Who: Agatha Timms and Fredrick Catchlove
What: Fredrick's in trouble again! And things are revealed and confused
Where: Ministry
When: Today?



It was a good thing she'd worn her pointy shoes today. There had been a lot of toe-tapping going on, and Agatha liked the click it made when she rapidly smacked her foot to the ground. First there had been a line checking identification cards, then there had been a line to the bathroom, and then there had been a line on lunch. What on earth was with the ministry today, and lines? There was no need for lines in a place so quick-paced as this. She rarely ran into lines, except when she needed to go down to the law offices.

Which, of course, where she was standing in line now.

Agatha let out a breath and pushed herself up on her toes, astonished that her rather high heels weren't any help to see over this giant's shoulders. Maybe he was half giant, because he had to at least be a good sixty centimeters taller than her and what was that commotion down the hall?

Watching with scrutinizing eyes, Agatha caught sight of a few hitwizards gruffly handling what she presumed to be some random criminal off the street. Or a poor muggleborn that had forgotten their card, Merlin, she'd never forget seeing Fredrick being slammed to the wall, how scary it was in that split second---

"Fredrick!" she shrieked, partly out of shock, mostly out of anger. It was him that was being harassed and pushed around and---bloody idiot! Agatha dropped her paperwork and hurried toward him, completely red in the face and ready to cause a scene--again.

He was a grown man, you know? He'd grown up in the wizarding world. True, he was a Halfblood, but his sisters didn't have to go through this shit. He even had his bloody card on him this time! But god forbid he walks into Gringotts to check his account balance and to draw out some money for an ice cream cone. Oh, no, that's a felony. That's a reprimandable offense.

"Jesus, let go of me!" Fredrick yelled, trying to wrench his arms out of the hitwizard's strong grip for the billionth time. "Look, I'm not running off--"

His words were interrupted by the sound of lightning. Or just Agatha shrieking. Sometimes Fredrick couldn't tell the difference between the two. He winced visibly and craned his neck to try to get a look at her face, and when he finally did catch the expression on it he knew that this couldn't end well.

"It's fine," he grumbled, not sure if anyone could hear him let alone even listening.

"It's obviously not fine, and---and would you two just---" she swatted her hands at the hitwizards, who merely looked between themselves in confusion. She'd never seen them before, and usually she got to talk to Sturgis when she had a problem with the hitwizards but this time she didn't know if she could do anything and what if they took him to jail? He couldn't go to jail, he didn't even do anything---wait. Her eyes shot back at Fredrick, "What did you do?"

Because, there really was a good chance that he actually had done something, which would mean he probably deserved a few good hours in a holding cell. That still didn't give the hitwizards the right to be handling him in that manner (which Agatha would use as an excuse to holler some more), but she needed to hear his case and plea before jumping into action.

Why she never went into Magical Law still boggled her mind, because Agatha sure as hell loved being in the middle of this kind of stuff. Not particularly when her boyfriend was the culprit or suspect or--whatever you wanted to call him, but it was definitely something that riled her up in that good way. Or bad way, considering whose side you were on.

Fredrick wasn't enjoying this. He couldn't believe he was actually being dragged into the Ministry. He definitely couldn't believe that out of all the places in the world Agatha could to be, she just had to be in the Ministry at this exact moment.

"Look, I don't think I'm getting arrested," Fredrick said, glancing at the hitwizard's hopefully. "Just mostly questioning, okay? Might get a really big fine. Just," why did he feel so nervous? He hated that they were attracting attention. He was already in trouble.

"I technically messed up?" He whispered to Agatha. "I just--you know, like your brother without an escourt..."

Agatha stared for a good few seconds, trying to figure out his words. Like her brother? Her brother needed an escort because he couldn't get places and--well, no, squibs were part of the rulings too for some ridiculous reason (not that the muggleborn aspect wasn't ridiculous, but still--) and--wait. Her brow furrowed in confusion, and she leaned closer to try and keep their conversation to just the two of them before the hitwizards dragged him off.

