders. Her fingernails getting stuck on his skin when he sucked the skin over her collarbone. His name dropped from her lips constantly. Thes...Theseus...Theseus. This drove him insane.

Her name fell onto her hair as he laced their fingers together and her legs wrapped themselves around his waist tighter. Élie. Élie. Amélie. They have been so needy of each other's touch, each other's presence.

  They came down from their high slowly. She placed herself on top of him to lay down on his chest. His fingertips caressed her skin making goosebumps bloom all over it and her fingers traced his collarbone and his jawline, they drew circles over the future maroon marks his skin would show.

"Why did you come here?" She wanted to know why the sudden urge today, the fact that he was here, laying underneath her, no clothes on...why was he here out of the blue?

"I woke with your memory over me today." She incorporated and looked like at him. "My bedsheets and pillow cases smell of your perfume, you know?" She laughed.

"Really?" He nodded. "Mine smell of you, too." He raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. She chuckled.

They stayed like that for a while until they decided to do everything all over again. Despite the cold weather they weren't cold, the effect the actions they were making and the fireplace gave them enough warmth to feel comfortable.

When the second round was over, he mentioned he had brought some wine. She raised her eyebrows, looked at the watch. 12:45. Understandable to start drinking at noon, she went to get two glasses while he opened the bottle. He poured down the wine into the cups and they talked and drank their beverage.

Moments later, the clock marked 6:58 in the afternoon. They were on the floor, her feet in his lap. She was laughing at something he had told her, an anecdote from their years back at Hogwarts. Suddenly it felt as if he was her closest friend. And viceversa. Because they were. He gulped the sip of his wine and sighed with a frown.

"How'd we end up on the floor, anyway?" He asked.

"Your cheap-ass screw top rosé, that's how." She answered and he laughed closing his eyes and throwing his head slightly backwards. "Not that it's any less good, it's actually quite tasteful. You've got good taste."

"Oh, merci, madame." She smiled and took another sip from her cup while he drunkly played with his own glass, splashing some of the wine onto the bathrobe. "Oh, shit. Sorry, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I can wash it off later. You're good." He sighed. The splash was pink but as it dried it turned maroon. "I see you brought your tux." He looked over his shoulder and saw the formal clothing hanging from the coat rack.

"Yeah. I don't want to go, though." She nodded in agreement. "Are you going?"

"I have to. Lately I've been making connections with the Aurors in the U.S. Since Graves I've been skeptical to meet with them but...now things are better, I suppose. Plus, I feel like creating a good net of contacts there could come in handy one day, I already have a fantastic relationships in Germany and Spain." It was his turn to nod.

"Then I'm going." She smiled.

"If I had told you that I wasn't going what then?"

"I wouldn't go. Any of those parties without you are terrible." She smiled even more.

"You're drunk." He chuckled.

"So are you." She slightly nodded.

"I thought you could handle your liquor better than this, Scamander." He smiled.

"I can, only that today I've had half a bottle on my own. I never do that." She laughed.

"Rookie." He scoffed and she sighed. "We should take a bath." He smiled and nodded as she stood up. They left their glasses on the sink and walked into the bathroom. After they sat on the bathtub, washed their bodies, and talked about nonsense, they stepped out and got dressed with their gala clothes.

  He was fixing his jacket and looking into the eyes of his own reflection when a movement over his shoulder called his attention. Amélie was pinning her hair up on a half-up-half-down hairstyle, she then put on her earrings and applied some lipstick. Theseus stopped and looked at her through the mirror, watch her every graceful move until they stopped.

  Her gaze met his and she smiled while he smiled too, the blood rushed into his cheeks. Theseus cleared his throat and met his own eyes in the mirror again. His hands moved to do his tie when she approached him from behind. Her hands placed themselves over his and he stopped moving while she proceeded to tie up the tie.

"You know I can do that, right?" He asked her with a soft smile, Amélie smiled back at him.

"Yes, but you always move your tie a little bit to the left and I always have to fix it."

"I don't recall you fixing my tie on the Christmas ball."

"Well, that's because I hadn't realised that it was tilted to the left."

"Right. Now you're just making things up." She chuckled. "Maybe you were simply distracted."

"You're guilty of that one." She said with a smile that he returned. "There you go."

"Thank you." She nodded. "You look stunning." He said as his eyes traveled up and down her figure dressed on a black sparkly dress.

"Thank you. You look very handsome." He chuckled.

"Appreciate it." They walked into the bedroom where she placed her things into her purse. "You don't think it would be weird if we showed up together?" He asked as he grabbed her by the waist from behind, her hands fell on his forearms.

"I don't think so. We could've met outside, besides, many people will show up together. Who cares?" He smiled and kissed her neck, making her giggle.

"Alright." He stepped away and grabbed her robe from her bed. "If you say so." He shrugged and offered the piece of clothing to her. She turned around and he placed it over her shoulders, then she turned around to face him again. She kissed the corner of his lips, cleaned the red lipstick stain from his skin, and headed out of the room while Theseus stayed behind for a couple seconds.

