6 YEARS LATER

After leaving Hogwarts two years ago I had entered the ministry and had been transferred to work under the Minister of Magic herself, not that she'd realised who I was until I had entered her office. Working under my boyfriend's mother was … awkward to say the least. We both tried our best to keep our professional and private lives very separate but sometimes it was easier said than done, especially when Hugo had a habit of popping into the ministry.

While working as her secretary was rewarding at times, it was also a pain in the few moments where Minister Weasley failed to suppress her maternal side. This happened more often than not when Hugo and I had argued the day before and I had apparated out from his apartment and spent the night at mine. Somehow the minister always knew about our fights and I never got round to telling Hugo to stop involving his mother in our arguments. She would wait until her schedule cleared up to call me over to try and smooth things out between us. As if the Minister of Magic interfering with my love life wasn't mortifying.

"Sweetheart?" I started at the affectionate nickname, looking from my desk to the doorway where Hugo was stood, leaning against it with one shoulder. "What would mum say if she saw you daydreaming?"

"She's in a meeting right not," I said as he walked towards my desk. "She's busy so come back to see her later."

"What makes you think I'm here to see her and not you?" Raising an eyebrow, he leaned down to press a kiss to my lips. The door to his mum's office opened before he could kiss me and I hurriedly pushed him away from me. He faltered back, eyes snapping open in shock.

I cleared my throat, cheeks colouring when I realised the minister and head of the auror department were watching us. Rowena, it just had to be his mother and his uncle, didn't it? Looking back to my work, I pretended to shuffle some papers around.

"I'll see you later Harry," Minister Weasley said as she waved goodbye to her long-time friend. Auror Potter patted his nephew on the back as he walked past him and I resolutely avoided the teasing grin he threw my way. Clearing her throat, Minister Weasley turned her attention to her son, "Hugo – what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I've got the day off," he reminded his mother as he gestured to me with his arm. Minister Weasley looked over at me and I couldn't meet the older woman's eyes. "Can I steal your assistant for lunch?" Hugo looked to the clock, "It's time for her lunch break, right?"

"It is," the older woman agreed slowly before looking back to me. "Why don't you go and take a break, Miss Stewart?"

I rose to my feet, and began to speak hesitantly, "Minister –"

"It's fine," she assured me with a wave of her hand as she turned to head back into her office, "Besides, I need to meet my husband for lunch too." Before stepping into her office, she narrowed her eyes at her son, "Have her back in time Hugo."

"Yes mum."

The moment Minister Weasley had headed into her office, Hugo was by my desk, taking my hand and pulling me away from it. I hurriedly grabbed my wand and bag, letting him pull me away.

"You know, you should start owling me whenever you're going to drop by the ministry," I said pointedly, staring up at him as he apparated us away. We reappeared moments later outside a restaurant which he led me into.

"Why?" he frowned.

"You have no idea how awkward you make things for me and your mum when we're at work," I muttered as we settled down at a table.

"I make things awkward? How?"

"Rowena Hugo," I rolled my eyes. "How awkward would it be for you if you worked under my dad and I kept stopping by the office."

He made a face after thinking it over for a few moments. "Fine," he relented, "I'll owl from now on."

"Thank you."

Hugo opened the menu, reading over it and throwing occasional glances my way. I frowned, reaching out to put a hand on his arm.

"Hugo, what's wrong?"

He fiddled with the corner of the menu and spoke hesitantly, "Mum's got a business trip coming up. She needs to speak with the Spanish minister of magic about something and she needs one of her assistants to go with her –"

"No way." I shook my head, "No way in hell am I going with your mother."

"It's not like I'm asking you to go on holiday with her. It's a work thing." He leaned towards me, trying his best to smile convincingly. "Besides, you're the most senior assistant. She said she'd ask you sometime this week and between the two of us, she wants you to go with her because she thinks you're the most competent out of the whole department. And well she wants the two of you to…bond."

"Hugo –"

He gave an exaggerated sigh, "I really didn't want to do this. But I'm going to use one of my favours on this."

Silence. I stared at him, wondering what I was supposed to say to that because really, there was nothing I could say. Not when we had made a bet and he had won five favours that I couldn't say no to. Merlin's bollocks, why did I make that bet in the first place?

"I knew I shouldn't have made that bet," I muttered under my breath, thinking back to the quidditch match we'd attended over the weekend.

We had bet on different teams to win and because I knew next to nothing about quidditch, I didn't know who was playing for each team. How was I supposed to know that both male Potters played on the same quidditch team – the one I had bet against? Quidditch literally made up part of their blood and Merlin the team I had bet against had one of the best chasers and best seekers in the entire league. It was no wonder they had won. If I had known then I wouldn't have agreed to Hugo's proposed bet. But I didn't know and so I had agreed. I was certain that it counted as cheating.

Hugo grinned, ignoring my glare as he reached out to hold my hand. "Great, I'll tell mum that you agreed to go with her."