"You're a squib?" and it sounded like a question, but her mind was already shouting of course, you dolt! It explained why they met in the muggle world, why he'd been harassed before, why he seemed to refuse to ward things in the journals, oh---how could she be so stupid? She bloody lived with a squib, and she'd just gone and assumed. He must think she was a terrible person, just ignoring everything like she had. She just--hadn't even noticed. "I--didn't. Realize."

Oh, and now, even worse---she had to admit being wrong. Brilliant.

Fredrick felt something happen that he hadn't experienced in a long long time. His face turned bright red with embarrassment. She sounded so disappointed--he couldn't believe he cared so much that she sounded disappointed that he was a squib. He had promised himself a million times over that he'd never feel bad a bout being a squib again.

"I--can we have this conversation some other time?" He asked quietly, his arms still gripped by the hitwizards. "I think all I need is a Pureblood to vouch for me or for one of my sisters to come and get me. Since it's my first offense on record and everything." At the words 'on record', a tiny smile crept onto his face.

Ohhh, he was mad at her, just look at his face! Hell, she would be mad too, if he had gone and completely ignored a huge aspect of her life for--for months! She was the worst girlfriend on the face of the planet, how the hell had he put up with this for so long? She should be the one in trouble, not him, and damn it, damn it, she always managed to---to ruin these things! This was why she'd sworn off men! This was why, and then Fredrick had to come in with his lovely eyes and his addicting laugh and--

"I can vouch for you," she muttered, digging into her robe pockets for her identification card. She'd done it before, hadn't she? It was the least she could do. She held it up for the hitwizards to take notice, and they thankfully loosened their grip on Fredrick. But not by much.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, as they started to move toward the offices, the hitwizards pulling Fredrick along faster than she could keep up. Apologizing to his back, yes, that would work, because Agatha was sure she couldn't look him in the eye right now, "I---just, I didn't notice, I dunno, I'm sorry that's so completely terrible of me---I mean, I should have because I mean I have a brother who--but I didn't and that's---unexcusable and I'm sorry and okay, would you guys please slow down, I'm in heels, here!"

"We just have to file the paper work on him," one of the hitwizards said, making a b-line for the right office.

Fredrick was hardly listening. He was trying to look at Aggie instead. If he could have stopped in his tracks, he would have. She didn't think he was angry at her, did she? Apart from this kind of being the wrong time to have a tiff, he couldn't see Agatha thinking he was angry at her for something like this.

So that must mean she was just feeling very guilty for suddenly not liking him. Didn't she always go on about hating to drag her brother around to places? And now suddenly he was on the same level as her brother, needing a babysitter everywhere.

He went to scratch the back of his neck, but, again, he couldn't move his arms. So he dug his heels into the ground to slow down the hitwizards. "Hey, it's fine. I understand, okay?"

He understood? That was it? Merlin, he was a much better person than she was. Agatha knew for a fact that this would have caused a fight, a rather indignant one at that, if the roles had been reversed. But Fredrick was always surprising her like this, making her stop in her thoughts to think about things in another manner and making her realize she wasn't always right. Not something she was used to feeling, yet, but it was becoming something she was learning to deal with because of him.

She stopped at the front desk to hand them her identification card and to sign whatever papers that needed to be signed to help get Fredrick out of here. Agatha couldn't believe the guilt that consumed her, and---like hell if she would start crying about this because she didn't cry, not over anything----but this was serious, he was going to break up with her! She was bloody sure of it, because she would break up with him because she was stupid and irrational!

Agatha signed her name roughly and turned to face Fredrick, who'd been planted down into a seat near the desk. She wasn't pouting, because pouting was a sign of weakness and---and---

"I--" opening her mouth to speak caused the tears to come out, and she let out a frustrated sound, "Don't hate me, okay? Fucking hell," she muttered in annoyance at herself, wiping at her face.

Oh, hell, she wasn't going to start crying, was she? Fredrick felt shitty enough as it was about the whole thing. He figured the best possible thing that could come out of this situation for his sisters to not find out he'd been almost arrested.