  He was slightly concerned about what people could say, as he always has been concerned, something he tried to stop worrying about, but that struggles a lot with. Not everyone know, and he hoped Élie didn't know because, last time she found out about his concerns...you know how it went.

  Theseus' worry is the papers. He knows the media is vile, a lot of gossip could be spread and their relationship isn't even defined yet. He hates the word 'affair' so he won't use that one but...is it a relationship? A situation-ship? Friends with benefits? He didn't know. But it's been months since he lost Leta, time in which he had moved on, but the world didn't know that. Yes, the papers had messed up said Leta was engaged to Newt but then that was sorted out and the public knew she was engaged to him, then, the news of her death were splashed onto The Prophet and everyone knew about that. If the gossip of an affair went out right now, the timing would be terribly awful.

  He sighed and walked out of the bedroom to get to where she was, in the kitchen feeding Nauge. When the cat started eating, she petted its head before walking towards the entrance of her house, where Theseus was already standing. Moments later, they headed out, she locked the door and they made their way to the Ministry. They thought hopping into a chimney and teleport to MACUSA would be faster than a boat trip.

  In a matter of seconds, they showed up in the U.S. Ministry in New York. They walked towards the ballroom and were received warmly. Sooner than expected the pair was taken to their seats.

"Isn't it weird that our seats are often placed together?" She asked and he smiled.

"Yeah. I can't figure out why that's been happening." He said.

"Hey, weren't we supposed to go to your mother's house tonight?" Élie asked Thes, who sighed.

"No."

"No?"

"No." They sat down side by side. "She knows I have to show up to these shitty balls." She frowned.

"They're not shitty, not all the time."

"With the wrong company, they are."

"Should I be offended?" He smiled.

"Definitely." She scoffed.  "Anyways, we agreed we'd have to celebrate on the 10th. Newt happens to be off London, I can't recall where."

"Still looking for more fantastic beasts to keep writing about?"

"I believe so. He said he'd like to write a volume two of the book." She smiled. "I'll get you a first edition if he ever writes it."

"Thank you for that." A beat. "Will we go back to Paris or London tonight or will we stay here?"

"We should stay. I can find us some place." She smiled. "If you want to leave, just say the word." Élie's smile widened. 

"Likewise." He smiled too.

  Soon, people started chatting, laugh echoed everywhere and music played beautifully. They enjoyed the evening very well. They were dancing gracefully, smiling and laughing. When the music stopped, he bowed his head at her, making her chuckle. She also bowed, extending the skirt of her dress with one hand. He laughed.

  He went to get some refreshments and, when both had their drinks in hand, they gossiped about the people and started talking about work.

"If you're British why don't you apply for a job at the Ministry in London? You could work with us." He cleared his throat. "With me."

"You want us to be partners?"

"I think it could be fun."

"You would get me killed." He chuckled. "I've never thought about it, actually. But I don't know, I mean, I've given my blood, sweat and tears to be Head Auror, if I go to Britain and apply for the job I'd be just another Auror." He nodded, totally understanding.

"If a co-Head Auror thing existed would you apply at the Ministry?"

"Perhaps, with the only condition to be addressed as Head Auror, too. Not co-some bullshit, you know?" Theseus chuckled and they smiled at each other.

"Miss Rosier." A female voice called her attention. Élie looked to the left and saw Tina Goldstein. Her hair was longer, it reached her collarbones; and she was wearing a light blue satin dress, a bright smile with a coat of violet lipstick over them.

"Miss Goldstein." They shook hands.

"How are you?"

"Quite good, thank you. What about you?"

"I'm alright." She looked over Amélie's shoulder. "Mister Scamander, right? The oldest brother." They shook hands.

"Please, call me Theseus." He introduced himself. "A pleasure, now that you don't send me flying across the room." The three of them laughed.

"And with his hands tied behind his back." Élie added. "That one hurt, really got me questioning if we could still be friends after it." Tina laughed again.

"Yes, well, sorry about that." She mentioned.

"A very interesting spell, you should teach us. Must be useful in our line of work." Tina laughed at Theseus' comment.

"Gladly."

"Theseus Scamander." A male voice called the attention. Theseus turned around with an arched eyebrow and met with James, remember him? One of his best mates from Hogwarts. Thes smiled immediately.

"James Buchanan." They shook hands and hugged. "Man, it's been ages." James laughed. He was now almost as tall as Theseus when he was always shorter than him, his blonde hair longer than before, a very bright smile on his face. "What are you doing here, mate? I thought you worked in a bank not in the Ministry."

"I do work at the bank, I'm just a guest tonight." Thes smiled.

"How's America treating you?"

"Very well, man." Theseus' eyebrows shoot up. "I'm getting married."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, could you believe it? Her name's Alice White. She's the one that works here, as Graves' new assistant."

"Oh, brilliant, mate. Congratulations!" They smiled at each other, suddenly, James' smile began to fade slowly.

"I heard about your engagement...I'm sorry, Theseus."

"Thanks. It's alright, I'm better now." James' smile came back as he looked over Theseus' shoulder.

"Is that who I think it is?" Theseus turned around and smiled brightly. "And who's the other lady?" He whispered.

"Yes, she is. Amélie, you must remember James. He's one of my best mates from Hogwarts." The French woman shook the other Brit's hand. "And this is Miss Tina Goldstein, she's an Auror too, works here at MACUSA." Tina shook James' hand.

"Head Auror, actually." Said Tina.

"Oh, congratulations!" Amélie told her friend as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"That's fantastic, Miss Goldstein."

"Thank you, Mister Scamander."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." James told to Tina. "I was always running around with him." He explained Élie for her to remember him. She didn't need it, though.

"Yes, I remember you. It was you two and...Thomas." Thes' face turned sad as he nodded, a nostalgic smile on his face.

"Good ol' Tommy boy." James said, nostalgia in his tone as well. "I heard about his passing but couldn't make it to the funeral, I felt awful." He sighed. "I miss the lad."

"Me too." A beat. "To Tommy." Said Theseus, lifting his glass on a toast. The other three lifted their glasses as well and took a sip from the beverages.

"He'd be surprised to find you two hanging out after everything."

"After everything?" Tina repeated, an amused smile on his face. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, yeah. These two go way back." Theseus and Amélie chuckled nervously, both felt the blood itching their cheeks.

"I would like to hear all about it." Tina told Élie, who chuckled again. James laughed too.

"Well, ladies, may I steal Thes from you? I'd like him to meet Alice."

"Please, go ahead. Ease me from his presence for as long as you'd like." Theseus rolled his eyes with a smile and James chuckled.

"You haven't changed a bit, Rosier." She laughed and both men walked away.

"You two dated, didn't you?" Tina said after a while. "You and Theseus."

"No. Not really. We almost did." She nodded at Amélie's words. "It's complicated. An interesting story that I could tell you over coffee someday."

"Well, could that mark on your collarbone be the kind of story you tell me over the glasses of champagne we have in our hands?" Amélie almost chocked with her drink. She looked at her skin while Tina chuckled, spotting a maroon mark.

"Don't tell Newt." Tina laughed again. "I don't even know what this is...yet."

"I do. It's called a love affair. That or a one-night-stand. But, given the looks I've seen you give to each other, I'd say it's been more than one night." Élie looked at Tina. "What? Auror eyes, Miss Rosier. They catch everything." Élie sighed with a smile as Tina pointed at her brown and expressive eyes. Rosier hoped the rest of the Aurors that were at this ball didn't noticed what Tina had. "Don't worry, I won't tell Newt. Or anyone. It's none of mine nor their business."

"I appreciate it." They smiled at each other. "Talking about Newt, there's something between you two as well, isn't it?" She laughed. "Knew it. How's that going?"

"Well, it's going-"

"Goldstein." President Picquery called Tina from afar, sending a smile towards Rosier's direction. Tina nodded as Amélie tilted her head down respectfully to greet the President.

"Well, duty calls. I'll tell you about my situation some other time." Amélie nodded with a chuckle. "Enjoy yourself and...your company." Élie smiled and Tina laughed.

"Thank you, Tina. Very considerate and subtle of you." The black haired woman tilted her head and shrugged as she smiled and walked away from where they were.

  And Amélie was left alone, thinking about what could this...thing between Theseus and her could be. Then she stopped, a voice in her head telling her that she was now overthinking the situation. She sighed and finished her champagne as a clock appeared floating down. There's a minute left for this year to be over.

  People started cheering and gathering outside to watch all the fireworks go off at midnight. Theseus came running towards her and grabbed her hand.

"Can you run in heels?" He asked.

"We can find out." They smiled at each other and Theseus pulled her down the dance floor, up the stairs and all the way to a balcony on the third floor where no one else was. They had a perfect view of tiny Times Square. "Whoa." She exclaimed.

People started counting as he pressed his chest against her back, his arms snaking around her waist to hold her close, her hands falling over his hands. Then, the clock stroke midnight. Cheers echoed everywhere in the city, audible from every corner, the room below them, the terrace and the streets.

  The fireworks went off here and there, New York's sky filled with colours and figures that danced in the air. They smiled. Then, she turned around and smiled at him.

"Happy New Year, Thésée." She said softly. He smiled tenderly at her.

"Happy New Year, Élie." He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers gently. The sweetest, most intimate kiss they've shared. Hidden from everyone's attentive and observant eyes with fireworks and sparks flying over the night sky. Moments later, the kiss broke, both looked into each other's eyes and smiled.

"Please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognise anywhere." She said out of the blue.

"Never. I promise." He kissed her again under a sky full of stars.