He stood up and want to touch her hand or arm, but his own fell limply by his side. Was it okay to do that now? She obviously seemed upset that he turned out to be a Squib. And, well, if Agatha felt like that there definitely wasn't much he could do to try to change her mind.

So Fredrick did what he thought was possibly the least helpful thing he could do. He grabbed a tissue and held it out for her to take.

She didn't need a tissue, it was--barely nothing, and Agatha just kept her eyes down on the ground. Just a few minutes ago there had been so much commotion, and now it felt like they were the only two in the room. The hitwizards must be busying themselves, especially now that Fredrick was in the presence of a pureblood (she really did hate relying on her blood status for things, but it did seemed to help).

"I don't need a--" she started to mumble, but started forward anyway. Her hand nearly went out to grab it, but...it...was not good that she was getting so upset about this. Okay, sure, she'd broken up with boys, been dumped, what have you, so she knew how this was supposed to go and feel and what have you, but--this felt really, really shitty. Worse than any of the other ones, and it was all because she was too absorbed with herself to notice a damn thing and---she totally passed his outstretched hand and simply pushed forward and dropped her head into his chest.

Yeah, she wasn't ready to just give this up.

The embrace was all that was needed. As soon as Fredrick felt the weight of her head on his chest, the weight that had been on his shoulders lifted. His stomache stopped turning so much. He didn't feel as clumsy and flustered. He felt a little less useless and definitely not like a huge embarrassing mess.

"Aw, c'mon, Aggie," he said quietly, an arm going around her shoulders naturally. Fredrick placed his lips on the top of her hair, giving her head an uncharacteristic peck. Though it was an odd motion for him to make, it felt warm and good. And who was he to think any of his actions right now were uncharacteristic anyway? Fredrick had never, never expected to have Aggie's face buried in chest, wrinkling his already messy shirt, and just maybe leaving a drop or two of her precious and seldon tears.

"No reason to get all upset, yeah? Just couple'a hitwizards, and they're gone now, okay?" he murmured.

No reason to get all upset, her ass. Agatha tightened her grip around Fredrick and kept her face buried, forcing her tears away because---he made her act like such a girl. All weepy about a potential break up and frantic over hurting his feelings. Who did he think he was, anyway? Some really intelligent, funny, handsome, sweet albeit sometimes frustrating bloke that was actually acceptable to get silly over?

Honestly.

--well, it wasn't as if she could even try to deny that out loud, anymore. She could at least rant about him in her head.

Agatha's face twisted (but still pressed rather tightly against Fredrick) to look toward the office the hitwizards had disappeared into. She really wanted to whack them upside the head for causing all of this, but then again maybe it would have taken her even longer to figure out he was a squib, and---oy. Just. She really didn't want to think about any of this anymore (even though she would, for a long, long time), and let out a breath,

"If you get arrested, I'm going to knock you senseless," she muttered, her grip not loosening in the slightest.

"Oi," he whispered, making a face at her. Fredrick shook his arms a little. "Are you trying to cut off my circulation, woman?" he teased, a huge grin on his face now. He coudln't believe he made her cry. He was going to tease her so badly about this whole thing one day.

"Anyway, I think I'm fine for tonight," Fredrick said, still grinning down at her. "They'll probably just keep close tabs on me, you know?"

Honestly, now that most of this mess with Aggie was over, Fredrick just wanted to go home. And maybe make sure that his sisters would never ever find out about this incident. He'd get lectured for weeks on end otherwise, and he was already sure that this wouldn't be the last he'd hear from Agatha on the subject of him nearly getting arrested.

She sighed once more (something she did a lot in his presence, whether out of annoyance or--other things) and finally loosened her grip, only to wrap her arm around his and pull him down into the seat. She was allowed to sit here and cling to her boyfriend while he awaited his fate (and yes, she was allowed to be dramatic about it), and Agatha didn't feel like being obnoxious to the hitwizards, though that might come naturally when they returned. She didn't feel like discussing things further, because really---there wasn't any more to discuss. He knew she was fine with his being squib, he had to, and that's all she needed right now.

Again---not something she'd admit outloud, but even she was okay with thinking that it wasn't exactly terrible.